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Robsk II

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If you have Netflix, you should probably check out Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

 

It's a cop show featuring some of the best and brightest North American comics. Oddly enough, I think the cases are real, but the madness around them is most definitely not. Very funny.

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If you have Netflix, you should probably check out Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

 

It's a cop show featuring some of the best and brightest North American comics. Oddly enough, I think the cases are real, but the madness around them is most definitely not. Very funny.

 

New series starting on C4 or E4 or one of them in a couple of weeks. The first series made me laugh a hell of a lot.

 

Just started series 3 of Breaking Bad. That's how far behind I am, one day I'll even get round to watching the Sopranos.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Finished watching the second series of Utopia. Can't ****ing believe C4 have cancelled it. ****s.

 

Aye, mentioned above somewhere how effing annoying it is they are cancelling this to carry out churning out tweet-bait bullshít.

 

Apparently it's been picked up by HBO though, with David Fincher possibly getting involved. That could be great, or a total trainwreck. Hard to call really.

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Wolf Hall (BBC2)

 

You might well think that the Tudors have been done to death on TV recently - you might think that until you see Wolf Hall and then, if you're anything like me, you'll be thinking that we could do with some more. I know this is obviously is a work of fiction, but even so Thomas Cromwell makes the most unlikely of historical heroes, he is usually portrayed as the scheming villain that famous Holbein portrait somehow makes him look. But Hilary Mantel has brought out a unexpected Human side to the man that means spending a hour in his company is no hardship - indeed despite everything you can't help but like this version of Cromwell and soon become fascinated by him.

 

Much of the credit for this must be shared with Mark Rylance because his central performance as Cromwell is just superb - a masterclass in the actors craft. I must shamefully admit that I hardly know him because he has spent most of his career on the stage playing all the heavyweight Shakespearian roles that are the lot of a actor of his class - the screens loss being very much the stage's gain I'm thinking. Needless to say Rylance is ablely supported by a outstanding cast and the production values on display here are beyond reproach. It is quality drama like this that justifies the existence of the BBC because I seriously doubt that any other broadcaster could do this type of programming half as well as they do - indeed just one episode in and already Wolf Hall is right up there with I Claudius as 'must see' television for any discerning viewer. When the drama is of this standard even though history tells us how these stories must end, that doesn't seem to matter somehow because the journey we are on is just unmissable.

 

PS - I see some are complaining that because many of the night time scenes have apparently been shot using authentic period candlelight only this makes the action hard to see! As the series looks so utterly sumptuous (like a 'old master' painting at times) as complaints go this is kind of ... well 'dim' is the word I'm looking for.

 

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If you have Netflix, you should probably check out Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

 

It's a cop show featuring some of the best and brightest North American comics. Oddly enough, I think the cases are real, but the madness around them is most definitely not. Very funny.

 

Only just noticed this, I really like that show. Samberg is really good in it.

 

Nothing big or heavy, just a nice light hearted show.

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You know what I don't like about that show, krg? There's no straight man! I thought the black police chief ought to have been the straight man, he seemed at first like he might be & it would have suited him, but then he turned out to be just as "wacky" as the rest of them! If everyone is wacky, then wacky is just wack, IMO. I Do Not Like This Show.

 

It's Always Sunny is back tho for new season, I like that. Also, Banshee. Also, Justified. In Justified tho, they just killed off my Most Beloved main character & it was v.sad :(

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You know what I don't like about that show, krg? There's no straight man! I thought the black police chief ought to have been the straight man, he seemed at first like he might be & it would have suited him, but then he turned out to be just as "wacky" as the rest of them! If everyone is wacky, then wacky is just wack, IMO. I Do Not Like This Show.

 

It's Always Sunny is back tho for new season, I like that. Also, Banshee. Also, Justified. In Justified tho, they just killed off my Most Beloved main character & it was v.sad :(

 

I also enjoy it's Always Sunny. Didn't realise there was a new series, so thanks for bringing this to my attention :)

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Star Wars Rebels

 

CGI Star Wars show set between Episodes III and IV. Follows the exploits of a renegade freighter, and seems very much like a cross between Star Wars and the A-Team, and also evokes a lot of Empire Strikes Back - a successful hyperdrive is usually the denouement of an encounter with the much stronger Empire. Star Wars I, II and III must be the only trilogy where the material built around them was better than the inspiration. Think most Star Wars fans would get a kick out of this, with the caveat that it is aimed at a younger audience.

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Holbein: Eye of the Tudors - A culture Show Special. (BBC2 Saturday)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0513ghb/the-culture-show-holbein-eye-of-the-tudors-a-culture-show-special

 

A truly excellent programe I thought (and one that is still available on the IPlayer if you missed it) about everybody's favorite 16th century artist - the great Johannes Holbein.

