Topic: What's your favourite TV program of the moment?

[6pairsofshoes]

Courtesy of the local public library streaming services:
Speakerine.  A drama set in 1960's Paris that deals with the Ministry of Information and its television broadcast, which I assume is parallel to the BBC.  The "Speakerine" of the title refers to the main female announcer.  She and her family are drawn into this drama that includes insights into contemporaneous politics, relations between the sexes, and the Algerian war.  We've seen 2 episodes so far.  It's not as good as Engrenages, which I loved, but so far, it's not bad.   With Gregory Fitousi, aka "Mr. Handsome," who seems to be in lots of stuff, from Mr. Selfridge, to Engrenages, to this.  He's in lots of other films and tv shows that I haven't seen so he's one of those guys who "gets a lot of work."

[smokester]

The missus wanted to watch "Dead Boy Detectives" so I thought I'd give it a go. I suppose it's my current "favourite" as it's the only show I'm watching, but I am finding it decidedly meh.

[6pairsofshoes]

On amazon prime.  The Legend of El Cid.  Lots of guys in chain mail killing each other while siblings plot to steal one another kingdoms.  Stabby!  But entertaining.  Maybe I posted this before.  I'm watching it again with my husband and it's pretty engaging.  We don't have a tv so we rely on the internet.  We are also working our way through "Would I lie to you?" on youtube with David Mitchell & Lee Mack, which is pretty fun.

[smokester]

I'm watching "Eric" with Benedict Cumberbatch and I can't help think it's just "Happy" (with Christopher Meloni) done right.

[goldshirt*9]

Just finished Outer Range S01 - Cannot wait for season 2 as Its still confusing

[6pairsofshoes]

Watching Napoleon on amazon prime.  The music is awful, but they threw a ton of money at this production.  It's a 4 episode miniseries.  One thing that interested me was the casting of a former comedic actor as Napoleon.  Shades of Vladimir Zelensky.  Napoleon's blind ambitions for a unified Europe cost thousands of lives and subjected lots of grunt soldiers to unnecessary suffering and deprivation.  Isabella Rosselini is his Joséphine but her character isn't sufficiently fleshed out nor are the other women characters with whom he had affairs.  John Malkovich as Talleyrand is compelling even though he's still so obviously John Malkovich.  I frequently go to Wikipedia to flesh out my general ignorance of the French Revolution and the subsequent chaos that enveloped the French governments.

I recommend reading Tolstoy's War and Peace as a corrective since N comes across as an out of touch megalomaniacal jerk in that book.

[6pairsofshoes]

Outlaws season 3.  So far it's pretty hilarious.  Good job, Stephen Merchant!

[smokester]

I'm absolutely hooked on The Boys. The only bad thing about it is that, apparently, Americans can't tell the difference between an Oz accent and a British one. I think that only about 10% of the time does Karl Urban sound British.

[goldshirt*9]

finished Outer range S02. Me thinks it will drag on to more
Mo idea what to watch now

[6pairsofshoes]

I watched the first season of The Boys and it was entertaining, although a bit intense.  I haven't tried Outer range, although I should.  We are about to finish Season 1 of sexy lawyer show, which is gaining momentum.  It's not compelling enough for me to watch a second season.  It is interesting to listen to them speaking Norwegian, though.  Aber/Bergen.

[8ullfrog]

Binged the first season of the Sopranos recently and was surprised how much better TV was before the 8 episode season. Stories get time to marinate and get juicy.

I feel like if you condensed the sopranos for modern television, you'd lose things like the Vin Makazian storyline entirely. He'd be a couple paragraphs of exposition in the bing.

[goldshirt*9]

Kin,  An Irish tv series, was recommended so give it a go

[6pairsofshoes]

The local public library offers a binge pass to The Great Courses.  Kind of like open university online.  I'm watching a course called The Rise of Rome with a retired professor from the U. of Wisconsin.  They are presented as a series of half hour lectures.  I've finished 3 so far.  It's not quite as absorbing as a regular tv show, but I feel like it's helping to fill in a gap in my knowledge so that's satisfying.

The stories during the monarchy are vastly entertaining and I only know them from subsequent paintings:
The Oath of the Horatii, The Rape of the Sabines, etc.
I might just haul out a copy of Livy and see if they are better in the book version.

[6pairsofshoes]

I began watching the Grey Zone, a Swedish/Danish series.  It's about muslim terrorists up to no good.  Everyone has a beard and they're evil.  Co-opting the tech sector to wreak havoc.  It's pretty grim.  10 episodes.  Pretty stressful stuff to watch after the display of buffoons at the GOP convention.  Kimberly Guilfoyle is like the Ethel Merman of convention speakers.  Remind me to invest in cosmetics as I'm sure she's keeping several companies afloat on her purchases of eye makeup alone.

[6pairsofshoes]

We have been ending our days with re-broadcasts of the BBC "Would I lie to you?" which can be fun at times.  Lee Mack and David Mitchell are funny as are the hosts.  It beats most of the U.S. reality and quiz shows.