20 Minute Workout is a Canadian-produced aerobics-based television program that ran from 1983 to 1984, in which “a bevy of beautiful girls” … on a rotating platform. …
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Category: TV
Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey
Abaddon’s Gate is 3rd in The Expanse series — preceded by Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War.
James Holden and his crew have been successful in their ship-for-hire business, cashing in on their celebrity …
But things go wrong when our crew goes first through the Stargate called “The Ring”.
They have a camera crew onboard.
Abaddon’s Gate was adapted into episodes 7 to 13 of the third season of the television series The Expanse in 2018, with its title taken for the final episode of that season.
This is one of those rare series where the TV show is better than the books.
I find the books too slow.
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
Troubled Blood (2020) is the fifth novel in the Cormoran Strike series …
I ASSume Galbraith is a moral man — respecting human rights.
Cormoran Strike is as irritable and irritating as ever.
We can’t imagine why partner Robin Ellacott likes him as a boss — or for possible romance.
Happily, Robin finally divorced her husband. What a relief.
Troubled Blood is well written. But I enjoyed it least of the series, so far.
The 40 year old cold case is too long, too slow. I definitely couldn’t get into it.
More insight into Strike’s odd family was interesting. In fact, all the other story lines were engaging.
I’ll definitely be continuing with the series, even if it turns out Galbraith is a horrible person in real life.
The Code (Aussie TV series)
Because I enjoyed Australian TV series Pine Gap, I went looking for more.
The Code — season 1 2014 — is a six-part series set in both outback and metropolitan areas of Australia.
Very intense.
Fantastic ending.
The main story is brothers Ned (Dan Spielman) — a journalist — and Jesse Banks (Ashley Zukerman) — a hacker — who publish a video of a mysterious outback accident.
Zukerman’s performance a socially dysfunctional genius is impressive and emotional. He was nominated Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama in 2014 in the Aussie AACTA Awards.
I’ll definitely watch season 2.
Pine Gap (TV series)
Pine Gap is a 2018 Australian television series …
… set around the Australian and American joint defence intelligence facility at Pine Gap, south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
In fact, I tried it on Netflix because I’d never made it to Alice Springs as a tourist.
Pine Gap is an actual U.S. / Australian satellite surveillance base. The TV series is based around a real thing.
Quite good. Sounds like there might be a season 2 in the works. I’ll probably watch it.
Mark Leonard Winter as Moses Dreyfus, an autistic geek, was easily my favourite character. But many of the personalities are engaging.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Collateral (TV series)
Collateral is a four-part British television drama first broadcast 2018.
It’s a complicated murder mystery – the inexplicable killing of a pizza delivery driver who is shot in a London suburb.
All the acting is good. But I liked best Jeany Spark as Sandrine Shaw; a captain in the British Army.
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Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, or simply Electric Dreams, is a science fiction television anthology series based on the works of Philip K. Dick.
The series consists of ten standalone 50-minute episodes based on Dick’s work …
Rotten Tomatoes has an approval rating of 73% — but I’d still recommend it. Especially if you like the similar, but superior, Black Mirror episodes.
Good actors. Good acting. Some interesting dystopian stories.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Tehran (TV series)
One nation I’ve always wanted to visit is Iran. Westerners love it there.
A new TV series on Apple TV+ gives a glimpse of Tehran. I’m sure the religious leadership there has condemned it.
It’s very well acted. But slow in places.
Tehran is an Israeli espionage thriller television series …
… about the Israeli–Iranian conflict …
Protagonist Tamar Rabinyan, a young Jewish woman born in Iran but raised in Israel, is a Mossad agent and computer hacker, sent on a mission to the Iranian capital, assigned to disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Hannibal – season 1
Hannibal (2013) is … is based on characters and elements appearing in Thomas Harris‘ novels Red Dragon (1981), Hannibal (1999), and Hannibal Rising (2006) with focus on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), a forensic psychiatrist destined to become Graham’s most cunning enemy and, at the same time, the only person who can understand him.
Whew. That’s a long, packed sentence.
I’ve never like horror. And this series is very gory.
Yet I loved Silence of the Lambs.
This version has a different feel.
Laurence Fishburne and Mads Mikkelsen provide plenty of gravitas. This is serious drama. Well written. Well acted.
Gillian Anderson as Bedelia Du Maurier, Lecter’s psychotherapist is excellent, of course.
I always like Scott Thompson who plays Jimmy Price, one of the crime scene investigators. That group lighten the shows with their dark humour.
Not sure yet whether I could stomach season 2.
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David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet
David Attenborough is now age-94.
His newest work is a “witness statement” — his reflection on his career as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen.
A love letter to Earth from the beloved broadcaster.
The first half is very depressing. Humanity doomed.
But in the second half Attenborough explains how mankind MIGHT possibly survive the next 80 years.
As it seems nations can’t organize to do even the most trivial collective good, I’m not optimistic.
In the USA, the Trump regime has been doing the exact opposite as recommended. In Alberta, the Kenney regime is making the future worse, as well.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 