What are you watching?

Death In Paradise.

Set in Saint-Marie, it's a tiny island where people keep getting murdered!  90 episodes means 90 deaths (at least!)
Lovely location, but I think I won't move there!

Fundy wrote:

Death In Paradise.

Set in Saint-Marie, it's a tiny island where people keep getting murdered!  90 episodes means 90 deaths (at least!)
Lovely location, but I think I won't move there!

 You are too funny.

I just looked it up and there are 11 seasons of this show (and only 90 episodes?).  Is it a BBC production?  I have always wondered why British Television series have so few episodes.  I have most of the Red Dwarf seasons on DVD/Blu-ray and they are like 6 episodes a season (typically).  Most U.S. television series seem to have around 18-22 episodes a season.  Series on streaming sites seems to have less episodes per season, but most of the ones created/filmed in the U.S. and Canada typically seem to have at least 10 episodes.  So why so few episodes in British Series?  Does it have something to do with television in Great Britain being publicly funded (mostly through television licenses)?  I know that the vast majority of U.S. television is privately funded.

Not really sure.  I know that it's usual (or at least it used to be) to have about 6 - 8 episodes a season in the UK.  It could be (as some have suggested) that generally only a couple of people write a series, so to write 20 episodes is a bit of an ask.  Another reason could be to do with the school terms.  Schools generally are open for 6 weeks, then shut for a holiday (half term x 3, christmas, summer and easter).  I've grown up thinking 6 is the right number, so when I started watching american series I was a bit like "WOW, this is more like it".

Starting Terminal List

Fundy wrote:

Not really sure.  I know that it's usual (or at least it used to be) to have about 6 - 8 episodes a season in the UK.  It could be (as some have suggested) that generally only a couple of people write a series, so to write 20 episodes is a bit of an ask.  Another reason could be to do with the school terms.  Schools generally are open for 6 weeks, then shut for a holiday (half term x 3, christmas, summer and easter).  I've grown up thinking 6 is the right number, so when I started watching american series I was a bit like "WOW, this is more like it".

Both of those reasons make sense.  Shows like the Simpsons (and many other popular U.S. series) could have 6 or more writers at any time.  I know with Red Dwarf it was just Grant and Naylor in the beginning.  But I'm almost certain for the last several seasons it has only been Doug Naylor.  Twenty episodes seems like it would be a ton of writing in one year for a single person.
Also here in the U.S. kids are out of school for almost 3 months in the summer and only a week for Christmas (and not at all for Easter).  So that makes a little more sense.  Advertising dollars drive television profits in the states, so getting more new episodes on a year means more advertising slots for a show/station to sell and keep the money rolling in. (no license fees for televisions in U.S. homes...so all the money is made from advertiser's commercials).

alldatndensum wrote:

Starting Terminal List

I really want to watch that one.  I just finished "Station 11" on HBO last night, so I'm hoping to get started on Terminal List tonight.

Staybrite wrote:

Fundy wrote:

Not really sure.  I know that it's usual (or at least it used to be) to have about 6 - 8 episodes a season in the UK.  It could be (as some have suggested) that generally only a couple of people write a series, so to write 20 episodes is a bit of an ask.  Another reason could be to do with the school terms.  Schools generally are open for 6 weeks, then shut for a holiday (half term x 3, christmas, summer and easter).  I've grown up thinking 6 is the right number, so when I started watching american series I was a bit like "WOW, this is more like it".

Both of those reasons make sense.  Shows like the Simpsons (and many other popular U.S. series) could have 6 or more writers at any time.  I know with Red Dwarf it was just Grant and Naylor in the beginning.  But I'm almost certain for the last several seasons it has only been Doug Naylor.  Twenty episodes seems like it would be a ton of writing in one year for a single person.
Also here in the U.S. kids are out of school for almost 3 months in the summer and only a week for Christmas (and not at all for Easter).  So that makes a little more sense.  Advertising dollars drive television profits in the states, so getting more new episodes on a year means more advertising slots for a show/station to sell and keep the money rolling in. (no license fees for televisions in U.S. homes...so all the money is made from advertiser's commercials).

I didn't realise schools were closed for almost 3 months in summer.  My kids would love that!!!

In the UK, it goes something like this...

1 week mid February  (First half term)
2 weeks sometime from late March to late April (Easter Break)
1 week end of May (Second half term)
6 weeks from end of July to start of Sept (summer break)
1 week end of October (Third half term)
2 weeks at Christmas (usually about 20th Dec to 3rd Jan, but all depends on weekends)

Most kids in the U.S. get a long summer break, but not as much during the rest of the year (except around Christmas).  There is a minimum number of days required by the U.S. government for the year.

This is what it looks like in the U.S. (or typically has, some schools are starting to look at shorter summer breaks and adding a late winter/early spring break).

1. January, one Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. day.
2. February, one Monday off for George Washington's birthday (Britain really should have given him a commission in her military back in the day... LOL)
3. Spring Break, typically one week in March or April.
4. Memorial Day, one day (the last Monday in May).
5. Summer Vacation typically 10 to 11 weeks (late May to August or early June to September, depending on the school)
6. Labor Day one day (first Monday in September).
7. Columbus Day, one day in October
8. Veterans Day, one day in November
9. Thanksgiving, two days (the 4th Thursday & Friday in November).
10. Winter/Christmas break, usually one to two weeks around Christmas and New Years day.

I think the schools that have two weeks for Christmas break probably only have 10 weeks off in the summer (because of the minimum number of days requirement).

