Author Topic: PBS Masterpiece 2017 - 2018  (Read 32939 times)

marcie

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 7802
PBS Masterpiece 2017 - 2018
« on: January 01, 2017, 11:40:18 AM »
 
See the 2017 MASTERPIECE schedule

Let's talk about PBS programs that we enjoy.

UPCOMING


My Mother and Other Strangers
June 18, 2017

Set in Northern Ireland during World War Two, My Mother and Other Strangers follows the fortunes of the Coyne family and their neighbors as they struggle to maintain a normal life after a huge United States Army Air Force (USAAF) airfield, with 4,000 service men and women, lands in the middle of their rural parish.


  Grantchester, Season 3
June 18, 2017

James Norton (Happy Valley) stars as the handsome, jazz-loving vicar Sidney Chambers, with Robson Green as his law-enforcement ally, Inspector Geordie Keating, in Grantchester, a mystery series based on the acclaimed novels by James Runcie. When we last left the sleepy village, Sidney faced a moral dilemma: be with the woman he loves, or take the moral high road.


  Prime Suspect: Tennison
June 25, 2017

MASTERPIECE dials back the clock to spotlight the influences that turned 22-year-old rookie policewoman Jane Tennison into the savvy, single-minded crime fighter beloved by Prime Suspect viewers. Starring Stefanie Martini (Doctor Thorne) in the iconic role immortalized by Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect: Tennison airs in three riveting 90-minute episodes.

ALREADY DISCUSSED

King Charles III
May 14, 2017

The hit Broadway show King Charles III, starring Tim Pigott-Smith, adapted for television, imagines Prince Charles’ ascension to the throne following Queen Elizabeth’s death.


Dark Angel
May 21, 2017

Starring Downton Abbey‘s Joanne Froggatt, Dark Angel tells the story of Mary Ann Cotton: loving wife, mother, and serial murderer. Faced with abject poverty and an ailing husband, Mary Ann is ruthlessly determined to pursue a better life.


Home Fires, Season 2 - Final Season
April 2 - May 7, 2017

The Final Season of Home Fires follows the women of an English rural village as they are separated from their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers during World War 1 and must forge alliances among their diverse community.


Wolf Hall - Encore Presentation
April 2 - May 7, 2017

An encore presentation of Season 1 from 2015 of Wolf Hall. Adapted from Hilary Mantel’s best-selling Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, Wolf Hall follows the complex machinations and back room dealings of accomplished power broker Thomas Cromwell, who must serve king and country while dealing with deadly political intrigue, Henry VIII’s tempestuous relationship with Anne Boleyn, and the religious upheavals of the Protestant reformation.


To Walk Invisible The Bronte Sisters
March 26, 2017 (2 hours)

Written and directed by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax), To Walk Invisible depicts the evolution of secluded, dutiful clergyman’s daughters into authors of the most controversial fiction of the 1840s.



Victoria, Season 1
January 15 - March 5, 2017

A diminutive, neglected teenager is crowned Queen Victoria, who navigates the scandal, corruption, and political intrigues of the Court, and soon rises to become the most powerful woman in the world.


Sherlock, Season 4
January 1 - 15, 2017

Sherlock (with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) returns with three brand-new episodes that promise laughter, tears, shocks, surprises and extraordinary adventures.


marcie

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 7802
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2017, 11:58:02 AM »
Happy New Year!!

Tonight, January 1, SHerlock, Season 4, returns with "The Six Thatchers." Sherlock waits to see where Moriarty will make his posthumous move. One mysterious case in particular baffles Scotland Yard, but Sherlock is more interested in a seemingly trivial detail. Why is someone destroying images of the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher? Is there a madman on the loose? Or is there a much darker purpose at work? Something with its roots deep in Mary Watson's past…

I look forward to watching and talking about the new series.

