Do we live in a golden age of television?

[Ian]

Was only reading about the Simpson’s ‘You Only Move Twice’ earlier as it was the featured article on Wikipedia, and just turned on the telly and it’s on

I watched it again the other day. It's an incredible episode.

[Giggles]

I watched it again the other day. It's an incredible episode.

God it used to be so good.

[Smjffy]

I saw #dontfwithcats trending on Twitter so loaded up Netflix expecting to see cats.

Oh. My. God. I'm only on episode one but who the fuck would do that?

Edit. Actually worth watching.

[Baz]

I saw #dontfwithcats trending on Twitter so loaded up Netflix expecting to see cats.

Oh. My. God. I'm only on episode one but who the fuck would do that?

Edit. Actually worth watching.

yeah I read on Twitter about a video going round of a cat being microwaved and @Mike mentioned that show. I’ll give it a mids.

[randomlegend]

Bob Mortimer is just so good on WILTY.

[Raoul Duke]

The Witcher on Netflix is awesome

[Giggles]

On AppleTV See is horrendously bad, but The Morning Show got a lot stronger as the series went on.
I’m going to give For All Mankind a shot now but reviews aren’t great.

[Ian]

The Witcher on Netflix is awesome

Not started yet. Hearing mixed reviews but I'm getting the impression that for people with no exposure to the books or games it's a bit of a lore-dump.

[Smjffy]

yeah I read on Twitter about a video going round of a cat being microwaved and @Mike mentioned that show. I’ll give it a mids.

You don't actually see any of it and thankfully it swiftly moves on from it being anything about cats.

The first half hour of episode one is tough viewing as your mind goes places it shouldn't but after that it's actually pretty darn interesting.

[Kikó]

The Watchman series is brilliant.

[phonics]

It was really good up until that last episode where there’s no resolution to anything but you are informed that dr Manhattan is just having sex with everyone.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Been watching His Dark Materials this week and I think it's great. Casting in particular is a real highlight.

Surprised at how little I remember from the film and books though.

[Spikey M]

+1 for don't fuck with cats.

I'd have some insults for all involved, but they'd have tracked me down before I finished typing it out.

[Alex]

Been watching His Dark Materials this week and I think it's great. Casting in particular is a real highlight.

Surprised at how little I remember from the film and books though.

I'm doing alright so far as I can remember the first book very well, which us strange given that it must be over 20 years since I read it.

I might start to struggle a bit once it gets into books two and three though. Assuming you've read them all:

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Remember that bit in (I think) the third book where the doctor lady ends up in that world that's populated by those weird creatures that looked like elephants on wheels? How the fuck they're going to adapt that I've no idea.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I watched the first episode of that and the visuals are lovely, but I don't really have a clue what's going on, and I'm also slightly wary from the early signs that it's going to end up being a fairly lazy critique of 'organised religion' of the type that was more fresh and in vogue when the books were written. I have never read the books so you can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

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I do remember those weird elephants a lot actually, partly because I thought Pullman had lost his fucking marbles

Been just over 10 years since I read them as I watched the film (which I enjoyed before reading the books but hated when I re-watched after reading) first.

[randomlegend]

I couldn't get through the books, thought they were shit. I'd not given the TV program a chance since I'd also seen very mixed reviews but perhaps I'll try it.

[John]

It was really good up until that last episode where there’s no resolution to anything but you are informed that dr Manhattan is just having sex with everyone.

Well that's complete nonsense.

[Raoul Duke]

Not started yet. Hearing mixed reviews but I'm getting the impression that for people with no exposure to the books or games it's a bit of a lore-dump.

I've watched the first three episodes and it's been great. Lots of lore but not too much. Some great tits too.

[Bernanke]

Just seen the the first Witcher ep and I don't understand the negative reviews I've seen about it. Sure, it's a bit clunky at times, the camerawork is inconsistent, and the lighting is a bit weird, but it captures the feel of the world super well.

Also, that market sword fight is one of the best I've seen on television.

