Telly thread

[Merzbow]

On 8/13/2025 at 9:14 PM, Merzbow said:

One episode in to Alien Earth.. so far Noah Hawley has made Alien at least interesting again, I'll hold off truly calling it good until the end but yeah a very solid start.

I can confidently say this is good, there's always going to be stuff that annoys fanatics of certain films in the franchise but as a more neutral fan I'm loving it so far. Although, I'd have had an Earth based show with Hybrid Ripley and Call.

[sivy]

10 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

While I remember The Bill inside out, I really don't remember much about London's Burning either. Not sure if I ever watched it to be honest. Definitely going on my things to do list!

I remember the characters just can't remember the storylines. The bill I still watch today. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

For the Taskmaster fans amongst you, which I know there are a few, the 6th season of Taskmaster New Zealand is findable on YouTube at the minute. It's a good season, despite only knowing 1 of the contestants, and it contains some of the spawniest luck I've seen on any series of Taskmaster and a full breakdown in a task based on Is It Cake. 

[Merzbow]

On 8/21/2025 at 10:52 AM, Merzbow said:

I can confidently say this is good, there's always going to be stuff that annoys fanatics of certain films in the franchise but as a more neutral fan I'm loving it so far. Although, I'd have had an Earth based show with Hybrid Ripley and Call.

Oh fuck, that last episode is the single greatest hour of anything Alien since... well. It almost manages to be a self-contained movie while also fleshing out a major part of the first ep, some beautiful old school filming techniques too which manage not to be nostalgia bait.

[organizedkaos]

On 8/10/2025 at 8:40 PM, Dai said:

Looks a disaster, and a sure 'one season and cancelation' deal. The Office comparisons will do way more harm than good, and I dont think it has a chance of being successful.

FWIW The Paper is actually getting p good reviews and already has been picked up for a second season. Gonna give it a shot, there's certainly a place for these end of evening easy but funny shows. I do think bashing them out in 10 episode chunks (because the TV model now is all about short series) is a deteriment. Assuming it is a pleasant hang out sitcom those shows tend to do better around 25 episodes in when the writers/cast/audience all have a decent sense of the characters, their relationships and the humour that can come from that. Although those sort of shows tend to blow up around 100 episodes because there's only so many hang out stories you can tell without making everyone flanderised.

Glad to hear positive things about Alien: Earth.  Really dug the first episode, especially the aesthetic where it really felt like the original film (down to casting side characters who look pretty 70s) but without feeling dated or deliberately shonky. However it also had the feeling of a show which was going to use my desire to see Xenomorph nonsence to backdoor another "What is consciousness, what is it to be human" Sci-Fi meditative drama which I cannot be fucked with after having seen that story told too many times. (Also Noah Hawley has bad habits and it definitely had moments of Legion's worst qualities, unnecessarily artistic editing and main characters that are so effected in their manner you can't actually relate to anyone)

[SaitoRyo]

I am currently watching the 70s trucker series Movin' On on Tubi. It's about an independent, set-in-his ways trucking veteran who teams up with a younger intellectual. They never seem to actually deliver a load, as they're always getting sidetracked by some adventure with people they meet on the road. 

It's absolutely fucking class. 

[Merzbow]

14 minutes ago, organizedkaos said:

Really dug the first episode, especially the aesthetic where it really felt like the original film (down to casting side characters who look pretty 70s) but without feeling dated or deliberately shonky. However it also had the feeling of a show which was going to use my desire to see Xenomorph nonsence

Oh you'll love the latest episode then.

Spoiler

It's one hour of the Maginot ship and everything that led to it crashing, great and pretty disgusting Alien shenanigans throughout.

Personally I don't think it's gone in the philosophical route as much as it could, there's definite restraint there and likely Disney not wanting to push people away with hours of overwritten dialogue.

Edited September 4, 2025 by Merzbow

[waters44]

2 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

I am currently watching the 70s trucker series Movin' On on Tubi. It's about an independent, set-in-his ways trucking veteran who teams up with a younger intellectual. They never seem to actually deliver a load, as they're always getting sidetracked by some adventure with people they meet on the road. 

It's absolutely fucking class. 

I need this in my life. Is it only available in certain regions? I’m trying to find it on the Tubi app but no luck

[SaitoRyo]

16 minutes ago, waters44 said:

I need this in my life. Is it only available in certain regions? I’m trying to find it on the Tubi app but no luck

I'm not sure. I've only just started using Tubi, which I need a VPN to access. I have mine set to the US. 