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11233
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2017, 12:04:41 PM »
Looking forward to Victoria - saw the Christmas special last night of the Midwife group in Africa - a delight - the change of scenery was perfect.
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

Frybabe

  • Posts: 9939
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2017, 12:54:02 PM »
Marking

nlhome

  • Posts: 984
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2017, 02:08:53 PM »
Haven't watched any TV other than a couple of movies for 2 weeks. I can't say I missed it, but I'll check out PBS when I can. Tonight, though, we will watch football.

CallieOK

  • Posts: 1122
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2017, 04:04:55 PM »
Marking my spot.   Happy New Year, everyone.

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2017, 09:54:31 PM »
OMG!

One of the things I always enjoyed about the British police mysteries was the lack of violence! Well! I'm watching -maybe- Sherlock.............so far they've had at least FOUR shoot-em-up scenes with high powered automatic weapons and killed about 3 dozen people!

I think I'm going to work on my research for my library presentation on Women Artists, it's much less stressful, actually fun! 👏🏻🎉👍


Jean

Frybabe

  • Posts: 9939
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2017, 06:36:37 AM »
Well, I did it again. I fell asleep long enough to miss the first half hour of Sherlock. Decided to wait until the 10:30pm rerun and, again, fell asleep on my reading and missed it completely. I'll have to catch up with it online, I think, if i am going to keep falling asleep on things.

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11233
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2017, 01:17:54 PM »
Watson has lost weight and is very dishy - but the storyline is so far beyond the traditional story. I had the programs, one after the other as background after watching bits of the first - can't tell if Watson's wife is a good guy or not - she appears to have been shot dead and yet, she makes videos, watched supposedly after her death that suggest she really does not die - the whole thing is another story simply using the Holmes and Watson names and some of their characterizations. Not my favorite - it is like the discussion we had the other day of the mine field laid by many historical fiction writers -

When you fictionalize history what is true and what is not and the work to find out and then knowing how many including at times ourselves are not up on the period of history fictionalized so we believe as fact all the wrong things - this fictionalization of fiction bringing Holmes and Watson into the twenty-first century is doing the same thing as I watch to find like a detectorist bits of what is the story of Sherlock Holmes - enough...! I do not have to like a series just because it was shown on PBS!
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 90352
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2017, 11:34:29 AM »
I thought it was brilliant. Very James Bond. Darker than the others but the plots have to go somewhere and Sherlock himself came to be  very much disliked by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, who only brought him back after the Reichenbach Falls death because Doyle's mother loved the character.  I want to reread The Adventure of the Six  Napoleons now.

Much too scary to watch at night, and since I had read something happens to Mary, I watched it in the day time  through fingers across my face, but I needn't have. If I watch it again I'll watch it without the fingers.

I did dislike the interrogation of the spy or whatever he was but sped thru it, that's just my personal preference.

I really liked it, I can see that's not the prevailing opinion so far, but I did. I never swallowed Mary, a difficult character to play, I think,   and here she takes on an entire new persona, and career, which I didn't  really buy into, but it's interesting. 

 I don't know why viewers are carrying on about John, he did the right thing in the end.

I really like Mark Gatiss, (Mycroft) who is also the writer of the show and has been all along. This one is dark but very James Bondish and that building which they keep showing in London with the Ferris wheel in front of it, the old County Hall, where the London Aquarium is, is also the  hotel where I am staying in May, if nothing happens. Hopefully there will not be any secret agents in it meeting antagonistically  while I am there.

I especially loved Latin as the defining clue. Well done, Gatiss! Thing keeps you guessing at every turn.



BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11233
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2017, 12:10:18 PM »
Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery was on one of our alternate PBS channels last night - impressive - not sure if it will be a regular since they showed buying the DVD series but is was a 'real' story not just a costume mystery set in the 1920s.

Also restarted is Whitechapel  - another impressive put together mystery with the unlikely pairing of Rupert Penry-Jones, and Phil Davis - this set of stories is about a copycat Jack the Ripper murderer - wow - on the edge of you seat and well done with costume and filming and writing.

