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Found a review for 'The Knick'

"The Knick Sets a New Time Record for Cable-TV Nudity. Where Do Other Shows Fall?"

http://www.vulture.com/2014/08/cable-nudity-countdown-clock.html

After reading the article I had to watch the opening scene again. Yes, right, one could "see" a naked woman. But the whole scene was so brief and blurry that I really did not notice, at least consciously. Well, I am from Europe. Says it all, I guess (Babylonian demoralisation!). Funny article, nevertheless.

Outlander has just started. About a nurse from the late 40s (ex-war nurse after the war) is sent back in time whilst on a trip to Scotland. She ends up in 18th century Scotland at a time of the English putting down Scottish resistance. She lands in the thick of things. It was a little slow to start, which makes sense here as we had to know her and her life before, so give it a chance. I enjoyed it enough to be looking forward to the second episode. Nothing entirely new of course - what is? - but done well as expected from Auntie.

The Troubling, Subversive Promise of the New Show Outlander

I agree with wolf5370: to early to tell. It has a chance to become good, if some characters next to the heroine develop properly (my hopes are in "Black Jack" or whatever his name is).

Good that I watched it first and read the article afterwards. Otherwise I most likely would have passed ("woman-centric sex act"??? What the ... ? Is her being on top called "woman-centric" now?) The comments to that article were more informative, though. According to the female commentators, we can expect some action and unpleasantness in the episodes to come.

And why are the Scots always the good people, I wonder. Troublemakers since Roman times! And as an English friend once told me: "They have our oil".

In the SciFi category:

"Edge of Tomorrow" was as good as I expected it to be. "Groundhog Day" + action and fighting. But the Normandie? Seriously? The same trick twice? Of course it did not work, you morons.

"Godzilla" was rather disappointing (well, at least for me). The disaster zones were good, but the monster fights were too dark and not detailed enough. Godzillas opponents were very, very poorly designed, IMHO. At least Bryan Cranston had a (not overwhelmingly large) part in the film. "Yo! Mister White!"

The Knick

New tv series from cinemax (aka skinimax)

Medical drama set in the last century USA.

First episode out now.

I have high hopes for this one, Cinemax are famous for their excessive sex scenes.

That's a good one (I think), although it has another supposedly high functioning drug addict as a doctor. At least, this one (Clive Owen) seems to realize that cocaine is not something you should have as a habit, particularly, when you constantly have to operate on patients. (A good scene! Worth watching! ) I find the 19th century setting very convincing, so far. Some scenes were rather graphic, not as detailed as in "Nip Tuck" but still good enough to get a good impression of blood, sweat and patients fear in the operating room. No nudity, yet. If they intend to introduce sex (no such hints, so far), one of the nurses and the female chair of the board will probably be part of respective sceneries. Would not be the worst choices, I'd say.

To make more of the show than just being another medical drama, they included some social realities of that time (role of women, role of African Americans, if that is the correct term). The PC remains mellow, though, with believable reactions of all involved.

Worth mentioning: the first episode was directed by Steven Soderberg (Fellini, is that tempting enough for you to give it a shot? ) and the music that is played to support some scenes is, lets say, very individualistic.

I will definitely continue watching.

Just watched Sequestered (new S01E01) - looks quite good. Child murder case, jury is sequestered after one of the jury members is attacked (and has to be replaced). Can't say much without a spoiler, but looks like it will be conspiracy based.

Where did that come from? I find it strange that it is split up into 6 episodes of 20 min each. Seems to be quite an unusual format for a drama. Or was that a two part TV film that was split up afterwards (for whatever reason, e.g. to better sell it on iTunes)?

I agree, it looks rather good. I already found a character I seriously dislike. Probably the female lead role who is supposed to be regarded as "good". But she is so humorless and self-righteous. Considering the circumstances at the end of episode 1, I doubt that her attitude will change any time soon...

Morning boys and girls...

