tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

Some people may wonder about life in the ER as described in this week's The Pitt - and I've got to say I've been in the ER when the electronic health record is down, and it's even worse than they depict. So just know watching The Pitt this week? In real life it can actually be worse.

I've loved Best Medicine, which is a US version of Doc Martin (BBC). I've been watching the BBC version and it's just not as good. The people aren't as relatable, the doctor is much more prickly, and while the storylines are good, it's just not as enjoyable as the US version. This is only the second time I've said that about a US show, the other being Ghosts. (I loved BBC Ghosts, but US Ghosts is its own animal).

I've seen notices for that (must have been on Hulu). I tend not to be interested in medical shows, but I'll give it a try sometime next month. I've seen a few episodes of Ghosts UK but have quite enjoyed Ghosts US.

Interesting. I felt that The Pitt was a bit comforting and wondered if it was nearly as chaotic as it could be in real life? They kind of lucked out in having an intern with a photographic memory who was looking at the screens. That, I doubt, happens often in reality. Thanks for sharing that.

I wondered if Best Medicine was a US take on the UK series Doc Martin. [ETA - I watched the first episode of Best Medicine and it is enjoyable and kind of comforting. Turns out I can't remember Doc Marten well enough to tell which was better or compare the two at all. I watched it about ten years ago - at my parents house - my father loved it, but not outside of that.)

I tried US Ghosts - it didn't work for me. Haven't tried the BBC version.

Edited 2026-03-02 01:35 (UTC)

I will say one thing - medicine tends to attract more neurodivergent people. Not just based on what we see on TV, because I work in hospitals as a pharmacy informaticist (a pharmacy technician that works on electronic health records) and I see them all the time. One of my main coworkers and two of our physician champions - all neurodivergent. It makes for a good system!

I started Best Medicine first, then went to Doc Martin, and I have to say I had to stop watching Doc Martin about 3 seasons in. It was just too harsh! Like the way that they wrote his character & the way the actor portrayed him made him really unlikeable. I don't get that same vibe from Best Medicine.

The BBC version of Ghosts is far superior. First off it's 45 minute episodes and not 22 minutes, so you can pack so much more into it. But after the first season when they got their feet under them, the US version got better. It'll never be as good as the BBC version, but it's still passable "unplug brain" television.

I'm not the best judge of Doc Martin or Best - since I've barely watched either. I think I saw maybe three episodes of Doc Martin - mainly because my father was into it. I couldn't get into it - enough - to watch on my own. I may go back to Best Medicine, but not sure yet - not really a fan of Josh Charles, but he can grow on me.

Agree on how medicine attracts a lot of neurodivergent folks - my primary care is neurodivergent, which actually works really well for me. I've had both extremes. I prefer the neurodivergent.

I'm watching Will Trent. It's enjoyable. I like the characters, all of them, which is great.

I'm watching old movies on TCM. But they're starting to repeat and I'm afraid I'm going to run out soon.

I've started watching reruns of Grantchester on PBS. I missed season two and they quit broadcasting the reruns before the end of season five so I'll have to check out the DVDs from the library, hope they'll play. Or subscribe to PBS Masterpiece. (Shudder. Maybe I'll try the books.)

The words "television" and "excitement" do not really go together for me anymore. Mildly interested is the best I can manage on most days.

I've got PBS Passport and they have the earlier Grantchester seasons there (although I haven't looked recently and am not sure they're all there. But we watched the latest season a while back and I know there were a bunch of seasons available.

I still have four episodes of season four and four episodes of season five recorded. Maybe I'll lose interest? Not sure how I'll feel about the cast change. Sidney was delightfully flawed. I do not miss Amanda, however.

I still have about eight movies recorded that I haven't watched, so I'm in no danger of running out of content just yet. *g*

They now have all of Grantchester on Netflix - which surprised me. I am considering trying it from the beginning.

Bridgerton S4: Watched the first two episodes, and I'm still liking this season.

Kacken an der Havel (Crap Happens): A new German comedy on Netflix! The first episode was cute.

MILF of Norway: One of the shortest HBO shows I could find. A mother loses her job and takes a chance at posting nude pics of herself online. Liked the first half better than the second, but I'd still watch another season.

I also tried watching two vertical dramas... and they felt like fast-food television.

Edited 2026-02-28 17:52 (UTC)

I've been wondering how vertical shows have been going over.

Will be finishing Bridgerton today.

I've been wondering how vertical shows have been going over.
There seems to be a market for it. This one site I visited had a two-week subscription for 20 €. No idea who'd pay these prices.

Will be finishing Bridgerton today.
Have fun!

Finishing off Netflix today. I'm excited to say I hit what will definitely be one of my top 3 shows this year: How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. Granted, I really enjoyed Derry Girls, but this was still much more what I was expecting from Bodkin than what I got. A comedic mystery from the getgo, we laughed so much. Hope we get more.

Rather liked this season of Bridgerton as it's breaking the mold in a number of its storylines.

Saw the documentary Queen of Chess. Good story about a family of female chess champions who rose the ranks despite shocking misogyny (which there is evidence of in the doc). One of them became the youngest grandmaster ever, and the only woman so far to be ranked in the top 10 worldwide in chess.

Turns out I'd seen Start Up S1 and I watched Start Up S2, though forwarded through a good bit. Lots of sad stuff in there, but I find stories about start ups interesting.

Finished the second season of Man on the Inside, very looking forward to more. Also finished Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I thought it was pretty well plotted and moved along pretty well. Would watch another season should there be one.

Also tried out Arcane and was about 5 episodes in but it was just not grabbing me.

Kind of surprised this is all there is for the week but we were binge watching things in time for losing access tomorrow.

