Re: The Outsider
 

HBO's new 10-episode series based on the (lackluster?) Stephen King novel is so far surprisingly good. Basically a tragic police procedural faced with an apparently-supernatural mystery.

Some critics felt that it unfolds too slowly, but for me the nuanced acting, the hypnotic, tension-building soundtrack, and the alienating offscreen-viewer, crepuscular cinematography are excellent on all counts. Shades of True Detective, Season One.

The first two episodes were released last weekend (1/12/20). Past Stephen King television has been uniformly poor; this one (so far) bucks that trend. Worth a watch.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

I 100% concur Gnosticangel.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

I finished watching HBO's CHERNOBYL today. Given my interest in the Soviet Union, and my almost lifelong fascination with the Chernobyl disaster (I recall being both horrified and fascinated by the story when it first broke when I was a child, and this led to an interest in industrial accidents in general), it might seem surprising that I did not watch this show when it first aired. But at the time the critics in general were using it as a cudgel against what was (mistakenly IMO) seen as an inferior final season of GAME OF THRONES, so rather than jump on the hype bandwagon I decided to wait for the DVD release.

But I enjoyed it as a work of entertainment. Certainly it could be seen as a triumph of production: it was shot in Lithuania and they found some really great examples of those iconic-looking Soviet Brutalist housing blocks (along with some very striking Soviet art murals), and the special effects and radiation make-up effects were top-notch stuff. Hildur Guðnadóttir's score for the series was very atmospheric, and the acting in general was very accomplished, from the main players down to the bit parts. I've long felt that Jared Harris is an underappreciated actor (go see him in I SHOT ANDY WARHOL: it's probably the best depiction of Warhol in a movie), so it was nice to see him getting mainstream recognition here. Stellan Skarsgård was equally good, and I liked how the series tracked the friendship between him and Harris' character (HBO seems to be very good at these "odd couple" male buddy TV shows: see also the first season of TRUE DETECTIVE). Even the costumes were great...

Having said that I did have some issues with it. The decision to have the actors speak in their natural accents (and all in English!) rather than Russian ones is somewhat distracting, and the writing varies in quality (no surprise there, seeing as the show's writer also wrote, among other things, SCARY MOVIE 4, one of the worst films I've ever seen); you know what you're go to be in for when early on characters are dropping lines like "I'm in charge here!" Some of the characters seem straight out of central casting, with Emily Watson's made-up composite character (the heroic truth-telling scientist) being probably the worst offender in that regard. And for a series that is so obsessed with the truth and anti-lying, there are in fact many historical inaccuracies, distortions, fabrications and pure Hollywood bunkum on display (most egregious being Jared Harris' character making a big speech at the show trial for Dyatlov, Fomin, and Bryukhanov, when in real-life he wasn't even present there: the TV Tropes website does a good job listing that and numerous other examples of, er, well I suppose the polite phrase for it is "Artistic License": Chernobyl / Artistic License - TV Tropes)

But that's the nature of these things, I suppose. In conclusion, the series serves as a nice tribute to the many scientists, firefighters, doctors, nurses, miners, and soldiers who put their lives on the line to try to contain the disaster. It's hard not to think about their often selfless acts of heroism and not be profoundly moved...

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

Resumed my marathon of Brian Clemens' 70s Thriller anthology series. I'm at Series 4. Despite the wyrd and truly unsettling eerie title sequence, the show rarely delves into supernatural horror. I reached another exception. Black magic popped up again with Diana Dors turning up as a demon nanny. This is a terrific series and has a superior hit rate to the better remembered and regarded Hammer House of Horror or Tales from the Crypt anthology shows. I miss when television was more akin to small theatre than big "event" movies. Inside No. 9, which returned tonight, is a nice exception. I'd hoped the failure of Game of Thrones' idiotic final run might put people off more blockbuster spectacle on the small screen, but Disney+ look set to brain bomb everybody's watercooler conversation with Marvel shows for the next 100 years.

In terms of franchise shlock I feel unconsciously obligated to follow I think the recent Doctor Who series is largely okay by the show's often middling, formulaic standards (I loved the Jo Martin reveal) and am mildly looking forward to checking out Picard after the season has aired. I can't justify signing up for another streaming service.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

Speaking of the final season of GAME OF THRONES... on May 26th of last year I mentioned (in this very thread) the idea of doing a long blog post intended to (mostly) defend the final season... I was kind of joking about it at the time but a few months later I actually DID write it out (for the record, Justin Isis told me I was wasting my time doing that when I should have either been getting laid or writing new fiction), and posted it on my blog late November of last year, and I even linked it at various places... yet I never linked it on here, oddly enough. Well, here it is, for the curious:

The Onyx Glossary: Against the Grain: In Defense of GAME OF THRONES Season 8

I should say that all joking aside I didn't write this to be contrary, I stand behind my opinions 100%.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

Liking divisive television is one thing, but there probably aren't two writers in television less in need of defence. :p

As well as Thriller I'm going through Tales of the Unexpected. While in all honesty neither are as good as The Twilight Zone, the British setting hits the wyrd anti-nostalgia part of my brain's eerie landscape. The episode The Flypaper is excellent filmmaking. It captures the oppressive feeling of being a lonely child in Britain. Isolating landscape and the cruelty of the older generation are seemingly conspirators to kill the young. Brexit Britain in a mood piece, really.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

Anyone seen Gregg Araki's new tv show Now Apocalypse? I'll need reliable internet before I can stream the 5 hours (wish there was a disc). People complaining that he's as fixated on hot teenage gays as he was in the 90s and hasn't really changed at all. I didn't get much out of his last feature film but I'm glad he's still getting to do his own stuff on occasion, even if the show was cancelled after a season.

Very reluctant to watch tv series these days but Gregg Araki is an exception for me.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

I finished all nine seasons of Tales of the Unexpected. A charming and exceedingly addictive series that is more than the sum of its often scraggy parts. Season 1 (the only one where each episode is based on a Dahl story) might be the only one without an underwhelming "What was the point of that?" episode, but there are gems throughout the run. My favourites:

The Flypaper
The Landlady
Bird of Prey
The Sound Machine
The Open Window (I wish more episodes were based on Saki stories as he's a perfect fit for the show)
Stranger in Town
Scrimshaw
Taste

The next British anthology show I'll be tackling is Armchair Thriller.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

Have you watched Inside No. 9 which is now on its fifth series?
Like Tales of the Unexpected these are sinister stories with a twist, though usually with a lot of black humour.
To my taste it's one of the best TV series of recent years.

Re: Last TV show you watched
 

I am indeed a fan of Inside No. 9. To my mind it is the best thing Shearsmith and Pemberton have done.

I enjoyed the BBC's recent folk horror/thriller The Pale Horse. Nothing too special, but I thought the central mystery came together nicely and recalled M. R. James' Casting the Runes, while some of the imagery was straight out of The Wicker Man. I'm now reminded I need to read more Agatha Christie. With this and Wurzel Gummidge it seems wyrd British television might be making a comeback. I heartily approve.