 

... just don't ask me to pronounce 'Waldemar Januszczak' unless you want a face full of spittle.

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New BBC sit coms - one bad, one good:

 

Still Open All Hours (BBC1 Sunday)

 

Back in the day I was a big fan of the original 'Open All Hours' but comedy has moved on and without a comic genius of Ronnie Barker's stature involved the weakness of Roy Clark's outdated (and all too predictable) scripts are horribly exposed. As fresh as a dead dog this miserable, mirthless, excuse for sit-com really should have been strangled at birth and the fool responsible for commissioning it should be taken out and shot.

 

Count Arthur Strong (BBC1 Tuesday)

 

Just to prove that old fashioned need not always mean unfunny, this modest little sit com (one I understand that first saw the light of day on radio) about the ridiculous misadventures of a bewildered OAP does at least generate some genuine laughs. Arthur (the excellent Steve Delaney) is a old man curiously at odds with the modern world around him, which leads him into constant trouble of course. But more than any of that, there is something inexplicably funny about this comic creation - the way he walks, his looks, that hat ... Tommy Cooper resurrected almost.

 

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I watching once again yesterday Peter Capaldi's 'The Cricklewood Greats' which is a spoof documentary dealing with the output of North London's (fictional) 'Cricklewood Studios' - think a cinema equivalent of 'Spinal Tap' and you will have the idea. If you haven't seen it already, this really is a very funny programme that deserves a much bigger audience than I suspect it will find on BBC4 late at night.

 

Half the fun is trying to work out which old British films and actors are being (not always affectionately) satirised - Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields, Will Hay, Peter Cushing, Hammer Horror, are all here if you look hard enough, but there are no prizes for guessing that the real world 'Carry On' series have been transformed into Cricklewood's notorious 'Thumbs Up' movies, complete with a self loathing Kenneth Williams clone. How fantastic it would be if there were a real films called Florrie Drives a Lorry, Brest's of the Vampire and Thumbs Up Her Majesty's Pleasure ... come to think of it I'm almost sure I've actually seen some of them.

 

Peter Capaldi is of course far too busy time traveling in the Tardis at the moment to be doing more quality stuff like this, but as he wrote, starred in, produced and directed 'Cricklewood Greats' it does go to show what a exceptionally talented chap he is.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bs3ww/the-cricklewood-greats

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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Just been "Power Watching" a US series called Resurrection on our "CATCH UP" TV Channel. It stars Omar Epps (of House fame) and a bunch of "No darling you ain't no Olivia Wilde" lookalikes (so Bearsy won't like it none of the support chicks have decent bewbs).

 

Some of you may have caught "The Leftovers" which was a weekly edition of wtf? where you couldn't work out what was going on. (I think Lost may have a lot to answer for in years to come), well Res is kinda a back to front Leftovers.

 

Basically a kid is found in China and he had died like yonks ago, finds his way back to "Arcadia" in "Small Town USA" accompanied by a US Customs Dude. So there is a whole bunch of "Family coming to terms with the Son they lost eons ago". Then another one comes back who is about the same age as his daughter, then another and......

 

So yeah an inverted Leftovers where The Departed come back, but not in a Walking Dead way. It isn't World Class acting, it isn't House or The Leftovers or The Walking Dead, BUT it is a good yarn and well put together.

 

S2 looks like it hit the US from September 2014 through to January this year so should be around on Download or Sky. Damn site better than a re-run of Bargain Hunt or anything on Food Network or endless repeats of Star Trek into Darkness, a good story, well put together, looking forward to S2 coming in to land in the next weeks here.

 

Because the cute chicks in it are a little light on the Bewb stakes it only rates a 3.5 out of 5. But fun and a good S1 climax.

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I recommend this as a v.funny TV show. It knocks pap's brooklyn nine nines into cocked hat!

 

[video=youtube_share;qxhIL4RqaDA]

 

Thanks for the lead in - the Kiwi's have a great sense of humour and don't mind taking the **** out of each other. Surprisingly, this show doesn't get a viewing in Oz, which is just "over the ditch" from New Zealand. One similar program we have over here you could see on youtube is "Summer Heights High" an Australian actor plays multiple roles depicting a misfit Samoan student, a private school student on exchange and a camp drama teacher. It's quite good and funny.

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Just been "Power Watching" a US series called Resurrection on our "CATCH UP" TV Channel. It stars Omar Epps (of House fame) and a bunch of "No darling you ain't no Olivia Wilde" lookalikes (so Bearsy won't like it none of the support chicks have decent bewbs).

