General Open Thread – TV Shows

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  • #36130
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @whisht — well, inspired by @purofilion I have now started a marathon rewatch of Buffy from the beginning. Now in the early eps of S2. (Puro, your crush surely can’t be on anyone besides Cordelia??)

    #36131
    Anonymous @

    @ Whisht @jimthefish  Well, of course, Cordelia…. Buffy -I have a girly crush. But then also Xander. Clearly, I’m having ‘issues’- a very 21st century term. Actually, when I think about it, it’s Giles. How could it be anyone else. I recall Anthony Head  in Spooks. Cripes, that was…hot…also, an overused term. And of course in Who he was spectacular.

    Saying way too much…. Thank you for moving this to the correct ‘space’. I’m hopeless at that -evidently.

    I think my personality is changing.

     

     

    #36133
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofillon — Ah, Cordelia was definitely the girl of my dreams. Probably because it was almost certain that I’d have no chance at all with her.

    Giles is great too and the man has almost certainly had a lasting influence on my wardrobe. (Something quite Eleventh Doctor-ey about early Giles I’m finding now.) You can see why ASH was often talked about as a potential Doctor. But if you’d been in the UK in the 80s I’m afraid ASH would be indelibly burned in your memory as the yuppie bloke from the Nescafe ads.

    But I am enjoying my current fest and it’s fun to have a chat with others about it, so maybe we should convene here every so often, or perhaps create a series of blogs to discuss the episodes anew.

    #36134
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish  I didn’t know ASH was considered Doctor material .  here in Oz, I don’t recall the Nescafe ads either -not watching TV then.

    But yes, I’m having a ball.

    Kindest, puro

    #36135

    Moved from Music thread, rather than divert it.

    @purofilion

    Of course, the song was set up earlier with Donna explaining how she had learned what the lyrics to I Don’t Like Mondays referred to. CHEKOV’S GUN PEOPLE!

    In ‘Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebodies Going to Jail’ Toby gets lumbered with talking to the protesters – there’s a short scene with the cop where he gives a speechwriting master class. Of course, if it is a speechwriting masterclass it is also a writing masterclass. One of the most effective tests a writer can give material is to read it out loud. If you stumble over it, you can bet your reader will.

    There are people who think that English poetry does not need rhyme or meter. Rhyme is certainly not essential (but used well can be devastating), but anyone who thinks English writing can live without meter is a bumbling fucknut, and I don’t give a flying fuck if they are heads of department at Poshtwat College OxBridge. There is a reason that the approach to writing discovered by Chaucer while travelling in Italy has stood the test of 800 years.

    Re Buffy, like all right-thinking people my first, last and only Buffy crush is Willow. And in Season 3 we got our reward with Doppelgangland. You will know why when you get there.

    #36136

    @purofilion

    Although, as a geographer by training and inclination, this remains my all time favourite scene (even if it is a bit soft on Peters)

    #36139
    Anonymous @

    @pedant The only reason I didn’t spit out my left over wine was because I haven’t been to bed yet and…

    Start again.

    I haven’t been to bed and so I can still drink. It’s 6 am -almost dark, so that helps.

    Didn’t spit it out because I love and know that scene. Thing is, I’m NOT  a geographer. I do believe ppl think Oz is much smaller than the United States, however. But simply working out the land mass proves the US fits into Oz. OK, so someone told me that…it gives me consolation.

    I agree with your views on writing. I recall watching that same speech writing scene in which Toby talks to the female cop and says “see what I did there?….and now for the one that’s different”.

    A few years ago, in the States, as part of a conducting course, I worked with the writer and musician, Robert Ford. His writing is rhythmic so every paragraph and chapter is a pithy etude (try The Student Conductor though it’s probably out of print)

    So are the Band of Merry Men correct about the hemisphere? Surely you can swap hemispheres as long as you don’t….wait…?

    I think, for whatever it’s worth, that The Doctor’s brows and Josh Lyman’s should have their own show.

