Since everyone needs a break sometimes from subjects which are fraught and painful, such as the pandemic and the election, this thread is about the things we do for entertainment, particularly television.
We have been watching a couple of series, one of which I consider a winner. The other is a bit more mixed.
The "winner" is the Irish series, The South Westerlies. It is on Acorn, and is described as a comedy/drama series. It is a bit of a soap opera. We are four episodes into the series, and are hooked to find out what happens now.
"When a town in the south west of Ireland is earmarked for a Norwegian-owned offshore wind farm, it's not just the scenery that's under pressure. For Kate Ryan, tasked by her company NorskVentus, to go undercover and quash local objections, her eco-battle is compounded by the presence of a crinkly-eyed surfer with an unmistakable resemblance to her son. Kate tries to change hearts and minds by pushing the economic benefits of wind energy, but when she discovers there's an oil pipeline planned for the same area, she starts to box smarter and dirtier. Her son's discovery about his surfer dad and her eventual outing to the entire town, cause Kate to consider turning whistleblower, until she's given a final ultimatum."
The one I review as more "mixed" is Mystery Road, also on Acorn, as well as IMDb. It is described as "outback noir", and takes place in Australia.
"Mystery Road is an Australian television neo-Western-crime mystery series whose first series screened on ABC TV from 3 June 2018. The series is a spin-off from Ivan Sen's feature films Mystery Road and Goldstone, taking place in-between the two. Indigenous Australian detective Jay Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen is the main character and actor in both the films and in the two TV series, each of six episodes.
Series 1 was directed by Rachel Perkins. Swan is brought in to solve a murder, with the local police officer played by Judy Davis. In Series 2, directed by Warwick Thornton and Wayne Blair, which began airing on ABC on 19 April 2020, Swan is brought in to solve a murder in a different location, with the "local copper" this time played by Jada Alberts. Both series were shot in northern Western Australia."
As a crime drama it is rather gritty, but with some interesting characters. The best attraction for me was the Australian scenery, which is weird and gorgeous. Both series deal with race issues in the outback, with Native Austrailians playing key roles. In series one, we were willing to put up with the gritty for the plot. but series two was too over-the-top with violence. And it didn't seem like the characters had learned anything from their mistakes in series one. We bailed out of series two after three episodes.
What are your recommendations or "thumbs down" for entertainment during this time?
Raber wanted to catch up on "Better Call Saul." I think that show has lost its way after a couple of good seasons.
ReplyDeleteWe also watched the limited series, "The Haunting of Bly Manor," because I enjoy seeing adaptations of "The Turn of the Screw." This was less an adaptation than a fantasia on James's novella, and I thought it was pretentious and overly long, though it had some good moments.
I enjoyed the Danish "Herren's Veje" that I have mentioned on here before, about a Lutheran minister and his family having crises of faith and trying not to fall apart. (It's either on Prime or Netflix, I forget which.) It's subtitled, which some people won't like.
We're sort of dipping our toes in a number of series. We've been enjoying a comedy series on NetFlix called Episodes. I guess it wouldn't have passed muster with the Legion of Decency, so I definitely won't tell you that it's well-written, witty and funny. With a fair bit of sex, more comic than titillating. It's about a British couple who had created an award-winning series in the UK. An American network brings them to the West Coast to try to replicate their series on American television. We see Hollywood culture and excess through the eyes of these British naifs. Among other pleasures, it features Matt LeBlanc (who played Joey in the long-running 1990s series "Friends"), playing ... Matt LeBlanc, whom the network has forced upon the writing team as the the lead in their series. LeBlanc plays himself as genial, amoral and a little coarse.
ReplyDeleteI recommend it.
We've also started watching "The Queen's Gambit", also on NetFlix. It's about an orphaned girl in the 1960s (or maybe late 50s) who is a natural chess wizard. Have watched three episodes so far; a lot of older boys and men underestimating her. Pretty good so far, not sure yet whether it will sustain my interest. But it's a pretty big hit right now on NetFlix.
