BBB - This Is Us is my favorite new show. I agree the characters of Randall and William are excellent. Did you know William, real name Ron Cephas Jones, was Dr. James Covington in the Blacklist? Every time I would watch This is Us, I'd think he looked familiar. I finally looked up his name and his photos and realized he played a Blacklister. He looks a lot different now with the beard and the gray in his hair.

On network tv, I've also been watching Timeless and Designated Survivor. They're both decent shows, but they don't captivate me like The Blacklist. As for streaming services, I highly enjoyed the Netflix Gilmore Girls revival and I'm devouring Amazon's Good Girls Revolt. 

Hi everyone,
Believe it or not I don't actually watch much network TV.  I occasionally dip into Criminal Minds, NCIS, Elementary (IMO not as good as it was when Moriarity was still around), and, more recently, Timeless.  although I have to say that watching Criminal Minds has forever made me leery of talking to strangers in parking lots and the like, LOL!

I love British crime dramas - IMO no one produces classic crime drama like the UK - whether light and fun or dark and gritty.  So I also dip into Mystery on PBS and the classics also.  

I most recently finished watching The Fall, a UK serial killer/crime drama - IMO very good but not for the faint of heart - starring Gillian Anderson, streaming on Netflix.  Anderson has done some very interesting work in UK and European TV and film in the last five years or so....Next up is Chance, starring Hugh Lurie - whom I like a lot - streaming on Hulu.

Also, recently for some comic relief - as well as hiatus relief - LOL I re-watched the season of The Office in which James Spader co-starred.  I had not watched it since it aired originally.  Spader was so funny in that - in a wry, dry way - I really loved it.

BBB - POI was killed off before its time - wasn't it a dispute between the series owner and the network?
And the cast was great.  I'm particularly interested in what Cavaziel (spelling?) does next.  And Acker and Shahi were great in that, I agree...

Tuxie400 wrote:

lara1 - I was never much of a fan of the The Office. But I did watch the episodes that Spader was in. I found his character more odd than funny. The character always did things that were surprising and totally unexpected - things Spader relishes.

I started watching The Fall last summer but only made it to the third episode. I think I got sidetracked when I started watching Stranger Things, which was outstanding. I may have to revisit The Fall later this month.

Jim Caviezel's second go at TV (he did a short re-make of The Prisoner). Caviezel brings back the old lords of TV - the western characters like Chuck Connor's Rifleman, David Janssen's desperate but resourceful Dr. Richard Kimble and Richard Boone's Paladin...... he's the glue that made the show great, the most consistent character.

Shahi & Acker had the unenviable task of replacing legendary Taraji P. Henson. That's like replacing Beyoncé with Lady Gaga & Nina Simone (Acker being Simone) but they managed to pull it off.

Kevin Chapman was the 5th reel in a 4 reel movie but he made his minor character Det. Lionel Fusco work like a charm.

Michael Emerson, of course remains an acting wonder at 62.

You were partially right about why POI died before its time. The show-runners and the networks got into a violent dispute over rights, profits, production costs, etc. Very sad cuz Warner Bros. owned the thing, CBS aired it and the famed sci-fi brothers produced it. Amy Acker was actually in tears for weeks after the thing ended. Not only did they end it with a puny 13 episode season - they stopped promoting the thing on their own air or any other places for that matter. Ratings took a small nose-dive but no worse (actually better) than most shows.

Acker was actually sniped off (literally) in the 3rd last episode and so the legend of Root, a fantastic new female character died with it. But its sci-fi so anything can be reconstituted. Unfortunately it made other CBS formula dramas look like rubbish or trash.
Other than taking a friendship return role on McGyver (absolute rubbish for 4 yr olds) Amy has done a Hallmark movie outside the Root dynamic. Shahi just obtained a role as 2nd female lead in an Al Pacino flick (behind legendary Brittany Snow, so that's not a plus). Emerson is doing theatre, enjoying life and his marriage to Carrie Preston. Don't know what Jim Caviezel has planned but at not yet 50 he's got amazing potential for quality film or TV projects. Kevin Chapman, the aforementioned Fusco returned to Boston and awaits a callout for a cop or a bad guy (his specialties). Enrico Colantoni, the wonderfully under-stated villain/hero/good guy returned to Canada but is obviously on a lot of casting agent's radar.

Amy Acker just turned 40 (yesterday). Don't know if she'll ever find a better character than Root. But we're all rooting for her! (my sarcastic line for the night, don't hold it against me)

Tuxie400 wrote:

lara1 - I was never much of a fan of the The Office. But I did watch the episodes that Spader was in. I found his character more odd than funny. The character always did things that were surprising and totally unexpected - things Spader relishes.

I started watching The Fall last summer but only made it to the third episode. I think I got sidetracked when I started watching Stranger Things, which was outstanding. I may have to revisit The Fall later this month.

Oh yes, Stranger Things!  That was excellent, I can't wait for the second series.  I also think its great when you can have an ensemble cast of kids and make it work that great but of course the "strange" story was compelling (don't want to give anything away!).

I had a friend who was really into The Fall but started to tire of it at the very end.  I think streaming is good and bad, I love how you can watch as much of something when and where you want, but some things that would not stand out so much when watched in a weekly series can become almost exaggerated when streamed.  Anyway I liked it and did not tire of it.....!

I must have a warped sense of humor haha but I thought Spader's character in The Office was absolutely hysterical, I spent my time watching it laughing out loud and falling off the couch!  LOL!  But I know a lot of people who just thought the character strange....its' always interesting to me, with any character in any show, how different people can have different perspectives when viewing the same thing.  its' great.

For the series, I actually watched the original in the UK and preferred that one - it was a bit less obvious humor, IMO.  I didn't watch the US series after around the third season, but came back to it after Carrell left and Spader joined the cast

Nice swapping thoughts with you/1


 

I'm looking at an episode of Bull right now.  Kaplan and Pannabaker are both on there. Kaplan is a Judge, I'm cracking up.