Last TV series you watched and your rating

The Vietnam War 10/10

One of the most remarkable shows I've seen in a long time. It does something almost impossible, reconciling all the military, cultural, social and geo-political aspects of the whole Vietnam quagmire into a programme that not only gives the viewer a better understand of the whole sorry affair, but creates and maintains an empathy with almost every opposing viewpoint.

Absolutely no hesitation in calling it a work of genius. A must watch.

SugarDave wrote:Watched all of Black Mirror over the last couple of weeks. Favourite episodes were probably:

USS Callister
Nosedive
White Christmas
Hated in the Nation
Hang The DJ

These were my two favourite episodes.

White Christmas felt me feeling genuinely cold and, is probably, my favourite ever episode of a TV show.

Nosedive is a very realistic scenario that I can see Gen Z sleepwalking into.

Surprised no one has mentioned Be Right Back. I thought that was a brilliant episode.

I also really enjoyed San Junipero, The Entire History of You, Hang the DJ and Shut Up and Dance. I think White Christmas is the best though. Really well done.

I hope they move away from cookies in Season 5 though. I feel like they've done that angle to death now.

I recently watched all of Steven Universe and Adventure (bar the last 4 unaired episodes.) Both great, but I prefer Steven Universe.

Yes, I like cartoons.

Cobra Kai.

Anyone who doesn't know what this is, it is a 10 part "sequel" to the original Karate Kid showing what happened to Danny and Johnny, 30 odd years later.

Not sure of the intention behind this but through all of his flaws, still ended up rooting for Johnny throughout.

Wasn't sure whether this would work but it does, and pretty enjoyable in the 30 minute episode format.

Only downside is that it is a YouTube exclusive but fortunately my son has a free trial so we watched it over a few weeks.

I think an 8 is fair.

Tafdolphin wrote:The Vietnam War 10/10

One of the most remarkable shows I've seen in a long time. It does something almost impossible, reconciling all the military, cultural, social and geo-political aspects of the whole Vietnam quagmire into a programme that not only gives the viewer a better understand of the whole sorry affair, but creates and maintains an empathy with almost every opposing viewpoint.

Absolutely no hesitation in calling it a work of genius. A must watch.

Agreed. I finished watching it about a week ago and it's fantastic. It strikes a perfect balance of being a comprehensive account of the ideological build-up and the political, social and cultural ramifications that followed, with personal stories that lend a degree of intimacy to the entire ordeal. Having only really observed the Vietnam War through media that portrays it as little more than a glorified CCR gig, it was an excellent learning resource.

I'd have liked it to expand a little more on the ARVN forces, particularly after the US had pulled out, but I suppose the documentary did its job now that I'm interested in learning about this on my own.

Stranger Things 2

Urgh. Haven't witnessed a fall in quality like this since, er, Prison Break maybe? A woefully misjudged follow up to a fantastic show, this gets almost everything wrong. The endearing naivety of the group is gone (I guess this couldn't really be helped, but it's still a massive loss). The 'new kid' storyline is clichéd, and the whole thing seems to plod along aimlessly for the first few episodes. Oh and then we get a gooseberry fool CG dog thing (the CG was bad in the first show, but here it's front and centre, and just as terrible).

Splitting Eleven from the rest of the cast for the majority of the show is a dreadful decision, the relationship between her and Hopper nowhere near as interesting as with the kids. And the less said about her foray into the 80's X-Men the better. One of the worst episodes of TV I've ever seen.

It does get better, the finale in particular was excellent but it should never have been such a grind to get to that point. A huge disappointment.

5/10

Breaking Bad

Re-watched all of this in preparation for the imminent arrival of new season of Better Call Saul, I was planning to get through the first 3 seasons of that as well but not sure I'm going to have time...

Is there anything left to say about BB? It's just utterly mesmerising television. If I live to see a better 45 minutes of drama than Season 5 standout Ozymandias then I will be amazed. Can't wait for BCS Season 4 now!

10/10

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

Before watching this series that I assumed would be gooseberry fool, I had no real opinions about fish.

Now I have new found respect for Tench and nothing but contempt for Bream.

Bream.

SugarDave wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:The Vietnam War 10/10

One of the most remarkable shows I've seen in a long time. It does something almost impossible, reconciling all the military, cultural, social and geo-political aspects of the whole Vietnam quagmire into a programme that not only gives the viewer a better understand of the whole sorry affair, but creates and maintains an empathy with almost every opposing viewpoint.

Absolutely no hesitation in calling it a work of genius. A must watch.

Agreed. I finished watching it about a week ago and it's fantastic. It strikes a perfect balance of being a comprehensive account of the ideological build-up and the political, social and cultural ramifications that followed, with personal stories that lend a degree of intimacy to the entire ordeal. Having only really observed the Vietnam War through media that portrays it as little more than a glorified CCR gig, it was an excellent learning resource.

I'd have liked it to expand a little more on the ARVN forces, particularly after the US had pulled out, but I suppose the documentary did its job now that I'm interested in learning about this on my own.

