Be Excellent To Each Other

Reacher season 2 is out on Prime. First 3 episodes are up. I am enjoying it more than the first.

I'm thinking that last sentence is missing the word "even", Shirley? Look forward to getting into it.

It's early days yet, it might improve, but the chemistry between the main characters so far isn't quite as strong as the chemistry between the main players in the first series.

Seems like a pretty good adaptation of the book so far though.

Yes. It is missing an even.

I do like Reacher, but if all he ever travels with are the clothes he's wearing and a toothbrush in his pocket, does that mean he never changes his undies? cos YUCK

Or, do they get rinsed in the sink/river/bucket somewhere each day? Does he buy a new pair frequently, even though he doesn't seem to have much cash?

Totally immersion breaking and unrealistic. All the plot armour and kickassery, getting away with leaving a trail of destruction, and the leaps of logic/deduction to solve the problem are fine though, it's just the undies thing.

He buys new ones and throws the old ones away (same as all his clothes).

Note that he also carries his passport, and (for the last ten or so books) a mobile phone.

How is he managing to spend four hours a day in a gym?

Must take him a lot of time finding a new roid contact everywhere he goes too!

Hard to find gyms without onerous lock in periods or cancellation fees, too.

He digs swimming pools.

Don't try and find holes in the Reacher story, there are none.

NONE

I am with Grim here. Leave the plot alone.

I didn't know that.

Does he do them by hand or hire excavators?

Lovely if slightly teary ending to Ghosts last night.

It's a series I came late to but like so many others was captivated by its charm and good-naturedness.

Yeah a lovely show, wrapped up nicely.

Reacher digs the pools by hand.

I didn't like Ghosts.

He could probably borrow a spade

His hands are canonically the size of turkeys!

Damn Americans will use anything for measuring *except* the metric system!

We stayed up late with Bean tonight and watched the new Gladiators (not that it was on late, we just didn’t spot it on iPlayer until 9pm). It was great. There’s a good mix of old classic games and some really good new ones. Bradley Walsh is a bit cheesy, but inoffensive, and presents with his son. Good sale ton of new gladiators. One of them, Giant, is just some kind of superhuman looking being. Bean loved it. He’s 8, and honestly it’s the perfect time to introduce him. Mark Clattenburg is the ref, too. Really great.

Yep, we watched it while eating, and it’s perfect Saturday light entertainment. The contestants and gladiators were all having so much fun.

I watched it too! Was in need of something easy so tuned in out of curiosity.

I was really impressed by it - just the right amount of camp and competitiveness. Already decided on my favourites

I'd quite forgotten how evil the Travelator is - probably one of the simplest and greatest ideas for a final obstacle ever designed.

Finished S2 of Reacher. It wasn't anywhere near as good as the first season. Just didn't have the same sense of fun. The lack of humour and the continual straight up executions combined to make it all feel a bit off.

It wasn't really there for me, either. So much expositional dialogue that I could feel brain cells dying.

Horizon: Now the chips are down. “First transmitted in 1978, Horizon examines the rise of the microprocessor and asks if automation presents a problem for the future of British industry.”

Back in 1980, when I was a trainer with the Manpower Services Commission, we used to show this to staff to give them an idea about how new tech was evolving. Some of the predictions proved to be inaccurate, e.g. the volume of unemployment caused by automation, but then they hadn’t predicted the advent of AI, so maybe they’ll turn out to be right after all.

I made it through. But yeah, not as good as S1. It felt almost entirely expositional, like it was all about Reacher’s backstory with a perfunctory action narrative about stolen missiles thrown in, so Reacher could do some Reacher stuff.
And he looks laughably muscle bound in this series

Damn your eyes. The bbc show ghosts is fantastic. The right level of funny and sad.
What a good ending. Made my eyes water.

I’ve got that to watch tonight.
Just like Derry Girls it manages to have some incredibly meaningful and profound moments that come from nowhere.

Might try the US version after, with expectations suitably adjusted.

I didn't like it

I was a little underwhelmed. It was fine but not a superb ending.

I enjoyed the very very end, but there was too much focus on the mother in law, a hitherto non-existent character, and not enough on the main characters, especially the ghosts.

The only episode of Ghosts I've seen is the last one, which someone else wanted to watch over Christmas.

Weirdly the only episode of Supernatural I've seen is the very last one.

Spooky!

Yep it was an odd choice to spend half the episode focussed on an annoying new character.
I realise that’s why the ghosts decided to say what they did, but…

I have given up on it. Just not grabbing me.

No sense of place.

Unmemorable enemy/ies

Forced reacher team bonhomie

Bollocks plot.

A shame, but I feel like they will learn lessons for the next one.

The best bit in the entire series, was when one of Robert Patrick's goons said something about them checking in to a hotel under assumed names:

The first one was sort of verging on that kind of territory I suppose but this felt a bit like a massive MAGA wank fantasy.