    Kindest, puro

    #36141
    Anonymous @

    @pedant So, I’m not ‘right thinking’. Ha, sir!

    I’ll Apollo 13 that…

    Willow: my son adores her.  I do love her quick fingers, her loyalty and her total understanding. She knows that Xander has eyes for Buffy. And, she’s a perfect antidote to Buffy. So is Giles, of course. He’s speaking about astral projection and Buffy says something like “so this asteroid?” I love that she has no clue about History -having to ditch it due to Hellmouth ‘troubles’. Mind you, she really ought to read just a little more 🙂

    May not have been ‘asteroid’. I was ironing and it was a first watch. My son is saying: “the next episode, please Mum?”

    “Ah, why not?”  Season 2 directly. With Seasons 3, 4, 5 for Chrimble. Like @whisht I need a DVD or box set. Others walking into the house think I watch ‘tele the live long day’. I work – a lot. But, they don’t believe me.

    #36142

    @purofilion

    The Merry Men are right as far as they go, but the projection re-discovered by Peters had been known since 1885-ish. A dude called Gall published it. What Peters did in the early 70s was run a thoroughly obnoxious PR campaign that pretty well dissed the entire cartographic community. But this had the effect of pushing cartographic representation up the agenda and you could make a case that it kicked down the door for many of the infographic presentations we see these days.

    It weakness as a projection is that it stretches in the mid latitudes (so elongates Africa and S America) and is very distorted at the poles (more so that Mercator). The inherent problem with mapping is that you can’t render a spherical surface as a flat surface without distortion. In the end, the correct projection to use is the one that enables you to do your job. And that should certainly be taught in geography classes at school.

    Anyhooooo

    I think the running joke with Buffy – which you are probably getting around about now-ish – is that she is actually pretty smart and has excellent reasoning skills, but has to cut a lot of classes to, you know, save the world and stuff.

    Let me know when you get to the Divinyls joke. How the 13 year old responds to that will teach you much about him 😉

    #36143
    Anonymous @

    @pedant  I’m checking in for my daily lesson. Thank you.

    Hang on, Chrissy Amphlet (sic)? My hero?  As in ‘I Touch Myself’?  Poor woman. Died at 53, too young. No, not there yet with Buffy. But rediscovered her through Scala and the Kolacny brothers singing that particular number. In Czech, they would be The Little Cake brothers. The young women in the choir all singing I Touch Myself whilst the conductor (who looks a lot like Voldemort) is carrying on, having a great ol’ time.

    So Peters said what Gall did? But Mercator isn’t as bad? Do I pass, Giles?

    I have to fight vampires and demons tonight.

    In other words, the somewhat snotty state school parents with their vast SUVs (one child families) and glittering diamonds -this at the child’s so-called second graduation ceremony. For Year 7.

    I rang the school saying that the boy’s clothes were wet in the flood and could he wear a simple T-shirt as we had lost all the collared shirts. They responded in that up-tight, curled mouth way: “Well, ah, eer, not really, but that’s your decision. There ARE photos, you know”.

    ‘F off’.  Almost. But, I did feel very satisfied with my verbal abilities. For once, wit arrived running from yon and thither to my aid like the black whorls of a demon’s tongue.

    It’s the Year 7 writing tasks I’ve been reading. I’m all prosaic.

    #36147
    Anonymous @

    @pedant. I failed the multiple flick tick.

    Peters is better than Mercator.

    Am I right? According to what you’re saying? Or ….above..TWW?

    OK, I’ll re-learn and sit another test.

    Sat thru an interminable set of the most boring and uninspiring speeches from teachers, the principal, the Deputies.

    are we excited? Are we? Come on?”  The kids snickered. No bloody wonder. Head in hands. The woman beside me chirped: “I know, dear, I get emotional too”.

    Christ on a podium.

