Your Ten Favorite Shows Currently on Television

Taboo seems like a very badly conceived vanity project by the Hardy family that can't even be saved by featuring a load of good actors and impressive sets cos it's a load of tosh. Sorry ppl if you like it, but it is in a style of everything I have hated about the BBC for ages - yeah even though it was an AMC co-production or whatever.

I like Taboo because it's this unbounded historical fan fiction where the scheming is secondary to weird shit going on, not like the weird characters mugging for the audience on Sherlock that's just tiresome and used in place of plot

Big Little Lies was so good! Even when I knew what was going to happen the execution would surprise me. Smart and intriguing and moving, felt very lived-in and nuanced

Except the dumb talking-head greek chorus of minor characters. LAME

But i legit cried at the ending

A+

SO GOOD. I was more tense about the show wrapping up satisfyingly than I was about the actual who-done-what. But that was a good ending! Which Night Of and True Detective did not manage.

The online-virginity plot was a weird curveball though - awkward and felt like it didn't need to be there at all? Maybe it had more setup in the book.

Haven't seen Kidman in a good performance since To Die For, but she totally brought it. No weak links in cast, really.

Except the dumb talking-head greek chorus of minor characters. LAME

this prevented me from getting through the first episode

Its worth yr time.

Kidman gives such a haunted, slightly ethereal performance, its v Eyes Wide Shut in that way and I loved every minute

Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon were str8 fire start to finish too.

Reese is very good in that show

greek chorus was initially annoying but became clear as it went on that they were part of the steady drumbeat of misogyny (internalized and otherwise) that the solidarity of the conclusion overcomes.

Kidman has been v good many, many times since EWS/TDF

I agree!

Ok alright she's good in Moulin, Australia, Golden Compass etc. But feels like she's wasted a lot of good performances in bad movies.

ANYWAY my sis recommends Liane Moriarty's novels, gonna try out My Husband's Secret, because who could resist that title

BLL should get awards for outstanding editing as well as special Best Actress awards for the five principal women (yes, I'm throwing Zoe Kravitz an award, too; her character seemed typecast but also felt like a real person)

Amusing -- had no idea BLL was set in Monterey. Not that anyone should be surprised that film != reality but anyone not from the area might enjoy this:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Big-Little-Lies-Monterey-locations-Big-Sur-HBO-11055103.php

In real-life Northern California, this melodrama would unfold on the Bay Area Peninsula, in say Atherton or Woodside, the epicenter of tech wealth. But this show takes place a world away in Monterey, leading you to believe it's a high-gloss tech town, an extension of the Silicon Valley.

NorCal locals knows this portrayal is slightly off. Monterey certainly isn't inexpensive, but it's too far from Google and Facebook for tech exec commutes and its main industries are tourism and farming.

True but they missed out the other biggie, the military. Pretty much the tech types as described aren't here constantly, instead they're down here on weekends, second homes, getaways etc. Still, for the scenery alone now you all know why I'm always happy to visit the area to see my family.

Yeah there are some beautiful shots -- the director Jean Marc Vallee did some beautiful work on this. He also directed Reese in 'Wild', which I thought looked gorgeous as well.

And DJP otm re editing and Zoe Kravitz

My favorite thing is how a lot of the details of Zoe's character is in her behaviour and how she carries herself, like she's probably got the least amount of dialogue of all 5 but, like DJP says, she feels like a real person

like like like like kill me

Bear in mind I formed my impression after watching only one episode of the show. I can't imagine what the payoff was like if you'd seen the rest of the series and lived with all of these characters.

big little lies was incredible
the therapy sessions with kidman were so great, the gradual unraveling of her denial was really done in such a subtle way, the actress who was calamity jane in deadwood was great as the therapist

all the female leads were fantastic

one of the best final episodes i've seen in a long time, i was so on the edge of my seat during the fundraiser party

I wached the last episode because I read a review that was like "Nicole Kidman's therapy sessions on Big Little Lies are Oscar-worthy, let alone Emmy-worthy"

I think I'm gonna start a thread, seems worthy of extended YAY discussion

Reese and Nicole and Laura and Audrey and Elvis: Thread for BIG LITTLE LIES on HBO

new thread here

I grew up in Salinas and spent just about every weekend in Monterey. My only gripe is that no one is driving across the bixby bridge to take their kids to school, not happening. It's like 40 miles south of main Monterey, closer to big Sur really.

