Television programmes

bungobaggins wrote:I've watched a lot of All in the Family this past year as it is in re-runs on one of the local stations. I enjoy the show for the most part, but I do feel like they make Archie too likeable for some of the things he does/says.

It's a scary thing, someone about to commit suicide, and it's odd that they'd play it up for laughs.

It's important to recognize that at the time the FCC still had very strict censorship rules. (this was the George Carlin "7 words you can't say on TV.." era)

However you could say things as comedy that would never pass the the censorship board any other way. "All in the Family" was walking up to every line it could find and hanging it's toes over the edge. And the higher their Nielsen ratings got, the father they pushed the lines.

That's what kept everybody on all sides of the issues glued to their TV sets every week: the shock value of watching unspeakable things be spoken of.  
I guess it really pleases me that you still find them a little bit shocking!  

Whenever Archie says "fag" my face just goes like this:   

This isn't a favourite episode of mine, but it does contain one of my favourite scenes at 25.04 with the guy selling the watch in the pub. It explores more than one type of racism at once-

Talk of Paddington Bear has made me nostalgic for the kids shows I grew up on, in what was a golden age of British kids tv and animation.
Indeed much of the stop motion pioneered here led to the more internationally recognised Wallace and Gromit.

A lot of it to be honest seems to be heavily inspired by, lets call them, 60's experiences! Its no wonder really my generation ended up in large fields listening to weird music full of trippy drugs when they fed us this as kids!

Bagpuss



Camberwick Green (I loved the show but the intro freaked me out, but not as bad as the outro did where they get put back in the magic musical box!)



The Clangers



Chorlton and the Wheelies, everyones favourite Welsh dragon, and a great theme tune-



The Flumps-



And a reflection of the environmentally concious late 70's, The Wombles-



Bit of an odd one this, as its French not British, but no one like the French version, then a British guy decided to just take the French animation and tell his own stories over the top based roughly on what was going on, and it was a smash. The Magic Roundabout-



And probably one of the highlights of kids tv stop motion of the period, Wind in the Willows-



There were also some great cartoons, still bloody weird for the most part mind you, but I love the theme tune on this one, so 70's- Jamie and the Magic Torch-



Willo the Wisp- for some reason they used to show this right before the main evening news- make of that what you will!



And taking us out the 70's and into the 80's the wonderfully funny and wonderfully absurd, Dangermouse (what James Bond would be if it was witty, satirical and a mouse)-



I know thats rather a lot of stuff, but dip in and out, enjoy yourself, there are some real gems in there  

Great shows Petty, i still flick through them on Youtube

Pettytyrant101 wrote:This isn't a favourite episode of mine, but it does contain one of my favourite scenes at 25.04 with the guy selling the watch in the pub. It explores more than one type of racism at once-

The wife character puts Edith Bunker to shame. Edith is such a pushover in AITF. It's hard for me to keep up with some of the British humor and accents.

Anyone watching The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro ?

Watched the first 2 episodes and looks pretty good.

A plane lands at John F. Kennedy International Airport with the lights off and doors sealed. Epidemiologist Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and his team are sent to investigate. On board they find 206 corpses and four survivors. The situation deteriorates when the bodies begin disappearing from morgues. Goodweather and a small group of helpers find themselves battling to protect not only their own loved ones, but the entire city, from an ancient threat to humanity.[5]

Not heard of it Chris, but sounds interesting.

I recall seeing a copy of The Strain (the original novel) in a bookstore when it first came out. The author bio on the back flap mentioned that GDT was the director of the then-upcoming Hobbit movies, and when he dropped out a year later I wondered how long it took them to put out a new printing that updated that.

I didn't actually read the book and haven't seen the show, though.

Peter Capaldi as his last great character creation- the wonderfully foul Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It.
NSFW- contains extremely strong language (its all strong language!)

"Yes, yes, wise words form the elderly gay fucking tennis coach here."
"Do you not think it'd be germane to check who the fuck you're taking to? It's a fucking news office. It's not a fucking sanitarium for the fucking deaf!!"
  

Well if you thought Malcolm was as sweary and Scottish as it gets, thats because you havent met Jamie yet!

All the usual warnings apply-



And Tuckers Law- just about the most swearing you can fit into under 10 seconds and still make coherent sentences-

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Outlander recently.  It's a new TV adaptation of the successful sci-fi/fantasy/romance/historical fiction series by Diana Gabaldon.  The book series has been very successful; the most recent book came out a couple months ago and was a big bestseller, and we've been stocking a ton of the series in preparation for the TV premiere.  The new show is from the showrunner (Ronald D. Moore) and composer (Bear McCreary) behind the 2004 Battlestar Galactica remake, which I haven't seen but have heard very good things about.  Starz put the entire first episode on YouTube as a teaser and I quite enjoyed it.  It's slow-paced, but not in a bad way, though I suspect that it will make watching week-to-week even more trying than it is usually, so I might wait until the season is finished and then marathon it.  But it was quite enjoyable and it's nice to see more fantasy TV out there, as well as a female protagonist.

