Elaine M. Sheldon
http://www.elainemcmillionsheldon.com
via Twitter Web Client from West Virginia
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Just a quick note on Black Mirror for anyone who hasn't watched yet.
Don't start with S.1 E.1 - watch it after watching EVERYTHING else! (And you still may not like it.)
Best,
Stephen Bray
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Early fan of the show. The leads are both terrific actors and the plots are absorbing. I understand the female lead will become the new "Dr. Who," so she's probably unavailable for future seasons.
Regards,
Rick Pardo
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So Glad that the 2nd Season of Broadchurch is great! I saw the 1st Season and loved it. I guess I just missed the announcement of the 2nd Season.
I, too was late to Breaking Bad - only so much time - but I have Season 5&6 left to watch.
Best Always,
Ritch Esra
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BLACK MIRROR IS tough. But awesome. It hits too close to home for me to be able to watch it any time in comfort.
Did you watch
The Whitney Houston doc?
Five came back on Netflix?
White Gold?
Jason Hirschhorn
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Such a good series! So glad you discovered Broadchurch! Couldn't stop telling people about it last year. So good!
Fox made a US version - didn't last and I didn't bother watching the US version. It's just never as good.
Best,
Adam Lewis
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If you liked Broadchurch you've GOT to see Happy Valley created by Sally Wainwright with Sarah Lancashire and James Norton as the most complex "hero/villain" pairing of the last decade. It's astounding writing and acting and even more nuanced than Broadchurch. Season 1 is spellbinding. Season 2 has way too much mumbling and is oftentimes impossible to understand.
Once you've watched that, then you need to check out 2 more Sally Wainwright shows:
Scott and Bailey - another female driven cop show that takes awhile to unfold but is just amazing TV
Last Tango In Halifax - which is one of the most inventive family dramas I've ever watched.
Jan and I were glued to Sally Wainwright for weeks and weeks. I was totally addicted.
Bob Ezrin
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"The Fall" and the first two years of "Narcos" -- both excellent
Tom Werman
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Love Broadchurch! But do yourself a favor and do NOT watch Grace Point, the American remake — with David Tennant in the same role, but with a not-so-good American accent. The story was dumbed down, the drama artificially tweaked (as if it needed more drama). Mercifully, it was terminated after one season.
Steve Hochman
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A big 'AMEN' on Charlotte Rampling. With Tom Courtenay in the amazing '45 Years'…and BBC's 'London Spy' were fab.
Hugo Burnham
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Hey Bob,
If you support your local PBS station and have the PBS app you can stream the new Ken Burns Vietnam War series in its entirety. We're binge-watching it now.
Steven Page
Ps - there's a season 3 of Broadchurch. Bought it on iTunes - always a last resort.
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Broadchurch was really good. So was the first season of the Northern Ireland based "The Fall" (Gillian Anderson) - but only the first season. Unfortunately we're running out of undiscovered gems on alternative media and running into heaps of mediocrity...all over again. jjw (Justin Williams)
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Watch all of black mirror. I guarantee it spurs at least three separate new topic emails from you. It is amazing
Brian Rucker
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You'll get a lot of recs from this -- The Fall, Happy Valley, River, Paranoia -- all great, but try Shetland.
Jeffrey Slate
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I think you'd like "Rake" (Netflix).
Older series (2010-16). Australian. I just finished it.
Came to me word of mouth, recently, not highly rated, loved it.
Like your perspective(s). Thanks.
Bill Wroton
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Check out "American Vandal" on Netflix
Netflix original Satire on crime documentaries, i.e. Making a Murderer
-Tom Mudd
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Ditto on Burns. You're the third time today Ive experienced someone praising "Heroin(e)"....
Wallace Sanders
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I would posit that the star of broadchurch is Olafur Arnalds' beautifully minimal and meaningful soundtrack. That guy has a bright future.
David Kirsh
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I have watched Broadchurch since day one. The second season is as good as the first!
Maria
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Nothing against Ms. Rampling, but the real star of Broadchurch is Olivia Colman.
Have you checked out "Happy Valley" on Netflix yet?