The Way on the Beeb.

Contains some strong language, some sexual content and upsetting scenes.

Meet the Driscolls, a broken family from Port Talbot. Steelworker Geoff, separated from his wife Dee, is confronted by someone from his past. Their daughter, Thea (a police sergeant), is pushed to the limit as her brother Owen battles the world around him. A shocking event spreads panic, and a heated meeting prompts a strike.

Fearing the unrest will spread into England, a lockdown is enforced, causing further anger, ending in a protest march, and ultimately, a violent battle on Station Road


Mrs. W and I watched Ep1 “The War” last night. What a mess of a plot and a production. (Michael Sheen's directing debut ruins a good idea with cliché and stereotype - The Standard.)



Adam Curtis had a hand in this production and you can see it in the the choppy editing and hear it in the 60’s style sinister synthesiser score.

We won't be watching the remaining two episodes.

'The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth.' Three part documentary on the BBC.

2003 - millions watch live as Columbia breaks up in the sky over Texas, killing all on board. NASA, loved ones and investigators share how an incredible journey ended in tragedy.

Damning examination of NASA’s siloed communications, a hierarchy that prevented engineers and other staff from warning senior managers of the risks of shuttle failure on re-entry, and attitude of:

‘We’ve always had bits of foam falling off the main fuel booster and hitting the shuttle during launch and it’s never caused a problem before.’

‘Let’s not waste time, money or resources to have a look at the left wing to see if there’s any damage.’

‘A chunk of foam couldn’t possibly cause damage to the double reinforced carbon fibre wing leading edge.’

“We’ll tell the crew shortly before re-entry that there’s been superficial damage, but we’re assured that there are no safety risks.’

All topped off by the looks of disbelief in mission-control as comms were lost and sensors started going off-line during re-entry.

This was really good and quite moving at times.

Yes that was a good bit for sure.

I thought Reacher S2 was pretty good, I enjoyed it. The jokes about the toothbrush were amusing.

Addition of handsome man and attractive lady to the Reacher team was appreciated.

Slightly off-topic as it was on stage rather than the box (but downloadable on whatever Channel 4 call their streaming service this week), but I went to Milton Keynes yesterday to see the Drop the Dead Donkey revival, starring the majority of the original cast.

All seemed to fit easily back into their roles, with audience cheers as each character entered and not too exposition-heavy. The interplay between Damian and Dave was sharp as ever, Gus is still the worst TV boss, Sally remains a fragile monster after all these years (yet surprisingly the least visibly aged), and Joy's sadism continued to steal the show.

I was relieved that it wasn't a lazy nostalgic cashgrab, with genuine care taken in moving the characters on and hitting some emotional beats. Like the cathode-ray original, the laughs were a bit uneven but it definitely had some big ones and those lines that failed didn't linger. Of course, topical lines were inserted throughout, some going for the obvious, some not.

It did run out of steam by the end and wrapped up quickly, but nobody was really invested in the plot. As with the Marx Brothers' Night in Casablanca, seeing them all together again was enough.

An enjoyable night out if it's touring near you.

That sounds amazing, and I would probably see it on stage if it was showing anywhere near me.

I can't find it on the Channel 4 website (just the original series), do you have a link for the ability to stream it?

I meant the original series - guess they wouldn't want to stymie ticket sales.

The other night I started the second season of Extraordinary, which is cute, inventive, funny and at it's best very funny.

Buoyed by the happy mood from the first couple of episodes, I watched The Completely Made up Adventures of Dick Turpin, which perhaps looked quite amusing when written down. Oh dear.

Meet the Roman Emperor with Mary Beard with Mary Beard.

Snippets of Roman life given in her usual entertaining and slightly-filthy way, but really needed to be a much longer programme or a full series to do each topic justice.

I watched this last night, was hoping it was episode 1 of a series. Disappointed it's not

I also watched Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the world, (season 3, episode 1 on Channel 4)which covered Albania this episode

The Responder. Martin Freeman as a Liverpudlian cop on permanent nights, dealing with the dregs of society and suffering with his mental health as a result.

Martin's very good in the role, unfortunately, as I found the whole thing utterly depressing so I abandoned it after ep1.

Kin

Outnumbered and outgunned - a Dublin crime family face a seemingly impossible gangland war. Will bonds of blood win out?


Emmett J. Scanlan and Aidan Gillen in starring roles as nasty pieces of work. Managed about two episodes before I couldn't take any more of it.


Blue Lights

For three police recruits in Belfast, the pressure is immense. Facing criminal gangs and divided communities, they don't know who to trust. The odds are, they won't all make it.

You guessed it, I gave up after ep1.

There's a pattern emerging here.

What is it with the beeb, churning out these tense and depressing dramas? Or is it that I'm less tolerant of these types of programmes as I get older. Probably the latter.

This is pretty much how I felt when it came out, I too have not watched episode 2