The TV thread

Watching "The Wire" on HBO GO and last night I got to Season 5, Episode 4, when the Baltimore Sun gets the word of buyouts/layoffs and the effing dude repeats the "Do more with less" mantra a few times. I wanted to cry.

 

Something called the Heros & Icons channel has found its way onto my cable system. It's another one of those "buy a lot of real old shows cheap" networks. At 2 p.m. Eastern it's running that '80s cop drama "Wiseguy." It is now in the story cycle with a young Kevin Spacey (all his hair) as the psychotic villain. For those of you who like watching good actors turn in a scenery-chewing ham turn, it's a must-see.
Also, a 4, they "The Untouchables"!

 

Now enjoying 'Hunted.'

 

I am too, although I question some of the tactics since the hunters aren't real law enforcement. Still very compelling TV.

Here's a good look at the show from realityblurred.com

Fact-checking a scene from CBS' Hunted

 

Most of it seems pretty self-evident. The only thing that has surpised me so far was catching the one guy's snail-mail tactic.
I was unaware that the USPS is photographing all of our mail. If that is true, I find it disturbing.

Also, everyone in the control room is always wearing the same clothes. All of those scenes were shot in a single day.

 

I just never knew about this:
Postal Service Confirms Photographing All U.S. Mail

 

That's crazy.

 

Yeah, when the team on the show was talking about their mail strategy and the Gmail drafts, I told my wife it was a brilliant plan.
Then they started accessing the pictures of the snail mail envelopes. We both looked at each other like 'The Post Office takes pictures of all mail? Really?'

 

I don't really find that surprising - The amount of complaints they probably get about something being "lost in the mail" alone is probably astronomical. Best way to avoid that is by just photographing everything that goes through their hands, and I'm not sure if you would have an expectation of privacy for something that you know will be seen by at least one other person. (i.e. The mail carrier that picks it up, and the one that delivers it.)

I saw an episode of Hunted the other week. Obviously fake in plenty of aspects, but still kind of fun to watch for me, a la Undercover Boss at first.

Also, finally caught up on The Night Of. It's definitely the best show not on television - it's HBO! - about foot care and surviving in prison. And oh yeah, I guess there is kind of a murder plot there too. Kept me interested, but it didn't grip me in the same way True Detective and The Wire did.

 

Any thoughts on either Peaky Blinders or Making a Murderer? I just finished Bojack Horseman and I need something new to binge for a 4 hour flight tomorrow.

 

Haven't seen Peaky Blinders, but really liked Making a Murderer. It's a bit of a slow, slow burn, but ultimately gripping, especially if you don't know what's going to happen.

 

Making a Murderer is really good. I don't know how to describe Peaky Blinders. If I start watching something, I will see it through. I don't know that I would have started it knowing what it would be like. It can be good, but it never really got very interesting for me. The lead character goes through a bunch of stuff, but always comes out ahead. Just seems like a crime drama for its own sake.