FinFan

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Rebel

And ABC just cancelled after five episodes.

To be honest, I expected this after the first episode. Watched it because of Katey and I do like it. But I understand that it gets no traction with viewers. It isn't a clear cut drama because of all the comedy elements. It is also not funny enough to be a comedy. And it shouldn't be with a topic like that. So it tries too much to pull in viewers from different angles. Maybe if they had focused on the dramatic aspects it could have survived. Acting wasn't bad, I liked seeing Katey again.

Let's see if they at least manage some kind of ending.

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The Pentaverate

You have to be a huge fan of Mike Myers and his style of humor. It wasn't producing big laughs for me but it's actually smart below the surface. Could have been a better movie instead of mini series. But if you watch it a couple episodes at a time it's not a strain to get to the end. Which was actually not bad.

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The Spanish Princess

If you're looking for a historical accurate tale you should not watch this. There are more than "some events/persons that have been altered" for the story. The whole timeline of events is messed up. Meaning, many of those events happened at other times than shown here. This isn't a history lesson, it's a scripted drama. Entertainment. And that's totally fine with me because it does not claim to be anything else.
Historical drama is one of my guilty pleasures and this feels like watching something akin to Dallas or Denver in medival England. The costumes are amazing and having the oportunity of filming in this great locations is a luxury that makes this look so much better. The spanish accents are a little bit thick and sometimes it was hard to understand the actors. But in general they did a great job and I was especially taken in by Charlotte Hope.
Even from this mostly fictional depiction I gather that Catherine of Aragon must have been an interesting person and I might even take the time reading up about her. And if a show manages to do that I can only rate it as a success.

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The Luminaries
ALF
10

Shout by FinFan
BlockedParent2019-02-08T21:16:40Z— updated 2019-06-28T18:14:43Z

This is the kind of show I can watch anytime, anywhere and I will always be in a better mood than I was before.
The term "Totally Ninja !" could have been invented for this in the first place.

Update: I just read that Max Wright passed away a couple of days ago. RIP in thank you for all the great moments.

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The Pillars of the Earth

Great production, perfect cast (McShane could play the Devil himself).

Funny thing, I never considered reading the book althought it stands on our shelf for years. Well, thanks for there is television ;-)

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Light & Magic
The Chronicles of Narnia
WandaVision

I be honest, after Endgame I was done with Marvel and had zero interest in the franchise any longer. And would this not be included in Disney+ I probably wouldn't even watch it.
I went into this with zero expectations and was probably as confused as many at the beginning what to make of this. But in the end I really enjoyed it. It was different and actually had a plot instead of just sewn together CGI shots.
And now I am willing to look into what's coming next.

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The Movies
Westworld

Easily the best TV show in a long time. Superb acting and very intelligent writing.

I will have to re-watch this before the second season because it´s so complex I´m not sure I´ll remember everything when the time comes.

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Fringe

Just finished watching it and, like some, I´m a bit on the fence. It´s a good show that has a lot going for it, most of all the cast. The acting is outstanding at times and gives you some really beautiful moments between the characters. John Nobles performance is among the best I´ve ever seen on TV. And I became very fond of Anna Torv. And despite the fact that a lot of the scientific background is borderline at best the show never feels silly.
But like some others mentioned I too think the plot went south during the later parts. The first two season got me hooked pretty fast, the third I think was at times to much to fast. But with the forth came the nosedive. It deteriorated to a point where I simply didn´t cared anymore for the plot and just went on watching to see how it ends. Not to mention that the conclusion has huge logical problems.
I´m not regretting watching it but I don't want to watch it again.

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Friends
Married... with Children

There are two kinds of sitcoms - the ones that you can watch every couple of years and still have good laughs about and then the ones you didn't even laugh at the first time. Now guess what this belongs to.
What I love the most about it is the total lack of so-called political correctness. A show like this would be impossible today because there would be an outcry and commitees beeing formed to get this off the air.

Oh what great were those times.

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The Nanny

Am I the only one who thinks comedy/sitcoms were better in general when they didn´t grew on trees?

Up to today "The Nanny" still is one of my all time favs. Although you knew from the start of the show were it would lead, and although they were using about every possible cliché, the characters grew on me and I not only watched for the good comedy it was but to see how the story and the characters evolved.

Today, whenever I happen to find an episode running, and it is still running somewhere, I can´t resist to watch.

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The Man in the High Castle

I dropped out after season one because I didn't connect with it. I wasn't expecting Sci Fi and would rather have settled for a real alternate reality. What I watched felt long and tedious. Like it could have fit within a two hour movie. I also don't think it was that well done all things considered. It was good but not outstanding. Yes, it was nominated a lot but it didn't win a lot and most of it for supporting actors or the title sequence.

What can I say ? Another highly rated show I dropped. Maybe I should look for those rated in the 60 %tage.

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Star Trek: Enterprise

The last true Star Trek. Such a shame it didn't got the end it deserved.