 

Some of you may have caught "The Leftovers" which was a weekly edition of wtf? where you couldn't work out what was going on. (I think Lost may have a lot to answer for in years to come), well Res is kinda a back to front Leftovers.

 

Basically a kid is found in China and he had died like yonks ago, finds his way back to "Arcadia" in "Small Town USA" accompanied by a US Customs Dude. So there is a whole bunch of "Family coming to terms with the Son they lost eons ago". Then another one comes back who is about the same age as his daughter, then another and......

 

So yeah an inverted Leftovers where The Departed come back, but not in a Walking Dead way. It isn't World Class acting, it isn't House or The Leftovers or The Walking Dead, BUT it is a good yarn and well put together.

 

S2 looks like it hit the US from September 2014 through to January this year so should be around on Download or Sky. Damn site better than a re-run of Bargain Hunt or anything on Food Network or endless repeats of Star Trek into Darkness, a good story, well put together, looking forward to S2 coming in to land in the next weeks here.

 

Because the cute chicks in it are a little light on the Bewb stakes it only rates a 3.5 out of 5. But fun and a good S1 climax.

 

Phil if you have fast broadband where you live, if you want all the tv series you want from the USA download XBMC to your laptop or even better a Raspberry Pi attached to your TV then get the Genesis addon, this will give you HD links to every main USA and GB television series the day after they happen and it's not region blocked. Resurrection series 2 is on there. One to look out for is Allegiance a modern version of Americans about Russian spy's in the USA set in the current time not the early 80's. One for your wife Phil is called Outlander about a post second world war english nurse sent back in time to 1700's Scotland.

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Phil if you have fast broadband where you live, if you want all the tv series you want from the USA download XBMC to your laptop or even better a Raspberry Pi attached to your TV then get the Genesis addon, this will give you HD links to every main USA and GB television series the day after they happen and it's not region blocked. Resurrection series 2 is on there. One to look out for is Allegiance a modern version of Americans about Russian spy's in the USA set in the current time not the early 80's. One for your wife Phil is called Outlander about a post second world war english nurse sent back in time to 1700's Scotland.

 

Thanks mcj. Streaming and the innernet here are not quite the same as elsewhere in the world. Let's just say everything here passes through Proxy Servers & has limited access to what you can get to in terms of downloads and VPN's and stuff. (Another way to say it would be Snowden/NSA/stuff on Sky News today)

 

I see XBMC is now called Kodi and is available, trouble is 1) my home set up is not good enough to get a wifi signal downstairs to my telly area and secondly, the 60 quid a month I pay for 16Mps access gives me the equivalent of a new piece of string for my tin can receiver and that's about it.

 

We have Satellite downstairs and Cable upstairs - Cable could only come in there ffs so I have BeIn Sports on a TV in the Bedroom and Movies downstairs which is where the bloody Sat cable comes in - totally fecked up but that is usual in this crazy sh1t hole

 

We CAN get good streams from the local provider, OSN and in fact we get most US series about 12 hours after they are shown in the US heck, we even get Top Gear about 18 hours after you guys now! OSN have boxed sets but the kerfuffull isn't really worth it. As such we tend to head down the Pub once a week for Quiz night or the half price beer karaoke night and swap USB sticks/portable hard drives still! Normal routine is series record on our equivalent of Sky+ box then have a week power watching. Doing that (recording) with Legends at the moment (heck Sean Bean is starting to look a bit past it!)

 

Hopefully by this summer the latest cabling upgrade in my area will be done and it will be worth upgrading the router & stuff, I have a mate who imports those "Google TV" type Dongle things from China & hope to get an agency for them! But all the mates I tested them with they either didn't fit the HDMI connector or didn't have more than a 5m WiFi range so waiting on the new spec'd ones.

 

We'll get it sorted, wife started working for a major AV company here recently and is organising "evaluation" kit ;) Plus they (OSN) are advertising Resurrection S2 as starting this month. If not the wife will do here smile thing and the lads at her work will get sorted. Failing that we'll share it around on download and we can hunker down with a bucket of tinnies over a weekend.

 

I liked the Americans for a few episodes but it got a bit too "family" for me and I lost interest, will look out for Allegiance. Loved what Kiefer Sutherland said to Clarkson on Top Gear last week about TV now being the genre for real quality entertainment & how 24 Changed the World in that it introduced Power Watching.