If not, you should...I promise you'll get hooked.
Yasmine F. Khalil
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Seasons 1 and 2 of Broadchurch are absolutely brilliant. Season 3 (the final season) was good, but it did that thing American TV shows try to do in final seasons/episodes: wrap up every loose end. And it felt a little formulaic in that regard, especially compared to the first two seasons.
Two more English shows I can highly recommend:
Happy Valley (cut from a similar cloth as Broadchurch, a shade or two rougher 'round the edges)
Detectorists (the smallest, quietest show you'll ever see. A bunch of misfits that find each other over the shared bond of metal detecting. Now more than ever, we all need someone. This show hammers that point home.
Patrick Berkery
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Broadchurch is best watched with (English) subtitles. Also, there are so many red herrings, it could have been filmed in a delicatessen. Love it, though.
Keep up the good work!
Harold Lepidus
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So you haven't seen season 3? Another doozy!
B. Haynes
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It's funny you mention that TV is the new music, when I first heard about Broadchurch by reading a newsletter from the U.K. Folk musician Karine Polwart. There was a beautiful line she highlighted from the show, "Grief is just love with no home," around which she wrote a song.
Maybe we need to teach screen writers to be top liners to come up with more meaningful music!
Michael Hinckley
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Broadchurch- the first season especially was riveting- Especially the Brooding Scot detective! Check out Vera with Brenda Blethyn- British TV IS far superior- characters more than a millimeter, beautiful locales with actresses who look real and have something to say/ portray, and the twist is a challenge to see if you can beat them to the punch!
Sue Quigley
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If you do go to Darren Aronofsky's new movie, I'd love to hear your impression.
I'm 61. As a long time lover of movies, especially on the big screen, I will tell you that it is the FIRST time in my entire life that I have ever advised ALL people to NOT go to a movie. Not in a boycotting way. I had such a hard time describing my experience in that movie …but I do think it "sort of" hurt me. Weird. So, I will love hearing your impression if you end up going… ..and maybe you shouldn't… …'cause maybe it will hurt you!
Julie Helmrich
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Hey Mister...on Netflix, there's a Finnish (that's right, I said Finnish) slightly odd police procedural set in Northern Finland, just across the border from St. Petersburg, Russia. It's Called Bordertown. It can be a bit difficult to place because there are others named that as well. Nicely shot, well-acted and written and worthy of bingeing.
The best,
Steven Anders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordertown_(Finnish_TV_series)
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Hey Bob, love this post! I was just performing at a music festival in Dorest (End of the Road Festival)
and so took a day trip to West Bay where Broadchurch was filmed - the coastline is as amazing
as it looks on the show. I concur about the actors on the show - you'd never see Olivia Colman as the lead
in a US drama but she's brilliant of course. Imagine all the US actors who don't get good roles because they're not
conventionally beautiful!
Cheers
Clare Bartholomew
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Love this post. And yes the female police officers in British shows like Broadchurch and Happy Valley look like female police officers; a bit bulky, not a ton of makeup, and in clothes and shoes that you can actually catch a suspect in! It feels real.
Marika Cahn
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Spot on, Bob. My wife and I binge watched the first series of Broadchurch, and couldn't wait for more. When series two debuted on ITV, we downloaded them week by week so we wouldn't have to wait for it to finally air here in the States. Did the same with series three. And despite my David Tennant fandom (he was The Doctor, after all) I just couldn't root for the inevitably bad US remake of the first series. The Brits do TV way better than we do.
Luke Easter
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Hey Bob, I agree and it's so hard to make decisions from Australia where we have to circumvent geoblocking with a VPN for Amazon, HBO, Netflix and Apple. If you subscribe to Netflix natively here, you only get 30% of the content avaialable in the US. I get HBO through my Apple id and Showtime through Amazon Prime which would normally block me.
My tip for a hilarious show (though I'm only through the first season of 5, is Episodes, combining British humour with American showmanship. Also on Netflix, catch the doco Barbecue done by a couple of friends of mine about meat meeting fire in 12 countries.