    Kindest, puro

    #36148
    Anonymous @

    @pedant on another point, I understand ppl left TWW in droves after Sorkin’s departure but one of my favourite episodes with tonal colour and deft writing involved Glenn Close; Season 5. Then there was ‘Shutdown’. Melodramatic? Maybe. I think it slammed it in with pitch & a clever score I hadn’t heard before.

    #36149

    @purofilion

    As in ‘I Touch Myself’?

    Yep.

    Viewers dropped off post-Sorkin – the show got rather caught in a “how do we top that‘ and it got moved to Sunday’s which cost it a third of its viewers. I know that Richard Schiff has never quite forgiven them for the direction they took with Toby, not least because it didn’t make sense. I rationalise it like he does – that Toby took the bullet of CJ.

    Have been interested in the reaction to the most recent (and penultimate) episode The Newsroom. It’s like, even after all these years, some observers (in this case from the more bone-headed end of the feminist spectrum, which makes a change from the downright thick-headed end of conservatism) didn’t notice that all three sub-plots needed to be viewed as a whole.

    #36150
    Charlie Cook @charlie-cook

    x

    #36159
    Anonymous @

    @CharlieCook   whoah?  For real?

    @pedant  Yes, Toby, but there were times (as the writers rationalised) in which Toby acted bravely -as in “running into doors” (which is what Leo wanted, Season 2 ) and others, when the President wouldn’t speak to him during Toby’s ‘miscalculation’.  But yes, it was CJs bullet -in a waaay.

    As for The Newsroom (I could say ‘as to ‘bla bla’ -notice how ppl on Forum are writing ‘as to’ from Deep Breath? = “as to a woman, well, she’s a lizard…”  Check out the ppls comments.

    OK, maybe don’t;  I’m a nut about watching patterns).

    I start again.

    I watched only the first season of Newsroom. I hope to purchase the second season if you recommend it?

    I saw the 1st season just once on DVD and wasn’t impressed by all of it. A lot of it. But not all. The endless screaming producer with her “I don’t have a boyfriend”. Who the hell says that? Really loudly? With that age behind her? I mean, struth, grow up woman.

    I kid.

    I just didn’t like her tonal pitch -hard on the ears. Having said that, the opening scene in Episode 1 was great. I also liked who BoyIlion called “cute economics woman” (she read the financial news with a PhD from some Ivy League?). I need to get  Season 1 out again. But there’s Buffy… and yesterday we had English Teacher read Shakespeare’s Shylock. Hot Damn. Boy Ilion has seen Shakespeare but not read it yet.

    Shamelessbaiting

    #36160
    Anonymous @

    @pedant and then some monster strangled the English Teacher…. I liked her, a lot.  Why doesn’t someone kill Cordelia? 🙂

     

    #36163
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion–

     Why doesn’t someone kill Cordelia?

    Oi! Now I know Cordy can sometimes come across as a bit monstrous, but … who am I kidding? She’s a monster … but lovely with it. Well, kinda.

    #36164

    @purofilion

     But yes, it was CJs bullet -in a waaay.

    No, you misunderstand – my interpretation was that CJ did the leaking and that Toby took the bullet. No textual support, but makes more sense than what they went for. (Also the story made no sense – it is impossible to launch a “super secret” rocket without somebody knowing about it).

    Anyhoo…back to favourite scenes. All of this (Katherine Joosten’s 4-or-so lines of dialogue are simply majestic):

    #36165

    @purofilion

    That would be the wonderful Olivia Munn. If you have a few minutes search for Ghost Tits on Youtube. It is very amusing.

    Second season well worth a watch, although maybe a little inconsistent. Third and final season is majestic.

     

    Where are you up to on Buffy?

    #36173
    Anonymous @

    @pedant Last night I stopped just as the English teacher was strangled by super nut ghost. I then realised this was a ‘lesson.’ Today, we watched the last ep of the First Season. I would have seen the whole season in 3 days but floods, ark building, power outages. Not to mention chucking out 300-400 wet and heavy books.

    Olivia Munn Mmm, gorgeous.

