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Plausibility is certainly not one of its merits. I think its all about the mood, style, and acting. I don't even care very much about the plots, but I do enjoy the interactions that Danish guy has with everyone else.

stonemonkts wrote:Plausibility is certainly not one of its merits. I think its all about the mood, style, and acting. I don't even care very much about the plots, but I do enjoy the interactions that Danish guy has with everyone else.

Yeah, he played Lector well enough that you forget that another actor owns the role. The whole series was about Lector wanting to be known, to let the mask slip in front of a chosen one. Creepy. Yet the meals looked delicious.

Scott Dolan wrote:I think we're in the 8th season of Grey's Anatomy.

Hey, I worked in the medical field, as well as surgery.

Sue me...

Hey, I admitted to mjb on another thread that I liked Dollhouse. What's worse, I checked Netflix and I gave it 5 stars. Holy shit. I blame rating under the influence.

The new series on Showtime, "Ray Donovan," looks like a real winner, dark, ambiguous, existential and all those good things. The cast is very strong with Liev Schreiber and Jon Voigt and a large cast of mostly unknowns. If the series holds up, it will be big.

stonemonkts wrote:Just finished The Fall (Netflix streaming). Highly recommended.

Endorsed. Thanks for the recommendation. We blasted through in 3 nights.

1. For anyone who likes Mads Mikkelsen (the Danish actor. haha) check out his Danish tv show Rejseholdet, or the first two Pusher films of the Pusher Trilogy. Still haven't gotten around to seeing The Hunt.

2. I will jump on The Fall recommendation bandwagon.

3. Anyone that doesn't know....the 3rd season of Luther started last week.

moldyfigg wrote:The new series on Showtime, "Ray Donovan," looks like a real winner, dark, ambiguous, existential and all those good things. The cast is very strong with Liev Schreiber and Jon Voigt and a large cast of mostly unknowns. If the series holds up, it will be big.

I'm still on the fence, but the cast - and especially Schrieber - is quite strong.

I already miss the Spring Sunday night TV schedule. Game of Thrones followed by Mad Men is a tough lineup to beat.

I've gotten some great tips on this thread already, and it's still in its "youth".

Keep 'em coming.

Okay, did Dexter jump the shark? Just finished last season. ALL SPOILER. At first I was like, oh, hell no, this is a bad idea. Then in the middle I was thinking "pretty interesting plot points" in re Laguerta and the new girlfriend. And then the final episode? I mean it's interesting and all that, but Deb would never do that. I don't buy that and I don't really buy the romantic dimension either. I think this series has been influenced by Breaking Bad. Still, I think for a series that is probably finishing up soon, it's an inventive route and I have mixed feelings, probably erring on the positive. But Deb's shift is pretty simplistic. Like you can fix that with Xanax. What they should have done was have Deb poison herself. Still, I think it was a strong season. I hated that season with that blond actress - and I like that blond actress, Julia something - just thought that season was lame.

Watching All in The Family from the first episode. I had forgotten how funny it was and I've been surprised at how shocking the bigoted language from Archie is to me now.

tippy wrote:Okay, did Dexter jump the shark? Just finished last season. ALL SPOILER. At first I was like, oh, hell no, this is a bad idea. Then in the middle I was thinking "pretty interesting plot points" in re Laguerta and the new girlfriend. And then the final episode? I mean it's interesting and all that, but Deb would never do that. I don't buy that and I don't really buy the romantic dimension either. I think this series has been influenced by Breaking Bad. Still, I think for a series that is probably finishing up soon, it's an inventive route and I have mixed feelings, probably erring on the positive. But Deb's shift is pretty simplistic. Like you can fix that with Xanax. What they should have done was have Deb poison herself. Still, I think it was a strong season. I hated that season with that blond actress - and I like that blond actress, Julia something - just thought that season was lame.

I think it jumped the shark a season, or two before. I agree about Deb....

No spoilers....but you're not going to like the final season.

P.S. Am I the only one that found it strange when Hall and Carpenter were married for two of the seasons while playing brother/sister. Of course, who didn't see that certain plot line coming from a mile away?

My thoughts on Dexter (DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS).

My opinion is the show was deeply flawed from day one. The only reason I stayed with it was for Dexter's inner monologues, which I always find very compelling (probably due to my sociopath/psychopath character obsession). Another reason was the sister character, and her entertaining potty mouth. Oh, and who could resist John Lithgow. Finally I love the Miami area settings.

BUT...they just had to fluff the show up by giving him a girlfriend. Come on. How much better would it have been if they kept him a solo bachelor that everyone (perhaps) suspected of being gay, or just weird...like Dokes did. I miss Dokes by the way. I know many people didn't like the character and/or the actor, but not me. I loved that there was ONE person who sensed Dexter's true nature, and that actor was fun.

I won't bother going into how terrible that girlfriend character was. Unwatchable treacle sap. Would have been even more satisfying to see Dexter do her in out of sheer boredom. Ok so I went into the character anyway.

