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Watched anything good lately?
- Thread starter Matt N
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Matt N
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I managed to watch the other key Christmas TV bits today, to cap off the main TV events I was anticipating during the season!
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
I thought this was excellent! It’s been years since I’ve watched one of the Wallace & Gromit films, but this was very funny and definitely every bit as fun and charming as we’ve come to expect from the duo over the years! I enjoyed the somewhat modern twist with the AI/robot storyline, but also very much enjoyed the return of Feathers McGraw over 30 years on! Overall, I definitely thoroughly enjoyed Wallace & Gromit, and the new instalment fits in very nicely with the others as a thoroughly fun hour and a half! I do think a Norbot scene would be a nice addition to Thrill-O-Matic in Blackpool…
Tiddler
This was not exactly anticipated as such, but me and my mum decided to watch it out of nostalgia, as we always used to watch the animated Julia Donaldson specials when I was a child. I’m not really the target demographic, but I thought it was quite sweet!
Outnumbered
This was definitely funny enough and had some good laughs in places, but I do feel like it’s maybe lost something now the children are grown up. A lot of the charm of the original episodes came from the wild improvisation of the child actors, particularly Karen and Ben, and you don’t get that as much now they’re all adults. I also thought that the reasonable emphasis on cancer was maybe a tad depressing for a Christmas special. Nonetheless, it was still a fun watch with a few good chuckle-inducing lines, if not quite up there with the original episodes for me.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
I thought this was excellent! It’s been years since I’ve watched one of the Wallace & Gromit films, but this was very funny and definitely every bit as fun and charming as we’ve come to expect from the duo over the years! I enjoyed the somewhat modern twist with the AI/robot storyline, but also very much enjoyed the return of Feathers McGraw over 30 years on! Overall, I definitely thoroughly enjoyed Wallace & Gromit, and the new instalment fits in very nicely with the others as a thoroughly fun hour and a half! I do think a Norbot scene would be a nice addition to Thrill-O-Matic in Blackpool…
Tiddler
This was not exactly anticipated as such, but me and my mum decided to watch it out of nostalgia, as we always used to watch the animated Julia Donaldson specials when I was a child. I’m not really the target demographic, but I thought it was quite sweet!
Outnumbered
This was definitely funny enough and had some good laughs in places, but I do feel like it’s maybe lost something now the children are grown up. A lot of the charm of the original episodes came from the wild improvisation of the child actors, particularly Karen and Ben, and you don’t get that as much now they’re all adults. I also thought that the reasonable emphasis on cancer was maybe a tad depressing for a Christmas special. Nonetheless, it was still a fun watch with a few good chuckle-inducing lines, if not quite up there with the original episodes for me.
pluk
TS Member
I thought it was pretty crap. It was always going to de different with the kids having grown up, but the obvious way forward was to have grandchildren in a similar cute and semi improvised role. Instead we got a single new kid who didn't turn up until most of the way through and was just annoying, another new adult who was just annoying, and a durgey storyline that didn't have a decent payoff. 2/10.
Burbs
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Did we watch the same programme? I think I laughed once and that was at the cutaway shot of the house being the only one lit up with Christmas lights in the middle of November.
Matt N
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I’ve recently watched a couple more new (to me) programmes!
Motherland
Given that the new spin-off Amandaland was on tonight (haven’t watched it yet, but definitely intend to give it a go!), I thought this might be quite an apt one to review today. Even though I do not have children myself, so perhaps can’t fully relate to it quite as well as parents can, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Motherland! It has lots of really good characters; Julia, the main protagonist, is absolutely frantic throughout the whole thing and always seems to be on the edge of some sort of nervous breakdown, Liz doesn’t seem to care at all, Kevin is the slightly awkward dad on the sidelines, Amanda is the “queen bee” of the mums… there are loads of standout characters, and they all have some great lines and really add to it! Even as someone who isn’t a parent, there were also still plenty of bits I could fully relate to, as someone who attended primary school in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and there are some absolutely hilarious bits; I seem to remember the Halloween episode later on (I think it’s called “The Purge” or something like that?) being particularly good!