Looks like we are going to have a Monday night featuring mysteries plus my very favorite sitcom the Detectorists - love the quirky personalities and looks of these guys. love it...
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2017, 02:14:59 PM »
I quite enjoyed the latest Sherlock and I have to say I was only too pleased to see the back of Mary - that character was really going nowhere. Now, however, I will be interested to see how they cope with the baby - who was handily taken over by Molly this week. Was just saying to my husband how any man that is ever left with a small child always seems to have women falling at his feet, whereas a woman in a similar situation just has to get on with it - so will someone come along for John, or will Una Stubbs become the surrogate granny?

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2017, 02:28:50 PM »
Over Christmas we also saw a new Agatha Christie one-off on the BBC, Witness for the Prosecution. It was very dark compared to all the usual Miss Marples and Poirots. The main character was played by the inimitable Toby Jones, with Kim Cattrall and Andrea Riseborough also taking major parts. I think I enjoyed it, but we're still discussing it here - I suppose that's a good sign. It certainly wasn't as cosy as the usual Christie TV adaptations.  I read an interview with Toby Jones, who said that whilst the viewing public may have been happy with the cosy stuff 20 years ago, they now want more to 'get their teeth into'. I'm undecided as to whether or not he's right - I think what i want to see depends entirely on my mood at the time, and I do enjoy a good Miss Marple when I need something comforting.

Rosemary

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 90352
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2017, 09:05:14 AM »
Me, too, Rosemary.  In  my case, I   have never been satisfied with anybody but Joan Hicks  Hickson (thank you, Ann),  as Miss Marple, and your writing that  made me wonder IF in fact she was as good as I remember her. I must see the new ones to see if they fit my picture of Miss Marple, nobody else has.  What an incredible woman she was!!!  Left off doing Miss Marple (when Agatha Christie herself said she must write one for her) because she didn't want to be typecast!!   I can hear her fluting voice right now. I think I'll watch one of her old ones and see again before checking out the new...they've remastered the series and the result is quite good.

On Mary, I agree. I kept thinking the real life divorce between the two was the cause of the plot development but apparently they are still very much in love anyway. They did make her look quite unattractive this time, I thought, perhaps in aid of her secret occupation?  Strange.  Loved the plot twists at the end.

I also really like the WWII broadcasts of Sherlock Holmes which are available on audio CD, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel  Bruce. They have the old time commercials from the 40's,  and Bruce admonishing all of us to save our kitchen soap and to buy war bonds. They are priceless. It's something to ride along in the car in 2016 and listen to 1940's on the radio.

Those are not strictly by  Doyle's books, either, they were written by Anthony Boucher and Denis Greene, (the same Boucher of the  Boucher... Awards for Mystery) but they are exceedingly clever and well done. I've also got all the movies of Rathbone and Bruce's  Sherlock Holmes and how the critics ravaged Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson!! I loved him in that series, he was a perfect foil and he and Rathbone were great friends. I did not realize Rathbone became typecast by Sherlock and that he was born in Africa, wonderful biography out on him years ago, he apparently was a wonderful man.

I understand he did a Scrooge, people used to listen to it on the radio, he'd read A Christmas Carol. I haven't heard it in years.

But I came IN to say, having taken down the huge tome of all of Sherlock Holmes stories (so much for my right rotator cuff)  to see the original Adventure of the Six Napoleons, I found a much lighter one online and I love the typeface:

https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/sixn.pdf


I am still a little bit confused over the tale of the Merchant and the  Market and the joke about Death Waiting, I get the joke, but is there a greater significance? In other words Mary was there all the time?  But it wasn't just Mary, right? So what's with the Latin clue? The code name? So if that's the answer, why did they suspect the wrong person?

I  don't want to spoil it for those who have not watched it, but those bits are eluding me. Can you answer it without giving away any of the plot? I hate people who spoil surprises and this one's got a ton of them.

 I think it's because I watched the thing between the speed forward button and the fingers, but how did that actually fit in? Or do I have it?




Dana

  • ::
  • Posts: 5113
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2017, 02:15:30 PM »
Who remembers Witness for the Prosecution with Charles Laughton and Marlene Deitrich and.....?...., another guy,........saw it as a kid in the local flea pit with my parents I think, still remember it, quite a shocker when you didn't know the end, and certainly not the usual cosy Christie. story.

