Blood Sacrifice, yet another Nordic Noir, this one on Netflix. The first two episodes were great, but the third one went off the rails with everyone acting incredibly stupidly and unethically from the beginning to the end.
My wife is finishing out the last two episodes here in the room while I do other things on the computer, so I’m half following, except it’s subtitled so I’m getting it in bits. I do want to know how it ends.
Nope, the first time in 26 years on OTA TV was the night before (last night) on Collector’s Call on MeTV. I know, it’s weird.
Looks like MeTV is using TV rights to the fullest, showing TWofOz Sunday as well, plus additional related content.
Brian
Throughout October they are showing TWoO 5 times and The Wiz once. (For months before this they’ve been showing commercials related to TWoO without explanation, stringing together clips of things like Gilligan’s Island and Andy Griffith and Everybody Loves Raymond that happened to mention something with some connection to TWoO: mention of witches, someone called Tin Man, etc.).
We’re watching The Doll on NFLX. It’s a Polish period piece with subtitles. Well done, though the plot is a bit odd.
I made a mistake. I watched Talamasca: The Secret Order without knowing it was already cancelled for a second season. I probably wouldn’t have watched if I knew. Only 6 episodes. Like the Anne Rice books I read years ago the first few episodes were a slog. It really picked up towards the end. The last two episodes were much better. By the end I was hoping to be able to see more but that’s no to be.
I just tried NCIS New York, as the OG NCSI is getting tired. However, they brought back Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo, after that actor had a string of TV flops. So- maybe?
Anyway back to NCIS New York, the new spin off. Things that slightly annoyed me- they kept playing like LL Cook J was some sort of man mountain, although he is only 6’2" if that (Google sez 6’ 1.5"). Sure his co-star is only 5’ 5". One of the other cast members is also 6’2" however. They also handled important evidence without gloves, which annoys me.
I will give it a second try.
They chose not to have a 2nd season of Tony and Ziva so that was a disappointment but it was streaming so it’s difficult to get exact numbers. He left NCIS to star in Bull. I had no interest in the show but it was on for 6 seasons and 125 episodes. Hardly a flop. That’s pretty much all he’s been in since leaving the show.
True, not a flop.
Now about a third of the way into Season 5 of the original Perry Mason series (1957-1966). One humourous thing I’d note is that Mason seems to have no income, but nevertheless employs detective Paul Drake and all his “operatives” on his cases.
There have been episodes where Mason says that in order to legally represent a client, he must have a retainer. In one episode, he asks a woman how much she can provide. She rummages in her purse and comes up with something like 35¢. Mason takes it and says, “you are now my client”. In another case, he asks for a dollar.
Are there other cases where potential clients offer him tens of thousands of dollars? Yes, there are, and Mason always turns them down for ethical reasons. He never accepts any large cheques.
How this guy can even afford to feed himself, let alone support a law office, is a mystery that the viewer is apparently not supposed to wonder about.
Perry Mason was an idyllic 1950s fantasy world where justice always triumphed, and lawyers who worked for free drove huge Cadillacs with comically large tail fins (in the earlier episodes).
Regardless, the mystery stories continue to be fun! It really is creative scriptwriting in the best sense of the word.
Finished the latest season of Ted Lasso. Definitely the inferior season. I thought they hit some of the emotional notes but failed to bring the comedy. Tracy Ullman’s character was supposed to be funny but I didn’t laugh once.
I see there is a reimagining of “Carrie” on Amazon Prime. It’s a 2026 series that has 3.6/5 stars. I may give it a try.
I’m two episodes in and like it. I have little love or nostalgia for the Carrie movie from the 1970s or for the book, which I have not read. I’ve seen the movie, but it’s not something I think about much.
This seems quite good.
Just watched the entire season, probably won’t be back for season 5 if there is one. The only scene I really enjoyed was Roy commentating the game using Keeley’s makeup.
Finished season 3 of For All Mankind. As a couple of people here noted, it does get quite ridiculous in some ways (I mean it’s been ridiculous, it just found new ways to continue doing so). Also, apparently no one even remotely involved in space has ever heard about safety procedures.
The last episode was overall pretty good and set things up for season 4 nicely. However there were two things that really broke me out of the story.
First, who the hell thinks it’s a good idea to strap a pregnant woman to the top of a lander and launch her into orbit?!
Second, what happens to the Johnson Space Center. They mimicked the OKC bombing and even used actual footage. I suppose it makes sense that the OKC bombing doesn’t happen in this timeline, but damn if that wasn’t an unexpected gut punch for me. I remember the bombing and saw the Murrah building in person afterwords. I just wasn’t prepared for that to be brought out.
We’re about halfway through “East of Eden” on Netflix, and it’s quite a story, well-told thus far. Unlike Elia Kazan’s 1950s film adaptation, which focused on the relationship between the Trask twins and their father (and was more of a starring vehicle for James Dean) this version is focused on the evil Cathy character. And evil she is. Florence Pugh really dials up the coldness. As such, it’s more faithful to John Steinbeck’s novel.
I read the novel before I saw the Kazan version and was disappointed in the movie. Evil Cathy is hardly in it at all, and she is rightfully the main protagonist. But it was the 1950s, and a movie focusing on Cathy couldn’t have possibly been made in those repressive times.
Highly recommended.
My wife and I have been watching it and enjoying it; we’re halfway through the last episode. There have been a few moments that I thought were a bit over-the-top, but otherwise it’s quite engaging. (I haven’t read the book or seen any movie version, for what it’s worth.)
We watched the pilot episode of Eternally Yours, a sitcom about a vampire family. What We Do in the Shadows, it ain’t. Not much bite to the comedy. It really kind of sucked, to be honest. Left me feeling emotionally drained. I don’t think this show should have ever seen the light of day. I doubt we’ll keep watching-- it’s not my cross to bear.
Just for kicks I watched the first two episodes of Felicity last night. I doubt I’ll watch much more of it (if any), it was just for a bit of nostalgia. I was surprised to see that Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and JJ Abrams were the creators/writers/producers.
It’s from the people behind the American adaptation of Ghosts, so I’m sticking with it for now.