The show is set in the Scottish Highlands, in the vicinity of Inverness, and is split between 1945 and 1743.  The future portion takes place several months after the end of World War II, in which the protagonist and her husband both served (her as a combat nurse, him as an intelligence officer in London).  The past portion takes place two years before the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and the tensions leading up to the rising play an important role in the plot.  I only know a little bit about where the story is going, and I have no idea how authentic most of the Scottish elements are, but it's a pretty intriguing presentation so far.

Also, there's lots of fucking.

Yeah been a lot of press about that here too. Not seen it yet due to spending all my time saving my pc (  ) and not sure its my sort of thing, but Ill give it a go.

(does the sex take place outdoors? Because if so thats just not very realistic- I can assure you sex and a million midges dont mix   )

Pettytyrant101 wrote:

(does the sex take place outdoors? Because if so thats just not very realistic- I can assure you sex and a million midges dont mix   )

It sounds like you made the mistake of undressing  

My arse cheeks were never the same again!   

Glad to hear you'll give it a shot, Petty.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:(does the sex take place outdoors? Because if so thats just not very realistic- I can assure you sex and a million midges dont mix   )

Not in the first episode, no, but there hasn't been any sex in the 18th century parts yet.

but there hasn't been any sex in the 18th century parts yet- Eldo

The problem with 18th Century sex is that a man in a kilt is ready to go, but by the time he finds the women under all her 18th century clothing he has long since ceased to be ready for anything.   (or the midges have got him   )

On the other hand, there was enough fabric between the two that they could erect a circus tent!

So, I've been having a proper cold for the last couple of days and using that as an excuse to lie in bed and watch a lot of television.

I was watching that The Thick of It thing Petty mentioned earlier, which is just great. Particularily Peter Cipaldi in the role as something as strange as a particularily sweary Scotsman. Don't know why I haven't gotten around to watching it before, really.



Heartily recommended.

Also watched a bit of that Outlander thing, Eldo. And rather enjoyed it. It is a bit slow moving, as you said, but I don't mind that when it's intentinal. And it shows a really interesting historical period, in the Highlands just before the Jacobite uprising. I think it does a good job of showing the tension that must have just been hanging in the air.

No sex in a kilt yet though. Though Petty will probably say that's a sign of realism.

So Craig Ferguson has been bumped out of Late Night and has now started as host on a game show called Celebrity Name Game. It sounded atrocious, but since I'm a big admirer of his I gave it a go.

Very, very painful. I can't even bear trying to describe how dreadful and forced it feels. How could they do this to him, or how could he let himself do this?

Bluebottle wrote:Also watched a bit of that Outlander thing, Eldo. And rather enjoyed it. It is a bit slow moving, as you said, but I don't mind that when it's intentinal. And it shows a really interesting historical period, in the Highlands just before the Jacobite uprising. I think it does a good job of showing the tension that must have just been hanging in the air.

No sex in a kilt yet though. Though Petty will probably say that's a sign of realism.  

Glad to hear you're enjoying it, Blue. I actually haven't watched any of it except for the first episode preview, but I do intend to give it a shot during the mid-season break when I can marathon it. Slow pacing tends to be much less annoying (and sometimes even a strength) when you're not watching week to week, at least in my experience.

I watched Cilla, well the first two parts, part three is not on yet.
For those who are not British its the life story of Cilla Black, who started as a singer in the 60's and went on in later life to become a sort of national treasure presenting tv shows.
She was from Liverpool, and counted among her mates the Beatles (before and after they became famous).
I actually found some of the drama a bit dull, but what saves it when that happens is the central performance from Sheridan Smith and the recreation of 60's Liverpool and famous locations like the Cavern. The period stuff is immaculate and the mixing of cgi backdrops with real world locations to recreate 60's Liverpool is really well done.

Eldorion wrote:Glad to hear you're enjoying it, Blue. I actually haven't watched any of it except for the first episode preview, but I do intend to give it a shot during the mid-season break when I can marathon it.  Slow pacing tends to be much less annoying (and sometimes even a strength) when you're not watching week to week, at least in my experience.

Yeah, thank you for metioning it. I did quite enjoy it, though I am a bit sold on the period in question, as I said, so that might have influenced my impression a bit. I'd be very interested to hear what you think when you get around to it.

I got around to about episode four, though I'll probably do something similar to you and give it another go over a shorter period when the whole things out.

halfwise wrote:So Craig Ferguson has been bumped out of Late Night and has now started as host on a game show called Celebrity Name Game.  It sounded atrocious, but since I'm a big admirer of his I gave it a go.

Very, very painful.  I can't even bear trying to describe how dreadful and forced it feels. How could they do this to him, or how could he let himself do this?  

He's leaving his show? That is a shame, I had no idea. I always thought he had something a bit special.

CBS has officially named James Corden to replace Craig Ferguson on 'The Late, Late Show'

That's a decision a bit out of left field, certainly.