Television series

So great I watched it twice, huzzah!

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Apart from that fingernails bit, eewww. The Great has been such a romp, perfect Sunday evening viewing, everything about it is so sumptuous. I may have to gorge on it later once the series has finished, a banquet with ten courses, yum! I’ll need some popcorn and raspberry ripple ice cream for that (no, not in the same bowl).

It was this time last year I was back in from seeing Logan’s Close at the Caves for the release of Lost In You. It’s been a lonnng year since then. Some are getting excited at the news that the end of Covid restrictions may be in sight, but I don’t reckon it’s as straightforward or as timetably as folk want to believe – look at what happened to the Christmas Grace. Yes, the vaccines are being rolled out but I reckon there will still be some social restrictions in place, more than the general populace will be happy with. Call me a pessimist but hey, at least I’ll be mightily impressed if I get to be in a packed room to see the Close before the end of the year, I’m just not holding my breath.

Who knows what form any Fringe that takes place will be?! And, of course there’s the new bother of post Brexit paperwork and costs for acts coming over from Europe. Creatives have gotten creative online, will the cost of a month in Edinburgh seem worth it any more? Especially if there’s no physical Fringe for a second year. Will the new generation of creatives look on the Edinburgh Fringe as too cumbersome, expensive and old hat? Has it had it’s day? Will it rise again like a phoenix or be like one of those tawdry, tired old seaside towns that you know would have been magnificent back in the day but, sadly, not any more?

Oo, that got maudlin. Here’s to better times, however they may present themselves. Here’s to one day being able to stumble upon a great band playing live in a pub. Here’s to hugging a long-not-seen mate.

God, I so miss hugging 😔

A bit of banter….

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The weather’s been rotten today, it’s gonna be really rotten tomorrow, Thursday it’ll keep being rotten just not as windy as tomorrow. The forecast I saw earlier predicts heavy rain, lots of sleet and the odd bit of actual snow until next Tuesday morning, not a single segment showed a lack of any kind of precipitation ’til then. Welcome to February! This may be the time to finally break out the Breaking Bad box set.

I’ve been watching Staged sporadically over the last two weeks. I missed all of the first series last June, so had to catch up on that before watching the second, just out in January. I particularly wanted to see it as it is mainly David Tennant and Michael Sheen bickering with each other, well, they were the best thing about the TV production of Good Omens (from the book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – him again). Staged is a product of the current crisis, it’s about this moment in time, all the restrictions on lives, everyone meeting online. I wonder what we’ll make of it in ten, twenty years time?

The premise is that David Tennant (my favourite of the modern Doctors) and Michael Sheen were due to do a play together in the West End, of course it’s on hold due to the pandemic, but the director Simon Evans decides they should press ahead with rehearsals via Zoom………. The three play exaggerated versions of themselves. As this is filmed from their homes their significant others (Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg) and Simon’s sister (Lucy Eaton whose house he’s living in) pop up too. The banter is just wonderful, the beards, the wild-eyed rants and angsty moments, spot on as life in lockdown mode. There is some riffing between Sheen and Tennant but it is mainly scripted by Simon Evans who also directs, stars and co-created it (not to be confused with the stand-up comedian Simon Evans, a Fringe regular).

That was just the first series, the second series isn’t just more of the same, oh no, they take it several notches further. The second series accepts that the first series was just that, a tv series, a successful tv series that Evans has been asked to remake for American television – without Tennant and Sheen! Naturally the two are not happy at this, especially when they’re asked to speak to potential new leads, cue a marvellous parade of guest stars including Jim Parsons and Christoph Waltz. While the second series is still very funny and enjoyable, I do prefer the first, it has a warm charm about it of two great friends just bantering.

Hmmm, if Covid isn’t brought to heel soon, if it keeps mutating and makes the current vaccines useless, will there be a third series of Staged? Just how meta could it get? It’s late, the heating gone off for the night, I need to get snuggly warm and sleep.

