I enjoyed The Shield as much as I enjoyed The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad. I'm not saying the writing was of the same quality, but the sheer non-stop entertainment value was right up there.
Having struggled to get into Shogun I've shelved it for now and am 4 episodes into Dopesick which I've been meaning to watch for a couple of years. I tend not to watch true story series on the whole but this one's gripping me, whilst at the same time appalling me at the jaw droppingly awful state of the US health industry.
Watched that episode last night On another note all this talk of The Shield is making me wonder about watching it again. Saw it when it 1st came out 20 yrs ago but not since. Actually, that is not entirely true. Watched E1 again a few years back but decided to not carry on just in case I didn’t find it as good 2nd time round. Didn’t want to taint the memory of how good it was 1st time round.
Michael Keaton is a joy to watch in anything he does but in this he plays the part so well you as the viewer at times feel his desperation.
Blue Lights - Brilliant cop programme based in NI. Great acting, pretty intense scenes and pretty shocking at times. Really enjoyed both series.
Dopesick [2021] Brilliantly done, nice that it's kept to 8 episodes, superbly written and acted by all involved. Frustrating that it seems regardless of evidence, both compelling and overwhelming, Spoiler the obscenely rich people who were behind the scandalous mis-selling of a drug that ultimately killed thousands and made addicts of tens of thousands more emerged tarnished but with their liberty. A shocking, frightening and sobering indictment on the American for-profit health industry, the flawed, suspiciously loaded American justice system and the clearly bought and paid for American political system. 8.9902/10
Baby Reindeer Strikes the right balance between comedy, thriller & drama. Was quite uncomfortable to watch at times. You have to admire the creator for being honest about his own flaws & mistakes. That he doesn't hold back, is what actually makes this show excellent rather than just good. Jessica Gunning was brilliant as Martha. Creeps you out, but also makes you pity her at times.
The Gentleman. I watched suffered this up to the introduction of the Scouse drug dealing religious zealot ,which was painfully portrayed by a Manc actor. We all get it Guy you don't like Scousers and that's why you quite habitually portray them as the biggest halfwits on the planet. Maybe it's because Guy was actually born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a public school fist up his rip that he hankers so much to be a Cockney ? Who f*cking knows and frankly who really cares when he's turning out this sort of regurgitive shite just to pay for Daddies rent boys.
Lewis Series 1-9. I hadn't seen an episode of this before but as a fan of Morse i thought i would give it a go,i enjoyed it as i wanted to how Lewis's career would end and he became more like Morse with every series,just a shame Laurence Fox was in it as DS Hathaway and he was just so wooden and Fox is such a horrible prick. 8.2/10.
The Responder. BBC1. Martin Freeman is back as the beleaguered and beaten down cop and there's a host of all our favourite Scousers from Brookie ,whats not to like ? Bernard Hill is just brilliant as Freeman's father and the whole thing is just wrapped in some truly brilliant television. It's funny to the extent it will evoke a guttural response once referred to as laughter and like some of the best portrayals of Liverpool life 'Boys From The Black stuff' 'One Summer' the players dutifully bring it to life. it's tinged with real sadness twinned with truly thought provoking moments. A must watch in my book ,beautifully written and Freeman's portrayal is quite remarkable along with quite a few others. Absolutely loved it ! RIP Bernard
I used to enjoy Lewis as much as I'd enjoyed Morse. I liked Fox's character too, I thought his acting was okay, but that was before he went down his fuzzy-faced right wing nutter rabbit hole of course.
I thought there was no chemistry between Whately and Fox like there was between John Thaw and Whately who were great friends away from filming and it showed in their performances.
I have always put that down to Lewis (the TV series) not really being a Colin Dexter creation, more a case of the TV company wanting to prolong the Morse theme even after the title character was killed off.
But Morse was mentioned in quite a few episodes of Lewis,Endeavor wasn't written by Colin Dexter but it was a very good series and it had loads of opera music which i love especially Puccini.
