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

[Tom Sawyer]

Grey's Anatomy - 8/10

They are 13 seasons into this show and they still manage to deliver interesting and compelling storylines. You'd expect it be kind of stale and redundant at this point, but they're managed to keep things going quite well.

 

[Ford]

I've been watching The Polar Sea:

http://polarsea360.arte.tv/

It is focused on a few Swedes taking a small sail boat through the Northwest Passage, but takes several side trips to tell the stories of the locals, a wealthy family making the same trip on a catamaran, and a cruise ship delivering old, rich folks on the same path.

The show highlights the impact of climate change on the region. Interestingly enough, many of the negative reviews on Netflix complain about how often the series mentions climate change. Go figure.

 

[bigfield]

Rake

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/rake/

 

[Underseer]

The Inhumans is still yawn-worthy, but at least some of the banter is getting better. Still very much on par with that SHIELD show, which is to say neither particularly good nor particularly bad nor particularly interesting.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Mindhunter on Netflix Wow/wee!

Watched the first two episodes last night. So far it's good, very good. It takes place in 1977 and is about the psychology of the criminal mind. Not just any criminal mind but the worst of the worst. Two FBI agents, one an instructor of hostage negotiations and the other working in behavior science are traipsing across the country educating local law enforcement and interviewing one messed up individual at the state prison in Vacaville, CA.
The writing and the characters are excellent. It's a bit in your face (I prefer my graphic violence inferred) but not unnecessarily so.

 

[RavenSky]

Mindhunter on Netflix Wow/wee!

Watched the first two episodes last night. So far it's good, very good. It takes place in 1977 and is about the psychology of the criminal mind. Not just any criminal mind but the worst of the worst. Two FBI agents, one an instructor of hostage negotiations and the other working in behavior science are traipsing across the country educating local law enforcement and interviewing one messed up individual at the state prison in Vacaville, CA.
The writing and the characters are excellent. It's a bit in your face (I prefer my graphic violence inferred) but not unnecessarily so.

How ironic - I just started watching this yesterday morning. I have watched through episode 6 so far, and I agree that it is very good.

 

[Patooka]

Rake

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/rake/

Great show. Definitely looking forward to season 5.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Matador (1978) 10/10

I'm trying to learn Danish, so I'm watching a famous (in Denmark) Danish TV series from the 70'ies. Fuck me backwards it's good.

It's a period piece that starts in 1929. Every episode is a year, and it's 24 episodes. So it burns right through world war 2. So it's not only about the war. It's not eve mostly about the war. It's more about the shift from agrarian Denmark to industrial Denmark. The main character is Denmark itself, and the village of Korsbæk.

The writing is phenomenal. I haven't seen this degree of well crafted dialogue since films from the 1950'ies. It's pure art. Every person in the series is an archetype. So they're both talking as people, and representatives from their social class and station. Acting is top notch. the contrasts between working class and middle-class homes is well made.

I highly recommend this. I'm watching it in Danish, untexted. But it's probably available with text somewhere. It's so fucking good, I'd be amazed if it wasn't. It's also weird that this hasn't been done more. In Sweden there's a similar series of books (City of My Dreams) about Stockholm. Also as iconic for the Swedes. Matador, is without exception, the most famous TV series in Denmark.

 

[Underseer]

Matador (1978) 10/10

I'm trying to learn Danish, so I'm watching a famous (in Denmark) Danish TV series from the 70'ies. Fuck me backwards it's good.

It's a period piece that starts in 1929. Every episode is a year, and it's 24 episodes. So it burns right through world war 2. So it's not only about the war. It's not eve mostly about the war. It's more about the shift from agrarian Denmark to industrial Denmark. The main character is Denmark itself, and the village of Korsbæk.

The writing is phenomenal. I haven't seen this degree of well crafted dialogue since films from the 1950'ies. It's pure art. Every person in the series is an archetype. So they're both talking as people, and representatives from their social class and station. Acting is top notch. the contrasts between working class and middle-class homes is well made.