Seems to be a constant with mass audience shows filmed in fixed areas that what makes good visual sense doesn't make geographical sense.
Jack Taylor had a kid waiting for a bus to go to a location 50 feet away around a corner. &a chase that went right across town in what looked to be 50 feet.

Oh yeah makes total sense to use it. that bridge/drive is one of the most awe inspiring that America has to offer

Yeah it's pretty much a standard visual gimme. When it comes to TV I just associate it with endless car commercials.

need some good tv in my life; what should I be watching? I'm excited for Better Call Saul and Silicon Valley returning. when's GoT back?

gonna try Legion and Big Little Lies based on this thread even though I have no idea what to expect.

The Expanse if you're at all interested in SF.

Science Fiction, not San Francisco.

it's true, very little earth content let alone San Fran

Are there different pre/post watershed versions of some US shows?

Usually The Magicians has all the swearing muted out but this week it didn't so wondered if I'd d/l a different version.

big little lies is fantastic. just finished ep 4 and i have NO IDEA what's going to happen. they've gone a very good job spreading seeds of doubt everywhere. i feel sorry for nicole kidman's face though, it appears to be made of wax. i guess it's "realistic" for the milieu :/

thank god the new companion on Doctor Who is fantatic

two eps in and Better Call Saul is the best thing on the teevee

it's so, so good

feels like every scene is a masterpiece of tension, or comedy, or both - whether it's a car chase or just peeling tape from a wall

a mountain that can be a rising line graph... or falling
the fuckup of the paint as jimmy veers away from his brother's method of patient methodical tape rolling
thug in the car circling "trajectory" on the word search
the tip off of just why the tape was made at the start of the episode leading to payoff IN THE SAME EPISODE so that we don't get in front of the story
the mirrored plots of mike and jimmy on opposite sides of the law
the obvious but teasing reveals of the Pollos Hermanos sign and of Esposito sweeping up
so many lengthy silent sequences, brilliantly framed with such an eye to detail... the out of focus spider running on the tarmac as mike's head breaks the rounded horizon line
just bravado work front to back

otm

I feel way, way worse about Jimmy going to the dark side than Walter. Walter got irredeemable by, what, mid-season 2? Jimmy feels more like a regular person fucking up than Walter turning into a supervillain (not to knock that show, which was amazing).

Also, Kim's silent reaction shots to Jimmy are becoming episode highlights.

"He taped it."
twenty second pause, during which i notice the dual framed (and broken!) statue of liberty photos on the wall, presaging the inflatable saul liberty
".... yes."

I love The Blacklist

just have to admit it

Spader is great

I got kinda tired of Liz & her nonsense after last season & stopped watching, but I never didnt love Spader

the rhythms of his speeches are so melodic & hilarious

Starting watching The Expanse and was wavering until I hit S01E04 - I'm binging this all the way through the weekend.

More "Better Call Saul" love here

It's the only current show I watch, aside from "Bob's Burgers" and "Full Frontal w/Samantha Bee"

xpost go elvis go :D

Fairly orthodox sitcoms, I know, are not part of the ref ILX lovefest, but I want to know if anybody else is watching/liking Speechless? It is really very charming.

Elvis - that was exactly my experience!

question re Expanse - if i'm a fan of B5 and Firefly would i like it?

i reckon so!

going in on Big little lies

xxp Definitely.

But as mentioned upthread and elsewhere, don't let the ropey first couple of episodes put you off as it really does get very, very good