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Anyone Watching A Good Tv Show?


AVFCforever1991

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bingewatched and now caught up with The Good Place. Why couldn't I have paced it out :(  Was impressed with how they developed the idea, and whilst I'm unsure if the direction for series 3 would work out I did really love the Cheers reference. :)

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On 4/10/2018 at 14:16, BOF said:

I watched the pilot for "The Blacklist" last night, as the premise sounded intriguing.  Hopefully it's worth sticking with (thoughts anyone?)

I like it. Its a 'comfortable' show now, lacks the energy it had in the first couple of series but still a decent easy watch. Spader is ace though. 

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1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

Finally catching up with Homeland. We watched the first three series when they were broadcast. Now halfway through s4 and really enjoying it. 

Series 4 is the best other than the first one, the way it builds up after halfway is fantastic.  I had to give up after a couple of episodes of the latest series but may go back to it when I'm in the mood.

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44 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

Series 4 is the best other than the first one, the way it builds up after halfway is fantastic.  I had to give up after a couple of episodes of the latest series but may go back to it when I'm in the mood.

I've stuck with it over the numerous seasons and I'm up to date, but I find it increasingly annoying and am starting to think I don't care who 'wins'. Not a good sign.

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On 4/10/2018 at 11:46, BOF said:

I have a very low tolerance for glorification and normalisation of America's use of black sites, torture and of its methods in general, so if it becomes a celebration of their secret services being absolute shit heads then I won't be hanging around.

I can't stomach any American TV show based on foreign policy, terrorism, etc. They're rife with one dimensional stereotyping and blatant propaganda used to justify criminality and massive human rights abuses. Count me out as well.

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I've been meaning to read The City and The City for ages, China Mieville's weird noir thriller that won some awards when it came out about 10 years ago. I've read some Mieville, and I always end up thinking things are far too long winded and occasionally too weird for it's own good... But I still kinda like them. Despite not reading it I know what the book is about though, its one of those books that gets talked about when people talk about hidden gems of sci fi and fantasy and you always get the same 1 line summary. The City and the City is less weird than his other stuff, less fantasy based. It deals with vaguely Eastern European twinned cities, where the city's literally inhabit the same space and the citizens of each are trained to ignore the other. A woman is found murdered which questions this bizarre arrangement.

I'm amazed anyone even tried to adapt it. The central conceit, to my mind, is one of those things that works on the page and doesn't translate to reality very well. So I was surprised the Beeb has given it a crack.

The first episode bizarrely reminded of a radio play. It has lots of the techniques of a radio adaptation scene setting - a voiceover dripping in exposition, lots of audio clues to the weird arrangement the story sets itself in. The acting has that slightly overly earnest slightly over done quality of radio plays as well. And it looks a little cheap. But it surprisingly works. You have to go with the concept, and if you fight the concept I think the whole thing would collapse like a house of cards in seconds. They have been fairly clever in dealing with the idea that there are 2 cities intermingled and separate, taking an idea that just about works in your head and realising it simply, and also carefully dodging around it, certainly in the first episode anyway. 

I'm intrigued to see where it goes. I'm interested to see if it continues to park with the idea that formed it. Mieville obviously based the book on the idea that every city has an underbelly that goes unseen - homelessness, crime, the darker and more sinister elements of modern life that everyone knows are there but ignores - and has taken the idea to an extreme. I'm intrigued to see if the story extrapolates the idea further.

Worth a watch if the idea grabs you, avoid like the plague if the idea sounds daft. I think the whole thing is on the iPlayer as well if it hooks you.

Edited by Chindie
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3 hours ago, maqroll said:

I can't stomach any American TV show based on foreign policy, terrorism, etc. They're rife with one dimensional stereotyping and blatant propaganda used to justify criminality and massive human rights abuses. Count me out as well.

It hasn't happened yet, so it's still an 'if' :)

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10 hours ago, maqroll said:

I can't stomach any American TV show based on foreign policy, terrorism, etc. They're rife with one dimensional stereotyping and blatant propaganda used to justify criminality and massive human rights abuses. Count me out as well.

Baddies from durkadurkastan 

Edited by villa4europe
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12 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Finally catching up with Homeland. We watched the first three series when they were broadcast. Now halfway through s4 and really enjoying it. 

I watched up to end of season 3, season 3 was dreadful. I stopped there 

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Yeah it's a shame that S4 of Homeland was apparently so good, but it followed Season 3 which was quite shit.

I imagine a lot of people stopped watching after S3, myself included.

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I barely made it to the end of series 1. Thought it was a load of cobblers with some utterly atrocious acting (Patinkin aside).

Although my dislike of Damien Lewis probably didn't help.

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I made it through S4 of Homeland on pure determination and lack of other things to watch.

Gave S5 2 or 3 episodes and have not watched it since.

I really liked S1, but the decline from there is steep.

Anyone watched the Israeli series "Hatufim" or "Prisoners of War" as it also called that Homeland is based on?

Edited by sne
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3 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

I barely made it to the end of series 1. Thought it was a load of cobblers with some utterly atrocious acting (Patinkin aside).

Although my dislike of Damien Lewis probably didn't help.

 

My favourite bit, although it may be a bit of a spoiler, was when he 

Spoiler

confronted the guy who killed his Father and prepared him to die.

 

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Well, I really like Homeland, despite the huge doses of implausibility. And I don't think it's gung-ho U.S. propaganda. The 'bad guys' are not shown as any better, or worse than the CIA. In fact the overarching theme seems to be the complete lack of moral compass in the whole dirty espionage world. 

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