TV

Seen anything good on TV lately?

I know the British world is obsessed with an interview by Oprah with Harry and Meghan. Did you know that there are 60 people who have a claim to the throne? Harry is like 6th in line and down at the 60th spot is Zenouska Mowatt. Zenouska’s got an instagram account, she seems to live in a beautiful home, wear a lot of big hats, and carry very small purses.

Anyway, the Royals are like the Granit Xhaka of celebrities: they serve a purpose, do their job well, have some staunch and irrational fans, some people hate them intensely, and every once in a while they do something incredibly funny (to the non-fans.)

I watched the Madrid derby instead of the interview and also watched Inter-Atalanta. The Madrid derby was ok, but I do love the way BeIN sport packages their matches. They have data overlays which show – for example – which areas a club is most likely to take a corner kick. That’s the kind of data I’m interested in and want to see more of.

They also captured Luis Suarez incredible goal with 8K cameras. You really need to see the goal if you haven’t yet. He scored with the outside of his foot… it’s just, the best goal I’ve seen all year.

Real Madrid created more xG but I felt like they were playing too many crosses to headers early on. Plus we have to look at how Simeone tried to shut up shop for the final 30 minutes. Real Madrid had 9 shots in the final 22 minutes, Atletico just 1 and that came after Real scored.

In the Atalanta match you had Conte v. Gasperini and it was a pretty unfun watch. Both teams played a back three but Conte played a 5 in the middle (352) and Gasperini played a 343. Total xG between both teams was 1.1. There were a few minutes of attack from Conte but it was almost exclusively countering through Lukaku, though Skriniar (Inter CB) scored the only goal of the game from a broken play corner.

I watch Atalanta a lot and often get asked which players I would take at Arsenal and my answer is always the same: none. I’m not sure many of them are well suited for life in the Premier League, or if they are, they are too old. Duvan would have been a good buy 5 years ago but now he’s 29. And Luis Muriel is also 29 and his career was pretty lightweight until last year. I’m not sure he’d have even been on anyone’s radar.

The thing Arsenal should do, however, is what Atalanta do: get in players for cheap and either coach them to brilliance, or get them in a system which agrees with them. Guys like Cristian Romero. I know, I know, he’s on loan from Juve but here’s the thing: Juve paid 26m for him two years ago and the loan deal has an option for Atalanta to buy for 16m, split over three seasons. How did they swing that? I know, I know, “Serie A is corrupt” klaxon but still I don’t get it.

Anyways, that’s your football/writing/whatever it is I do now for the day.

Qq

25 comments

  1. Want a fantastic watch if you guys haven’t seen already? May I suggest The men who built America.. Brilliant

  2. I “killed” the last season of Cobra Kai in one day. I know, I know… (extra) cheesy, super naive… but is so fun to watch for many different reasons, mainly 80’s nostalgia. Just finished “The Expanse” (highly recommended for sci-fi lovers). And finally got around an oldie but goodie, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. Prematurely cancelled, if you ask me. Other than that, I get through a couple of episodes of “Schitt’s Creek” when I get bored and need something a little lighter. Also, watched a few movies recently. “The Call” was interesting … kind of like Korean horror version of “The Frequency”. Also, “Eden Lake”, and “The Collector”… also thriller/horror genres. And the last was “Promising Young Woman” which I enjoyed a lot. P.S. Yes, I watch a LOT of TV.

    1. Having avoided weekly episodic series– since forever? We decided to binge watch a bunch of ’em.

      The Expanse is the best SciFi since Battlestar Gallactica. Thomas Jane’s character is riveting. (Star Trek Discovery has been a close second (CBS All Access)). We also binged Schitt’s Creek (6 seasons in 3-4 weeks). Enjoyed it so much, and it being a Canadian production– we’re tempted to tryout Letterkenny (Hulu).Arrested Development.

      Went through an extended binge of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (final season in production now). And the El Camino movie.

      More recently bouncing back to lighter fare with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

      We’re still going season by season binging Outlander. The early seasons were brilliant historical fiction. Later, heavier on the melodrama while still true to early-Revolutionary America.

