So .. What Do You Watch On TV?

[TQR 12,180]

14 minutes ago, Sly Ronnie said:

Anyone else seen this series and is it worth watching?

 

It's not a series worth watching at all, unless you hate it, in which case you'll inexplicably want to watch it all the time.

[Great Uncle Bulgaria 1,051]

 

Not aired yet, but flagging this up for your future delectation

 

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/wombles-modern-remake-newsupdate/

[Toast 14,847]

6 minutes ago, Great Uncle Bulgaria said:

Not aired yet, but flagging this up for your future delectation

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/wombles-modern-remake-newsupdate/

 

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[Toast 14,847]

On 02/10/2023 at 01:25, TQR said:

We've just done the entire S4 (final season) of Sex Education in one big long sitting. OH was very dubious beforehand and I had an open mind but didn't know what to expect of it. We both adored it.

 

So many genuinely powerful and emotional moments this series, but the writers know exactly when to throw in a moment of levity just enough to bring you back up again. Tears one moment, laughter the next. It is a joyous world to be immersed in and you get so, so attached to so many of the characters that you yearn to be there, in their world. What a series. What a show. I can't wait to escape reality for a bit and watch it all start to finish again.

 

You've described the earlier seasons perfectly, but I thought S4 was a pale shadow of that.   I did think S3 was teetering on the brink a bit and that going for a fourth series would be a mistake.

Where was the humour? It used to have moments that made me cry with laughter, but I don't think it even raised a smile this time.  It just missed the mark for me.

Likewise there were always those moments that brought tears for the opposite reason, but this season pretty much left me cold. 

Things that didn't make sense.  A farm/riding school with no staff except one woman? A funeral with no pallbearers supplied?  Why didn't Maeve & Otis even consider the possibility of him joining her in America?

And what happened to the music? It used to have a really cool and varied soundtrack, but that was much diminished too.

 

[TQR 12,180]

42 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

You've described the earlier seasons perfectly, but I thought S4 was a pale shadow of that.   I did think S3 was teetering on the brink a bit and that going for a fourth series would be a mistake.

Where was the humour? It used to have moments that made me cry with laughter, but I don't think it even raised a smile this time.  It just missed the mark for me.

Likewise there were always those moments that brought tears for the opposite reason, but this season pretty much left me cold. 

Things that didn't make sense.  A farm/riding school with no staff except one woman? A funeral with no pallbearers supplied?  Why didn't Maeve & Otis even consider the possibility of him joining her in America?

And what happened to the music? It used to have a really cool and varied soundtrack, but that was much diminished too.

 

 

Oh no, that's a shame!

 

One thing I definitely agree with here is the soundtrack; it was good, but S1 & S2's soundtracks were never just 'good'. They were mint. I noticed in S3 they'd appeared not to put as much thought into it and S4 was no different.

 

I will concede that humour appears not to be No.1 priority for much of S4. It never takes a back seat per se, but they did focus more on tackling the grittier stories this time round. It felt a fair bit heavier, but imo there were still enough moments of levity to strike a nice balance. Comedy graduated to comedy-drama.

 

As for the little nonsensical details, I decided early on not to think too much into those. I mean, we could of course mention that in SE world it is present day England with present day tech and social norms, but cars appear to have stopped being made in 1991, schools have been lifted straight from the model of an American college from the 80s, and nobody told anyone in the interior design world that it's not the 70s anymore. The lack of farm staff I can forgive as any other staff would just be background noise. The funeral was meant to seem as stripped back as possible given who they were burying. Maeve and Otis not entertaining the idea of him going to America, however, appears to have got a lot of people's goat. Understandably so; it could at least have been mentioned without making the story too woolly. This wound up my OH too.

 

I wouldn't say it's my favourite season, but I still got that same buzz from being immersed in their world that I did in all the other seasons so it works for me! It was still beautifully written, even if it's not quite as uproariously funny as it was a couple of seasons ago.

[Toast 14,847]

I feel that the premise of the show was always going to be self-limiting but, because it was deservedly popular, greed has forced it beyond its natural end.

It's betrayed what was one of the best comedy-dramas ever produced.  And yes, it was always a comedy-drama and not purely comedy.

 

I never had a problem with the fuzzy time/place/styling as I saw it as a kind of parallel world.  A world like ours but not quite the same.  It was still believable though.  This time I didn't feel that the writer's heart was in it.

 

The first two series, and to a slightly lesser extent the third, are still a joy and I will watch them again. I won't be revisiting S4 though.

[ladyfiona 2,042]

I've realised what I didn't like about S4 and it's thanks to comments above. Adam's family and storyline.

• Adam's mother wants a safe space for her son so he can be queer without being scared of his father. I loved that but then now having the parents back together in some form - it removes any healing Adam may have had. It's great that his parents may get back together but to viewers who may have similar issues, it doesn't give a good message.
• Let Adam have a boyfriend who doesn't mind going slow compared to the fast pace of Eric.
• There is no bisexual happy ending I feel and it frustrates me as someone who is bisexual. 

