What are you watching on the television?

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Toast of London is back! I'm sure treesmurf is a fan, but there's got to be a few others here, am I right?

The only other things I'm watching are The Apprentice, and Scot Squad on BBC Scotland. I quite liked Scot Squad - while it's all quite moderate and safe, it's still got a few good lines.

Aye cracking episode as expected, anything that man touches is gold. His "Matt Berry Does" series on iplayer is brilliant.

The Bridge III, which has been sorely missing from my life. The Swedish/Danish crime thriller on BBC4, my pretentious jerk levels are through the roof... but it is actually good fun.

I watched through all of Master of None yesterday and it was pretty bloody good. It's sold as a comedy but while it's often amusing I found the real selling point is how full of heart it was. The amount I cared for these characters was insane when you consider there are only 10, 30 min long episodes. It also has that beautiful Netflix show camera that makes me just stare at the screen on awe of how good it looks (also see Sense

Well worth checking out if you have a Netflix account.

Guys guys guys guys! If you're a fan of Airplane! check the non-Sky film channels for a film called Zero Hour. I knew Airplane! was a spoof of "nearly a diaster" films, but loads of the lines are lifted directly from Zero Hour. You'll want to respond with so many punchlines! I'm recording it a 5AM tomorrow and burning it to a DVD...

Almost finished a rewatch of new Doctor Who series 1.  One thing that's sticking out to me this time is how dark some of this stuff actually is, I really don't recall Bad Wolf being this dark before, and I swear the Daleks weren't this creepy back when I was 13 and 18!  Loving it, as much as I love some of the later series this first series had some truly fantastic episodes!  Shout out to the super creepy Empty Child duo too, Moffat can produce some of the creepiest things when he wants.   


I know there's a actual Who thread, posting here instead as I'm not up to date, like, super not up to date.

I still maintain Dalek was the best showing the Nazi pepper pots ever had

The first series was for a long time my absolute favourite, mostly because Ecclestone's grumpy nature was so much more enjoyable than Tennant's lack of personality or Matt Smith's overwrought craziness. Dare I say that I think the most recent series might be better? It was really good.

I'm watching Dickensian at the moment on BBC - essentially a Dickens crossover fanfic murder mystery. Enjoyable thus far - the usual Dickens cast of innocents and utter creeps, with a sneaking sensation that some of the innocents may not be quite as innocent as they seem...

Looking back it's such a shame Eccleston never reprised his role for the 50th episode, that seemed like such a perfect fit for his Doctor. I disagree that Tennant's lacked personality though, at first that is. I recall his Doctor being quiet cheerful and upbeat for that first series. That said I wasn't a huge fan of the gloomy route they took with his character after that, honestly it was probably the main reason I drifted away from the series after series 3 until Smith started.

Having said that I would agree that, at least out of the Doctor's I've seen in action, Eccleston's remains the best, with a perfect balance of the Doctors traits of excitable eccentric with a dark and almost brutal nature underneath. Smith's is my favourite because I loved his crazy antics, but Eccleston was imo better. He had a real gravitas about him without losing sight of the positive aspects.


And yeah, Dalek was a smashing showing of the Dalek. Series one had great showings for them all round, something unique with Dalek and a reprisal of what made them so utterly terrifying for the finale (not that the Dalek in Dalek wasn't also utterly terrifying). Out of Russell's run series 1 had the best Dalek encounters imo, although to be fair I haven't actually seen series 4 and I hear they came back in that one so it's probably a bit early for me to say that.

Watched The Abominable Bride last night. Not... not good. If they'd only played it straight! That's not too much to ask, I reckon - what we got was neither here nor there.

I agree completely Zero. I worry that it's ended up like a lot of identi-kit American drama things, where you get the impression they're sort of making stuff up as they go along.

I quite enjoyed it! Bit of a mindbreaker, but still good fun. Also, fat Mycroft. Blimey.

Balladeer wrote:

Also, fat Mycroft.  Blimey.

OK - that was funny

Abominable Bride was a bit dumb, but it has gotten me excited for next series. It served the same purpose as, a few years ago, the Sherlock Minisode.

That served a greater purpose than Moffat could have ever dreamed of...

Making A Murderer, the Netflix documentary about a wrongly convicted Wisconsin man. It's a shocking miscarriage of justice and very absorbing.

Also, Walking The Himalayas, the four-part Channel 4 documentary whose title is hopefully self-explanatory. Very cool in its own way.

The Girl In The Fire Place from the second series of Doctor Who. I'd forgotten just how insanely good that episode was, Moffat was absolutely amazing in the early years. Everything you want from Doctor Who, the fun antics, the time travel plot twists, and some really haunting got punching moments, top class.

The finale of that episode was one of my favourite moments. Visually, dramatically and musically super heroic.

The only reason I turn on my tv to watch it these days is Doctor Who. I rarely watch it anymore unfortunately.

I can't even remember the last time I used my tv in the conventional way for a tv series. Actually, no, wait, I can, Doctor Who 50th special a few years back. Nowadays it's just a glorified gaming monitor that I sometimes throw a tv series set on.


And yeah, the final few scenes of The Girl In The Fireplace were amazing stuff. Amazing acting and directing went on there.

Gridlocked from series 3. The last two times I went back to series 3 and I get up to this episode I always remember it as "a pretty good episode". Come away from it thinking "holy s*** that episode was amazing!" Won't be making that mistake again, I tell you!

I love that one but the Doctor Who fans I knew at the time really did not like it. There's no accounting for taste.

I don't think I was super into that one originally, but maybe I'll go back and rewatch it.

I caught The Abominable Bride last night. I quite liked it, all told. It was trying to be a bit too clever for its own good at points, but it's an interesting premise.

10:30 on a silent sunday night.  Off go the lights, and on goes the next episode of Doctor Who.  

My thoughts:

I tell you, I'm finishing series 3 tonight, no matter the cost!!

I've not watched the original Angels episode since it aired; I don't think it will live up to how excellent I remember it being.
When I first watched it, I then spent that night camping in a garden...