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2017, 02:47:01 PM »
Ginny - no good asking me about all the complicated bits in Sherlock, I haven't got a clue what they were on about!  When I keep interrupting to ask questions my daughters just say 'oh nobody understands it all, just go with the flow'!  ::)

marcie

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 7802
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2017, 05:03:27 PM »
I have to watch the latest Sherlock again then we can compare notes. I kept waiting for Moriarity to come back so I think I was distracted :-)

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2017, 06:16:37 PM »
Oh I so wish he would come back - I love Andrew Scott - but Mark Gatiss has said categorically that there will be no more Moriarty (unless, of course, that's a red herring...)

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2017, 08:48:40 AM »
i really don't care for Sherlock but I do like Elementery which is a more gentle in bringing Sherlock into the 21st century. My favorite Sherlock was Jeremy Brett who stayed in the Victorian age. I see no reason for dragging them into the 21st century.
If anyone has been watching "The Crown" have you heard when the series will return?
 
About Joan Hicks, am I wrong in my remembrance of a different actress playing Miss Marple when the show the show first on?  I know, Google it, Ann!  Doing it now!

Ginny, where did you find CD about WWII? We used to listen to books when traveling but never saw anything offered like that!
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2017, 09:20:29 AM »
yeeeeessss! Miss Marple has been played by four or more actresses not just Joan Hickson! One of them was in Cranford! I still haven't discovered how to put a link up using my iPhone but I do have iPad for Dummies so will look in there. Later 'gator!
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 90352
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2017, 09:38:13 AM »
Oh of course it's Hickson, not Hicks, thank you  Ann. I am hoping to get off this  awful Metropolol in the next couple of days and retain what's left of my mind, that's 2 (count 'em) mistakes already this morning, and it appears to be only 9:00.

Rosemary, I love that, your daughters are  in it for the experience, that's the way we u sed to listen to rock and roll lyrics, who cares what the singer is saying, it's the experience. It worked for us, didn't it. Louie Louie, Bob Dylan, nobody knew what the heck they were singing. Sounded good, though.

Ann it's Radio Spirits I order from, they've got them all. It's possible, tho that Cracker Barrel stores if you have any near you, have the same CD's.

Ann, I don't know when The Crown will return, but, like you, I am ready to see it.

Marcie, I kept waiting for Moriarty too, and I also love the actor in that part.  I will be interested in what you can make of the Merchant and the Plot Line, it was repeated at least twice, in the beginning, at the end and I thought perhaps (through the fingers) in the middle once too.


ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 90352
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2017, 07:19:55 AM »

There's a wonderful article some of you may like this morning on the BBC about the creator of Sherlock, Mark Gattis,  and his response to a critic who complained that this last Sherlock  was too  Bond.

Gattis responded to him in verse, which is what Arthur Conan Doyle did in 1912 to a similar complaint about his own  Sherlock. I thought you might like to see it if you haven't:

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38516886

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11233
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #22 on: January 06, 2017, 12:36:23 PM »
aha - and the other side of the coin  ;) - some Brits are unhappy with the new Sherlock for some of the same reasons I am unhappy and then for a few more reasons I had not even thought through...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/03/sherlock-slowly-perversely-morphing-into-james-bond-benedict-cumberbatch
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2017, 06:56:21 PM »
Oh ho!!! I am not the only one who doesn't care for Sherlock!! The Brits say it's too
James Bondish!! It reminded me of Dr Who! Guess what??? Both are written by the same person.
The coat that Sherlock wears was copied from Dr Who's coat. Both actors even walk the same wa
way!
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

Frybabe

  • Posts: 9939
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #24 on: January 09, 2017, 01:19:26 PM »
I caught the last half hour of the first Sherlock and only watched about 40 minutes of the second. I am not at all interested in watching stuff about serial killers. Also, the scene with John at the therapist seemed flat.

