I have a hold on that book on my Libby app.
Thanks for the rec. I will definitely give them a try.
I had to do a bunch of repair work around the house and took a pause, but I’m back at it and I’m about to finish episode five. I have to say, I wish this series was more like a lot of the British series that do six or eight episodes to a conclusion. Also, there’s a whole threatening side plot that I could do without, it just adds so much time to the show.
On the other hand, I did laugh when she offered to sync the countdown clock to Ballard’s phone.
Still sticking with it, though.
A major spoiler in the Ballard books: In the latest novel, Colleen gets murdered in her home.
What a weird, weird show. I just binged it the other night and I found it fascinatingly strange, but I’d be hard-pressed to call it good. Just fucking weird. It’s like the The Wicker Man meets Cold Comfort Farm, but with less charm and a darker sense of humor. It’s very pointedly and I assume very intentionally tonally schizophrenic to the point of absurdity and it fires a constant barrage of red herrings at you from a machine gun.
I…I…sorta admire it, with again not being sure it’s good. It has good…stuff? It also does wrap up some of the central mystery and many but not all of of the red herrings, in again what I can only assume is a deliberately over-the-top-unbelievably-absurd-gigantic-plot-hole(s) way which leaves the very weirdly unlikeable-but-somehow-sincere protagonist as bewildered and confused as the audience. While still leaving unanswered threads, questions and sly, winking hints.
I don’t know that I can recommend it. But it’s definitely something.
Hmmm, I wonder if the TV show will go that way. I binged and finished through the last episode. I think the cliffhanger at the end was pretty dumb - is the person in the back of the cop car at the end going to go to prison? I don’t think so.
Still, overall pretty decent, especially when I was able to fast forward through scenes (like the ones with Beach Boyfriend) that didn’t interest me.
So kind of like Eagleheart (also starring Brett Gelman)?
We started season four of Mr. Mopey and the Sad Sacks, also known as The Bear. I do like it for the most part, but it’s also depressing. And I really hate their use of the crime series trope of “You’ve got xxx days to turn this around or else!” With a countdown clock, for fuck’s sake.
Not quite as graphic as Surgeons but well done real life trauma cases.
Grimm David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell
On Peacock.
I saw two episodes tonight. I like the good Blutbad (wolf) that helps the Grimm character.
I enjoyed it. I hope it doesn’t get too dark. So far Grimm sets a similar tone as early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer..
Grimm originally aired at the same time as Once Upon A Time, and also Castle Rock I think, so the fairy tale genre was big back then.
I’d say “Yes”, but then, I liked him in Deadwood more than you did. But like Deadwood, he’s surrounded by other characters who are great. the villains really make Justified worth the watch.
It is amusing. I’m most of the way through a re-watch right now. In one of the first episodes, there’s a couple of drunk hoopleheads fanboying over Wild Bill. Took me a minute to figure out through the layer of Deadwood Dirt on his face that one of them was Scully from Brooklyn 99.
Kin is a gripping TV series about the Kinsellas, a Dublin crime family at war with a host of other gangsters.
After a couple episodes, it took all my self-control not to binge-watch. What a tension-filled story! I have never been more grateful for my lack of ties to the underworld.
Initially, Aiden Gillen (known for The Wire and Game of Thrones) seemed poorly cast as the patriarch. But he fit better as more was revealed about his character.
The icing on the cake is that, according to speculation, Kin is based on actual Irish mobsters, the Kinahans, several of whom are currently at large abroad. The show’s creator denies any such connection (smart move!)
Two seasons of eight episodes each. Currently streaming on BBC iPlayer. Rated 8.0 on IMDb!
I’m not a big Timothy Olyphant fan. In Santa Clarita Diet, he also has a third acting move: mugging frantically.
I gave Justified a decent try. I think I watched the first 10 episodes and it just seemed like a fairly generic cop show with a fairly lame main actor. Maybe it perks up after a while, but I already wasted 10 hours on it and there are other good TV shows out there to watch.
i watched mcdonald & dodds over the weekend. the usual police procedure. lovely, gorgeous shots of bath. just amazing buildings.
I think ten episodes is more than enough to give a show a chance. Nice job!
I’m into s4 of my Justified rewatch. Raylan, Olyphant’s character, is interesting. Season one might set it up for later, I know s3 mentions it, but Raylan appears to be dirty. He’s not but since he knows the players of Harlan, he knows motives and who to talk to as things happen down there. He scares one witness enough that he was going to let Raylan give him a picture of who Raylan wanted him to identify but Raylan doesn’t want it and is disgusted by it. He thought the witness was afraid, not that he hadn’t seen who did it. There are also some good scenes of Raylan facing off against someone. Having said that, he does use the badge several times for more personal use. If they had left it in Miami, it would have been a typical show because Raylan wouldn’t have known people. Plus, Walton Goggins steals any scene he’s in. (The showdown in s4 with the tent preacher amazes me. Boyd is not an idiot.) I also like Wynn Duffy’s portrayal, although not the character.
As I said, I can understand that. After Deadwood, I didn’t want to see him in anything. Justified impressed me enough not to avoid him. I find Santa Clarita Diet funny. I liked him in Mandalorian, although it’s almost Raylan in space.
Thanks for the discussion!
Man on the Inside
Recommended.
This is a sitcom starring Ted Danson from the creator of The Good Place.
No, not as funny. Not even close. But really pretty fun and good, even getting serious at times. Danson’s character agrees to go undercover in a retirement center to find a stolen object. He makes friends, investigates, and has an interesting experience.
We liked it. Danson is a great actor and man, I swear sometimes he has the record for sitcoms he’s been the lead of(or a lead, like he is in Good Place).
Worth it. Netflix.
I watched the first few episodes of that. It wasn’t bad, but I just kinda forgot about it.
To me, it felt like this was what came after The Good Place. I don’t want to spoil The Good Place, but this seemed like exactly the life Michael wanted for himself. While I know it’s not meant to be a continuation, there are a lot of Good Place Easter Eggs on Man On The Inside. In fact, the reason I looked into the connection was because one of the wings of the retirement home was called “The Neighborhood”. But he’s also a retired architect, some of the numbers that show up on Man On The Inside also appeared in The Good Place and I know there’s a handful of others. There’s also a handful of actors that appear on both shows, but I don’t believe it was ever even hinted that they could be the same person.
With all that said, I can’t help but to recommend The Good Place to anyone that hasn’t seen it yet.
It’s quite a bittersweet show. There are some definitely funny moments but also some sad and/or poignant ones about aging, dementia and death. Still recommended, though.