What are you watching right now?

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Criminal Minds: "Amplification"

[Doctor Hmmm?]

That is a great show, and one I want to revisit.

(FYI, when the show was released on DVD a few years ago, the first 2 seasons were released with the syndication cuts rather than the original episodes.  Just coincidentally, it was announced last week that those seasons are being re-released (very cheaply, as in $10 per set) with the original, uncut episodes.)

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I never watched 3rd Rock from the Sun when it was originally on but I did recently watch every episode through Netflix.

 

While I don't like the show 30 Rock, I would watch an episode guest-starring Lithgow & company if it were titled "30th Rock from the Sun."

[George]

Episodes from season two of "Route 66" (1961-62) and season one of "Room 222" (1969-70). The former is a classic TV series that I had never seen before, the latter a well-done series I watched as a kid. Both series are very emblematic of their times and provide a time capsule-like experience.

[Henry R. Kujawa]

I decided to dig out my videoptape of BLACKSTAR for the first time since 1981 and watch it again. It's just as I remember-- every frame screams "Filmation!" (the same people who did JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, STAR TREK, FLASH GORDON), but it's been terribly watered-down for "the kiddies". Oh well.

Here's what baffles me. Both the IMDB and Wikipedia have the episodes listed in a certain order, with air dates. Now, as far as I know, I taped the first 11 episodes off CBS during their initial run. And the order is COMPLETELY different! How is this possible???

Unless, of course, the information on both websites is INCORRECT and is being perpetuated because nobody knows any better...


1 - SEARCH FOR THE STARSWORD
2 - KINGDOM OF NEPTUL
3 - LIGHTNING CITY OF THE CLOUDS
4 - THE QUEST
5 - THE CROWN OF THE SORCERESS
6 - THE AIR WHALES OF ANCHOR
7 - THE LORD OF TIME
8 - THE MERMAID OF SERPENT SEA
9 - TREE OF EVIL
10 - CITY OF THE ANCIENT ONES
11 - THE OVERLORD'S BIG SPELL

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Just polished off Series 1 of (the original) Life on Mars.  I only picked up on the series in Series 2, so I've never seen any of Series 1 other than the 1st episode.  Needless to say, it's amazing.

[Henry R. Kujawa]

Have finished plowing at mind-boggling speed thru the entire run of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (not watched at all since it was first-run) and am now halfway thru Season 6 of DEEP SPACE NINE.  Last time I watched these was on cable reruns, 5 times a week (some station was running them around 4 in the morning...) The problem facing me right now is, out of 34 videotapes, tape 29 is MISSING. I'd HATE to skip it and then find it after I was done...

Also watching my CHARLIE CHANs again, and the early TARZANs.

And just this week, started on THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN!  Damn, I love this show!!!

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Also watching my CHARLIE CHANs again, and the early TARZANs.

Great minds think alike, Henry!  I'm seriously thinking of going on a 1930's binge come January -- Chan, Tarzan, the Marx Brothers and The Thin Man.

[Henry R. Kujawa]

I was right in the middle of watching SECRET AGENT, THE AVENGERS and THE SAINT on a rotating basis (one episode of each every 3rd day) but managed to derail that (temporarily) when I dug out ST:TNG and began watching marathon-style (16 episodes in the first day alone).  I'm sure when I run out of ST, I'll probably get back on my 60's adventure shows.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

The unaired pilot for Sherlock.

This is a 60-minute version of "A Study in Pink" shot and cut as the original 1st episode of Series 1.  When the BBC then decided they wanted 3 90-minute episodes, Moffat and Gatiss decided it would be better to take the script back to the drawing board and re-shoot the entire episode, rather than just write new scenes and intercut them with the footage already shot.

Other than the climax, which was pretty significantly re-written, Moffat opted mostly to simply expand on what he had done by adding new scenes and new dialogue to existing scenes.  The result is a slower paced story -- the 60-minute version seems positively frantic by comparison -- but the characters (especially Dr Watson) benefit immensely from the added material and the extra room to "breathe."

Just to be clear, the Pilot is very entertaining, and the performances are already all "there."  There's some dropped or changed dialogue and a few bits in the short version-- especially the original climax and the final bits between Holmes and Watson -- that I actually prefer to the aired version.  But overall, the expanded version is better.

It's an unusual TV viewing experience -- same actors and (apart from the new scenes, and up until near the end) virtually the same script.  But the sets, costumes, shot selection -- all different.  Apart from the unaired 1st episode of Doctor Who, I can't think of anything quite like it I've ever seen.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Doctor Hmmm? said:

Just polished off Series 1 of (the original) Life on Mars.  I only picked up on the series in Series 2, so I've never seen any of Series 1 other than the 1st episode.  Needless to say, it's amazing.

Finshed off Series 2 and decided, since I was on a roll, to go ahead and re-watch Season 1-and-Only of the U.S. version of Life on Mars. My reaction this time around was pretty much the same as last time -- I warmed up to it after I got over the shock of "This isn't the BBC version" and ended up really liking it a lot ... right up until the last 5 minutes of the last episode. I still don't like that ending, but I don't hate it as much as I did initially. Re-watching the series with the ending in mind, I can see that the producers/writers really did have that ending in mind all along, and were dropping clues from Episode 1. (Well, they had the explanation in mind, if not the exact ending that they were rushed into by the show's cancellation.) And I give them credit for trying to give the fans a true ending, rather than leaving the show on the Season One cliffhanger they had originally planned.

But I still don't like it, and in my own head I've always been able to make the argument (based on evidence in the show) that it isn't the "real" ending/explanation at all. Interestingly, listening to the commentary on the finale yesterday, I heard Jason O'Mara make the same argument, even pointing out evidence that I hadn't noticed. I don't think the producers/writiers were buying it, but they were polite enough not to flatly tell him he was wrong.

So ... I've got "Sam Tyler" on my side. That's good enough for me!

[Henry R. Kujawa]

THE UNTOUCHABLES (with Tom Amandes).  Haven't seen this since it was first-run.  AMAZINGLY well-done series, totally blows that lousy (YES IT IS) Brian De Palma movie out of the water.

It was a toss-up between watching this or my collection of the Robert Stack series first, and I decided to go with the remake first, since it's been longer since I've seen it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Twilight Zone Radio: Half Price Books has the entire set of 13 five-disc volumes on sale for six bucks apiece. SRP (of the early volumes, anyway) is $20, but the website (http://www.twilightzoneradio.com/index.html) has them priced at $40. In either case, I bought them when HPB was offering an additional 20% off, so I got the entire series for less than a buck a disc. Each disc presents an episode from the TV series adapted into an hour-long radio drama. Despite the fact that these shows ran only a half hour on television, the radio shows don’t seem padded. I’ve listened to the first set of five so far, and they are excellently adapted; even when the plot relied heavily on visual cues on TV, the action is clear and concise in the audio version as well. The programs are hosted by Stacy Keach and feature a variety of guest actors.

Okay, this is not “What I’m Watching Now,” but I figure enough of you are familiar enough with the episodes upon which the new scripts are based that a certain amount of genre crossover would be permitted here. Anyway, going forward, if I should happen to post comments on Twilight Zone episodes in the days to come, these are the ones I’ll be listening to, but they don’t deviate much from the televised versions.