TV series (1 Viewer)

I always thought that Big Love was kind of the sister piece to The Sopranos. I don't know if liking one show will mean you like the other, but they both dealt with complex male leads dealing with morally gray areas.
 
"Borgen" ("The Castle") is a great TV series indeed. Maybe it's on Netflix? Wikipedia says there's going to be an American remake and it also quotes Newsweek for saying, "The best TV series you have never seen". That's funny, but it's also too bad most American viewers did´nt get to see it, except for those who have Link TV. Well, at least you can buy the series on DVD on English Amazon.
 
Ponder said:
“Borgen” may be the hardest show to find on American television...
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Not sure why the article would say that, since LinkTV is on DirecTV (no HD though) and Dish network.

I guess if you have cable or rabbit ears it's hard to find, but then if you have cable or rabbit ears you kind of deserve have a hard time finding things.
 
top of the lake is really good, but really weird, and quite bleak.

just finished marathoning lost girl on netflix instant - kind of like true blood, but less gory, less graphic sex, less nudity, way funnier.

orphan black is pretty decent - sci-fi -ish but a bit funny as well, really great acting from the main character. i keep forgetting that it's the same person playing like 6 different people.

lots of good stuff coming to amazon prime from hbo soon.
 
justine said:
orphan black is pretty decent - sci-fi -ish but a bit funny as well, really great acting from the main character. i keep forgetting that it's the same person playing like 6 different people.
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Orphan Black is great. The main actor, Tatiana Maslany, had me from the first episode where her character is supposed to be breaking open a briefcase and you can tell she really tore up her hand doing that. I thought, "Well, if she'll bleed for this, the least I can do is watch it."

It started up again a week or two ago but we haven't watched any new episodes yet.

Two thumbs up for Top of the Lake too.
 
Really liked Top of the Lake and The Returned. Haven't seen Orphan Black but will give it a go.

Just finished the first season of Australian comedian Jim Jeffries show Legit. Uneven, but some episodes are screamingly funny.
 
Ponder said:
I've just seen season 1 of the the Danish series, Borgen.
It's pretty strong AND realistic.
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Finished watching the third and last season. Highly recommended.
Cold turkey now. But:

I found this series: ROMANZO CRIMINALE Based on a true story.
Two seasons.


I can't find a boxset of season 1.

51B2IQHMVGL._AA160_.jpg
 
I mentioned The Americans before but it's worth mentioning again. Carol didn't see season one so we're watching it on Amazon. Good stuff. Orange is the New Black released a new season on Netflix, that one is good too.

BBC America canceled Copper, which is no good. But Ray Donovan comes back on HBO next month, and that's worth watching for sure. Masters of Sex comes back on the same night (I think), that's also a good one.

I'm not really into post-apocalyptic stuff (post "rapture"?), but The Leftovers is a new one that looks intriguing. "Some bad shit's coming..."

[This video is unavailable.]
 
I'm going to watch RECTIFY today. First season, 6 episodes. Produced by Ray McKinnon
from Sons of Anarchy and by the producers from Breaking Bad. And it's the first original series of Sundance tv.

There's a new Italian mafia series, Gomorra (English title is Gomorrah), a follow-up to the 2008 movie.---->Mafia
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-mafia-series-gomorrah-ratings-702606

And next week I'm planning to watch Arvingerne, (The Legacy), a new, (2013 Ibelieve), Danish series.
Some reviewers compare it with Festen!



 
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mjp said:
I'm not really into post-apocalyptic stuff (post "rapture"?), but The Leftovers is a new one that looks intriguing.
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Or not.

Something incredibly unappealing about it. One of those shows where if every one of the characters died you'd think, "Well, now it's better." Sort of like John From Cincinnati. Absolutely no one to sympathize with or root for. You'd think if you were going to spend millions of dollars making a TV show someone, somewhere along the line would point out that every story needs a hero. But apparently they forgot that here. The people who "disappeared" in the first episode were the lucky ones.

On the other side of the coin we're a couple episodes into John Adams,
ir
and it's great (okay, I've already seen it, but I'm watching it again with Carol). Paul Giamatti is John Adams (I know - but give it a chance, he's perfect), Laura Linney is Abigail Adams. A great telling of the utterly unlikely formation of the U.S.

You can watch it for free if you have Amazon Prime.
 
I wonder why the movie and series are called "Gomorrah". Why the misspelling of "Camorra"?
 
