On Netflix I am simultaneously working my way through 2 TV series:
- Six Feet Under (now on season 3)
- Monarch of the Glen (now on season 6)
1/21/09 I am on episode 4 of a BBC miniseries The State Within starring Jason Isaacs and Sharon Gless. Released in 2006 at the height of tensions between the U.S. and the U.K. and their alliance in fighting terror post 9/11, it has an odd disonance, watching it amidst the Inauguration and the spirit of hope surrounding Obama’s fledgling presidency. It is also a disturbing, disillusioned view of both governments, and a pronounced distaste for most things American, with some justification if I were in their shoes. Still it is a taut, fast-moving well-plotted and paced story. Jason Isaacs is always compelling and it is a refreshing change-of-pace to see him playing the flawed hero rather than the villain. (I finished and my opinion holds.)
2/7/09 I just watched The Duchess. Normally I find something worth my time in films set in the late 18th century set in Great Britain because the literature generated in that period was my academic focus, and it was so steeped in the ideology and history of the time that I’ve done a lot of historical research. I had heard raves about Ralph Fiennes performance. And I suppose it was, nor did I find Kiera Knightley’s as limited as the reviews I read assessed. Still, it just did nothing for me. It wasn’t bad enough that I just had to stop. But when it was over I felt nothing. The story should have grabbed. The pieces were there. It just never did, and for no obvious reason.
On TV:
- Jack is back, and just when I was ready to happily kick 24 to the curb, it has changed the game and came back better than it has in seasons.
- I am forcing myself to finish the final ten episodes of Battlestar Galactica to see where it goes, but the first episode felt tedious, the writers exploring just how badly we can dump on these people. UPDATE: The episodes are improving, but it is still an effort and only a storyteller’s curiosity to see where it goes keeps me tuned in.
- Bones is becoming my favorite show. While other shows and characters wear thin with age, this one keeps getting better (but why the move to Thursdays, she wails?)
What is it about Mondays at 9 pm and Thursdays at 8 pm? Suddenly most nights, most hours I have nothing that draws me to the TV by enthusiasm or habit. And yet for the above two hours a week I have a 4-way and 3-way conflict. What is that about?
