Amph What was the last tv episode you watched?

The Office Season 7

It's 2011 and none of the episodes that we watched last night really stood out. It's just setting up the Michael and Holly relationship and exit.

12 - Ultimatum
Holly didn't get engaged but is still with AJ until the very end of the episode where they decide to take a break.
Jim is in the cold open but is missing from the rest of the episode which is not explained.

13 - The Seminar
Holly and AJ have broken up, so Michael and her bond over his stupid Greek impression. He's ultimately doing a bad Gru impression.
Jim hides from a class mate from 3rd grade that is still upset with him over a comment made 30+ years ago?

14 - The Search
Jim and Michael go on a sales call.
Jim has to head home to take care of Cece while Michael wanders the town.
Ultimately, Holly finds him because of how alike they are. They share a kiss.

15 - PDA
The Valentine's Day episode where Michael and Holly find out that they actually love each other.
Jim and Pam get drunk at lunch.

16 - Threat Level Midnight
Michael finally finishes his movie that he's been working on for 10 years?!
Felt very out of place and forced. Would have been nice if this was mentioned more in other seasons.
Good cameos of old cast though.

17 - Todd Packer
Packer is back in the office. No one likes it.
Girlfriend fell asleep, will need to rewatch from half way point.

 

Game of Thrones

 

The Night Manager: Episodes 2 - 4

Finally got back into this and rolled through 3 episodes last night. Damn good show!

 

Battlestar Galactica: S1 Ep. 4 "The Lost Warrior" (1978) - Plot; Apollo crash lands on an Old West style planet where a similarly crashed Cylon has become a deadly gunslinger and the muscle for the local tyrant.

This is essentially Battlestar Shane, with Richard Hatch (Apollo) in the classic Alan Ladd role. Hatch is in his wheelhouse here, getting the be the sensitive fighter. I don't know that he was ever destined to be a big star, but through the pilot movie and these first three episodes, he's impressed me not only with his likeability, but with the subtle touches he brings. He should've been a TV mainstay for the next few decades. The guest stars are also solid, particularly Kathy Cannon as the widow, Lance LeGault as her brother, and Claude Earl Jones as the town tyrant, Lacerta.

The idea of the Old West motif in space--not just evocative, but literally Old West--is a bit silly on the surface, but it's used to good effect to tell a simple, timeworn story that's a nice changeup from the hi-tech halls of the Galactica. - 7.5/10

 

I finished up the remake of Roots. I saw the original once at least 15 years ago so I don't remember much about it and how it compares to the one. But I liked it a lot. I know I mocked the idea of a remake of such an iconic miniseries for the sake of a remake. I was wrong. The people who made it seemed to give a **** and it wasn't simply a cash-in by the History Channel looking to rehabilitate its image. It does seem a little dated at times in its style-- I'm guessing because it was looking to the original miniseries. There are some annoyances such as repeated tropes (all three men in Kunta Kinte's line depicted as protagonists had an older male mentor who got brutally killed). And there were a hell of a lot of little time jumps. It was almost like reading a calendar. Overall, however, it was pretty great. I liked especially how the first two protagonists are removed from the narrative very abruptly and we don't see them again (Kunta's fate is never revealed, although it's easy to guess). Makes the audience better sympathize with the new protagonist's loss.

 

Of Grave Importance - Supernatural - Season 7

 

Season 4 finales of both Person of Interest and Elementary. I thought that both were improvements over season 3 and I enjoyed them a lot. The addition of Sherlocks father in Elementary added more wieght to the story and I thought there were a few less filler cases this time around. Whilst Person of Interest benefited from them finally finishing the HR story line and also moving the protagonists to a different day to day job too.

 

Battlestar Galactica: S1 Ep. 5 "The Long Patrol" (1978) - Plot; Starbuck is sent on a long-range recon mission, but after his Viper is stolen he finds himself locked away in a long forgotten penal colony.

With the previous episode being Apollo-centric, I'm not surprised that the focus here is on Starbuck. Whether to appease fans or appease the actors I'm not sure, but it helps to keep things fresh because the characters are so very different. Here the loveable lothario gets to have a little fun with the 'ol "one guy, two dates" scenario, then he mixes with the colorful characters of the Proteus penal colony. The latter is where the episode really shines, because as such the plot and the action here are so-so.

Among the prisoners are some sorta-kinda familiar faces like James Whitmore Jr. (son of the elder James Whitmore and now a very prolific and successful TV director), Ian Abercrombie (Seinfeld's Mr. Pitt) and Arlene Martel (perhaps best known as Spock's bride T'Pring from the Star Trek episode "Amok Time"). All of them bring a nice bit of zing. Mixed with a breakneck pace, it's all almost enough to make you forget how weak the episode is otherwise. Almost. - 6/10

- Starbuck's retrofitted Viper is given a female A.I. (C.O.R.A.) with a display quite similar to that of K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. Of course both BSG and KR were created by Glenn Larson, who never met an idea he didn't re-use (see; the streaking red light of the Cylons).

