What TV are you watching and how would you rate it? [Revive from FRDB]

[unapologetic]

First Television Broadcast NBC/RCA July 7, 1936 - 1/10
This was before video TAPE. So the actual vidio was not saved. We are seeing it here as FILMED from a film camera in the back of the room. The LIVE VIDEO camera is in front blocking our view.
Part 1) 20 min. (BORING)

part 2) 25 min. (BORING)

my rateing is 1/10, but it's historic.
NBC/RCA were RADIO broadcasters, so their experiance with filming anything was lame.

 

[Patooka]

The US version is too snarky for me.

In the UK they call that irony.

In Australia, saying the US version of HIGNFY is more snarky is pretty fucking wild. Ian Hilsop almost punched on with piers fucking morgan for fucks sake.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

That was funny, but it's a direct descendant of Dara O'Briain's Mock the Week, which was funnier.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Task HBO Crime

I'm only two episodes in. Looks like HBO did it again. Story's looking really good. It only lists seven episodes. Seven episodes is a crime in itself. It may still be running though.

 

[Swammerdami]

The Diplomat Season 1 got rave reviews. It was a fun political thriller. I posted about it 2½ years ago.
(2½ years ago!!! I guess time flies when you're having fun.)

I'm watching The Diplomat on Netflix. I love it! The lead is Keri Russell, who starred on The Americans.

Lots of series have been made about White House or other high U.S. office. West Wing was good, but took itself a bit too seriously. Some of the other shows were almost just slapstick. The Diplomat is a perfect compromise. Cerebral and humorous. Enjoy!

Yes. Liked the Night Agent. Well done show. Now watching The Diplomat. Very good

Hehe. I, too, moved on to The Diplomat. Enjoying it so far.

The Diplomat.

It's great! There are eight episodes so far. I binged them, which is rare for me. What's unheard of is that my wife binged them with me and we sometimes watched more than one episode a night.

Just watched episode 1. It depicted serious events in a serious tone, but also caused me to burst out laughing several times. So far, well written and acted; we’re looking forward to episode 2, hopefully tonight.

I think I was the only one to comment on Season 2:

But I was disappointed with The Diplomat Season 2.
... Another disappointment was that it almost "Jumped the Shark." I'm sure there was much in Season 1 that was implausible, but that helped the fun and the humor. For me, the twists in Season 2 just jerked the story too much. Of course I want to watch Season 3, but I'm not nearly as eager for it as I was for Season 2.

Season 3 is now available. (The actors playing Josh Lyman and C.J. Cregg from Bartlett's West Wing appear in some episodes. Spoiler:they are Potus and First Lady.)

I loved the political thriller of Season 1 with its elegant humor. But by Season 3 this show has degenerated into almost an X-rated situation-comedy with zero comedy. And with occasional detours into marital counseling. Ugh! I still enjoy it, but it does NOT (and perhaps COULD not) live up to its initial promise.

(Surely there are other Diplomat viewers here. Am I wrong?)

OR ... Do the cliff-hangers in the final five minutes of the final S3 episode save the series for another season? !!!!

 

[Shadowy Man]

I’m only on ep3 of diplomat season 3. Still enjoying songs but i agree it seems the plot is drifting.

 

[Swammerdami]

I watched Season 1 of The Sinner and have just started Season 2. Each Season is a different case, with a smart, compassionate and troubled detective as the recurring character. Dozens of witnesses and the viewer see the murder in Episode 1, so it is more of a Whydunnit than a Whodunnit. Wikipedia calls it "an American police procedural anthology television series" but I might describe it as "a low-keyed detective/psychology drama with a touch of noir." This suits my taste; others may enjoy it less. By "low-keyed" I mean it presents its story calmly without excess thrills or excitement.

A critical consensus shows "Smartly unpredictable and led by powerful performances from a talented cast, the darkly compelling The Sinner sinks its hooks in fast and doesn't let go." It gets 7.8 IMDB and 92% Tomatoes: -- Slightly too high perhaps, but it's still one of the best series I've watched for a while.

 

[Swammerdami]

Something that annoys me slightly about The Sinner and about some other films these days is a plethora of brief flash-backs. The female lead in Season 1 is always hand-cuffed in the present, so when she appears without handcuffs I deduce it's a flashback. I'm sure it's a clever way to tell a complex story and to build suspense, but I prefer a simple chronological narrative. (I was reminded of this complaint just now, watching S2E2.)

Looking at my list of very favorite movies, I see that almost NONE of them have any flashbacks at all! Casablanca has one very long flashback (to two lovers in Paris) but that back-story is VERY clearly delineated. Amadeus is presented as almost all a long flashback by a very old Salieri but that "flashback" is all in order, and never jumps back to the "present". With a very small number of exceptions similar to these, All my favorite movies use no flash-backs at all! Even Deja Vu, a time-travel movie, is presented in the protagonist's perceived chronological order.