    WW:

    Indeed, in Season 1, they spoke about how super-secrets can’t be kept: Leo’s valium addiction and Josh’s run in with the mu-mu wearing nut bag endlessly smoking Parliaments. Then there was the green bean incident… Toby said “come back to me on that, pretty soon” – I think to CJ, but it was poor Charlie answering honestly: “The President doesn’t prefer green beans”

    I recall CJs  firm discussion in the 2nd season that concentrated on how it’s impossible to do this without  nuclear fallout (or some such).

    @jimthefish funnily enough, Cordelia, when nearly having her face carved up, a la Supernatural, showed some brightness -well, with a dimmer switch which timed out.  She screams pretty well and now says ‘thank you.’ Course she’s gonna turn into corporeal monster in Season 2? What will that do to her face?

    Kindest, puro

    #36175
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion — Cordy actually has an interesting character arc, and it doesn’t go in direcctions you might expect (although sometimes it does). You’ve still got all the best ahead of you, I think . Season One, the show was still finding its feet, although there’s still lots of fun episodes and great character moments. But it’s not until the season finale Prophecy Girl that I think it truly becomes the show it is. The Master (no relation) is a great villain, I think. Real menace undercut with humour.

    And at least the English teacher survived. Unlike the poor old biology teacher who I think I liked much more.

    #36177
    Juniperfish @juniperfish

    @Purofilion @pedant and @jimthefish

    Awww – just dropping in on the Buffy-fest to say how much this show still has a special place in my heart. It ends up being a heroines journey to the underworld story for our times.

    I think writers Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson should get especial credit alongside Joss, because, looking at Dollhouse (which I disliked immensely) he needs the right kind of balancing.

     

    #36178

    @juniperfish

    I would strongly recommend trying to track down the original unaired pilot of Dollhouse. It is the only way to get a sense of the show that Whedon wanted to make, rather than the one that got made after every executive at Fox had injected his two-penn’orth. Remember, these are the same people who made the opening of Tru Calling a shot of Eliza Dushku’s breasts bouncing down the street (and then using it in the credits too).

    The tone is altogether darker and more mature. Too mature for Fox.

    #36180
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @juniperfish — RE. Dollhouse. As @pedant says the unaired pilot points to something slightly different but I’d agree that it just didn’t work. I’d say it was Whedon’s moment of hubris or at least something he didn’t think through properly. It was basically an idea for a movie that just was never going to work as a TV series. A concept where your central character is ‘reset’ at the end of every episode just isn’t going to work. I think it was Pam Douglas who put forth the theory that successful TV shows have a ‘vertical’ arc of development as well as the traditional ‘horizontal’ one of movies and Dollhouse went out of its way to ignore that. It gets a bit better in season two though.

    RE. Buffy. Yeah, there are definitely other talents who struck off well with Whedon and Espenson produced many of the great, more comedic stories. I feel that Noxon often overdid it with the angst though and missed Joss’s lighter touch. I do still feel that David Greenwalt doesn’t get the credit he deserves for both Buffy and Angel.

    #36214
    Anonymous @

    @scaryb  you said, I think, to NOT say, “it can’t get any worse”. I did but I shouldn’t have 🙁  Moan….

    @pedant  @jimthefish  Oooh Buffy…..

    Great record;  10 seconds to recognise a young actor who I saw in Torchwood (and one or two other shows) called Spike in Season 2. I think it’s James Marsters?  It’s the voice and the smile. I recall him opposite JB in a rather racy scene.

    “You were my sire. You were my Yoda”  Boy spat out supper. Great fun. Only saw a little bit of Buffy in the past five or six days. Shame….Chrimble is crazy…. Should be all light and carols….

    Kindest, stops using stops.

    #36215
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion — yes, the mighty Spike. I thought his turn on Torchwood was great fun and it was a shame he didn’t return. Although I suspect the reason was he showed up Barrowman to be, er, a bit too lightweight.

