This was the 3rd Australian TV show I’d watched during the pandemic. All excellent.
Deep Water is a four-part miniseries based on the historical, unsolved hate murders of possibly 30 to 80 gay men in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and beaches in the 1980s and ’90s.
Very intense.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The White Lioness is the 3rd book in the Inspector Wallander series.
Easily the best, so far.
An intricate and interesting plot.
1992.
… The plot follows two parallel patterns, one during late apartheid South Africa where incumbent president F.W. de Klerk, leader of the Afrikaner minority which is on the brink of losing power to the African majority under the leadership of the ANC, about to end 44 years of suppression by the Broederbond rule.
Simultaneously, Detective Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander is investigating a case of a missing female Methodist real-estate agent …
How could those two things possibly be linked?
Good Girls Revolt is an American period drama streaming television series.
It only lasted 1 season. Too bad. I found it far more entertaining than Mad Men.
The series follows a group of young female researchers at News of the Week magazine in the revolutionary times of 1969. Women in the newsroom are relegated to low-level positions. Many researchers are more talented and better educated …
Based on true stories, News of the Week is Newsweek. In 1970, 46 women researchers, reporters and the magazine’s one woman writer staged a revolt. They complained to the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Finally, in 1972, Newsweek promised that by the end of 1974, one-third of the magazine’s writers would be women.
I like Chris Diamantopoulos as Finn. And Erin Darke as Cindy Reston.
Actually, all the cast is good.
Jim Belushi is cast against his usual character as pro-Vietnam war, Wick.
Grace Gummer (daughter of Meryl Streep) as Nora Ephron is a glimpse into the future. She went on to write Silkwood (1983), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The second book of the Kurt Wallander series.
Wallander continues as the most troubled and unlucky hero in any detective series.
For example, at the critical moment of the book — Wallander has to take a dump in a waste paper basket.
I actually liked the book. But the plot is totally unbelievable.
It was made into a Swedish film. And was adapted for season 3 of the of the British production of Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Dickinson is an American historical comedy-drama streaming television series about Emily Dickinson … produced for Apple TV+.
Starring Hailee Steinfeld as Dickinson, the first season was released on November 1, 2019, when Apple TV+ debuted.
Two more seasons are in the works.
Dickinson takes place “during Emily Dickinson‘s era with a modern sensibility and tone.
It takes viewers into the world of Emily, audaciously exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn’t fit in to her own time …
It’s weird and somehow compelling. Modern dialogue. Modern music.
All the characters are great. My favourite is Darlene Hunt as Maggie, their hilarious maid.
74% on Rotten Tomatoes.
A bit gimmicky, I thought the novelty might wear off. BUT season 2 was even better. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I hadn’t known that Emily Dickinson’s legendary poetry was not acclaimed until after her death in 1886. Her sister discovered the cache of 1,800 poems and finally had them published. That’s not what’s happening in the TV series.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Quite good.
Young Wallander is a young, edgy, and modern series that sees Henning Mankell’s iconic detective Kurt Wallander investigate his gripping first case. The story focuses on the formative experiences – professional and personal – faced by Kurt as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties.
It’s set in Sweden but the cast is mostly British.
I was impressed with Adam Pålsson as Young Wallander.
Most of the criticism I’ve read comes from fans of earlier adaptations of an older Kurt Wallander played by actors Rolf Lassgård, Krister Henriksson, and Sir Kenneth Branagh.
I’d never seen any of those, so Young Wallander worked for me.
In fact, I’ve started reading the Wallander books. Very good.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Faceless Killers is a 1991 crime novel by the Swedish writer Henning Mankell, and the first in his acclaimed Wallander series.
Happily, the audio book is read by one of my favourites — Dick Hill — of the excellent Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch series. Hill has 542 audio books, last time I checked.
Inspector Kurt Wallander is called out to a seemingly senseless and brutal murder on a Swedish farm.
Wallander is forty-two-years-old. His wife left him unexpectedly 3 months earlier. He’s constantly worried about his estranged daughter. And unsure whether his own elderly father can continue living alone out on another farm.
Also, he’s gaining weight.
Uncoordinated. Accident prone.
Near broke.
Troubled, to say the least.
Author Henning Mankell was a left-wing social critic and activist.
But the themes of the book include Sweden’s liberal attitude regarding immigration, racism and national identity. The character Wallander is conflicted.
Kenneth Branagh is one of the actors who’s played Wallander in adaptations.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
In this adaptation, Sherlock is a pathetic, incompetent, egomaniac opium addict. A has-been.
Dr Watson might be a bad guy.
Sounded fantastic.
A group of street teenagers — the Baker Street Irregulars — working to save London from supernatural elements.
BUT … it’s not nearly as good as I hoped.
Still … Thaddea Graham as Bea almost made it worth watching. She has star charisma.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
related – Meet Thaddea Graham – the talented young star dominating Netflix fantasy
I finally got around to trying this show — and was pleasantly surprised.
Figuring it would be something similar to Corner Gas, it turned out to be much more than just another sitcom.
Season 1 episode 1 deals with Gay rights in a funny way.
Season 1 episode 2 deals with sexual harassment in the workplace … in a funny way.
Social commentary through comedy. I like it.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is clearly the star of the show. A modern day Korean Archie Bunker.
But I like Janet (Andrea Bang) and her TV brother Jung (Simu Liu) , as well.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Alienist is an American period drama television series …
… an ad hoc team assembled in mid-1890s New York City to investigate a serial killer who is murdering street children.
The series incorporates fact with fiction by including the characters that are historical figures, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who held the post of police commissioner from 1895 to 1897. …
Dakota Fanning is good as Sara Howard, Roosevelt’s secretary and first woman employed by the NYPD.
The cast is believable aside from Luke Evans as John Schuyler Moore.
The plot didn’t work for me.
But I loved the setting and seeing technology of that day.
In fact, an Alienist in NY City in that era is what we’d today call a psychiatrist.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 