The TV Series discussion thread

I love, hands down and full stop, the Foundation novels. All of them. I've adored them since I first read them decades ago, and I doubt that'll ever change.

The telly show, though.....I couldn't get past the first episode. I was picking up my book twenty minutes in and said, "guess this isn't for me'. I'm a huge fan of Harris and can watch him in practically anything except, as it turns out, this.
 
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I love, hands down and full stop, the Foundation novels. All of them. I've adored them since I first read them decades ago, and I doubt that'll ever change.

The telly show, though…..I couldn't get past the first episode. I was picking up my book twenty minutes in and said, "guess this isn't for me'. I'm a huge fan of Harris and can watch him in practically anything except, as it turns out, this.

:D

I lost my wife about 20 minutes into the first episode, so just myself and older son.

As noted I recently re-read the first book, and sadly each time I re-read things get more clunky and you can feel the episodic approach (not to mention 'while human male dominance' syndrome). Still love them, but definitely not as much - so I am willing to give this a try.
 
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I watched the first episode of Grantchester, in the newest series. While I prefer the original vicar, Sidney, the new bloke also has some intriguing qualities, and is worth watching. Of course the huge part that draws me back every year is how the village functions, and how each passing season marches the show forward in time, sometimes in small parts, other times much larger.
 
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I watched the first episode of Grantchester, in the newest series. While I prefer the original vicar, Sidney, the new bloke also has some intriguing qualities, and is worth watching. Of course the huge part that draws me back every year is how the village functions, and how each passing season marches the show forward in time, sometimes in small parts, other times much larger.

I visit Grantchester most days, here's some happy snappy pics I took from one of their more recent visits in filming the new series:

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Funnily enough, not much of it is actually filmed in Grantchester, but they do at least use the real church.

During the pandemic I'd often sit in the churchyard and read a book & one time it was raining so bad that I asked if I could sit and read in their lunch tent & they said "sure, no probs", which I thought was cool.

I don't watch the series myself, so I was at a loss with regards knowing who to hound for autographs or take photos of specifically. TBH I was more annoyed at how their catering van had just chewed up a good footpath, turning it into a quagmire. Though next time they came they actually used mats to drive over, so someone must have said something thankfully.

Here's an amusing genuine grave from that graveyard:

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And a genuinely lovely cat:

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There were lots of tourists looking round the place even during the pandemic, which I thought was nice.
 
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Oh man, I'm totally jealous now, congrats on getting to hand out in such a cool area! And as for autographs, get those of any that play the coppers, I find them to be, by far, some of the more interesting characters in the show.

Or get a paw-print from that kitty, he/she looks like they'd totally fit into Grantchester!
 
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I think most sitcoms age poorly, but Seinfeld is timeless.

I recently saw some episodes of Friends, a series I really loved when I initially saw it, and it still has some charm, especially some of the characters, like Chandler and Ross. But I was also shocked how quaint and toothless it also is in other regards. The jokes are so tame sometimes and unimpressive.

My experience with The Office (US) on the other hand has been quite the opposite. I was lukewarm to it when I initially saw it, but it kept growing on me. And have now probably seen it 10+ times. Just randomly starting it, and leaving it in the background, and just laughing my ass off when certain moments come up. Michael and Dwight are just fantastic characters.
 
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I think most sitcoms age poorly, but Seinfeld is timeless.
I have to disagree (impossible!).

The only thing worth watching in Sienfeld was Newman.
Everything else I found rather boring so I asked my brother who was following it to tell me only if Newman was in an episode. If he said he's in, I'd watch that episode.
Otherwise I couldn't be arsed to waste time on that (IMO) trash.
I recently saw some episodes of Friends
Same thing, I started to watch it back in the day and it was unbelievably boring.
So I stopped.
And then, somehow, I caught an episode with fat Courtny Cox. Unlike those I've watched previously, this episode was brilliant, couldn't stop laughing as it was a deliberate mockery of everything Hollywood.
I've actually waited for the next episode only to find out she's back to her own weight and the script again tried to sell me boring unfunny jokes.
Meh.


Note that I don't hate sitcoms, it's just I don't find most of famous ones even mildly entertaining.
Unlike Seinfeld and Friends, I remember waiting eagerly (and desperately) for every next episode of Married with Children and Malcolm in the Middle.
 
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I recently saw some episodes of Friends, a series I really loved when I initially saw it, and it still has some charm, especially some of the characters, like Chandler and Ross. But I was also shocked how quaint and toothless it also is in other regards. The jokes are so tame sometimes and unimpressive.

My experience with The Office (US) on the other hand has been quite the opposite. I was lukewarm to it when I initially saw it, but it kept growing on me. And have now probably seen it 10+ times. Just randomly starting it, and leaving it in the background, and just laughing my ass off when certain moments come up. Michael and Dwight are just fantastic characters.