    I’m almost exactly halfway through the second season in my full Buffy rewatch — finding it quite invigorating, haven’t watched any for a good five or six years now so enough time has passed for it to be not too familiar.

    #36227
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish  how wonderful. We are up to the 4th ep in the 2nd season -the lines, the lines.  I have a Buffy notebook !

    Pity Whedon (or @pedant   –  Sorkin) didn’t help write the Opposition’s speech during the so-called terrorist act in Sydney. I’ve been in that coffee shop many times and know it so well. “Together we will endure. Together we will prevail. This in-human violence hasn’t achieved the violence it was supposed to do”. Good grief (well, it did and get a better writer please)

    Now, I’m on a flight to Sydney with my work partner. Great stuff. What a week and those poor, shocked people.

    Anyway, off topic. Apologies.

    Kindest, puro

     

    #36228
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish and @pedant  Boy Ilion will receive, in his stocking, the remaining seasons of Buffy!  Of course this will make me very happy also.  I believe there’s Breaking Bad season 2 in my stocking (because I’m a snoop: hell, it’s my job) and Doctor Who for all of us though Mr ilion will see it as a snore fest  – we can’t all love Who, I spose.

    @whisht  my house is box sets. After the flood (The Great Toilet Crack of 2014)  the only thing I cared about was the DVDs*.  As for the books…many were wet but some I can replace. But thank god for kindles.  It was a great opportunity to throw out other things -old videos of very bad Agatha Christie productions. OK, not throw out: St Vinnies received some boxes.

    *and the house. And the people.

    Kindest, puro.

    #36230

    @purofilion

    Oh, I’ve just realised – that means you should have met the loquacious – and very cool – Oz.

    I think speech making when in opposition is a pretty thankless task

    Very impressed with the #illridewithyou hashtag, though.

    #36232
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @pedant — you’re right, s02e04 is Inca Mummy Girl  and isOz’s first appearance and he is very cool. Seth Green is rather the epitome of cool guy, not just for Buffy but because he’s also Joker in Mass Effect, in my opinion. Rewatched Phases tonight, which is an ep I was never really crazy about before but which I really enjoyed this time around. Dodgy prosthetics and all. I’m still predicting major Buffy obsession for puro and family quite soon. It usually kicks in big time around the Surprise/Innocence two-hander.

    @purofilion — Yes, the events in Sydney are quite shocking. I lived there for a spell in the late 90s and was in and around Martin Place a lot. Though I must admit not being able to place the coffee shop in question. I do seem to vaguely remember another pretty bad and similar incident happening out Burwood way, I think, at the time. All very sad though.

    #36234
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @jimthefish

    The coffee shop/ chocolate shop in Martin Place was right at the top, around the corner from the legal centre of Sydney, hence one of the victims being a barrister. I think it only opened about 10 years ago, so you may never have seen it. It was beautiful. Really beautiful. I used to go there, as did many friends. In fact, I used to live only a couple of streets away, before we moved to Canada. The thought of people dying there is heartbreaking.

    Sorry, I am rather off topic.

    On topic…@Purofilion mentioned losing very bad productions of Agatha Christie. What? You mean there are very bad productions of my favourite author? David Suchet? A god. Joan Hickson? A godess.

    I understand they are about to make a new series of the Tommy and Tuppence stories with David Walliams as Tommy. Hmm, well not entirely sure about that, but who knows.

    #36237
    Anonymous @

    @blenkinsopthebrave. Ha!  You think I do not adore Suchet? Who owns a DVD of Suchet in documentary discussing Poirot? As well as most of the episodes in which he played Mr Eloquent? Moi! Miss Hickson? Not bad. Not bad at all.

    No, this was some awful, slap up version which was ‘Agatha Christie stories and many others which aren’t’.

    AAAAAh Seth Green. I recognised him first! No, I mean before the builders.  Yesterday, I was up in the ‘executive suite’ watching Buff. OK, that doesn’t work. Anyway, the builders were fiddling with the plumbing and then started inching toward the TV screen saying “isn’t that dude …from…?”

