# What did you watch on TV last night?



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

This thread is for TV watchers. It's an off-shoot of "Whats happening in your life.". Post what you watched last night whether a regular tv show, or dvd, or maybe you have a streaming service such as netflix or Amazon Prime.. My wife and I have been watching a lot of TV lately due to it being winter and she's convelscing from an operation and will be off her feet for a few months. I'll have mine in a bit. Feel free to describe your TV and favorite programs.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

We started off with the local weather, which we usually do every night. We record the local news and watch the weather part later in the evening. That way we can fast-forward to the weather part without having to watch the depressing stuff. Anyway, the local meteorologist called for extreme cold and record-setting low temperatures for today, and they were certainly correct. I played indoor tennis this morning and had to wear a warm-up jacket and sweat pants. 

Then we watched the 2014 movie “St. Vincent” starring Bill Murray. I am a Bill Murray fan. My wife enjoyed it more than I, but I did like it, however I thought the ending didn’t make a lot of sense. 

Then we watched one of our “regular” shows, Elementary,(which we recorded last Thursday) with Jonny Lee Miller(Holmes) and Lucy Liu(Watson). The episode ended with Watson moving back in with Holmes and dedicating her life to the science of deduction and will give up dating and a personal life. Apparently her boyfriend got whacked by one of the criminals that she helped put in jail. 

This is the third season for this show. We liked the inaugural season, but last season went sideways. They brought in a silly Moriarty character, Natalie Dormer, who also doubled as Irene Adler. Ouch! Also, they rolled out Rhys Ifans as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother, and depicted him as a restaurant chef. That was also painful. 

This season they’ve apparently got back to basics. Most of the actual A Conan Doyle stories start off with someone visiting Holmes with a problem; they describe the problem, and he takes it from there. In this episode, someone had stolen two zebras from the local zoo.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

^^^ Mrs Hermit likes 'Elementary' - I stay in the room with headphones on when she watches it.

Last night it was Liverpool vs Besiktas in the Europa League. Some good banter between Peter Reid and Gordon Strachan (the latter sporting a disconcerting goatie). The match was enlivened by a playground tiff between Jordan Henderson and Mario Balotelli about who was goint to take the penalty - the argument, as with the penalty, was decisively nailed by Super Mario.
Let's all sing along, now: _the reds are coming up the hill, boys! etc etc_


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I prefer the UK version of Elementary over the US version. Perhaps I'm old fashioned about this, but a female Watson just doesn't sit right with me. As for television watching, not much lately. I don't like the fact that shows are interrupted every ten minutes or so to for a Viagra or Cialis commercial.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I watched the second of four (?) parts of The Nature of Things' The Great Human Odyssey: The Adaptable Ape.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Antiquarian said:


> I don't like the fact that shows are interrupted every ten minutes or so to for a Viagra or Cialis commercial.


heck! They can't be much good if they are needed every ten minutes or so :lol:


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

The excellent adaptation of the Hilary Mantel historical novel 'Wolf Hall', Episode 5, then two episodes from Series One of 'Uncle', a scurrilous BBC 3 comedy about an unsuitable uncle's relationship with his sister and his 12 year old nephew. All watched on BBC iPlayer, as the HDR had had one of its periodic 'sulks' when we were away during the week and recorded precisely nothing. (This is what we got for being 'early adopters' of the technology in 2007).


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Started off with the weather again. They are predicting three inches of snow for tonight. Yesterday didn't get above 10 degrees F. Then we watched an episode of Shakespeare Uncovered. This one was Orthello. We've enjoyed this series which was broadcast on PBS. I, myself, enjoy these better than watching the play themselves. Shakespeare is a little tlo verbose for me. Not one of his characters didn't like talking! Then an episide of Mr. Ed. Ed keeps beating Wilbur at chess. Ed also catches a burglar. Will check out the Wolf Hall thing.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The Big Bang Theory - "The Septum Deviation".


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Antiquarian said:


> I prefer the UK version of Elementary over the US version. Perhaps I'm old fashioned about this, but a female Watson just doesn't sit right with me. As for television watching, not much lately. I don't like the fact that shows are interrupted every ten minutes or so to for a Viagra or Cialis commercial.


 I like that one too, but the third season, again, I thought went sideways. The episode where he's the best man at Watson's wedding, and Mrs. Watson turns out to be the criminal? Then Sherlock's exiled from the UK instead of being tried for murder? That just totally lost it for me. 
I hear that they are filming a fourth season this year which will broadcast in 2016. I hope the writing improves.

I rarely watch commercials because we almost always record shows and watch them later.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

We got six inches of snow last night rather than the three they predicted. It changed to rain in the early morning, which only made things worse. For the first time in several weeks, the temperature got above freezing, which caused area flooding. I was out shoveling this morning and it’s was like shoveling an ice cube soup. The forecast is for the temps to plummet tonight, so tomorrow morning should be an ice skating rink. After the weather we watched an episode of Bonanza. It seems Adam, Hoss and little Joe don’t approve of their dad’s new girlfriend and consider her a trollup. Next was 24. Season 2 episode 4. Jack Baur discovers that the woman behind the plot to blow up LA, is the same that murdered his wife last season. Ended with an episode of Perry Mason. Perry defends a woman who's accused of murdering her brother-in-law. Turns out it was his business partner. Academy awards tonight but we haven't seen many of the movies being nominated.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Women's golf, Australian Open final round.