Edited 2026-02-28 18:57 (UTC)

I liked A Man on the Inside S1 a bit more, but I think it's a cute show. I'm not mad at getting more of it ;)

I think S2 was a bit more scattered, but I could understand it. For one, Charles is no longer the same person as when he developed in S1, and second there are a bunch more characters in what is, after all, not any longer of a season.

I finished watching season 4 of The Lincoln Lawyer and Under Salt Marsh. Enjoyed both.

I watched the first couple of episodes of season 1 of a British comedy I'd never heard of, until the Guardian posted a glowing review of the second season which has just started in the UK, Dinosaur. It's amusing, but it's the same issue I have with most shows dubbed comedies or sitcoms: they're at best amusing, very rarely actually really funny. Maybe it's just me, but if something's supposed to be a comedy, I expect to laugh. A lot. Out loud. Not just smile, you know?

Other than that, several shows that were on an Olympics-induced hiatus were back, so that boosted the number of weekly episodes I had this week. Was good to see Allegiance back, in particular. Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but this week's ep of Starfleet Academy actually made me tear up a few times. I had the same reaction a few weeks back with episode 5. This may be the first Trek series that has evoked that sort of reaction in me. Oh, wait -- the finale of Deep Space Nine did that as well...

What am I excited about this coming week? The final season of Outlander starts on March 6.

I also have a backlog of things I mean to watch on Apple TV. I just keep forgetting to log in to it.

This week's Starfleet Academy made me a little teary too. I think Sam is becoming one of my favorite characters in the series so far

Ironically, SAM is... I won't say least favourite character -- I haven't ranked them, but she annoys the daylights out of me. My fave character is Holly Hunter's (I'm horrible with names -- takes me ages to remember what the characters are called).

Edited 2026-03-01 15:21 (UTC)

That's fair. I really enjoy Holly Hunter's character too! I think she's done a stellar job so far with the character

I started His & Hers, watched the first three episodes. It's fine, I do like the cast, and I'm definitely interested in finding out what happened/who the killer is. However, every character is so unlikable (apart from Alice and Priya).

Paradise started off its second season with three episode. Whenever that happens, I need to immediately watch these episodes, because otherwise I won't get around to a season while it's still on. If you wait a week, you're immediately half a season behind. This never made sense to me, bu I can see why it was done in this case. Each episode has a distinct focus. The first episode shows us a new character, so I get not wanting to leave people with just that to start off the season. Maybe it would have worked to switch episodes 1 and 2.

It has been a while since I watched the original run (including S9) of Scrubs. I think the new episodes (okay, only two so far) manage to capture the tone of the old seasons without being stale or relying too much on nostalgia for the main story (that absolutely there though). I'm looking forward to more.

Good to hear about Scrubs and Paradise. Starting next week I'll be able to go back to Hulu and cue up the watchlist.

I think that His & Hers had a good reveal at the end, however there were a bunch of improbable circumstances so I rather side eye it. But it was told well enough.

improbable circumstances
I feel like that happened a lot already...

My partner and I are still watching our way through the LotR extended editions, plus extras. We watched half of Return of the King last night.

Still watching and loving The Pitt.

Tried out the first episode of Scavengers Reign and definitely want to watch more.

And in Kdramas, I finished One Spring Night, which I ended up really engaged with, and immediately went back to the start with the intention of revisiting the five or so episodes I watched a few years ago, when I initially gave up on it. I may get distracted and switch to Undercover Miss Hong or go back to Beyond the Bar though, I'm not sure.

One and a half episodes of Family by Choice with a friend. We just have the final episode to go.

I finished the first episode of Saint Pierre, yay? That's like almost half an hour of television. /o\ I spent most of my time reading and writing, when I wasn't working, so I'm not too surprised. Still, I wish I had more time.

Didn't have time to watch any more Bridgerton this week, although I am caught up to 4.04, so hopefully sometime this week.

cdrama-wise, I'm still trying to catch up with The Company, now on 16/30, still loving it, although I expected more time machine shenanigans in the latest plotline. My guess as to what had happened was completely wrong, lol. :D

Finished Bridgerton S4 (I didn't like as well as others on the comment threads did. Not a fan of the Cinderella trope, and the villainous Lady Pendbrook (?) didn't get pummeled in a satisfying manner.)

Also finished All Creatures Great and Small - which was enjoyable for the most part.

Started watching "Count of Monte Cristo" on PBS Passport, and Best Medicine on Hulu, which is kind of enjoyable. Loving "The Pitt" on HBO.

Flirting with Forsythe Saga - also on PBS Passport, Grantchester on Netflix, Veronica Mars rewatch on Netflix...

Oh, didn't know there was a new Monte Christo adaptation. We'll be watching Passport this week and have finished Maigret so it'll be a something new to try out.

I watched Forstythe a long time ago, but remember liking it.

Thanks for the rec on Forsyth (it's on both Netflix and Passport). I'm considering starting Maigret - mother enjoyed it, and I read some of the books ages ago in French. My father loved Simenon, and read a lot of his books, then watched the 1990s version with Michael Gambon. They were short mysteries, minimalist in style, and focus - which is why he loved them.

Yep, the new one also has the guy who played Baranski's gay son in the Gilded Age as a villain. So far it's pretty good.

The fun part of subscribing to PBS Passport - is it's a good cause (supporting public television) and I get good programming. No one does historical costume dramas and historical documentaries as well as PBS (in concert with the Brits).

Edited 2026-03-03 02:41 (UTC)

I thought the Maigret was good -- granted I'd never read the books. or seen the previous version But if they were going to bring it into current day there would have to be changes.

I will need to re-up with Passport soon, but I agree, I feel so much more willing to make the payment.

I don't remember the novels well enough for it to be an issue. I've seen an episode of it - and I liked it. But will have to see the rest on Passport, since I didn't get the rest recorded.

Speak Up Saturday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject