The Idiot Box

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Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits

Last November, CBS chose not to make season 4 of Star Trek Discovery available on Netflix. Netflix has been the home of this show outside of the US, for the past four years. This is due to Paramount + being launched in Europe sometime in 2022 and CBS wants to keep such a popular franchise on their own streaming platform. Naturally fans were unhappy. Then to add insult to injury CBS pulled all prior seasons of Star Trek Discovery from Netflix. However, due to the negative feedback, a last minute deal was made with Pluto TV; a streaming service which offers 110+ live TV channels on its UK platform and hundreds of on-demand films and TV episodes. It’s a free service supported by adverts and it lacks the polish and presentation of Netflix. I don’t consider it an optimal way to watch a show such as Star Trek Discovery. This is a timely reminder how licensed content can “vanish” from your platform of choice.

So much for what I haven’t been watching. Here’s a summary of the shows that I have managed to watch in the last three months.

Stay Close is a British mystery drama miniseries based on the 2012 novel by Harlan Coben. The story has been relocated from the US to the UK and I was quite surprised how well this change works. Megan Pierce (Cush Jumbo) is a suburban mum living in the suburb, harbouring a secret. Michael Broome (James Nesbitt) is a detective still haunted by a cold case from seventeen years ago. Their paths cross when a new missing person's case impacts upon both their pasts. Stay Close is involving, convoluted and entertaining although I doubt real life crime is ever this complex.

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Four Lives.  This three part drama follows the true story of the families of four young gay men. Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor were murdered by Stephen Port between in 2014 and 2015. There deaths were not initially treated as murders or connected and the police investigation was a litany of incompetence and institutional prejudice. Sheridan Smith stars as Sarah Sak, the mother of Anthony Walgate who campaigned tirelessly to get justice for her son. There’s also a compelling performance by comedian and writer Stephen Merchant as the killer Stephen Port.

Universe. Professor Brian Cox tries to make the complexities of the universe accessible to the general public in this four part series. It treads a difficult path, trying to make the impenetrable and at times abstract science understandable to the layman. It takes time to dwell on the majesty of the universe but in doing so comes across as ponderous at times. Perhaps a shorter running time for each episode would have helped. It’s always a pleasure to see the BBC producing science content but this worthy show does fall between two stools.

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After Life. Season 3 of Ricky Gervais’s black comedy drama was a necessary codicil to the story arc. There was a need for closure regarding the fate of specific characters such as Postman Pat (Joe Wilkinson) and Kath (Diane Morgan). I personally still found it funny and applaud the realities of life that Gervais does not shy away from. I believe it played better with viewers than it did with the critics who seem at times too focused on analysis, context and intent rather than just experiencing the show.

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Reacher. I’ve not read any of the Jack Reacher books but was aware that a lot of fans were not happy with the casting of Tom Cruise in the two feature films. This eight part television adaptation of the first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor, does exactly what it’s supposed to. Ex-Military Policemen, Jack Racher, visits the town of Margrave, Georgia, and becomes embroiled in a murderous conspiracy by a gang of counterfeiters. Reacher is deadpan, the dialogue is hard boiled and the action scenes are gritty. Alan Ritchson looks the part and is very likeable. The show doesn’t reinvent the wheel but delivers on its promise. It’s all very binge watchable, which is what everyone I know who’s watched it has done. I’d happily watch another season.

The Idiot Box

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Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.

Broadly speaking I think season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery has been an improvement on season1, and I didn’t think that was a dog’s dinner. There were some very good ideas in the first series but it did stray a little too far canonically speaking in both some major and minor aspects of the production. The second season seems to be reining some of these issues in and I love the continuity the writers have shown with Captain Christopher Pike’s back story. There are times when the need to expedite the narrative comes at the expense of character development. For example it would have it would have been nice to have had an extra episode of two to get to know Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) a little better. It would have heightened the emotional impact of her death a little more. But this propensity to rush is hardly unique to Star Trek: Discovery. I am curious to see where the story is going as I like many other viewers suspect this may be an origin story for a major Federation nemesis. We shall have to see. I’m always cautious about plot devices that explain away an “enigma”. There is the risk that you rob it of its narrative potency.

I recently had the opportunity to see the first two episodes in the latest revival of The Twilight Zone. The first instalment, The Comedian, was an interesting and well-intentioned exploration of the disposable nature of modern comedy and celebrity culture. Humour is a powerful tool and writer Alex Rubens (Rick and Morty, Key & Peele) focuses on the perennial choice of whether a successful exponent should punch up or down. However, this episode was 55 minutes long and couldn’t adequately fill that running time. With some judicious editing it could have achieved a lot more powerful. However the second story, Nightmare at 30,000 Feet, totally hit the mark, containing all the beats you’d expect from the show. This clever, contemporary re-working of the classic 1963-episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet starring Bill Shatner, was tense, well written and had a double sting in the tail. There were also some very subtle visual homages to the original show. Overall, I think this is going to be a very modern interpretation of The Twilight Zone and show runner Jordan Peele is certainly not going to shy away from hot topics. For those already decrying this, I suggest they revisit the original five seasons of the show. Rod Serling was no stranger to taking on the big social issues of his time.

