What TV Show Are You Watching Or Watch Today

[Low-ish D]

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016, BBC - avail. on Netflix most everywhere)

Based on Douglas Adams' character/universe, but not the same stories as the novels. Initially suspect to me because Gently is cute and in a series of nice jackets, instead of chubby and bespeckled. However, he's the right mix of confident and awkward, and the writers are clearly Douglas Adams acolytes, so I was won over by end of the second episode. Dialogue especially often plays out like it could have come from the pen of Douglas Adams, and we were laughing out loud as when reading his books.

Dirk is still British, but the show is (so far) set in Seattle (filmed here in East Vancouver), and co-stars Elijah Wood playing an American.

[Mike from Boston]

Looking forward to watch Season Two of "The Man in the High Castle" on Amazon. Didn't read the book, but the first season was good, a very disturbing look of an alternative history, where Japan and Nazi Germany won World War II and now controlled the West Coast and East Coast of the USA respectively. Hitler and Heydrich are still alive, it is set around 1960.

[DzM]

MST3K Reunion

What what what?

There's a MST3K Reunion?

[DzM]

Peaky Blinders. So far, kinda awesome. And a great soundtrack. Nick Cave, The White Stripes, etc.

How come you've been keeping this hidden from me? (Other than Tal and Soulfinger mentioning it at least twice in the past on this very thread.)

[firehazard]

Peaky Blinders. So far, kinda awesome. And a great soundtrack. Nick Cave, The White Stripes, etc.

How come you've been keeping this hidden from me? (Other than Tal and Soulfinger mentioning it at least twice in the past on this very thread.)

There is much love for Peaky Blinders in this house. Waiting eagerly for series 4.

Meanwhile we are rewatching The Wire - just finished series 2 this time around.

And starting out on Taboo, which comes from the same stable as Peaky Blinders, as it were. With Tom Hardy hamming it up in Regency London and beyond.

[Low D]

Atlanta - Season 1.

...an American comedy-drama television series created by and starring Donald Glover. The series is about two cousins navigating their way in the Atlanta rap scene in an effort to improve their lives and the lives of their families. [Wikipedia]. I would add it's also as much about Glover's character's love interest/baby mama and their relationship.

Equal parts funny and serious, and notable for an all-Black writing team, I think this was hands down the best new show of 2016.

[soulfinger]

Peaky Blinders. So far, kinda awesome. And a great soundtrack. Nick Cave, The White Stripes, etc.

How come you've been keeping this hidden from me? (Other than Tal and Soulfinger mentioning it at least twice in the past on this very thread.)

Best British drama for years.The awesome-ness continues in every episode except the first of series 3, which kind of went Peaky Downton.

Currently enjoying the new series of No Offence (consider yourself advised skipper )

[DzM]

Thanks y'all. "Taboo" and "No Offense" added to the list.

[Villajohn]

Cold Case.

[Low-ish D]

Dirk Gently - BBC 4 - 2010-2012 (4 episodes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently_(TV_series)

Not the 2016 BBC America show, which I actually did enjoy. While there was clearly a love for Douglas Adams-esque imbroglio evident in the writing of this new series, the actual story and universe, the frantic pace, and much about the Gently character himself all bear little resemblance to Adams' books. This older one - while focusing on new stories not written by Adams - is much truer to the original character, especially as regards his attitude to money and debt. Well worth a watch to even casual fans, and a must-watch for those of us who love Douglas Adams and mourn the fact we'll never get more from him!

Available - among other places - on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/Dirk_Gently_S01E00

[Black Jack]

Atlanta - Season 1.

...an American comedy-drama television series created by and starring Donald Glover. The series is about two cousins navigating their way in the Atlanta rap scene in an effort to improve their lives and the lives of their families. [Wikipedia]. I would add it's also as much about Glover's character's love interest/baby mama and their relationship.

Equal parts funny and serious, and notable for an all-Black writing team, I think this was hands down the best new show of 2016.

Absolutely agree with you great show!

[Frances]

Past BET awards.

Prince's side-eye.

[Low D]

Watched the 3rd and final season of HBOs "The Leftovers". This was a great show with a satisfying finish, going simultaneously more and less metaphysical in it's final season, as unlikely as that may sound.

The Leftovers starts three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure", the inexplicable, simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, 2% of the world's population, on October 14, 2011. Following that event, mainstream religions declined, and a number of cults emerged, most notably the Guilty Remnant. In the second season, the lead characters move to the fictional town of Jarden, Texas, where not a single citizen was lost in the "Sudden Departure". The third and final season unfolds three years later, in 2018, starting 14 days before the cryptic seventh anniversary of the Sudden Departure, with events taking the main characters to Australia. (Wikipedia)



Based on recommendations here we have also watched season one of "Taboo" (BBC One/FX). Really enjoyed it, although it's tone is perhaps too relentless on the heavy, brooding atmosphere, and I would give the same critique to lead actor Tom Hardy. It's like watching Jax Teller in "Sons of Anarchy" all over again. Minor complaint, though, as i'm jazzed to see a show where the British East India company is the evil protagonist, and season two promises to take us to Nootka Sound, home of the Nuu-chah-nulth first nation (anglicized to "Nootka"), just a hop, skip & a jump from where we live in City of Vancouver. So much stuff is filmed out here but set other places, it will be a pleasant change to see something both filmed AND set here.



Some light sketch comedy is a nice counterpoint to all this heaviness, and Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's "Portlandia" continues to provide good laughs, especially for "progressives" who enjoy laughing at ourselves. If you're not familiar with the show, start with it's original pitch reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX8BsX3IIa4
Which was updated last season to depict modern hipsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_HGqPGp9iY


Tina Fey continues to demonstrate her mastery of integrating sketch comedy/sit coms with longitudinal storytelling in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (Netflix), and can make us laugh at things both hilarious and horrible.

[Clash Cadillac]

Never been a huge fan of rap but really enjoyed Defiant Ones, the four-part documentary about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Besides all the really popular series like Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Shameless, Vikings, Mr. Robot, Also, recently watched: Handmaid's Tale, American Gods, and The Fall (Gillian Anderson was very good in this).

[Low-ish D]

Never been a huge fan of rap but really enjoyed Defiant Ones, the four-part documentary about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Besides all the really popular series like Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Shameless, Vikings, Mr. Robot, Also, recently watched: Handmaid's Tale, American Gods, and The Fall (Gillian Anderson was very good in this).

How was American Gods? I actually just re-read the book, which I think i enjoyed even more this time, in anticipation of watching the show. Neil Gaiman is probably my favourite author, and he has actually been rather well-served by visual adaptations (with the exception of Starstruck, i think, although now i can't really remember the film).