I highly recommend this. I'm watching it in Danish, untexted. But it's probably available with text somewhere. It's so fucking good, I'd be amazed if it wasn't. It's also weird that this hasn't been done more. In Sweden there's a similar series of books (City of My Dreams) about Stockholm. Also as iconic for the Swedes. Matador, is without exception, the most famous TV series in Denmark.

But do you have to put porridge in your mouth to understand it?

Or is that only to speak Danish?

 

[DrZoidberg]

Matador (1978) 10/10

I'm trying to learn Danish, so I'm watching a famous (in Denmark) Danish TV series from the 70'ies. Fuck me backwards it's good.

It's a period piece that starts in 1929. Every episode is a year, and it's 24 episodes. So it burns right through world war 2. So it's not only about the war. It's not eve mostly about the war. It's more about the shift from agrarian Denmark to industrial Denmark. The main character is Denmark itself, and the village of Korsbæk.

The writing is phenomenal. I haven't seen this degree of well crafted dialogue since films from the 1950'ies. It's pure art. Every person in the series is an archetype. So they're both talking as people, and representatives from their social class and station. Acting is top notch. the contrasts between working class and middle-class homes is well made.

I highly recommend this. I'm watching it in Danish, untexted. But it's probably available with text somewhere. It's so fucking good, I'd be amazed if it wasn't. It's also weird that this hasn't been done more. In Sweden there's a similar series of books (City of My Dreams) about Stockholm. Also as iconic for the Swedes. Matador, is without exception, the most famous TV series in Denmark.

But do you have to put porridge in your mouth to understand it?

Or is that only to speak Danish?

Porridge in your ears?

That's a joke that people here keep telling over and over and over, as if it's funny. I didn't get it the first time. If you understand other Scandinavian languages you can figure out the other ones. But Danish is the hardest. Because they hardly enunciate at all. It's just one long stream of guttural throat utterances.

Technically Scandinavia has one language, Scandinavian, or Norse. Each country just talks dialects of that same language. They really are very similar. The problem with Danish is figuring out where words start or end. Sometimes they can't be bothered to pronounce any of the consonants at all. The Danish word for week is pronounced "Oooo". Guess where the consonant is supposed to be?

 

[TV and credit cards]

Well, I finished Mindhunters on Netflix. It took some effort to refrain from watching the season in one sitting. It is on par with season one of True Crime. It's that good. If there's a fault, it's in the development of Bill Tench's family. They present a somewhat intriguing storyline here but devote insufficient time to it. Aside from that, the attention to detail is excellent. Bill and Holden's unit chief, Shepard is a good example. He conducts himself the way a person in such a position of leadership would. I can not think of another example on TV where a person in an upper level management position is portrayed as accurately.
I wonder how much Charlize Theron's fingerprints are on this. The attention to detail reminds me of that in her role in the movie Monster.
There is a season two. Here's to hoping it doesn't follow True Crime's path.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Jessica Jones / Luke Cage / Daredevil (Season One) - Well into the series now. The shows are really getting to the point of introducing mad hangers at the end of episodes, making me want to watch more, but I'm trying not to binge (binging at this point in my life is watching two episodes in a day). These shows are too good to binge. The main bad guy in Jessica Jones worried me, but the writers have done an excellent job with him (as has the actor). Luke Cage is great and does a excellent job making a show about an indestructible guy compelling (umm... Superman writers might want to check into this). Daredevil still has the slight issue of the non-indestructible guy pretty much being able to handle most sorts of damage without it affecting him negatively enough, yes it does effect him, but not by enough.

3.5 of 4

 

[Playball40]

Jessica Jones / Luke Cage / Daredevil (Season One) - Well into the series now. The shows are really getting to the point of introducing mad hangers at the end of episodes, making me want to watch more, but I'm trying not to binge (binging at this point in my life is watching two episodes in a day). These shows are too good to binge. The main bad guy in Jessica Jones worried me, but the writers have done an excellent job with him (as has the actor). Luke Cage is great and does a excellent job making a show about an indestructible guy compelling (umm... Superman writers might want to check into this). Daredevil still has the slight issue of the non-indestructible guy pretty much being able to handle most sorts of damage without it affecting him negatively enough, yes it does effect him, but not by enough.

3.5 of 4

Surely you jest! David Tennant is the best thing about JJ! Why would that worry you?

