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TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
'Babylon Berlin', season 4 (recently released in 2021).
This German produced detective thriller/drama is based in late 20s Germany (subs are in English but other languages also). It follows a homicide department of the police force who find themselves enveloped in major criminal and political plots. It has artistic and surrealist touches with memorable characters and outstanding costumes and set design. Sometimes the plots are a little elaborate and over the top, but it's a decent show with often witty dialogue. I'd give it an 8/10. The show is considered underrated because foreign TV shows are generally overlooked.
The first three seasons are on Netflix, the fourth isn't in New Zealand Netflix but may be available elsewhere in the world.
The Corner is the series David Simon made before The Wire. It's hard to directly compare as it's just six episodes, but I feel it's just as good or even better than The Wire. You can find all the episodes on YouTube.
Homicide: Life on the Street is based on David Simon's book of the same name, although I believe he wasn't directly involved from the start (he certainly wasn't the showrunner like with The Wire).
The first two (short) series are pretty good, the third has its moments but meh overall, the 4th to 6th are hit-and-miss. It really trailed off in the 7th and last season and didn't bother to finish watching it. The movie is a good ending for the entire series.
Overall, it's rather mixed, but still absolutely worth watching. Some episodes and multi-episode arcs are real misses and sometimes even outright misguided IMHO, but some are absolutely fantastic episodes and has great multi-episode arcs too.
if you haven't already, check out We Own the City -- its sort of a spiritual sequel to The Wire.
Yeah, I'm planning to go through all of David Simon's work. I don't watch that much TV, so haven't gotten around to that yet.
everything he's done is great. If I were to rank them, The Wire, The Deuce, Generation Kill, Show Me a Hero, The Corner, The Plot Against America. The Plot Against America was well done, but its worth reading the book first.
Turned out it's only six episodes, so I watched it.
I would hesitate to call it a "spiritual successor to The Wire"; the plot and characters are rather thin; it feels more like a documentary, which is not entirely surprising since it's a true story rather than fiction.
Many scenes felt like essays designed to demonstrate "this is what's wrong with the police". e.g. basically all the scenes with the civil rights lawyer, most scenes where people are interrogated by the FBI. But it never really goes that far into the why of it.
Nowhere is the motivation of Wayne Jenkins or the rest of the Gun Trace Task Force made very clear. This makes sense, as he's a real person and it's not fiction. I can understand not wanting to take too much artistic license, but on the other hand overall, it felt ... shallow?
The thing that made The Wire so good is that many characters – both in the police and on the street – aren't "bad", per se. They're not exactly "good" either, but it goes in to detail on why people behave as they do, what the incentives are.
even thought you didn't totally feel the series, you might enjoy the book. I'm probably mixing the two with the 'successor' portion.
If this were one storyline in a 6th season of the Wire, I think it would have been enough.
Outside of the weekly stuff on right now, I decided to just watch from the start of Cats does Countdown (only one episode per night.) I have a little spreadsheet to play along etc. I'm shit with the letters but good with the numbers.
That being said, Poker Face starts tomorrow and has a cast so good its either going to be amazing or absolutely awful.
It looks pretty great from the trailer. Definitely excited!
right! Three episodes are already out, but I haven't started. I'm surprised Rian Johnson is dipping into TV.
Old news and not a first watch for me, but I have been watching Reacher on Prime. I read several of the books 15 - 20 years ago, and this is a great adaptation. Alan Ritchson is maybe perfect casting for Reacher - he's big and absolutely jacked, but he's also great at showing Reacher's intelligence. I like Malcolm Goodwin as
BabineauxFinlay, and there's a whole slough of great side characters. I think they're getting at least a second season, and I'm excited about that.If you want to watch a no-nonsense show that's straight forward - big smart guy vs. lots of bad guys and corruption - then this is a good option. There aren't really any twists or turns; you know where this is going the whole time, but it is fun getting there.
I saw the first two and a half episodes of Poker Face. Rian Johnson seems to be completely sticking to this whole murder mystery thing, and in a way this feels like a Knives Out spin-off. It’s good. I think it was probably obvious from all the marketing material, but this is essentially a modern day Columbo. I’ve seen a couple of episodes of Columbo, can’t say I’m a huge fan of that show, but I can see why Johnson really likes it.
It’s a throwback in a lot of ways. There is somewhat of an overarching plot for Natasha Lyonne’s character but it’s mostly episodic. Lyonne goes from town to town solving murders. I’m not sure how into it I’m gonna be, but it’s good. It’s probably the best Peacock original.