Telly thread

[SuperBacon]

3 hours ago, Dai said:

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.

Felt the second series wasn't nearly as good as the first, but still a level above most other new comedies.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

New Taskmaster from last night. Not a bad start for the new line up. 

[Mr_Danger]

Cold Water. The clue that this is going to be shit is in the ‘ITV Drama’ tag but I thought I’d give it a go because I’ll always have a soft spot for Andrew Lincoln, Indira Varma is always good and it has Spud being mental in it. I’ve sat through Andrew Lincoln performing some of the worse writing ever committed to big budget small screen in The Walking Dead but by god this makes that look like Shakespeare. His performance of an emasculated stay at home dad suffering with ptsd comes across as Frank Spencer doing the cowardly lion.  Some genuinely unintentionally laugh out loud lines in the first episode. I lasted two episodes. I might dip back in. I hate myself.

 

[Dai]

New series of Taskmaster has been pretty good. The last episode had the senses challenge, and also Reece's Mary Poppins sketch, which were everything you love about Taskmaster. Classic stuff. Sanjeev will be one of the worst contestants ever, and not in a really funny way. He seems like he has no idea what is going on for most of the tasks. A shame. 

After watching every Australia and New Zealand one, I think Im now of the opinion that both of the Taskmasters of those series are way better than Greg, and that they should try someone new in the chair to freshen up the studio aspect, which is starting to get a bit dull. The Down Under Taskmasters seem to give a lot more to the contestants, so you get to know them alot more and quicker compared to the UK one, where alot of the time it feels like the Greg show and everyone else is there to support his act. A change there would freshen the show up just enough.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I don't think you could change the taskmaster Dai, and if it was tried the backlash would be so severe that it wouldn't be worth it. I also think that changing the cast each season freshens the show up enough. There is always someone on the panel you don't know a lot about and they usually turn out to be incredible. The Antipodean Taskmasters are very good, as are the assistants. I love Paul Williams and the look on his face during Jack Ansett's party trick task was priceless. He was genuinely angry and trying so hard not to show it. 

[Carbomb]

Last year, I discovered on BBC Sounds a beautifully-read radio audiobook rendition of Edgar Wallace's The Mind of JG Reeder, and really liked the premise. Essentially, Reeder is a classic British version of a noir private eye - he's middle-aged, old-fashioned, extremely self-effacing, awkward, does the classic bowler hat, pinstriped trousers, black jacket, umbrella, and briefcase combo, and has, in his own words "the mind of a criminal", which makes him really effective in dealing with crime. Everybody underestimates him until it's too late.

I was pleased to find out that there's a series of it from the late 60s - Reeder is played by Hugh Burden. There are some appearances from some recognisable British character actors from that era, plus a young Edward Fox. It's all terribly, terribly British, and a ton of fun.

I've mainly been watching it on Youtube, but I plan to get a copy of the DVD.

[Mr_Danger]

I finished Cold Water. If you need anymore hints to its overall quality I noticed that in the tv guide blurb it was being billed as ‘darkly comedic’. Now nowhere in any of the promotional materials for it was humour ever hinted at and it’s definitely not deliberate.

Black Rabbit. A watchable yet flawed limited series about Jude Law and him bum brother Jason Bateman trying to scheme their way out of trouble but always making things worse. Outside of Law, Bateman and the dad from Coda there’s nobody decent in it and the main two lads are both too self obsessed to root for.

[gmoney]

Been watching Task, the Mark Ruffalo cop drama, not some terrible shorthand for Taskmaster. He's an ex priest turned FBI agent with some complicated family issues, to say the least. He's put in charge of a task force investigating drug murders and a kidnapping of a child. Set in in rural Philadelphia, featuring biker gangs and binmen. It's a slow burn, but up to episode three now and the heat is really starting to pick up. A good time, especially if you like Mark Ruffalo. 

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

I started Cold Water and after the 2nd episode I was kinda intrigued with it but, by the 3rd episode I was done, nobody comes across as likeable in it

[Merzbow]

Slow Horses is back and in a very timely manner is going down the right wing white supremacist political route from the off. The season as a whole isn't getting the same love as previously though and I can already start to see why from episode one, mainly from the comedy not hitting half as well as usual.

[Mr_Danger]

Wayward. Copper Mae Martin and their preggo wife move to the preggo wife’s home town where Toni Collette runs a school for wayward teens and all is not what it seems. HBO premise and CW execution. Starts off really promising but some of the writing is just outright lazy and repetitive. Toni Collette obviously plays a nutter really well but Mae Martin has no range and is not very good. A pretty easy watch but a lot of wasted potential in this show.

[waters44]

A TV channel called U&Eden (I’m not making that up) have put up the first two series of Later with Jools Holland. I’m having a good time watching some PJ Harvey and Alice In Chains

[FLips]

The latest season of South Park has been a true return to form now they’re finally out of that seemingly neverending Randy Marsh Tegridy Farms phase.
The last two episodes, about Tarrifs on Labubus and a bet about whether Kyle’s Mom will bomb a hospital in Gaza have been some of the best they’ve done in a long time. 
Donald Trump replacing Saddam Hussein almost verbatim has been a small stroke of genius too, refreshing what sadly is the exact same character somehow.

[Jazzy G]

The new Partridge series is pretty good. The thing with the jetsuit was brilliant, and all the little bits where people will call him a wanker or tell him to fuck off. There are probably loads of stuff I missed because I'm not completely au fait with Partridge. Katherine Kelly is good as his girlfriend as well. 

[CTXRussomark]

We binged (most of) the new Monster: Ed Gein series on Netflix yesterday.  It's the follow on from the previous Monster seasons covering Dahmer (which got mixed reviews but I really enjoyed) and the Menendez brothers (which was alright) and given how the subject influenced so many horror movies over the years you'd assume there's a great story to tell, but fuck me was this a chore to watch.  It quickly becomes apparent that there's not an awful lot to Gein's story in of itself so they pad the whole thing (EIGHT hour long episodes that could have probably fit into half of that) with subplots about nazis and flashforwards about the movies he subsequently influenced.  We actually gave up half way through episode 7 as it already felt like they'd run out of story and it was getting late.  Might go back and finish it just for completeness, but I definitely wouldn't recommend.