TV worth watching

[The Silly Swede]

Slow horses I took a weeks free trial on apple tv+ just to watch this. Almost worth its hype. The first 3 episodes are absolute top notch, but sadly they get to focused on solving the rather uninteresting plot during the last 3 episodes instead of focusing on the characters that made the first parts so fun.

Still great, and one of the few of these new hyped Tv-series that is actually somewhat worthy of its hype.

[Dom D]

Cheers for the recommendation on Tokyo Vice. I've scrolled past the poster for it on the Paramount+ service a few times and never stopped to watch the trailer. Looks good, I'll get into it. I've been cursing the Our Flags Means Death program. I wasn't really on it's wavelength but more annoyingly, for years I've been dicking around with a kids novel about Bonnet and now even if I ever did finish it- admittedly unlikely- it would feel old hat.

[FnordChan]

Our Flag Means Death - This period romantic comedy plays rather like What We Do In The Shadows, except with vampires swapped for pirates, so I was unsurprised to realize that it was not only produced by Taika Watiti but he also stars in it as Blackbeard, which is just as great as it sounds. Given his involvement, I was also unsurprised to see that the show is charming and delightful. What I was surprised about was to get a show about Stede “The Gentleman Pirate” Bonnet, being played with flamboyant panache by Rhys Darby. Oh, and it’s cheerfully queer as the day is long, which is a nice change of pace. Certainly recommended, especially to What We Do In The Shadows fans, which should be everyone.

Tokyo Vice - I’ve been meaning to read the memoir the show is loosely based on for ages but thankfully I put it off long enough that it was finally produced into a TV series so I could just watch that instead. And, given that it’s produced by Michael Mann (who also directed the first episode), I didn’t take much convincing to give this a shot. Set in the late 90s, it’s about a young guy (played with a painful amount of earnest fumbling by Ansel “Baby” Elgort) who becomes the first Westerner to be a reporter for a prestigous Japanese newspaper. He starts out on the crime beat and immediately stumbles into yakuza politics, cop politics (featuring an awesomely gruff Ken Watanabe as a grizzled detective), hostess club politics, and a lot of exploration of how things work in Japanese society interspersed with plenty of sex and violence to keep it interesting. I loved it and am hoping we get a second season before long. Who knows, I may even finally get around to reading the book at some point.

Finally, I second the recommendation earlier in the thread for Reacher. I’d read the novel it was based on, Killing Floor by Lee Child, and from what I can remember the show follows it pretty damn closely. It also scores a great coup by casting Alan Ritchman, someone who actually looks the way Reacher is described in the novels and who is obviously having a great time playing a hulking beast of a man who is smarter than most of the locals he interacts with in the tiny Georgia town he wanders into. The show also introducd me to Willa Fitzgerald, who is terrific as the local cop he works with on the case, plus very pleasant to oggle. I’m hoping they continue right on with adapting the novels in publicaton order from here and am looking forward to more of Reacher wandering into town like Yojimbo and just wrecking dudes.

[Dom D]

not sure if i will watch a second season of this.

as much as i disliked the Billy character's occasional singing i thought the bit in the bank with Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" was pretty funny

If there is a second season. Broln is super non-committal, whining about long days, tough location and big egos. It's an interesting stance to take given this was clearly meant to have a season 2. There's not a lot of resolution at the end of season 1 which wound up being more opaque than I expected. I'd probably watch a second.

[Dom D]

Then there's The Offer. A 10 part series about the making of The Godfather with Miles Teller as Al Ruddy. I've only watched the first episode. Going in I was thinking, how are they going to stretch this out for ten episodes? I was then surprised that it starts before the books even written. Ah okay, I figure, so we have some ground to cover. Not so. By the end of the episode the books a smash hit, there's a picture deal signed, Ruddy is producing, Coppola is on board to direct and the mafia is planning protests in the background. Well fuck me. If they're moving at that sort of pace episode two should finish with Coppola receiving the Oscar for the Godfather Part 2. Everything is very easy in this show so far. Got me thinking they would have been better off making a Bob Evans tv show. Each week Bob Evans wheels and deals and shags. I'd watch that. I'm not sure I'll watch this.

