tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

This week I've watched a couple of true crime shows, one a 2-part documentary, the other a 4-part dramatization. Both were very good. The first one, the documentary, is called The Essex Millionaire Murders, and was about a UK case I'd never heard about, even though it happened fairly recently. The other was Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. You may recall that incident as it occurred in the weeks following the July 7 2005 bombings on the London tube and bus network. De Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian working as an electrician in London, boarded the tube at Stockwell station on the morning of 22 July 2005. Moments later, before the carriage doors could close, armed police sprinted on to the train and shot him seven times, point blank, in the head. De Menezes had been mistaken for a suicide bomber; he was entirely innocent of any crime. I think Suspect is on Disney+ -- highly recommend.

I also started the new series of Leverage: Redemption, and finished season 3 of Dark Winds.

And baseball and tennis.

As for shows I'm looking forward to, there are actually a few things coming up this month that I'm at least interested in checking out, if not exactly excited about. Another series of Criminal Minds: Evolution starts on May 8. Three shows hit on May 15: new seasons of Welcome to Wrexham and Love Death & Robots, and a new show called Duster that might have potential. Murderbot, of course, starts on the 16th, and then there are two shows dropping on May 29 that have caught my eye. One, Dept Q is the one I'm most interested in. It's an adaptation of the Jussi Adler-Olsen Department Q novels, but set in Edinburgh rather than Denmark. The other is called Adults, which "follows a group of young friends doing their best to become people, despite not really being “good” or “people” quite yet." Has a sort of modern-day "Friends" vibe, but I may not be the target audience, given that I am a few decades beyond my 20s. But I'll give it a look. Probably.

Good to hear Wrexham is on its way back. I will be traveling soon after it starts so it'll be good to have several episodes banked for when I return.

I started Taskmaster UK S19. Fatiha El-Ghorri was my favorite contestant this week. I wish Alex had incorporated a nod to The Horne Section's Granddaddy at the appropriate time. It was all I could think about while watching the task.

I finished:
- Common Side Effects S1: Intriguing premise, but I'm not sure the writing always delivered. Magnificent soundtrack. I particularly loved the song choice in the season finale.

- Evil S2: I decided to continue watching this show. Overall, I like it, but I wish the story (particularly the Sheryl and Leland bits) had more direction. I also couldn't care less about the show's obsession with Kristen and David.

- North of North S1: Cute show. The last couple of episodes made me ugly cry. Neevee was my favorite part of the show.

- The Residence S1: The finale fell a little flat for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed Uzo Aduba's Cordelia Cupp.

I continued:
- A Virtuous Business: Still slowly watching my way through this one!

Edited 2025-05-03 16:48 (UTC)

The two things that you mentioned about Evil won't get better, I'm afraid. Fandom was pretty obsessed with Kristen and David which is why it kept coming up. The creators were absolutely aware of it.

That's good to know! I already disliked the The Good Wife OTP, so I'm not completely new to the Kings' shenanigans. :)

Just finished the new episode of Taskmaster Australia S4. We're now in the sweet spot of the season when I like every contestant. I laughed a lot.

The latest episode of The Handmaid's Tale was sure something. I'm wondering how they want to wrap up the entire show in only four more episodes.

Andor is still great. Cassian's Ghorman look and name were fun.
I feel a little meh about getting three episodes per week. I only got around to watching them yesterday because I want to watch them all in a day...okay, that's just my problem, I guess.

The Studio was great again. However, I hate Kathryn Hahn in it. It's fine when she has a couple of lines, but she was just too much in the latest episode. I genuinely feel like she is miscast because everyone else is so good in their roles. Yes, the character itself is annoying, but I feel like someone else could make it work.

I loved the latest episode of Ghosts...until the last scene. I hope the virgin jokes are finally over now.

Grosse Pointe Garden Society showed us who died and did not wait until the finale! I did think of this particular person at one point, but that is absolutely not what I thought happened. Oh well.

Currently watching Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight on Netflix which is a big dose of childhood nostalgia. Tonally it's pretty close to the old movies and comics.

I'll be on vacation starting Thursday. I hope I'll at least get around to watching Andor before that, so I won't have six episodes waiting when I get back. I'll miss the finale of Ghosts and the premiere of Poker Face though.

Grosse Pointe Garden Society showed us who died and did not wait until the finale!

Without any spoilers, did you consider it an interesting plot twist?

Interesting maybe, but the "how" and "why" were a letdown after building the mystery up for 11 episodes.

I finished S2 of the ILM documentary on Disney+. It's really amazing how much has changed in the past decades, one challenge at a time. Made me have a lot of thoughts about genre disparagement and changes in technology that led to greater immersion. There was a lot of focus on the Star Wars films of course, as well as other well known blockbusters. However it ended by featuring ILM's first all animated feature, Rango, in 2011. I can't recall even hearing about it, yet it won an Oscar for Best Animated Film and did quite well. They didn't even mention its success or legacy in the doc which led me to believe it was a technical success but commercial failure. Yet while it got a lot of critical acclaim "Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale." Apparently the movie was very insiderish and geared to cinema philes which probably explains the disparity.

Also finished off the Celebrity Jeopardy season and started watching a documentary on the history of game shows. Was fascinated to hear that Dr Joyce Brothers nearly got booted from $64,000 question, which is where she first appeared on TV, because the sponsor Revlon was upset that she didn't wear makeup. She had chosen the category of boxing for her specialty, and the producers made her answer questions about the referees in an effort to have her fail. Spoiler: she didn't.