Here's a new show that took off today - Legends - looking at the preview it looks like it could be quite good.. A cross between 24 and Jason Bourne...

Nice call Mr Smith, it looks pretty good.

I quite like Sean Bean. I used to go to school with his brother Jelly

Had not heard about it and just watched it. Rather conventional so far. But I will wait for the second episode before I turn my thumb. Waiting for the so far more interesting underlying story line to develop.

BTW: I once met Sean Beans sister, Cari Bean-Queen, very nice lady!

(cringe)

Apologies for being slightly off topic gang but I hope this

hasn't happened to any of you

Heidi Anderson: Shameless behaviour embarrassing and ruining my love life

I HAVE a confession to make. Some of you may understand while some of you may not.

But downloaded TV series are ruining my relationship.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/opinion/heidi-anderson-shameless-behaviour-embarrassing-and-ruining-my-love-life/story-fnhocuug-1227014533229

No, I just need the TV-shows as an excuse, so I do not have to "perform".

"You go to bed, Darling, I'll be right with you. Just finishing this episode...s."

:-)

I also have a feeling that this show will be an absolute cracker! 2 episodes up on the usual suspects.

Some good potential for this show... Plenty of laughs...

Kelsey Grammar and Martin Lawrence! Of course I will watch it (but have not found it, yet)!

You will find it in a Bay frequented by Pirates..

Found It!

Not the "Breaking Bad" of sitcoms, but nice and harmless fun and a few rather good lines. Would not expect more from a 20-min-format.

Have recently (sadly) watched the last episodes of Californication and Rake.

With the final series of Sons of Anarchy and Justified this year, was

thinking about my favourite newish series.

So gangsters, what are your new faves?

Final series of Boardwalk Empire this Autumn as well :/

Orange is the New Black is great

I also really like The Good Wife, good legal drama, doesn't play for laughs but doesn't get bogged down in boring legal talk. Very good

I am very relieved to read that somebody came forward and spoke out. I really like "The Good Wife" (and Julianna Margulies). But so far, i did not dare to admit it (a bit of a girly show, is it not?). I think it is the second best legal show, ever (after "Ally McBeal", my all time favourite, but admittedly it is difficult to compare a drama and a comedy. "Boston Legal" comes only third on my list, because half of the time they took themselves seriously and only the other 50% were good fun, particularly the famous closing scenes on the balcony. That does not come as a surprise: I am a cigar smoker, too!).

Two mysteries remain unsolved for me: how does one pronounce "Margulies"? And if there is "good fun", can there also be "bad fun"?

Just watched leftovers to 6 first line asking a guy about his husband the dome two women one white one black and girl who calls both mum ,why do we have to have this all the time ,I have nothing against gay people whatsoever but it's like propaganda for gay marriage and gay adoption ,the more it is stuffed down my throat the. Less I like it ,I wish they could stick to the plots,sorry if I have offended any gay people

Agreed. I too tire of all the propaganda. The other common theme is women who are supposed to be as tough as men and kick their butts. Women don't have the upper body strength to compete with strong men, so it is mostly nonsense.

I agree, I find it very irritating, when a wee girl knocks out a grown man double her size. I have the impression that they turned it down a bit, lately. So, now the girls need three or four "punches". Still ridiculous.

Just watched leftovers to 6 first line asking a guy about his husband the dome two women one white one black and girl who calls both mum ,why do we have to have this all the time ,I have nothing against gay people whatsoever but it's like propaganda for gay marriage and gay adoption ,the more it is stuffed down my throat the. Less I like it ,I wish they could stick to the plots,sorry if I have offended any gay people

I know what you mean, it has a similar effect on me. I explained it to myself this way: if 4% to 5% of the population are gay, it would be normal to have 4% to 5% of the characters in a show to be gay, too. On the other hand, certain jobs might be more attractive to gays than other jobs (e.g. lesbians in the police, but I do not have supporting numbers, just the impression I got over the years, so I can be completely wrong). Therefore lesbian characters in a police show might reflect reality to a certain point?

