I'm sure that I'm not alone in watching a lot of TV during the lockdown. I thought it might be interesting to provide our own in-house reviews of the things that have stuck out for us as we binge into the New Year.

In no particular order

The Wire - A. Man, that was a great show. It won all sorts of critical awards, and deservedly so. Definitely worth (re)watching in light of this past summer, George Floyd, blm, etc.

Homicide: LOTS - A to F. The first season was a solid B, then next 3 in my opinion were stellar, then the long decline into pretty much unwatchable. What started out as a dark, but comedic slice of "real" police work turned into a soap opera, with policing as the backdrop. Yuck. But the first 4 seasons are definitely worth a watch.

The Crown: B+. Totally enjoyable, more so in the earlier seasons, not so much because the production declined but I was less informed about royal life in general. It also did a great job of showing Elizabeth's growth into the role of queen.

The Undoing: B. Absolutely watched it, but found parts of it (like Nicole Kidman's odd accent and bland performance) annoying. Side note: the actor playing their kid was outstanding.

His Honor: B-. We haven't finished this. The story is compelling but it's very, very dark and has flashes of pretty intense violence. You can skip the first 15 minutes of the first episode, which basically shows a very gruesome car accident. There will be flashbacks so you'll be able to figure it out pretty easily. This is one where you know that disaster looms, just don't know when or how it will hit.

The Flight Attendant: A- (so far). About halfway through. The storyline is good and I find the comedic aspect to be clever and well done. But I am constantly thinking to myself, "how can she drink that much and remain upright, much less keep a job." But I'm definitely watching this one until the end.

The West Wing: B- with flashes of A. I *loved* this show in its first run, and it's interesting to see how it foreshadowed a lot of issues we are dealing with today, like the rise of the tea party/evangelicals. But looking at it through 2020's lens it seems a bit simplistic and incredibly naive and idealistic. Still, I love Sorkin's super-wordy scripts and how intelligence and principles are celebrated. It's just a bit to swallow in today's world, though I wish it weren't true.

Belgravia: C. From the Downton Abbey peeps. The best thing about this show is the last episode, which tied everything up into a nice, neat and satisfying bow. The production is dark, as in, not enough light. As in I can't see anything on the screen.

I think that's it for now--I'm probably missing some shows we watched.

I won't add reviews for things you've watched, just supplement a little bit with things we've enjoyed.

The Queen's Gambit was terrific.

Last Tango in Halifax was very good.

Emily in Paris was enjoyable fluff.

Mindhunter was great.

I really enjoyed Marcella, although I think it was too violent for Mary Anna's taste.

Ozark was brilliant.

I really enjoyed After Life, but its theme is kind of dark.

Doctor Foster was great.

The Worricker Trilogy was terrific.

Fleabag was one of the best things I've watched in a couple of years.

We both really liked Wild Bill.

Lovecraft Country was excellent, but way too violent for Mary Anna.

We both really like Succession.

You left out The Mandalorian and Star Trek Discovery.

I don't think anybody has mentioned Unforgotten yet.

There have been some others we really liked that I may have to put in a future post because they're slipping my mind.

I liked the first season of Marcella, despite some disturbing themes, but was frustrated by a secret centra to the seasonal arc that they did not reveal. This led me to get way further into the second season that I ordinarily would have, because it dealt with kidnapped, tortured, murdered children. Not my usual cup of tea. It eventually grew distressing enough that I didn't want to invest more time and risk them yanking the answer to that question out of my hands like Lucy taking the football away from Charlie Brown.

Totally binged Bridgerton. Gossip girl meets Downton Abbey. Lots of “make sure the neighbors can’t see what you are watching on tv” scenes. loved the costumes and the architecture. Fun modern music done with strings. Moderns twists on fashion colors.

Apart from older (usually classics) movies - there are often several different version - I was riveted by quite a number.
I'm enjoying the James Bonds (quite variable in quality), but the show that most comes to mind - random, really - is "Better Call Saul". The prequel to "Breaking Bad".

I had expected to be disappointed but was instead pleasantly surprised to find it pretty much a tie in quality with the original.

Oh, another weird British mystery series that we liked (yes, we like British mystery series):

River. Starring the excellent Nicola Walker and Stellan Skarsgard.

I must say I've been struck (unpleasantly so) by how much my current favorite genre has deteriorated - by my standards, anyhow. (Genre: historical drama, often SCI-FI) with increasingly more graphic details and downright porn.)