Veep
After having recently watched and enjoyed The Thick of It, we decided to give Veep, its American sibling, a go. None of us had watched Veep before, but I’m on S5 and I have to say it’s absolutely brilliant; for me, I like it every bit as much as I liked TTOI, if not more (perhaps controversially, as a Brit)! While you can definitely see some similarities to TTOI, it’s also very different and diverges to become its own really great thing, particularly as it progresses. Similarly to TTOI, it shows some utterly inept and self-centred characters at the heart of politics; the main character, Vice President Selina Meyer, epitomises these qualities in every episode, along with many of the people around her, and it makes for hilarious viewing! While it doesn’t have a US equivalent of Malcolm Tucker, nor nearly as much adventurous swearing as TTOI, I personally don’t think it misses these things at all; it’s its own great programme that gets on fine without them. I also like that it has a bit more of a story than TTOI; we’re currently absolutely gripped and wanting to see what happens with
! Overall, then, I’m thoroughly enjoying Veep so far… it’s every bit as good as The Thick of It if not better for me, personally!
Motherland
Given that the new spin-off Amandaland was on tonight (haven’t watched it yet, but definitely intend to give it a go!), I thought this might be quite an apt one to review today. Even though I do not have children myself, so perhaps can’t fully relate to it quite as well as parents can, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Motherland! It has lots of really good characters; Julia, the main protagonist, is absolutely frantic throughout the whole thing and always seems to be on the edge of some sort of nervous breakdown, Liz doesn’t seem to care at all, Kevin is the slightly awkward dad on the sidelines, Amanda is the “queen bee” of the mums… there are loads of standout characters, and they all have some great lines and really add to it! Even as someone who isn’t a parent, there were also still plenty of bits I could fully relate to, as someone who attended primary school in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and there are some absolutely hilarious bits; I seem to remember the Halloween episode later on (I think it’s called “The Purge” or something like that?) being particularly good!
Veep
After having recently watched and enjoyed The Thick of It, we decided to give Veep, its American sibling, a go. None of us had watched Veep before, but I’m on S5 and I have to say it’s absolutely brilliant; for me, I like it every bit as much as I liked TTOI, if not more (perhaps controversially, as a Brit)! While you can definitely see some similarities to TTOI, it’s also very different and diverges to become its own really great thing, particularly as it progresses. Similarly to TTOI, it shows some utterly inept and self-centred characters at the heart of politics; the main character, Vice President Selina Meyer, epitomises these qualities in every episode, along with many of the people around her, and it makes for hilarious viewing! While it doesn’t have a US equivalent of Malcolm Tucker, nor nearly as much adventurous swearing as TTOI, I personally don’t think it misses these things at all; it’s its own great programme that gets on fine without them. I also like that it has a bit more of a story than TTOI; we’re currently absolutely gripped and wanting to see what happens with
the tied election and the recount in Nevada
Matt N
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I haven't watched any yet. I think we're going to finish the last few episodes of Veep first (we've just begun S6).@Matt N have you watched any Amandaland yet? Watching now and still feel so sorry for Ann...
Not sure Amanda was the right character to spin off though - she's so awful
At first thought, it seems odd to me that they didn't just do another series of Motherland instead of an Amanda-centred spinoff, but I'm reserving judgement until I watch it...
Jonathan
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My viewing habits at the moment are heavily influenced by Eurovision. Over the past few weeks, I've seen Luxembourg's national final, started watching Melodifestivalen (Sweden's national final), seen Greece's national final, most of Belgium's national final, and now on Eurosong (Ireland's national final). Anyone would think I'm obsessed... 
GooseOnTheLoose
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I'm sure there's a dedicated thread for that... Along with bins.My viewing habits at the moment are heavily influenced by Eurovision. Over the past few weeks, I've seen Luxembourg's national final, started watching Melodifestivalen (Sweden's national final), seen Greece's national final, most of Belgium's national final, and now on Eurosong (Ireland's national final). Anyone would think I'm obsessed...
Alix
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I reckon Anna maxwell Martin possibly had a better offer
Just finished the second episode.@Matt N have you watched any Amandaland yet? Watching now and still feel so sorry for Ann...
Not sure Amanda was the right character to spin off though - she's so awful
I'm a bit disappointed that Ms Thompson and the Beach haven't appeared yet, despite the title.
Typical BBC. I want my license fee back.
John_P
TS Member
Zero Day which is brand new to Netflix this week.
Robert De Nero is a former US president tasked with overseeing a commission following a cyber attack on the United States.
Really good cast supporting De Nero, and at only 6 episodes long it rips along at a good pace, maybe a bit flabby in the middle. But pulls back into focus as the conspiracy is unmasked.
Very much enjoyed this, can easily be watched over a few evenings.
Robert De Nero is a former US president tasked with overseeing a commission following a cyber attack on the United States.
Really good cast supporting De Nero, and at only 6 episodes long it rips along at a good pace, maybe a bit flabby in the middle. But pulls back into focus as the conspiracy is unmasked.
Very much enjoyed this, can easily be watched over a few evenings.