Some states have now moved to year-round school with longer breaks between terms. Thankfully, we aren't one of them.

Back to the topic, I watched Jurassic Park and the first 3 episodes of Bewitched, which I don't think I ever saw in the reruns I watched as a youth, on the plane.

Staybrite wrote:

Most kids in the U.S. get a long summer break, but not as much during the rest of the year (except around Christmas).  There is a minimum number of days required by the U.S. government for the year.

This is what it looks like in the U.S. (or typically has, some schools are starting to look at shorter summer breaks and adding a late winter/early spring break).

1. January, one Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. day.
2. February, one Monday off for George Washington's birthday (Britain really should have given him a commission in her military back in the day... LOL)
3. Spring Break, typically one week in March or April.
4. Memorial Day, one day (the last Monday in May).
5. Summer Vacation typically 10 to 11 weeks (late May to August or early June to September, depending on the school)
6. Labor Day one day (first Monday in September).
7. Columbus Day, one day in October
8. Veterans Day, one day in November
9. Thanksgiving, two days (the 4th Thursday & Friday in November).
10. Winter/Christmas break, usually one to two weeks around Christmas and New Years day.

I think the schools that have two weeks for Christmas break probably only have 10 weeks off in the summer (because of the minimum number of days requirement).

That almost looks like our calendar for the year.  We don't get Columbus or Veteran's day off, though.

We get Good Friday.  We have a spring break for a week in March.  Our Thanksgiving break is now a full week off.  We also have a fall break for a week in October.  This year, we will have two election days off (one for primaries and one for state/federal elections).

We are usually out of school before Memorial Day, so scratch that one.

Maybe our calendar isn't so similar.  LOL

I watched the first episode of The Terminal List last night.  I wasn't super amazed by it (but I'm not a huge fan of military conflict kinda stuff).  I want to keep up with it though so the ratings are high... any thing to anger the radical left has to be good. 

Started another cool series on Fletnix called Myths & Monsters (2017).  It's a documentary series about mythologies (something I really dig), narrated by British stage and screen actor Nicholas Day and featuring a plethora of commentary from British professors and old artwork along with modern animations.  I dig it, looking forward to the next 5 episodes.

I finished The Terminal List today.  I loved it!  The storytelling was great and you really feel sympathy for the main character throughout the series.  While there are some splatter scenes, it isn't a gory show either.  It is just a tale of one man's revenge against a system that used him for their puppet.  There were no sex scenes and no woke agenda to demonize white people, no agenda to push homosexuality or transgenderism, and no ultra liberal slant.  It was just the story of a soldier who learned that his government was the enemy and he took out the pieces that were personally responsible.

I won't say more.  But, I do look forward to reading the novel now.

I only have like 3 episodes (or maybe 4) left to go on The Terminal List.  The show kinda ticked me off at first because it seemed like the protagonist was going on a full vengeance spree without serious concrete evidence...more just instinct.  But now that the pieces are kind of falling into place I guess his reactions make more sense.  We will see when it's over if I have more sympathy for the protagonist.

The Living Daylights

Person of Interest Season 2

Finished The Terminal List last night.  Not at all bad, but not typically the kind of show I like (odd given I really liked the Reacher series they just did).

We finally finished Stranger Things season 4!  That was so much fun and different from previous seasons!

About half way through season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.  Have to say I'm not digging it as much as the last two seasons.  Kind of feeling like the show has just about run it's course.

Staybrite wrote:

About half way through season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.  Have to say I'm not digging it as much as the last two seasons.  Kind of feeling like the show has just about run it's course.

I kind of want to see it, but I really don't want to watch it with Ellen Page having been pushing the whole "trans" movement and even having her breasts removed to make herself look more manly.  She didn't do a full sex change, I really don't want to have to sit through something embracing that whole scene as though it is right.

I know that might seem petty, but that's the way I feel about it.

Sleepless In Seattle.

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

About half way through season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.  Have to say I'm not digging it as much as the last two seasons.  Kind of feeling like the show has just about run it's course.

I kind of want to see it, but I really don't want to watch it with Ellen Page having been pushing the whole "trans" movement and even having her breasts removed to make herself look more manly.  She didn't do a full sex change, I really don't want to have to sit through something embracing that whole scene as though it is right.

I know that might seem petty, but that's the way I feel about it.

Oh, I thought you had already seen it. I pretty much feel the same way, but I kind of wanted to see how they handled it (poorly IMO).  Also it seems all but impossible to watch much of anything nowadays that doesn't include some sort of LGBTQlmno  character arc (unless all you watch is Christian film content).
If they do another season I will likely skip it.  The current story line seems like a bit of the rehash of the first season with a small sun-like orb threatening to destroy the universe and even more weirdness added in for some reason.

Spy Hard 

Spy Hard opening theme

^Ha, I remember loving that flick as a kid. Weird Al's intro song was pretty epic too as I recall - "mind-blowing," really.

I watched a movie this weekend that was so amazingly fantastic that I can't remember anything about it.   (seriously, I know I watched a movie, but I can't remember what it was called or what it was about... it doesn't help that I started 2 other movies that were so boring I shut them off in less than 30 minutes).

Staybrite wrote:

I watched a movie this weekend that was so amazingly fantastic that I can't remember anything about it.   (seriously, I know I watched a movie, but I can't remember what it was called or what it was about... it doesn't help that I started 2 other movies that were so boring I shut them off in less than 30 minutes).

Sounds like it really blew your mind.