  3. I enjoy watching Serie A games quite a bit. Been following Inter since the early days of Wesley Sneijder (big fan of his). Glad they’re doing well this season even though not a huge fan of Conte’s system. But hey, sometimes the results are more important. Hopefully, they can finally end Juve’s decade of dominance. As for Atalanta, their style seems to be more gung-ho than anything else. Go big or go home, and they pay for it most times than not against (better) teams who sit deep and play mostly on counters. P.S. Even though I have the checkbox for saving my name and email checked, I still have to enter it every time (albeit, just by typing the first letter after which I can select it).

  4. I finally got around to watching Ted Lasso and really enjoyed it. Sweet and funny and irresistible. I was expecting the “fish out of water comes to appreciate the foreign place” chracter arc and got something very different. We went through a little Norse mythology thing here and watched both Last Kingdom on Netflix. Learned about British history along with Viking stuff. We have moved on to Vikings – which is more soap opera-y but still a good diversion. I liked Godless on Netflix – good western that should have been more female empowering but is still a good watch. Wandavision and Mandalorian were excellent, and I was completely sucked in by Umbrella Academy. I also highly recommend the Bee Gees and Linda Ronstadt documentaries, especially if you are old enough to remember the 70’s.

    Thanks for the Galeano recommendation – We Say No. I am making my way through it, but find it so depressing that 95% of our country has no idea how depraved and devastating our policiies in South and Central America were/are. It was one of those things that I knew in the back of my mind but just never went there. This is forcing me to read and learn more about that period in particular and how the US policiies have undermined democracy and freedom for so many people. Guess I was too willing to bury my head in the sand on this for so long.

    1. In the UK we had an actual civil war in progress while I was growing up. I only remembered this fact recently, which demonstrates how little attention I paid to it at the time. It’s incredible how things get normalised and then you just don’t think about them.

      I remind myself of this whenever I get frustrated with apathy in the general population about whatever war or issue it is I’m currently worked up about. I was no better.

      1. Saw Gerrera : You can stand to see the Imperial flag reign across the galaxy?

        Jyn Erso : It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.

        A particularly appropriate bit of dialogue nowadays…

        1. I forgot to mention that I’ve started going in to work and I hate it.

          I can’t make bread at work! Actually, you know what? I probably could!

          1. Sincere condolences.

            In my mid-forties, I find that the biggest problem I have in life is my inability to stop hating work. It’s kind of a drawback when you need to put food on the table.

            I need to get out from behind a computer screen and an inbox, but I can’t find anything that pays well enough without requiring complete retraining. I can draw, so I’m trying to start up an art business in my spare time – pet portraits, family portraits, hero portraits, that kind of thing. Just finished someone’s cat called Honey, and drawings of Ali and Thelonious Monk for a couple of friends, am taking on Springsteen right now. Good for practice and for building up the portfolio.

            I think lockdown has shown a lot of people that there has to be more to life than this.

  5. TV shows I have recently enjoyed, all available I think on BBC iPlayer

    The Bridge (Danish / Swedish original version) – the original Scandi noir, pretty conventional detective show, not gory but entertainingly dark and good characters.

    Good Omens – BBC TV adaptation of the Neil Gaiman / Terry Pratchett book with Michael Sheen and David Tennant as the angel and demon trying to avert Armageddon in the English countryside.

    Staged – 15 minute bites from the first lockdown, also with Michael Sheen and David Tennant. First season great, second season from the current lockdown less good but still fun.

    His Dark Materials – BBC adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s fantasy childrens’ books (hands down the best kids’ fiction for adults I have read in years if you’re looking for something to read instead)

    Giri/Haji – really cool Japanese / UK crime and ganster drama set in London and Tokyo

    On Channel 4 (more4 online)

    Gogglebox, a show where you watch people who are watching TV, along with clips of the thing they are watching. Sounds weird but we love it, and you get to see Brits doing what they love the most, sitting on their behinds.

    It’s A Sin, well-written and often funny drama about London in the 80s when HIV first appeared on the gay scene.

