Speak Up Saturday

[feurioo]

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Thought we were done with Max, but when switching back to the ESPN+ bundle found that it would save us more money doing an extended subscription. As such we ended up with another month of Max plus the partner could start watching hockey.

So I also saw this past week the John and Yoko documentary (more about that here) and started watching Dog Detectives about police dog use in Great Britain. It was fine for what it was, but after 4 episodes, I don't feel I need to see the rest of the season. We also watched the movie "The Big Year", a Steve Martin/Jack Black/Owen Wilson led film about bird watchers in competition for the title of most birds seen.

Besides that, saw the Watson IBM Jeopardy challenge. Interesting that it was developed after IBM employees watched Ken Jennings' run. It was rather dull viewing though, partly because we're well past that era now, and partly because there's nothing exciting about watching a computer play and win at Jeopardy. Rather agree with Jennings' desire to simply unplug it. The audience at the event was, from the looks of it, entirely composed of mostly male IBM employees rooting for the machine.

Saw another episode of Dancing's semi-final which had some wonderful numbers. Totally disagree with the elimination results.

Saw one more episode of Gilded Age, and caught up with Colbert, John Oliver's season finale (about public broadcasting, which was just great and well worth watching), and are catching up on Daily Show. Also turns out I didn't finish the latest season of Christmas Light Fight so am doing that now, and I can use the smiles. So many talented people out there!

[jo]

I did not start anything new this past week, nor did I make much progress with shows I'd previously started. A it was just a bit of an odd, tiring week, I mostly watched the current episode of weekly things and reruns of syndicated Star Treks. As I was looking for lighter stuff, I considered A Man on the Inside, but the Guardian's review of season 2 was so harsh ("despicably bland show is everything wrong with TV", "Only our current tech hellscape could create a comedy so insidiously inoffensive. Prepare to be pummelled into submission as your time is siphoned off by OK entertainment", "a bingo card for just about everything that makes streamer-era TV so patronising, uninspiring and mind-numbingly dull."), I'll likely give it a miss, at least for now.

What I am hugely looking forward to this coming week is Peter Jackson's restoration job on The Beatles Anthology, an eight-part documentary from 1995 that tells the band's story via archive footage and interviews with the main players. And apparently there's a new 9th episode. That lands on Disney+ starting Nov 26.

[yourlibrarian]

Yikes, that is not a good review.

Good to know about the Beatles doc, I will keep an eye out.

[china_shop]

Still going with Typhoon Family -- it's not perfect, but it's enjoyable enough. Given the title, I wanted it to be much more team-y, but it's fumbling tentative 60% office romance and 40% fumbling trying-to-save-the-business. The setting is great, though. I think there's only four episodes to go, so I'm hoping they can pick up the pace.

Started season 3 of The Newsreader, where people are skewing more unlikeable (including the already terrible people). We'll see how that goes.

All the available episodes of Down Cemetery Road, which is great -- tense and fun with an excellent cast. (It's really making me want Emma Thompson as the Doctor! ;-p)

Two episodes of The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke, directed by Sterlin Harjo of Reservation Dogs fame. It's set in Tulsa, about a down-and-out journalist chasing the truth (more or less in the vein of Carl Hiaasen or The Big Lebowski). Apparently it comes together more as it goes on, so I'm looking forward to more.

Started a rewatch of Family by Choice with a friend. It's a Korean drama about a semi-blended family (two dads, not canonically a couple), and it's just as great as I remember. <3

More Prehistoric Planet, more Connections (BBC, 1979), more Krapopolis.

[china_shop]

Wow, that review!!

[china_shop]

Perfect choice of icon, hee!

[yourlibrarian]

😏

[yourlibrarian]

Not that Emma Thompson is short of work, but I always think we should have more of her.

[shadowkat]

Did the Guardian like S1 of Man on the Inside, or was that just S2? [I admittedly couldn't see where it could go after S1, which seemed to work very well as an encapsulated season.]

[shadowkat]

Completely agree - more Emma Thompson. Another actress that I have a crush on.

[shadowkat]

Hmm, been flirting with The Lowdown. I'm saving Slow Horses and Down Cemetery Road for Thanksgiving Holiday next week. Also possibly Christmas. I have a large queue.

[jo]

They did, but it was a different reviewer. The first season got 4/5 stars and was called comedy perfection, unbelievably sweet, adorable... However, the 2nd season reviewer does address the fact that the first season was based on a 2020 documentary called The Mole Agent, about a man who infiltrates a care home to investigate accusations of abuse, and points out that the show chose to ignore the abuse part completely and go for a much more benign plot.

[shadowkat]

Thank you! Good to know. And, I vaguely remember that. They turned it into a light comedic cozy mystery as opposed to a dark satire about nursing home abuses- resulting in mixed reviews (some critics loved it, some hated it - it was controversial to say the least). I personally found it to be mildly engaging, but I didn't see a second season as being necessary? Netflix is weird? It cancels shows - I think should have another season, and continues shows that don't need one.

[author_by_night]

I could be wrong, but I thought The Mole Agent actually came to the same conclusion? That there was no real abuse (as suspected), just loneliness from people not receiving visitors? Again, could be wrong.