    Yep.

    They stopped working (which is to be expected for builders) and I eventually fetched ’em a couple of cokes and they watched the entire episode drooling over Buffy. Uber cool.

    @jimthefish

    I have a thing for Spike (does that count as obsession?) Clearly a very bad boy. Which is why the ‘thing’.

    @pedant the rideonbustrain is great but in my suburb (Coorparoo) where I buy gas/fuel, a young Muslim attendant was spat on and insulted during the night shift. Not every one is on board it seems. But this is Brisbane. Joh’s legacy remains and it is sinister.

    Right, we have ‘Halloween’…. Where Mr Green has a larger role I think? Soon see…

    Kindest. At the Hell Mouth

    #36238
    Anonymous @

    @pedant  Oh my God, Willow?  OK. I have another thing. Is that leather?

    “It’s not a demon it’s a car”. Oh, jeepers, this is good.

    #36239
    Anonymous @

    Ok. I knew Giles was about more than books. That kick, that was fine. Extremely fine.

    Cold Shower.

    Puro (apologies for nabbing this board but I’m in love)

    #36241
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion — Yep, Halloween is lots of fun. And great for the introduction of Ethan Rayne. It’s a real shame the Ripper spin-off never came to anything. I’d have quite liked to have seen something featuring Giles in Ripper mode and Ethan on a regular basis.

    #36242
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish  Oh no, what? So  “they don’t know who you really are?” never came to anything.

    BoyIlion thought this was a 4th layer -at 13 he’s writing notes -a Buffy Book, if you will, of phrases and funny lines which is great. But I too would have loved Giles “doing something manly”. I believe this is a quote from Xander -same ep.

    So far one of the best lines of the series (S1)  is from Cordelia: “Everyone is so busy agreeing with me they’re not listening to anything I have to say”.

    OK. Well, it resonated with me -an over used word, I know, as is ‘ironic’ and dozens of others. I should say that the above quote spoke volumes (to me) and fitted in with various personal situations. Mm.. Still muddy.

    Kindest,

    Cordofilion

     

    #36243
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion – worry not. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that you’ve not seen the last of ‘Ripper’….

    #36247
    Anonymous @

    @Purofilion, @jimthefish

    I can’t really talk in depth about Buffy very much, since it is not like DW to me. There aren’t very many episodes that really stand out as favorites like in DW, instead it is easier for me to pick favorite seasons of Buffy. But, Holloween is one of my favorite early episodes.

    My favorite character is Spike (James Marsters should be considered to be the Doctor or Master. He was great as Spike so I think he could pull it off, if he isn’t type cast already??). My crush is Anya and she is always hilarious even if she only gets one line. Sorry JimtheFish but Cordi versus Anya is a no contest. Cordi is a mega hotty, but her personality was purposely wrote to make you not like her I think. So I just couldn’t like her, even if I wanted to.

    I just watched Pangs again (s4e8).  Very funny. I hope you like it too when you see it Puro. 🙂

    #36248
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish – On second thought… Cordelia in Homecoming (s3e5) makes me want to take back everything I said about not liking her. 😉

    #36252
    Anonymous @

    @barnable  @jimthefish  I love Buffy.  I love every second. Cordelia.  Mega-hottie? Seriously? I think Willow and Buffy are attractive.

    I recall talking to an erudite 24 year old during Greek class and, in trying to please, said: “I like Homer”.

    His response was acid and desultory: “I love Homer”.

    I waddled away concerned that I hadn’t declined ‘hitherto’ and ‘away over’ in the correct 7th century style.

    So, Season 3? Well, I’m only part way thru Season 2 as Child has been watching either the appalling cricket or some Shoot ’em Up flick. Disappointed.

    Putro

    #36253
    Anonymous @

    @barnable  see above: my ‘thing’ for Spike. God. Well, he’s dead, but then so is…

    #36254
    Anonymous @

    @pedant  Back to TWW. Yes that episode (In Excelsis Deo) with Mrs Landingham is marvellous.  Light amongst the Winter.

