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I think it’s on iPlayer?

Yup, it there.

Fraiser

The new series.

First two episodes are up on Paramount+.

Fraiser and Frederick are good value, acting as decent enough foils.

However…..Niles’ son, who is so forgettable I couldn’t even tell you his name is just a knock-off Sheldon. So far his “wacky fun antics” have sucked all the energy out of the scene.

Having recently started watching the original series, this is missing the instant cast chemistry outside of the father and son dynamic.

But I’m willing to give it a chance. It certainly wouldn’t be the first sitcom that took a bit to bed in.

Creepshow S4

Had my date over, and we managed to binge the whole season. Not as bad as it sounds as it was just 6 or so episodes.

As with its predecessors, there’s a real mix here in terms of tone, and I love it. But then I’ve always been a sucker for short form horror in particular. Be it “double feature” TV episodes or Amicus Portmanteau type flicks, I find it a rich ground for original storytelling.

Indeed to support that claim, I’d point out few such episodes or segments could be stretched to a full movie. At least, not effectively. So the existence of this shorter form serves as a different lens for the genre to treat us with.

I really must get Tales from the Darkside and Twilight Zone on disc or digital soon. Because whilst the noise to signal ratio can be dodgy, when it’s good? It’s heavenly.

Just about to start Highlander the series season two.

Season one was actually better than I had remembered. It was rough until mid season. One really big dual then them move the show to France. There are loads of immortals in Europe as it turns out. I enjoy that while there is continuity you could just enjoy some of these casually as a one off.

On to season two!

Doing some old stuff.

Fear the Walking Dead

The Walking Dead's poorly written step-brother.

If you ever write a script with kid characters, watching this show. Then promptly do none of that. Dear god the kids in this show are so obnoxiously stupid. I don't care if it's realistic or whatever. I shouldn't want to punch kids this hard but these kids just consistently make exceedingly dumb choices and the parents turn a complete blind eye to how not on board with the program the kids are.

Decent hate watch. Lots of the drama is driven by people keeping secrets for no clear reason and then making a blatantly terrible decision.

That is a show I just cannot stomach.

It was meant to show us how society fell. And then promptly….didn’t. Seriously, end of one episode is their street being made into a safe-zone with the arrival of the army.

Next episode it’s all gotten much worse, and said safe-zone is barely holding out.

Such a disappoint. They Voyager of Walking Dead, complete with moronic characters who never learn a bloody thing.


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The Further Adventures of Frasier Crane E3

Not its real name but it’ll do.

Starting to find its feet a bit now. Niles’ son has been dialled down considerably, which is one of my major criticisms of the first two episodes dealt with.

Hopefully it’ll continue to find its form, because Frasier was a great show, and I don’t want it’s reputation tarnished by this latter day sequel.

Just watched Extraction 2.

Slickly made, amazing set pieces and gun battles in the streets, and absolutely none of the charm of the first one.

Too clean, and too by the numbers. An enjoyable watch, but pretty mediocre fare. They should have restricted the budget more to get the best out of the whole team.

I do like watching Mr Hemsworth work though.

Who’s a clever boy then?

Me are! Because this month, I finally remembered to buy Batman The Animated Series.

Those who’ve had the privilege will know this is a most excellent bit of animation. Released in 1992 it continued to carry the torch lit by the Burton movies in feel and aesthetic, and eventually gave the world Harley Quinn.

But as someone who was of the right age, at the right time? This show was truly mind blowing. Having grown up with He-Man, Transformers and such, this was like cartoons were growing up with me.

Everything about it is just perfect. The art style, the moodiness, Gotham’s oddly timeless aesthetic. And talk about a voice cast. Not only did it give us Mark Hamill’s defining Joker, but Kevin Conroy’s first and thankfully faaaar from last stint as Batman.

It beat X-Men to the punch, and for my money remained the superior show, despite such stiff competition.

