tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

This week I finished two shows. And yes, I wish there was a community for both here.

Finished Shetland and yes, far-fetched and an unsettling twist, but that’s not new for Shetland or most detective series. I love this show. I love the scenery and the burr, the cottages, the sheep and the shore and sea. I love all of that, but watching the finale, I realized that its Alison O’Donnell whom I adore. She oozes compassion and professionalism and it’s very soothing to watch her work her character of Tosh. I hope that the producers also see this and continue to provide a vehicle for this wonderful actress to bring this grounding character to life. It was released weekly stateside and that was fun - to anticipate watching!

Finished 1883 and forgave it all its silliness. Because that ending – oof. I’ve got a fic on the brain needles and trying to find my way into knitting that together. We love Westerns and enjoyed Yellowstone once we accepted that we were watching a beautifully shot soap opera, so decided to start the prequel-ling. 1883 stands alone and is nothing like Yellowstone because Costner isn’t part of it and Costner’s absence draws attention to Sheridan trying too hard as writer. And it isn’t until the final two episodes that you get what Sheridan is trying to say / do with this show and then I silently apologized to the writer and may rewatch the show again someday. If you love horses, fantastic horsemanship, gun battles and western wear, then Sheridan’s oeuvre is for you.

I looove Shetland. Its been a bit different with the new DI (Ashley Jensen who I love in Agatha Raisin), but yeah I agree about Alison O'Donnell/Tosh. I really liked some of the scenes they had together too.

Another fan!!! Have you finished the season?

I've only seen Jensen in Extras with Gervais so it's been hard for me to make the dramatic adjustment. LOL!

I have! It was quite interesting to delve into Ruth's background. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her, hopefully there will be a season 9.

I really liked 1883. I've only seen part of Yellowstone but I'm interested in seeing the other miniseries too.

It's so wonderful to hear that others watched and enjoyed it, too! Seems like a huge amount of silence around these shows on DW.

I would love to meta this in a comm.

We have a meta tag that desperately needs some content!

Given what a powerhouse the Yellowstone franchise is, it reminds me of how Friends and The Office were enormously popular, yet the fanworks or even fan communities side of it seemed pretty small by comparison.

I can't help with a specific community but you might be interested in another community I run,

marchmetamatterschallenge which is coming up soon. Its focus is on archiving one's meta work, but there are also challenges for new meta and meta promotion.

Plus, of course, you can always post meta on TV shows here in

tv_talk!

I watched:
Analog Squad: Not sure I will continue watching it because they suddenly started implying a hetero love story including a, so far, queer-coded character. I don't mind bi-representation, obviously, but this character was shown to be in a happy same-sex relationship (at least that's heavily implied), and I simply don't know where the sudden interest is coming from.

The Curse: Only one episode left! And I truly hope there won't be a second season. However, I would lie if I said that I don't tune in as soon as a new episode is released.

Is It Cake Too: An utterly ridiculous show in both the best and the worst sense.

Nathan for You: Mainly because I wanted to check out one of Nathan Fielder's other projects. (He's one of the leads in The Curse.) Liked the first episode.

The Other Black Girl: I loooved the first four, five episodes. The atmosphere was so thrilling and creepy, and I wanted to find out more about Wagner's mysterious history. Unfortunately, afterward, the plot got absolutely ridiculous and -- IMHO -- downright stupid. What a waste.

Taskmaster's New Year Treat 2024: I love this show so much! 🤗

I would love a Taskmaster fan community but I'm not sure many people would care or even participate. YouTube is already a good place for discussion and the TM Reddit community is quite big and lively (which is also one of the reasons why it's not for me as I tend to prefer smaller communities).

I've never seen Taskmaster but just finished reading a Merlin fanfic that included an appearance on it!

I've started watching Not Dead Yet with a buddy, and we're both really enjoying it. It's a nice mix of comedy with drama and the perfect episode length at 22-minutes (plus commercials). Plus, it's fun to see who the guest ghost is every week.

The second season is coming in February, and it might be nice to have a weekly discussion about it, but I'm not sure there's enough meat there to sustain a separate community, at least for me.