G’night, sleep tight. 💛

If you’ve never seen Buffy this won’t mean much!

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Another Friday night and I ain’t got nobody – and I have about half an hour before Buffy comes on. The seventh series just started last night, but I turned over to watch the last episode of series six again, it is rather good! Mind the episodes leading up to it were pretty awesome too. Funny that, as first time round I wasn’t impressed by a lot of series six (apart from the obvious, of course), but on seeing it again there’s so many nuances and so much focus on personalities and relationships that I wonder, did I miss that or have the years given me a different perspective? A few thoughts on things I noticed this time round…..

Xander’s dad at the wedding, we all know that type, not nice and a lot of other ugly words; Xander would probably harbour secret worries that he’ll become the same. Let’s face it, he had become quite annoying and a tad disaffected through series six, so when Xander was shown a bitter future who didn’t think that was his truth? Okay, there was a teensy tiny suspicion but we were all relieved that it was a lie, sadly the lie had already done enough damage; Anya’s and Xander’s trust and belief in each other was torn to shreds by doubts and fears. I actually felt quite moved by their loss and fallibilities.

But back to Xander’s dad, where did I know that face from? Ah, I would have previously known it from Grace Under Fire (a great sitcom from the 90s), more recently it’s been the face of Bernadette’s taciturn father in The Big Bang Theory.

What a great story arc for Willow in series six, there were plenty of little hints of her descent into magic addiction, like the petulance and blind desire to shape life to suit herself. And when she gets really dark, wow, who ever would have thought sweet little Willow from season one would ever flay a guy alive?! Her romance, break up and getting back together with Tara was all so brilliantly written and acted; there was no big flag waving or heavy underlining of, oo, lesbians here, it was played so naturally and sweetly, I was rooting for them all the way. Tara’s death was quite shocking and signalled the start of the spiralling mayhem to the series finale.

How good was Anthony Head’s return? “I’d like to test that theory!” Boom, Giles was back, and the episode ended. There may have been a little air-punching the first time I saw that, and then we had to wait a whole week to see what would happen next! The anticipation! But the brilliance when it was Xander, the everyman, the ordinary chap, who saves the world and Willow by being himself and refusing to give up on her. Oh, my heartses!

One thing that didn’t ring true this series, this time and on my first viewing was the bathroom scene with Buffy and Spike. I get why it was put it in, but for all we know about these two, no, it just felt contrived and poorly written. I guess it wasn’t the easiest of scenes to write but still, it felt like the characters were being fed lines rather than being themselves.

Another wee note is Clem, like the Shar Pei of demonkind (very wrinkly skin). A sweet likeable demon who takes over Dawn-sitting duties when Spike takes off. For most of Buffy demons were all varying degrees of bad guys, then suddenly we notice Spike seems to have a chum and the local bar were demons hang is the place to go get info. This is, of course, after Angel goes to L.A. and Joss Whedon starts writing demons as just other citizens living there and getting on with their lives; which reminds me, next week E4 is showing Angel from the start. Joys!

Toodle pip, my sweets!

Another post, with feeling

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Oh dear, WordPress have gone and changed stuff, call me Sheldon, I don’t like change, suppose I do something wrong? Miss something I’m meant to do? And a hundred other little catastrophes waiting to jump out on me (I was going to a million but decided that would be exaggerating). What was wrong with it before? Will the new way be an improvement? So many questions! I feel like a gronk “Oh, my heartses!”

Anyhoo, it’s September, and even without a proper Fringe to end I feel down, but late last night my soul soared with joy. Why? My favourite Buffy episode Once More, With Feeling was on telly. I always feel disjointed and distracted at this time, it’s difficult to write anything down, so hey, I’m gonna share how much I love this episode!

