The TV thread

I've never watched an episode of Sopranos but was quite aware of its cultural impact.

The thing about The Wire was the 32 players you invested in emotionally, every single one of them.

 

I wasn't very invested in Snoop or Chris Partlow. "Bad people who needed killing" was about as invested as I got, although the scene with Snoop buying the nail gun was a hoot.

The funny thing about the Jay Landsman character was that the real Jay Landsman tried out for the role and didn't make it. He played one of the other lieutenants you saw at the officer's meetings.

 

The Wire is one of those shows where I'll always enjoy following the careers of all involved. Can't believe they left David Costabile off that graphic.

 

The Wire is one of the greatest series ever. I didn't care for McNulty's whole serial killer story line at the end, but otherwise... perfection.

 

Loved Queen’s Gambit. Refreshingly different. And the 60s costume and set design must have been very fun to work on.

Halfway through the new season of The Crown. Enjoyable. Gillian Anderson was too over the top at first as Thatcher. But has been toned down as it’s gone along.

And Olivia Colman is a treasure.

 

I think they and Marlo are both meant to show how that while the cycle repeats, it can also degrade as time goes on. Stringer and Avon were not good people, but they wanted to be kingpins and power brokers. Marlo and his lieutenants are more interested in acquiring power just because. The cycle after Marlo isn't necessarily as bad, either, since Slim Charles actually has a degree of "honor" / personal code to him.

 

I was watching some YouTube clips from "The Wire" and thinking I should start the series from the beginning. Then I saw a Mazda commercial on Thanksgiving and, I may be wrong, but it looked like the actor who played Dukie was driving the car.

 

positively . . . Dickensian.

Person List | Playbill

 

Not sure if I should post about it in here or The Amazing Race thread, but - The Pack on Amazon is basically Amazing Race, but if you replaced one partner with a dog. In true Amazon fashion, a la Mrs. Maisel, they obviously spent an ungodly amount of money on this. They travel to roughly 10 countries, and the production crew had to have been huge, given the various locations and shots they get, as well as the need to have dog safety people on the set.

Overall, it's pretty light fare - The wife and I made our way through the 10 episodes in about three days. It is hosted by Lindsey Vonn, who is just about the right level of cheesy for the show. Plus, one of the low-key best moments of the show is that she and her dog do mini-reenactments of the tasks that the teams actually have to do.

 

Maybe "invested" was the wrong word for all of them.

But casting-wise, they hit 32 home runs. That's what's so impressive. No weak links character-wise.

 

Casting was great, right down to the smallest of bit players. The girl who played Snoop was basically exactly the person she portrayed, minus all the murdering. She went to jail for using her "Wire" money to invest in heroin and dealing it.

 

Sheeet... She earned that bump like a motherfucker, man. Keep that shit.