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Kitchen Nightmares UK

The original Gordon Ramsay vehicle. Before he went over the US and made an absolute fortune.

The format is of course the same. Chef Ramsay does what he can to turn around the fortunes of ailing restaurants. Not just addressing the food, but often the staff.

Where this stands apart from its US incarnation is the editing and production. The drama is largely gone. No dramatic string music, no fairly contrived/staged feeling scenes.

Ramsay comes. He sees. He kicks some arses. And interestingly, he criticises fairly. For instance, a menu may be fine - but needs to be cooked fresher or just tarted up a bit. But he absolutely takes no crap. And doesn’t give a fig about the ego of anyone.


Sadly it didn’t run for terribly long. But what’s here is solid.

Highlander the series season 5
Just finished season 5 Not a good ending this go round. I had forgotten how they got rid of Richie. Real shame about that. The writing really went down hill the dialog was poor at the end and going into season 6 to conclude that story arch. It feels like someone was just tired of the show and just trying to get it over with, unlike the season finals from the previous seasons which were a air bit better. Could be because they only had 18 episodes instead of the previous 22. Who knows.

Just starting season 6 up to ep 2 so far. It's a bit of a drag.

Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix, 2023)

Only about halfway through, but I really like it.

A horror mini-series from Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass) that very loosely takes from Edgar Allen Poe stories/themes and combines them into a modern retelling of a family falling with a quickness. Its like if the family from Succession was hunted by some sort of demon who killed them in slightly ironic ways.

There are about 3 different timelines happening per episode, but its never distracting and they all matter and come together, which can be a rarity when this trope is used. Being a long time fan of Poe’s work, I liked all of the references and its wild seeing actors from previous Flanagan works playing characters wildly different than their previous character.

Honestly, just skip Season 6 and go to Highlander: The Raven.

And finished my rewatch of The Walkkng Dead

With no slight intended toward Andrew Lincoln, there aren’t many shows which lose their lead and not only amble along, but get a second wind.

Sure, it had its moments and seasons where it dragged like a Seal’s ringpiece? But its last two, two and a half seasons it redoubled its efforts to decent effect.

Rick’s departure is definitely the turning point. It allowed the other characters and the actors behind them to up their game, and we wound up with a greater variety of takes and viewpoints. The semi-redemption of Negan was particularly well done.

I remain frustrated the later spinoffs are yet to be legally found in the UK. Because I love me a bit of zombie action.


But, with Walking Dead, and for me Fear The not existing? It’s time for a new show to binge.


American Gods

Now this is a show I think I watched the whole of the first season of before, but never followed up on.

And I’m not sure why, because it’s really enjoyable.

I've enjoyed this show and I'm glad that it gets to finish its story and not be unceremoniously cancelled like so many other shows.

I tried that one, and watched some of the first season. But whilst I’ve nothing particularly bad to say about it? It never really grabbed me.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I tried that one, and watched some of the first season. But whilst I’ve nothing particularly bad to say about it? It never really grabbed me.

The second season with the reveal of the Lazarus Project run by people from 2076 is a good hook IMHO.

I may have to revisit it

Not just because of your recommendation, but being the possessor of curious mental health, I can’t rule out my eventual “meh” wasn’t mood influenced.

Certainly it’s an interesting overall premise. Though the theme tune of this kept intruding.

Obliterated.

A TV series that's half and half Die Hard and The Hangover? I'm not sure this is for everyone, I wasn't even sure it was for me, but it's fast-moving enough that it doesn't really give you chance to consider how bloody stupid it really is.

An "elite" team of multi agency government operatives prevent the detonation of a nuke on US soil (Vegas to be precise) and celebrate by getting on the outside of enough drugs and alcohol to keep Keith Richards going for a week, and in some cases inside of each other. A phone call from their boss telling them that their mission isn't as complete as they thought instigates the adventure proper, with our heroes trying to save the world while out of their collective trees (or in the case of C Thomas Howell's Haggerty, simply unconscious for 3 episodes.)

If I wasn't a little hard up for new stuff at the moment, I'd have honestly passed this over, but I'm ultimately glad I didn't. It's stupid, purile and derivative, but it's also entertaining and features a heel turn I didn't see coming.

Not one to fall over yourselves to prioritise, but equally if you're in need of something to fill a gap over Christmas, you can do far worse. But that is conditional on your tolerance for the occasional fart or dick joke.

 Easy E wrote:
Honestly, just skip Season 6 and go to Highlander: The Raven.

I'm not sure if I really want to or not but I'll look for some clips on youtube and see.

Did a little reading up on the end of Season 5 and it looks like they thought that was it and wanted to go out with a shocking ending. By which I mean Richie's death.
It also explains a lot about how bad season 6 was, they were looking for a spinoff and trying to see which of the side characters or new characters would be a good fit.
Incredibly lame.

I partly want to watch Highlander 4 now. I've only seen it once.

I'm just now starting Forever Knight. One episode in and it's not exactly bad but not exactly good either so I'm not in a rush to see it all right away.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Obliterated.

A TV series that's half and half Die Hard and The Hangover? I'm not sure this is for everyone, I wasn't even sure it was for me, but it's fast-moving enough that it doesn't really give you chance to consider how bloody stupid it really is.

??
It gives you this chance about every 10 minutes at the least.

That said? It was entertaining enough.