I never thought Friends was very funny, and I'll never understand how it became as popular as it did. I think a lot of people just liked the actors/characters because it certainly wasn't the jokes.

Agree about The Office, and yeah, Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson were great in those roles. I also liked Darryl (Craig Robinson) a lot too.
 
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Curious how English villages, or anything in the vicinity of Angela Lansbury, are the undisputed murder capitals of the world.
 
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Yes, who'd'a'thunked Midsomer to be the most dangerous place in the world with worse murder ratio stats than Guatemala!
 
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Oy, for sure, remind me to never book a holiday in Midsomer, lol! That place seems downright lethal.

I never really cared for Friends, tried watching it a few times and decided it wasn't for me. I liked Seinfeld from the very beginning, as I'd seen the title character in concert a few times and liked him, plus I knew both Dreyfus and Richards from past rolls. From the get-go it seemed like hanging with buds. I think the only other comedy show I ever cared for was MASH.
 
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Watched the first episode of Foundation. Liked it a lot. I read the books once, a few years ago. Liked them a lot, too.
 
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I saw Knightfall. It wasn't very good. It takes place during the reign of king Philip the fourth (France), who helped to put an end to the templars, because he owed them a lot of money and didn't want to pay them back. Which was also the reason why he expelled the Jews from France.
Knightfall uses the historic events that took place during the reign of King Philip IV and the times that they took place, puts them in a blender and then writes a story with whatever comes out of the blender and mixes it with the required love story that never really happened.
Knightfall never claims to be historically correct, it actually claims it is not, and it would be no issue if the story was any good, but it is not.
They also present the story in such a way to the viewer that there are almost no surprises and you end up being annoyed with the characters that they don't see it coming.

What I also noticed happening quite a bit, and it happens in a lot of shows and movies, is that in the middle of a battle or anything else where urgency is important, there seems to be a lot of time available to have a conversation with a loved one, a friend or an opponent. Nobody else on the battlefield tries to stab you during that conversation and there appears to be plenty of time to talk things through. Once they are finished there are suddenly opponents coming from all directions again. Weird stuff.
 
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I think most sitcoms age poorly, but Seinfeld is timeless.
Agree (that most sitcoms age poorly) and disagree (that Seinfeld is timeless - it's not to me).

The sitcom that is timeless for me is the Bristish "Black Books". That one is hilarious every time I watch it, and I have rewatched it several times. One of the things that makes it great for me is the whole setting. Some sitcoms are just vehicles for telling jokes. But with BB it is - for lack of words - a total experience. If that makes sense. I tend to think that this is a typical difference between British and American comedy, which is why I tend to prefer the British.

But I may be wrong. I think that Seinfeld, the show about nothing, is similar to BB in this respect. Come to think of it, maybe Seinfeld will be timeless to me - maybe I should rewatch a couple of shows (if I can find them),

One thing that puzzles me a bit: When I was a kid, nearly 60 years ago, I really liked oldish (B&W) comedy like Chaplin movies (the short ones) and Laurel and Hardy. I spent a lot of time ROFLing back then.

Now, I have watched some of them as an adult, and while I do find them amusing, they're not nearly ROFL worthy. I wonder why, Maybe they actually weren't as funny as I thought. There weren't many comedies back then (at least not broadcasted on our sole TV-channel), now there are a lot of competitors. Or maybe I have changed. Probably to some degree the latter. I very seldomly leave my chair when laughing these days (even when watching Bloack Books), and when I do, it's usually to get another cup of coffee from the kitchen.

pibbuR who maybe has become more cynical

PS. I think comedy is a difficult genre. There are a lot of mildly amusing ones, and the really funny ones are far between. Which means I have to watch (or start watching) a lot of mediocrity to catch the really good ones. It's not only comedy, of course, same problem with horror. And (real) football matches DS.
 
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What I also noticed happening quite a bit, and it happens in a lot of shows and movies, is that in the middle of a battle or anything else where urgency is important, there seems to be a lot of time available to have a conversation with a loved one, a friend or an opponent. Nobody else on the battlefield tries to stab you during that conversation and there appears to be plenty of time to talk things through. Once they are finished there are suddenly opponents coming from all directions again. Weird stuff.

A bit like Oblivion then. Cyrodil is in biiiiigggg trouble, you're the only one who can stop it, and nobody minds if you spend your time picking flowers, wasting a lot of time in ruins, getting a house(?) and kill a lot of irrelevant enemies.

pibbuR

PS. Another thing i action shows, everything is solved in the last minute, never with a lot of time to spare. Seems a bit illogical. Then of course, that's how I (and most people I know) finish their thesis at University. DS.
 
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