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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 2, 2014 18:39:23 GMT
I decided to watch 'Still Open All Hours'. That was my first mistake. -Ralph You fool. There was no way that was going to be good. Today I watched... FLASH! Aa-ahhh! He saved every one of us, apparently. DIIIIIVE! Martin |
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Post by blueshift on Jan 2, 2014 18:52:15 GMT
I decided to watch 'Still Open All Hours'. That was my first mistake. -Ralph I didn't quite understand why it existed. There was nothing special about the episode, or particularly celebratory or anything. Just 30 mins of a sitcom. |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 2, 2014 19:15:34 GMT
I can see what it was going for, ie to be just the next episode but without Ronnie Barker...just did not work.  -Ralph |
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Post by blueshift on Jan 2, 2014 19:33:11 GMT
I can see what it was going for, ie to be just the next episode but without Ronnie Barker...just did not work. -Ralph Yes, but... why? I don't get why it existed at all. Really weird. |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 2, 2014 19:37:29 GMT
I don't think it existed for any other reason than someone somewhere at the BBC wanted to make a new episode and David Jason said yes. He's still very popular and the show is well remembered so bung it on at Christmas time and you have a guaranteed big audience for half an hour. After Doctor Who took off again, the Beeb has been very slow at raiding its back catalogue.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 4, 2014 10:49:41 GMT
Don't encourage the BBC, we could get more specials of BUGS or worse...The Crime Traveller!
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 4, 2014 12:33:54 GMT
Or the return of that Scottish one, the one where aliens cameto invade the Highlands and took over the world at the end and everyone died.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Jan 4, 2014 13:08:16 GMT
Don't encourage the BBC, we could get more specials of BUGS or worse...The Crime Traveller! Andy I liked Bugs! |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 4, 2014 13:20:15 GMT
You were the one! Get him!!!
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 4, 2014 15:06:58 GMT
Or the return of that Scottish one, the one where aliens cameto invade the Highlands and took over the world at the end and everyone died. -Ralph Invasion Earth. The third episode set in WWII is pretty good. The rest...... UH-UH en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion:_Earth_%28TV_series%29 |
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 4, 2014 23:50:34 GMT
Gods it was awful.
Andy
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 5, 2014 0:00:58 GMT
One of the few things I still have on VHS because it's never been issued on DVD. And I liked Bugs too! There's been plenty of far worse TV shows than Bugs!
I'm not going to attempt to defend Crime Traveller though. There are limits.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 5, 2014 0:02:07 GMT
I only watched Crime Traveller because the fit lass from Red Dwarf was in it. That's my excuse.
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 5, 2014 0:54:53 GMT
I remember bugs! Great show! Well, er, passed the time. Even that 'Mona' chap from Australia wasn't too bad in it.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 6, 2014 22:38:43 GMT
I don't think it existed for any other reason than someone somewhere at the BBC wanted to make a new episode and David Jason said yes. He's still very popular and the show is well remembered so bung it on at Christmas time and you have a guaranteed big audience for half an hour. After Doctor Who took off again, the Beeb has been very slow at raiding its back catalogue. -Ralph I also now see it was the highest rated show on UK TV the week it was shown with 12.23m plus online catch-up. Jings! The Beeb would be out of its mind not to commission a series. -Ralph |
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Post by blueshift on Jan 6, 2014 22:44:37 GMT
I don't think it existed for any other reason than someone somewhere at the BBC wanted to make a new episode and David Jason said yes. He's still very popular and the show is well remembered so bung it on at Christmas time and you have a guaranteed big audience for half an hour. After Doctor Who took off again, the Beeb has been very slow at raiding its back catalogue. -Ralph I also now see it was the highest rated show on UK TV the week it was shown with 12.23m plus online catch-up. Jings! The Beeb would be out of its mind not to commission a series. -Ralph I know, it's crazy! And it really didn't seem anything special, just an average 30 min ep of a sitcom. |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 6, 2014 22:48:40 GMT
In execution, perhaps, but a new episode of a fondly remembered show will get folk watching (like me!). The numbers show how many folk were interested, not what they thought of it.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Jan 6, 2014 23:31:46 GMT
In execution, perhaps, but a new episode of a fondly remembered show will get folk watching (like me!). The numbers show how many folk were interested, not what they thought of it. -Ralph Oh yes, I mean I watched it! Its more that it struck me that it seemed like an average ep from an imaginary new series of Open All Hours, rather than some sort of special episode. Just really really odd. |
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Post by legios on Jan 8, 2014 17:03:53 GMT
Stargazing Live is back on the BBC, and having missed the first programme yesterday evening I am pleased to see that it is up on the iPlayer, and that it has some absolutely amazing footage of the Aurora Borealis captured live. Quite stunning and inspiring to watch. Must catch up with the after-show discussion thing as well before tuning in for this evenings show live.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 8, 2014 19:53:39 GMT
I tried to watch it but could not get past my intense dislike of Brian Cox and that comedian man.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Jan 8, 2014 21:17:31 GMT
[Professional Jealousy]The Cox. Bah! He doesn't even have a beard! [/Professional Jealousy]
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 9, 2014 21:44:41 GMT
He does not have a beard, and therefore is less of a man than I, but I do like The Cox, his obvious enthusiasm shows through and I like that about him.