And No, I don't consider the crap JJ Abrahms puts out Star Trek.

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Band of Brothers

I rarely say this about any show/movie but this is a must see.

History can teach us a lot and I don´t know of many shows that do it as great as Band of Brothers does.

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The Movies That Made Us
6

Shout by FinFan
BlockedParent2019-12-24T16:36:31Z— updated 2021-07-24T23:12:54Z

I am a sucker for Behind-the-scenes and Making-of stuff. I always watch the extras on any film I watch. This docu seemed like a natural fit for me. I can't blame it for only having two movies in it I like (never saw Dirty Dancing and always disliked Home Alone). What I do blame it for is the comedic narration. That really didn't fit well. Informational content it as good as it gets.

Supplement for season 2:
Everything I wrote about the first season holds true for the second also. Shame, because the stories itself are actually really interesting.

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Dynasties

Nature documentary, BBC, David Attenborough - need I say more ?

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The Addams Family

The original, the one & only Addams Family.

Love Ted Cassidy.

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Lost in Space

Probably the best-looking, worst-written TV show I've ever seen.

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Star Trek: Discovery

Three episodes aired and already there is lots of discussion. People hate it, people love it. Remember TNG ? ;-)

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Tut

If you don´t expect a 300m $ Blockbuster á la Hollywood you won´t be dissapointed. For a TV production this is very good. Is it historical accurate ? I don´t know and quite frankly I don´t care because it was very entertaining. And that´s all I ask for - otherwise I´ll watch a documentary.

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Dark Skies

Alien obduction...invasion...conspiracy....government cover-up....no, it´s not x-files

Although there are some similarities Dark Skies takes a fictional plot and puts it inside actual historical events. It works in a this-is-how-it-could-have-been way. There are a bunch of historical figures involved in the story.
The plot was supposed to cover four decades, from the 60s to the new millenium, unfortunately it fell short and I think got cancelled in the end. Which was really a shame as this was one of the most promising plots I had seen. So this will go into the history books of TV as another "what if...." show.

Come to think of it, I guess Spielberg took the general plot idea for "Taken"

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Battlestar Galactica

By todays standards it might look naive but this was a groundbraking series at it's time. If you only know the remake take the time to watch this. It's worth it.

Whatever you do, do NOT watch the movies (Specials). They are basically put together from parts of the series.

The first is a shortened Version of the three-part "Saga of a Star World" which starts the show. The second is made of parts from "The Living Legend" and "Fire in Space" which are put together rather clumsy and in a different order, in the end telling a different story through large parts.

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Vikings

I only started watching this recently. And now that I've reached the beginning of S5 I have already decided to pull out.

I loved the first two season, they were an easy 10 for me. The third was exceptable to watch but the forth killed the show for me. Stupid side-plots that lead nowhere were implemented just to fill the extended season. Characters were killed for no apparent reason and those killings, for the most part, did nothing for the plot - they were just gone. For me, this show lived through and from its characters. And those who are left don't interest me any more. From one episode to the next I was sying to myself "watch another, maybe it's getting better". Not happening. Still, not awful, it just doesn't interest me any longer. I've seen what I needed to see.

They promised the show would be better in S5 but I for one am not buying in any longer.

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Space: 1999

This was my first contact with a SciFi show and my favorite as a kid. I had an Eagle model and build myself a Comlock and a Stun Gun out of Lego. I must have been 8 or 9 years old.

The production value, thanks to the Andersons, was really good. It looked absolutly believable. Yeah, the science isn´t waterproof but this was the 70s. You got away with a lot. The second season was not as good as the first (I remember some really ridiculous space monsters). They tried to americanise it by implementing tons of changes that just didn´t work out with the established facts of the first season. And those changes were also not explained during the shows second year. It became a different show.

All things considered this show is called a classic for a reason. As a fan of sci-fi you should have watched this at least once.

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Caprica

I was a huge fan of the original BSG from the moment I say it back in the early 80s. I flat out rejected the remake at first only to discover later when I did watch it that it´s one of the best shows I´d seen.

That´s why I went into Caprica with an open mind and without prejudice. It´s a good show, I do not see this as a soap, but here´s the thing. It would have work without beeing part of the BSG mythology. Maybe it would have worked better, maybe it would have last longer. Because it´s not enough BSG for the fans and to much of it for the casual viewer.

Ron Moore says in an interview on the DVD set that they basically put two ideas for a show together - one about Artifical Intelligence and one about the origin of the Cylons. And that´s how it felt. As I said, it´s a good series, I liked it, but the plot every now and then feels pressured to fit the BSG mythology.

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Moonlighting

OK, I might be a bit biased here because the 80s were my teenage years so I grew up with those shows but I think that decade produced some of the most memorable. Shows you don't just watch and forget about but shows you never forget and that you want to watch again. Like Moonlighting.
They had actors that could act, writers that could write - they were great with dialogue. They created characters not two-dimensional look-alikes.

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