Now What Have You Been Watching?

[Rob McCow]

The previous thread closed with a few storylines lingering...

Dave:

Did anybody else see Count Arthur Strong on Beeb Two? It's got the makings of a comedy classic!

Perry Vale:

No, but I read yesterday it's been commissioned for a second series, AIUI. Something to do with Graham Linehan, isn't it?

It's written by Steve Delaney and Graham Duff, produced by Mark Radcliffe and John Leonard. Also a popular Radio 4 Comedy.

I've done my Wiki, Ricky!

In the meantime, I've started on Season 3 of Tenko. Throughout I've been thinking that Secret Army was the better series, though Tenko is wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable. But Season 3 is just fabulous. I don't know why the first episode was 15 minutes shorter than usual though?!

[SiHart]

Oh. This was an old version of the DVD set, maybe it was cut.

Sent from my LT15i using Tapatalk 2

[Rob McCow]

Now I'm wondering what horror the prisoners suffered that was so bad it had to be cut!

Internet search time...

[Rob McCow]

Turns out there was a fault on the DVD. Nothing was cut, but the episode time was wrong. oops.

[Nyder]

Still time to see Count Arthur Strong on the iPlayer for those Brit-bound. Don't worry Steve I'm sure it'll leak onto YouTube eventually!

[Alex]

I'd been surprised not to notice anyone talking about this over the last few weeks....should have guessed you'd gotten in there first!

Agree with everything you said. With three episodes to go, it's firmly planted itself in there as my second favourite show of the year so far, behind Dallas, but ahead of Doctor Who. Credit to Channel 4 where it's due, it's quite bold to show a subtitled show in such a primetime slot these days...

Yeah, I thought it was something really special, it's just frustrating that the second season won't be aired until 2014, I'm still missing it months on.

Is Dallas really that good then? I thought it'd just be a bit of tongue in cheek fun and didn't bother with at the time, but keep on hearing people mentioning how good it is.

I've just started watching Orange Is The New Black, a new netflix original comedy drama. I only got netflix so that I could watch the new Arrested Development, on a 30 day free trial, but have stuck around for an extra month as this is really great stuff. It's set in a women's prison, but a fairly low key one, and it's got a nicely skewed sense of humour about itself. Kate Mulgrew's got a fairly big role in it as well as the Queen Bee of the prison, and I'd definitely recommend folks seeking it out if they have Netflix.

[Nyder]

The film "Every Day's A Holiday" (1964)

Well I was awake early due to the warm weather so I thought I'd watch it. It's a "musical comedy" set in a holiday camp and its main singing stars were Freddie & The Dreamers, John Leyton and Mike "Come Outside" Sarne. All the songs were pretty much forgettable, and the plot paper-thin, but it was a good film for spotting the stars - Liz Fraser, Patrick Newell, Nicholas Parsons, Richard O'Sullivan and Ron Moody!

[Andrew Curnow]

Is Dallas really that good then? I thought it'd just be a bit of tongue in cheek fun and didn't bother with at the time, but keep on hearing people mentioning how good it is.

It depends what you're into Alex. If you ever liked the old Dallas I'd say you'd enjoy the new one, it's done what RTD did with Who really in that it's updated but in a 'consistent' way with what's gone before, but done in a modern style. It's still as daft and as far-fetched and occasionally hilarious as ever, but I for one really enjoyed it immensely - and when it occasionally pulls out the stops and gives us something really dramatic it delivers.

M'self, I've been watching Big Bang and How I Met Your Mother on E4 of a Thursday - both have now finished for the year, I'll miss the latter particularly which I'd say has been back on form this year after a slightly disappointing season last year. And really exciting to finally, as it were, meet your mother!!!

[Perry Vale]

Is Dallas really that good then?

Andrew has summed it up very well, imo. It's like "Extreme" soap. All the best bits of soaps, condensed into one pure intense whole. It's almost like a whole series worth of stuff happens in each episode. As an example, when one of the characters is arrested, and will have to face a court case, as I was thinking to myself how this plot will be milked over the next few weeks, a caption comes up onscreen saying "One Month Later"...

As no-one seems to talk about Eastenders here anymore, I'd just like to mention here how much more I enjoy the show since Barbara Winsdor left. Michael Moon really is turning into the star of the show! If only they could ditch Phil Mitchell too (who is such a redundant character now), they'd really be onto something.

[Alex]

Ah, thanks for the info gentlemen, it sounds like it could be quite fun so I'll definitely give it a go.

