Masterpiece Theater

[cranefly]

Very tempted to post on the Greatest Band Names thread.
But I'll behave.

[Greg]

Bawbag is another favorite.

[Drunk Monk]

I have been using 'melt' but that's Irish, right? 

On a similar note, I watched the first ep of Hamish Macbeth, a Scottish BBC police procedural show from 1995. It was quirky fun and I found myself relying heavily on the subs to understand what they were sayin.

Prudes.

Prudence is kinda refreshin nowadays. Maybe PBS stands for Prudent Broadcasting Station. Really it should be Viking River Cruises. 'traveling rivers by boat, spectacular panoramas unfold...' Heard that line so many times lately.

[Greg]

I don't think you can use 'melt' without using the modifier 'feckin'

[Drunk Monk]

I don't think you can use 'melt' without using the modifier 'feckin'

good to know

there was one good line in s1e2 but i forgot it now. the mediocre lines were 'only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches' and that ol standby 'bob's yer uncle' which i've never quite understood.

[Drunk Monk]

Granchester S5e1: And we're back. Stacy called the murderer correctly at the very first appearance. Kinda annoying because then the whole ep was the slow acknowledgement that she was right and I do that all the time. I don't need my escapist BBC ITV shows to be the same. It starts with a young lady drowned in a pool like Ophelia.

Beecham House premiere. It's okay. I'm worried that it'll be another 'white savior' story, but so far it shows India well. I even recognized the Red Fort. Weird coincidence - it stars PakiHarryPotter from last night's feature, Blinded by the Light http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...3#pid38813 . Not overly engaged in this show, but will watch a few more eps maybe. Downtown 1: Cook.

[Drunk Monk]

Granchester S5 finale was entertaining. Never mind the murders, it's all about the characters. A lot of good character development and resolution here. And there's a crazy random twist, one that neither of us saw coming until it happened. We were scratching our heads about it until the final scene, which turned it into a hilarious finish.

Beecham House S1 finale was a bit predictable - a cliffhanger that we have to wait a year for S2 to resolve. Honestly, neither of us were really into this show. We just watched it for the costumes and sets, which are all very lavish. The mishmash they are making of Indian culture is a bit annoying and the notion of a decent Englishman in the thick of India's pillage as a colony feels way to white savior to work. But the baby is super cute.

[Drunk Monk]

Inspector Morse: Infernal Serpent (1990)
This series is the earlier version of Endeavour, which is about to start up again on PBS on Aug 9 with Season 7. Luv that show and we can't wait. Endeavour is the prequel, set in the late 60s-70s. The earlier series was contemporary so the 90s but it felt older given its tone. 

It was fascinating to see how the new series mirrors the old one - starting with classical music overlaying with a montage of scenes that offer clues and set up the murder mystery, the Oxford setting, and the general pacing of the plot with inspectorly ruminations over pints at the pub. The dynamics of the characters change. In the original, Morse is the senior grizzled inspector. In Endeavour, Morse, well it's Endeavour Morse - he's the young brilliant up-and-coming detective taken under the wing of the senior grizzled Inspector Thursday. We didn't buy into the 90s Morse. We're too attached to the new version, plus Thursday is a great character. The only character that felt the same across both franchises was Chief Strange. I really missed the pathologist from the present series - his dry Brit humor really brings it. 

The mystery behind this one was incredibly convoluted with a lot of red herrings. In the end, we sort of guessed some of it but it was too twisty to follow completely. However it was good to see it to put the series into perspective. The original series is highly regarded, based on a novel franchise, and has 33 2-hour episodes. I'm not sure that we'll explore many more of those. 

There was another spin off, Lewis, done in 2006-7, based on Morse's sidekick in the 90s. It also has 33 episodes.

[Greg]

I read most of the novels back in the day.

[Drunk Monk]

Really? Any good?

Have you watched any of these shows?

[Greg]

Good British mysteries. A lot of the same after awhile.

[Drunk Monk]

True about most series, I should say. 

We really enjoy Endeavour. All that characters are interesting. And there's nice development and progression over the seasons. Looking forward to this upcoming season very much.

I just realized that Lewis was retitled Inspector Lewis and we watched some of that. I iz a gud detective.

[Drunk Monk]

Yay. Endeavor is back. The S7 premiere is directed by lead Shaun Evans and it starts in Venice (which I think was just Shaun wanting to visit Venice). Good to see the gang back in service. Stacy predicted the two major mcguffins. I had a solve that would've been twistier but it spun out of her initial correct prediction. And I was thinking about the second one but she voiced it first. 

She also predicted Kamala this morning before she was announced. I'm telling her to go buy a lottery ticket.

[Drunk Monk]

It was only a 3 Ep season for endeavor. At least each Ep was an hour and a half. It was convulsed but satisfying in the end. Now we wait a year for s8.

[Drunk Monk]

Van der Valk
 
A new police procedural rebooting a 70s show. It began with a memorial for Dame Diana, as she was a Masterpiece host. Poignant.

The new show is set in Amsterdam and the police squad has good chemistry. The lead is the villain from Beecham House. This is a better role for him. He reminded me of a young Malcolm McDowell here. The premiere was twisty and I didn’t even guess what was up. It’s violent for Masterpiece and comes with a warning at the start. It was an hour and a half and had some nice art undertones. Enjoyable. The crime was solved but there looks like there will be an overarching arc about political corruption. Not sure how many eps this will run but we’re in.