I think you're right! The Sodom and Gomorrah reference never dawned on me. Come to think of it, they could have called it, "Sodom And Camorra". :p
 
Ponder said:
There's a new Italian mafia series, Gomorra (English title is Gomorrah), a follow-up to the 2008 movie.---->Mafia
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-mafia-series-gomorrah-ratings-702606
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Watched 3 episodes and it's ruthless. Never seen anything like this. The Sopranos is totally different.
Easier to digest.

Or how a reviewer describes it:

"The new Italian series Gomorrah is hard, raw and at times nauseating. None of the characters is engaging and with any you'd like to swap for a day. Nevertheless, you should keep looking."

"The series breaks with one of the most important rules of modern television that says you have to have characters with which the viewer can identify or at least can feel empathy for them."

I'm slow. I've finally watched 9 episodes of House of Cards. I'd say it's good but not on "Borgen" level yet, but that's an unfair comparison. Still recommended.

p.s.

I just want to say that Matt Dillon is one of the worst American actors. And his voice is awful.
I'm scared because "a quality series" is coming up: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/matt-dillon-fox-wayward-pines-521491

 
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Everyone raves about House of Cards, so I took a look and -- politicians? No thanks.

I generally avoid shows about contemporary cops, doctors and politicians on principle. If you're so creatively bankrupt that that's all you've got, those tired old frameworks, fuck you and your show. At least pretend to make an effort and stick the cops, doctors and politicians in another era or another country or something. Anything. One new idea, that's all I'm asking for. Just one.

Imagine the boardrooms full of back alley ass-sniffers who decide these things. "A show about politicians in Washington D.C.? Great? That's been done so many times there's virtually no risk! We'll take it! Do you have anything else? Something with a cop or a doctor? Maybe a cop who's also a doctor? And maybe he works in a newsroom on the weekends?"

I get it, all of these things are about the stories and the people, not the setting. But it's just so god damned lazy.
 
I liked House Of Cards ok. Second season completely strains credulity, but Spacey is always oddly compelling. My guilty pleasure is Nashville, a fairly standard soap that for some reason has me hooked.
 
I've seen the first four episodes of the Fargo TV series and I'm loving it. Billy Bob Thornton's oddly endearing hitman makes me laugh. The film is still one of my favourites, but I'm looking at the TV show as a separate thing (even though you can easily spot the links between the film and the show).
 
mjp said:
Imagine the boardrooms full of back alley ass-sniffers who decide these things. "A show about politicians in Washington D.C.? Great? That's been done so many times there's virtually no risk! We'll take it! Do you have anything else? Something with a cop or a doctor? Maybe a cop who's also a doctor? And maybe he works in a newsroom on the weekends?"
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I liked the original UK series of House of Cards. It captured the mood at the end of the Thatcher-era well. That was ages ago and the US version is (obviously) only loosely based on the original. I suspect if I watched it again it would be terribly dated too. Like you though, I just couldn't get into to the US version. It does seem like a very 'safe' attempt to produce the sort of drama that will have people fawning all over its writing, production and acting. Truth be told, I never really got into the West Wing as I thought that was pretty dull.
Anyway, I'm about to start on the last season of Boardwalk Empire.
 
I know he's considered to be very talented, but I can't stand Aaron Sorkin's writing. Sports Night was actually the one show of his I liked, and only because of William W. Macy. I just watched the pilot for The Americans (always years behind everything) and liked it. My wife is into this show Black Mirror, which is apparently an anthology ala Twilight Zone.
 
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The Americans is good.

That Sorkinesque WRITING/ACTING where everyone responds to the previous line in a tenth of a second without thinking about what they're going to say is laughably unnatural.

Amy Schumer did a great send-up:


Then Seth Meyers did it (and referenced Schumer's bit...and threw in Aaron Sorkin himself)...

 
This wasn't a series exactly but I just wanted to share a funny interview with two of my favorite comedians. From the mid-90's.....

 
This series has me hooked.
Based on the novels by Michael Connelly.
A blend of The Wire &True Detective.
Seems to me it has some authentic LA locations in it.
Doesn't give the standard slick LA-look.
Slow character driven authentic TV-drama.
Even has some scenes filmed at Mussos - I think.

By the way - The leading actor, Titus Welliver, looks a lot like Buk.
Maybe he could be the right man for an adaption of Women, Post Office or some such?

Anyway - what do you angelenos think about this?
Makes me wanna read Michael Connelly.

 
Jeffrey Tambor is great in Transparent, but after about 6 episodes, I couldn't take his kids anymore. Especially the son who was banging his babysitter. But Tambor is so good, he almost makes up for it.
 

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