Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

TV TALK (PART TWO) (ongoing thread)

INTRODUCTION

In our "Movies" section we often talk about films we see on TV and that's fine... that's how it should be. However, if we want to talk about other TV shows like sitcoms, we might want to post comments here.

Of course, the line between TV and Movies is blurred, especially now that we can obtain DVDs (e.g., from Netflix) of many of the series which originally aired on TV.

So it's up to the individual poster to decide where he/she wants to place his/her comments. This is just another avenue.

PS-The "Movies" section is at:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
(It's called: "Movies, DVDs, and Theater.")

Thank you, Joy.

Our winter break was very short this year. This week a few of my shows are coming back on.

You're welcome, Jackie. Those "breaks" make it hard for me to follow shows I like. When I look for them, they aren't there. After a while, I give up and forget about them.

It drives me nuts! Many a show has lost it's momentum due to the winter break. I'd rather see a show with new episodes every week til it's finished. And what really annoys me is that while on the break they air random episodes, not in any particular order. Do they really expect to get new viewers that way?
I really wish I was in charge of scheduling.

Well - There's always Netflix! LOL

Then I'd have to wait even longer! lol

Sounds spooky!
Ooops, I replied in the wrong thread. LOL

I don't find Netflix taking very long to get to us but sometimes the movie I am interested in seeing there is a Long wait. Like, "Midnight in Paris."

What I mean is, for TV series you have to wait til the season is over (gasp!) and then however long it is that it comes to DVD if you're using Netflix, or any vid service. If you're not watching as it airs, there is no other choice but to wait for the DVD.
Waiting a few weeks for my shows to come back isn't that much of a hardship, now that I'm reminded how much worse it could be. Sometimes it's good to see another option, then realize your situation isn't that bad after all. I may never bitch about the winter break again, lol

Jackie what I really hate is getting interested in a series and it just stops; like the one we were watching which was set in Australia and the last episode was the car with the main character running off the road into a lake.

I just finished watching "Midnight in Paris" (2011) via a Netflix DVD. It's a light and charming movie involving some interesting time travel in which we meet many literary figures. Woody Allen wrote and directed the film. The background music is delightful and the scenes of Paris are beautiful. Not much of a plot but enjoyable nevertheless. Owen Wilson plays a naive fellow who takes easily to time travel.

Nina, same here. The networks require such high ratings yet they don't advertise for the show, nor do they give them a chance to catch on. And the cliffhanger season endings make me so upset! TV series should tape an alternate season finale which wraps things up in the likely possibility they won't get renewed. I can't stand to be left hanging without a resolution to a story.

Joy, I love time travel, I'll have to check it out. TY

Jackie, don't forget to let us know what you thought of "Midnight in Paris".

Right now I'm streaming "Morning Glory" (2010) from Netflix. It's a great comedy. Some parts are so hilarious that I'm howling out loud all by myself in the middle of my living room.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mor...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1126618/
"An upstart television producer accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts."
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton
(They all play their parts to perfection!)

That's a good cast!

I'm hoping to rent Midnight this week. Maybe even this weekend if my visiting friend wants to see it.

Jackie, I hope you will enjoy the nostalgic music in the background of "Midnight in Paris". Sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenes of Paris as the music plays. Reviewer Berardinelli wrote:
================================================
"The movie's Paris is the city of post cards and romantic movies. Allen opens the film with images of many famous tourist spots as a cloudy day gives way to a rainy evening. The sequence is "Midnight in Paris"' most evocative."
FROM: http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_t...
================================================
I might watch that part again myself.

Are any of you watching, "Downton Abby," on Masterpiece theater? It is beginning it's second session this Sunday/tomorrow. It's good and got great reviews.

Nina wrote: "Are any of you watching, "Downton Abby," on Masterpiece theater? It is beginning it's second session this Sunday/tomorrow. It's good and got great reviews."

Nina, I'm not watching it currently but I have seen past shows. They were very good. I hate being pinned down to a TV schedule.

I'll be watching the People's Choice Awards on CBS-TV on Wed., Jan. 11 (9:00PMe/8:00PMc):
http://www.peopleschoice.com/pca/awar...
Will you be watching? My sister is coming to visit so that we can watch together. She's a real movie buff.