 

Battlestar Galactica: S1 Ep. 6 "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part 1" (1978) - Plot; The Cylons herd the Galactica and its fleet near an ice planet where they have built a deadly laser weapon that can destroy ships in space. With no other options, Adama sends down a squad made up mostly of convicts to destroy the weapon.

This is essentially The Dirty Dozen meets The Guns of Navarone. Misfits on a one-way mission. It's a classic formula, and it works very well in part 1. The production values here are outstanding, first in creating the two crash landings on the snow planet, and then creating the snow planet on a soundstage. It's all first rate stuff, and really helps to narrow that gap between reality and suspension of disbelief. The other aspect that works well here are the guest stars. There are some familiar names and faces--Bond girl Britt Ekland, Magnum co-star Larry Manetti--and a host of colorful character actors who really bring their characters to life.

Being the first of a two-parter, nothing is resolved, but it certainly sets up strong stakes and has me looking forward to its conclusion. - 7.5/10

BSG extras

- Starbuck's (Dirk Benedict) hair noticeably changes lengths several times throughout the episode .

 

Double Trouble Duel: Part 3 - Yu-Gi-Oh - Season 1

 

Doctor Who Deep Breath

 

The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo - Supernatural - Season 7

 

Face-Off: Part 1 - Yu-Gi-Oh - Season 1

 

Outcast, episode 1; quite... interesting...

 

Doctor Who Into the Dalek.

 

Once Upon a Time, season 3, episode 6: "Ariel"

 

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: S1 Ep. 1 "The Mystery of the Haunted House" (1977) - Plot; Teen brothers Joe and Frank Hardy are forced to take their interest in detective work to the next level when their Father goes missing while on a top secret case.

Needed a bit of sorbet in between helpings of Battlestar Galactica, so decided to try something I'd never watched before. As I understand it, this series ran for three seasons. S1 alternated episodes between the Hardy's and fellow teen detective Nancy Drew, S2 had standalone episodes for the characters as well as crossovers, and S3 Drew was dropped and the Hardy's were featured in every episode.

There's virtually no setup in this pilot episode, nor any real attempt to give us some backstory. We meet Joe (Shaun Cassidy) and Frank (Parker Stevenson) tailing their Father, who is a former NYPD detective turned private eye. Suspicious of the father's activities, the boys learn he's on a case that he's keeping secret from them. But boy wannabe detectives will be boy wannabe detectives, so the Hardy's get mixed up in the plot.

There's a lot of Scooby Doo-level shenanigans here, with the fluffed and feathered Hardy's creeping around in grave yards and a haunted house themed restaurant looking for clues. The freshly scrubbed Cassidy and Stevenson make for a likeable duo that is wholesome, but not bland thanks in large part to the personal charm they bring. The actual plot itself, involving an ex-government agent, amnesia and selling secrets to "foreign governments" is all way, way, way over the head of a show like this. You can't do that kind of story justice with two junior detectives and their custom conversion van. That's Bond territory. They need something a bit more... minor league. A guy trying to scare someone off their land so he can buy it cheap and get the huge deposit of oil beneath it who would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those kids and their darn dirt bikes. Stuff like that.

Overall this opener feels hollow and is a bit dull. With no setup, I never quite got my bearings, and the clunky plot never really finds any momentum. - 6/10

- Episode features an appearance by Richard Kiel, playing the host of the haunted house restaurant. Naturally he's dressed up as Frankenstein. A few months later he'd find fame as Jaws in the Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me.

 

Face-Off: Part 2 - Yu-Gi-Oh - Season 1

 

Daredevil Season 2 Episode 9, 10 & 11. Two to go. The last couple of episodes have been really good.

 

Doctor Who Robot of Sherwood and Listen

 

Battlestar Galactica: S1 Ep. 7 "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part 2" (1978) - Plot; With time running out, the Colonials enlist the help of an unlikely ally. The deadly pulse weapon's creator.

Not a lot of surprises here in this wrap-up of the "Ice Planet Zero" story, unless you count my overall impression of it. Though there are naturally problems inherent in any such genre TV series of the era, I come away from this two-parter very impressed by its execution. The production values here are absolutely first rate. Though shot on a soundstage, they did an exceptional job of creating a completely believable and immersive arctic environment. The last act is also rife with tension as the team on the planet try to sabotage the pulse gun before the Galactica and its fleet--being squeezed on all sides by the Cylons--comes into range. It's a white-knuckle, deftly handled affair. The same can be said of the two episodes as well. - 7.5/10

 

Orphan Black: Season 4, Episode 2 (Transgressive Border Crossing)

Tatiana Maslany never ceases to amaze me. That is all.

 

Doctor Who Time Heist and The Caretaker

 

Reading is Fundamental - Supernatural - Season 7

Face-Off: Part 3 - Yu-Gi-Oh - Season 1

World on Fire - Daredevil - Season 1

 

The new episode of Angie Tribeca, where officer Jay Geils goes undercover as a beach lifeguard to uncover a drug-smuggling ring, but gets in too deep.

Has anybody else watched this show? I swear, it's like a modern police procedural crossed with Police Squad/The Naked Gun, which makes it so great.