The TV Thread

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, Farmduck said:

I used to wonder about that village, Midsomer. How could such a small town have the World's highest homicide rate? Was it lead in the water supply or something? More to the point, why did anyone keep living there?

Midsomer is a county don’t ya know . It was a running joke on the documentary I watched that it’s crime rate was up there with New York or Cape Town . More to the point it’s another series that ran out of steam years back but they keep flogging , as tv types have generally ran out of new ideas 

[silverback]

6 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

BBC have started advertising the Detectorists special. Can't wait! 

me too,its great, cost me over a grand once i had seen a few episodes way back to get all the tackle. but what a fantastic hobby to just wander round pastures digging up 200-500 year old coins,tunic decorations,spear heads, its so peacefull and have just got another 35 acres of pasturland and stubble fields, its real treasure hunting when you get a decent signal and turn over a big grass sod and its got silver 1802 shillings in it..

[The Hallucinating Goose]

36 minutes ago, silverback said:

me too,its great, cost me over a grand once i had seen a few episodes way back to get all the tackle. but what a fantastic hobby to just wander round pastures digging up 200-500 year old coins,tunic decorations,spear heads, its so peacefull and have just got another 35 acres of pasturland and stubble fields, its real treasure hunting when you get a decent signal and turn over a big grass sod and its got silver 1802 shillings in it..

Plus I bet you've got a hefty collection of ring pulls and buttons through the ages as well! Isn't history just fascinating!

[silverback]

23 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Plus I bet you've got a hefty collection of ring pulls and buttons through the ages as well! Isn't history just fascinating!

yep,loads a ring pulls, really old bottle tops,some stunning 400 year old buttons, i have a 600 year old well to check out the surronding area when it gets a bit warmer. have saved a lot a bits of victorian toys and made a 3d frame for them all, its sure me hooked for sure,i were out at 4 am a couple a weeks back in the rain and found lots of stunning farthings and bullie shillings, but ended up in bed 4 days with flu.   i wish i had done this 40 years ago.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

19 minutes ago, silverback said:

yep,loads a ring pulls, really old bottle tops,some stunning 400 year old buttons, i have a 600 year old well to check out the surronding area when it gets a bit warmer. have saved a lot a bits of victorian toys and made a 3d frame for them all, its sure me hooked for sure,i were out at 4 am a couple a weeks back in the rain and found lots of stunning farthings and bullie shillings, but ended up in bed 4 days with flu.   i wish i had done this 40 years ago.

I was out in the rain at 4am the other day as well but that was because I was- well, let's just say I wasn't detecting anyway... 

[denj]

Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley.

Just started part 1 and it is fascinating!

[graveyard johnny]

2 hours ago, denj said:

Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley.

Just started part 1 and it is fascinating!

is it a true story?

[graveyard johnny]

another poor episode of inside no9 - and a supposed xmas special as well- if the lads have run out of ideas then maybe take a break or scrap it now - its been nothing short of genius in the past but not now

[Stirlin]

Behave , it was never genius.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Specials of Motherland and The Cleaner tonight! 

[The Masked Poster]

2 hours ago, Stirlin said:

Behave , it was never genius.

Certain ones definitely were.

[Stirlin]

16 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

Certain ones definitely were.

Opinions differ , certain ones I fell asleep.

[tim2]

Christmas Day TV fare was a bit grim yesterday. Whoever decided that making a live action version of Aladdin based on the cartoon needs to have a serious word with themselves. Especially Will Smith, who deserves several slappings by Chris Rock for attempting to emulate Robin Williams. 

I did enjoy Ghosts though. It's gentle humour but there's proper character development and some nice jokes.

We did have the Netflix "Glass Onion" film lined up but fell asleep after dinner and will save it for tomorrow.

 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

2 hours ago, tim2 said:

Christmas Day TV fare was a bit grim yesterday. Whoever decided that making a live action version of Aladdin based on the cartoon needs to have a serious word with themselves. Especially Will Smith, who deserves several slappings by Chris Rock for attempting to emulate Robin Williams. 

I did enjoy Ghosts though. It's gentle humour but there's proper character development and some nice jokes.

We did have the Netflix "Glass Onion" film lined up but fell asleep after dinner and will save it for tomorrow.

 

Aladdin was one of those films that was panned by the critics but did very well at the box office.

[Bedford Roughyed]

The Detectorists special was good.  Just  well done and nice.

[graveyard johnny]

am starting to think they are just churning tv out now instead of making it 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 27/12/2022 at 16:25, Bedford Roughyed said:

The Detectorists special was good.  Just  well done and nice.

Loved it as I do all of Detectorists, a great addition to my favourite series. Particularly liked the cameo from her! 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Genuine question. Why do filmmakers rehash the same subjects over and over again? 

Last night there was a new series on Marie Antoinette starting. There has been so much made about her in the past, why did the executives at the beeb think it a good idea to make yet more stuff about a subject massively overdone already? There are hundreds and hundreds of other Queens they could have made a series about but no, they chose one that has already been done. 

A prime example of this is the masses and masses of World War 2 documentaries we get shoved down our necks. Yes it's a subject people are interested in but I must have seen a million WW2 documentaries and again, so many of them are about the same topics. I can't remember the last time I saw a documentaries on the war in the Caucasus or the Middle East or the Balkans, to pick just a few areas off the top of my head but there are constant streams of documentaries about D-Day and the Battle of Britain and Stalingrad etc. etc. 

I just want to see something new and different occasionally. Thousands of years of history, millions of stories to tell and its always the same stuff redone again and again. There must be a reason for this? 

[Gerrumonside ref]

18 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Genuine question. Why do filmmakers rehash the same subjects over and over again? 