Come on, what’s not to love about it? Joss Whedon pulled off a masterpiece here, the music is brilliant and his lyrics are so sharp, not one line is wasted. His fun and wit is not diminished at all by the constraints of song; and Whedon moves every character forward so much in this one episode. Mmm, yeah, just bringing one musical demon to town allowed for the whole board to be re-set with every player on a new space – how much speaking dialogue would that have taken? Way more than fifty minutes I reckon.

Who knew how good the singing would be? Well, we’d heard Giles’ dulcet tones before and word was already out before it came on UK telly that a certain witch doesn’t sing much at all by personal request. In contrast Tara’s solo was sooo beautiful, Willow’s silence could be taken as hiding her truths rather than a lack of singing ability of the actress. Oh, and Xander’s and Anya’s wonderful song and dance with I’ll Never Tell is pure old time Hollywood. Dawn’s piece with the creepy demon hench dolls again reminisces on old movies. Buffy buffed up well, nicely polished but somehow, I dunno, not quite as, something, argh. The ensemble pieces and weaving of voices were wonderful; Giles’ and Tara’s songs mingling as they face their truths, beautiful.

Let’s not forget the slickest demon to appear in Sunnydale – Sweet. His look was perfect, the zoot suits so cool, add to that a voice and moves that are spellbindingly charismatic. Heck, I’d be his queen, or pet moose, whatever! For a demon he quite a reasonable chap, mischief done, he goes. Thank you, and good night. Even the little screen demon at the end gets with the programme and sings his little “Grrr, aargh”, bless!

Oh, and Buffy and Spike finally kiss at the end. About bloody time ❤

Late night ramblings…..

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Late Sunday night at Chez Bruce, I should have gone to bed by now, it’s not like there’s anything good on the telly tonight. I had hoped that the second series of Misfits would run on straight after the first, it didn’t, bah. I have it on dvd, seven late Sunday night viewings happened in one very long Sunday night finishing off on the following evening. It’s difficult not to gorge when it’s just there, see this is why I’m fine not bothering with new-fangled telly on demand stuff.

So I’ve spent the last couple of Sunday evenings re-watching the first series of Lucifer, I wanted something fun and frothy, Lucifer fit the bill. Tom Ellis is just brilliant in it, the rest of the cast aren’t too shabby either. Besides being devilishly charming he can carry a tune too (umm, he’d make a great Frankenfurter), well he is Welsh; turns out it’s not him tickling the ivories though, shame.

Our Tom made a brief appearance in Merlin which has been re-running on Pick every week day evening (yay, it is showing right through to the end). Not brief enough for me, he was rather miscast in it, and may I say, he doesn’t suit long hair! Nah, he really wasn’t right for the part, mind I didn’t reckon anything to the character, it was just an unconvincing cog to move things into place. Yeah, poor Cenred got a bum deal from the writers.

Apart from crappy Cenred, I’ve enjoyed watching Merlin each evening. It’s not like I’ve been able to go anywhere these last months, apart my evening strolls of course. It’s been funny how at eight in the evening Anthony Head is Uther Pendragon, old, arrogant, despising all things magic, then at the back of eleven he’s Giles, younger, quietly charming, with a library of magic to hand.  Oh, and Head has played Frankenfurter, boy, would I have loved to have seen that!

Yes, indeed, Hurrah, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is being shown again every week night late on, and there was no break after season one, so hopefully it’ll be bedtime viewing for some time yet. Maybe we’ll have some semblance of normal life by that time – there are another five seasons after this, so that’s over a hundred more episodes to go!

There’s a lent box set of Breaking Bad sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched. I’ve never seen any of it but from all reports (and people shrieking “What? You haven’t seen it!! What’s wrong with you?!”) it’s very good and highly addictive. How do people cope with so much telly to watch? How??

I’m going to go lie down now.

Toodle pip!

 

It’s cold, it’s dark, I’m lurgied – it’s Telly Time!