Yes, Nina, this second season of DA is fantastic.

No to the awards.

I didn't see "Blue Bloods" listed as a favorite crime drama. That's a shame. We just watched it last night & it's one of our favorites. Tom Selleck is one of the stars. It's basically about a family that is all employed by the Boston police department. Grandpa used to be the police commissioner, Tom Selleck is now. His daughter is a DA, while his sons are all cops (one died on the job).

I'm not drawn to crime dramas but my sister loves them. She also loves "The Good Wife" which I think is a legal drama. For a while she liked the medical dramas but then she said they got too gory.

I dropped out of Blue Bloods after the first season. I resented the usage of the son's death and the Blue Templar hook to get me interested in the first episode and nothing happened all season, a little tease at the end, if I even remember correctly.
I'm so bored with cop shows, there's only so many ways to kill a person and only so many ways to figure it out. I'm finding British cops shows far better. Luther is a perfect example of how brilliant and inventive a cop show can be.
I'm equally bored of legal and medical dramas. I've been lucky to have found interesting and unique shows like Once Upon A Time, Amer Horror Story. I crave something different. I've been getting better at dropping shows I'm not happy with. They interfere with my reading time and if they're not that interesting to me, they gotta go.

Talking about "getting better" at things, I'm getting better at bailing out of movies which are not holding my interest well enough. For example, I tried streaming "Sylvia" (2003) via Netflix but it was too depressing and dull.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325055/
"Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath." (Biography)
Sylvia Plath eventually killed herself. At least I know I can go back to it where I left off if I get curious about the rest of the movie.

I've often been curious about Sylvia Plath's book, The Bell Jar (fiction)(NYTimes bestseller 1971) and what the "bell jar" referred to. Wiki says:
===============================================
"She describes her depression as a feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath. ... shock treatments... beneficial in that it has a sort of antidepressant effect, lifting the metaphorical bell jar in which she has felt trapped and stifled."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell...
=================================================
Well, THAT answers THAT question! LOL
Sounds like a depressing book.

PS-I just found out that there's an upcoming movie in 2012, "The Bell Jar":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844467/

There was also one in 1979:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078843/

Of course, both are adapted from the novel.

It does sound depressing. I don't understand the attraction to such things. But I'm sure others' cannot understand my fascination with fantasy.

This dropping of shows and movies, and to a lesser degree, books that do not hold my interest is a new thing for me and I still find it difficult. I'm hoping I get better at it in the sense that it becomes less of a dilemma, a struggle to make the decision. The only thing that keeps me wanting to continue is the hope that it'll get better, which usually never happens! Curses on Pandora and her stupid little box! lol

Jackie, what helps me drop things I'm not fully enjoying is the fact that I may be missing other things which are far more interesting. There's only so much time...

You're so right, Joy, time is limited. It's what helps me make the decision to quit. I've dropped House and Bones, two shows I've been watching for years. The fact is I don't like where either is going and I haven't been happy with the episodes. It's funny though, because I deleted them off the DVR, put them back, and then had to stand firm and delete them again. Yep, I have a hard time with it, lol

We're still watching both House & Bones, but I can't say I'm all that into them. Like NCIS, if I miss an episode, I couldn't care less. Marg watches more TV than I do, so she'll often watch them without me.

I think NCIS has run it's course also. The only reason I'm still watching it is that it's one of two shows that me and Anthony watch together.


But on the flip side, I was feeling the same about Grey's Anatomy and was wishing to hear of it's imminent demise...until very recently. It has gotten significantly better, much as it once was and now I'm glad I stuck with it and that it's still on. You just never know if a show will get it's mojo back and that is the hook that makes it difficult to drop shows, for me at least.

I watched part of the "People's Choice Awards" last night on CBS. Since I'm unfamiliar with most of the shows involved, I hardly recognized any of the entertainers. (They're all so young!) Some of the backdrops to the musicals were too flashy for my taste. But I suppose that's what young people like. All in all, the show wasn't for me.

I found "MIdnight in Paris," enchanting and had to keep it another day to "walk the streets of Paris," one more time. I thought the theme was innovative but might not appeal to everyone.