I remember that in the 80s all the police captains/supervising officers had to be black/coloured, all over a sudden. Then, we saw diverse couples (white male/black female, later black male/white female). Nowadays, do we really notice anymore? Or do we perceive it as normal? So, in a few years time we might perceive gay characters in a show as perfectly normal, too.

My question would be: do TV shows influence social reality or does reality influence TV shows or do they mutually influence each other or is there no influence at all and it is just a preference of the respective writer?

(I hope I could use the words black/white/coloured as I did. I would not know how to describe it otherwise, but I know that this is a very sensitive issue in the US).

I also have a feeling that this show will be an absolute cracker! 2 episodes up on the usual suspects.

Some good potential for this show... Plenty of laughs...

Kelsey Grammar and Martin Lawrence! Of course I will watch it (but have not found it, yet)!

I've known a few TV actors in Hollywood, and they mostly consider themselves fortunate to hit the holy grail of a long running successful series. If they never repeat that again, they do consider that possible even probable. Some go on to do continued successful series, some not. You only need to hit the big one once (Jerry Seinfeld almost a billionaire at net worth $800M, and never did anything worth watching before or after then, [even Michael Richards {Kramer} ended up worth $45M from Seinfeld]). And, even a lesser role in a middling series that lasts a few years can set up royalties from syndication that can take care of them for life.

But, I digress. I like the way the Dome started out, fizzled toward the end of first season, was shocked and awed that it got renewed for a 2nd season, and am fully expecting it to be zapped out of existence before any third.

*BTW, for anyone who doesn't know the site celebritynetworthdotcom, you should check out the net worth of various TV and film actors, you may be in for a shock.

&

Seinfeld was a guest star on "Louis" (S04E02). Played a rather unpleasant character very well. I wonder, if he did that as a favor or did Louis C.K. have to pay him?

Seinfeld is for sure a national treasure, but that cast has got to be the wealthiest cast ever on TV. Seinfeld $800M, Larry David, $400M, Jason Alexander & Michael Richards each $50M, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus $200M BUT..the biggest shocker for those who don't know is that Julia is also the heiress eldest daughter of French-born Financial magnate Gerard-Louis Dreyfus worth...$4 billion.

I did not know that about Julia.

I like her in 'Veep'

If "Veep" is not funny, I do not know what is. As it is loosely based on "In the Loop" I would usually root for the British original rather then the American remake. But I think that "Veep" is so far away from the original that it can be seen as a completely new show. And are they not both fantastic. Looking forward to the next season of "Veep", particularly now that she is President, i.e. she and her "team" can mess up on the highest level. You go girl!

I am assuming that with her financial background she will probably donate her presidential allowance to a good course.

It's really a shame for an actor like Dean Norris, who had a great run on Breaking Bad, to go from one of the best series of all time, to certainly one of the worst series of all time. Hope if doesn't ruin his ability to get better roles.

IMO, it is not a great show, but not at terrible one either. However, if Dean Norris was not on it, I'm not sure that I would still be watching. He is the most interesting character.

I've known a few TV actors in Hollywood, and they mostly consider themselves fortunate to hit the holy grail of a long running successful series. If they never repeat that again, they do consider that possible even probable. Some go on to do continued successful series, some not. You only need to hit the big one once (Jerry Seinfeld almost a billionaire at net worth $800M, and never did anything worth watching before or after then, [even Michael Richards {Kramer} ended up worth $45M from Seinfeld]). And, even a lesser role in a middling series that lasts a few years can set up royalties from syndication that can take care of them for life.

But, I digress. I like the way the Dome started out, fizzled toward the end of first season, was shocked and awed that it got renewed for a 2nd season, and am fully expecting it to be zapped out of existence before any third.