Here’s a summary of what else I’ve been watching:

• It would be remiss of me not to mention After Life, which I said I was going to watch in the previous instalment of The Idiot Box. This was an extremely well observed, moving exploration of bereavement and grief from Ricky Gervais. As ever the humour was stark and pushed a few boundaries but the laughs were genuine as was the sentiment. The supporting cast was outstanding as they always are in his productions. Hopefully the success of this show will contribute to a wider, more candid public discourse about death.

• The ever dependable NCIS reaches the final three episodes of season 16. As ever there have been some weekly instalments that have been just “filler” but there’s also been some quite strong stories. Will we get a resolution to the potential “will they, won’t they” romance between agents Torres and Bishop? Is Ziva David really alive or is it some sort of ruse? Will Doctor Mallard please just retire! (Nope he’s now the NCIS Historian). Unlike other shows, NCIS weathers cast changes well. It certainly has a high mortality rate among its lead characters. I wonder if anyone is going to die this season?

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• Finally, series 57 of the popular BBC satirical comedy panel show, Have I Got News for You, has just started in the UK. Although still an amusing diversion, HIGNFY has lost its impact and has in many ways simply become part of the “establishment” landscape. The show that started off being merciless to its political guests now seems to indirectly facilitate them. Even TV viewing has now become a partisan activity, so the shows message is very much a case of “preaching to the choir”.

The Idiot Box

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Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.

Tonight’s season finale of Endeavour was possibly the best episode to date. All the outstanding plot lines were resolved and despite my concerns that a tragedy may occur with regards to one of the central characters, the ending saw the prevailing status quo of previous seasons restored. This series has been exceedingly creative with regard to the subjects and themes it has explored and there have been some exceptional performances from Anton Lesser and Roger Allam. Writer Russell Lewis (a very interesting person in his own right) continues to embellish the proceeding with “metatextuality” which is always a source of joy for me. Recent references to Gordon Murray’s Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley were exceeding droll, yet if the causal viewer missed them, there is still plenty of practical story and historical referencesfor all to get their teeth into. I also thought that the final episodes exploration of a tower block collapse was particularly brave and relevant, considering that the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is still proceeding.

Ricky Gervais is a controversial figure and opinions surrounding him are often binary. His work is often challenging, and I fully understand why some find it such difficult viewing. However, comedy and satire can be incredibly astute vehicles for analysis and criticism of the human condition, and I believe that is something Mr Gervais does well when his work hits the mark. So having seen the various trailers for his new show After Life, I am cautiously optimistic. After Life follows Tony, who enjoys a good life until his wife suddenly dies. After considering suicide, he subsequently decides to live long enough to punish the world for his wife's death by literally saying and doing whatever he wants to. His behaviour has unexpected results. I suspect that this show will touch upon numerous subjects close to my heart, such as the superficial nature of modern life, social etiquette and pointlessness of many contemporary jobs. The entire season of eight episodes is released on Netflix on 8th March.

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In between my other viewing commitments, when ever I have a spare hour, I try to catch up with Star Trek: Voyager. It is one of the few Trek shows I neglected upon release as I only watched the first season. Like other shows in the franchise, it took a few seasons to get going and find its feet but by late season three, it started to reach its potential. I am currently watching this via Netflix (UK) which has the rights to all Star Trek shows. Sadly, unlike TOS and TNG, Star Trek: Voyager has not been remastered and is not available at present in High Definition (The same is true for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Therefore the image does look a little “soft” at times which is especially noticeable in some of the FX shots. Like TNG, although the live action was shot on film, the show was edited via video and so there are no trational master negatives of each episode. A full restoration means remastering the live action and recombining it with the FX elements and credits, making it a very costly endeavour. I suspect that the right holders will have to think long and hard before financing such a project. In the meantime, what is available on Netflix will have to suffice.

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Finally, as a grandparent I end up watching a lot of children’s TV either directly, or by being around when it is on in the background. Surprisingly enough, a lot of it is inoffensive and usually has some lesson to impart to its young audience. I do find the associated toy marketing a nuisance as I have spent about a year now having to endure Paw Patrol both on and off the screen. However, one show I do admit to enjoying is Hey Duggee. This animated program is set in The Squirrel Club, an activity group for children, similar to The Scouts. The children take part in all kinds of activities, have adventures and earn badges for their accomplishments. The novelty lies in the fact that the children are an Octopus, Rhino, Crocodile, Mouse and Hippo. Duggee, the leader of The Squirrel Club, is a big floppy eared dog who communicates via the onomatopoeia "Woof". Yet everybody understands him perfectly. This is another show that smuggles a great deal of pop culture references into the short seven-minute stories. A simple journey in a river boat to find a missing sheep quickly alludes to both Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Who would have thought that children’s TV could become so “meta” and clever.