Topic: What's your favourite TV program of the moment?

[8ullfrog]

I'm reading a lot of reviews on Picard, watched it myself, and I just want to yell at people.

First, People don't like Dahj, the girl who goes to Picard for help, calling her a River Tam expy. She's not. She's actively horrified when she discovers she can do ninja fu, and does not revel in it remotely.

People don't like that Picard named his dog "Number One" and call it twee. Picard calls whoever watches his back day to day "Number One" and Riker graduated from that when he got his own starship.

Synth/Android/The Federation is not a Utopia. The federation was always a walled garden type utopia, where you're not meant to look behind doors. How many times did some Admiral decide "golly this, we'll do it my way" only for the cast to have to make a last ditch desperate attempt to stop them?

He's old  NO poo. Picard is in his NINETIES at this point, him struggling with a stairwell was EXTREMELY GOOD, and not poo at all.

One person didn't like that the reporter at the start of the episode was both glib and stupid, as if such things could ever be stamped out. I posited that it is important that good works be carried on, it is not sufficient to say "Well, The Enterprise D saved the day, case closed". Ignorance and Evil are always waiting for their next day in the sun.

I was very worried when I learned that a lot of the reason we don't hear much about trek between the original series, and the abysmal Bakula trek is a rights issue.

That's right, the edgelord trek universe was caused by lawyers.

I liked Picard. I have some fears, there are far too many cooks in the kitchen, but I'm fearfully optimistic.

The credits sequence really worried me, they're clearly siblings with Discovery, which I hate.

One reviewer pointed out we never saw Denobulans before Enterprise, and haven't since. I'd like to think they did something horrible. In series, we saw Dr. Phlox cheerfully observe a race die based on his own fondness for eugenics, and he was double nasty in the mirror universe. I'd like to think their chapter in the history of the federation is heavily redacted. They can't leave Phlox out of the history books, but the rest of those weird gits? SHARPIED OUT.

[6pairsofshoes]

This TedEx series is pretty good.  Rendering current research in physics accessible for a wider audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXR-etStvCI&feature=youtu.be

[6pairsofshoes]

The Crown season 3 is getting better and better.  One episode focusing on Prince Charles spending a term in Wales learning Welsh so he can speak the local tongue during his investiture.  Pretty interesting.  And the subsequent one, split between Prince Phillip's obsession with the moon landing and his own midlife crisis.  You get a sense of how much people have to give up to be members of the royal family.  It must get wearing after a while.  This episode was particularly insightful and the actor who portrays Prince P. is very good at relating the frustration and conflicted state he experiences.  Olivia Coleman is competent.  Maybe it's just that the Queen is so straight laced and duty bound, it's kind of hard to like her.

[6pairsofshoes]

Paradox is like New Tricks with surly handsome scientist and a couple dedicated sidekicks with toothsome blonde Tamzin Outhwaite as main detective Rebecca Flint popping in to deal with and prevent crimes before they happen.  Solar flares and downloads of a series of 8 images (fragments from the future) helps the team of detectives solve crimes before they happen. It's like a K-Mart version of "Minority Report" Mark Bonnar, of Shetland fame, plays DS Ben Holt.  Tamzin's character sleeps with him at the beginning but the tension that builds is between her and the new guy, Mr. Brilliant Scientist. (Emun Elliot as Dr. Christian King.)  I'm sure that Gillette will be happy to see its stock recover after the current beard fad runs its course.

Lotsa DRAMA and the whole business is predictable & kind of dull.  I've watched 3 episodes and end up wanting relief from Stargate 1.  Gak.  This is a 5 part miniseries.  From 2009.  Now on amazon prime video.

[smokester]

My new bestest-favourite TV show at the moment is The Glitch -  and it is so by a country mile.

So far it's one of the most original shows I've seen and the fact that runs for nearly an hour makes it even better as I hate it when an episode ends.

Nuff said.

[8ullfrog]

I think I might wait for the entire season of Picard to come out before watching it. The reviews are... not great.

Apparently it's very CBStrek.

[8ullfrog]

I tried watching Lois & Clark, I thought it would be amusing, like Seinfeld, and I could not for the life of me connect with the bless'ed show.

Like Terri Hatcher was a straight up babe, Dean Cain played nerdo clark to the hilt, and I just bless'ed despised it.  I was impressed by the first few episodes of West Wing, but then I saw their hamfisted 9/11 episode and just was like "gross" and stopped watching.

I didn't even get past the first 30 minutes of Lois & Clark.  Lois' Roommate, maybe sister? Was telling her how she was 26 and needed to find a man, and I was shocked at how garbage that was.

Then they cut to Clark and they used that spinning room effect to have him fix a lightbulb in a ceiling and then walk down, and I realized that life is fleeting, and X'd the golly out of that window.

Clearly Lois & Clark is not the series for me.

[6pairsofshoes]

McMillions.  Entertaining documentary about a conspiracy to divert tokens for the fast food chain, McDonald's, million dollar Monopoly game.  Mobsters and former cops get in on sharing the winnings with their family & friends.  The FBI investigates in concert with security from McDonald's corp and the secure printing establishment that prints lottery tickets and other items of value.  The FBI agents are actually really funny.  Two episodes up now.  On HBO.

[smokester]

Glitch was really good and it was a pleasant change to see something from Oz.

Tried Ghost Wars on for size but that show was never going anywhere except binwards, so we recommenced watching American Horror Story as we were only half-way through season 4 at last count. It a bit of a chore but good gruesome fun in the main.

With the family we started watching Another Life which show promise. You do get the feeling that it could easily fall off a cliff if the scriptwriters aren't careful though, as just making all the characters potty-mouthed does not constitute tension let alone a storyline.

[6pairsofshoes]

Back to Engrenages, season 7.  I really like this show. Spare and compelling representation of modern Paris, particularly focusing on the banlieus and other outlying areas where poor immigrants are warehoused and resort to a variety of criminal activities.  The justice system is represented as corrupt and politicized.  Kind of like what's happening here under the current administration.  I think there's a reason so many crime shows take place in council housing or projects.  Planners still don't seem to grasp this as most governments keep doing the same thing over and over.

Someone recommended a Netflix documentary called "Making a murderer" about how Wisconsin police framed some men for killing a reporter.  Gnarly.  I may watch that this week. 

[smokester]

Another Life was crap after all and some of the confusing sexual storylines just compounded its crapness. I hope they abandon season 2.

After managing to crawl through the last half a season of AMS season 4, the first episode of season 5 was even more painful and the notion of watching another complete season seems like a punishment for something.

I'm bringing back the radio.

[6pairsofshoes]

Homeland continues to be engaging but grim.  With dead presidents from the US and Afghanistan, the region appears to be spiraling out of control.  Will it get better?  Probably not.  The appeal of this show is that it tracks current geopolitics and takes a reasonably cynical perspective on the inability of the great powers to govern in any singular or controlled way.

It brings into question the very prospect of control or virtue in international politics.

[smokester]

The kids fancied watching The Zoo as our family evening slot and it was sort of attractive due to its originality. That originality has now become the absurd and I think we all secretly want to bail on it but don't want to offend each other. It really is pretty crap.

The show that I am enjoying is Chambers with Uma Thurman. It's good but like most of the shows I personally like, it got cancelled.

[6pairsofshoes]

I'm rewatching Trailer Park Boys for the umpteenth time.  It's just charming.  It's about my speed these days, waiting for a plague to hit. 

[8ullfrog]

About Stargate Season 9...