Oh, and Zanzibar!
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Succession - S4 ep10/10 – thankfully it’s over, as the repetitive machinations of the Roy siblings had become boring IMV. The acting was very good but playing out the same tropes over and over again, just led to tedium. It came across that the writer ran out of ideas.
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I’m with you glad it’s over, this seasons been like torture.
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It seems some regard this as on a par with Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire et al, but it’s never developed-out from the initial premise of squabbling entitled kids IMHO, whose vacuity and absence of mental and intellectual toughness was always going to be their downfall. A series too far IMHO.
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The very best American TV shows (Breaking Bad in particular) have been morality plays of one kind or another. Succession was the perfect such show for our times. Not to all tastes, of course. But for me, it has been prescient, chilling and brilliant drama.
We’re at a critical, life-or-death point for the US republic. We all know the reasons why. And Succession coldly and brilliantly depicted the drunk-on-greed reality, the dollar-fuelled corruption, the endless scheming by incompetent but lethally dangerous self-elected cadres of entitled empty suits. It’s not just the suits; everything is portrayed as emptiness.
Not one of the hollow, despicable characters has a redemptive arc; there is no selfless nobility, no concept of a greater good, no saving grace.
For me, the following pieces of dialogue were the key to the entire five seasons. From Logan, to his children: “I love you, but you are not serious people.” And Tom to Greg: “Your principles? You don’t have principles.”
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I have enjoyed The Diplomat on Netflix. A second season has been confirmed. All about a newly appointed and unconventional US Ambassador to the UK. Set in the present day, sort of.
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Completely agree bhoyo. Utterly brilliant and essential in my view. In particular the way that this season embraced the notion that narrative trumps truth in modern politics.
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Caught it on iplayer… thought it was a scheduling error at first and they were streaming some cheesy day time quiz show.
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That was their plan.
The listings and the end credits from the previous week’s episode had shown a new episode called Hold on Tight.
That had to be pulled at the last minute however and was replaced with the 3 by 3 ‘pilot’.
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That explains why the ‘up next’ listing on the AppleTV app had a picture of three chaps on a bus for the episode which made us believe it was the wrong program… clever chaps 
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Well that’s a big ending, Ted Lasso The Marvellous Mrs Masil Barry and Succession all finished within a week.
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New on Netflix - a drama series in 8 parts, on the Fukushima Nuclear accident, in Japan.
Absolutely terrifying. I would recommend it highly. It is very well done, I think. The chaos within the Japanese government and inside Tokyo Electric Power is brought out - with people being unwilling to take responsibility, to pass on ‘bad’ news upward - or to make clear decisions.
Recommended - but maybe not enjoyable…?
Have at least a quick read of the Wikepedia page will help in following what went on -
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This was just starting on TPTV. It was announced with a PG certificate! How was I allowed to watch it back in the day? I must have been having a rougher childhood than I realised!
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Is that Fireball XL5 - a classic.
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It is. This was in B+W too. For the hard core classic TV fan!
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We’ve been catching up on Scott and Bailey on Britbox. It’s a Manchester-based drama centred on two female detectives. We’ve enjoyed it but got a bit confused at the end of series 3. The second to last episode (7) is missing. There’s lots of comments online about this but no clear reason. Does anyone remember why?
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2023 series of The Motorbike Show started tonight.
No idea it was coming. As usual.
On the backwater that is ITV4. As usual.
Changed the day of the week it’s on from last year. As usual.
Good fun. As usual.
Still one of my favourite programmes on TV. And I have no interest in owning a bike.
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