All Things TV Series Recommendations/Reviews

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fell down another rabbit hole. I started re-watching the "Sherlock Holmes" series that ran on British TV in the 1980's and early 1990's with airings on PBS in the U.S. there were four seasons or "series" as they call them across the pond. the first three seasons are streaming for free on Tubi. the 4th season is on another site that I think I can access.

the idea behind the show was to make them as faithful as possible to the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. the star, Jeremy Brett, is considered by some to provide the most definitive screen portrayal of Holmes (at least how he is depicted in the stories), including the cocaine use. for some reason, the actor who played Watson in the first season did not return and there is a different Watson starting with the 2nd season - but both are very similar in how they interpret the character.

if you are a fan of Holmes or British TV in general, it's well worth watching. excellent production values. apparently there were plans to continue the series but Jeremy Brett died in 1995 at just 61-years old. he had a history of heart problems and may have been bi-polar.
 

The Penguin season finale was really good. Cristin Miloti is tremendous in this series as is Colin Farrell and Dierdre O'Connell playing Oswald Cobb's Mother.
 

Almost finished with season 1 of Day of the Jackal on Peacock. I like it. Seems to be a good assassin story line. Except I have trouble with one of the lead characters. The Jackal just has this resemblance to Rick Astley and makes it tough.
 

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Late to the party.

1) The Wire (HBO)
2) Entourage (HBO)
3) The Newsroom (HBO)
4) Jack Ryan (Prime)
5) Lioness (Paramount)
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
Almost finished with season 1 of Day of the Jackal on Peacock. I like it. Seems to be a good assassin story line. Except I have trouble with one of the lead characters. The Jackal just has this resemblance to Rick Astley and makes it tough.
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Have you ever seen the original movie (1973)? It's in my baker's dozen of favorite movies.
 

I just finished Netflix’s A Man on the Inside starring Ted Danson with Michael Schur as the creator and thoroughly enjoyed it. Quick 8 episodes and it breezed along with a wonderful combination of humor, heart, and intrigue. Danson was excellent.
 

We're just finishing up the second series of "Goliath" on Amazon Prime, with Billy Bob Thornton. We had watched the 1st season a couple years ago probably and for some reason never went back to it, until now.

It's pretty entertaining, pretty well done, we like it (maybe 1.5 thumbs out of 2 thumbs up?). I will say the series quality is made by Thornton; he's a great character, and he plays it very very well. I would definitely recommend it!!

I had intended to give the "Cross" series a try on Prime, because I'm a big fan of the movies made from the Patterson books with Alex Cross (I have a handful of the books on my shelf, just haven't started reading them. Kiss The Girls, Along Came A Spider, et al

And then I read a little bit about the Prime series. Uggghhh... Saw the description of the first episode saying something about the assassination of a Black Lives Matter activist, white supremacy angle, etc... and then read some reviews. One review said something about departing from the books story line and delving into toxic masculinity and racial biases and police brutality, and another one I found started with this gem:

"The drama in Cross is at its best when it's addressing real-world issues of race, police brutality, and corrupt institutions."

WTF.... no thanks. Honestly a little surprised that Patterson bought off on that, but I'm sure he's a capitalist at heart; if the money is right, knock yourself out. Far too many better options out there
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
We're just finishing up the second series of "Goliath" on Amazon Prime, with Billy Bob Thornton. We had watched the 1st season a couple years ago probably and for some reason never went back to it, until now.

It's pretty entertaining, pretty well done, we like it (maybe 1.5 thumbs out of 2 thumbs up?). I will say the series quality is made by Thornton; he's a great character, and he plays it very very well. I would definitely recommend it!!

I had intended to give the "Cross" series a try on Prime, because I'm a big fan of the movies made from the Patterson books with Alex Cross (I have a handful of the books on my shelf, just haven't started reading them. Kiss The Girls, Along Came A Spider, et al

And then I read a little bit about the Prime series. Uggghhh... Saw the description of the first episode saying something about the assassination of a Black Lives Matter activist, white supremacy angle, etc... and then read some reviews. One review said something about departing from the books story line and delving into toxic masculinity and racial biases and police brutality, and another one I found started with this gem:

"The drama in Cross is at its best when it's addressing real-world issues of race, police brutality, and corrupt institutions."

WTF.... no thanks. Honestly a little surprised that Patterson bought off on that, but I'm sure he's a capitalist at heart; if the money is right, knock yourself out. Far too many better options out there
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Start watching "Landman" on Paramount. Another Taylor Sheridan production and BBT is great thus far through two (2) episodes. It doesn't hurt having Jon Hamm as your wingman on the cast, either.
 



Slim Tubby said:
Start watching "Landman" on Paramount. Another Taylor Sheridan production and BBT is great thus far through two (2) episodes. It doesn't hurt having Jon Hamm as your wingman on the cast, either.
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Is there anything that guy doesn’t have his fingers in? It’s unreal.
 

so, I finished watching "Stargate SG-1" - all 10 seasons plus two straight-to-DVD movies that wrapped up various plot lines from the series.

verdict - a generally fun Sci-fi TV show. like any long-running show, they tended to repeat certain themes and tropes a lot. like most shows, it was character-driven. if you like the characters, you tend to buy into the plot for that week's episode.

from a creative point of view, the show might have hung around too long. there were a lot of episodes where it looks like the bad guys are going to win, only for the heroes to come up with a last-second scheme to save the day. you can only do that so many times before it becomes a cliche.
but overall, if you like sci-fi action/adventure, it's worth watching - especially the first 8 seasons. the enrire series is streaming for free on Pluto.

note- the first 8 seasons starred Richard Dean Anderson, who is from MN. so his character on the show was from MN and liked to go fishing.
 

