TV shows you most recently finished watching

Based on the true story of convicted drug dealer Jimmy Keene (played by Taron Egerton) who is offered a deal by the FBI to be transferred to a high security prison to befriend child rapist/killer Larry Hall in order to obtain details of where the bodies are buried. For this, if successful they will commute his sentence to time served and he will be released. There are also notable performances from Paul Walter Hauser as Larry Hall and Ray Liotta (one of his last) as Big Jim Keene. High on quality but not an easy watch. 9/10 

Yep think I came to a similar conclusion. It's worth pointing out that for those that haven't seen Breaking Bad , there are no spoilers in Better Call Saul (given that its a prequel) . I only started watching Breaking Bad about 4 seasons into Better Call Saul but it all ties in well and helps explain how Jimmy became Saul.

'Based on true events' drama surrounding a controversial legal case in America back in the 2010's. A young lady in her teens called Michelle Carter formed a close bond with a young chap who was being treated for depression. She may not have been the best influence on him and ends up in court after he commits suicide. a good reason for watching this is Elle Fanning (best known for playing a young Catherine The Great) providing an acting masterclass as Carter and must surely be up for some major award I imagine. If you liked Dr Death then you will almost certainly enjoy this. 8/10

Created by Sharon Horgan and filmed/set in her home country of Ireland, I expected a bit more from this. Good actors but the constant flipping to the back story gets a bit tiresome. The basic plot is about 5 sisters , one of whom is married to a totally detestable excuse of a man so the 4 others plot to do away with him. It's black humour but without the humour. I really wanted to like it more than I did. Not terrible and seems there may be another series on the way. 6/10

btw it may be of some interest that Strictly's Dave Arch was the musical director and keyboard player for Greg Lake when he toured back in 2004. I even got to shake his hand!

So when did Netflix stop commissioning engrossing grown up dramas such as House Of Cards, Bloodline and Ozark and instead decided to put out tosh like this? I had hoped this might be another creepy gem like Midnight Mass but sadly no. Barely nothing happens apart from a bird hitting the window (what a cliche) . Insufficient in plot, chills or drama it just labours towards an incredibly underwhelming denouement. I only stuck with it for the gorgeous lead actress (Emily Deschanel) but she and the rest of the cast deserved far better. 4/10

Over the last couple of months I watched all seven seasons of this revival of the original series that came out from 1963 to 1965. For such a long series, it has its ups and downs and a lot of it comes off as a mixed bag with some gems and some episodes that put me to sleep. I don't believe this series had the finances other science fiction series had about this time and it shows, particularly in scenes in outer space or inside spacecraft. Nonetheless, the stories for the most part are quite interesting, often having surprise endings (though on occasion some of these are predictable if you let yourself do this).

The format of this show isn't really any different from the original or a comparable series like The Twilight Zone. Each episode is its own story, like a series of short stories in a science fiction anthology. The cast on each show is generally made up of different guest actors/actresses. Some make multiple appearances of different characters and on occasion some episodes have a sequel to them that generally appears in a later season in which the characters roles are performed by the same actors/actresses.

Among the guest actors/actresses is almost a who's who of science fiction-related, among them a number of cast members of Stargate SG-1 (no doubt due to Brad Wright's influence since he also wrote for both SG and The Outer Limits), Star Trek TNG, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek DS9, Babylon 5, the rebooted Battlestar Galactica (though these performances predate the release of BG), and even a performance from Nathan Fillion before his appearance on Firefly. Among some of the more notable guests were: Aaron Douglas, Colin Ferguson, Meat Loaf, Charlton Heston, Hal Holbrook, Michael Moriarty, CCH Pounder, John de Lancie, Linda Ko, Jack Klugman, Corbin Bernsen, John Amos, Molly Ringwald, Marina Sirtis, Barbara Rush, Fred Savage, Mark Hamill, John Heard, Robert Loggia, Roddy Piper, Ronny Cox, David Ogden Stiers, Robert Guillaume, Robert Picardo, Burt Young, Kirsten Dunst, Lloyd Bridges, Beau Bridges, Kevin Tighe, Pat Morita, Michael Hogan, Barry Pepper, Leonard Nimoy, Alyssa Milano, Swoosie Kurtz, Margot Kidder, Wil Wheaton, Michael Dorn, Rebecca De Mornay, Bruce Boxleitner, Torri Higginson, Amanda Tapping, Graham Greene, Tom Arnold, Mackenzie Phillips, Gary Busey, Stacy Keach, Chris Elliott, Kevin Nealon, Daniel Baldwin, Robert Hays, Ralph Waite, David Keith, Nana Visitor, Melissa Gilbert, Lou Diamond Phillips, Gary Cole, Maria Conchita Alonso, Ron Perlman, Alan Thicke, Howard Hesseman, Howie Mandel, David McCallum, Kim Cattrall, Sheena Easton, Brent Spiner, Jon Cryer, Neil Patrick Harris, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, Josh Brolin, Grace Park, Michael Ironside, Ron Rifkin, Alan Scarfe, Teryl Rothery, Don S. Davis, Tom McBeath, Saul Rubinek, Ryan Reynolds, Bruce Harwood, Kristin Lehman, Andrew Airlie, and Jessica Steen.

It's like a who's who of American/Canadian television and movies from the 1990s, from individuals on the tail ends of their career, to individuals prior to their becoming more famous, and a host of lesser known supporting character actors/actresses who had a long history of filling these roles. Strangely enough, of all these episodes I think the best performance was that of Howie Mandel in season 3, episode 2, where he was able to "download" the personalities of several individuals and play a character with a sort of pseudo-dissociative identity disorder that rivals the performance of James McAvoy from Shyamalan's film Split.

The biggest downside I found with this series was the half-assed attempt to tie all the episodes together in season-ending episodes. These failed miserably because all of the episodes of this series were in self-contained bubbles where the connections between them were dubious at best. The treatment isn't that different from an episode, for example, in which the characters remember events from the past and the episode is chiefly filled with excerpts from previous episodes, what we here in The States call a filler episode (or clip shows) when the writers didn't have enough material for an original episode or for cost-cutting reasons. They did this repeatedly with the last episode of nearly every season. In the final seventh season, they did this with the last two episodes. A clear indicator that they were running out of ideas.

Themes in the series covered a wide gamut of science fiction/horror tales, dealing with contact with extraterrestrials, the human condition, biological evolution, time travel, plagues, monsters, the supernatural, apocalyptic stories, human colonization of other planets, alternate realities, psychological drama, and so on. By this very nature, I think this was an improvement upon the original 1960s series. However, I think maybe the series went on longer than it should have as it had shown signs of writer fatigue by the 5th season that grew more progressive into the 7th season. Like most long-running series, the first season was a bit bumpy in quality, but improved in the following seasons. 

I had watched this regularly back in the 1990s when this came out. It was broadcasted locally late on Saturday nights (I think at 11 p.m. or midnight). So, it was nice to actually see the entire opus of this in the order they intended it. 

Rating: 7/10

thanks for the informative review ( I won't repeat the whole thing!)

I watched most of it being a big sci-fi fan. I think that , Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Earth 2 were my fave sc-fi shows of the decade.

I did buy a box set of the Outer Limits entitled 'Sex and Science-fiction' but couldn't play the thing because of the region not being compatible!

btw the theme music for the series was created by Mark Mancina who produced the ELP album Black Moon.