Saw the first one, missed the other two due to late finishes at work, but will catch-up. I enjoy the program a lot, but find it rushed, and too filled with messing around, which is obviously there to appeal to the masses, but it detracts a great deal from how much science they can talk about.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 12, 2014 20:34:56 GMT
Two excellent doumentary series have started on BBC4: Treasures of Ancient Egypt and Lost Land of the Volcano. The former does what it says on the tin, the latter covers a very interesting expedition to an island featuring many bonkers animals (the pygmy parrots being my favourites). Both first episodes can be found on the Iplayer.
Watched the first episode of the third version of The Tomorrow People. Yes, it suffers terribly from by-the-numbers characterisation and cliches. Yes, it has terrible pilotitus. Yes, the cast look too old to be teenagers (the lead lass looks like she's in her mid-30's). But the last act sets up a potentially far more interesting series than it looked like it was going to be. The jury is out but I'll at least give the second episode a go when it pops up on 4OD.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Jan 13, 2014 8:10:22 GMT
Completely agree with you on the Tomorrow People. Saw it on Saturday wih a friend and we both said almost exactly the same as you.
Was introduced to the Newsroom yesterday. Will be back for some more of that as well I feel.
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 13, 2014 9:59:32 GMT
Lost Land of the Volcano was excellent. Looking forward to the next one.
I too agree with what has already been said about The Tomorrow People. I'll give it one more episode.
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Post by legios on Jan 16, 2014 20:37:27 GMT
I have now seen the "Tomorrow People" opener. I didn't think it was too bad - not quite as swift in setting up its premise as the last two CW action-adventure shows I have seen - Nikita and Arrow both had the majority of their premise on the table by the twenty-five minute mark, whereas Tomorrow People takes a bit longer to get it's high cards out. It seems competent enough, but I didn't think it had quite the horsepower that Arrow managed out of the gate. But then, by its nature "Tomorrow People" is saddled with the now dated-looking "Puberty is when you discover your special powers" metaphor which looks increasingly creaky each time it is repeated. Like the last-arc swerve in the plot that they played. It has some similiarities with a (very loosely) similar twist that was deployed in another Danny Cannon exec produced show but I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and see where they go with it. I think it has done enough to earn it another episode from me, I shall see where I stand then.
I have also been finishing up the first season of "Arrow" this week. Pretty solid streets-level vigilante show all told. I like the fact that they open the series by establishing the lead as a solid vigilante before the first episode is finished, and that the rest of the season is about him beginning a journey towards becoming a hero (and I like that it isn't any single moment where he turns and decides he wants to be one or the other - it is more that someone comments that he has already made that choice, and has to live with it). Manages to maintain its momentum quite well across the first season - I feared that they would bog down on the fact that the leads don't even know about the real arc plot until midway through, but a combination of a clever split narrative (they do the short version of Oliver Queen's origin story in the first five minutes of the series, but proceed to use flashbacks to revisit it and tell a modernised version of it throughout the season - works better than it sounds), and enough strong "plot of the week" and mini-arc episodes keep the whole thing moving.
And for a show putatively telling the story of how a single superhero gets to be where he will be when he has earned the title it has a surprisingly strong, and large ensemble. Yes, the rogue's gallery remains pretty much Batman's lesser-know villians (sorry Deadshot, we both know it is true even though we wish it wasn't), but that doesn't really bother me. Yes, a lot of the plotting treads exactly the same ground as the aborted "Young Bruce Wayne" show would have done, but that doesn't bother me either - Green Arrow did start off as a Batman rip-off anyway, and there are only so many ways you can do a noir-styled urban costumed vigilante TV show anyway.
I've also been working my way through more New Captain Scarlet - six episodes in now and it remains a solidly-plotted, break-neck paced action adventure show. I was amused however to realise just how many episodes were written by the writer of my favourite Sarah Jane Adventures episodes (Prisoner of the Judoon for the record). Somewhere in my brain there now resides the mental image of a hapless Judoon arriving on Skybase and trying to explain that he is there to arrest Captain Black for the Mysterons crimes and would Spectrum please assist him in executing the warrant, and providing transport "Ko Fo Bo Rhi-no!"....
Karl
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Post by Bogatan on Jan 17, 2014 13:18:29 GMT
I watched Tomorrows Peoples first two episodes now and I might stick with it, but wont be going to any effort to do so. I didn't mind the first episode, and overall the second wasn't bad, but it did that thing that all US TV shows do (probably most TV anywhere really) were in the second episode they have to go over the set up again just in case you didn't see the pilot.