Heck, I’m fairly certain its success paved the way for the plethora of animated DC movies we continue to genuinely enjoy to this day. Certainly it serves to show “good writes, good cast = solid entertainment” is a formula that works.

It’s arriving today and I am hype!

I have the B:TAS full series and the 1960's Batman full series. Both great box sets for very different reasons.

We’re a third of the way through Farscape season 2 and we are taking a break. Good show, but too many downer episodes right before bed…

So now we’re starting Deep Space 9.

Ahsoka

Enjoyed this one, it was a pretty decent follow up to the Rebels series, and they mostly did a good job making live action versions of the characters (Sabine was a bit off until the final episode though).

Hopefully, this will encourage me to get a bit more caught up with these Star Wars shows.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Ghosts

One of the best things to grace the small screen is back for its 5th and sadly final, barring a forthcoming Christmas Special, series.

Written and brought to screen by the Horrible Histories crew, this is a wonderful house-share type sitcom.

Seems it released on 6 October, and is available in its entirety on iPlayer.

If you’ve not watched the series before, I highly recommend it.

CBS will be airing this (as Ghosts UK) in the US starting on November 16th. I guess there's a bright side to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes after all... .

Good to know Ghaz! I've enjoyed the US version so I'm looking forward to the UK version.

Psych has finally seen a bluray release for the complete collection so I got that.

Season 2 of Highlander the series. finished.
Thought the ending was strange because I thought it was a mini movie off to the side of the seasons. I thought it was also referenced prior to the death of Horton earlier in the season.

On to season three.

South Park, Joining the Panderverse

Got to say I think this will be divisive. But for me? Trey and Matt are back to their subtle satirical balanced best.

Skewering both extremes of the entirely made up Culture Wars, this is pretty bloody funny.

My wife and I stayed up until 4am binge watching 1899. Fantastic little series, such a shame it got cancelled. Same folks who did Dark which it meant it had the steadily more insane twists and turns but fun ride.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
South Park, Joining the Panderverse

Got to say I think this will be divisive. But for me? Trey and Matt are back to their subtle satirical balanced best.

Skewering both extremes of the entirely made up Culture Wars, this is pretty bloody funny.

I thought it was decent, pretty good, not quite great. The most entertaining thing has been reading about Disney and their execs stomping their feet and temper tantruming about it.

Joy! Rapture!

Dr Who is home on iPlayer. All the classics, plus new stuffs.

Happy Day!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Joy! Rapture!

Dr Who is home on iPlayer. All the classics, plus new stuffs.

Happy Day!

Can't wait to catch up with that!

Giving some of the “Tales of The Tardis” a whirl.

Seems to be vintage stories, but with in-character intros from surviving companions and/or their Doctor.

Perhaps schmaltzy for some, but I figure it’s for the benefit of younger folks who may not be familiar with Classic Era Dr Who.

The Fall Of The House Of Usher

I'm given to understand that Mike Flanagan's golden handcuffs deal with Netflix had expired, and we'll be seeing his next projects on Amazon.

So has he left a steaming turd on NF's doormat on the way out?

Thankfully, no. In fact I'd go as far as to say this is almost certainly my favourite of his shows so far, perhaps only Hill House giving it a run for it's money.

Drawing heavily on the works of Poe as a whole, I'm no aficionado and I'm certain there's many, many references and inspirations I missed, the show follows the Usher family, the phenomenally wealthy owners of a pharmaceutical company and purveyors of one of the most successful opiate painkillers on the planet. The show opens as the law appears to have finally caught up with the Ushers and their underhanded dealings, as the US government finally brings the company to court to make the family answer for allegedly concealing information about the dangers of opiates (one doesn't have to look too hard for a real world comparison here.)

Simultaneously, a far more sinister force decides to call time on other secrets in the family history, and the show broadly follows the fate of each family member as we simultaneously witness the events that brought us to this point in flashback.

This is precisely the sort of spooky show that works so well at this time of year, Halloween aside, as the nights draw in and the weather gets worse (unless you're a resident of upside down land.)

