Reviews
This was my favorite show in the mid/late 80s. MTV used to have this late night showing of The Young Ones when no one had BBC content. I would stay up and watch it at like 2AM. Every show is a gem, but you are either going to love it or hate it. Favorite line: "Oh, by the way, about the oil, it was all a complete lie." Priceless !!!
I love watching 'how its made' type shows. Something about not working and watching machines or people do work that is very satifying. This show is the best I've seen in the genre. The show is of course highly informative and I learn new things every show. Its a BBC show so they often do shows about English products that are not used as much in other areas of the world. So you get insight into England and their preferred tastes on a local level. They do like some strange things. The production values of the show are great, I love it when they show the factory from a drone's eye view and highlight the different areas of the factory that do this step or that step. Its like having a tour of the factory from my living room. The guy is particularly goofy. He is overly enthusiastic about Everything. The woman is a little goofy as well but not nearly as much. They make a good team. I like how they do timestamps for the processes so you know how fast the product is made and shipped out. And with the increasing amount of automation, there are some very cool machines, though the guy in particular has voiced his Neo-Luddite views about employing people versus replacing them with machine. While I understand his view point, its a futile gesture. There is another woman on the show occassionally that has been in many history based food related shows on the BBC, she knows more about the history of these products than anyone in the world. If you like How Its Made, you will love this show.
Already dropped Seven Seconds after one episode... its a cop show about crooked cops that cover up a murder to protect one of their own... you know... a reality show. No spoiler, you find that out in the first 5 minutes.
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Two episodes in... good casting, the acting is good and the writing is fine, my main concern is that its a one trick pony. How many skits can you get out of the double life scenario. At some point the families are going to meet. Are the half brother and sister dating? Funny, but Eeewww. End of joke. Suspence over. Its like watching a car wreck in slow motion, you know its not going to end well. I suspect it ends with the families becoming one and united agasint the dad... the travel writer perhaps is exciled to actually go travel and write about real experiences.
I've dropped it after the self-violent ending to the 3rd episode. Not sure why people harming themselves is suddenly a common plot point of so many shows.
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I watched the first three episodes and decided to drop it. The show is veering off into religiosity even though I know its going to come back around to reality in the end because I accidentally saw part of one of the later episodes.
The acting is good, its somewhat suspenceful in the sense that they don't explain what is going on. The show basically ends up being a cop drama mystery with some weird stuff thrown in to confuse you. Each episode solves some injustice. I'm not at all surprised it was canceled.
I've tried to start watching this show twice and both times I couldn't make it through the first episode. I'm sure it gets better but the people in it are so unlikeable. Oh well.
For me, the draw of this show is John Cleese. But he really isn't the star, that goes to the guy playing the son. His midlife crisis antics drive the show. John is funny at every turn though and its a fun little comedy. If you are under 40 you probably won't like it.
I never watched The Soup, but this is apparantly just a netflix rip off of the same type of show. Its funny at times but mostly really stupid. And they are constantly plugging netflix and other netflix shows. One and done for me.
*** SPOILERS *** Its an ok murder mystery show, but there are several annoying aspects. For one, the main detective broadcasts her chaotic emotional and mental states like a lighthouse but somehow no one picks up on it. Her character is also a very ordinary person, with what appears to be a low IQ. Its not like she is Sherrylock Holmes figuring things out, she just stumbles along and the plot unfolds around her.
And why is the drug dealing ex boyfriend of the other woman still allowed to drop by whenever he likes? ... I like that actor (he plays Al Large in Doc Martin), but the writer really needed to work on that character more. I see this alot, instead of fixing plot holes, the writer simply has characters pop up unexplicably to keep driving the plot forward. Its just bad writing.
The other aspect that marks this down is the writer trying too hard to make you think the killer is this person or that person, and then after they act suspicous for an episode or two, then suddenly their behavior changes and you are shown they are really a good person and not the killer. Its melodramatic. The show could have used a smarter detective and a more subtle plot.
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*** SPOILERS *** I grew up on the east coast and of course knew of The New Yorker, but never felt interested enough to read it. I watched 3 episodes of this series and they were some of the most depressing things I have ever watched. Schizophrenia, 9-11, disecting frogs, slavery, cities collapsing... I AM CURED !!!.... I will never read the The New Yorker or watch this show again.
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