[John]

I thought it was a bit of a lore overload, to the extent that the lead character is just stating parts of his backstory out loud, ostensibly to his horse. They lampshade the absurdity of it a couple of times by having Superman tell someone to clamp it in the middle of their own exposition dumps, but not often enough to stop the first episode being not far away from just having a man read a book at you.

[Alex]

The Witcher on Netflix is awesome

I've watched the first couple of episodes and they've both been pretty good.

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How fucking great the sequence when he kills all the hired goons at the end of the first episode? Butcher of Blaviken.

Also, that song Dandelion sings at the end of the second episode is way better than it has any business being. It's been stuck in my head for two days now.

[Baz]

I’ve started watching Gavin and Stacey for the first time. Everyone at work loves it so promised them I’d give it a go. It’s really funny. Even James Corden is funny. And Rob Brydon is hilarious.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I did the same the other week, having always assumed it was shite because everything that aired on BBC3 around that time was. But it's actually superb.

[Spikey M]

It's probably the last good BBC comedy.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Wouldn't get made now either because it doesn't have any 'issues' at its heart, other than the fact that Wales is a dump.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's probably the last good BBC comedy.

Are you saying that Mrs Brown's Boys isn't a masterpiece?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I am a big fan of Detectorists though.

[Lewis]

I'm expecting the Christmas special to be bollocks, with basically all of the jokes based around the kids being like Welsh-sounding versions of them.

[Shindig]

7/7 killed Monkey Dust.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm expecting the Christmas special to be bollocks, with basically all of the jokes based around the kids being like Welsh-sounding versions of them.

It's going to be too much of Corden as Corden.

[Yevrah]

I have faith it will be good.

[Spikey M]

Are you saying that Mrs Brown's Boys isn't a masterpiece?

It's no Miranda.

[Giggles]

It’ll be shit because it was always shit.

[Ian]

Also, that song Dandelion sings at the end of the second episode is way better than it has any business being. It's been stuck in my head for two days now.

It is very catchy.

Two episodes in and quite liking it so far. Though if I wasn't coming into it having played the games I'm not sure I'd give much of a shit about Geralt so far.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If anyone is thinking of trying the BBC 'Christmas Carol' adaptation, well. 'Fucking don't, mate', as this preposterous 'relevant' version of Scrooge would say.

EDIT: I see the Guardian gave it five stars, you couldn't make it up. Well, except they did make most of it up.

[phonics]

I forgot how book one of His Dark Materials ends. That was an uplifting way to end my Sunday night...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I remembered at the end of the last episode.

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It all came back to me when Asriel saw Roger.

[Raoul Duke]

Finished up The Witcher:

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Thought it was cracking overall, but a couple of things irked me a little:
- The way it jumps about time-wise and doesn't sign-post it in any way (there's zero difference between, say, Dandelion and Queen whatsherface in the past and present even though ~15 years have gone by)
- The casting was a little off in a couple of places. Dandelion aka Jack Whitehall felt too boyish and not enough of the good-looking sex pest I'd imagined him. Likewise Yenn being super young threw me a bit as I'd always thought she was older. Ciri and Geralt were great though and overall the performances were solid

The dragon episode was ace, as was the final battle with all the wizards

[Adamski]

Are there any decent streaming sites for the Mandalorian?

[Bernanke]

Finished Witcher, it was really fucking good after a few wobbly initial episodes. It feels like a high-budget Xena in the best possible way.

[Giggles]

Are there any decent streaming sites for the Mandalorian?

Speaking of which, is there any sign of Disney arriving outside the US at all?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Coming on March 31st, they had to delay due to Sky's rights to Disney stuff.

[Ian]

Witcher stuff:

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I'll be interested to see if there's a reason for the way they've presented it in multiple timelines but without making that clear. It wasn't part of any clever narrative thing so far as I can tell because when that does become clear it becomes clear in the most casual way possible.

*big dramatic Yennefer moment*
(pause)
"Man those last thirty years have been a total snooze, eh?"

I am enjoying it but I dunno if I would be as much without any knowledge of it going in and I can see why it's had a pretty mixed critical response.

[John]

Witcher stuff:

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I'll be interested to see if there's a reason for the way they've presented it in multiple timelines but without making that clear. It wasn't part of any clever narrative thing so far as I can tell because when that does become clear it becomes clear in the most casual way possible.