Last night there was a new series on Marie Antoinette starting. There has been so much made about her in the past, why did the executives at the beeb think it a good idea to make yet more stuff about a subject massively overdone already? There are hundreds and hundreds of other Queens they could have made a series about but no, they chose one that has already been done. 

A prime example of this is the masses and masses of World War 2 documentaries we get shoved down our necks. Yes it's a subject people are interested in but I must have seen a million WW2 documentaries and again, so many of them are about the same topics. I can't remember the last time I saw a documentaries on the war in the Caucasus or the Middle East or the Balkans, to pick just a few areas off the top of my head but there are constant streams of documentaries about D-Day and the Battle of Britain and Stalingrad etc. etc. 

I just want to see something new and different occasionally. Thousands of years of history, millions of stories to tell and its always the same stuff redone again and again. There must be a reason for this? 

There’s a lot of revisionism that happens with WW2 as the archives are re-examined with fresh eyes or the previous orthodoxy is challenged.

I think though in terms of why there’s new documentaries on TV on the popular WW2 subject areas are concerned it’s quite self explanatory.  It’s cheap to rehash old footage than shoot new footage and the popularity of certain WW2 themes or battles wanes less over time.

I agree though that from the perspective of the viewer with an interest in WW2 history that it can often prove less than illuminating to see things again and again or not have things move on too much from the World at War (which benefitted greatly from speaking to primary sources of historical evidence).

Ive recently been watching the PBS channel on Sky to either watch or rewatch the better American documentary programmes on subjects like WW2.  Obviously the emphasis is America-centric but there’s a lot of good stuff on there if you can get that channel.

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Gerrumonside ref

[gingerjon]

29 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Thousands of years of history, millions of stories to tell and its always the same stuff redone again and again. There must be a reason for this? 

Doing real history is expensive. You don't really find anyone on TV doing it any more.

World War Two is cheap and, for a lot of people, basically counts as comfort viewing.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

15 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

There’s a lot of revisionism that happens with WW2 as the archives are re-examined with fresh eyes or the previous orthodoxy is challenged.

I think though in terms of why there’s new documentaries on TV on the popular WW2 subject areas are concerned it’s quite self explanatory.  It’s cheap to rehash old footage than shoot new footage and the popularity of certain WW2 themes or battles wanes less over time.

I agree though that from the perspective of the viewer with an interest in WW2 history that it can often prove less than illuminating to see things again and again or not have things move on too much from the World at War (which benefitted greatly from speaking to primary sources of historical evidence).

Ive recently been watching the PBS channel on Sky to either watch or rewatch the better American documentary programmes on subjects like WW2.  Obviously the emphasis is America-centric but there’s a lot of good stuff on there if you can get that channel.

 

 

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Doing real history is expensive. You don't really find anyone on TV doing it any more.

World War Two is cheap and, for a lot of people, basically counts as comfort viewing.

Yeah, thinking about it I'm probably being a bit naive here in that because I'm into history I'm interested in seeing a variety of subjects talked about whereas the BBC executives don't give a toss and are only interested in viewers and money and so know that more people will tune into a subject they've heard of than something completely new to them.

The general public are tuning into that new Marie Antoinette series because it's the latest BBC drama about someone they've heard of, not because they're interested in the historical subject matter. People wouldn't tune into a drama about, say Eleanor of Aquitaine because far less people have heard of her, despite her of course being far more important to history. I know that fact as a history nerd but the casual TV viewer doesn't and isn't interested in finding that out. 

It's just a shame that this is the way the media goes. A couple of years ago I was looking for a good Napoleonic Wars series and couldn't find one until a stumbled on a fantastic series on YouTube, made by people who actually have an interest in history but have to use that platform to present their great programmes because no mainstream network is interested in less talked about subjects.

[gingerjon]

Just now, The Hallucinating Goose said:

 

Yeah, thinking about it I'm probably being a bit naive here in that because I'm into history I'm interested in seeing a variety of subjects talked about whereas the BBC executives don't give a toss and are only interested in viewers and money and so know that more people will tune into a subject they've heard of than something completely new to them.

The general public are tuning into that new Marie Antoinette series because it's the latest BBC drama about someone they've heard of, not because they're interested in the historical subject matter. People wouldn't tune into a drama about, say Eleanor of Aquitaine because far less people have heard of her, despite her of course being far more important to history. I know that fact as a history nerd but the casual TV viewer doesn't and isn't interested in finding that out. 

It's just a shame that this is the way the media goes. A couple of years ago I was looking for a good Napoleonic Wars series and couldn't find one until a stumbled on a fantastic series on YouTube, made by people who actually have an interest in history but have to use that platform to present their great programmes because no mainstream network is interested in less talked about subjects.

The BBC don't have the money to do real history any more. That's why they don't do it.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The BBC don't have the money to do real history any more. That's why they don't do it.

I can't be bothered to debate this. Wish I hadn't said anything now... Same as always... 

Edited December 30, 2022 by The Hallucinating Goose

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

You seem to have missed my point. I am referencing the BBC because of their new Marie Antoinette drama series not their lack of funding for documentaries. All my point is, is that they have chosen to produce a series about a subject already very much covered by other films and series over the years and could have chosen a subject less explored.

The point would still be broadly the same. The BBC has less and less money to do things that are risky or new.

It's a co-production (with Canal+) so that is already going to limit it, as is the fact that it needs to be resold to multiple other markets.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

19 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The point would still be broadly the same. The BBC has less and less money to do things that are risky or new.

It's a co-production (with Canal+) so that is already going to limit it, as is the fact that it needs to be resold to multiple other markets.

Thank you for answering my question. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by The Hallucinating Goose