Telly thread

[LaGoosh]

10 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

I tried to watch Stath lets Flats after all the recommendations I've had but couldn't get through the first episode.

I had the exact same response.

To be honest, I think every time a BBC/ITV/Channel 4 show has been recommended to me in the past 10 years I've almost always struggled with them.

The latest episode of The Last of Us was a big flashback episode. Looking at it as a singular episode of TV it was very good and very well made. However this season has been a rushed mess and the decision to put the flashbacks all in one episode has highlighted the complete structural mess it's been. In the game the flashbacks are placed in specific points of the game for a reason. The flashbacks show Joel/Ellie's relationship at its height then gradually deteriorating as she goes further and further into her quest for bloody revenge which keeps getting worse at every turn. By chucking them all in one stand alone it feels like they've missed the point of the whole story. Maybe it's just me? But the fact that the finale is the next episode and it feels like they are nowhere near the finale highlights how poorly paced this season has been. I'm pretty sure where it's going to end too and I think a lot of people will be annoyed by it.

Edited May 23, 2025 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

The Last Of Us is definitely suffering from either the writers not understanding what worked in the game or feeling like they need to make changes for the sake of it. Not sure which but there's very little that they've done that would be considered an improvement.

[JLM]

9 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I had the exact same response.

To be honest, I think every time a BBC/ITV/Channel 4 show has been recommended to me in the past 10 years I've almost always struggled with them.

 

I’m the same except Stath Lets Flats was the exception to that rule. I also wasn’t into the first one immediately but it really got me after that. Friday Night Dinner was the worst one for me, found the first episode excruciatingly unfunny and self-satisfied. Actually got me slightly angry watching it, which I’m aware is a ridiculous overreaction to a sitcom, but yeah, couldn’t finish it. With Stath I could see finding the main man himself overly irritating but ended up finding him endearing, his mauling of the English language very funny and his chemistry with his real life sister very wholesome. I also love Natasia Demetriou in anything she does, which helped. 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Me the wife love Friday Night Dinner, but that first episode is rough. 

[Devon Malcolm]

I think I'm liking series 12 of Taskmaster even more than the previous one, even Victoria Coren Mitchell is quite funny on it. I love Guz Khan and Morgana Robinson.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

I don’t say this lightly, but the current Taskmaster lineup might be a contender for best ever. I was very hesitant at the beginning, but they all gel really well together and have been superb throughout. 

Spoiler

Matt Baynton’s pixelated ballsack and Rosie Ramsey falling over with the cushions being the highlights thus far.

Plus, Stevie Martin. 

[Mr_Danger]

On 5/23/2025 at 8:31 AM, DavidB6937 said:

The Last Of Us is definitely suffering from either the writers not understanding what worked in the game or feeling like they need to make changes for the sake of it. Not sure which but there's very little that they've done that would be considered an improvement.

It’s been really well received and doesn’t seem to have half the complaints us nerds have had. I think we’re just the modern day version of book wankers who absorbed the story in a way that tv and cinema can never replicate. Watching them do it is never going to be as visceral experience as watching and doing it. 
 

It definitely feels like the pacing is fucked though. It’s felt rushed to the mid point of the game and the second half of the game/show has much more dense story beats to tackle.

I know it was renewed for a third season but I’m wondering if they’ll try to pad it out past that. 

[SaitoRyo]

The finale of the second season of The Rehearsal is astonishing. Unprecedented levels of 'committing to the bit' from Nathan Fielder. The whole season has been absolutely tremendous, to be honest. 

[Jesse]

Agreed, I think this season specifically is the best thing he's ever done.

Spoilers for both seasons of The Rehearsal

Spoiler

Found it fascinating how both series end in similar ways, with Nathan rejecting something that he could learn from the work. In Season 1 he shows that his rehearsals don't truly prepare him for  when it is real, but he retreats further into rehearsing.

And now in Season 2 not only does it not work (he avoids pressing the co-pilot because it would be awkward) but instead of resolving anything for pilots he instead has become one fully - rejecting a chance at diagnosis and help to instead maintian his pilot's license and the ability to tell himself that he's fine.

 

[gmoney]

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

The finale of the second season of The Rehearsal is astonishing. Unprecedented levels of 'committing to the bit' from Nathan Fielder. The whole season has been absolutely tremendous, to be honest. 

I'm up to ep three, which contains one of the most astonishing sequences I've ever seen. 

[SaitoRyo]

8 hours ago, gmoney said:

I'm up to ep three, which contains one of the most astonishing sequences I've ever seen. 

I think episode three is probably the peak, as far as 'funny' is concerned, but the finale is something else entirely. As @Jesse said, I think this season is his masterpiece. 

[Mr_Danger]

I’ve been watching MobLand and it’s exactly what you’d think it is. Tom Hardy hulking his way about being the best gangster and loads of proper cockney geezers being well hard. I’m a bit bored of it all and will be glad to get it over with. By far the best thing about it is Pearse Brosnan as Conrad The Dread 100 Guns Harrigan who despite being the baddest man in the south is increasingly exasperated by his mad wife Helen Mirren.

I don’t know how much involvement Guy Ritchie had in this but it all feels like big money prestige telly crossed with Guy Ritchie and thrown in to a BBC/ITV mediocrity blender. 

[gmoney]

I couldn't stick the first episode. The cast is really unbalanced. You've got Brosnan, Mirren, Hardy, Considine, Jennings et al for the older lot and the worst drama school twats you've ever seen playing the younger ones. It also just feels very out of time. They go to an exclusive cool rave and they're playing Smack My Bitch Up? I had to check it wasn't a period piece. All that would be forgivable if the story was compelling, but it never hooked me in. I kept thinking of this Fast Show sketch, so there was one positive at least. 

 

 

 

[Mr_Danger]

I had that with the checking it was a period piece. I’m almost certain the second time they go to that club Firestarter is playing so maybe it’s a best of album.

 

[SuperBacon]

22 minutes ago, gmoney said:

I couldn't stick the first episode. The cast is really unbalanced. You've got Brosnan, Mirren, Hardy, Considine, Jennings et al for the older lot and the worst drama school twats you've ever seen playing the younger ones. It also just feels very out of time. They go to an exclusive cool rave and they're playing Smack My Bitch Up? I had to check it wasn't a period piece. All that would be forgivable if the story was compelling, but it never hooked me in. I kept thinking of this Fast Show sketch, so there was one positive at least. 

 

 

 

You mug, you muppet, you nonce, you mug.