[gmoney]

For reasons, I watched a load of Law & Order: Criminal Intent recently. I'm not that well versed on the Law & Order universe, aside from seeing a few of the Special Victims Units out of a sense of loyalty to Christopher Meloni and Ice T, and that was frankly a bit shit. Criminal Intent stars Vincent D' ONofrio (sometimes anyway, I'll get to that) and Kathryn Erbe (the woman on death row in Oz) and they form the major case squad, murders with a bit of spice about them basically. It's a bit Columbo, bit Manhunter and in the style of all the Dick Wolf shows it's light touch, flippant and everything's wrapped up by the end of the 40 minutes. It's elevated a lot by Vinny D, who puts in a shift, and apparently drove everyone nuts by being a bit meticulous and artistic. All pretty standard, but something happens halfway through the 10 season run where D' ONofrio decides he doesn't want to do it full time any more, so they draft in Chris Noth and they sort of job share? So one week it's Vincent, next week Noth and they change the credits and everything so there's two separate versions of the characters walking with chief Eric Bogosian . It's so odd. They sometimes appear in each others episodes and then they will bill them as "special guest star". Later Jeff Goldbum replaces Noth, but they keep the job share aspect. 

This isn't really a recommendation by the way, it's enjoyable (actually, there is one ep where Roy Scheider plays a serial killer that I thought was genuinely excellent) and a cut above other Dick Wolf shows, but I was more intrigued by the duel cast set up they had - can anyone think of another show that did this? 

Edited September 4, 2025 by gmoney

[SuperBacon]

A mate of mine recently finished Criminal Minds, of which there are over 350 episodes.

Even I wouldn't commit to that madness.

 

[WyattSheepMask]

Doing the Oz podcast, you quickly find out that practically everybody that ever appeared on the show, no matter how minor, has also appeared in some version of the Law & Order franchise at some point. Some had more prominent roles than others- Chris Meloni, Dean Winters, BD Wong were all leading cast members in Special Victims Unit while Kathryn Erbe (who I’ve spoken to a few times now and is absolutely lovely) was a lead in Criminal Intent, but so many turn up in supporting roles and some more than once and playing different roles even in the same arm of L&O. Dick Wolf and Tom Fontana are great friends and filming locations allowed for actors to appear in both shows quite easily.

Law & Order (and CSI until they ended it) is basically the Casualty and Holby City of US TV- if you’re a television actor in the US, there’s a good chance you’ve appeared on one of them, if not both

Edited September 4, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[DavidB6937]

Yeah, most of my Law and Order watching is just to see who pops up that I recognise. Although SVU is an absolute fucking depressing watch most of the time.

[LaGoosh]

On 9/4/2025 at 9:50 AM, organizedkaos said:

Also Noah Hawley has bad habits and it definitely had moments of Legion's worst qualities, unnecessarily artistic editing and main characters that are so effected in their manner you can't actually relate to anyone

I love Noah Hawley but definitely agree with this. He's often his own worst enemy. The guy has so many ideas that in his worst stories he just puts far too much stuff in and it get's far too smart and cute for it's own good.

I tried the Alien Earth series, got 3 episodes in but didn't really vibe with it for that reason. Far too many ideas, characters and concepts. Also there was a bit where a bloke basically chucked an alien into a bin bag which really bothered me.

[Dai]

On 9/3/2025 at 9:19 PM, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

For the Taskmaster fans amongst you, which I know there are a few, the 6th season of Taskmaster New Zealand is findable on YouTube at the minute. It's a good season, despite only knowing 1 of the contestants, and it contains some of the spawniest luck I've seen on any series of Taskmaster and a full breakdown in a task based on Is It Cake. 

The Is It Cake task is surely up there as an all timer for any Taskmaster series. Amazing stuff. They are a good bunch, as were the last lot on the Australian series. 

 

Been watching a load of comedy on iPlayer recently, and all of it falls in to the 'good to sometimes great' category:

 

- Such Brave Girls: Interesting that its actually the men that become the comedy gold in the 2nd season. Really good stuff though, with every character being great.

- Austin: Seems to have disappeared from iPlayer now, but its a fairly decent 2 seasons of comedy, and has Sally Phillips in who is always great value. 

- Here We Go: Wasnt expecting much from this but its really good. Does the cringe stuff better than most UK comedies, and is filmed in a clever way. Katherine Parkinson is always great too.

- Ghosts US: Actually far better than I was expecting. As with every sitcom you have to give it a good few episodes to establish the characters and story, but then it turns in to a perfectly solid 20 minute sitcom. 

- St Denis Medical: There is the same as Ghosts, in that towards the end its found its footing as a fairly solid sitcom. Its obviously no Office, but its nice to have a perfectly decent 20 minute sitcom that is around the 20 episode season mark. Some solid characters too in this one, so Season 2 should be even better with these sorts of things.