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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.
I've been watching Losing It on Channel 4 (in the UK). This is a documentary about people living with mental illness and getting treatment in an English NHS Trust. There are two episodes so far. It's handled sensitively, and isn't too exploitative. It shows some of the problems with the English NHS system which is under enormous pressure (mostly caused by government under-funding for many years). https://www.channel4.com/programmes/losing-it-our-mental-health-emergency/on-demand/68236-003
999 What's Your Emergency has returned for its 10th series. Currently on episode 2. I enjoy this because it's a non-judgmental look at policing and people who commit crime. This programme is told from a policing perspective, but it doesn't demonise criminals. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/999-whats-your-emergency
I enjoyed the first episode of Avenue 5, but it had a bunch of scene-setting and I wanted to wait until the second episode before talking about it. The second programme starts ramping up the situations. So far, I love this programme and I can't wait to see how it continues.
Channel 4 has a new cooking competition show Crazy Delicious. I was looking forward to this because it has some interesting chefs - Heston Blumenthal, Carla Hall and Niklas Ekstedt - and I really wanted to hear what they say about food. But sadly this programme is an incoherent mess. The judges don't talk much about food. There are a couple of comments here and there, but not nearly enough. The three competitors appear for a single episode, which isn't long enough for the audience to develop a bond with them, so we don't care who stays or goes. I won't be watching any more episodes. This review is a pretty good description of the programme and the problems. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/21/crazy-delicious-review-foodie-tv-brought-to-you-by-beelzebub-himself
Also in the UK. I'd also liked the look of Losing It but haven't got around to watching it yet.
White House Farm has been great. It's a drama based on a string of murders in Essex (spoilers in that link, if like me you hadn't already heard of the events). I've not watched this week's episode yet but unlike with F1 highlights most weekends of the year I don't stumble across spoilers unless I look for them so it's not too bad.
Hidden is a detective drama series set in Wales. It looks great, it sounds great & the storytelling is even better. I can't think of how to best describe it, so go and look it up for yourself but I can say that it goes much deeper than most crime series.
Series 1 is back on iPlayer now and series 2 is on BBC One Wales in English in February (the Welsh version, Craith, came out in November). Can't recommend this series enough.
Edit: source for Hidden S2 in Feb, it's a bit difficult to find
I'm loving this show so far! It's been quite good, so I hope that keeps up! Even the small in-between stuff that's not really related to the plot is cracking me up. For example:
Judd: There's no food that starts with a "J"
Chef: Jalepeño
Judd: That's not a real "J"!
(Or whatever he said.) Has nothing to do with the plot, but is just really funny in the context.
Oh, and I also love how the obnoxious woman who keeps taking charge never swears. She keeps using phrases with the swear words changed to something benign, making it sound like the show is censored, but none of the other characters are censored like that.
Got around to Doctor Who, this episode is a big one if you're following this series. Not a lot more to say about it other than this could be my favorite run since Series 5 or it could fall on it's behind, but it's not going to be for lack of ambition.