Yes, I enjoyed "Midnight in Paris" too.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mid...

I watched the trailer to refresh my memory:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mid...
Can't remember how it ended! :-(

I dropped out after about a half hour, when the main character got into the car with Hemingway. Hemingway bored the hell out of me. Combined with the faux-time-travel theme, it didn't hold my attention enough to continue.

Well, Jackie I understand but it seems to appeal to some; my son bought the movie and sound track music and now wants to go to Paris. It was a bit much with the time travel but Oh to be in Paris one more time I had to do it vicariously with that movie.

I can surely understand that sentiment, Nina. When did you go to Paris? I'd love the hear about it. The best stories are real-life stories from friends.

Jackie wrote: "I dropped out of Blue Bloods after the first season. I resented the usage of the son's death and the Blue Templar hook to get me interested in the first episode and nothing happened all season, a ..."

I anticipated dropping Blue Bloods after the pilot but continued on to get hooked. I'm not a huge Tom Selleck fan but he typecasts into this part well.

I do like cop shows, when they're not TOO stupid. I can suspend my credulity for fantasy, not so much for cop shows.

I'm a huge The Good Wife fan and CBS's sloppiness in scheduling Sunday nights have irked me mightily. I have managed to see the episodes I missed online though. Cutesy lawyer shows have mostly soured for me. I still watch Franklin and Bash but probably not for long. Medical shows almost always turn me OFF quickly. I over-identify with the patients too much to accept the doctors' all-knowingness. I still watch House but he's a different kind of 'doctor'. He's getting a little stale too though.

THANK YOU Jackie for Luther! I've completely missed the whole series and Netflix has it. I hope I like it as much as you do.

Earl, I dropped House at the winter break. It is getting stale. What's annoying me most is Foreman's new job. Not too long ago he 'wasn't employable' because House 'tainted' him but now I'm supposed to believe he's acceptable for the job of Dean of Medicine? What worked for House and Cuddy is not working for House and Foreman. It's time to end this one too.

Do you get BBCA Earl? If so, usually Wednesday night has something good. Luther has 2 seasons, Netflix should have S2 soon because it aired on BBCA in the summer. As great as season 1 is, 2 is even better. My son doesn't watch much TV and he's hooked on Luther. Now that's how to do a cop show and keep me interested. And we love Idris Elba.

Another good British series that just aired on BBCA is State of Play (2003), a fantastic statement on political corruption and the media. James McAvoy, Bill Nighy and John Simms. All fantastic actors.

Jackie wrote: "I dropped out after about a half hour, when the main character got into the car with Hemingway. Hemingway bored the hell out of me. Combined with the faux-time-travel theme, it didn't hold my attention enough to continue. "

Hmmm, I was never notified by Goodreads that Jackie had posted here yesterday. I'm just seeing her Message #32 above.

Roger Ebert's review explains why I enjoyed the movie, "Midnight in Paris". Ebert wrote:
===============================================
Some audience members might be especially charmed by "Midnight in Paris." They would be those familiar with Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the artists who frequented Stein's famous salon: Picasso, Dali, Cole Porter, Man Ray, Luis Bunuel and, yes, "Tom Eliot." Allen assumes some familiarity with their generation, and some moviegoers will be mystified, because cultural literacy is not often required at the movies anymore. Others will be as charmed as I was. Zelda is playfully daffy, Scott is in love with her and doomed by his love, and Hemingway speaks always in formal sentences of great masculine portent.
FROM: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
================================================

I don't consider myself culturally literate at all, but the names of those celebrities which Ebert mentions were names which echo from my youth. They were names which one heard often back in my younger days. It was fun to watch Woody Allen's caricatures. It was all done with whimsical tongue in cheek.

Joy, I haven't been getting my notifications either! Some I do, but mostly not. At TV Group yesterday, I found topics going back til the 11th that I did not receive my notifications for.

It was Hemingway that ruined the movie for me. Zelda and Scott were cool. Especially Zelda. I know these people from reading them but in this portrayal Hemingway was a blowhard and I cannot subject myself to things I don't want to spend the time on. Sometimes I really like Woody Allen's books and movies, other times not at all. I probably depends on my mood too.

