Series you've recently watched, are now watching or have given up on

Cafe Society
4288

Thanks for the many suggestions. I’ll try to follow up on as many as possible but I suspect most are not available here. I’ve seen a few of them but the vast majority are unknown to me. Of the ones I’ve seen, The Good Life just didn’t interest me though I think I slogged through it; I thought the premise had potential but the execution was dull, IMHO. I’ve seen Mind Your Language and it didn’t strike me as particularly racist, just not very memorable. I haven’t seen On the Buses since I was a kid and CBC was running it as a late-night filler – that one is really old (1969 to 1973).

My list of favourites needs an update since I forgot a terrific one and also messed up when I cited Yes, Prime Minister. I meant to say Yes, Minister. One of the delights of the series was Hacker being squeezed between competing interests, one of which was constant fear of incurring the wrath of the PM. Once he became PM himself, that particular comedic element disappeared.

Anyway, the one I forgot was the magnificent Keeping Up Appearances, starring the inimitable Patricia Routledge as the ultra-snobbish Hyacinth Bucket (and you’d better remember to pronounce that “Bouquet”!). Just delightful!

And at risk of being judged juvenile, I think possibly my favourite episode was one that descended into slapstick. Hyacinth somehow gets access to someone’s yacht for a day, so naturally decides to throw a yacht party. She first dresses up husband Richard in ridiculous-looking nautical gear. When they arrive at the marina and find the boat, it’s truly impressive, but the keys don’t work. Turns out, that’s not the right boat, the right one is next to it and is a dingy-looking scow. Feeling that the contrast with the big yacht makes it look even worse, they decide to move it. The highlight of this short expedition is that the plump and pompous Hyacinth goes plunging headfirst into the water! OK, so I never grew up, but I giggled!

Herewith my revised list of favourite old British comedies:

Allo Allo, Blackadder, Father Ted, Fawlty Towers, Hi-De-Hi, Keeping Up Appearances, Only Fools and Horses, The Vicar of Dibley, Yes Minister, You Rang M’Lord? – and a runner-up, Oh Dr Beeching.

It’s always great to have another fan enjoy one of my favourite shows, but I’m afraid I can’t help. I’m something of a digital packrat and have a large collection of material from many different sources, including a friend who’s also a collector. You Rang M’Lord is quite old and unfortunately I don’t even remember where it originally came from. It may have been a digitized off-air recording from a long time ago.

4289

I’m not sure if the people behind Father Ted would necessarily be flattered by the idea that Ireland is part of Britain/the UK.

EDIT: I guess it was made for a British TV channel, though. I withdraw my complaint.

4290

As long as we’re plugging British comedies, I’ll put in a word for The Detectorists, with the brilliant MacKenzie Crook (who also wrote) and Toby Jones. Gently humorous and consistently engaging over three seasons. Available on Amazon Prime. It’s our all-time favorite after Farty Owls.

4291

I loved The Good Life (renamed in the US Good Neighbors). My favorite episodes were the posh frock one, and the one where Margo finally gets a joke and laughs. Some of the episodes were duds, but I could watch Felicity Kendall in almost anything (the first Merchant/Ivory – Shakespeare Wallah – is one of my favorite movies).

Probably 40 years ago or more a local PBS station played The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 5 days a week, so it was an old-timey way of sorta binge-watching. Loved it! I especially loved that Reggie’s wife invented a lover who was half Scottish/half Hungarian since that’s my ancestry. Leonard Rossiter was superb.

I could only take Hyacinth Bouquet in small doses. I loved Daisy and Onslow, though.

4292

I always enjoyed when Tom flirted with Margo, she would be simultaneously appalled and flattered.

4293

When we watched that series we thought it was highly entertaining at first and it’s like it aged as we were watching it. Little by little you start to see how selfish everyone is. You realize Ted is the dreaded Nice Guy, essentially a narcissistic tool who treats women as over idealized objects of fantasy wish fulfillment and we’re supposed to feel sad for him whenever his unrealistic visions fail to deliver. Barney is the funny one and arguably the one who grows the most as a person but he’s a vile misogynist for most of the show’s run, and this goes unexplored. The only one I really could stand by the end was Marshall. I think we were just waiting for it to be over.

