The Glass Teat, or 'Television'

[OhBollox]

Shining Girls. As a fan of the book, I appreciate a lot of it gives Elisabeth Moss the chance to do The Face.

As a talented actress and probably-not-total-religious-nutcase, this series should be the perfect chance for her to display her talents, but I’m immediately noting a lot of small changes from the book that are adding up in an unfavourable way. Yes, changes had to be made, but they didn’t have to be these changes. Still, eminently watchable, for now.

Under the Banner of Heaven. This isn’t just LDS crime, this is fundamentalist LDS crime, a concept so fucked up I honestly had to double check it was real. Watching Andrew Garfield as a narrow-minded LDS cop (tautology, sue me) is mildly entertaining, but Gil Birmingham as a veteran detective is a banger of an actor/role combination (“Get your hands in the air or I will kick the shit out of you!”), and there’s a lot of solid casting here. The sections covering the history of the LDS church are Not Great, and are quite out of place.

[kennfusion]

Reacher was way more enjoyable than it had any right to be. After each of the 8 episodes I looked at my wife and said that I had no idea why I liked the show, but I did.

[Mirefox]

Agreed. It also led me to pick up a Reacher book and it isn’t as poorly written as I had feared. You still have the same problem of a completely invincible main character who can pretty much do anything and knows everything, but I can deal with that.

[biffpow]

I felt the same way : ) I think the thing that really worked for me about the show was that it didn’t ask anything of me as a viewer. Here’s this very basic action show, non-complex characters, easy good/evil role assignment, no big questions or deep investment. Just easy watching and eye candy. Weirdly, most new shows are not like that now.

[Snotty128]

I think I’ve had the same kind of problem before. The box may be black but I can still click on the title, which then launches the YouTube app, where the video runs fine

[Snotty128]

I enjoyed Reacher, though my suspension of disbelief was sorely tested with his seemingly omnipotent detective work. I decided I could just roll with it as a power fantasy type character rather than one who was doing intricate detective work I could later unravel on reflection.

One thing I really enjoyed was seeing a representation of a massive oversized human on screen, and the everyday problems us tall people have. Like being totally out of scale with everyone around them, or trying to get into the back seat of a car. I didn’t identify with the superhuman strength type stuff, but then I refer back to the power fantasy idea.

I’m gonna get real woke for a second here, so I apologise. Seeing someone who had everyday struggles like me on screen made me realise how important representation was for other people whose ethnicity etc is rarely shown on screen. I knew about the concept of representation before, but now I understood it a little better.

[univac]

I got it working again. Deleted website data and rebooted iPad. Something funky was going on with safari. Firefox was playing video fine.

[OhBollox]

Every Kids in the Hall Revival Sketch, From Good to Great

[Hustlertwo]

Better Call Saul midseason finale: Wow.

[OhBollox]

Yes. YES.

‘True Detective’: Jodie Foster To Star In Season 4 Of HBO Anthology Series,...

[OhBollox]

Watching We Own This City reminded me of this eternal classic.

Aaron Earned An Iron Urn (Baltimore Accent) (@dooleyfunny)

Night Sky. Well apart from @rinelk trying to decoy me away into watching an entirely unrelated non-specific film with the same title, I got into this in short order, and got my due ration of delicious J. K. Persimmons.

He and Sissy Spacek are very good and they need to be because they’re most of the story so far, and the rest of the cast isn’t quite as good. Adam Bartley is good as their interfering nosy neighbour, and Julieta Zylberberg is also competent, although she’s a distant second to the arresting landscapes she’s placed in. I’m tempted to place this alongside Outer Range; you have a series that is mostly mundane but shot through with the fantastical; Night Sky does go in a more openly conventional direction with it, though, so it might be easier to swallow. It looks good, but the rest of the production is fairly unremarkable.

[doublebullout]

Absolutely loved Severance. Yes, it’s a slow burn, but it kicks into nitro-fueled dragster top speed by the last episode. I can’t remember the last time I watched a season finale on the literal edge of my seat throughout. Fantastic cast, writing, set design, cinematography, music, just everything. Great show.

[whovian223]

Fully agreed! And during the slow burn, it’s creepy as hell. Especially during the music party.

[univac]

Apple Music has defiant jazz if you’re in the mood for an MDE (music dance experience).

[OhBollox]

Treat Williams out of fucking nowhere steals this scene and makes the final episode of We Own This City something really special. I was sceptical as to how the series would conclude, given every possible thread seemed to have an obvious ending imminent. The last episode does tie them up neatly, and also has absolutely no problem exposing the guts of the machine. The endemic corruption in units specifically set up to target the most high profile crimes, and the loss of the war on drugs, neatly laid out.

[OhBollox]

Barry.

The series has always been dark, albeit previous seasons were also very funny in equal measure, but this time it’s sliding towards something more serious. Absolutely superb, and one of the very best things I have taken in via my eyes. Bill Hader is a genius. The cast are excellent. The sound design and music are phenomenal.

[Mirefox]

I need a Hank spinoff…

[js619]

Umbrella Academy, on Netflix.

Watched on a recommendation from a random waitress in a bar where she overheard my IRL friend and I talking about other TV shows we were watching.

Goddamn fantastic and I’m ashamed I’ve missed it this long. If you like Maniac, The Boys, Stranger Things, etc, you’ll enjoy UA.

[kennfusion]

Yeah, I love Umbrella Academy and looking forward to season 3 this week. The kids that plays 5 (he just turned 18, Aidan Ghallager) is just fantastic.

He was on a kids show my daughter used to watch called “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn” on Nickelodeon.

[Snotty128]

I enjoyed umbrella academy, though I thought the first season was significantly stronger than the second. For example, the first season had a deep, touching, organic, gay love story that was significant to the plot. The second had a shoehorned, confused, homewrecking, lesbian plot that I had little sympathy for and was extraneous to the plot.

I’ll watch the third season with a little trepidation based on my feelings after the second season.