All the best
Phil Tripp
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re:Black Mirror - Just skip straight to the episode "San Junipero", it won two Emmys last night and I haven't been able to extoll the brilliance of it often enough since watching a year ago. You will be moved in your humanity and you will want to write about it. Or not. Cheers
Trevor Simpson
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Glad you are enjoying Broadchurch. It's great to see a little English show making waves in the US. You are in for a treat with season 3 which tackles sexual assault in a really intelligent and affecting way. It has some of the best acting I have ever seen on TV. Season 2 might ultimately disappoint but don't miss Season 3, which is a belter.
From Andrew Harting
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The music in Broadchurch is a character in the show. Olafur Arnalds is a brilliant young post classical composer from Iceland. His artistic and musical expression beyond the program are worth visiting, and extremely cutting edge to traditional classicalists.
In his case, he hasn't gotten it wrong, he has gotten it so right that can do whatever he wants, and does, with innovation. Look under the current and you'll see that music still makes shows and films what they are.
Cheers,
Ryan David Hawk
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If you like Broadchurch, you may also like Longmire (Montana), Shetland (Scotland) and Hinterland (Wales). Cop procedurals in really fascinating locales. I enjoy them.
Kyle Baker
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Inquiring minds need to know: which episode of Black Mirror?
Suggested eps: "The Entire History of You," "San Junipero," and "Be Right Back"
Bart Clareman
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I'm sure you're going to get a thousand Breaking Bad emails. I'll be #1,001. I too was late to the game and just watched it late this past winter. I'm a daily commuter to NYC via the Long Island Rail Road. When Netflix started to make content available for download earlier this year it changed my life. It took a drab commute filled with scrolling through Instagram to one filled with amazing art. Albeit the first thing I downloaded was Sausage Party (and laughed my ass off in front of people on the train)! Yes I could read a new book every other week but that's gets old. So after being sold on Breaking Bad by a friend, I dove in. I binged that entire series in a month and a half soley during my morning and evening commute. It is the most perfect show I've ever seen. Now I know what all the fuss and awards were about! And after that you need to watch Better Call Saul. It will help fill the void that ending Breaking Bad will leave in your life. And you get all the players back - Saul (obv.), Mike, Tuco, Gus. It's great. Glad you're hooked!!
Rob DiFondi
Ps - you've been so spot on about money and class these days. Slogging through the upper middle class on Long Island ain't easy. Especially with three kids! It takes a small fortune just to keep my family alive and the lights on in the house. It's a shame.
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Thank you for the recognition of Broadchurch. It's amazing, though I sadly admit I haven't seen season 3 yet. (I guess that's one thing that winter in Chicago is good for!) One of Broadchurch's differentiators to me is the pacing. It's not nearly as frantic and loud as most Americans prefer, but instead it's quiet and calm and just as chilling and suspenseful, maybe even more so because of it. David Tennent and Olivia Coleman are incredible in it. (The new female Dr. Who also features in the first series.)
Speaking of Olivia Coleman and other great British shows, you might like The Night Manager, the BBC/AMC co-produced show based on the novel by John LeCarre. Olivia Coleman, Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Tom Holland were all outstanding. It's current on Amazon. Which leads you to that great John LeCarre based movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Netflix, I think) with a dozen or more great British actors, young and old, including Benedict Cumberbatch, which then leads you on to the BBC/PBS show Sherlock. (Netflix)
I don't watch much TV, but when I do, it tends to be British. Can you tell?
I started reading your newsletter after it was recommended to me by some Nashville music folks. I've really enjoyed your behind the scenes looks at music past and present, and your consideration of the future of music and other medium as well. Keep doing what you are doing, sir!
Angela Buikema
Westmont, IL
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Broadchurch is good.
But way better, right next to the Soprano's is…..PEAKY BLINDERS!!!
The best I've ever seen.
Starring a host of British greats; Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, etc….
Must see TV.
Stu Cohen
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I made the switch to British TV a couple of years ago. Now, since I can watch YouTube on my main TV, I've actually moved on to watching British TV game shows. Sad!