Well, The Fall of the House of Usher is done.

Pretty wild ride. Been a longtime fan of Mike Flanagan since the understated Absentia(2011) and this is one of his better works. It did get kind of repetitive with the Ushers offspring getting killed, but the final one was pretty sad but also hopeful.

On to his previous Horror Anthology “Midnight Club”.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The new adaptation from Disney, and dear god is it a huge improvement over the film attempt from a decade or so ago. The first episode is pretty basic set up. Nice and clean fun. Probably well suited for the younger target audience the books themselves aimed at but well done enough a parent won't be bored.

I have nostalgia for the series so I'm eager to see how it all goes. The actor playing Percy and Grover are... not bad. Not bad at all but definitely a bit 'that'll do.' Hoping they find some stride but it's always a challenge with child actors.

Yeah I rather enjoyed that. Most definitely for the Teen/Young Adult* market, but still plenty enough in there to hold my attention.

Reacher

Rewatching season 1 before piling into season 2.

A pretty effective series. Our lead is fantastic, and the action is nicely restrained, to the point it feels fairly realistic, even though I suspect it’s still a bit silly in the eyes of someone who actually knows how to fight.

Sweet Home

Dubbed show on Netflix. Randomly people start turning into monsters. But not the same type of monster but unique monsters. I'm only on episode 5 I think but it really is well done.

A few months ago I complained how Ahsoka wasted the potential of a "whole other galaxy" as a setting, instead providing a yawningly boring, generic, "pedestrian" concept of an alien world...

Scavenger's Reign proves that budgets don't need to buy creativity and imagination. A story of colonists marooned on a habitable but pretty hostile planet is a beautiful example of extremely imaginative world building. This is what you feel "alien" should mean when used to describe an exoplanet's biology and ecosystems. Hardly very scientific, but, boy, is it creative and otherworldly! Recommended.

CBeebies Bedtime Stories

Does exactly what it says on the tin. An end of daily programming bedtime story on CBeebies, the BBC’s channel for pre-schoolers.

Not only is it something to plonk tinies down in front of? But it has something of a reputation for the Mums. But why I hear you politely enquire in triplicate?

Well. Tonight’s for example, was presented by Jason Momoa. Who’s following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy (at least twice!), Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth. All in Full Dad/Friendly Uncle Mode.

Other genuine celebrities to read include Sir Derek Jacobi, Johnny Depp, Sir Elton John, Mel Gibson, Hugh Jackman, David Tennant and dozens upon dozens of others.

A simple show so well regarded, they come to you.

Just good, wholesome fun. With more than a bit of eye candy for the knackered Mum at the end of the child related day.

I mean, seriously.

Mr Hardy has apparently done it 13 times

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mtownsin/cbeebies-celeb-bedtime-stories#

They tend to be really good whoever is doing it.

Done it.

13 times.

Fnarr.

I’ll be in puerile corner if anyone wants me.

It’s like the ghost of Rik Mayall moves among us

Oh I should be so lucky!

I merely have a dirty mind, honed on the slab of Viz.

The Grate Wun was incredibly handsome, charismatic and talented.

The best I can do is fancy swears on the internet, and be able to do hand based swears on the phone without changing the tone of my voice.

Just saw that reruns of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ will premiere on ABC on January 2, 2024.

Ghosts

Christmas special and series finale.

Not gonna lie, I shed a tear or two in the closing scenes. Wonderful show, now all done and dusted. And rounded off in a just about perfect way.

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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Ghosts

Christmas special and series finale.

Not gonna lie, I shed a tear or two in the closing scenes. Wonderful show, now all done and dusted. And rounded off in a just about perfect way.

I've been watching this on CBS and have really been enjoying the show and comparing the OG characters with the US characters. With the network airing two episodes a week, we're already up to episodes 3 and 4 of Series 2. Here's hoping we get to see most if not all of the episodes.

Robocop - The Series

A 1994 spin-off for the small screen. Discovered it on Prime last night whilst looking for Robocop 2.

Notable for the violence being massively toned down. Whilst guns are involved, it’s a bit A-Team in that few people actually get shot, and even when that does happen it’s “just off screen”.

But, and here’s the important part? The satire remains. Every episode so far is framed with the news report, setting up the scenario and then providing a recap. It might be a bit too on the nose for some, and certainly subtlety seems to have gone through the same window as Clarence Boddicker. But it is there. And Robocop without the satire is. Well. Robocop 3.

I’m genuinely and entirely unironically enjoying this. No worse than par for the course Saturday Afternoon TV Programming, and it’s not taking a big old steaming dump on the source material.

Try and find the marvel cartoon series of Robocop as well.

It was part of their "Action pack" line-up - spidey, Hulk, etc and robocop.

Part marvel cartoon series of the time, part cringeworthy C*O*P*S ripoff (so even more cringe than COPS). Badguy voices done by the VA of Marvel (same VA for Doc Octopus did Robocop characters as well. That nasal "fnarr, see" tone).

Don’t think we got C.O.P.S. in the UK sadly. But I’ll look for the Robocop cartoon in due course.

7 episodes in and I’m still enjoying the TV Series though. It’s kind of a “parallel universe” Robocop. At least that’s how I view it.

I’ve already mentioned the satire remains. But just an importantly? Robo moves and talks like Robo.

This is definitely worth a watch.