We also watch a few network series. The Good Doctor has started up again, I think they're up to Season 4 now. Freddie Highmore plays an autistic surgeon. Same writer/producer who did the House series, but this is not as dark and cynical as House was. Pretty good medical-drama stuff - good writing, good performances, good story lines. We also watch all the Chicago series (Med/Fire/PD) - well, I watch PD, my wife doesn't. They're not great art, but there is something about them.
We just finished watching COBRA, a limited series (four or so episodes) on PBS. It was good but not brilliant. We're now watching another limited series on PBS called Roadkill. Speaking of House, that one stars Hugh Laurie. Both series are about Prime Ministers and their cabinets. So far, Roadkill is better. PBS has been a little off its game since Downton Abbey ended.
Jim, Legion of Decency, LOL, blast from the past. Did they used to publish the ratings in your archdiocesan paper?
DeleteMight have to check out COBRA or Roadkill. I miss Downton Abbey. There is an Australian series, Miss Fisher's murders, where the main character, a woman detective, is a dead ringer for Lady Mary. Same time period, too, the 1920s.
I found Episodes strangely satisfying. If you like Downton Abbey, try The Crown.
DeleteKatherine, I fear the Legion was before my time, although I have heard an aunt and others from that generation piously invoke it.
DeleteYes, Miss Fisher is entertaining. Ovation has been broadcasting the episodes recently, in case folks still subscribe to cable and have that network in their package. I never thought of the connection with Lady Mary, but it's an interesting thought. Can I just say: I never liked what Dorothy Sayers did with that character, turning that independent and rebellious young woman into a contented housewife and stay-at-home mom. But maybe Sayers knew of such cases in her life. Don't know if you ever read Gaudy Night; what talented young women do with their abilities as life progresses is one of its major themes.
Jean, yes, we watched the first episode of the new season of The Crown last night. I haven't watched it religiously, but am more than willing to sit with my wife when she watches it. It is very well-done.
Re Australian crime: A guy in my movie club from Australia is posted the other day about Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, two Sidney hard-case crime bosses at the turn of the 20th Century. They appear in an Australian mini-series briefly, but they probably deserve their own movie or series. They ran brothels, blind pigs (called sly-grogs) and one of them was instrumental in getting cocaine banned so she could then trade in illegal (and lucrative) coke. One of them shot her boyfriend in the leg during an argument just before their wedding. They married anyway. They both served myriad small prison sentences, but they gave generously to Sydney charities, and were impossible to put away permanently. Eventually they were ruined by tax evasion and died in poverty.
DeleteThe Crown aka Britain's Most Awful Family. These people are such a train wreck. I understand why many Brits want to downsize them. Put the ruling monarch on a salary to perform ceremonial functions and let them keep Windsor Castle and Balmoral. Then force the rest of them to get real jobs.
But the royal fam is Britain's longest running reality show. What would tgey do without that to have all over the tabloids? And people wonder why Meghan and Harry absconded to Canada!
DeleteYes, I did read Gaudy Night, but I'm remembering the female main character in that as being Harriet Vane.
DeleteKatherine, Meghan and Harry now live in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara. You need a princely income to afford that neighborhood! I wish them luck - it was a bold step to leave England and give up royal perks. I don't blame them one bit though.
DeleteWhen our son moved to Australia almost 7 years ago, I discovered Miss Fisher, which is set in - and filmed in- Melbourne. They lived in Melbourne for the first three years, and then moved to Sydney. I enjoyed the Miss Fisher mysteries and absolutely loved the costumes!
