TV/Streaming: Some Favorites
 

Would love to hear some of your favorite TV shows or streaming series.

I have been watching less "news" and utilizing more of the streaming services to relax in the evenings before bed, or while doing some crafting projects.

Finally finished all the episodes of "This Is Us" that I missed - (all 4 seasons are on Hulu) and so ready for NBC to roll out Season 5 on Nov 9

Also on Hulu, I watched the wonderful adaptation of one of my favorite books; "Lark Rise To Candleford" :Heart:

Watching the Mandelorian on Disney+ and thinking how it really has recaptured the older Star Wars magic!:BeamUp:

And my current favorite is the Netflix "Anne With An E" - which is such a different rendition of the beloved "Anne Of Green Gables".

Been watching a lot of you tube here..
farming, classic car find/restorations, truck driving, off road/4x4, hiking/exploring, RV ing, gardening , cooking, painting, horse riding, home remodel, homesteading, history hunters, classic old tv shows...

I've been watching a lot this year as I've been so ill and unable to do much else. I think I've watched every nordic noir show or series that I could find. e.g. Borgen, Deadwind and The Bridge on and on. I have watched every Wallander I could find. Just about every show I like is foreign language so it takes a bit of concentration. When I can't deal with that I watch some of the oldies such as Longmire, The Good Wife, Brothers and Sisters, Fringe, Intelligence. Some of these are boxed set series I bought 2nd hand. If all else fails I watch old Gilmore Girls or Dawson's Creek would you believe... :cool:

I liked Lenox Hill on our netflix here. It stopped as the pandemic became bad. Hope to see it back in the future. It was eye opening indeed.

I like the Brit cop shows like Hinterland and Shetland. I like documentaries as well, especially music. I don't like violence at all so have to fast forward a bit through most everything. I don't watch an actual tv at all. I just wish streaming was not so expensive here. A couple of the tv channels do have great shows online here but still they use so much of my monthly usage.

p.s. I forgot... currently watching old CSI -Crime Scene Investigation disks that I bought for $2 once at a Lifeline store. That was a bargain indeed although I have to fast forward on those a lot as well. :rolleyes:

I'm finding Season 4 of The Crown somewhat cringeworthy to say the least. At times I was thinking I was watching that parody called The Windsors. Such a shame. Sets are magnificent though.

That's what I thought might be the case...I didn't bother even checking out the new season.....Appreciate your input...

I've taken to watching House Hunters International, Explore tv, Destination and a few other ones that are similar. Also like the off grid building shows. I won't be travelling overseas anymore. I'm glad I saw what I did, but there was so much more. In the House Hunters and similar shows, I get to walk around Spain, Prague, Warsaw, Oslo, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland etc, even if it's just for a few minutes. Pity they're so repetitive, but I enjoy seeing the architecture and such.

Meant to add last time that I really enjoyed watching Escape to the Chateau.

The "virtual travel" is one of the reasons I have always loved the Rick Steve's shows on our PBS station. :) He has a unique way of presenting the places, cultures and food that really draws one in. He has some archived on his own website too TV, Radio, and Articles | Rick Steves' Europe

And yes, the House Hunters shows are most enjoyable too

I am also so thankful I got to travel very extensively when younger. The World is such an amazing place to explore!

I just found some time to go through that site Chemar. That's fabulous!
I didn't think I'd be able to watch them here but I can. It's a keeper.

Sandhamn Murders
 

As I've said before, I watch a lot of Nordic Noir.
At the moment I'm resting a little so I've been watching some Nordic without the Noir. :)

Sandhamn Murders. It's Swedish language. There are six so far, 3 or 4 episode seasons. Quite short compared to a lot of series.

For a police/murder type show, it's strangely fresh and bright. I think that's due to the absolutely beautiful setting of Sandhamn (Sand Harbour) and the set designs. The colours against beige and white are shades of blue, aqua, turquoise and greens. A very pretty little seaside town. I think I could live there if there weren't so many murders per capita as there are in this show. :wink:

[Based on books by Viveca Sten]

Please add on any more good shows if you have them. Sometimes it takes a lot of sifting to find something decent.

Katla
 

I will certainly look out for that Lara. It's on Amazon Prime in UK.

If you like Scandinavian drama, then look no further than Katla (Netflix) it's set in the remote town of Vik near an active Volcano in Iceland. I was drawn to the prospect of beautiful Icelandic landscapes, (rare) however, it has real characters in an imaginary world and it works very well. It has plenty to say about the human condition. Look out for an astonishing performance by a small boy.