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Hello there! I’m a little hoarse still, so have taken to medicating myself with black cherry mead. It’s rather good! There’s a chap who dresses up like a monk and sells all sorts of mead at a stall in the Grassmarket on Saturdays, it’s rather fun tasting all the varieties! The black cherry mead is reminiscent of a lovely soothing medicine from childhood.

So, hands up who watched Dracula on telly at New Year, wasn’t that fun?! Claes Bang was excellent, his performance and the wit made me think of Tom Ellis as Lucifer, but with less of the camp. And surely I wasn’t the only one who thought Sister Agatha was like Delenn from Babylon 5?? Admittedly, I was a little sceptical after recovering from the wtf ending of the second episode, Moffat & Gatiss up to their tricks again! But, I thoroughly enjoyed the final episode and Mark Gatiss’ cameo as Dracula’s lawyer (well, if you can’t write in a part for yourself!) was a bit of cheeky genius. Some folk probably won’t be happy with all the liberties taken with the story, fair enough, the padding out of the voyage of the Demeter made sense to me (except the moustache they stuck on Sacha Dhawan).

Talking about Sacha Dhawan, did you see the new Doctor Who? No moustache this time (thankfully – not his best look), he’s rather good in it, one of the better parts I thought. I hate to say it, but Doctor Who is not what it was anymore. No, it’s not Jodie Whittaker, I’m fine with her take on it, it’s the writing, just not as good as previously. Oh, I’ll no doubt still watch it, but not with enthusiasm.

Oh, but, how pleased was I with His Dark Materials? Very. I finally got round to watching it all as I wallowed lurgiefied in front of the fire. Dafne Keen is such a brilliant wee actress, she makes a perfect Lyra Belacqua, and Ruth Wilson, wow, stunning as Mrs Coulter, do not mess with this lady! Just so many wonderful actors perfectly cast in a beautifully realised TV adaptation, and yay, the dulcet tones of Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby (one of my favourite characters from the book). Let’s not forget the bear in the room, Iorek Byrnison, he was truly magnificent, wherever did they find such a talented bear 😆 The only casting I was slightly at odds with was James McAvoy as Lord Asriel, mind, I never really got the character in the book either.

Still lying in front of the fire, I caught the original Jumanji film starring Robin Williams on the telly, which I followed up with the second on dvd. Now I’m all set for the latest instalment in the cinema. Yes, I had to spend a lot of time in front of my fire to recover from my lurgy, but needs must when the devil drives!

Nitey nite!

 

Well, that was a ride and a half!

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And so tonight The Big Bang Theory finally came to an end (after which E4 announced they’re going to start showing it all again from the start). Gonna miss those guys! Sheldon Cooper must be my favourite comedy creation, closely followed by Niles Crane, both so brilliantly written and portrayed. Indeed, I used to watch Frasier as avidly as I’ve watched BBT these last twelve years. Even when Frasier was in the Friday 9pm slot my friends and I wouldn’t head to the pub until after it (mind, I would be oot til two o’clock or so).

It got me trying to remember what other american half hour comedy shows have had me so hooked over the years……

Roseanne immediately sprang to mind, okay so towards the end it seriously declined, but that is where my moose crush on Johnny Galecki began! I remember the hallowe’en episodes were always excellent. Grace Under Fire was another firm favourite, Home Improvement was around at that time, and Cybill, a show I loved for almost everyone in it apart from Cybill Shepherd (Christine Baranski was wonderful, of course). Oh yeah, Spin City too, Michael J.Fox was sooo, just sooo, yeah, moose crush time (and Jennifer Esposito was hot!)

I had videos recorded long play from the telly full of American comedies. The odd Married With Children episode thrown in as well. Crikey, almost forgot Third Rock From The Sun!! Wow, that was sooo funny and such a brilliant ensemble piece with great cameos (Christine Baranski and Laurie Metcalf to name two). Another connection – a very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy) was briefly in Roseanne.