The company our son co-founded with two Australian partners is an agtech company that provides ranch management software and services. My very suburban son has become extremely conversant in ranching methods, and knows more about sheep and cattle than I would ever have imagined. When visiting one of his partners' parents sheep/cattle station (400,000 acres!) my son and his wife were taught how to shear sheep. Not easy. So when someone recommended an Aussie series set on a sheep/cattle ranch we decided to watch it, to learn more about the lives of our son's company's clients. His two Australian partners both grew up on ranch/cattle stations and know that part of the business thoroughly. But our son was an ignorant American suburban kid. The series is called McLeod's Daughters. The premise is that a man's world operation was left to two young women (step-sisters - the daughters of Jack McLeod), one of whom is a city girl in Melbourne who moves to the ranch after her father's death, planning to sell her share. But, of course, she doesn't. The ranch is run by five women - successfully dealing with every setback you can imagine to the dismay of the very macho males of the region and business. Lots of romantic complications (bed-hopping is SOP, but not graphic at least). It gave us a good idea of what these ranchers have to do in daily life, and have contend with over the long-haul - droughts, poisoned water sources, all kinds of animal diseases, market price variations, etc. The fires there last year ruined a lot of farmers who had been hanging on by their fingernaails through 15 years of drought. With the last of their grassland gone, they gave up. Our son's small company lost 100 clients because of the fires, and they represent only a very small portion of the total number of ranchers who threw in the towel and sold what was left of their livestock. The sheep shearing scenes are realistic if you overlook the sneaky camera work that hides the fact that the female actress may not be tossing that huge animal around as easily as she appears to. The first three series were really enjoyable, but it slowly went downhill after some of the original cast left, and the soap opera elements took over as they ran out of story ideas. It's on Prime Video - free if you have an Amazon Prime membership. Of course, maybe not everyone is quite as interesting in Australian ranching as we are......
We are watching The Crown. I tried Cobra, but quit after one episode (we have PBS streaming). Roadkill is a bit better, so still watching. The actress who is playing Queen Elizabeth on last and this seasons' episodes of The Crown starred in a very good British murder mystery series called Broadchurch. Most of PBS's current crop of murder mysteries are too dark for me. But, to my surprise, I did enjoy "The Trouble with Maggie Cole" also on PBS streaming.
I think we might have to try an Acorn subscription. It sounds as though they have most of the better Brit shows.
Anne, your son's job sounds interesting. I know a bit about cattle, but nothing at all about sheep unless you count the pet lambs my brother and I had for awhile. We did watch McLeod's daughters for awhile, but quit when I looked ahead and found out that my favorite character was going to get killed. You might like Mystery Road, the first season. The scenery is beautiful and very unusual, filmed in north Western Australia.
DeleteKatherine, are both the series you mention (Australia and Ireland) on Acorn? They sound interesting - the Irish series more so. But I want to see the other, both for the Australian landscape and for the characters. My son said the discrimination against aborigines is truly awful.
DeleteI'm not a big sci fi fan. So I tried Episodes - after three or four "episodes", I'm done with that trial. Not my, hmmm, cup of tea. I never saw Friends, and so wasn't familiar with the actor. Is he always so smarmy? Not an attractive person, at least as this character. I didn't laugh even once in the three episodes I watched. I guess I don't have that kind of sense of humor. I tried The Good Place after strong recommendations - but it didn't take either. Watched a half dozen episodes, and figured there was no point in continuing. The long-shot comedy series that did take with me, much to my own surprise, was Schitt's Creek. I had to get through the first couple of episodes, but then it grew on me.
I'm running out of likely options. We recently started watching Madame Secretary. OK, but very unrealistic. Not sure how long we will continue with it. We never watched West Wing, which has great reviews also, so may try it.
I have been so upset by trump's blatant attempts to steal the election and the deafening silence of the GOP, that I can't even find an escape TV show that works. I have given up on escape reading until I can find a new author to binge read. I still haven't read all the Donna Leon Venice mysteries, so getting on the library hold list for some of hers. I might try Jean's recommendation (the Danish series) even though it sounds pretty depressing.
Depressing is as depressing does. I found Herrens Veje full of humanity--just people learning to face their own sins and self-deception in a struggle for decency and kindness. Lots of grey skies and woolen sweaters.
DeleteI liked Madame Secretary because Keith Carradine is in it. He also shows up in Fargo, the first couple of seasons of which are great, but then Ewan MacGregor shows up, to play a dual role no less, and if he can pass as a Minnesotan, then I am a cheese-eating New York sophisticate.
The Americans is a terrific series for those who like mystery/espionage. Raber is really fussy about long-term commitments to multi-season series, but he really liked it.
