Streaming TV Update

LINE OF DUTY

It's the U.K.'s most watched drama series of the century.

Now when you hear "English show," many think of PBS, period pieces, history, stuff for intellectuals with no edge. But not "Line of Duty."

But "Line of Duty" is not on PBS.

Due to a rights issue, "Line of Duty" can be streamed on two outlets in the U.S., Acorn and BritBox. But only BritBox has season six, the latest one, which premiered earlier in the year across the pond.

So what we've got here is a police show. And what it's really about is the police policing the police. AC-12 is the anti-corruption outfit, and it's run by Ted Hastings, aka "The Gaffer," i.e. Irish actor Adrian Dunbar.

You'll recognize Dunbar, from "The Crying Game" and "My Left Foot," but all the action in adult entertainment, and I don't mean XXX, is now on the flat screen. Dunbar alone is worth the price of admission, but there's so much more.

This is a dense show. And it is a labyrinth, kind of a whodunit. With twists and turns. But they don't seem artificial, "Line of Duty" is not just an amusement park ride. AC-12 keeps peeling back the layers of the onion, trying to get to the truth, in a department that keeps saying there's no corruption, think about that.

So the truth is most TV is awful, and so much is mediocre. There's a limited amount of great stuff, and like pornography, you know it when you see it. And "Line of Duty" is truly great, you'll power right through it, eating it up.

So to make it easy for you, fire up the Amazon Prime app. I know you're a subscriber, for the quick delivery if nothing else. (And the cheap hi-res music streaming too!) Search for "Line of Duty" and...

You'll find it on Acorn and BritBox, and in this case subscribe to BritBox, since it has the aforementioned sixth season.

And it's not going to cost you a penny. You get seven days free, meaning if you've already watched seasons one to five of "Line of Duty," you can sign on to BritBox and watch the sixth for free, you know you can finish it in seven days.

But if you're a newbie...give it a chance, watch a few episodes. I nearly guarantee you'll dig it, and if you don't... Just launch Amazon and go in and cancel the service. It's not easy to find, but it's not that hard. If you can't figure it out, just call Amazon, they're very helpful, that's why you shop there, for the service, for the trustworthiness. And I know some of you hate Amazon, and the company has many heinous behaviors, but when you sign off, when you stop using it, you accomplish nothing. When something is that appealing, you can't kill it, you can only supersede it, or hope to improve it. Turned out downtown couldn't be saved by boycotting Walmart, people wanted the low prices. But Amazon trumped Walmart and something could trump Amazon but it'd be damn hard and...
Y
ou can subscribe directly to Acorn and BritBox via apps on your Roku or Apple TV, and that's fine with me, but if so, you're already sophisticated enough to know how to do this, so ignore what I just said.

"Line of Duty" is not quite as good as "Spiral," but it's superior to almost all the TV out there, and it's not faux-intellectual, it's straight up the middle, I'd be stunned if you didn't like it.

BRON/THE BRIDGE

This is on Topic, but it's only five bucks a month, and you get the same seven day free trial on Amazon.

And the truth is there have been many remakes, I even watched and wrote about "The Tunnel," a British-French redo, but the original is far superior to any other iteration, as good as "The Tunnel" was.

You see it's Sofia Helin as Saga, who is on the spectrum.

Now if you tune in, you'll notice Helin has a facial scar. I'll save you the research, it's from a bicycle accident, when she was already twenty four, just before her career took off. And therefore, Helin is beautiful but flawed, and it has one questioning one's idea of beauty, we think it's all about perfection, but it's not. It's mostly about character.

Not that you'd want to have a relationship with Saga, who actually says she's incapable of having one, although she does like sex.

But it's not only Saga. The characters are all 3-D, and fully hip and alive, despite Americans thinking other countries are backwaters. You should just check the houses! And the show is about the cooperation between the Swedish and Danish police forces and...

The first season has the same plot as "The Tunnel," but watch it anyway, it's different, you'll still enjoy the ride. The remaining seasons are unique. And there are four, and then the show is done.

This is great TV, which is one reason it's been shown in over a hundred countries. You'll live to watch it, just like you will with "Line of Duty."

HIT & RUN

Everybody was excited about this new Netflix series from the creators of "Fauda," starring Lior Raz, aka "Doron" from "Fauda," as the lead.

But soon after it came out, reviews weren't good. And Israeli and Danish television are considered to be the world's best. So I waited a while to pull it up and then...

I found out the critics were right.

The plot is twisted, and that keeps you interested, but in truth "Hit & Run" is a cross between an Israeli and American series, and that's the flaw. American shows are about the look, and danger, they're oftentimes gussied-up cartoons. You're watching and at some point you see Lior Raz as just another action hero, like in those bogus movies that play in the cinema, with talented actors slumming for the paycheck.

For a minute there, I thought "Hit & Run" was better than the reviews, but it's not. Don't listen to the scuttlebutt, most people are not critics, they haven't been exposed to great television so they settle for stuff like this as opposed to "Line of Duty" and "The Bridge." And yes, unlike those two shows, "Hit & Run" is half in English, but I know you can handle subtitles, after all you watch "Money Heist"!

MONEY HEIST

What a disappointment!

So they cut the last heist in half, left us hanging in the middle, and when you dive back in you can't remember what was happening and over the five new episodes you realize...you just don't care.

I mean come on, get to the conclusion!

But this is a great advertisement for dumping all episodes at once. I would have felt better about the just dropped five episodes of "Money Heist" if I'd just finished the beginning of the season, but now I don't even care about the rest of the show. I loved the characters, laughed and cried along with them, and now it's just a money machine, Netflix employing the show to keep you subscribing, and it's not worth it.

I won't reveal any of the plot, but everybody else I know who jumped to see this last weekend feels the exact same way. I hate when producers and distributors are out of touch with the public.


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