Later came My Name is Earl and Scrubs, then How I Met Your Mother. It took a while to get into HIMYM, but it sucked me in and by the sixth series I was seriously committed! Yeah, The Goldberg’s kinda pulled me in despite my lack of initial interest (I do like it when they have the people portrayed in it talking at the end).

But Bruce, what about Friends and Seinfeld? Seinfeld, I really did try, and it did make me laugh, but we just never gelled. Friends? They were on a break!! That’s when it lost me, oh I still watched but I was irked, the guys would, should have stuck by their bro, they were on a break, they were free agents. Wow, yeah, I’m still irked about that plotline now!

Two more classics that I adored, The Wonder Years and The Golden Girls. How come neither of them are being repeated on some channel?! They probably are, somewhere.

Ain’t it nice to look back on old loves!  Who would win a hissy fit fight – Niles or Sheldon? What new comedy show will grab Laurie Metcalf for a cameo? Whatever happened to Harry?Did any of your old favourites pop up here?

Toodle pip! Sweet dreams  x

 

How much fun is Joe Gilgun?

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Blimey it’s a tad warm this evening, what happened to the thunderstorm I was promised?? One, it would have cleared the mugginess and two, I love a good bit of thunder and lightning. Even the forecast for tomorrow has now dumbed down to just rain in the afternoon. Rain was always on the cards for tomorrow, it being the Meadows Fair (it’s like a Glastonbury thing – rain and mud are inevitable).

This was to be a post about this year’s Film Festival but I’ve waylaid myself and watched the first three episodes of Preacher. How good is that??!!! I’m sooo tempted to put the next dvd on. Cooper, Gilgun and Negga, all just beyond brilliant! Joe Gilgun especially,  he’s so alive and exciting to watch. Tip, give the film Lockout a go, Gilgun is very entertaining as a psychotic Scottish criminal; it’s no masterpiece but it does also have a laconic Guy Pearce!

I’ve not read the comic books of Preacher, just perused the odd one in friends’ flats many years ago. I just stuck with Sandman at the time but I do remember liking the look of Preacher, hardly surprising as I’d been a big 2000AD fan from its beginning until I gave it up in the early 90s as it became too much into the artwork and not enough actual storylines. I do still have all my old 2000ADs back home, oo, what a fun distraction that would be. Then I could revisit Sandman! For lighter moments I could put Bloom County Babylon in the bathroom for my toilet-reading. No, no, no!! The Fringe programme is oot on Wednesday, that’ll be my reading for the next while.

A moose at Easter

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Happy Easter!!!

After a day of non-stop rain the sun is actually shining for National Egg Hunting Day. I was hunting the last few days for a Chocolate Buttons Easter Egg, but no joy! So I settled for a Smarties one instead – its a calfhood thing. Of course, egg rolling is a big thing too; the little darlings spend hours with tongues sticking out in concentration as they paint mini-masterpieces on eggs only to smash them to smithereens on a local hillside. Arthur’s Seat and every other slope in Holyrood Park will be liberally covered with bits of brilliantly coloured eggshell and hard boiled egg remains by late afternoon. The local wildlife must enjoy a slap-up Easter Sunday tea! I do enjoy a walk round the park late in the day – after all the little darlings have left.

As I said, it was a wet day yesterday so I stayed in with the Gotham box set series 1-3, oh yayyyy!!! It is bloody magnificent! That’s series 1 recapped now, but I’m tempted to slip in Peaky Blinders series 2 before I go back to Gotham, I do have tomorrow off as well and I have until a week Tuesday to watch the rest. Gotham is truly outstanding tv, Marvel may make the better films but DC totally win the tv battle with this.

I also have GoT7 to watch, but I definitely want to watch GoT6 again before moving on. Yes, I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve been busy, and right now it’s way more important to rewatch all of previous Gotham!

Hope you all have a great Easter whether you be bingeing on chocolate or viewing, or both!

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