I've also been slowly making my way through a re-re-re-re-watch of How I Met Your Mother. I mostly put it on before bed as a cool-down show, and I finally made it through the Stella arc, which is possibly my second least favorite, after season 9. I also realized/spotted the pregnancies of Cobie Smulders and Alyson Hannigan during season 4, so that was fun.

I would be surprised if there wasn't an HIMYM community already on Dreamwidth, but also surprised if it was still active. It could have been revitalized with How I Met Your Father, but I stopped watching in Season 1, so I can understand if most people didn't take to it. (And now it's been cancelled after 2 seasons, anyway.) Plus, given how long the show's been off the air (almost 10 years this May, wow), I'm not sure what there is to say/do that hasn't been done already. I have some ideas for re-scripting season 9 so it works better, but I imagine there are plenty of fix-it fics already, and I don't have the skills/sustained interest to pursue my own version.

Yes, there seem to be a lot of shows with communities here, but when it comes down to it people end up posting about them only to their own accounts. And, of course, people are watching at different times and speeds.

I watched the second-to-last episode of The Witcher season 3 yesterday – I'm quite glad I went back and rewatched the first two seasons partway through this one, otherwise there are things that would have gone quite over my head! The rewatch cleared up a lot in retrospect, lol. I don't know if there is already a comm for The Witcher, but I feel like there should be ...

Also yesterday I watched episode 6 of Sweet Home season 2. I'm finding this season a bit so-so – too much time spent with new characters I don't necessarily care about! Although Yi-kyung is back in it now and I am glad about that (and not just because I am into the actress's arms!)

Those shows are both ones I am watching weekly. I am also 3/4 of the way through Giri/Haji, which is fantastic! I know I am a bit behind the times there :D

I have to admit I am only mildly interested in Witcher and started watching because a friend wanted to. But I did feel like S3 was the most interesting, perhaps because a lot of things are coming together?

Not much for me this week. We finished season 3 of Slow Horses, which was great, and started rewatching GLOW because I've been listening to Marc Maron's podcast a lot, but we hit the point where the women get their offensively stereotyped wrestling personas, and I don't know if we're going to continue or not. *winces*

Three Mike Birbiglia stand-up specials on Netflix, which were all great. (I don't watch a lot of straight white male comics, but he's good-natured and his routines are well-crafted.) Also, half of Alex Borstein's show on Amazon Prime, which was good but more theatrical than we were really looking for.

In Kdramas, more Welcome to Samdal-ri, which is ridiculous but I'm enjoying it, and more My Demon, which eh, I'm mostly using to fill in time between episodes of the former. The leads are very pretty but look too young for their roles, to my eye.

Edited 2024-01-06 20:22 (UTC)

Oh, I just watched Slow Horses S3 over the holidays! I liked it a lot! Kristin Scott Thomas and Sophie Okonedo were especially great this season.

Agreed -- they were fantastic! The whole season was really fun (probably especially because I've already read the book). :D

I watched Fool Me Once on Netflix which wasn't terrible but also wasn't amazing.

Sanctuary A Witches Tale - which also isn't terrible. Feels a little like your typical british murder mystery, just with witchcraft being a thing.

Watched some older scottish/british/irish mysteries: Blood, The Replacement, The Suspect

Saw the recent ep of S2 Reacher which was ok I guess. I think I haven't been paying as much attention this season as I did with S1. Its still a good show, just not gripping me as much I guess.

The Tourist S1 - finally was able to watch this, as I subbed to a new service. Its was great, I enjoyed it. Will probably watch S2 this week.

The Curse - continues to baffle me with its banality and yet I continue to watch.

And watched the last two eps of Paper Dolls which is an Australia show about a fictional 90s girl group. It's loosely based on the Australian reality show Popstars, which created the group Bardot - and paper dolls was created by a member of Bardot. I've loved it. (the the ending was a bit eh) Its not the greatest show but I was a Bardot fan back in the day so seeing a show inspired on that has been fun.

I hadn't heard of Sanctuary before, but murder-mystery-with-witchcraft is a fun pitch for a show! I might have to try that out.

I'm still making my way through the X-Files (into s04 now). Started watching Pacific and season 3 of Slow Horses. Watched some more of s04 of For All Mankind, and finished s01 of Reacher. My guilty pleasure show, The Curse of Oak Island was back this week from the xmas break, so also watched that. And some tennis, but not much as it's in Australia and time zones.

