Binge worthy series

[orbital]

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re: Chernobyl

Watched it a few weeks back, knew it was anti-fission from the first seen. Also, British accents on all the actors.
Ulana Khomyuk,; one of the main nuclear physicist in the series, was a fictional character.
The casualty numbers & other world ending scare tactics throughout the series, were simply made up.

Watched it anyway.

 

[Dave_H]

As with a lot of series, I end up watching out-of-sequence and managed to get Luther season 5. Very good acting and plot, however quite a bit of killing, perhaps not unexpected.

Dave

 

[bykfixer]

Idris Elba also played a very good role as a 2nd in command drug king pin in the series "the wire", which is a show about the drug world in Baltimore MD and the way police were able to catch them.
Lots of foul language and violence in that one so be warned. But Mr Elba was brilliant as "Stringer" Bell and a polar opposite from his role as Luther.

 

[bykfixer]

A while back I mentioned the PBS series called "all creatures great and small", which is a story about a country veteranarian in the early 1900's in England. I had season 1 at the time and hoped to obtain season 2 at some point. Frankly I had forgotten about this quaint little show.

Last night in a sprawl mart we found all three seasons in one package. So we binged on season 1 last night until 3am.

They had Star Trek 'strange new worlds' season 1 also. I texted by youngest, a true Trekkie who has met several of the actors including our all time favorite Q. "Any good?" I asked. He said "best one yet dad". Coming from him that means better than TNG....a bold statement on his part. We'll see. The original 1960's/70's series didn't catch on until season 2. TNG was season 3 before that one gained traction in the eyes of the old school Trekkie so....more adventures of Captain Pike. Hopefully they haven't tried to out-woke the last versions.

 

[Toulouse42]

All Creatures Great and Small is excellent. A reminder of a world that doesn't exist anymore. Its based on the Books by James Herriot in the years leading up to WW2.

 

[Dave_H]

Another decent drama series from England is "Marcella", have seen up to season two. Not many scenes with nice English countyside, old houses, farms, and village pubs, this one is inner-city.

Dave

 

[bykfixer]

So while staying up in order to stay on a night shift sleep schedule I'm trying out this new Star Trek and saving "all things great and small" for when Mrs Fixer is with me.

Eh, I don't hate it. There was one called Discovery that I gave a thumbs down half way through episode 1. Now family kept gifting me that one each season so I kept trying to like it. In the end I preferred my glucose checking finger prick stab over that series. So I did not have high hopes for Strange New Worlds.

In Discovery Anson Mount is an impotent attempt at a Captain Pike. In Strange New Worlds (SNW) he's more of a cross between his best role (Cullin Bohanon) and James Kirk with a Val Kilmer look, but it works for this one. Early on they had Spock showing off his Golds Gym muscles and I half rolled my eyes thinking "ok here we go with the woke agenda thing". But as of episode 4 it's been very subtle, if at all. I'm also liking how the graphics and effects are a bit retro and nowhere near over the top like.

They have a female version of a Checkov type pilot who drives the ship solo unlike TNG where it takes 5 people and a robot to steer that one. Uhura is a young fresh trainee but it works. Pikes #1 resembles the lady who ran the Enterprise during the original series pilot episode. I'm not sure I dig the Spock character being hen-pecked by a bossy nag of a woman as he winces in his plague of being half human. I suppose she tells him which face to shave each morning.

The story lines are easy to follow. Nothing too outragious or overly complicated. The Ramones' type black leather jackets with Federation logo on the sleeve is kinda cool. It's actually a fun show for a change. No agenda, no in your face idiology, no attempt to out JJ Abrams JJ Abrams special effects or sound track. Just light hearted entertainment for the sake of entertainment.

I'd probably like it better if I'd never seen Star Trek before because I always compare that to the new versions.

Edit:
One thing I noticed in SNW is when it's dark they have shoulder mounted flash lights. And in 'all things great and small' they use period correct flashlights. They look like nickel plated 2C size.

 

[Dave D]

'Welcome To Wrexham'

Documentary series chronicling the purchase and stewardship of Wrexham AFC, one of professional football's oldest clubs, by two Hollywood actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

You don't need to know anything about UK soccer to enjoy this series, it's more about the people!

It's definitely a feel good underdog story.

The series gets a worthy rating of 8.2/10 on IMDB.

18 episodes, which I watched over two days, and can't wait for season 2!

 

[Dave_H]

I found another British 6-episode mini-series "The Beast Must Die", lots of suspense and
all-around well done. It stars Cush Jumbo who is also in "Deadwater Fell" (another good one) with David Tennant; and numerous others. I have not hit the end yet, binging this week.

Dave

 

[Dave_H]

Idris Elba also played a very good role as a 2nd in command drug king pin in the series "the wire", which is a show about the drug world in Baltimore MD and the way police were able to catch them.
Lots of foul language and violence in that one so be warned. But Mr Elba was brilliant as "Stringer" Bell and a polar opposite from his role as Luther.

I see him in a movie (not really a bingeable series) "The Take" which looks good, will watch it soon.

Dave

 

[tx101]

Gomorrah, Italian Mafia series with English subtitles
5 seasons

 

[bykfixer]

Castle.
Eh, when it was current I didn't care for it. Yet recently I gave it a second glance and have been a lot less critical of what I didn't like. So that allows the space to enjoy the what I did like stuff.

A semi-comedy about a New York detective who was assigned a crime novel writer to observe her for his next book. Turns out the guy helps her solve crimes. It's got a flare not unlike the 80's show moonlighting.

I've managed to score some seasons on dvd online that we did not have already. It lasted 8 seasons, each of which had like 20+ shows. I wanted a buy the box set but reviews at several sources of online purchase all had complaints of several disks not working in the box set, leading me to think "bootleg". Hopefully the individual seasons I found are legit.

 

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Getting older (and grumpier) I find there's more on offer than ever before but not to my sensibilities, often revisiting older series (possibly for a nostalgia hit) YMMV

Newer series
The Mandalorian
Book of Boba Fett
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Andor
The Last of Us
The Expanse
Picard
The Orville
Tulsa King

Older series
Enterprise
Justified
Tour of Duty
Horatio Hornblower
Grimm
The Walking Dead
Dark Matter

 

[Dave_H]

A good police/forensic drama from Scotland is "Traces", takes place in Dundee. Lead actor is
Laura Fraser who plays a university forensics expert whose team assists police. Many will
recognize Laura from "Breaking Bad", and other series including "Loch Ness".

Human forensic shots are not nearly as graphic as (for example) Silent Witness.

Accents can be a bit hard to follow at times, but better than non-english with subtitles.

Dave