[Perry Vale]

it's just frustrating that the second season won't be aired until 2014, I'm still missing it months on.

Watched the last episode of Les Revenants S1 last night. It's been a great series, but I was disappointed with the final episode having no answers at all, just more questions. And I'd guessed the ending, as was, a few weeks ago!

Roll on 2014!

[Jon Masters]

Watching old Classic Taggart - strangely, there's often been a murrrrrrrdurrrrrrrr....

[SiHart]

It'd be a bit boring if there wasn't!

[Nyder]

Watched the last episode of Les Revenants S1 last night. It's been a great series, but I was disappointed with the final episode having no answers at all, just more questions. And I'd guessed the ending, as was, a few weeks ago!

Roll on 2014!

I agree - I wasn't expecting all the loose ends to have been tied up, but I was expecting more than that!

[duncan]

The Walking Dead series 3. This show just keeps getting better and better and is not afraid to kill off established characters.

[Perry Vale]

I've been watching a lot more telly this week, as I just got 18 new channels from BT in their new deal (costing me an extra £2 a month).

Castle - Saw the pilot for this Nathan Fillion show years ago, and really enjoyed it, but never seen any more as it's not on freeview/freesat. Picked up in S5 with a great episode set at a Sci-Fi convention. Directed by Johnathan Frakes (who makes a brief cameo at the start asking Castle for an autograph), there were some great in-jokes and Firefly mentions.

I'm Alan Partridge, Comic Strip and Not The Nine O'Clock News on Gold.

Lots of South Park. My first viewing of some of S15, which has lost none of it's bite, and was extremely dark in places.

ST:TNG S3 on Syfy.

And I'm really looking forward to the UK premiere of Sharknado on Syfy tomorrow night!

[Alex]

I agree - I wasn't expecting all the loose ends to have been tied up, but I was expecting more than that!

Me too, I didn't want to mention the (slightly) disappointing ending for fear of putting anyone off, but I had hoped for a few more answers. It's based on a 2004 film apparently, so presumably some kind of definite ending is planned, but I don't know if that will happen in season 2 or not.

And I'm really looking forward to the UK premiere of Sharknado on Syfy tomorrow night!

Sharknado's ace! I mean it's terrible and trashy, but lots of fun too and much better than most Hollywood disaster movies which cost a 100 times more than it did.

I've been watching the final season of Dexter lately, and boy is it terrible, if it wasn't the last batch of episodes I'd have given up watching by now.

[Perry Vale]

Me too, I didn't want to mention the (slightly) disappointing ending for fear of putting anyone off, but I had hoped for a few more answers.

Thanks, appreciated.

It's based on a 2004 film apparently, so presumably some kind of definite ending is planned, but I don't know if that will happen in season 2 or not.

A friend at work was reading about the show on the net, and said they were hoping to do three seasons, don't know if there's any truth in that. The pessimist in me reacts to that by thinking $ky will buy up a third series as an exclusive.

Good to hear about Sharknado.

[Dino]

Better late than never then, but I finally got to see Donnie Darko for the first time.

Hmm... wasn't that good. Bit of a cheat with how it ends. It was all going so well until then!
A film about a teenager visited by a giant rabbit. Now see, that's not as far out a concept as it looks on paper!

[Jeff]

Watched the film 'Chronicle' last night. I enjoyed it. A very interesting 'found footage' take on the super hero genre.

[Rob McCow]

Smiley's People (starring Alec Guinness).

In one episode, Obi Wan encountered Severus Snape, The Wire, Professor Bracewell and The Celestial Toymaker. Sort of. Alan Rickman wouldn't be stuck with a very minor role these days, would he?

[SiHart]

A Very Polish Practice.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

A Very Polish Practice.

I still need to see that although the ending of "Peculiar" series 2 did put off a bit compared to the first series which was a lot more upbeat.

There were some interesting historical liberties in Sunday's The White Queen (episode 8).

[Dirk Gently]

I caught about 10 minutes of Sharknado last night. My GOD it's woeful. It really is cheap & poorly done.
At one point a house was on a hill & way above the water line, then 2 minutes later the water was not only at the house but actually 2 feet deep in the house...where it stopped rising so a bit of action could take place with a shark that kept changing size to fit the scene they wanted. At one point it was the size of Jaws chewing on a bookcase & the next it was swimming in the house hallway as if it was in a swimming pool.

[Philipnet]

I'm surprised people thought that Sharknado might be any good!