Katla
 

Atticus, thanks for the tip.
I have watched two episodes this evening. This is very much the type of show that I enjoy watching and it certainly is dark. So far, so good. :)

edited later to add that maybe it might be a little much for me if there are too many harmed animals. :(

Katla again
 

Ugh. Wasn't for me but I'm glad I watched it. It was slow but I didn't mind that as much as I minded the hopelessness of it all. It was certainly thought provoking. The inside sets were finely detailed and were wonderful. I didn't notice the warnings until later in the series, but the warnings here were for hunting violence and suicide themes.

After watching two episodes, I had no idea where it was going.
It ended up being quite foreboding and oh so heavy and bleak and there was a sense of it never going anywhere, never ending. Earlier on in one of the episodes a character says what I've typed below and that's how the poor sad characters lived their lives.

"Everything in this universe repeats itself
The sun comes up the sun goes down
The sun comes up again
We’re young, we’re old,
We’re born, we die.

Everything goes round and round and it’s absurd

But who am I to accept the nature of things,
I just have to accept them"

I'm thinking it verged on genius, but in a twisted genius type of way. Very interesting show all in all however I had to go mow a couple of acres of grass just to throw off the heaviness of life that I was left with after watching it. lol. :wink:

I agree it was dark and bleak but at the same time wonderfully optomistic. The function of changelings were to cast a different light on how to view the world. They were effectively a metaphor for stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. There is a scene where a character, the one you quote above, tells a woman her baby had genetic defects. She had thought her attempted abortion had caused his condition. You could feel the weight of guilt lifted from her shoulders on the news. It was so emotional.

Okay another Scandi programme, not bleak or dark, apart from the oil industry, is State of Happiness, set in Stavanger 1969. If anyone gets the chance visit the Norweigian coastal towns, they are so beautiful, especially Bergen. Everything is pretty much double the price of the UK but it is worth it.
I watched State of Happiness on BBC i player during Lockdown and I believe a second series is about to be made. Its well worth a view.

Hi Atticus,
I hope you're doing well.
In Katla, something I didn't ever understand was the "sci-fi" references I found online. I recall that the vulcanologist or geologist mentioned this at one time too but that story line didn't ever seem to materialise.

edited to add: It made more sense to me that the changelings more as part of their folklore than as aliens/sci-fi. Much like a lot of shows from Iceland I've found.

I just found "State of Happiness" on our SBS on demand. Thanks for the tip.

I've not been to that area sadly but had online friends in a support group many years ago who were from Bergen. It really looks very pretty.

Sculptor,
You may enjoy The Bletchley Circle if you've not seen that already.

State of Happiness
 

"State of Happiness" is a gem.

Loving it. Great sets, music and acting as well.

I have a distinct liking for the mid-century, particularly 60s and early 70s, Scandi charm.

I even saw a few household items that I've actually owned at some point in my life long after that era and wishing I still had them. I'm not fond of holding onto lots of objects but some nostalgia did creep in.

Hi Lara
The explanation of the emergence of the Changelings and the scenes of investigation in an active volcano were the weakest part of the programme. Better to have left it unexplained. I wonder if that little boy will win any awards? His performance was extraordinary.

I actually visited Stavanger in 1979. It was on board a Russian Cruise Ship the Mikhail Lermantov that eventually sank I think off NZ in about 1981. I still have my Mockba 1980 Olympic shirt ... it doesn't fit! I love all things Scandi, I'm currently getting underfloor heating fitted and then a Scandi style wooden floor on top this week!! State of happiness is such a beautiful story and I agree top end production values and acting. I was watching "Eyewitness" a Norweigian Police Procedure which has one of the actors from State of Happiness, but don't have access to a TV right now. It's very good, but does contain violence. Do you or does anyone have any top tips?

The little boy in Katla should win an award for his acting. I'm sure the director had his best interests at heart, but while I was watching him I did worry about the type of scenes he was doing and how that would impact him. :eek:

How interesting about your journey on the Russian ship. What an amazing trip that would have been for you. You could always frame the Mockba shirt I suppose. Under floor heating would be wonderful in a cold climate. Great for sore feet too. How exciting to get new wooden floors as well.

We don't watch television at home here but it's just my daughter and myself and we use our computers. I own a tv but it's not plugged into antenna. People think it's strange, but that's OK, I don't mind. I sometimes watch dvds on the actual tv set. I haven't done it recently but I used to put on surfing dvds with full soundtracks and have it playing in the background when I was cleaning or working nearby. That's very relaxing.

Some documentaries I enjoyed were ---

Joan Dideon - the centre will not hold

Kiss the Ground - Documentary science and nature. It's about the quality of soil and how it affects the food chain etc etc

The Staircase - crime drama US

The Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman motorbike from London to New York. Going east through Europe, Asia and then to Alaska.

Long Way Down - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman continue their travels from John o’Groats in Scotland through eighteen countries in Europe and Africa to Cape Town in South Africa.