But if you really want to relax, watch the Brit-show, "Escape To The Country". Each week the host tries to find a couple their new dream home in the UK countryside. It's full of 10 acre homesteads with 4 bedroom houses for $400k. You'll be sleeping soundly with restful dreams before the opening credits are done (and there's free healthcare!)
Best,
John Zambetti
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Fox produced a US version the first season "Gracepoint"
David Tennant played the detective in BOTH versions and Anna Gunn fresh off Breaking Bad played Det. Ellie Miller.
Only lasted one season here and then you could pick up the ITV version.
Ole Olson
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I believe there are 3 seasons of the British show so far. America grabbed the meme and produced one version of Broadchurch with Anna Gunn in the female lead and David Tennant reprising his role here. Americans can f**k up a wet dream. Not watchable.
Robert Tussey
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You're on. TV is the game these days. You did miss the train on BB only because everyone was talking about it and of all the things to check out, that would be THE one. You will enjoy Better Call Saul as a segue once your done.
Broadchurch was good but this season isn't killing me, although Charlotte Rampling is the anti Jane Fonda (how scary was that on the Emmy's which I saw for all of 15 minutes).
BEST OF SHOW; for english shows. HAPPY VALLEY, the first season is a monster, second really holds up. Small town in central England. If the first episode doesn't hook you, I'll send you money. Sarah Lancashire is the most famous female star in the UK. She plays a constable and is brilliant, the story is great and the bad guy (pure evil) is the vicar from Broadchurch. One of my faves of all time. You need to use CC because it is pretty hard to follow without subtitles.
I finally binged on Narcos and I get the popularity, and it's good but not in the top five.
John Brodey
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Did you watch the pig episode of Black Mirror? Most fans of the show know to tell people to not watch that one within your first few hours with the show.
Every month you see elements of society moving closer and closer to the not so distant future portrayed in Black Mirror. My wife stopped watching because it truly is a difficult show to get through in some episodes. The future is dark but fascinating.
Of course, the one episode overwhelming deemed uplifting compared to the rest won the Emmy. It was fantastic
It makes you see the twisted future of things like AI, AirPods, Uber Ratings, Peloton....
Just watch...and save Season 1, Episode 1 until after you are already hooked.
Jon Bahr
CD Baby
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She (Charlotte Rampling) was in the last season of Dexter.
Ed Lopez
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Here are some great Black Mirror episodes
S3: shut up and dance*, San junipero
S2: white Christmas*, be right back, white beat
S1: Entire History of you*
*= my personal favourites
Hope you can get into it
Guy Elderfield
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If you like Broadchurch you might try The Tunnel. Very good.
Phil Brown
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'black mirror' best episodes are 1x3 'the entire history of you' (absolute favorite), 3x1 'nosedive', 2x1 'be right back', and the Christmas special 'white christmas' (second favorite)
episode 3x4 'san junipero' got a ton of internet buzz (and Emmy) but was a bit overrated
worth watching as the consumer technology scenarios have been prescient
-tom wigg
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In LOVE "Broadchurch"! I've watched it twice, start to finish. And the female lead (can't recall her name) is wonderful. She also has a prominent role in "The Night Manager" with Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston, yet another amazingly good British series - better than 99% of the "Bond" movies. Hiddleston was also great in that recent Hank Williams flick, and did all his own singing. Or so I'm told.
And you absolutely must watch an Australian series called "Rake," on Netflix. My all-time favorite Netflix series. It's light, funny, deep, and fantastic, the acting is superb across the board, and the lead actor is a force of nature!
Thanks. I value your opinions even if I don't always agree with them!
Jesse McRae
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I dream that HBO will make a Sopranos reboot show with a young Tony and his crew just getting started as new fresh gangsters.
But only if they could do it as high quality and well written as the original, and find a cast that's magic.
Kinda like the Godfather flashbacks in II.
A fella can dream
Dan Millen
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Australia has some fabulous series too - at least on Canadian Netflix - The Code with Lucy Lawless and 4 seasons of Rake - great acting and interesting stories
Dr. Cyril Kesten
Professor of Education
Faculty of Education
University of Regina
Regina, SK S4S 0A2
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