I don't really have any interest in fan communities. I don't think they really work because people watch things at different times/in different ways so it's practically impossible to have episode discussions. And I am totally not into fanfic and all that other stuff so zero interest in that side of things.

I recently started For All Mankind, and I just started on season 4! It's been a really addictive mix of soapy drama, alt history, and smart people solving problems in space.

I'm also watching the Canadian version of the reality show The Traitors, which is as goofy fun as other iterations of the show.

Yes, that's a big part of the appear to me in For All Mankind, is the alt history and focusing on really capable people. In some ways that's why I liked S3 less than the first two, but I'm looking forward to S4.

Yes, the capable people and problem-solving is such a great part of the show. The introduction of the theme of commercialization of space in S3 was sadly very logical, but did change some of that focus, I agree. I'm interested to see where it all goes as I watch S4!

The introduction of the theme of commercialization of space in S3 was sadly very logical, but did change some of that focus,

I don't think that was the main problem with season 3. The bigger issue was the focus on subplots that just didn't work/had nothing to do with the whole space thing, e.g. the whole Danny Stevens subplot, which was just colossally bad -- probably the single biggest mistake they made that season, and the Ellen Waverly coming out of the closet while serving in the Oval Office story arc -- it felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the series.

Oh certainly, I don't disagree there were other issues! The Danny Stevens plotline in particular dragged the season down.

The second series of The Traitors UK just started this past week. I've got the first three eps, but haven't decided if I want to start watching them right away, or wait until more episodes are available (three more this week). It's still the best of the bunch -- the only series that hasn't resorted to using "celebrities" as part of / all of the cast. I much prefer just having ordinary normals as the contestants. The Guardian gave series 2 a 5-star review (which I haven't read in case of spoilers!): https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/03/the-traitors-review-so-thrilling-it-will-make-you-gasp-and-yelp

Edited 2024-01-07 18:30 (UTC)

The UK edition is next on my list! I look forward to it. :)

I've had a rough week with one of my cat's spending the first through the third in two different veterinary hospitals so even though I've been meaning to watch something new rather than just watching my comfort shows I might just watch the Doctor/Rose era of Doctor Who again for comfort. Since I know what scenes will make me embarrassed and which ones will make me cry.

Binged The Blue Eyed Samurai on Netflix. It's about 8 episodes and among the best anime that I've seen to date. Beautifully drawn. And I love the protagonist, main character "Mizu". It's not what it appears to be on the surface. Takes place in Shogun run Japan. Interesting and well-developed characters. But not for kids, mature audiences only. There's a lot of graphic sex scenes, nudity, and violence, along with adult situations (such as inside various brothels). And the violence is rather graphic.

I don't really want to provide too much of the plot - because I think it works better to go in blind?

Watching Slow Horses on Apple TV - which is about a bunch of failed MI5 spies who are put at the worst portion of MI5 or get the crappy jobs, with an aging spy-master, Gary Oldman as boss.
It's a spy thriller from Britain.

ETA: Finished finally. Lessons in Chemistry (it's okay, and ends rather well - better than expected); White Lotus S2 (never saw S1, and S2 is very slow, and reminds me a lot of Patricia Highsmith's writing...it's okay, but I don't get the hype); started S2 of Only Murders in the Building but my attention kept wandering - I fell asleep during the first four episodes and had to rewatch them. There's a lot of filler chatter that goes no where. And the banter can get annoying at times. It's not really my sense of humor, which may be the problem?

Two episodes into The Crown S6. - and it's kind of slow as well, also the whole Diana's death bit has been so overdone by now, that it is kind of hard to care? I honestly don't think there is anything much left to tell about it? This version paints the Royal Family in a better light than the others. And Prince Charles in a far better light. Diana in my opinion comes across as less sympathetic in this version, as does Dodi, his father, and the British Press.

And I keep forgetting - I finished the Doctor Who specials, which were amazing. I loved all three of them. Written well, produced well, and cast well. Looking forward to seeing more.

Edited 2024-01-07 15:30 (UTC)

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