    1. Oh yes, and the first season of Killing Eve was excellent, and Fleabag is insanely good

    2. Thanks for the recommendations, Greg. Was curious about Good Omens and His Dark Materials. Will give them a try.

    3. “Gogglebox, a show where you watch people who are watching TV, along with clips of the thing they are watching.”

      I’ve seen this and I get it but I wouldn’t want to watch it.

      His Dark Materials has been great.

  6. If you get FX in Canada, don’t miss Justified. It was just taken off Amazon Prime but is available on DVD as well.
    U.S Marshall Raylan Givens (Stephen Oliphant) from Miami goes back to his home state of Kentucky and to his old haunts and associates and hollers. Stellar acting from Walter Goggins, Joelle Carter with smart, witty writing from showrunner Graham Yost (son of the late great Canadian tv critic, Elwie Yost) make this a delicious treat.

    1. i started watching this when it came out a decade or so ago. i actually bought the first season but haven’t taken time to watch. maybe i can pull that out…along with the fringe series. thanks.

    2. I loved that show too, the atmosphere, the accents, Goggins, everything. The marshall is the coolest guy on earth. Go for it!

  7. i watch billions on showtime. that’s about it. i’m a huge fan of damian lewis from band of brothers and homeland. likewise, i like maggie siff from sons of anarchy and paul giamatti is simply brilliant.

    upstate mentioned watching the sarah connor chronicles and i watched it back in the day when it came out; agreed, it was cancelled too soon but a great show. speaking of sarah connor, i keep telling myself i’m gonna finally watch game of thrones but…i just don’t watch a lot of tv.

    the last series i watched was on the usa network called treadstone and that show is very good. it’s got the best action scenes i’ve ever seen on television; scenes you would expect to see in high-budget action movies are on a weekly tv show on basic cable. the beauty of the show is that they didn’t modernize it; they kept it for the time it was originally written. unfortunately, that may also be the reason it was cancelled; folks don’t care to watch a tv show about cicadas during the cold war. disclaimer: i’m a huge ludlum fan. i’ve read about 20 ludlum books beginning with the bourne identity during desert storm back in ’91. if you’ve seen the bourne movies, we’re taking about the same treadstone derivative. like sarah connor chronicles, they cancelled that show too soon. the first season is worth a watch. i think it’s on hulu.

    1. Will check out Treadstone. Sounds like you might enjoy Deutschland 83 too (German series). Watched that pre-Covid. As a bonus while looking that up– found out the series and actors have been reprised with Deutschland 89 in 2020.

  8. Chernobyl which broadcast on HBO/Sky is beautifully made and a powerful reminder of some of the often dumb, often courageous things humans do

  9. I can’t bring myself to actually pay for tv but I do fork out a measly $7/month for BritBox, where I can find an almost endless selection of the cultured murder mysteries to which I am addicted. They also have a huge selection of drama, documentaries, comedies, quiz shows, soaps and current affairs. Some of it can be a bit dated but a lot of it is incredibly good and it feeds my nostalgia after more than 40 years in the wilderness. My latest favorite is New Tricks – anything with Dennis Waterman is worth checking out. Is he even still alive?

    For a good read, try Guy Gavriel Kay, or my all-time favorite author, William Gibson, still provoking thought after 40+ years. And as for the Royal Family, who needs TV when you have the ultimate in reality shows unraveling on the front pages? Oh my…

  10. Watched ‘The Terror’ recently. It’s a fictional account of a real story about 2 english ships that go missing in 1845 while looking for the north west passage. It’s incredibly good.

  11. Just watched barbarians on Netflix which I thought was excellent. Roman’s speaking Latin just got to remove the English dubbing bc it makes the show cheesy.
    Also barkskins on hulu. Only one season so far but acting was superb especially David Thewlis.

    Also not to brag but I had my eye on Muriel for a while thanks to fifa. I used to sign him for every campaign for a few years 😆 if only scouting was based on looking up 4 and 5 star dribblers with good speed. Think of all the time and money that could be saved. Actually never mind ive put way too much of both into that game for 15 years now and besides roster updates I dont think its improved…. arsenal and fifa have quite a bit in common now that I think about it

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