Believe it or not, a fine one season and done series.
A WordPress problem I don’t know how to address. New comments on really old posts. I know there’s a listing in the left hand column of recent comments, but it’s way down there where you won’t find it unless you look for it. Look for it. My best advice.
Still. Tim finally got around to registering on my post about Orphan Black.
He likes it. He really likes it. Which reminds me that it’s been a while since I recommended, uh, quality programming from the Netflix streaming world. How about we do that?
The Chicago Code
I knew that after Flashdance Jennifer Beals went to Yale to learn something about acting. Didn’t know that she actually attended the classes. She did. She’s good in this, but she’s by no means the best of an excellent cast and a truly WTF series premise which I still can’t believe made it on the air in 2011. The City of Chicago is, you see, utterly and completely corrupt. Beals is the new Police Superintendant, hand-picked by the alderman (Delroy Lindo) she believes to be the most corrupt politician/gangster in Chicago. So she goes to war against him. The show lasted a year. Can’t believe it went more than four episodes, given the origins of our Commander-in-Chief. There’s even an episode with an obvious stand-in for Bill Ayers, whose bomber-radical past catches up with him in an ugly way. When it was on TV I mostly missed it, on too late or I was too skeptical of the Beals acting resume, I don’t know. But I tentatively suggested giving it a try on Netflix to my wife, who just absolutely loves it.
Beals has matured into a good actress. Delroy Lindo plays the villain with subtle reptilian charm. The star, though, is an Aussie actor Lady Laird has a considerable crush on: Jason Clarke. He is, in the filthy context of Chicago chiselers and cheats and murderous punks, Sir Lancelot. Which sounds ridiculous but isn’t because he makes it work. Cynical, seen and heard it all, can’t be fooled and can’t be stopped when he’s sighted his quarry, Clarke is mesmerizing as the cop we all hope will rescue us or avenge us.
He drinks himself to sleep every night, but he won’t stand for obscene language in the patrol car.
Loyal fans fought hard against the cancellation, which Fox continues to insist was ratings driven. Maybe it was. The city is also a main character in the series. It must have been very expensive to produce. But its 13 episodes are handsome, frenetically paced, and fearless in addressing even such politically incorrect targets as urban subcultures that have lost the ability to distinguish between decency and decadent self aggrandizement, somehow thinking that whatever bad they do is somehow owed them due to past injustices.
My wife is tired of hearing me exclaim, “How was this ever on the air on a major TV network? Impossible!”
Okay. I was going to talk about a bunch of other shows too, but I ran way long on this one. Give it a look. You’ll be shocked, I think.
And Jennifer Beals is still hot with the addition of crows feet and a bulletproof vest.
Yeah, she is. Hotter than before.
We’ll check this one out next. Bring on your other recommendations. I need something to keep the missus from going back to Haven.
I’ll stick my neck out & say I liked HBO’s True Detective. It did not go the way I thought it would go after the first few episodes. Don’t want to say too much more for fear of spoilers.
I know it was on for free in Comcast’s last On-Demand promotion. Didn’t watch. Woody Harrelson ain’t my cup of tea, and McConnaghey is more pecs than Thespian in my view. Read reviews. They liked the actors, disliked the scripts. You can see where that left me.
I don’t like what most critics and millennials like. Even Lady Laird thinks I’m too adamant about wanting to like a main character before I invest any time in the drama. She loved Dostoevsky. I hated him. Like I hated Breaking Bad and Sopranos and Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm and ALL network sitcoms. I need to see some aspect of virtue represented or I just tune out. Despise dirty jokes, wallowing in the worst as if surviving becomes a virtue in that instance, and foul-mouthed self-indulgent scriptwriting. Lady Laird liked Deadwood and the Wire. I couldn’t watch either. Factor this into my recommendations. Maybe I’m not your go to guy for criticism.
I hear you but even if True Detective is one of those shows that Lady Laird likes and you don’t, you can still put that one under the “win” column, right? If you BOTH dislike it, though…well, then I’d be in trouble.
Seriously, though, I have enjoyed the vast majority of your recommendations over the years. I like some shows (the Wire) that you don’t, but I would have missed out on a bunch of other good stuff if I hadn’t been a frequest visitor here: Stargate Universe, Dredd, and Rush just to name a few.
Forced my dad to watch Rush a couple of weeks ago, btw. He was convinced it was Days of Thunder F1-style, starring Thor. At the end he admitted his error and confessed he really liked it.
…and by “frequest” I mean “frequent”.
I love this show. Rectitude in the face of cesspool politics.
Sad to say for you. Neither of us has watched it. True Detective, I mean. Lady Laird is not as hot for male pectorals as you might think. She’s also getting tired of F-bombs on HBO shows. I do have a certain affect, don’t you know.
You haven’t made any kind of a case why someone should watch it. Other than the initials HBO. What’s good about it, son? What?
One, it’s the first HBO series I’ve seen in a long time that doesn’t hit you with unnecessary gore, nudity & dudes making out with each other every ten seconds. Can’t escape the bad language, unfortunately. Flight of the Conchords is, I think, the only HBO series ever to avoid the first three and the bad language.
Second, I like the way the story is told: half through flashbacks, half real-time. Something different and not as gimmicky as it sounds.
Third, I think libs rave about it because they like how McConaughey’s character is given to nihilistic rants. What they miss is how completely miserable he is. Unless they think he’s living the dream. Don’t want to say too much more about this subject for fear of potential spoilers.
Lastly, I approve of the ending. I thought it would be bleak & cynical but it’s not. There are going to be additional seasons, but it will be with totally new characters and a different setting. No “hamster wheel” with Matt & Woody.
Not the best-ever show in history, mind you. I liked it, but I think the critics went overboard on their praise. McConaughey is good, though. Can’t remember how often he flashes his pecs. My wife may remember…
Had your chance. No sale.
No hard feelings. Hockey playoffs start next week anyway.
Like.