*BTW, for anyone who doesn't know the site celebritynetworthdotcom, you should check out the net worth of various TV and film actors, you may be in for a shock.

Seinfeld was a guest star on "Louis" (S04E02). Played a rather unpleasant character very well. I wonder, if he did that as a favor or did Louis C.K. have to pay him?

 

 

You missed the part where I wrote about the Euro being the dollar replacement.

 

 

I missed nothing.

 

I bypassed it for the moment.

 

You must have been away reading ZH.

 

 

 

This is hardly something you will ever see on ZH. ZH hates the Euro.

 

Dollar replacement has implications right now, in this US vs Russia conflict. The Europeans first started designing the Euro in 1962 specifically to unseat the dollar.

-The ECB is the worlds first  non nation state central bank.

-All countries in the Eurozone have no ability to print the Euro

-The Euro represents more people then the USD

-The Eurozone has more gold then the US (10,000 tons)

-The Eurozone is a net creditor with no trade deficit

-The Eurozone is China's biggest trading partner

-The ECB expanded its balance sheet by 11% in 2008. The Fed and BOJ expanded theirs by over 70%
 


 

 

I seriously doubt that the ECB has (or ever had) the intention to replace the US$. To the best of my knowledge, the ECB has only one purpose: to provide the Euro-zone with a stable currency (emphasis on "stable").

Before the Euro, the "Deutsche Mark" dominated Europe. Giving up the "Deutsche Mark" in favor of a common currency was the price Germany had to pay for Frances approval of the German reunification. Considering that German governments always regarded a common currency as a huge step into the direction of a united Europe, the decision was not too hard for them to make (there was a political risk, though: we loved our "Deutsche Mark". As a famous US newspaper once titled: "not all Germans believe in God, but literally every German believes in the "Deutsche Bundesbank"). I would not rule out that individual politicians fabulated about replacing the dollar, but it was never a real issue.

This is the French Police and not the constabulary of a banana republic . So, the second explanation is more likely to be true. But, if it was competition between different departments, then the French government should think of restructuring their police forces, I guess.

(50 kg = more than 6 mio Euro)

The Killing is back!

What???????

Sorry!

Excuse me??????

I thought they cancelled it after season 3?

Netflix picked it up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_%28season_4%29

Now I have to prioritize again! A less worthy show must go, if only I knew what to drop? Decisions, decisions...

The Killing is back!

What???????

Sorry!

Excuse me??????

I thought they cancelled it after season 3?

Just watched latest episode of. Under the dome it's getting worse as it goes on ,just like they were making it up week by week just to fill in,shame it started well in the first series

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I will watch just the last episode. And only to see the bloody thing disappearing (they do not intend to have a third season, do they?).

The Bridge: OUTRIGHT SPOILER, BEWARE. Go no further if you are not up to date, and fully invested.

Got to see more of Elinor Nacht (my guilty obsession Franka Potente) this week. For a minute it looked like she was going to fall out of the story (NO!!), but she's "safe" for another week. I need to watch each episode at least twice to really see what's happening. So far, we have here:

• The El Paso police plus Marco, following Franka's trail of blood, and now checking out the abrupt departure of the bank guy, his branch fully of cartel cash.
• The DEA, being cagey and unhelpful. Unclear what their game is...yet.
• The intrepid, careless reporters, ("El Paso Times, here's my card.") a step ahead of the cops with their investigation of cartel capers and missing Juarez girls.
• Crazy Sonja, tempting a grim fate, messing around with a dangerous man. There's more to him than meets the eye. Look out, Sonja!
• The bearded guy with the weird voice who's in love with Eva, also determined to find out what happened to all those girls. (EP cops seem unaware of him.)
• Distracting comic relief from that old surfer guy and Marco's formerly rich American girlfriend. Why would Fausto work with such an idiot?
• Lyle Lovett, fading in and out of the picture, purpose uncertain. I keep thinking of his great song, "I Married Her because She Looks Like You."
• Elinor: what can she possibly do next that's weirder than what she's done already?
• The straight arrow government lawyer from Mexico City, thinking he's going to clean up the local PD and take down Fausto. Oh yeah.
• Marco, still haunted by his son's death, now being leaned on both by the lawyer and by Fausto, his boyhood homeboy.

