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

[6pairsofshoes]

There are two televised versions of the Stand.  One was about 20 years ago and began well but soon lapsed into a snorefest.

I haven't seen the newer one.  Not sure I will have a long enough life to warrant spending that much time on another version.  I'd probably be better served to read the book.  Dostoyevsky's The Devils is worth a read.

[goldshirt*9]

There are two televised versions of the Stand.  One was about 20 years ago and began well but soon lapsed into a snorefest.

that i remember watching, after the last episode I was like "is that it" so disappointing (truthfully I say that about most of his book adaptations)

[smokester]

In the book the supernatural "good vs evil" aspect irritated me: I like King when he writes about people. The cause and effect of Captain Trips was much better than Mother Marigold and Randall Devil, Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross were much more terrifying bad guys for me. I haven't seen the TV series.

It's not a bad watch to be honest and I guess the bad reviews are from those that particularly don't like the Godly, Godly thing.

Whoopi looks about that same as she does in real life which must have saved a bucketload in make-up.

[6pairsofshoes]

I haven't read the book, but the basic premise:  weaponized microbial infection that escapes into the general population with ensuing chaos and societal reorganization would have been enough without the good vs evil business appended onto the plot.  Was he trying for some epic statement about the Human Condition or something?

The version I watched was on one of the major networks.  The devil wore modeling clay on his forehead like he'd escaped one of the Star Trek series before the makeup dept was finished with him.  Nadine seemed like she'd just left "Sex Lies and Videotape" (which she had), maintaining many of the same characteristics.  The rest of the characters were basically forgettable/and or caricatures of folksy types or bad guys.  And that incessant crow sitting on wires and poles every episode made me want to go bird hunting.  King had a cameo at some point, but I barely remember what he did.

I did like the music that they played at the beginning, Blue Oyster Cult "Don't fear the reaper," as it seemed entirely appropriate as a way to propel that plot forward as the guard escaped with his wife from the research compound.  Of course they spread the infection before succumbing to it themselves.

The one Stephen King movie I saw that was really good was Carrie.  I haven't read the book, though.  The only King novel I've read, and it was quite good, was Pet Sematary.  He sometimes publishes short stories in the New Yorker and there was a very good one one Halloween issue. 

[8ullfrog]

I've heard the new miniseries is poo and that they aped tarantino time jumping, producing an incoherent poo show.

[6pairsofshoes]

I did a little digging and found that great Halloween short story from the New Yorker.  Here's a link.
https://archive.org/stream/TheManInTheBlackSuitStephenKing/The%20man%20in%20the%20black%20suit%20-%20Stephen%20King_djvu.txt

I think there's a movie version of The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken that I saw a long time ago on television.  It was good, also, but I think much of it had to do with Walken's lack of affect.  He can play odd, cold characters.  I suspect that, in real life, he's a real charmer.

[8ullfrog]

I loved in seven psychopaths when the hitmen tell him to drop his gun. His response? "No! ...I don't wanna."

They are visibly confused by his response, I loved it.

It's probably for the best you saw Dead Zone on TV, there's a sub plot that probably got cut from your version, it's truly disturbing. The police deputy who kills himself is a murderer, and you have to watch the kill.

The part I don't get about The Stand is that King clearly had A LOT to say in that book, but the whole good vs. evil bit doesn't track. He'd have been better served by having the bad people just be bad people, and the good people just be good people.

You don't even need the supernatural angle, just the opening scene of the original miniseries leaves things creepy enough.

How do people bring law and order to a world that's lost every sense of law and order? Like the original prompt from the expanse, when society breaks down, who cuts the paycheck for the detective?

[goldshirt*9]

Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone

If Salems lot was the 1979 your referring to,it scared the hell out of me
The Dead zone was a excellent film

[8ullfrog]

I'm trying to guess how he'd twist Arma.

The big meteor is sentient and targets people with the smaller meteors? Harry Stamper has to not only drill, but outsmart the evil asteroid?

[goldshirt*9]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sth3

My Unique B&B on BBC2,

i=unsure if links work outside UK.
As the title states "unique" B &B's Some are really clever, some are mmmmmmm.

[8ullfrog]

Hey six, Cliff Simon, the actor who played Ba'al on SG-1 died. He was kite-boarding. He was 58.

SG-1 had two really good bad guys, Apophis and Ba'al, the rest kind of sucked.

[6pairsofshoes]

Ba'al actor was pretty entertaining.  Sorry to hear of his untimely demise. 

I'm watching Endeavour, which is generally very good, except for the remarkable number of beautiful people who seem to be involved in or affected by homicides in the Oxford area. 

Also-- a godawful soap opera called The Affair with some talented British actors (Dominic West and Ruth Wilson) hopefully cashing in on some huge paychecks while they choke their way through some trite drivel produced by the writers.  Gak.  This belongs on the Oxygen or Lifetime networks. Every now and then I find myself watching something that is the tv equivalent to that Tomacco hybrid on the Simpsons.  You know the one?   Homer comes up with a hybrid between tobacco and tomatoes.  The fruits taste just vile and they are addictive.  That's like this show. 

I tried to get my husband to watch Diablo Guardian, but he wasn't into the unlikeable characters, despite the drop dead beautiful actress who stars in it--Paula Gaitan.  It's pretty entertaining, but he was unpersuadable.  Oh well.  Some tv is just for me.  There's no way he'd watch The Expanse, BSG or various other guilty pleasures that I relegate for late night viewing.  I'm wide open to suggestions. 

Been reading a lot lately.  Mostly 19th c. Russian novels.  Dostoevsky sure is a downer.  Just finished the Demons.  But, compared to Crime and Punishment, it was positively witty and entertaining, although nobody in the book was in the least bit likable.  Oh well.  I guess it's like The Affair, but darker.  Onto Mikail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita."  I'd read Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog," which is a great biting satire about early Soviet life.  Apparently Mick Jagger was inspired by M&M when he wrote "Sympathy for the Devil."

[smokester]

I'm watching Your Honor and is it me or is he Victor Meldrew?

[6pairsofshoes]

I'm watching Your Honor and is it me or is he Victor Meldrew?

I watched a little bit of that a few weeks back.  It looked like things were not going well for the judge's son.  I didn't get too far because it was so bleak and sad at the beginning.  Bryan Cranston is the judge -- I don't think he looks like Victor Meldrew, who was also killed by a hit and run driver!  What a coincidence.  Cranston was in Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad.  Now that's a range of characters for you.

Let us know if you like it.

[smokester]

I watched a little bit of that a few weeks back.  It looked like things were not going well for the judge's son.  I didn't get too far because it was so bleak and sad at the beginning.  Bryan Cranston is the judge -- I don't think he looks like Victor Meldrew, who was also killed by a hit and run driver!  What a coincidence.  Cranston was in Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad.  Now that's a range of characters for you.

Let us know if you like it.

What I meant was whatever he does catastrophically backfires. From getting rid of the car (what a debacle that was/is) to ringing his lawyer friend that he now has to snuggle up to at some point.