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'Wolf Hall' (BBC2 Wednesday)

 

This series set a impossably high standard right from the onset, but somehow it just gets better and better with every passing installment as Cromwell rises from being Cardinal Wolsey's man, to become Henry VIII's formidable enforcer. I think I've said on here before how in awe I am of Mark Rylance's epic performance as Cromwell, but let's not let that utter brilliance overshadow just how wonderful the rest of the cast are. Bernard Hill (as the Duke of Norfolk) has some great 'earthy' lines playing a man in a constant state of rage, but in particular I want to focus now on Anton Lesser's doomed Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More.

 

Anton first came to my attention in the excellent 2010 legal drama 'Garrow's Law' and later in the Inspector Morse spin-off 'Endeavour', where he played a rather horrible police superintendent. Others may know him from this role in 'The Musketeers' or from 'Game of Thrones' - a series I've not yet seen but that I know is very popular on here. But whatever he is in, more often to be found playing unsympathetic supporting roles, he's just bloody fantastic.

 

So good is he playing this complex and uncompromising man in 'Wolf Hall' that I have little doubt that he could have taken on the main Cromwell part with equal success - indeed were he a more overtly hansom and physically imposing 'Leading Man' type then I suspect Anton would already be a star of some repute on both sides of the Atlantic. But never mind, character roles are very often the best ones.

 

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Started watching Dexter with the gf a few weeks ago. Finished series 2 the other night.

 

It is quite enjoyable, but I'm not sure if I'll get through all 8 series. It is so ridiculous from the get go, it's hard to see where it can go before it all gets too much.

 

I guess whilst it's beneficial to binge watch, starting a show so late does kind of remove the jeopardy somewhat. I don't want to give away too much, but you can kind of tell he is likely to escape the closing net in the first few series, and you can pretty much guess that certain main characters aren't going to die (especially when they are still in the promo shots from later on).

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Started watching Dexter with the gf a few weeks ago. Finished series 2 the other night.

 

It is quite enjoyable, but I'm not sure if I'll get through all 8 series. It is so ridiculous from the get go, it's hard to see where it can go before it all gets too much.

 

I guess whilst it's beneficial to binge watch, starting a show so late does kind of remove the jeopardy somewhat. I don't want to give away too much, but you can kind of tell he is likely to escape the closing net in the first few series, and you can pretty much guess that certain main characters aren't going to die (especially when they are still in the promo shots from later on).

Season Four is the best. I still haven't seen the final season though, so bear that in mind.

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Did anyone watch Better Call Saul? Is it worth my time?

 

Probably not all that helpful, so advanced apologies Bear.

 

I haven't yet, but my mates that have watched it say it is was pretty funny and had quite a few nods to Breaking Bad. Will probably try catch up at the weekend.

 

(for reference, these are the same mates I watch It's Always Sunny with)

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I have been watching Marvel: Agent Carter. It's set in the mid 1940s in a universe where Captain America existed, Iron Man will, no one smokes and people look surprisingly fresh faced despite years of world destroying war. It's because they gave up the ciggies, I reckon.

 

Despite the period annoyances, I quite like this show, and this show doesn't mind holding onto a period detail if it suits the plot. Agent Carter, Captain America's mentor/squeeze in the first Captain America movie, is the focus of the show. She has to deal with issues like workplace sexism and having to get the lunch order, except Howard Stark (Iron Man's dad, yo!) is in a bit of bother. His weapons have been nicked, he's in the frame and public enemy number one, and needs Carter's help to clear his name. The first episode establishes her as a double agent.

 

It's quite a British affair. Carter is English, as is the recognisable hired help. Both are capable of some dry wit and sarcasm. The ties to the wider Marvel universe are there too, and they play on them - many of the same actors reprise roles from the Captain America movie in various episodes, Carter herself chief among them.

 

Her journey is a light comparison of women's role in society, and it is an idealised version of the 1940s, but it's a decent watch regardless.

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You are useless to me, krg. Less time going on feminist protest marches, more time watching tv pls!

 

Thanks mikey :thumbup:

 

I caught up with the first two episodes of Better Call Saul over the weekend Bear.

 

It is v good. I have to confess I was expecting it to be lighter, and funnier than it was. Turns out it was much closer to Breaking Bad in style, which is no bad thing. It does feel like an extension of BB, the way it's shot is very similar, unsurprisingly, and it is absolutely littered references and nods to BB. Early days, but it's set up nicely to be interesting. I'd recommend, hope this helps.

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Better Call Saul.

OK so I have NEVER seen an episode of Breaking Bad (Yes I have the boxed set, but my DVD blew up so it is saved for when I get a new one)

 

Well Bear,

I loved it. The sheer uselessness & incompetence exuded by the lead character hits memories of so many idiots I have met in life. You cannot help but chortle & splutter. So I consider myself lucky that I do NOT have to compare it every few seconds like all BB fans. It certainly stands on it's own.