The ending didn’t really bother me though.

4294

While we’re on the subject of British series, I thought the original British House of Cards was a terrific mini-series and phenomenally better than the American retread. Unlike the American version which seemed to go on forever, it was just four great episodes, followed by two sequels, To Play the King and The Final Cut, of four episodes each. It also wasn’t plagued by having Kevin Spacey in the lead role.

4295

Oh yeah, I just binged that on BritBox recently! I vaguely remember it being shown on PBS (?) in my childhood, and I guess I had some residual affection for those fun silly people. But even as an adult viewer, a lot of the charm and whimsy holds up really well.

I rather like the episode where Margo is mysteriously bunking off (see, I speak British!) from her riding sessions, and the Goods are eaten up with curiosity about her presumed illicit affair. I enjoy the change of pace where Margo gets to be the poised one all through the arc, steadfastly refusing to satisfy the neighbors’ inquisitiveness about what she’s really up to.

4296

Concur, I’ve actually watched it twice, and there aren’t many series I’ll go back to after I’ve seen them, especially dramas. Ian Richardson was just brilliant.

I have never felt the need to try the American version. Not that there isn’t a lot of terrific American television, I just am not interested in having a Coke after finishing that perfect pot of tea.

4297

If were talking more modern British shows, you can’t really go wrong with Spaced.

4298

My wife and I found spaced years ago and man, what a great show.

4299

Yep. Although it should be pointed out that I used “modern” very loosely there…

4300

After yesterday’s episode of The Acolyte (Star Wars) I am done.

Episodes 1 and 2 were ok. With enough action to offset the mediocre writing. I could not finish Episode 3. The acting, writing, and plot were downright terrible.

4301

Watched the first two episodes of the series adaptation of Presumed Innocent on AppleTV+. Pretty decent so far; they’ve made some fairly significant changes from the book already and I am interested to see if that will continue.

4302

A Nearly Normal Family. This is a very well done Swedish-language 6-part drama which if you prefer (I don’t) can also be streamed with dubbed English audio. I hate dubbed movies and I watched the original Swedish with English subtitles.

The “nearly normal family” is a husband who is a priest with the Church of Sweden (which obviously allows priests to marry), a wife who is a successful lawyer, and 19-year-old daughter Stella. Stella is a reasonably happy teen with a best friend and a recent boyfriend and parental troubles no different from those of any other teen, though she is haunted by memories of having been sexually assaulted when she was 15.

Suddenly out of the blue, the parents are informed that Stella has been arrested and charged with murder. Her boyfriend was found stabbed to death. From that point on, the series alternates between Stella’s experiences in jail awaiting trial, flashbacks to prior events, and vivid depictions of the stress this is putting on both her parents, including her mother winding up in hospital after a severe panic attack, and both parents doing everything in their power – not necessarily legally – to protect their daughter.

Very well acted, extremely realistic and suspenseful, and (contrary to some ignorant reviews) not a dull moment throughout its roughly 4½ hour total runtime. The trial and the aftermath is not quite as brilliantly innovative as the film Anatomy of a Fall, but still, very enjoyable and highly recommended.

4303

I agree, this was very interesting, especially the viewpoint of the father. Both this movie and Anatomy of a Fall were as good as much for a fascinating view of a foreign court system as they were for the actual murder mystery. Some of it really caused me to go “What?!?” ,but in a good way.

4304

Just binged season one of Dark Winds, a police procedural set in a Navajo reservation set in the 70s.

Really enjoyed season one, which I watched on Amazon Prime. In order to watch season two I had to subscribe to AMC; now I have to remember to unsubscribe before my free time is up.

4305

in real life record companies started that with teen groups in the '90s to allegedly keep the others out of trouble after some revelations of the '70s and '80s kid/teen groups also they could rent cars etc so the management didn’t have to be bothered with a lot of the day to day touring stuff

its partly why Joey Fatone was a backstreet boy despite being 25

4306

That’s based on the Tony Hillerman novels, which I loved. I’ll have to watch this!

4307

Now I’m going to have to find the books.

One thing I’ve noticed is that there are only a handful of Native American (is that the PC term?) actors, so the same individuals are in any movie/series about them.