touring the Chernobyl area on a motorbike

*reportedly acted, I guess

Mazin here v. much on the "it was fundamentally the society not Dyatlov The Villain" side of the fence, so he at least tried to get it over https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/chernobyl-creator-explains-the-actions-of-dyatlov-the-man-who-insisted-the-test-took-place-671472

Just an aside, I think this was a really great use of ~television entertainment~ and it’s been a while since I’ve been this engrossed, moved, and thoughtful about wtf we’re doing here. Hope this wins a ton of awards and we can get more things of this caliber.

Was there any hype or anticipation for this? Seems to have come out of nowhere.

it does seem like that

finished ep 2
this show is emotionally destroying me by degrees
;_;
it is so good

Best TV thing I've seen for ages.

Listening to the soundtrack in isolation today, that lifted my mood.

Was there any hype or anticipation for this? Seems to have come out of nowhere.

My feeling is that this was a deliberate move on HBO and Sky's part. From an entertainment point of view, it does a fantastic job of making everyone forget about Game of Thrones and stop speculating about what HBO will do now its huge cash cow is gone. "We'll do this," say HBO and Sky, quietly, pushing Chernobyl at you and blindsiding you completely. But if they'd said beforehand that they were going to do that, people would have started watching Chernobyl with that in mind.

Although I could be giving them too much credit.

It's not worth much but it's worth noting that the show apparently is already the the highest rated (per imdb) TV show of all time, above the two Planet Earth docs, Breaking Bad, etc.

Yes, I feel like Sky in particular has always had something to hammock Game of Thrones to try and prevent churn on their pretty poor Now Entertainment package.

Most years has been quite forgettable; I wonder if even they knew what they had on their hands

bit insensitive to pull the cement mixer right up to the graves with the grieving widows right there! can you wait like 20 minutes, guy?

i'm sympathetic to the gessen article. there is quite a bit of heroic cornballism going on, and it would have been interesting to see more of the hierarchical deference that surely existed particularly among the apparatchiks, but it feels uncharitable. the very first scene of ep 1 explicitly dismisses the idea of dyatlov as the only, or even most responsible person. it's announcing it right up front: this is a TV drama, about particular characters, but they were not the only ones.

also her point about the shoemaker-turned-functionary feels a little undermined by slava malamud's unearthing of the photo of the actual coal minister who was... a former coal miner? NOT an office dude?

if you think this was a case of dramatic license gone mad you should see the liberties taken by that drama series gessen was a consultant on!

I really like Gessen as a writer and even though I largely disagree with that article I think the whole "this one person represents all the scientists" is a bit of a leap, plus it's a bit of a hero narrative, with a sprinkling of "if only they'd listened to the one woman" which obviously has noble roots but I'm not sure bureaucracy and idiocy on the scale of this event is more specific than the human condition.

Even before I knew the facts of that character the writing there felt a bit pushed and modish. A tiny bit. Fuck it tho, it is an amazing show.

I haven't enjoyed a HBO mini-series as much as this since the John Adams one and am quite happy to accept it's flaws and divergences from actual events.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48559289

But in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia's most widely-read tabloid, Mr Muradov said his version of the show "proposes an alternative view on the tragedy in Pripyat".

I can't wait for this version where capitalist mind control undermines the integrity of reactor core..

One columnist declared the show a plot to undermine Russia's current atomic agency.

louise menschokov?

with a sprinkling of "if only they'd listened to the one woman"

I definitely saw it as a chance for them to cast a woman in a major speaking role. Which I think is something Mazin suggests in the podcast.

for sure. i can see that. i guess it might be more interesting or bold to have given her some flaws tho, imo.

i present the apex of chernobylposting - "Steamed Core" pic.twitter.com/7bIxsMQFJ8

— Comrade Valentina ☭ (@leftistthot420) June 8, 2019

for sure. i can see that. i guess it might be more interesting or bold to have given her some flaws tho, imo.

Agreed. She's not really a character at all.

Watson didn't have too much to work with but I thought the feigned accent was a bit incongruous and unnecessary, especially with mostly the rest of the cast speaking in their normal accents.

Fuck it tho, it is an amazing show.

The review that got it right was iirc the NYTimes, which basically said here's what it gets right, here's what it gets wrong, but none of that really matters because it's so good and the broader beats are pretty accurate.

Anyone listen to the companion podcast with the creator and Peter Sagal from NPR? I assume it's serious, but his voice unfortunately is pretty inextricably linked to comedy.

That's the podcast I was talking about. I agree that it's a bit weird to hear them talk so chirpily about it.

interesting we don't have a dedicated thread for the TV drama. Anyway, I gave my dad the DVD at Christmas and I'm not sure where this comes from but he insists on pronouncing it 'SHER-nuh-bill' despite that not being how anyone says it in the show. Who says it that way???

It's a strange phenomenon. I have friends who have been in Beijing for years but still somehow call it "Beizhing"

how are you meant to say it?

'Bay-Djing'?

You can try to match the sounds / tones if you like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUIaFSbQ5nc

But this is a better approximation than "Beizhing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlHsHe1jRQk

I'm not sure my ear can discern the difference between that and the 'wrong way' other than a harder 'j' sound?

They use a /ʒ/ sound, like in "usually" - a sound which doesn't exist in Mandarin

This doesn't look very good

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/13/ukraine-wildfires-close-chernobyl-nuclear-site

"don't worry" (as long you don't live in Greece or Russia)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#2020/04/13/2200Z/chem/surface/level/overlay=cosc/orthographic=-340.70,44.22,2274/loc=30.076,51.262

The fire seems to be under control now, thankfully.

On a side note the 5G conspiracy has reached Svetlana Alekseivich:

This is the biggest challenge since the Chernobyl era. It remains to be understood that this is - is it really influenza, or is 5G already affecting the human immune system. In my opinion, scientists do not have a final conviction. There are some complex processes of further technological development - here the influence of man on the atmosphere, new technologies, and the inability of man as a biological being to sustain it all.

I've just watched this excellent show. For some reason I'm now watching the BBC Salisbury Poisonings - with Coronavirus I'm never touching anything again.