I think Sex Education needs to go down the Skins route. Catch up in a few years and show what has been going on with some characters. 

[time 7,968]

My Sex Education 2p, FWIW. Good, but not as good as S1-S3, but still better than most of the stuff I've watched recently.. 

 

My major quibble was the number of new characters introduced, but I suppose that's inevitable with the change in school/move to US. Shame we also lost some of my favourite old ones too.

 

Regarding the music, it seemed as though there was more Ezra Furman in S1-S3, whereas S4 had more generic (for want of a better word) tunes.

[time 7,968]

Just finished Good Omens 2. Not sure if I enjoyed all of it but I did like the ending.

[Toast 14,847]

29 minutes ago, time said:

My Sex Education 2p, FWIW. Good, but not as good as S1-S3, but still better than most of the stuff I've watched recently..

My major quibble was the number of new characters introduced, but I suppose that's inevitable with the change in school/move to US. Shame we also lost some of my favourite old ones too.

Regarding the music, it seemed as though there was more Ezra Furman in S1-S3, whereas S4 had more generic (for want of a better word) tunes.

 

I think Ezra wrote four new songs for S4, but we didn't get to hear very much of them. 

 

Agree about the new characters.  They were very superficially drawn. 

And why so many trans people? We already had Cal from the last series so this felt like overkill.  This series never felt self-consciously "woke", it was very naturalistic, but these felt shoe-horned in.  As did the "disability" episode where we suddenly got a one-off appearance from a bloke in a wheelchair, never to be seen again.

Jean's sister was obviously supposed to provide a comedy element, but she was just annoying.

 

It would have been better if they'd ended it after three seasons, with perhaps a couple of extra episodes to close down some storylines. No need for the new college and characters, and we wouldn't be missing the rest of the regular cast.  To those who enjoyed it, sorry for being so negative, but I feel this terrific series deserved better.

 

[ladyfiona 2,042]

32 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

I think Ezra wrote four new songs for S4, but we didn't get to hear very much of them. 

 

Agree about the new characters.  They were very superficially drawn. 

And why so many trans people? We already had Cal from the last series so this felt like overkill.  This series never felt self-consciously "woke", it was very naturalistic, but these felt shoe-horned in.  As did the "disability" episode where we suddenly got a one-off appearance from a bloke in a wheelchair, never to be seen again.

Jean's sister was obviously supposed to provide a comedy element, but she was just annoying.

 

It would have been better if they'd ended it after three seasons, with perhaps a couple of extra episodes to close down some storylines. No need for the new college and characters, and we wouldn't be missing the rest of the regular cast.  To those who enjoyed it, sorry for being so negative, but I feel this terrific series deserved better.

 

 

S4 of Sex Education had the Glee S6 effect. Where the number of episodes were cut in half (21/22 down to 12/13) and still introduced a bunch of new characters (and a school) we tried to get to know, while also in process of saying goodbye to our original favourites. How am I meant to understand and get to know a new person with a possibly interesting backstory, when i'm trying to say goodbye to a character i've adored for 6 years and finish their storyline (less than 4 with Sex Education).

[Paul Bearer 5,683]

Watching The Fall of the House of Usher at the moment.  I'm on episode 3. Anybody else watching it?

[Toast 14,847]

On 15/04/2023 at 00:06, time said:

Just watched The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die; ties up the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. No spoilers, pretty enjoyable and worth seeing if you've seen the previous series.

 

Huge mistake to finish it like this, IMO.  Tried to cover far too much in less than two hours.  Everything went at breakneck speed, new characters brought in that we didn't have time to get to know, and some quite inexplicable developments.  What a shame they didn't make a sixth series, and give the story the time it needed and deserved.

 

 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,464]

On 21/10/2023 at 19:37, Paul Bearer said:

Watching The Fall of the House of Usher at the moment.  I'm on episode 3. Anybody else watching it?

 
Yup, midway through it. Gloriously hokey, it could barely have been any camper if they’d used Vincent Price’s embalmed corpse as a guest star.

[time 7,968]

Just watched Jeopardy with Stephen Fry doing the hosting duty. God it's tedious. Alex Trebek must be spinning.

[Sod's Law 219]

On 01/01/2024 at 18:51, time said:

Just watched Jeopardy with Stephen Fry doing the hosting duty. God it's tedious. Alex Trebek must be spinning.

It's too long, that's why. That makes it seem repetitive and dull. The original US series is only 30 minutes per episode. 

[wannamaker 1,067]

4 minutes ago, Sod's Law said:

It's too long, that's why. That makes it seem repetitive and dull. The original US series is only 30 minutes per episode. 

 

How long is the UK version?

[Sod's Law 219]

3 minutes ago, wannamaker said:

 

How long is the UK version?