Darkness, darkness! Better and better!

Agreed and agreed, BUT: I have grave concerns that we reached a turning point of the show. What was that last scene with Elinor Nacht about??? So far we saw an organized crime scenario, brutal and complex with various actors trying to outwit each other. Great stuff and sufficient material for a few more seasons to come. Now, we might be confronted with someone (or something) that could change our perspective completely, similar to season 1 when it "simply" became a personal vendetta by one single person. From that moment on, the complexity was gone. One could concentrate on the motivation of that one character (a nutter, though) and I found that less interesting then trying to see the connections between organized crime, police, corrupt police, media, victims and NGOs (that would be the bearded guy, whom I like dearly). I hope the last scene adds to the complexity and does not make it a "single motivation case". Otherwise, I think the scene is linked to the opening of season 2. I bet I am right!

I am one of the few people who never had much use for "Mad Men". It is not that it is a bad show, I just am not very interested in it and there is too much else to watch. I prefer Halt and Catch Fire, although I have only watched a few episodes.

Mad Men seems a bit like a soap opera. Very pathetic and dysfunctional characters, essentially raining terror on eachother. And a lot of incredibly mediocre looking women, playing seductress types. <deleted>? I just do not get it. Hamm is good in it, but is there a redeeming bone in his body? Tried it here and there and always found each episode painful to sit through.

Spidermike

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Seems, that I represent the minority here.

First, I ignored the show for almost two seasons. A show about advertising did not sound very exciting to me. Then I watched it the first time simply because I had nothing else to do and suddenly, I saw myself drawn back into the 60s. I found it absolutely fascinating how well they caught the atmosphere of that time (as far as I can tell, I remember the 60s only vaguely). The development of society as it became more liberal. The reactions to actual events like the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, cigarettes suddenly being acknowledged to be unhealthy, smoking and drinking during pregnancy, etc. etc. Well, I like it. But i do get that people would be bored by the show. In the end there is almost no real action. Of course, things happen, but it is mainly the interaction between the characters that matters (and isn't their mutual terror exciting?). But alright, not everybody is into the customs of the 60s.

By the way: Don Draper went out with quite a few girls who were a tiny little bit above average looking, I'd say.

...

Murder in the First: Not sure what to make of this series. It's watchable but something needs to happen to the young upstart billionaire. It might happen given recent developments and revelations. Let's hope so.

I think the show is a bit further down on the food chain. Not that bad, but cannot really offer something out of the ordinary. Easy watching. And something needs to happen? Yes indeed, our little billionaire needs a decent slap in the face by an old and experienced copper who knows how to handle little sh..s like him. Currently, he is my second most hated character after King Geoffrey who sadly has been taken away from us too soon and without warning.

A worthy show simply needs a good hateful character, if only to see him going down. Yes, please!

Utopia - S2E4. Strong series - just love it (think its TV Marmite - love it or hate it - I love it (Marmite too ))

Nice rundown! I shortened it a bit, because I think "Utopia" is worth to be noted individually (thanks for mentioning it in a previous post!). "Love it or hate it" is right to the point. While I love the show, I nevertheless am willing to admit that it is really, really weird! I think except for Channel 4 there is no other TV-station in the UK that would dare to broadcast it. (They have "Peep Show", too ).

FRASIER, absolutely brilliant

A classic, so to say .

After "Frasier", who would have thought that Kelsey Grammar could play this vicious mayor of Chicago so well in "Boss"? And why do they always cancel the shows I am really into and they keep the crap I hate? It must be me, I guess.