Lazlo Woodbine Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 While on the subject of Black Mirror, I'd also recommend one of Charlie Brooker's other series, How TV Ruined Your Life. Done documentary style, the subject matter is pretty self-explanatory. I dunno, I'm a pretty cynical guy, so his stuff falls right into my wheelhouse. It's also a dead-on parody of a History Channel style series. I keep expecting Tony Robinson to show up. Plus, all 6 episodes of How TV Ruined Your Life can be watched on the Youtubes. http://youtu.be/SQBwNyJDHsw This was probably the highlight of my TV year. Even if you disagree with parts of it the series gives you loads to chew on. Can't wait for the 2013 wipe show tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doubting El Dandy Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Outside of Who and Sherlock I haven't seen much else from the UK except for Derek which I loved and Copper which is also pretty darn good. Want to start watching Orphan Black, hopefully it will wind up on Netflix soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I totally fell off of Copper with a couple episodes left in the 1st season. I can't recall the exact reasons (beyond "kind of boring" and "twat lead"), but I really, really wanted to like it. A Gangs of New York/Deadwood style series should be a slam dunk, but I couldn't get into it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 AND HERE IS WHERE I RECOMMEND THE MIGHTY BOOSH BECUZ ITS THE BEST http://youtu.be/Wn0HW-jicRg I'll also watch anything that Matthew Berry shows up in. Boosh, Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, Snuff Box, IT Crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 This scene should be all it takes to convince you to watch Darkplace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiller Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Oh, how I love Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Has anyone seen The Fades? I noticed it was on Amazon Instant for Prime members, and I was thinking about checking it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I watched a lot of BBC and canadian series on netflix and bbc america that I liked. IT Squad(I can never remember the second part of it), Coupling, Slings and Arrows, Waiting for God, and keeping up appearances being just a few. The Vicar of Dibley is really good too. MI-5 is a good watch, though some seasons are better than others. White Chapel and Bletchley Circle are very solid as well. Broadchurch is amazing, and the people remaking that can burn in hell. I only saw one season of the thick of it on BBC america and I want to see the rest of it badly now. Also liked the inbetweeners and 18 to life as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Jonathan Creek is fantastic, even if it did start falling in quality a bit by the third season. -Great writing, and maybe the best "How Did They Do It?" show ever. It might as well be called Locked Room Mystery: The Show. It's sort of like if Edgar Allen Poe and Conan Arthur Doyle teamed up to do a BBC drama about a magician's assitant and his pushy female friend. -Avoids a lot of the cliches of crime shows: Creek isn't that keen to get involved usually. One of my favourite moments is when someone who needs his help tracks him down because she's heard about his mad skillz~! and he's, like, "shouldn't you be going to the police?" He's also kind of wimpy and the most physical thing he ever does is disable a bad guy by flicking a playing card at him. -Alan Davies is terrific. Creek is obviously an amazingly gifted guy, but he also plays him as pretty relatable and down to Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Misfits and Fresh Meat, now they should be on your must watch list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SovietShooter Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Misfits and Fresh Meat, now they should be on your must watch list. Did the fourth series of Misfits ever turn up anywhere? I watched the first three on Hulu... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bustronaut Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Series 4 & 5 were up last I checked. I was shocked that Series 5 was going up in near real time this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Jonathan Creek is fantastic, even if it did start falling in quality a bit by the third season. -Great writing, and maybe the best "How Did They Do It?" show ever. It might as well be called Locked Room Mystery: The Show. It's sort of like if Edgar Allen Poe and Conan Arthur Doyle teamed up to do a BBC drama about a magician's assitant and his pushy female friend. -Avoids a lot of the cliches of crime shows: Creek isn't that keen to get involved usually. One of my favourite moments is when someone who needs his help tracks him down because she's heard about his mad skillz~! and he's, like, "shouldn't you be going to the police?" He's also kind of wimpy and the most physical thing he ever does is disable a bad guy by flicking a playing card at him. -Alan Davies is terrific. Creek is obviously an amazingly gifted guy, but he also plays him as pretty relatable and down to Earth. There are R1 Jonathan Creek DVDs for sale at places like BArnes and Noble stores. As a QI / Tuesday