 

[Shadowy Man]

I just finished the first season of Gotham. I'd give it an 8/10. I had held off from watching this for a while, but I've enjoyed it a lot. The characters are pretty intriguing and reasonably well fleshed out and it's interesting to see how the villains develop. Aside from a single scene that was so over the top I nearly stopped watching, it's been a good ride. I look forward to seeing how they develop the story in the following seasons.

 

[James Brown]

Because I don't have HBO, I'm a year behind the rest of the internet when it comes to Game of Thrones. So I just finished watching Season Six. Holy Smokes, the Battle of the Bastards was epic.

I fully expected the closing credits to read, "With great regret we announce that a whole mess of extras and horses were maimed and killed during filming."

 

[KeepTalking]

I just finished the first season of Gotham. I'd give it an 8/10. I had held off from watching this for a while, but I've enjoyed it a lot. The characters are pretty intriguing and reasonably well fleshed out and it's interesting to see how the villains develop. Aside from a single scene that was so over the top I nearly stopped watching, it's been a good ride. I look forward to seeing how they develop the story in the following seasons.

The first season of Gotham was the sane season, since then when given any set of options for moving forward, they seem to have gone with "batshit insane". The craziest part, however, is that it works. It just gets better and better, the more over the top it gets. So, if the over the top bits have put you off, the rest of the series might not be for you. On the other hand, if you are strapped in and prepared for an insane ride through the Batman mythology, you just might enjoy it. I know I have.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Jessica Jones / Luke Cage / Daredevil (Season One) - Well into the series now. The shows are really getting to the point of introducing mad hangers at the end of episodes, making me want to watch more, but I'm trying not to binge (binging at this point in my life is watching two episodes in a day). These shows are too good to binge. The main bad guy in Jessica Jones worried me, but the writers have done an excellent job with him (as has the actor). Luke Cage is great and does a excellent job making a show about an indestructible guy compelling (umm... Superman writers might want to check into this). Daredevil still has the slight issue of the non-indestructible guy pretty much being able to handle most sorts of damage without it affecting him negatively enough, yes it does effect him, but not by enough.

3.5 of 4

Surely you jest! David Tennant is the best thing about JJ! Why would that worry you?

I have seen nothing with Tennant in it (other than Harry Potter).

 

[Shadowy Man]

I just finished the first season of Gotham. I'd give it an 8/10. I had held off from watching this for a while, but I've enjoyed it a lot. The characters are pretty intriguing and reasonably well fleshed out and it's interesting to see how the villains develop. Aside from a single scene that was so over the top I nearly stopped watching, it's been a good ride. I look forward to seeing how they develop the story in the following seasons.

The first season of Gotham was the sane season, since then when given any set of options for moving forward, they seem to have gone with "batshit insane". The craziest part, however, is that it works. It just gets better and better, the more over the top it gets. So, if the over the top bits have put you off, the rest of the series might not be for you. On the other hand, if you are strapped in and prepared for an insane ride through the Batman mythology, you just might enjoy it. I know I have.

The over the top moment that got to me was:

Show

Fish Mooney spooning out her own eye.

Nothing else has particularly bothered me as much as that particular moment.

 

[KeepTalking]

The first season of Gotham was the sane season, since then when given any set of options for moving forward, they seem to have gone with "batshit insane". The craziest part, however, is that it works. It just gets better and better, the more over the top it gets. So, if the over the top bits have put you off, the rest of the series might not be for you. On the other hand, if you are strapped in and prepared for an insane ride through the Batman mythology, you just might enjoy it. I know I have.

The over the top moment that got to me was:

Show

Fish Mooney spooning out her own eye.

Nothing else has particularly bothered me as much as that particular moment.

If you thought that was over the top, you ain't seen nothin' yet, just keep watching.

 

[Shake]

Grey's Anatomy - 8/10

They are 13 seasons into this show and they still manage to deliver interesting and compelling storylines. You'd expect it be kind of stale and redundant at this point, but they're managed to keep things going quite well.

I lost interest early in season 2, I think it was. I felt it was getting stale back then. Any time I've checked back in this was confirmed to me. Just seems very soap-ish.