Some more of the Nordic Noir with a few favourites although I've watched dozens and dozens.

Deadwind (Karppi) - Finnish
Bordertown - Finnish
The Bridge - Swedish Danish
The Killing - Danish
Wallander (several incarnations)

Borgen - Danish

I liked Line of Duty but haven't watched the last season.

Fringe I really loved. 100 or so episodes. I have the boxed set.

Random others include
Seven Years in Tibet. Movie 1997 Brad Pitt
Mindhunter - US psychological crime FBI
Fargo
Bloodline

I hope others have been getting some joy from watching bits of the Tokyo Olympics as much as I have. I watch it on my laptop. I just watched some incredible equestrian events and then super swimming. Watching BMX right now. Pretty cool. It's nice to be able to watch so many events live this time.

The Bridge is the ultimate Nordic Noir drama especially the first two seasons. I first came across the The Øresund Bridge in an episode of Top Gear and they have a way of making landscapes and seascapes look so dramatically strikingly beautiful that when I made the car journey across it myself, I was almost disappointed.

However the introduction music and the filming of The Bridge in the opening credits, makes me want to go again!

Bordertown is on my saved list on Netflix but I would like to recommend another Netflix series. Its a Belgian police procedural drama called The Break. It's set in a rural village and what's different is that none of the cops are TV cool, in fact they are flawed and some are barely competent. However they are oh so real, and well portrayed. It's a complicated tale and well worth the time. There is a second season that I haven't yet seen.

Me too 😃
 

Agreed! Rick Steves used to annoy me but over the years he's become my favorite travel show guy. I watch him quite a bit. :)

Lara, I think I've watched all of "Wallander" and "Borgen." Thank you for suggesting other Nordic Noirs--I plan to get hold of them.:)

The next season of "All Creatures Great & Small" starts Sunday, Jan 9th on PBS :) Yay!!

edited to correct date!
Dec 12th will have a preview of the new season

That's probably the very best program that has ever been on TV. The only thing better is the books.

Really looking forward to January on PBS - with a Masterpiece Theater production premiere of Around The World In 80 Days on Jan 2nd - and then All Creatures Great & Small Season 2 starting on Jan 9th :)

I recently watched "Mare of Easttown". It seemed to follow a somewhat familiar formula similar to some nordic detective shows I've seen. It was good.

I rewatched The Sopranos during my long time away from here recently.

Watching Yellowstone right now and loving it except for all the violence and animal slaughter. sigh. I spend a lot of time on fast forward. It's a little like Longmire on steroids. Such beautiful country though. mrsD would like it I think.

Watching "The Indian Dream Hotel".

What a land of extremes. I didn't get to see India back when I should have and I couldn't deal with the frenzy of it all now.

I haven't been watching all the episodes because they change participants every season and I'm not so fond of a couple of them.

It's a little like "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" but there is a disclaimer at the beginning of every episode saying that any resemblance to that is purely coincidental. I'm not sure if that is irony or not.

I got into character just now and made a vegetable curry in the hot and humid kitchen.

:rain:

Pre-pandemic I watched an excellent show called Lenox Hill.It was an 8 part docuseries. It stopped as everything became chaotic.

I see this week there's a follow on. At least I think it's a follow on. Called Emergency NYC. Looking forward to watching it and finding out what happened to a couple of the doctors who were in Lenox Hill and dealing with their own illnesses at the time. Similar set up by the look of it as a docuseries, on the go real life.

Forgot to mention. I watched that Succession. ugh. It drove me crazy. The nasty people and the stilted speech left me waiting for someone to say a word. The characters and their dialogues did my brain in. I read so many reviews how wonderful it all was, but I found it irritating, frankly. :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely try to get Lenox Hill and Emergency NYC.

Lately I've been watching an older series called The Indian Doctor. It's fiction but interesting, I think.

Also watching Cherif, a French detective drama. Not sure if I'll stick with it but I've been through one season.

I tried Succession for a few episodes but couldn't take it any more. I can't imagine why it was so popular. I agree with you that the main people were horrible--and boring.

I remember The Indian Doctor but not sure if I've seen it all.

The Hundred Foot Journey is another great one. I loved the concept. Comes from a book. I should read it if I can one day.

ps. I found the language in Succession and their demeanours towards other people almost like abuse. Yuk hated it.

Yes! Why spend time with people like that? :rolleyes:

I thought i should just mention that the Emergency NYC show does show a lot of very graphic surgical procedures just in case you don't find it easy to watch surgery. The whole show however, like Lenox Hill, has a wonderfully compasionate undertone and the staff were very likeable.

Wow, That was a surprise thanks.

Long time no see around here twinkletoes. I hope you are doing well.