    Questions hover with: “Toby…you don’t think that every homeless veteran will come out of the woodwork?”

    “I can only hope, Sir”

    Acute observation. Every Christmas we pull out that episode with egg nog and ‘do’ some thinking….

    Kindest to all.

    #36255
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion — slow and steady wins the race. My Buffivision will probably be curtailed next week as I start to watch my traditional festive faves.

    @barnable — we’ll definitely have a detailed conversation RE. Cordy at some point but in fairness to Puro, we should probably keep any Buffy chat contemporary to where she’s at in her watching, to avoid inadvertent spoilage. (Realise I jumped ahead a couple of episodes upstream but I did reproach myself in the strongest possible terms over it.)

    #36259
    Anonymous @

    @jimthefish  thank you and to @barnable

    The Festive Favs -that phrase is a ‘thing’.

    I would like very much to know what others watch during the season?  It would be great to add to my list. I recall, about 26 years ago, being introduced to Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. A gal-friend at the time knew all about Mr Capra and was shocked I was 21 before I watched his ‘oeuvre’.

    Of course there’s Scrooge but with Alistair Sim which many find disheartening but I do not. I can see  it’s dated but to me quite profound: a good example of bathos if ever there was one.

    The child watched a film (and I mean 10 times a days) with T. Hanks as a train conductor taking the kiddies to Santa. I think that was lost in The Great Toilet Crack of 2014.

    I believe Mr ilion will want Love Actually…. The music is good and Colin….But…

    There will be the a tit bit of TWW though @pedant will be too busy I suspect -in fact does the cold enliven all of you so trees are trimmed, much cooking of hot food is begun and everyone can indulge in warm wine?

    At the mo, the temperature is still reading 30 dg c -at 7 am.

    Dear Father Christmas, may I have some cold weather for Christmas please? And a dryer.

    Kindest, puro

    #36262

    @Purofilion

    There is a Buffy ep, which you will know when you get there, that will be added to your repeat Xmas viewing alongside In Exclesis Deo. If I had a working multi-region DVD player I would add An Echolls Family Christmas from Veronica Mars for added Noir.

    I usually watch the Moffat Xmas eps, all of which reward repeat viewing much more than you might expect.

    Not Christmassy as such, but if it is on I will generally make time fo Edward Scissorhands. Need my Winona fix.

    Definitely on board with the Sim Christmas Carol.

    This Xmas BBC is adopting Professor Branestawm, although a little wary of the Harry Hill factor.

    Other than that, whatever my niece and nephew have settled on (although a couple of years ago this led to stumbling upon Bridge To Terebathia, which held me an my then 12yo nephew spellbound to the extent that we refused to come to Xmas dinner until it was finished).

    And indeeed, yes @barnable: SPOILERS!

    #36264
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @purofilion — RE. festive faves. Well mine, which will probably be watched throughout the festive season are, in no particular order:

    The Buffy episode which @pedant alludes to above. And which we can’t even begin to talk about.

    The Santa in the Snow episode of Bones. Because it’s  a bit of fun.

    The All Through The House episode of Homicide Life on the Streets. A dead Santa, a gangland immolation, Christmas trees, poker and eggnog. What’s not to love?

    Batman Returns — very Christmassy, I think. And the best Batman film, Dark Knight included. (sometimes alternated with Edward Scissorhands a la @pedant)

    Kenneth Branagh’s In The Bleak Midwinter (or A Midwinter’s Tale if you’re American.) Hard up actors put on a production of Hamlet in a draughty old church over Christmas. Great little film and it’s really annoying that it’s not yet on DVD. My old VHS version just ain’t what it was.

    A version of A Christmas Carol. These days I veer towards the Patrick Stewart version which I think is one of the best. Although I alternate it with the Muppets and Bill Murray in Scrooged.