Watched some more of Brokenwood Mysteries but the week was taken up with finishing off S2 of Veronica Mars before its exit from Hulu. Thought the season was much stronger than I remembered. Never got to S3, which I recall being very disappointed by. However while the first 3 seasons are gone, the comeback S4 is apparently available. We might watch it again, but have so much else to pick up on I'm not sure when.

Excited for Murderbot!

I've been watching Leverage Redemption and I love the most recent ep. For some reason the new season wasn't really clicking with me, which might be a me thing rather than the show. I've just had a lot going on.

What service are you using to watch Leverage?

I am using Amazon Prime

Still enjoying Doctor Odyssey! I meant to watch more of the latest season of RuPaul's Drag Race but I let that subscription expire.

1. Etoile on Amazon is amazing. If you liked the rapid fire dialogue of the Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, you'll like this. It's also about ballet. And it deal with the Paris Ballet and the New York Ballet trading lead dancers and composers in order to get higher attendance for one year. First Season aired. And it has two seasons. Next one will most likely be next year. Amazon order two in 2023. It's hilarious, great cast, and focuses on the difficulties with running a ballet in both Paris and France. Love this, I'm stretching it out. It makes me laugh and grin. Has an excellent cast. Also it's in French and English.

2. The Residence - almost done, two episodes left. I'm enjoying it still, even though it got a touch political - but in a way that doesn't bother me or make me think of the current situation. It's actually hilarious. Al Franken is playing the Senator holding the hearings/investigation on the murder. (Al Franken was an actual Senator about ten years ago). It's airing on Netflix in the US.

3. Veronica Mars - I rewatched five episodes before it left Hulu on May 1, which it did (even though Reddit was convinced it wouldn't, guessing they chose not to renegotiate the rights like they did with Buffy?). Allegedly it will return to MAX at some point? But it has yet to do so. OR hasn't yet. The fourth season which Hulu did, along with the fan bought Go Fund Me - film is on Hulu still. I think it left, because they want it to get back to Max, although Max/Hulu/Disney are bundling services now. So...and I'm not sure if it is returning. Anyhow, it doesn't age well or hold up well.
Although it did get slightly better as it went. Watching it directly after I was watching random S1 and S2 Buffy episodes (well not that random - I watched them in order, just skipping over a few here and there) made me realize how much better Buffy was in both production and writing. Which is odd, considering Buffy was made in the 1990s to 2003, and Veronica Mars was later? Also, Mars had a more seasoned cast, and an older cast. Kristen Bell is 24, Gellar was 18. At any rate, I can see why Mars didn't last more than three seasons or four seasons (the fourth was added several years later as a failed attempt at a reboot).

Oooh, I had heard Etoile mentioned, and lowkey put it on my list. The fact that it's in both French and English bumps it up the list considerably! Yay French immersion!

Anyhow, it doesn't age well or hold up well. [...] made me realize how much better Buffy was in both production and writing.

Interesting! I remember not liking Buffy much at first but adoring Veronica Mars. But I suspect that's just my memory painting it in nicer colors than it was. You're right that it didn't last very long, and the writing definitely got worse and worse as the show went on. Should I rewatch to verify what my memory is telling me? Probably not. :D

Well, Veronica Mars isn't available any longer unless you own the DVDs or want to purchase it - so...

Also, taste varies? I was also in my late 20s when I saw Buffy and late 30s when I watched Veronica Mars. Buffy was a bit more relatable, and unlike Veronica Mars - Buffy is supernatural dark fantasy, Veronica Mars is hyper-realistic teen noir.

I do however highly recommend Etoile.

Edited 2025-05-04 22:52 (UTC)

TV-relatedly, nothing much has happened. I'm still looking forward to season 5 of HPI which will start airing in ten days (and still have no idea whether I'll even manage to watch it - I'm now looking into vpns). I've also managed to connect with two other fans, both writers in the fandom, which is amazing. Finally I don't feel so alone in this fandom anymore.

I watched one more ep of The Pitt, and the new Doctor Odyssey ep, but that was pretty much it. I'm starting to doubt Doctor Odyssey's commitment to Ody3 again, I guess I'll just revert to enjoying seeing Josh Jackson on screen and ignoring the plot. Oh well.

An f-listie talked about (not recced) Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a 2022 movie with Emma Thompson. Even their negative write-up made me want to check it out and I don't regret it! I rented the movie from Amazon. Emma Thompson plays a retired widowed teacher who hires a sex worker to finally have good sex, just once in her life. The trailer makes it look like it's all about sex, but I found that it's mostly about sex work, its role in society, and its ethical implications. Looking at it this way, the title even makes sense. :) I like Emma Thompson, and it's inspiring how she so naturally shows her 63-year-old body. A rec from me.

I saw Leo Grande and was glad it got made as it's not something easily found (or even classified)

Yes! It was a good movie in several ways, and I'm glad it was made and that I could easily watch it, too.

I was really excited about a new Marvel movie in the form of Thunderbolts* coming out. Went and saw in on Sunday and it was really really good. I'm thinking of going to see it again.

I don't want to spoil anyone so I'll just say, the subject matter was amazing and fantastically done. The cast was awesome and the characters were really fun and had great dialogue. It was funny. It made me cry. It was emotional and it was epic.

I know a lot of the recent Marvel movies have been less than stellar but this one was really good.

Also there is a mid-credit scene and a post-credit scene.

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