 

It has all the makings of a classic "Quirky Comedy" with a perfect Anti-Hero screwing up everything, a TV format that is as old as Steptoe & Son for example.

 

BUT. And this is what made it stand out, the first two episodes had a flimmy flammy feel to them, a sort of lack of depth in everything and suddenly you can see that it does have an edge in there. It does look like it will have "a darker side" to it. What IS indisputable is the Cinematograhpy and the script. Absolutely top notch.

 

So for me it was quality and enjoyable as a show in it's own right.

 

On the Negative side, Mrs D_P couldn't stand it. The voices and the accents just grated on her from the very first scenes in the shopping Mall. In her words "It is SH1T. FFS The ol Brazilian Soap Operas we used to get on Polish TV back when I was a kid were better than this bxllxcks. It is VERY unusual for her to react like this (unless it is a horror movie which she hates) and as for the bit in the Desert in Ep2 she walked out the room completely - Unheard of!

 

So mixed reviews from Chez Phil, chicks may hate it lads will love it.

 

Pap -

Thank God you mentioned Agent Carter. I thought it was just me wanting to be a dirty old letch (Although I am sure Carter is a little wider around the hips than she was in Captain America).

At times, her (and Jarvis's) acting does come across as more Wooden than the Sequoia National Park. Perhaps Jarvis should have stayed being a computerised voice in Ironman but she is annoyingly compelling and when she swaps her OTT Lipstick and Office Gear for the Tac Team Jump Suit she leaps right up there again into "Really Hot Fiteh" land - and actually seems more relaxed in her acting!

The plot really was written for Kids (or Comprehensive School Drop Outs) with the so many "Oh really, never saw that coming" "Focus" type moments.

But for all of that it captures the spirit of the Period really well, and it does have a decent story on the go. Whether it needed live action big Marvel Budget or could have simply stayed in a Kids Comic, I'm not sure, but we have watched it all so far and it is good entertainment.

 

Oh and mcj - Yep as expected, Resurrection S2 starts here on 21st Feb. Already programmed the "Sky Box thingy" to record the series.

 

Can I just put in a quick passing mention for the UK's most hated show - Top Gear.

 

The New Series is on down here at what must be the exact same time as you guys in the UK. The 1st Episode was a good old fashioned TG Road Trip.

The 2nd had Daniel Riccardo and THAT will stay memorable for a long time after we've forgotten the funny but inane "Ambulance" gags

Then they had Ep 3 and it was actually almost a Motoring Show, interspersed with some absolutely hysterical moments when "The STARS in the reasonably priced car" were on

 

No spoilers but the line about how WRONG it was when JC was reading the Rap Lyrics was classic as was the destruction of the "Star" with the photo of the wheels (No spoilers as I know some may not have seen it yet) and the whole Argentina? How did that go? conversation

 

Yeah the UK think he's a boorish Oaf. The rest of the planet love him

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So mixed reviews from Chez Phil, chicks may hate it lads will love it.

 

I watched it with my the GF, who was also watched all of BB, and she enjoyed it too. Totally get it may be a subjective thing, just not necessarily a boy vs girl thing.

 

Interesting that you enjoyed it so, despite having not seen any of the original. There'll be so much you missed!

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Last night's was equally good. It's so far and away the best thing on tv.

 

Last nights was the best episode in a long time. Love the way this season is getting proper deep (man). It's like the hard 3rd album from a band, well worth sticking with as it gives you more than the bluster and speed of other seasons.

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It's more than 'worth a go' KRG. I'm jealous of anyone that hasn't seen it because you have so much incredible TV in front of you.

 

I'm currently halfway through Breaking Bad series 4 and likewise have somehow yet to read or see any spoilers. The highest praise I can offer it is that it's as good as everyone said.

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It's more than 'worth a go' KRG. I'm jealous of anyone that hasn't seen it because you have so much incredible TV in front of you.

 

I'm currently halfway through Breaking Bad series 4 and likewise have somehow yet to read or see any spoilers. The highest praise I can offer it is that it's as good as everyone said.

 

Haha, in that case I shall definitely get involved. I want to play the games, which are also meant to be fantastic, but I'm not sure which order to do it in.

 

I feel similar with you and BB. Second half of series 4 and all series 5 are on

 

I don't watch a lot of TV bar BBC 4 but I've watched seasons 1-3 of GoT in 10 days and now onto season 4. Why did I not know about this before? 'kin brilliant.

 

I really just cannot get into this. I think I've watched the first 5/6 eps about 3 occasions and it does nothing for me. It's clearly a good show, I must be weird.

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