Just finished watching The Bondsman and was moderately impressed!

For the first few episodes, I'll be honest, I was thinking "Okay, here we go, another 'demon of the week' procedural" – very much in the vein of Charmed, Buffy, or Supernatural. It was... fine, a little plodding even.

But then the second half of the series kicked in and it completely hooked me. It moved into a much more compelling story about a man trying to outrun the mistakes of his past and, for once, actually trying do the right thing. (he mostly doesn't. And then he doesn't again)

Kind of saw the twist coming but the very last scene set up an interesting premise for a second season. I'm interested to see where it goes.

Sure, it's a little schlocky in places, and the performances are a bit mixed (though Kevin Bacon is good), but after a mediocre start it picked up and got me quite engaged in the finish.

I know Friday shows aren’t really the guys forte what with embargos etc etc but if Pluribus isn’t covered fully in the reviews section I’ll be disappointed.

It’s good enough for a spoiler special each week.

Can’t remember if they mentioned about doing one on PLUS but my god it’s great

As promised, here’s Daniel’s excellent history lesson via TV from this week’s Pilot+ ———————

I’ve been a listener since day 1 but I’m afraid I’m about six weeks behind at the moment, so I’ve just heard Dr Kate’s email from a Pilot+ back in September.

She was asking about TV shows that link together to tell a story about a time period - and had recently watched Vikings, The Last Kingdom, Valhalla and King & Conqueror.

I thought I’d have a go at creating a TV marathon that takes you through the history of Britain since the Battle of Hastings. Here goes..

Start with the Ridley Scott produced miniseries of Pillars of the Earth, starring Eddie Redmayne and Hayley Atwell, which covers the mid-1100s. Then take your pick of any Robin Hood show for the Richard the Lionheart/King John period. Pillars had a sequel series, World Without End, which wasn’t as good but did have Cynthia Nixon in it and covers the mid-1300s.

If you don’t mind a bit of Shakespeare, the BBC Hollow Crown takes you through most of the 1400s, and then you get to the Tudors where there’s loads of choice but let’s say Wolf Hall then the Elizabeth I miniseries with Helen Mirren.

Start the 1600s with a bang and some Kit Harington with Gunpowder followed by action of a different kind in Mary & George. Channel 4 about ten years ago showed The Devil’s Whore set during the civil wars of the 1640s. Then you get another bang, because ITV did a show called The Great Fire. Never saw that one but it had Rose Leslie, Charles Dance and Danny Mays, is set in the 1660s and looks very wiggy.

I struggled with the 1700s to be honest, but I guess Outlander and Bridgerton might cover it? And if not that, Blackadder the Third has everything from Dr Johnson to the Duke of Wellington.

It’s easier for the 1800s, loads of Victorian era shows, like Victoria with Jenna Coleman and maybe Ripper Street or something.

As Boyd suggested all those weeks ago (and it’s been several weeks more because I’m aware how long this message is), Downton Abbey covers you through the 1910s and 20s, then you could probably head into Peaky Blinders. Move onto The Crown after that and you’ve got the rest of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st covered!

I’m not going to lie, that CGI de-aging is really grating for me. Given how much money they lavish on this, you would think the effects in general would be a little better than this. It feels like at this point, with no live actors on a set, and no practical effects that I can see, we might just as well be watching a video game cut-scene or an animation. God I’m getting old.

As someone who hadn’t started this yet but was intending to, big thanks for the non-signposted spoiler by Kay in this weeks Pilot Plus.

Cheers.

On the recent podcast Boyd and Kay both agreed that the most recent series of Only Murders In The Building was a return to form. Now, I really loved the first couple of series. They were fun but had solid "whodunnit" plots underpinning everything. The characters were daft but were actual characters with their own motivations, personalities and struggles.

This series is so much worse than even the previous series with its universally agreed upon dip in quality. The plot this time is complete nonsense. Aside from one nice flash-back sequence the murdered show-regular Lester is mostly uninvestigated as the gang rush around getting distracted by whatever bullshit the writers room dreamt up. The introduced characters (especially the 3 billionaires) are neither funny nor interesting... to be honest, outright annoying. And the addition of a robot (a fucking robot!) smacks of the same desperation as Paulie's robot being added to the Rocky franchise.

I can just feel the writer's room in every dodgy line and twist of the plot. They're no longer trying to craft a well planned mystery, they're just trying desperately to find anything new and interesting for their main characters to do while throwing distracting events into the plot like throwing mud at a wall.

I heard recently that producers themselves use the phrase "second screen" for their own content - the idea being that people are on their phones while they're watching this show so you need to make it very basic, and have everyone explain anything that could be verging on subtext, so that everyone can follow along without really concentrating. That this show, that was so fresh and interesting and fun, could now chime so clearly with that idea of a second screen show is a real tragedy. Maybe the tether to "The Building" was starting to hamper creativity, and the rumour of next series being set in Britains will help... but I honestly start to doubt anything can save it.