*big dramatic Yennefer moment*
(pause)
"Man those last thirty years have been a total snooze, eh?"

I am enjoying it but I dunno if I would be as much without any knowledge of it going in and I can see why it's had a pretty mixed critical response.

I haven't read the books or played the games and I'm enjoying it fine up to episode seven. I imagine someone with a grounding in the source material would take more from it than I can, but then they'd also likely stub their toes on portrayals of characters that don't match those in the games or their own projections.

Spoiler only references events up to episode six.

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I'm largely fine with the way they presented the fractured timelines. For the first three, maybe four episodes it didn't matter at all that we were bouncing around in time because the closest one narrative got to impacting another was a character namedropping someone we'd encountered in one of the other strands. When it was important that the viewer understand the structure they made it clear, although the reveal was a bit clunky.

My biggest problem is that things which are presented as huge tasks are often given very little screentime, losing weight as a result. The most problematic example of this was Geralt's fight with the Strayga(spelling improvised because it's a made up word), where the notion of him having to fight it until morning might as well arrive with the Jaws music, given we've already seen it beat a Witcher and he visibly ages when he realises what's required of him. Then I'm fairly sure the fight itself gets less screentime than that abysmal early trip to find the goatboy and his crew of Spocks and the injury that makes it a significant part of Geralt's story only occurs after the howling multifanged demon has turned back into a young woman who needs a wash.

That pacing issue carries over into some other aspects of the piece, such as the early romance between Yennifer and the bloke whose name I fittingly can't remember. They've been romantically involved on screen for about a minute total when they start talking about love and destiny, so when the 'twist' that they're each being squeezed for information about the other is revealed to swelling music like it should be a shock to the system it falls completely flat.

[Ian]

I'm on four so I'll come back to that.

Some of the characters are quite different to the games but I already knew some of them were quite different in that to the books so I was largely prepared for that. And it's nice to see some backstory getting fleshed out.

[Baz]

Are there any decent streaming sites for the Mandalorian?

Get Stremio. It’s amazing (except on iOS cos it doesn’t work on them)

[Bernanke]

I haven't read the books or played the games and I'm enjoying it fine up to episode seven. I imagine someone with a grounding in the source material would take more from it than I can, but then they'd also likely stub their toes on portrayals of characters that don't match those in the games or their own projections.

Spoiler only references events up to episode six.

Toggle Spoiler

I'm largely fine with the way they presented the fractured timelines. For the first three, maybe four episodes it didn't matter at all that we were bouncing around in time because the closest one narrative got to impacting another was a character namedropping someone we'd encountered in one of the other strands. When it was important that the viewer understand the structure they made it clear, although the reveal was a bit clunky.

My biggest problem is that things which are presented as huge tasks are often given very little screentime, losing weight as a result. The most problematic example of this was Geralt's fight with the Strayga(spelling improvised because it's a made up word), where the notion of him having to fight it until morning might as well arrive with the Jaws music, given we've already seen it beat a Witcher and he visibly ages when he realises what's required of him. Then I'm fairly sure the fight itself gets less screentime than that abysmal early trip to find the goatboy and his crew of Spocks and the injury that makes it a significant part of Geralt's story only occurs after the howling multifanged demon has turned back into a young woman who needs a wash.

That pacing issue carries over into some other aspects of the piece, such as the early romance between Yennifer and the bloke whose name I fittingly can't remember. They've been romantically involved on screen for about a minute total when they start talking about love and destiny, so when the 'twist' that they're each being squeezed for information about the other is revealed to swelling music like it should be a shock to the system it falls completely flat.

I mean, it's a made up word just as much as "vampire" or "werewolf" are made up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtriga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strzyga

Most of the monsters in the Witcher-verse have some Slavic folklore background. One reviewer clearly showed their ass with that:

There’s the constant download of fantasy verbiage, including much talk about a “kikimora” and a town I swear is called “Blevicum.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikimora

[phonics]

Why did they make this Christmas Carol? Who wants to watch some creepy old man rape a black woman at Christmas?

[Shindig]

Prince Phillip.