It's from 4pm till 5 every day till 24th January. Dragging it out so long kinda spoils the format. 

[RoverAndOut 3,478]

36 minutes ago, Sod's Law said:

It's too long, that's why. That makes it seem repetitive and dull. The original US series is only 30 minutes per episode. 

 

That explains so much! It will die a death here. I've watched both episodes as the bits I've seen of the US version and spoofs look interesting. It's a nice concept but very samey samey - 3 rounds of 30 questions for increasing amounts of money.

 

When did it become a requirement for gameshows to last an hour? On Challenge, the old ones from the 90s are all half an hour (Catchphrase, Wheel of Fortune, Family Fortunes - my dad watches them a lot ) including adverts. Well, Catchphrase and FF have both returned with hour-long versions and Wheel of Fortune is getting a reboot with Graham Norton on Saturday nights which will doubtless be an hour. They've brought back Deal or No Deal for an hour - wasn't that a 45-minuter including adverts on Channel 4 previously? Who decided more is better? It so rarely is! Or is it just cheaper to make an hour of Catchphrase than 2 half hours of something else? Yes, that's probably it.

[Sod's Law 219]

51 minutes ago, RoverAndOut said:

 

That explains so much! It will die a death here. I've watched both episodes as the bits I've seen of the US version and spoofs look interesting. It's a nice concept but very samey samey - 3 rounds of 30 questions for increasing amounts of money.

 

When did it become a requirement for gameshows to last an hour? On Challenge, the old ones from the 90s are all half an hour (Catchphrase, Wheel of Fortune, Family Fortunes - my dad watches them a lot ) including adverts. Well, Catchphrase and FF have both returned with hour-long versions and Wheel of Fortune is getting a reboot with Graham Norton on Saturday nights which will doubtless be an hour. They've brought back Deal or No Deal for an hour - wasn't that a 45-minuter including adverts on Channel 4 previously? Who decided more is better? It so rarely is! Or is it just cheaper to make an hour of Catchphrase than 2 half hours of something else? Yes, that's probably it.

They're just cheap schedule-filler. It'll be pocket change for Stephen Fry compared with the money he'll be making from his books. 

[ladyfiona 2,042]

I am watching Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and it is a great drama.

 

It's based on real life events as well and it gets me really annoyed because I know that a lot of the victims havn't been compensated.

[Paul Bearer 5,683]

11 minutes ago, ladyfiona said:

I am watching Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and it is a great drama.

 

It's based on real life events as well and it gets be really annoyed because I know that a lot of the victims havn't been compensated.

I’ve been watching it too.  Post Office should at least pay all the victims immediately and then work out the true compensation.

 

I was following this story from when the news broke way back in the day. 

[The Old Crem 3,180]

2 hours ago, RoverAndOut said:

 

That explains so much! It will die a death here. I've watched both episodes as the bits I've seen of the US version and spoofs look interesting. It's a nice concept but very samey samey - 3 rounds of 30 questions for increasing amounts of money.

 

When did it become a requirement for gameshows to last an hour? On Challenge, the old ones from the 90s are all half an hour (Catchphrase, Wheel of Fortune, Family Fortunes - my dad watches them a lot ) including adverts. Well, Catchphrase and FF have both returned with hour-long versions and Wheel of Fortune is getting a reboot with Graham Norton on Saturday nights which will doubtless be an hour. They've brought back Deal or No Deal for an hour - wasn't that a 45-minuter including adverts on Channel 4 previously? Who decided more is better? It so rarely is! Or is it just cheaper to make an hour of Catchphrase than 2 half hours of something else? Yes, that's probably it.

Deal or no Deal started as 45 mins but the last few years on C4 were 60 mins as well. 
 

I am a day behind with Jeopardy  but while the questions were fun the format is just a bit dull. It is pretty much is all based on the final question.

 

@Death Impends Would you like your USA version to go to an hour or is the 30 minute format perfect for it. 

[Death Impends 7,373]

1 hour ago, The Old Crem said:

Deal or no Deal started as 45 mins but the last few years on C4 were 60 mins as well. 
 

I am a day behind with Jeopardy  but while the questions were fun the format is just a bit dull. It is pretty much is all based on the final question.

 

@Death Impends Would you like your USA version to go to an hour or is the 30 minute format perfect for it. 

 

30 minutes an episode is the perfect pace. Wouldn't like it nearly as much if it weren't so rapid fire.

[RoverAndOut 3,478]

58 minutes ago, Death Impends said:

30 minutes an episode is the perfect pace. Wouldn't like it nearly as much if it weren't so rapid fire.

 

Does the host in the States (whoever it is now it's not Trebek) add contextual information to answers? It feels like it would, but I'm not sure how it fits into the shorter timespan. Stephen Fry spends a minute here and there giving us more info about an answer. But it's definitely a little more cerebral than most afternoon gameshows ITV trot out. How many boards do they play in the US? 2 and the final question I'm guessing?