[author_by_night]

I actually really liked S2. However, it's definitely different. Maybe in a similar way to how The Good Place changed every season.

Also worth noting is that this season was very political, which might be the reason for that review. It's not political in theme, at face value they're investigating a college, but it's pretty obvious they're taking digs at Trumpism and conservatives in America overall.

[krakendelsur]

I just finished watching Bon Apétit, Your Majesty- which I loved, mostly due to the food scenes tbh, but the costumes, time travel, drama, and slow burn romance were all definite pluses.

Now I'm rewatching old episodes of Bob's Burgers 😅

[jo]

The review doesn't mention politics at all. The reviewer just found it bland, boring, safe, predictable, etc. Meant to be "watched" while you were doing other stuff, i.e. scrolling on your phone. You can read the review here: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/20/a-man-on-the-inside-season-two-review-ted-dansons-netflix

[jo]

Ah, thanks for reminding me about The Lowdown. I'd watched the first couple of episodes, then decided to wait until the rest were available before continuing, and, of course, completely forgot about it!

[executrix]

You can accuse the Graun of a lot of things but excessive sympathy for Trump is not one of them.

[tinny]

Nothing new this week from me.

A few eps of A Moment But Forever - the romance materialized! Is that good or bad? Will they ruin it in the remaining five episodes? I'll find out!

A few eps of The Long Ballad - I still don't want it to end so I'm going through it slowly. The romance there has gotten a fine bolstering. Nothing physical or intimate, but an actual confession of feelings and lots of smiles between the leads. I'll take it!

I started Love at Night on viki, because I wanted to see if Liu Xueyi is any good at modern drama, but the drama itself is... mediocre. He's... also mediocre so far? I'll probably watch a few more eps, but I'm not convinced.

That's it, I had a busy week.

[author_by_night]

Nope. I made an ass out of u and me. :)

[yourlibrarian]

Well it's a modern classic 🙂 I don't watch it myself but my partner really likes it and I've heard good things.

[yourlibrarian]

Hope next week is less rushed!

[shadowkat]

Finished Dark Winds S3 on NETFLIX by way of AMC. (AMC appears to be dumping all its series on Netflix after it's aired a few times on AMC.) This season was harder to follow than the past two, and not as compelling - partly because it had four mysteries going on at the same time, Chee was barely in it, and the focus was mainly on Bernadette doing her thing at the border, and Leaphorn wrestling with his demons, along with Emma, the FBI Agent, and a couple of mysteries.

It also did the dreaded dream episode, which television loves to do, but rarely well. This was okay, but drug and took a while to get to the point.

Also finished Buffy S4 and Angel S1 rewatch, which were a mixed bag. Both hold up rather well, with a few issues here and there. (It's blatantly obvious that they don't have any POC characters, and token ones from a lawsuit by the NAACP in the late 1990s early 00s. But still better than other series that aired at that time, so...) Buffy S4 had great stand-a-alone's, Xander was likable and relatable, Spike, Anya, and Tara excellent additions. But the plot arc doesn't work. Nor does the Buffy/Riley romance, and can Riley be any more stupid? Angel S1 was better than I remembered and much more noir than I remember. It's arc episodes were better than the stand alones.
Also, the characters really grew on me, and I discovered I liked them better than I did on Buffy.

Now, watching, finally, the limited series This is Going to Hurt on Netflix (also via AMC). It's the BBC hyper-realistic dramedy about junior doctors on an NHS maternity ward in London, focusing on their personal lives and professional lives. Kind of similar to ER and The Pitt, except I like the Pitt a bit better. This stars the brilliant Ben Whinslaw, and is rather brutal in places. Also, kind of bloody. It's gritty and realistic. And based on Dr. Adam Kay's memoir, and the series is created as a limited series by Adam Kay, with a definitive ending. There's only 7 episodes, no more than that. On the second episode currently.

[shadowkat]

The difficulty with any review of art, television, film, books, etc - is it is always subjective? And without knowing what triggered the reviewer or what they love, or knowing their personal tastes, it's hard to determine whether we'll all agree with them or not?

I mean there were two separate reviewers? One loved S1 of the Man on the Inside, the other was underwhelmed, and hated S2.

A good review tells you enough about a series to determine whether you'll like it, and not spoil you. The trick is to explain why without spoiling, and to tell enough about yourself, so the reader of the review will know why you personally disliked or loved it, and how their opinion may vary from yours. This is not easy to do. Reviewing is an art, and a lot of reviewers have yet to master it? I love reading reviews, but so many don't give me a clue whether I'll like the show or not.

[yourlibrarian]

I've never watched medical dramas, unless one counts Silent Witness, which is more of a detective procedural (and has done less and less pathology as the series progressed). Perhaps my aversion is not just the bloodiness but the fact that being in a medical situation is a very likely thing for many of us (much more so than being involved with the police in a crime). So it's curious to me that it's becoming so popular to make them ever more realistic. I guess I prefer more escapism.

[shadowkat]

I find them oddly comforting? Mainly because they are trying to save lives, at least I'm not doing that for a living, most of the time the people live and do well, and it gives me insight as to how doctor's think, why, and their struggle.