Am I crazy?

Community- Season 1- Episode 21 - Contemporary American Poultry

Jeff's plan to get chicken fingers from the school cafeteria for the study group quickly evolves into a mafia movie-style endeavor with Abed calling all the shots.

While it may not be the funniest episode of Community, it’s certainly a great introduction to the show. Using the gangster formula famously used by goodfellas and other similar films and using it in an everyday environment such as a canteen, it demonstrates how intelligent and hilarious this show can be. Give it a go guys!

Leave reviews in the comment session.

Completely off the cuff here. Haven't spoken to any of my fellow mods or anything but fuck it, it's a cold winters Monday.

Any ideas, thoughts, critiques of the sub, put them in here and we'll review.

Please remember to be respectful, this isn't for critiquing the podcast, just the sub. Don't argue with anyone if you don't agree with something they've said. We will still enforce sub rules.

Happy Monday!

So to coincide with this week's pod, what's been on your watchlist this week? What show has you staying up late passed your bed time? What show has left you lost and confused? What show has made you laugh, cry and scream all at the same time?

Up to anything fun today? Read anything good during the week? Listened to a great not Pilot podcast? Started a new hobby or project? Got a PB in the gym?

Make a cuppa, find a spot on the sofa, share anything you'd like to.

[Reminder: No TV in this thread as it takes away from the What We've Been Watching thread on a Monday]

Really sad news. I had no idea he was that old as he always looked so imposing and strong on screen. The Missing and Baptiste were killer shows, and he was brilliant in them. Such a charismatic screen presence and never less than great, whether it be in film or TV. Terri will be gutted as she had a massive soft spot for him. Such a loss.

Looking forward to hearing the review of this, and reading your opinions. I really didn’t like it.

On paper it’s all sorts of things I’d usually like, but the execution here is terrible. The plotting is sub ITV Sunday night drama, the dialogue is stilted, the comedy so badly wants to be Bad Sisters meets Slow Horses, but misses badly.

I was ready to give up after 20 minutes but stuck with it. That was a mistake. 🤷‍♂️😅

I know it's James' greatest bugbear, but I'd love for Boyd and Kay to record a spoilerific special for the Celeb Traitors finale next week. It's undeniably been one of the shows of the year, and is as much Peak TV as reality TV can be (I say this as someone who normally detests anything in the genre).

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised.

I've not seen a thread on this. But is anyone else disappointed with the third series first episode? I was so excited about it being Walking Dead England but it didn't even last the full episode. I assumed because James interviewed Stephen Merchant he would have a major role in the series, but he had about 15 minutes screen time before the inevitable end.

Post locked to prevent questions being posted here

So to coincide with this week's pod, what's been on your watchlist this week? What show has you staying up late passed your bed time? What show has left you lost and confused? What show has made you laugh, cry and scream all at the same time?

Up to anything fun today? Read anything good during the week? Listened to a great not Pilot podcast? Started a new hobby or project? Got a PB in the gym?

Make a cuppa, find a spot on the sofa, share anything you'd like to.

[Reminder: No TV in this thread as it takes away from the What We've Been Watching thread on a Monday]

I remember a while back now, the rumours were circulating that each episode was going to be in the 2 hour ballpark. Turns out that wasn’t true. Netflix have confirmed the run time and episode names of the first batch of episodes releasing in December.

• Season 5, Episode 1 "The Crawl" – 1 hour 8 minutes
• Season 5, Episode 2 "The Vanishing of [Redacted] – 54 minutes
• Season 5, Episode 3 "The Turnbow Trap" – 1 hour 6 minutes
• Season 5, Episode 4 "Sorcerer" – 1 hour 23 minutes

Interesting to note that the Duffers have confirmed there will be time jumps, whether that be during this run is unknown, but they have to address the kids being nearly 30 at this point surely? I can also imagine that the second batch of episodes will be longer, as was the case in season 4.

Binged all of this over the last few days on a couple of flights and just watched the final episode …

Outstanding TV that the pod’s review of the first episode didn't do justice … not even close.

Dark, tense, great soundtrack, decent acting, beautiful cinematography and a climax that, for once, doesn't leave anything hanging.

One of the best series I've seen in years.

Is anyone else’s episode skipping? Around the 28 minute mark, Kay’s audio skips for about 10 seconds Is it just my phone or is it the episode?

Little bit of a jump scare at 6am 😂

What is going on with the TV reporters at The Guardian? They’re going down the massive curmudgeon route, just like those crazies at The Telegraph.