My only reservation is that there are occasionally some pretty strong elements of gore, and thanks to the solid atmosphere the occasional jump scare can hit that little harder than they do in lesser works, so its probably not suitable for younger viewers or those who don't like horror (despite the majority of it being spooky rather than horrific.)

For everyone else there's very little not to recommend you at least try the first episode and see if it grabs you.

Tales of the Tardis - The Curse of Fenric

One of my favourite classic Who tales, with new framing scenes featuring the 7th Doctor and Ace.

Coming from the last season of the classic era, this is kind of bittersweet viewing for me. Whilst the 7th’s beginnings weren’t auspicious, he definitely found his feet, only to end up cancelled by a hostile director general who just wanted the show done.

And this genuinely terrified me as a kid, because the Haemovores are a terrifying design well realised for the era and the budget.

The plot is solid, and even the acting is above par for the series.

Definitely give this one a watch.

Definitely one of the ones to watch from the McCoy era. WW2! (like The Empty Child? Watch this!) Companion back story! (like Father's Day? Watch this!). Cheesy vampire women! And... guest staring Nicholas Parsons!

Work has stopped my from diving into the Whoniverse (now that it is now an actual thing!). I can see my self dipping in to various stories on a regular basis!

It’s definitely one of the stories which embraced its 70’s heyday (horror undertones) history (thin pastiche of Bletchley Park, with added Viking Zombies), whilst also more or less laying the path for what would follow all those years later (Ace is no shrinking violet, or the type to “thcweam and thcweam and thcweam until I’m thick”)

It’s just really, really solid. With, as Ace would say, a wicked ending!

Poor Bonnie. She got a raw deal. Coming in at JNT's peak 'show-biz' era didn't help either. Mel got redeemed in the Big Finish stories and the TV version should get a heartwarming portrayal. (for some reason I always thought Mel came from the future rather than contempary Earth).

I’d argue Mel got short shrift. Not sure about Bonnie Langford as she’s far, far too stage school for my tastes.

But hey, along came Ace, and “those cans of Nitro-9 you’re not carrying”, which promptly absolved Dr Who of so, so many sins.


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And that’s it done. Really nice framing segments as well, giving us some details on Ace’s departure from the TARDIS. Always a pleasure to see Ace and the Professor together.

Yep. Ace is certainly a top 10, probably top 5 companion. Sophie only suffering (as a lot do) from the tradition of casting a mid-twenties woman as a teenager, but she did it better than most. After Bonnie/Mel she was a much more appealing and relatable character, and is a good example of how the show was moving towards the sort of stories about companions that RTD and co would be telling 16+ years later.

And I’m nearly in tears. Threat/promise of maybe, just perhaps….one more adventure from the pairing.

Beavis and Butthead

No I don’t care for your opinion. This was a massive part of my identity as a Teen, and continues to be so today.

It’s delightfully, intentionally crude and stupid. To see two utter, utter idiots of few if any redeeming features blunder their way through life cheers my heart.

Just finished season 4 of Highlander the series.

Over all it was a good rise that season. They did a few things that I found interesting and a few things that annoyed me.
I liked the flash backs with the other immortal characters even ones deceased in the shows running timeline. Xavier St. Cloud turns up in Arabia in a flash back, for example. Sadly his story arch was concluded a season or two before but when they introduced him in a flash back before Macleod didn't seem to know him. That would have been the second time they hand met based on season 3.
I liked that they had met earlier but wish it had been brought up previously. But then even the writers probably didn't know they had already met. It's a little funny.

Adding a throw away line like , Don't I know you or haven't we met before would have covered that gap well enough for me.
I also like that this opened the door for adventures with other deceased Immortals in throw away episodes. Fun stories to enjoy that don't really detract from a main story.

I also like Duncan failing at relationships. It does help show that he is really just some guy still trying to figure out everything just like everyone else.

Hope to get into season 4 when I get the time.