Club fan, i found Davies entertaining in these. And once i found Julia Sawalha was his companion for a while, double thumbs up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Are we discussing Sherlock here or in its own thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Mentioned it in the TV thread but Sherlock was just..not good. It's never a good thing when a series becomes too self-aware and that's exactly what happened here. Maybe a comedy show like The Simpsons can pull it off, but not a drama. It spent most of the first hour literally re-inacting terrible fan theories from tumblr, and then in the last half hour futilely tried to make it serious again. Elementary is hindered by a procedural format and way too many episodes to fill, but you know, at least it takes itself seriously and everyone involved feels like a real person. Lucy Lui's frigging pony tail has more emotional depth than anyone in Sherlock right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I almost turned off Sherlock at least twice. And, while i dont blame him, i don't know if it was wise for Moffet to have a bit where his audience thinks he is mocking them. If you want to send up internet shippers, you don't need to use a stereotypical fat goth girl. And couldnt hep but think of V for Vendetta with the main plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 So, what're the best UK double act sketch shows? Fry and Laurie is obviously gold. I loved Alas Smith and Jones in junior high, but haven't seen it in 20 years. Mitchell and Webb had some glorious moments but could be pretty damn lazy. (Still sad it's no longer on any of the major streaming sites.) so given that I like the format, what should I be looking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Current or classic? There's a bbc doc on youtube about history of double acts, from morcombe and wise to the present, inclusing ones you said and french and Saunders and a couple others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Current would be a good start, though I am by no means averse to older material provided I can get hold of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_MJ_ Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 Speaking of documentaries, I check out Louis Theroux's tv documentaries every now and then when I can find them. Of course, check out The Most Hated Family In America documentary(I think it's his most famous one and probably on youtube somewhere) and his second one on them, where he goes back to the family for an update. I'm pretty sure he has done a wrestling documentary too, but I haven't seen that one and it's probably outdated by now. Most of the documentaries I've seen from him lean more toward the entertainment side than continuously spitting facts at you, especially since Theroux is on camera and usually embeds himself within the topic of the documentary. Your tolerance of Louis Theroux's mannerisms and narration style may vary. I don't mind his style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 All of the docs he's done are worth watching I would say, particularly the newer ones. The Johannesburg one really stands out, as do the Miami prison ones. The wrestling one was much earlier. Louis gets on the wrong side of some dickhead WCW power plant trainer. The short interview with Raven slays me every time. Hard luck Pistol Pez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 He asked the trainer if it was fake at Nitro, so this was "payback" I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 True, it's just odd that the trainer felt that was the best way to make the point. Knowing this gets shown in, what - 98? Is he trying to get the point over to Louis that it's still hard work, or get over to the audience that it's real? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I almost turned off Sherlock at least twice. And, while i dont blame him, i don't know if it was wise for Moffet to have a bit where his audience thinks he is mocking them. If you want to send up internet shippers, you don't need to use a stereotypical fat goth girl. And couldnt hep but think of V for Vendetta with the main plot. Also, "the solution" to the fall thing... direct rip off from a Jonathan Creek episode. In fairness, maybe they could get away with a "comedy" episode if they had more time. But when you've got only three shows a season, I'm not sure you can waste a huge amount of time mocking tumblr fans and patting yourself on the back for making a hit show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Wasn't actually the solution, that was pretty obvious I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Wasn't actually the solution, that was pretty obvious I thought. Definitely, there was meant to be a question mark over it, but it was less wacky and far more believable than the other suggestions offered, so I think the idea was Sherlock was telling the truth there. Watson wasn't bothered how he did it, and he just needed someone to confess it to, even if it was Anderson. I don't think they're ever going to answer it 100% though, and may just keep throwing out absurd theories with the whole "go with whatever one you want" idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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