Wow I was wrong twice in one post. First by not recommending Super Pumped and then by not singing the praises of The Offer. I maintain the first episode is pretty dodgy. Maybe they watched they the pilot and realised they were off course on this one. After the first episode this gets really good. If you have any interest in the Godfather at all I highly recommend. It's a cracking tale full of big characters.

[JLG]

Outer Range: People keep invoking Lynch and twin Peaks when talking about this show. I guess that's everyones go to when things start to feel surreal. I'm 6 episodes in right now though and I suspect everything in this show is going to have an explanation. Nothing feels psychological. It's more like Dark. Yellowstone meets Dark. I'm on the fence leaning towards the disappointed side. Good cast. Fun concept. The execution is frustrating in the way that doles out information. I have a feeling the final reveal is going to be disappointing so I want to get there faster and get it over with. Still it's got Josh Brolin on a horse. Gotta count for something.

not sure if i will watch a second season of this.

as much as i disliked the Billy character's occasional singing i thought the bit in the bank with Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" was pretty funny

[Dom D]

Outer Range: People keep invoking Lynch and twin Peaks when talking about this show. I guess that's everyones go to when things start to feel surreal. I'm 6 episodes in right now though and I suspect everything in this show is going to have an explanation. Nothing feels psychological. It's more like Dark. Yellowstone meets Dark. I'm on the fence leaning towards the disappointed side. Good cast. Fun concept. The execution is frustrating in the way that doles out information. I have a feeling the final reveal is going to be disappointing so I want to get there faster and get it over with. Still it's got Josh Brolin on a horse. Gotta count for something.

[Dom D]

Lastly there's Super Pumped. Fuck there's a lot of these shows at the moment about companies that are still operating. Tried to watch We Crash recently and couldn't do it. This show though is made by the Billions guys so you go in expecting it to be smarter and better written than the rest of the pack. It is, but... I'm not sure I can get passionate about a show about Uber. We already know the outcome. They overturn the taxi industry worldwide and then go nuts exploiting pretty much everyone with Uber Eats. Anyway, the guys making it were obviously huge fans of The Wolf Of Wall Sreet. Lots of scenes of Joseph Gordon Levitt shouting inspiration at his staff like Leo. He never goes full nuts like Leo but he gets right to the brink. WOWS had amazing energy. Not sure you can sustain that for a tv series. Oddly Tarantino pops up every 10 minutes or so for a bit of voice over narration that plays out like the STIGLITZ bit in Inglorious Basterds. Large, comicy text included. It's an odd creative choice but apparently QT is a big Billions fan. Aren't we all?

Actually after a ropey first episode this gets really good. Stands out from the We Crashed pack by feeling very heavily researched. I'm kind of stunned the lawsuits aren't flying over this show. It portrays a lot of very powerful people in a very poor light. Some of those individuals have a net worth higher than all of Paramounts if they wanted to go them in court. Highly recommended.

[Dom D]

After years of being the streaming service you went to when you wanted to watch old episodes of Melrose Place, Paramount had suddenly decided that they want to be a player. They've pumped out least 4 big series very quickly. They are kind of late to the game however and I'm not sure anyone is signed up to watch them. First they had their Halo series about which the less said the better. Then there's a new Star Trek.

The new Star Trek is for everyone who's watched Picard and Discovery and said "can't you just do more Next Generation?" The first episode could not have been more Next Generation if they tried (well I guess they did try). Like next generation it's all very cozy, with characterisation not needing to go any further than job titles on the ship and playing out a simple morality tale that ties up very easily. There's some sex stuff with Spock at the start that's out of character but I i can't imagine the show will circle back that way any time soon. It seems to be making people happy.

