I quite liked season 1.
Season 2 is not as good. BUT the chemistry between Gabriel Basso & Luciane Buchanan kept me going.
The two are so charismatic.
I appreciate the Iranian characters being normal people. Good and bad.
Also unique is Peter Sutherland being so reluctant to kill the bad guys. A nice touch in an American production.
Difficult decisions had to be made in season 2. I’m glad it wasn’t me deciding.
It’s worth watching.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Quite good.
Great cast.
Steve Pemberton as Titus.
Mary Malone as Aqua.
Missing You is a television series made for Netflix, adapted from the novel of the same name by Harlan Coben, …
Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar from Slow Horses) discovers her “missing” fiancé on a dating app, over a decade since his disappearance.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Great television. I wouldn’t mind watching all of the many LONG episodes. (90 min.)
It is formulaic. But a terrific formula. Fast paced. It keeps me guessing.
I watched a number of episodes with my family over the Christmas holidays.
Vera is a British crime drama television series based on the Vera Stanhope series of novels by Ann Cleeves.
First broadcast 2011, it stars Brenda Blethyn as the principal character, Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.
In January 2024, it was confirmed that the show had been renewed for a fourteenth series, which was later announced to be the show’s last.
Vera is a nearly retired detective chief inspector of the fictional Northumberland & City Police, who is obsessive about her work. She plods along in a dishevelled state but has a calculating mind and despite her irascible personality, she cares deeply about her work and colleagues. …
I really like Paul Kaye as pathologist Dr. Malcolm Donahue. But he’s only in 14 episodes. Dry humour.
Well … all good things must come to an end.
Vera’s final season — the 14th — with Brenda Blethyn aired January 2025. Two episodes considered to be a Special.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Excellent. One of the best shows of the year.
Silo is an American science fiction dystopian drama television series …
Set in a dystopian future where a community exists in a giant underground silo comprising 144 levels …
10,000 people live in a society bound by regulations they believe are meant to protect them. …
You should watch this show.
Brave. Original. Well edited. Great cast.
My favourite character, by far, is Solo. Seemingly … the only survivor of one silo disaster. He’s played by Steve Zahn.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. He shows off to viewers where he survived alone for decades.
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian opined that the “world-building is meticulous” and “the story is equally thrilling” …
For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes reported a 96% approval rating with an average rating of 7.85/10, based on 42 critic reviews.
Season 3 is filming. And the final season 4 already written.
These are the 2 seasons following the departure of Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez.
Good. Bye.
Perez was depressing for this viewer.
Ashley Jensen as DI Ruth Calder was a far more interesting and entertaining replacement.
Steven Robertson as DC Sandy Wilson is impressive. Such a nuanced performance. A good man who cares deeply about his family, friends and neighbours. A totally sincere and dedicated co-worker. The ultimate team player.
I really like Alison O’Donnell as DS (later DI) Alison “Tosh” McIntosh. As does everyone.
Finally in charge of Lerwick Police Station. Good on ‘er.
The entire cast is great, of course. This is one of the best shows on British TV.
A fast paced murder mystery that had me making notes to keep track of all the characters.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
DI Ruth Calder decides to stay. That’s good.
Season 9 is very good, of course. But I liked it less than season 8.
The resolution was not all that convincing.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I loved the British mockumentary series Cunk on Earth.
So was keen to watch the Jan. 2025 Netflix special Cunk on Life.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The comic actor returns as the worst-informed person on TV for a one-off that tackles the big issues – and quite possibly causes permanent damage to the baffled academics she interviews …
As ever, she interviews a variety of experts “to ask some of the most significant questions you can ask with a mouth”. …
Guardian – Philomena Cunk on Life review – Diane Morgan is absolutely peerless
I streamed season 3 of Shetland because I’d seen a few pundits saying it was best of the 9 seasons, so far.
Shetland is critically acclaimed for good reason. The acting and writing is superb.
But it is hard to watch, at times.
For example, the rape aftermath depicted in season 3 even disturbed Ann Cleeves, the author of the books on which this TV drama is based.
DI Jimmy Perez faces a gripping new single mystery.
When a young man disappears on the overnight ferry to Shetland, the team embark on a challenging case that leads them from the suspicious close-knit communities of the remote Shetland Islands to Perez’s old stomping grounds in Glasgow.
As they start to unpick this increasingly complex conspiracy, Perez is aided by, and becomes romantically involved with, enigmatic police official Asha.
But he is unprepared for the ruthlessness of his adversaries, who are willing to take an appalling step to protect their interests: one that will have a devastating effect on them all.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Women’s Murder Club is an American police procedural and legal drama that aired on ABC from October 12, 2007, to May 13, 2008.
The series is set in San Francisco, California, and is based on the series of novels by the same name written by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro.
… the series revolves around the lives of four women in San Francisco – a homicide detective, an assistant district attorney, a medical examiner, and a newspaper reporter – who come together to use their expertise and talents in their respective fields to solve murder cases. …
Having got hooked on the books, the only place I could find to watch the TV series was on YouTube in low resolution. Surprisingly, I liked the show just as much as the books.
Angie Harmon was a terrific choice to play Lindsay Boxer, the main protagonist. She has the gravitas — though Lindsay in the books is a blonde.
It’s a shame the show was cancelled.
With the new TV series launching 2024, there was more than usual interest in the 2024 release of 33rd book in the series.
I’d say this is one of the better books. Entertaining escapism.
It’s timely. Set around the inauguration of a new President.
Judges on the list of potential Supreme Court candidates are being murdered.
Why?
A body believed to be the vigilante serial killer called “M” is found after a car wreck in Nevada.
Bree believes that he was the mastermind behind the criminal organization Maestro. She and Sampson pursue to the lair in British Columbia. And disappear.
Alex Cross to the rescue.
Entertaining. Quirky characters. Some funny dialogue.
Black Doves is a British spy thriller television— absurd black comedy.
Though popular, there’s much to criticize.
I ASSuME the blatant inexplicable scenes are deliberate. The hitman hanging around the murder scene, unworried by CCTV, for example.
So … let’s forget about lack of reality in many scenes.
I can’t admire the writing, either. It’s not particularly smart.
It’s always disappointing to see writers rely on flashbacks to be sure even the dumbest viewers can follow.
Certainly Slow Horses and The Diplomat are far superior.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 