I find its a pretty good guide to the quality of writing on the show. If I don't notice they are doing it thats good, it gives me confidence that the writers are putting effort in to it. If they do it by bringing something new to what happened in the pilot, they take advantage of having to cover the same ground again without just being bogged down in exposition, then amazing. For me the best example of that is Firefly which wound up with two pilots both of which were planned to be shown and had to do the same job while telling different stories.
Then theres Tomorrow People which just spend the first quarter ham fistedly re-staging the same conversations and eve that happened last week. It seriously bugged me and put me off the rest of the episode. It might grow on me like Nikita did or it may be another V or similar.
Approaching the middle of season 4 of Breaking Bad and can now see why it has gotten so much praise. While I can also see how you came to your view of it Karl, I wouldn't say its an accurate reflection. It's more about the consequences of arrogance and ego and as the show runs those become more and more far reaching. Besides that though theres some stunning direction as well as some quirks that really do make it unique.
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Post by legios on Jan 21, 2014 21:53:30 GMT
I watched Tomorrows Peoples first two episodes now and I might stick with it, but wont be going to any effort to do so. I didn't mind the first episode, and overall the second wasn't bad, but it did that thing that all US TV shows do (probably most TV anywhere really) were in the second episode they have to go over the set up again just in case you didn't see the pilot. Unfortunate. But not entirely surprising. I haven't seen the second episode as yet, and am undecided whether to bother or whether to just go "Rent it in a slow month someday" Firefly technically doesn't have two pilots though - the ninety minute pilot was picked up but the network didn't think it was suitable for airing so "The Train Job" was made as an opener - and there was some doubt that they would actually air the pilot - which in the end they did at the end of the last block of episodes, to make up the numbers. Agreed, the first part of the Tomorrow People opener was mainly comprised of idiotic people saying idiotic things, and it didn't really introduce an interesting character until the last few minutes. I will give it a point for one thing though - it's evil Longcoat brigade (seriously, is the whole black-coat wearing Evil Mooks thing a stock Danny Cannon shorthand now?) managed to appear marginally intelligent - putting them light-years above the Division Mooks in the first few episodes of "Nikita", who made me cringe with their lack of intelligence. Mind you, I lack the residual good-will for "Tomorrow People" that got me through the first half of "Nikita" S1 on rental. Until the latter properly introduced the Russians and let Xander Berkley off the chain a bit I was mostly coasting on the goodwill I had from "La Femme Nikita", and I don't have any real attachment to the previous incarnations of the tomorrow people to pull me along if it similarly coasts. I think it is accurate to say that the lead character produces Methamphetamine though, and for me that is enough to create a red-line. Whatever else is going on, five years is too long for me to wait to see the character pay properly for visiting that kind of destruction on families and lives. In other news, I watched "The Musketeers" on Sunday. It wasn't entirely stellar, but I did think that it's core cast were pretty solid - arguably more interesting than the actual script to be honest. But between that and some decent fight scenes (finally, someone who has the sense to bring an off-hand parrying weapon to a sword-duel - and someone who properly cheats and brings a gun to a real fight ...). I think it is a shame that they have apparently hired someone like Peter Capaldi and then done the usual thing of changing Richlieu into a mere black-hearted villian. One day an adaptation will bring us a proper Richeliue, one who can write "...and for the good of all France..." and actually mean it. But probably not in my lifetime :-) I think it has done enough to bring me back for next week though. I'll give it some time and see where it goes. Mind you, given how things have developed since it was shot they may have to rethink their plans for Season 2 - they can't just recast Richlieu in this day-and-age...maybe we will get Mazarin instead :-) Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 22, 2014 17:45:48 GMT
I forgot to watch the 2nd episode of Tomorrow People and have completely forgotten about The Muskateers since it aired on Sunday. My mind must be telling me something!
I had never heard of Breaking Bad until the last few episodes aired and suddenly Everyone Was Talking About but in that 'YOU SHOULD WATCH! WATCH IT! WATCH IT!' type of shouting that the internet does so well and I thought 'nah' because that kind of online hype machine is obnoxious to me. Also, in your promotion tell folk what the show is actually about! Can't be that good if no-one was banging on about it for the first four years it aired.
Which is a long convoluted way of saying I will never watch it.
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Jan 22, 2014 19:00:50 GMT
For that you need to blame the BBC I think, whoever showed it in the UK did a poor job of it. So like you many people didnt hear about it till the buzz from the States about its final season reached fever pitch.
I caught some of the first season but then lost track of it (the reason Im blaming the Beeb as its usually them that screw around with schedules due to snooker or something) so it ended up on my list of wait till its finished to watch shows.
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