Jackie, I went to Berlin in 1977 to visit my daughter and son in law and to see my new born granddaughter. Later on I took a three day trip in Switzerland and finally ended up taking a train to Paris. I knew about three words in French and encounted no one one that trip who spoke English, which may explain why I was leary of getting a cab.On departing the train I used a map of Paris I'd torn from a National Geographic magazine and off I went wheeling my suitcase to try to locate my hotel. After block after block a miracle occured and there it was. Aside from being almost mugged on the Metro(a knife was on my side but the Metro stopped and lots of people got on and he didn't get my purse, I had a great time. Next couple of times were easier as I was with my daughter.

Nina, what an adventure.
I was enjoying reading it until that horrible man had to come in and ruin it.
You've led a very interesting life. Have you written your memoirs?

Yes, Nina should write her memoirs! Interesting life, for sure!

As for GR's non-notifications, I hope they get things straightened out. Meanwhile I'll have to keep checking for unread messages at the group.

The end of that story is that the group of thieves got my friend's purse who was standing next to me. She lost her money, passport, credit cards etc and also her daughter's as they were in her purse. We went to report it at the police station and when the policeman on duty found out they were from Texas he starting jumping around and pointing he finger like a gun and shouting, "Bang Bang." It seemed like a Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther. The good news is that I took my friends back to my hotel and the consierge found them a place to stay at another hotel until they could get money from home. I was almost out of money as I was leaving the following day but managed enough to go to a Chinese restaurant next door to my hotel. End of Paris story; except one more incident make it all worthwhile. One night I went into Notre Dame and it was totally dark except for a stream of small altar boys carrying lighted candles and singing as they marched down the aisle. They were practicing for the next day's Mass. Inspiring! I have written some of my travel stories up and some have been published.

I'm getting some notifications, just not all.

Nina, are your travel stories on goodreads? If so, can you give us links? If not, can you give me the titles? I'll see if can find them.

Your travel stories are great, Nina!

Years ago my cousin went to Europe with his wife. Someone stole his wife's purse with all their money and other necessary items for paying bills. They had to go home.

On my same trip I was behind the Berlin Wall with my daugther, son in law and baby granddaughter. The guards took the baby in her buggy when we tried it exit and it was heart rendering. We couldn't see where they had taken her. Finally, after waiting for a very long time I took it upon myself to try to locate her. I went through a path of mines, barking meancing looking dogs and a guard in a tower pointing a machine gun at me and shouting, "Verboten!" I ESCAPED INTO A Shed and there she was in her buggy. Not long after they pushed her along the path, me trailing and we were then given back our passports and off we went to the other side of the wall. It seems the East Germans at that time thought people were smuggling babies out of their territory. I was never so happy to see the American flag flying at Crosspoint Charlie.

What a frightening experience that must have been, Nina!

It was frightening but think now what it must have been for the Jews during the War. I can barely imagine after what I experienced. But, the good news is that baby is now a prof at University of New Haven in CT. She teaches Archetectural Design. Jackie, my travel articles seemed to have vanished from my computer. I do have printed copies but the magazine they were published in has long since gone out of business; it was Boulevard and was situated somewhere on the East Coast/other article was published in our paper. The Kansas City Star.I won a prize for the best Horror travel trip story. It wasn't the one I just mentioned. And, no, none of my articles are on Goodreads.

Yesterday I finished watching the film adaptation of Sarah's Key. Yes, that sad story reminds us how lucky we are.

The movie was well done. I watched it via a Netflix DVD. The young actress, Mélusine Mayance, who played Sarah as a little girl was terrific. Below is a link to her IMDb page:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3274621/

One of my daughter's childhood's friend grew up to marry a Frenchman she met at the Sorbonne. When her fatherin law and his sister were children in Paris during the War their neighbor came and took them from school one day and delivered them each to two different farms far from Paris. These children never saw their parents again. At the time my daughter's friend married neither she nor her husband knew he was part Jewish. Just recently the story came out. The children survived. The little boy grew up to be a printer in Paris and I have one of his prints advertising an artist's work hanging in my den. I looked at the print with renewed interest after reading, "Sarah's Key."

That's an amazing story, Nina. It certainly has a certain similarity to "Sarah's Key".