Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

Adults:  I just caught up with this comedy after getting loads of recommendations.  I thought it was going to be Friends-lite, and it sort of started off that way but then it becomes its own thing, and it’s great.  Sweet and funny, with a mix of the odd curly-toes cringy laugh, but also a lot that comes from character, interspersed with the occasional mic-drop funny.  I love the development of  characters especially in season 2, where they all have their moments, and there is subtle slow burn yearning going on too.  As each episode is just over 20 minutes I ended up binging it in just a few evenings.  I’m assuming they are aiming for a season 3 but it would be ok if it ended where it is I think ( TV series streaming on Disney+) Colin from Accounts:    People have been recommending this Australian romcom/drama to me for years, and I finally got around to watching it.  It’s an intelligent, sharp, and emotionally satisfying story named afte...

The summer is always weird for telly as there’s a lot more to do outside.  But I did watch a couple of things. Ride or Die: Another women led action adventure, with cast, production and writing all covered, and I’m here for it..  With the magnificent Hannah Waddingham as an assassin and Octavia Spencer as her best friend, this is a lot of fun as the duo run rings around the Albanian mob with the support of a couple of green flag men in secondary roles.  I love the middle aged female friendship being displayed here, but it’s also great that women can be proper baddies and not just in a girlie way.  Some of the plot and dialogue is a bit iffy, but this is funny and engaging, and generally a cut above the majority of action adventures so I definitely recommend. (TV series streaming on Prime) Silo: series 3 of this sci-fi dystopian book adaptation has been drip fed over the past few weeks.  Rebecca Ferguson is still fab, and it is still largely sticking to the boo...

 My favourite tv of the year,  following my rules which may not make sense to anyone else... Best Drama A lot of female led drama this year which is good news.   The Morning Show:  This show, produced and led by Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, but with plenty of other women in leading roles, now in its fourth season.  It has been interesting from the start, taking on different real life topics from the perspective of a US news organisation, starting with Me Too, but also looking at the January 6 riots and the political state of the US nation alongside corporate intrigue.  This season was particularly interested in AI and technology, although there were multiple other subplots and sub-Succession style wheeling and dealing wrapped into this, which made the end result a bit messy as they tried to cram everything in.  This was the weakest season so far, but I will still be watching season 5. (AppleTV+) Film Club: This drama focuses on mental healt...

Television Plur1bus  - Series 1 has now come to an end and I have found it absolutely gripping.  It takes its time to let things come to light, and I love that the heroes of this piece are not superficially likeable.  Instead they are awkward, and difficult to work with, but that also means they are admirable in understanding and following their own moral compass even if it makes them unpopular.  Carol (Rhea Seehorn) is a divisive figure as she is so difficult, but I love her, and she makes the blandness of the mindvirus folk stand out in sharp relief.   There's plenty of topical stuff being talked about here, a critique on  groupthink, what fascism looks like and in the final episode we get to see with Carol that this is also a abusive relationship with the Others, showing a caring face while doing harm.  In the season finale she finally meets up with Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga) who is equally difficult and I think this will be a wonderful par...

The Hack - A highly accessible, if far too long, account of the hacking scandal illustrating the web of back scratching, corruption and illegal activity held in place with fear over many years.  It’s a depressing story, and unfortunately a complicated one due to the web of connections and cover-ups that needed to be exposed.  But it’s told with verve, using the same approach as The Big Short , simplifying with explanations direct to camera by our narrator and guide, David Tennant as the journalist Nick Davies who over many years doggedly hunted this story down for The Guardian . I fear nothing much has changed, and in fact it may well have accelerated the mistrust of all journalism, including the good and honourable ones, and the turning to online ‘experts’ instead.  The text at the end explaining what happened next was both damning and depressing  But even so, it is worth a watch to remind ourselves of what happened and is maybe still happening. ( Series, ITV and ...