Christmas and 2015 Telly Thoughts
Jan. 12th, 2016 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightThere really wasn't much on TV this Christmas, I felt. There was The Farmer's Llamas, of course, the latest adventures of Shaun the Sheep, but apart from that, there was the Doctor Who Christmas Special and Sherlock, and that's pretty much it.
Thoughts on those, and my pick of the best of new TV in 2015 behind cut.
I'm not much of a River Song fan, but I liked her better with Peter Capaldi's Doctor than with Matt Smith's. The story was okay, but it didn't half go on and on. Moffatt can't seem to write a sentence if he thinks he can get away with a paragraph. Ended up thinking (as I often do) that Capaldi is way too good an actor for this show. But he loves it. And I love it because of him.
As for Sherlock, I didn't get to watch it until almost a week after it aired, but it was worth the wait, I thought. Again, Moffatt's tendency to be over word-y got on my nerves at times, and the denouement of the Victorian mystery wasn't nearly as feminist-friendly as he possibly thinks it was (for one thing, having the explanation come from the lips of Sherlock himself - who Cumberbatch has always portrayed as seeming to regard women as a hostile alien species - just rings false), but there was lots of very enjoyable stuff in it. I liked the idea of Moriarty as existing inside Sherlock's head, I loved Mrs Hudson's lines about how she never gets any lines in the Victorian era scenes, which made me laugh out loud, it looked terrific, and Cumberbatch and Freeman - not to mention the entire supporting cast - were all terrific too. Cumberbatch, in particular, managed to look very Jeremy Brett-like in the Victorian scenes. Great stuff.
As far as 2015 TV is concerned, below, in no particular order, are the five new shows I enjoyed most in 2015.
Agent Carter: a gorgeous, glossy post-WW2 romp, featuring one of the best lead female characters since Buffy. The new series starts next week. Hoorah!
Jessica Jones: Not so gorgeous, maybe, certainly more violent. But again, a great female lead character, whose weaknesses were just as important as her strengths. Also featuring a female friendship as the most important relationship in the show.
Sense 8: Weird, wonderful, beautiful to look at, and with a truly international cast. Loved all the main characters. Loved the people they loved. Very scared about what might happen to them all in season 2.
The Last Kingdom: Set in Anglo-Saxon England during the Danish invasions, based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell. Critics beforehand claimed it was trying to ride the wave of popularity of Game of Thrones, which might well be true, but it was good. Pretty much everyone agreed (even if how good it was surprised a lot of them). Also helped boost the popularity of the man-bun.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Bit of a cheat including this, as there there was never going to be a season 2, but I do think the BBC succeeded in bringing an almost un-filmable book to the screen, and did it very well indeed.
I also enjoyed (with qualifications) Netflix's Marco Polo (the young actor playing Marco had zero charisma, unfortunately, but the 'supporting cast' had more than enough to make up for it), and Amazon Prime's The Man in the High Castle (the problem with this was with the three main characters, who, sadly, remained largely unsympathetic throughout, but there were some great things in the show all the same).
As for returning shows, the best by miles was The Americans, but I enjoyed Ripper Street season 3 as well. I haven't watched all of The Good Wife season 6 yet, but what I have seen of it (about half the series) has been a huge disappointment. I hope it picks up again in season 7 and then ends before it gets really crap.
Thoughts on those, and my pick of the best of new TV in 2015 behind cut.
I'm not much of a River Song fan, but I liked her better with Peter Capaldi's Doctor than with Matt Smith's. The story was okay, but it didn't half go on and on. Moffatt can't seem to write a sentence if he thinks he can get away with a paragraph. Ended up thinking (as I often do) that Capaldi is way too good an actor for this show. But he loves it. And I love it because of him.
As for Sherlock, I didn't get to watch it until almost a week after it aired, but it was worth the wait, I thought. Again, Moffatt's tendency to be over word-y got on my nerves at times, and the denouement of the Victorian mystery wasn't nearly as feminist-friendly as he possibly thinks it was (for one thing, having the explanation come from the lips of Sherlock himself - who Cumberbatch has always portrayed as seeming to regard women as a hostile alien species - just rings false), but there was lots of very enjoyable stuff in it. I liked the idea of Moriarty as existing inside Sherlock's head, I loved Mrs Hudson's lines about how she never gets any lines in the Victorian era scenes, which made me laugh out loud, it looked terrific, and Cumberbatch and Freeman - not to mention the entire supporting cast - were all terrific too. Cumberbatch, in particular, managed to look very Jeremy Brett-like in the Victorian scenes. Great stuff.
As far as 2015 TV is concerned, below, in no particular order, are the five new shows I enjoyed most in 2015.
Agent Carter: a gorgeous, glossy post-WW2 romp, featuring one of the best lead female characters since Buffy. The new series starts next week. Hoorah!
Jessica Jones: Not so gorgeous, maybe, certainly more violent. But again, a great female lead character, whose weaknesses were just as important as her strengths. Also featuring a female friendship as the most important relationship in the show.
Sense 8: Weird, wonderful, beautiful to look at, and with a truly international cast. Loved all the main characters. Loved the people they loved. Very scared about what might happen to them all in season 2.
The Last Kingdom: Set in Anglo-Saxon England during the Danish invasions, based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell. Critics beforehand claimed it was trying to ride the wave of popularity of Game of Thrones, which might well be true, but it was good. Pretty much everyone agreed (even if how good it was surprised a lot of them). Also helped boost the popularity of the man-bun.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Bit of a cheat including this, as there there was never going to be a season 2, but I do think the BBC succeeded in bringing an almost un-filmable book to the screen, and did it very well indeed.
I also enjoyed (with qualifications) Netflix's Marco Polo (the young actor playing Marco had zero charisma, unfortunately, but the 'supporting cast' had more than enough to make up for it), and Amazon Prime's The Man in the High Castle (the problem with this was with the three main characters, who, sadly, remained largely unsympathetic throughout, but there were some great things in the show all the same).
As for returning shows, the best by miles was The Americans, but I enjoyed Ripper Street season 3 as well. I haven't watched all of The Good Wife season 6 yet, but what I have seen of it (about half the series) has been a huge disappointment. I hope it picks up again in season 7 and then ends before it gets really crap.