Anne, the Irish series is on Acorn. It is a nice break from some of the violent ones. I think you can also get Mystery Road on Acorn, but we got it on IMDb, which is an Amazon streaming service if you have Prime. I can't recommend series 2 of Mystery Road, way too dark and violent. It had a different producer than series 1, so maybe that's why it took a turn for the worse.
DeleteAcorn does have a lot of things. One of our favorites was The Good Karma Hospital. It takes place in Kerala, India, but was actually filmed in Sri Lanka. We have finished all three seasons. Supposedly they are planning a fourth season, if they can ever film it.
Anne, have you watched the final episode yet of Roadkill? I'd like to know what you thought.
DeleteJust to tie out a conversation from a few days ago: right, the protagonist in Gaudy Night is Harriet Vane. I don't think Lady Mary appears in it at all. I found Sayers' exploration of women's themes from her 1930s perspective to be pretty interesting. It might be the best book in the series.
DeleteHas anyone watched B Positive? It's a half hour sit-com on CBS. I was dubious about it at first but K talked me into watching it. I didn't see how they were going to make a sit-com about a guy who needs a kidney transplant. The main character, Drew, runs into an old high school friend, Gina, who offers to be his kidney donor. Gina is a party-hearty type of gal who makes poor financial decisions. And has a heart of gold. It shouldn't work. But it kind of does.
ReplyDeleteKatherine - I confess I've never heard of the series. But I will check it out; goodness knows, we have time on our hands these days!
DeleteI am going to try to do all Christmas shopping online this year. We'll see how that works out.
I watched the German series "Dark". A time travel Scifi series with interesting convolutions and twists infused with Teutonic gloominess, interjected with quotes from the Bible and Nietzsche. The ending was more upbeat than expected. Watching it a second time with german subtitles to better my German.
ReplyDeleteI find it difficult to watch anything these days. The world portrayed in television is much more ordered and logical than the real one I've been living in the past four years. Seeing 70M of my fellow Americans replaced by "pods".
Stanley, "Dark" sounds intriguing. We have watched a couple of French series with subtitles. But they talk so fast and swallow their syllables so that I really can't pick up much French.
DeleteKatherine, I've been studying German on Babbel and it seems to be working. With german subtitles, it seems a good exercise. The germans talk slowly in this series as is appropriate for the profound gloominess. I've learned the term "schwarzloch" for black hole, and the other type of hole.
DeleteUdo Kier (once of Warhol's film studio) plays an aging German industrialist out to procure a liver replacement in Altes Geld (Old Money). It is also German with subtitles and a good one if you are learning or brushing up on German. I watched a couple of episodes until I got distracted, but will go back to it.
DeleteEuropean TV doesn't treat old people as one dimensional.
I will suggest Dark to Raber. I am sick of Das Boot and Der Blau Angel when it's German Night.
Stanley, in my work life, that is how our Asian and European employees become proficient in English: by watching American television series.
DeleteIs Dark available on a particular service?
Yes, Jim. It is on Netflix. When the second season arrived, I had to watch the first over again to get oriented. It is three seasons and then done. If people can mess up their lives with linear time, just think what they can do with time hopping.
DeleteThanks for the recommendation, Jean. I'll check it out.
We watched a bunch of episodes of Dark last night. It's pretty engaging. We assume that in this set-up time runs on parallel tracks instead of a single linear continuum, or characters would remember having met each other in the past.
DeleteThis summer I gorged on Jodi Taylor's time travel series (11 novels or something--July and August are a complete blur, which was a boon to my mental health). They are fluff, but pretty well-plotted fluff. She works on parallel time tracks.
Hope you like the rest of the series. May be easier to watch it all at one time than season by season as I did.
DeleteI'll have to look up the Jodi Taylor series. Time travel stories work best when they throw a lot of complications at the reader quickly. Glosses over the paradoxes.
Time travel books are never really about time travel but the conundrums of choice and free will. Breaking free of the time-space continuum allows you to play God, rearrange events, limit the free will of others, and thereby lose your humanity.
DeleteWell said, Jean. I think "Dark" meets your criteria in spades. I look forward to your comments on the series.
DeleteViewing tip: Make a genealogy chart for the characters in Dark. We are referring to it frequently now that we are in Season 2.
Delete