Where can I watch this in the UK?

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Where can I watch this in the UK?

It was on BBC 4 this year. It will inevitably be repeated and I agree with the comments above; it's brilliant.

Top of the page ma!

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:

SugarDave wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:The Vietnam War 10/10

One of the most remarkable shows I've seen in a long time. It does something almost impossible, reconciling all the military, cultural, social and geo-political aspects of the whole Vietnam quagmire into a programme that not only gives the viewer a better understand of the whole sorry affair, but creates and maintains an empathy with almost every opposing viewpoint.

Absolutely no hesitation in calling it a work of genius. A must watch.

Agreed. I finished watching it about a week ago and it's fantastic. It strikes a perfect balance of being a comprehensive account of the ideological build-up and the political, social and cultural ramifications that followed, with personal stories that lend a degree of intimacy to the entire ordeal. Having only really observed the Vietnam War through media that portrays it as little more than a glorified CCR gig, it was an excellent learning resource.

I'd have liked it to expand a little more on the ARVN forces, particularly after the US had pulled out, but I suppose the documentary did its job now that I'm interested in learning about this on my own.

Where can I watch this in the UK?

Just gone up on Netflix. Apparently the BBC 4 version was heavily truncated.

Octoroc wrote:

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Where can I watch this in the UK?

It was on BBC 4 this year. It will inevitably be repeated and I agree with the comments above; it's brilliant.

Top of the page ma!

Tafdolphin wrote:

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:

SugarDave wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:The Vietnam War 10/10

One of the most remarkable shows I've seen in a long time. It does something almost impossible, reconciling all the military, cultural, social and geo-political aspects of the whole Vietnam quagmire into a programme that not only gives the viewer a better understand of the whole sorry affair, but creates and maintains an empathy with almost every opposing viewpoint.

Absolutely no hesitation in calling it a work of genius. A must watch.

Agreed. I finished watching it about a week ago and it's fantastic. It strikes a perfect balance of being a comprehensive account of the ideological build-up and the political, social and cultural ramifications that followed, with personal stories that lend a degree of intimacy to the entire ordeal. Having only really observed the Vietnam War through media that portrays it as little more than a glorified CCR gig, it was an excellent learning resource.

I'd have liked it to expand a little more on the ARVN forces, particularly after the US had pulled out, but I suppose the documentary did its job now that I'm interested in learning about this on my own.

Where can I watch this in the UK?

Just gone up on Netflix. Apparently the BBC 4 version was heavily truncated.

Thanks both. I seem to have missed it completely in bbc4.

Dark 8/10

Really enjoyed this. The ending was a bit of a letdown, and I perhaps left it too long between the penultimate and final episodes (the World Cup came along and interrupted my viewing...) meaning I'd forgotten some of what'd happened, but overall it was very good.

Octoroc wrote:Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

Before watching this series that I assumed would be gooseberry fool, I had no real opinions about fish.

Now I have new found respect for Tench and nothing but contempt for Bream.

Bream.

I need to watch the final episode, but this really is a fantastic show. Funny and heartbreaking at the same time.

Although it’s not acting, it reminds me of Detectorists, it’s gentle and lovable comedy based around a subject that most people wouldn’t find interesting.

Tafdolphin wrote:Just gone up on Netflix. Apparently the BBC 4 version was heavily truncated.

In what way? shorter/fewer episodes?

Lotus wrote:Dark 8/10

Really enjoyed this. The ending was a bit of a letdown, and I perhaps left it too long between the penultimate and final episodes (the World Cup came along and interrupted my viewing...) meaning I'd forgotten some of what'd happened, but overall it was very good.

It's a good show. I hope they make more. I really liked the format of it. Starts off pretty normal, goes slightly off kilter, then goes batshit crazy towards the end.

The episode where Ulrich kills the young boy (Bernard?) in the past shocked the hell out of me.

Better Call Saul (series 1, 2 and 3) - I got all three series on disc and I watched the lot over the past few weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed them and I love how it feels fresh but also incorporates so many characters and locations from Breaking Bad.

Moggy wrote:

Octoroc wrote:Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

Before watching this series that I assumed would be gooseberry fool, I had no real opinions about fish.

Now I have new found respect for Tench and nothing but contempt for Bream.

Bream.

I need to watch the final episode, but this really is a fantastic show. Funny and heartbreaking at the same time.

Although it’s not acting, it reminds me of Detectorists, it’s gentle and lovable comedy based around a subject that most people wouldn’t find interesting.

I watched about 10 minutes of it last night and I really need to seek out more on the iPlayer. Didn't see any actual fishing or really any mention of fish, it was just the pair of them arsing about. Very watchable.

Octoroc wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:Just gone up on Netflix. Apparently the BBC 4 version was heavily truncated.

In what way? shorter/fewer episodes?

They're both 10 episodes with the BBC versions 55 mins long and the Netflix versions are 30m - 1hr longer.