General Television Thread 2021

[DFF]

14 hours ago, Cymbols said:

Echo the love for Line of Duty. Was a little disappointed with the latest episode after the strength of the ones that came before it, but everything is set up for a strong season finale this week.

I found it more to be a 'moving the pieces to where they need to be for the finale' type thing. Hoping for a cracking finale. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

This sunday will be the series finale episode right?

[Adam]

2 hours ago, Monkey D. Lars said:

This sunday will be the series finale episode right?

It is unconfirmed as yet if there will be another season, and it hasn't been renewed, but Line of Duty is the best performing show on UK television so I'd be surprised if it didn't continue, especially as Jed Mercurio has said he feels they still have more ground to cover.

[Cymbols]

I reckon we’ll get one more after this one. Just can’t see how it could be wrapped up in just one hour.

[Jimmy]

Yeah it hit 13mil viewers the other day, didn't it?

I'm now mid-way through Season 5, desperately trying to avoid spoilers, but even without any context, I'd be surprised if they wasn't a push for another season on those numbers alone. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

Somehow I really thought it was. But yeah if it is doing these kind of numbers, I don't know why they wouldn't continue.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Finished season 1 of Invincible, brutally violent final episode. Happy it is renewed for 2 more seasons. 

[Josh]

Thanks to everyone discussing it, my wife and I are watching Line of Duty and loving it. Just a couple of episodes in.

[Benji]

Finally getting around to season three of Mr Robot. Such a good show.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I can't believe so many of you hadn't seen Line of Duty, it's been the best thing on TV for years.

[Lineker]

This Time with Alan Partridge returned tonight. It's absolutely brilliant.

[RPS]

On 27/04/2021 at 03:57, Jimmy said:

It's so good, isn't it? British TV had a really exceptional 12 months.

I don't know if good was how I felt about it. It was certainly compelling. However the show stopped being entertaining for me at episode 4. I absolutely think it's great, but it's not uplifting at all.

 

 

[Jimmy]

11 hours ago, Bad News Jericode said:

I can't believe so many of you hadn't seen Line of Duty, it's been the best thing on TV for years.

I'd been putting it off because, at the times it came out, I chose to watch Happy Valley over it and just kept putting it off, and then it felt like there was so much of it I couldn't really be bothered.

I'm glad I did, though. I've just just finished Season 5 and I'm tempted to try to desperately catch up before the finale because avoiding spoilers is hard enough as it is.

For me, it hasn't cracked "the best thing on TV status", which I think might partly be because it's not designed to be binged, but I'm very much enjoying it. 

 

6 hours ago, RPS said:

I don't know if good was how I felt about it. It was certainly compelling. However the show stopped being entertaining for me at episode 4. I absolutely think it's great, but it's not uplifting at all.

 

 

That's fair enough! I was so invested by the end. I was really moved by the last episode. 

[Adam]

Isn't it designed to be binged? We've watched every episode of the whole thing in about 6 weeks, and are indeed hoping to have caught up in time for the finale tomorrow.

We've had to stop ourselves putting a third or fourth episode on some nights with it. Compelling stuff.

[Jimmy]

43 minutes ago, Adam said:

Isn't it designed to be binged? We've watched every episode of the whole thing in about 6 weeks, and are indeed hoping to have caught up in time for the finale tomorrow.

We've had to stop ourselves putting a third or fourth episode on some nights with it. Compelling stuff.

Just in terms of - it's broadcast weekly, with years gap between series. Especially when first broadcast, I would say it's not designed to be binged in the way that Netflix or Prime shows are. 

For me, I can imagine each season feels a bit fresher with gaps in-between, there are similarities in structure with all of them. 

[RPS]

5 hours ago, Jimmy said:

That's fair enough! I was so invested by the end. I was really moved by the last episode. 

Are you into documentaries? How to Survive a Plague is fantastic. 

I think my issue is that I have watched a lot on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 80s and 90s and I feel overloaded at this point. The show was well done, the music fantastic, the acting great. But that ending.

[Jimmy]

1 hour ago, RPS said:

Are you into documentaries? How to Survive a Plague is fantastic. 

I think my issue is that I have watched a lot on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 80s and 90s and I feel overloaded at this point. The show was well done, the music fantastic, the acting great. But that ending.

It's on my list! 

Yeah, of course. I totally understand that, especially because it's so heavy.

I think that the fact it was so popular and got such mainstream attention over here made that ending really important. I might not be quite on point with this, but I think a lot of well-known/ mainstream art about the HIV / AIDS pandemic was American, so to finally see British response that got a lot of public attention was something that was needed. 

 

 

[Bobfoc]

14 hours ago, Lineker said:

This Time with Alan Partridge returned tonight. It's absolutely brilliant.

Oh, I didn't know that. I thought the first series was decent, but not absolutely peak-level Partridge.

[RPS]

42 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

It's on my list! 

Yeah, of course. I totally understand that, especially because it's so heavy.

I think that the fact it was so popular and got such mainstream attention over here made that ending really important. I might not be quite on point with this, but I think a lot of well-known/ mainstream art about the HIV / AIDS pandemic was American, so to finally see British response that got a lot of public attention was something that was needed. 

 

 

Yeah, practically all of it is American. And usually focused on it hitting New York and San Francisco. How to Survive a Plague is about the activism and really making the case for how important Act Up, but not really in the individual stories of survivors. We Were Here is a documentary that is probably the best analog for It's A Sin. It's less about the activism and more about the lives of those who lived and died. I have seen the fictional American stuff and it never clicked with me - Philadelphia, Dallas Buyers Club, The Normal Heart. It's difficult to make something fictional, because it's difficult to make it a clean, entertaining story. A disease ravages the community, the state oppresses us, the pharmaceutical industry drags it's heels, and a decade later there are drugs that can treat the disease but the damage is done. 

[Adam]

Pride is a good British film that covers the AIDS crisis in the 80s, although it's not the main focus of the plot. It's got Dominic West, Bill Nighy, Ireland Staunton and Andrew Scott in it, and I'd highly recommend to anyone.