All that being said, I have seen all episodes to date and will watch this final season.

stonemonkts wrote:My thoughts on Dexter (DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS).

Pretty much started to fast forward the scenes with his girlfriend. I agree the show wasn't the same without Dokes. He really hasn't been threatened by anyone but Dokes.

I agree Doakes was an awesome character. He was just funny. I watched the show for Deb too. (I didn't know Deb and Dex were married.) In spite of its flaws, it's still a show I have found quite entertaining, except, again for that season where he becomes partners with that girl he saves.

Checked out the new Jenji Kohan series on Netflix, "Orange is the New Black". Not bad two episodes in, but not must-see. From NYT"

" In “Orange Is the New Black,” which will be available for binge watching beginning Thursday morning on Netflix, she’s an engaged-to-be-married New Yorker sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for a crime committed years before, when she served as a mule for her drug-dealing lesbian lover. (The show is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman.)"



I've been recording Borgen on my DVR and am very anxious to see Season One marathon style. Have heard very good things about it, and it fits nicely with my obsession with all things Danish (at least TV and film). Here is the description from Wikipedia:

"Borgen is a Danish one-hour political drama television series. It tells the story of a charismatic politician, Birgitte Nyborg, who unexpectedly becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark. "Borgen" ("the Castle") is the nickname of Christiansborg Palace, which houses all three of Denmark's branches of government: the Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court."

stonemonkts wrote:I've been recording Borgen on my DVR and am very anxious to see Season One marathon style. Have heard very good things about it, and it fits nicely with my obsession with all things Danish (at least TV and film). Here is the description from Wikipedia:

"Borgen is a Danish one-hour political drama television series. It tells the story of a charismatic politician, Birgitte Nyborg, who unexpectedly becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark. "Borgen" ("the Castle") is the nickname of Christiansborg Palace, which houses all three of Denmark's branches of government: the Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court."

Borgen IS a must-see! One of the best shows I've seen in years.

dexter,ray donovan,killing

The Killing is much improved this season.

I've been enjoying Ray Donovan. I tend to favor shows where no one is a hero. That show lacks "good guys" and I say thank you.

Speaking of no heroes...can't wait for Breaking Bad to come back.

My son-in-law has loaned me the DVD set of Norm. We both have a significant Norm MacDonald addiction.

The first episode (I think written by MacDonald) is terrific even though the supporting cast act as if in another, far straighter, show. Laurie Metcalf in particular plays it so broad it is almost slapstick. I've only done three episodes and I know there are cast changes coming up (Artie Lang, Faith Ford and Max Wright.)

But Norm MacDonald is undiluted funny.

Denby: The men's bathroom is disgusting. Tell her, Norm.

Norm: There's a bathroom in this building? I've been using the donut shop across the street.

Laurie: You go all the way across the street just to use the bathroom in the donut shop?

Norm: There's a bathroom in the donut shop?

We have been enjoying "Borgen" a lot. The other is "George Gently," with all its confusing details is about as good as TV gets.

We bailed on "True Blood" and are not sure about "Dexter" which I have recorded but have not yet watched.

Sunday nights is (as usual) my favorite night for TV. Ray Donavan, Dexter, Newsroom, True Blood, and I have to watch BBC's Copper On Demand. Too many shows, not enough time! Donavan's #1, it's firin' on all cylinders. Hated True Blood last year, and could do without a few of the lesser plots (The shifters & the wolves) but it's getting juicy. Dexter isn't what it was, oddly enough, the fact that this is the last season and it's been said his story wraps up, makes it compelling. Don't look good for Dex & Deb! Newsroom premiered last night. Last season the show started out like gangbusters but floundered as it went on. I dig Aaron Sorkin's rhythm when he's on (1st few seasons of West Wing), last night was good but I'm hoping it gets better. Copper's good but it ain't no Luther. Anyone that has Netflix and hasn't seen Luther should chk it out, great stuff!

We have the Direct TV Genie system, which lets up record up to FIVE shows at a time. Really dandy for Sunday night.

I've been doing a Sopranos power re-watch these last couple of weekends. I'm in the middle of the fourth season right now, but it's been interesting to see in a compact time frame the progression of the show in the first three seasons from good to great to redefining the possibilities of television.

Once it starts extricating itself from some of the overly humorous and 'wacky' elements, it also begins to more clearly and unambiguously convey this dark and soul-destroying world is without ever de-humanizing the characters or going for the easy bad guy portrayals or the expedient redemptions. Though there's no question by then that these are bad guys.

It's kind of interesting to compare and contrast how very different modern dramas such as Mad Men, Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and even Game of Thrones tackle moral ambiguity and the fluidity of the spectrum. (I'm sure this is important for shows like Dexter and The Shield as well, but I've not seen those)

looking forward to the return of homeland. covert affairs and suits are back.