Just finished season 1 of Kin, starring Charlie Cox of Daredevil fame and Clare Dunn. Dublin crime family involved in drugs. Good finish on the first season and looking forward to the second. Alas, looks likethe second season isn't available in the States.
 

Starting binging Killing Eve (Netflix) while I was sick the other week. If you like graphic violence and assassin shows....this one is for you.
2018-2022.
Jodi Comer does a great job playing Villanelle, the assassin.
 



fan of Ray Williams said:
The Penguin season finale was really good. Cristin Miloti is tremendous in this series as is Colin Farrell and Dierdre O'Connell playing Oswald Cobb's Mother.
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I don't give two shits about the superhero movie universes.....but DC has done great with their HBO shows. Doom Patrol was outstanding. The first season of Peacemaker was very good. Just watched the first episode of The Penguin. Pretty fantastic so far.
 

tikited said:
Starting binging Killing Eve (Netflix) while I was sick the other week. If you like graphic violence and assassin shows....this one is for you.
2018-2022.
Jodi Comer does a great job playing Villanelle, the assassin.
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Good show. Particularly the first couple of seasons.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Season 4 episode 2 and 3 of Slow Horses, very good.
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I keep forgetting to get into Season 4 of "Slow Horses", now that I can binge it in a few nights. That's kinda what I was waiting for, and then it slipped my mind. Then we got back into "Goliath", but now that's done.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
I keep forgetting to get into Season 4 of "Slow Horses", now that I can binge it in a few nights. That's kinda what I was waiting for, and then it slipped my mind. Then we got back into "Goliath", but now that's done.
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Been watching Lioness. Gets really intense. Stars Zoe Saldana, with some Nicole Kidman and a little bit of Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
We're just finishing up the second series of "Goliath" on Amazon Prime, with Billy Bob Thornton. We had watched the 1st season a couple years ago probably and for some reason never went back to it, until now.

It's pretty entertaining, pretty well done, we like it (maybe 1.5 thumbs out of 2 thumbs up?). I will say the series quality is made by Thornton; he's a great character, and he plays it very very well. I would definitely recommend it!!

I had intended to give the "Cross" series a try on Prime, because I'm a big fan of the movies made from the Patterson books with Alex Cross (I have a handful of the books on my shelf, just haven't started reading them. Kiss The Girls, Along Came A Spider, et al

And then I read a little bit about the Prime series. Uggghhh... Saw the description of the first episode saying something about the assassination of a Black Lives Matter activist, white supremacy angle, etc... and then read some reviews. One review said something about departing from the books story line and delving into toxic masculinity and racial biases and police brutality, and another one I found started with this gem:

"The drama in Cross is at its best when it's addressing real-world issues of race, police brutality, and corrupt institutions."

WTF.... no thanks. Honestly a little surprised that Patterson bought off on that, but I'm sure he's a capitalist at heart; if the money is right, knock yourself out. Far too many better options out there
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Don't let that stop you from watching the show. The cat and mouse game between Cross and the criminals (there are 2 stories going at the same time) is fascinating.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Don't let that stop you from watching the show. The cat and mouse game between Cross and the criminals (there are 2 stories going at the same time) is fascinating.
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It will probably stay in the queue and we'll see if the right time comes up. I had one of my employees approach me the other day, she's fairly conservative, and ask me if I had watched it, she thought I would like it. We talked about the reviews and the over-the-top race angle (weird for a murder mystery show); she said to still give it a shot as well.

She said it's absolutely in your face, like drilled into your face and nothing subtle about it, but if you can get past that, it's worth the watch.

We just started "Black Doves" on Netflix last night and it looks pretty good for the most part; although they definitely hammer, like HAMMER, the gay relationship and gay sex angle so far just two episodes in, complete with a pretty graphic gay sex scene. Not sure why we need that in a spy movie but that's where Hollywood and Netflix are these days
 

Finished up the 2nd season of Lioness. Geeze that was a good series. Tons of action, particularly the last couple episodes of season 2
(Of course Taylor Sheridan is involved. That dude ever sleep?)
 


GophersInIowa said:
Wasn't the same without Costner.
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Not even close. If anyone asked, I'd tell them skip Season 5 altogether. Jimmy's episodes at the 6666 Ranch salvaged Season 4 for me personally. I could only tolerate the Beth vs. Jamie storyline for so many episodes.

And so much for "not an inch".
 

Slim Tubby said:
Not even close. If anyone asked, I'd tell them skip Season 5 altogether. Jimmy's episodes at the 6666 Ranch salvaged Season 4 for me personally. I could only tolerate the Beth vs. Jamie storyline for so many episodes.

And so much for "not an inch".
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Yeah and I might be in the minority but think Jamie was the victim as much as anyone else. He was being used by everyone around him pretty much his entire life. He’s also a POS but they all kinda were.

The end of Jamie - Beth was very anticlimactic IMO. All that buildup and just like that it was over.
 

Finally got around to watching 'Masters of the Air'. Quite a bit more intense than I had expected. But it's really good. Think I'm due for a rewatch of 'Band of Brothers' and 'The Pacific'.
 

stocker08 said:
Finally got around to watching 'Masters of the Air'. Quite a bit more intense than I had expected. But it's really good. Think I'm due for a rewatch of 'Band of Brothers' and 'The Pacific'.
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My Dad actually preferred The Pacific over Band of Brothers, which I sort of thought was a hot take at the time.

After rewatching both several years ago, I didn't really think it was that out of line at all.
 

Ope3 said:
My Dad actually preferred The Pacific over Band of Brothers, which I sort of thought was a hot take at the time.

After rewatching both several years ago, I didn't really think it was that out of line at all.
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When expectations are set so high, it's easy to find thing to complain about. I've seen a lot of the same gripes with MotA. Some warranted, others not so much. In the end, all three series are really great.
 

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