The TV thread

24 spent its first seasonal with an elaborate plan to make Jack Bauer assassinate Palmer. Jack Bauer made the plan fail, at great personal expense.

At the very end of Season 2, someone just walked up to Palmer and shook his hand with a poison grip. He lay convulsing on the ground as the season ended.

If it was so easy why didn't they just go that in the first place??

Then it was all back to normal as Season 3 started. Except he was supposedly impaired by the attack. Though it looked like he could still do everything he always could.

Eventually a sniper killed him.

One thing about that show, they rarely tried to retcon things. Dead was dead, Jack's actions followed him around, and the effects carried on.

 

Works for Larry David.

 

That's what I meant. Curb and the Larry Sanders Show always seemed kind of similar.

 

Season 2 of Broadchurch was a let down. The courtroom stuff was simply awful but the other parts were pretty good.

 

If you liked season 1, I've seen a few BBC shows recently that are pretty good. Party Animals (about legislative assistants in British parliament), and both seasons of Criminal Activities which are five-ep series. Both well done. The first season was the basis of "The Night Of" that was on HBO a couple of years back.

Traitors on Netflix is a six-ep mini - covers the start of the OSS in post-war London. Great cast, but you need to commit to the whole six for it to make sense. A lot of the stuff in the first ep and second ep is explained in later episodes with flashbacks. Michael Stuhlberg and Keely Hawes lead the cast. The plot is that the OSS recruits a British civil service worker to find a Russian mole in the British cabinet. Some really interesting details on the Atlee government coming to power post-Churchill.

 

I thought the first episode of Chernobyl was O.K. The second episode was first rate, much more emotional and dramatic tension. The characters start to be more recognizable.

 

The Veep finale was brilliant.

 

Shit, I got lost in RDR2 last night and forgot to watch Chernobyl. Will have to catch it tonight.

Halfway through Barry season 2, still brilliant. Only two eps into Veep this year. Sounds like a binge night is in order.

 

Season 3 is fantastic.

 

2 episodes in and I agree. Without spoiling, I still couldn’t get over the judge’s decision and then Miller not disclosing the payment. It’s like the witnesses were never prepped.

 

IIRC, season 3 pretty much stands on its own.

 

Adios Big Bang Theory - think I saw one episode early on and realized (like most Chuck Lorre shows) what it was, was what it was).
And here's a glass for all of the fallen shows who are bidden less expected, or less happy farewells. Which are more fake, the "Thank You COLLEGE TEAM Nation" tweets a player sends when he is fed up with the program and transfers or the "Thank You NETWORK" tweets from show stars and producers after their show gets axed because they don't want to burn any bridges or miss out on a future deal.

Seriously, someone should do a documentary on famous or infamous stories about show cancellations, actors and producers going off the end, or things going to hell when a show knew it was on the way out and everyone was out for themselves, the writers not caring, etc.