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## Dave Whitmore (Oct 3, 2014)

I find I watch a lot less television since I developed my passion for classical. But the shows I always make time for are
Doctor Who
The Musketeers
Once Upon A Time
Blacklist
State of Affairs
Scorpion
Forever
Agents of Shield
Eastenders

Some of the shows have been on hiatus. Doctor Who won't be on until the Fall. I just find my music is more relaxing.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Pyotr said:


> Shakespeare is a little tlo verbose for me. Not one of his characters didn't like talking!


I don't remember Hamlet saying much


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Watched the Flyers vs. Washington Capitals yesterday. As a big Flyers fan, I must say that my team is a conundrum this year. Sometimes they look great, and other times, not so good. They are on-the-bubble as far as making the playoffs and are running out of time. In the last week they beat two of the best teams in the league, and lost to two bad teams including the Buffalo Sabres, the team with the worst record. Yesterday they won 3-2.
Watched an episode of Elementary. Holmes and Watson try to find a serial killer of airplane crash beneficiaries. The killer is trying to defraud the insurance company. Next was episode 5 of Mozart In The Jungle. The new music director, Rodrigo De Souza, arrives late at a rich patron party and gets into fight with Thomas Pembridge. The real Mozart appears to De Souza while he is composing a new symphony. Watched a little of the Red Carpet, but the awards were too late for us. We’re usually in bed by 9pm.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Watched 2 episodes of "house of cards" (the American version, 2nd season) to prepare for the 3th season, kicking of coming friday !!

Netflix will probably be in serious bandwithproblems when they launch Claire and Frank.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Just finished the last episode of season 2 of House of Cards. Yea it will be interesting to see what happens next.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

The extremely harrowing last episode of 'Wolf Hall', and needing some light relief, an episode of Reeves and Mortimer and co. in 'House of Fools'. Very silly, but then what is life if you can't abandon yourself to utter silliness once in a while?


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Airplane Repo (Discovery Channel).


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

We have our TV mostly in use as kind of big photo screen with a lot of changing scenery. So in the strict sense we do hardly 'watch', but merely 'glance' TV. Often it is just BBC Four HD (last night with a continental train travel from Madrid to Gibraltar, followed by a pleasantly smiling Indian lady who presented a program on collections & curiosities - a craze that started in the Renaissance) or - less frequent - the North German (Hamburg based) NDR who have lots of documentaries connected with the sea & the Nordic part of Europe. Dutch television offers programs on people who leave the country to start a Bed & Breakfast in Italy, Spain, just name it and the Dutch already have bought there an old leaky castle or a broke horrorhotel. We wonder why people do such big gambles, because (we know and we see again & again: -) the grass certainly is not greener over there... Another Dutch program is 'Dreamhouse' with a couple choosing one property out of three in a far away sunny spot. The day before yesterday they were on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. In the end they always uncork a bottle of champagne and for us it's the sign to turn off the telly in order to enjoy a good glass of wine...


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## Guest (Feb 26, 2015)

TurnaboutVox said:


> The extremely harrowing last episode of 'Wolf Hall'


Yes, but wasn't it brilliant?!

special mention for Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

dogen said:


> Yes, but wasn't it brilliant?!
> 
> special mention for Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.


Yes indeed - superb program and first-class performance.
Last night I watched 'Cucumber' on catch-up and some re-runs of 'Not going Out' on Dave.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

New Tricks. 

From the new season, on PBS.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Last night was our first night home from a week's trip to Basel, Switzerland. Watched the most recent episode of Downton Abbey, an episode of a furniture design competition and an episode of "Blue Bloods".

Today will likely start viewing the 3rd season of House of Cards through Netflix.


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## geekfreak (Mar 18, 2015)

well new tricks x2


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Sherlock Holmes through Netflix.
Enjoyable, but they might have condensed the episodes to one hour instead of hour-and-a-half.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*Airplane Repo*, and* Dangerous Flights*, on Discovery.


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## Tero (Jun 2, 2012)

Morse
knocking off last episode tonight
Bones...2 seasons down

All Netflix


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2015)

Poldark. Episode 2. Good last week; better this week.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

*The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works*

This must be another sure sign that the apocalypse is upon us: TV is the most interesting and entertaining it's ever been. I have Comcast Xfinity and noticed last night that they are now showing some of the Great Courses Lectures videos. The Great Courses is a series of college-level audio and video courses. The company has created over 700 courses since their inception in 1990. They hire some of the best college professors. The professor that does the classical music courses is Robert Greenberg. I had heard some of his audio courses before, but this is the first I've seen of him. Last night we started on his course called "*The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works.*" There were a few of conditions to his selections. First, no more than two from a single composer and the composer hast to be deceased, and, the estate of the composer, must give him permission to use the work (if they've not been dead for 75 years, which, is the law, apparently). There were two or three estates that would not give him permission. There are 24 shows, each lasting one hour. The first was introduction and the history of the piano. Each of the rest will take one work that will be performed by a concert pianist and he will discuss its history and structure. The works are in no particular order. He's not ranking them compared to each other but they are what he considers to be the 23 greatest solo piano works. He does start with Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, which just happens to be the #1 on the TC Top Recommended Solo Keyboard Works. 
Comcast has about a dozen of these courses available. My wife and I started on another one, The History of the Plague. Again, a series of 1-hour 24 lectures. 
Certainly is better than Jeopardy!


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