The TV thread

I watched the entire run of Next Generation and DS9 as they both originally aired. DS9 is the only one of the Star Trek series I've gone back and watched again from the first episode to the end, though I fast forwarded through parts of some of the episodes that focused on the Ferengi. I can only take so much of Rom. One of the strengths of the show was the way the characters grew and changed, but his arc just came out of nowhere. They had a few characters or storylines they just dropped and never came back to, like Tom Riker, but otherwise I thought it was a very well-written show.

 

I had essentially done that after season 4 ... I got back into it because they shot big portions of seasons 6 and 7 in Richmond and I wanted to see some of the locations they used. That show absolutely peaked in like season 2.

Showtime has a history of letting shows hang on way too long ... see: Shameless.

 

It's still good, though.

 

Respectfully disagree. I tapped out at the beginning of last year. I think it's become unwatchable.

 

What We Do in the Shadows is fantastic. The movie is great, too.

 

I'll share this here since we were just talking about Deep Space Nine. I hadn't realized that Andrew Robinson, who played Garak, was claustrophobic. The character had that same phobia.

 

The English Game. Good so far. Love English period pieces.

 

Interesting, and good to know. Robinson also wrote, in my opinion, one of the best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine books there is: "A Stitch in Time," all about his character, with loads of great background on Garak and life on Cardassia.

 

Finally finished off Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu. It's not an easy watch even at just eight one-hour episodes. I can see why it may have generated so much heat (pun semi-intended) when the book was published. I imagine more than a few book clubs broke up over it. About 75 percent of the characters are loathsome. As for the miniseries - the editing is choppy, things are happening with one character that you can't fathom another character not being aware of (as they happen or shortly thereafter). Situations and plot points are so artifically constructed/unbelievable that while they do produce some great scenes between characters - they ring false. Part of the fun of Big Little Lies (which shares more than Reese Witherspoon as a producer/star with LFE) was that you could "enjoy" the traumas of most of the characters - it was gussied up trash. LFE makes some really solid points and there are some great lines "You didn't make great choices, you had great choices," and thought-provoking themes - but again, the artificiality of the foundation it is built on (particularly the lack of interest in going deep into a character who is central to the story, a mother who abandoned her baby) left me disappointed. Also, I was never able to connect with Kerry Washington's character. She does the mercurial indignation quite well, but it just isn't grounded in anything here. You're never quite sure if she's actually pissed off or just using it to work the corners.

 

That ties into one of my problems with the series. It seems as if we are supposed feel like the absolute right thing is for the baby to end up with the mother who abandoned it rather than the adoptive parents who absolutely adore her. (Okay, the mother adores her. We really don't get much depth from the father.)

 

I read that in the book the adopted parents eventually get the kid back - but yeah, of course the ONE time mom doesn't respond to the kid on the monitor...I'm sure the husband will be hearing about that forever. I really thought they needed to go deeper on the birth mother, rather than just use her as a plot device. There were a lot of things I kept wondering watching: where is the adoption service in all of this? Is that small kid really supposed to be a star QB? He's maybe 5-10 WITH the hightop fade. How is a photo that's never been made public worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, famous artist or no? And if she's tight with a successful artist why not get the art school tuition from her instead of being a surrogate? How is that beat up Chevrolet still running 16 years later?