I’m used to being behind the curve. My preference is to watch series on dvd or streaming so I’m almost never current, but I’ll often go back and read old threads.
Just now, for instance, I watched the HBO Mildred Pierce miniseries. I’ve got a lot of opinions about it and thought I’d look at the thread from 2011 when it aired. There isn’t one.
If any of you are interested it’s well worth watching. It is HBO and Kate Winslet so there’s no 1945 style ambiguity about whether Mildred did or didn’t sleep with Wally. This version diverges pretty early on from the Joan Crawford version.
By the time I was through the first disc I’d decided I want to read the book and made an online hold request to the library. I was somewhat dismayed when I went to pick it up that it was a very new edition with Kate Winslet on the cover. I checked it out anyway.
Is there anything you’ve seen that you’d like to tell us about that doesn’t have a thread? I’ve got a few more, but I’ll space them out.
For me it’s Delocated, a live action show that recently wrapped up on Adult Swim. You might recognize the writer/director/lead actor Jon Glaser from his recent stint on **Parks and Rec **as Councilman Jamm. He also had a bit part on HBO’s Girls. But you won’t recognize him from Delocated as his character “Jon” wore a ski mask for the entirety of the series.
It’s a big part of why I hadn’t watched this miniseries yet. It’s a perfect movie. Why do we need another one? But the costumes and production design make it nice to watch. There are enough differences that I stopped comparing them early on. I’m anxious to read the book.
Another one I wish more people knew about is a sitcom my mom told me about available streaming on Netflix. It’s called Out of Practice. All of the lead actors are recognizable from other things, and they work really well together. There’s some cheesy overhearing mistaken identity stuff but it is a sitcom. I can only guess that it must have languished in a bad time slot or it would’ve lasted. It’s better than more than a few shows that lasted for years.
I Netflixed this over the winter. I’d never read the book and was also surprised at how different the story was from the Crawford movie. It wasn’t so much who with and when Mildred had sex–I figured that the story would be more racy in that regard even if it wasn’t on HBO :). But the whole thing with the murder! That astonished me.
Right now, I’m watching a Canadian comedy series called Slings and Arrows about a theatre performing Shakespeare’s plays. The new production director is a bit unbalanced; he had a nervous breakdown when he was playing the lead in Hamlet some years before and left the stage. He’s been invited back to the theatre following the death of the previous director, who had directed him in Hamlet and had something to do with his breakdown. The ghost of the previous director pops up on occasion to advise him. It’s delightful so far and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it mentioned here.
If you have any background in drama, you’ll probably love it. I have some friends who are involved in the National Shakespeare Theater here in Washington DC; there are so many little things about the show that remind me of them and things they have told me about the theater’s productions of plays.
There was an HBO series called Action starring Jay Mohr. It only lasted one season but I thought it was hilarious.
Jay plays movie producer Peter Dragon, who just has just released a huge flop. The series focuses on him making his next picture, Beverly Hills Gun Club. It’s not a perfect series, but I thought it was pretty well written and very funny. It’s a shame they never made a second series.
Another good HBO series nobody watched is The Comeback. One season. It starred Lisa Kudrow as a washed-up actress given a part in a new sitcom at the same time that she was the focus of a reality show. It was often painful to watch. Kudrow’s character was brilliantly done. She was unsympathetic – thoughtless, clueless, ignorant, selfish, narcissistic – with brief moments of self-awareness.
I had forgotten about The Comeback, it was very good… Lisa Kudrow does Larry David style uncomfortable humor very well, as her current Web Therapy project is also in that style.
I came in to mention Rubicon which was a conspiracy theory show on AMC back in 2010 which went one season and done. I wasn’t the only one watching it because I remember discussing it online, either here or at the AVClub website. But “not enough” people watched it, probably scared away at the prospect of yet another complicated TV show that won’t last long enough to answer its central mystery, as there were a bunch of Lost inspired mythology shows at the time.
And hey! I liked Action too. Another goody from Fox back in the day: Harsh Realm, not nearly as well remembered as some of the other Fox shows that got smothered in the cradle like Firefly and Brimstone.
Since getting HuluPlus I’ve finished some really good, quirky, overseas shows like the BBC’s The Supersizers Go… and the ABC’s The Librarians. I also finally got a chance to watch Little Mosque on the Praire.
If you have access to a British series called Accused. Here’s the description from Netflix: “Each episode is a separate story about how one ordinary individual has ended up awaiting trial in court. But nothing is what it seems. And, as viewers learn more about each of the six people charged, the question is: Are they rightfully accused?”
I recommend it - with some reservation. It’s beautifully written,directed, and acted. However, there is quite a bit of sadness. If you’re feeling a little fragile I’d suggest saving it for another time. I had to take a break. When I got to the end of the series I wished there were more.
Next up, thanks to the Netflix “because you watched” algorithm I watched watching Prisoners’ Wives. I thought at first that the series ended abruptly, but the more I think about I think we can draw conclusions about what’s next for each of the main characters.
I’m close to halfway through Luther now, and wish I had someone to talk about it with.
I love Scandal on ABC. It’s probably my favorite show on television. No one here is interested I guess. That’s ok since my friend and I are addicted. I guess it isn’t as nuanced as Game of Thrones, but it’s highly entertaining, and has a black female lead (the gorgeous Kerry Washington), and I feel like I can save the world after watching it, and I’d keep gushing but I’ll stop. I also liked Deception on NBC with Meagan Good starring as an undercover cop/similarly bad-assed black female problem solver. I need more tv shows like that.
Also, I’m amused by Orphan Black on BBC America. I’m not sure if I like it but I want to see where it’s going.