The older ones were actually "family-friendly" in contents and detail but grew radically different over time. For instance comparing "Arthur" to "Game of Thrones" (otherwise similar in contents. In fact, I think they used the same dragon.)

Killing at first was brief, with say a stabbing restricted to a few seconds showing the blood running and the romantic scenes showing little nudity (female, above the waist) . By contrast, "Game of Thrones" doted on the killing scenes to the extent that a stabbing or impaling took about as long as it could have taken in RL for the victim to (completely) exsanguinate (always wanted to use that word). I just had to shut my eyes until I figured the victim must have bled out. When I waited a while, I went back hoping I hadn't missed too much of the plot line.

And of course, there were plenty of other methods of killing, rendered in graphic detail. Minutes sometimes! until they died.

Made me start to worry, more than ever before about what audience the producers were aiming at. What it indicated about modern society. Still haven't arrived at an answer. WHO is their target audience?

The erotic scenes also evolved hugely (as anyone of you who've subjected yourself to the nitty gritty of "Game of THrones" knows). Full frontal nudity, of both sexes and full enactments. I don't think of myself as prudish but it went way past my thresh-hold. Perhaps it's because I never played (or saw) violent video games to inure me.

Whatever sets the emotional stage for serial murderers like we've been discussing, I think there's a causal relationship. I realize there is contradictory "evidence" but research exists to "prove" the opposite.

I loved the period costumes and settings, at least, and the gorgeous dragons alone would have hooked me.

(FWIW I watch these more immature productions from my stair-stepper. Without such recreation I could never finish my excruciatingly boring workouts.)

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

Last Tango in Halifax was very good.

Look for seasons 4 and 5 coming to Netflix:

https://www.whats-on-netflix.c...lifax-be-on-netflix/

Our guilty Netflix pleasure has been working our way through the many seasons of "Heartland"... It has us thinking of taking a "horsey vacation" some time in the future when vacations are safer again!

I totally forgot the Queens Gambit! That was fantastic as well. Definitely a strong A.

Apart from "Better Call Saul", I want to recommend wholeheartedly, "Outlander" (historical/SciFi). Completely addicting and happily, Seasons 4 and 5 (only goes through season three thus far) are about to be released
soon!

Also, at least one additional season of "Better Call Saul" is also about to be released.

I could have watched it for pay, but so far I've avoided paying for sequels for these two (and others) I got really hooked on.

Note too that YouTube has gotten more generous about making quality shows available free. Give it a look-see.

Mr. AM has just started Schitt’s Creek, and says I should watch it. He’ll even start over with me (he’s only seen 2 episodes.)

I’m still in the Crown, and want to watch Bridgerton and Belgravia.

Schitt’s Creek is a definite A for me! Though it took me several episodes to get into it. I don’t think I really ”got” what they were trying to do and laughed out loud until the episode with the town sign, then there was no turning back. I have watched the series through 3 times since this quarantine business began (the second two watches in the background while I sew).

I’ll echo the positive reviews of The Queens Gambit. I liked it more than Rob. Strong A there, too.

I didn’t love the most recent season of The Crown. The acting and design was brilliant, of course, but the story was more interesting in the early years. Though I did enjoy Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher.

We also did a bunch of rewarding of old favourites... Buffy the Vampire Slayer, West Wing, Stargate, Downton Abbey, Big Bang Theory...

Once Upon A Time ... always loved how it reimagines and juxtaposes all the Disney fairy tales and puts all the characters in a modern day New England small town. I sort of followed it in its first run at ABC but I missed many episodes so there are many gaps for me. This year because of travel restrictions and free Disney+ offered by an Internet service provider, I got to rewatch and fill in the gaps. Great writing, great plot most of the time, not wholly original but love the reimagination anyway, and outstanding portrayals of two characters by Lana Parrilla (the Evil Queen from Snow White) and Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin/the Beast). Despite it being a medley of Disney fairy tales that revolves around “true love” and various characters working towards happy endings, it turns out the real protagonists are not some beautiful young princess getting her happily ever after with some dashing Prince Charming, but the middle aged Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin struggling between good and evil and finally found redemption through love in many forms, not just the romantic sort.

Virgin River is excellent, at least the first year. A nurse practitioner goes from LA to a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Good story lines and interesting characters. A