    On that note, A Christmas Carol is the only Who Christmas special I can really be bothered revisiting. Although I may add The Snowmen to that now too.

    Trading Places and Home Alone. Just because you’ve gotta.

    Planes, Trains and Automobiles — I know it’s strictly Thanksgiving Day but it works for Christmas, I think.

    Die Hard — it’s fast becoming a modern cliche to hail this as a festive favourite but I must admit it does find its way into the DVD player most years.

    And finally… Wonder Boys. Not Christmassy in the slightest (although it does have lots of snow in it) but just because it’s my most favourite film ever and tends to get rewatched a few times over the year.

     

    #36265
    XAD4 @xad4

    @Purofilion

    As it should be, Christmas definitely brings out the child in me when it comes to TV/DVDs!

    An absolute must every year is the Muppets’ Christmas Carol. So beautiful, and so funny.

    Then there’s the Italian series from the 90s  Fantaghiro, which was on German TV every Christmas and Easter for years. It looks pretty dated, now, but the first episodes are still quite lovely.

    The Last Unicorn, which I could only appreciate as an adult.

    Recent additions to the Christmas list are Watership Down and The Wind in the Willows (Cosgrove Hall version).

    This year, for some strange reason, I’m thinking on doing a little Buffy marathon. After all, when I moved to the UK a few years ago with ten moving boxes, and had to leave 95% of my stuff behind, the Buffy DVDs absolutely had to move with me. 😀

    Oh, and – Giles, yes. And Oz. And Spike. Oh yes, Spike… 😉

    #36266

    @jimthefish

    Planes, Trains and Automobiles

    Ooooh – good shout. Totally forgot about it.

    I like the Patrick Stewart Christmas Carol, but I find that he strays into full I’m A Shakespearian Actor mode once or twice too often. Sims’s restrained paranoia is a treat.

    Trading Places is, indeed, always a delight.

    And The Great Escape (The Likely Lads: “I was going to watch The Great Escape. It’s usually on”) must be due around soon soon.

     

    #36267
    Anonymous @

    My top festive fave  is Jim Carrey How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the DW Specials.

    Home Alone 1 & 2 and Muppet Christmas Carol always get watched too!  

    @pedant, @jimthefish

    I tried to avoid spoilers 😳 , will keep pace with @Purofilion from now on.

     

    #36268
    Anonymous @

    @barnable  no worries, but thank you. If I sense a spoiler, I use my peripheral vision 🙂 Home Alone!! Sadly, deeply, I had videos of those and haven’t shopped for any discs. I know many people don’t like Jim C but, to me, The Truman Show is incredible. Don’t shoot me down..

    Well good heavens @xad4  @jimthefish @pedant

    Hah!  Yes, we watch The Great Escape (on DVD); Planes and Trains (can I say this?) is one of my fav films. It’s the delivery. And the skeletonised vehicle. And pretty much everything within its Motivation. Johnny Depp as Edward: a marvel.

    XAD4  don’t know the Italian series to which you allude.  I know of no unicorn films either  -unless it’s in Harry Potter (nope, I’m not going there) so thank you for this suggestion.  WD and WitWillows abounds with delight! Now, I haven’t seen any Muppets in an awful long time. Really: it’s that good? Your other intriguing suggestions will make the Muppets a priority. Boy Ilion. I could use him as an excuse (for colourful puppetry) when the missionaries come a-tracting and sit in front of tele with an iced coke 🙂

    Jim: I’m with you on Batman Returns. I wasn’t thinking of a re-visit this Chrimble, but I may re-consider. My, my, thus it appears Game of Thrones Series 313 is out. I watch only the non-naughty bits so I should get most of my cash back.

    And Buffy. Boy Ilion was sniffing up here awhile ago needing a fix. Better ingest the elixir.

    Thank you all, puro.

    PS: @arbutus @whisht what is in your Christmas fav viewing list? Also @mudlark @idiotsavon @craig and the mods and loveables here.

     

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