Then there's The Offer. A 10 part series about the making of The Godfather with Miles Teller as Al Ruddy. I've only watched the first episode. Going in I was thinking, how are they going to stretch this out for ten episodes? I was then surprised that it starts before the books even written. Ah okay, I figure, so we have some ground to cover. Not so. By the end of the episode the books a smash hit, there's a picture deal signed, Ruddy is producing, Coppola is on board to direct and the mafia is planning protests in the background. Well fuck me. If they're moving at that sort of pace episode two should finish with Coppola receiving the Oscar for the Godfather Part 2. Everything is very easy in this show so far. Got me thinking they would have been better off making a Bob Evans tv show. Each week Bob Evans wheels and deals and shags. I'd watch that. I'm not sure I'll watch this.

Lastly there's Super Pumped. Fuck there's a lot of these shows at the moment about companies that are still operating. Tried to watch We Crash recently and couldn't do it. This show though is made by the Billions guys so you go in expecting it to be smarter and better written than the rest of the pack. It is, but... I'm not sure I can get passionate about a show about Uber. We already know the outcome. They overturn the taxi industry worldwide and then go nuts exploiting pretty much everyone with Uber Eats. Anyway, the guys making it were obviously huge fans of The Wolf Of Wall Sreet. Lots of scenes of Joseph Gordon Levitt shouting inspiration at his staff like Leo. He never goes full nuts like Leo but he gets right to the brink. WOWS had amazing energy. Not sure you can sustain that for a tv series. Oddly Tarantino pops up every 10 minutes or so for a bit of voice over narration that plays out like the STIGLITZ bit in Inglorious Basterds. Large, comicy text included. It's an odd creative choice but apparently QT is a big Billions fan. Aren't we all?

[The Silly Swede]

Outlaws: I believe this played on British TV a little while back but it just dropped this month for the rest of us on Prime. We knocked it over in a few nights and its great fun. Don't really expect to see Merchant comedy mixing with gangsters and Christopher Walken but it turns out to be be a good mix.

Saw this over the weekend. It was all right. A bit overlong and very predictable, but as usual the presense of Christopher Walken makes it totally worth it. One of the few actors I can watch in just about anything, along with another one of my favourites Richard E Grant, who does a guest starrer in this.

[JLG]

started watching Anna yesterday. watched two episodes and enjoying it so far.

not a funny show but had a nice funny moment in the first episode immediately after thinking "no way that short kid made it up the stairs first!"

[Dom D]

Maybe all these years of lockdown has permanently damaged my taste but I'm loving Shining Vale at the moment. A while back there was that very strange The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window that was seemingly a send-up of a particular brand of chick lit but was so dry it could forget that it was a comedy for half an hour at a time. This is in the same vein. It's a homage/sendup of The Shining that wants to be a horror movie as well as be funny. Courtney Cox has moved into a big scary house with her family after she boned the handyman which necessitates the move. She's blocked on a book and lets herself be possessed by the bored housewife demon that lives in the house in order to get some pages written.

It's my favourite comedy at the moment. It will play entire scenes from The Shining verbatim for minutes at a time which seems cheeky as fuck but having Cox running Nicholson dialogue at Greg Kinnear is just funny. I think so anyway. You mileage may vary.

[Dom D]

Outlaws: I believe this played on British TV a little while back but it just dropped this month for the rest of us on Prime. We knocked it over in a few nights and its great fun. Don't really expect to see Merchant comedy mixing with gangsters and Christopher Walken but it turns out to be be a good mix.

Minx: by god there's a lot of cock in this. With the Deuce, The Naked Director and now this it seems I'm a sucker for anything about the early days of porn. In the first few episodes this bears a lot of the worst traits of entertainment aimed at women but it gets better as it goes. By the end of episode 8 I'm prepared to say that it is actually good.

[Barry M]

Well, okay, but if he does Mandy, that's it.

[Dom D]

Oh come on! Who doesn't want to watch Liev Schrieber do Karaoke? I have no memory of where that scene sits but while the quality of that show dipped a bit in the middle I thought the last 2 seasons- with the New York, no wife reset- were some of the best. Damned if I could get through the movie though...