Dana

  • ::
  • Posts: 5113
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #25 on: January 14, 2017, 05:14:05 PM »
Our PBS had the 2014 version of Mapp and Lucia last night which of-course I enjoyed but it set my husband off looking for his tapes of the previous version, which I think he found (hope they have not faded away).  I thought the new actors just copied the original ones but were not as good, I liked the way some of the stories were combined,though.The new Georgie and Lucia especially could not match up to Hawthorne and Geraldine ?.  Netflix used to have the original series.
Afterwards there was a fascinating program about Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden and the rise of the cosmetic industry.  I saw Rubenstein's home in Krakow a couple years ago,which was also where Roman Polanski grew up, and both her and Arden's story just show such drive and ingenuity....it sounded from this program as if they practically invented the cosmetics industry.

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11233
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #26 on: January 14, 2017, 05:47:23 PM »
Racking my brains and all of a sudden "then came the dawn" - part of the Elizabeth Arden story was included in the PBS series on Harry Selfridge with one of the characters choosing between a husband who had disappointed her and going to NY with Arden.

Ha you also with squirreling away old tapes etc. - my kids shake their head since I still have 78s and yes, in the closet broken but can be fixed phonograph to play them and old tapes with a tape deck to play them on a TV that I kept that will not without all sorts of boxes and antennas play the current TV signal and an old boom box that plays audio tapes that were on tiny reels. And yep, I too have the original Geraldine and Hawthorne - just loved that series - with nothing on TV except angry pundits and voters I should get them out and enjoy the past  ;)
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #27 on: January 14, 2017, 11:06:45 PM »
Barb, yes you should!!! TV has gone off the cliff!  I, too, still have quite a few  of those records but mine are 33's and a few years ago my husband gave me a brand new record player.  My grans were amazed by it. They still are amazed!  I play the records when I walk on our treadmill.  My CD player isn't working but he never had a chance to fix it. Recently, he suggested I get a small one so could listen to it in bed while going to sleep. Of course, I have a player in my old MacPro, but that's a little arkward to use in bed.😊😊
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

Dana

  • ::
  • Posts: 5113
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #28 on: January 16, 2017, 10:05:57 AM »
I watched that "Victoria".  It wasn't very good, too slow, which is a shame because she is fascinating.  There's a super biography by Christopher Hibbert...she wrote the most hilarious letters which he quotes in some detail (the interesting bits!)  I highly recommend the biography, but not the show.  Pity.

CallieOK

  • Posts: 1122
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #29 on: January 16, 2017, 12:10:25 PM »
Dana,  I was also disappointed the first episode of "Victoria".  The scenes seemed "chopped up". 
Thought it might have been because I just finished watching "The Crown" series on Netflix.  IMO, it moved at a smooth pace and the viewer always knew where various scenes were taking place.

I've now started the "Monarch of the Glen" series on Netflix and am enjoying it.

FlaJean

  • Posts: 849
  • FlaJean 2011
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #30 on: January 16, 2017, 12:20:31 PM »
Marking my place.

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #31 on: January 16, 2017, 01:51:49 PM »
I have not watched Victoria, but I have just recorded an interview with John Berger, the recently deceased author of Ways of Seeing. People say that Berger's book, published in 1972, changed the way they looked at art. I haven't read the book yet (has anyone on here?), but I am looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

Rosemary

Jonathan

  • Posts: 1697
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #32 on: January 16, 2017, 05:01:49 PM »
I'm very pleased to hear that Hibbert'a Queen Victoria is a super bio. I dug it up after the show last night and started on it. I've had it on my shelf, meaning to read it for years. I enjoyed the drama. Especially the politics. A young queen taking the measure of royal prerogative. Something like a guy suddenly finding himself president in the Oval Office.

Dana

  • ::
  • Posts: 5113
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #33 on: January 17, 2017, 11:03:03 AM »
Hibbert's book is fascinating although I struggled to begin with to make sense of all the relatives--it helped when I finally succumbed and looked at the family tree so helpfully provided (rather like, when all else fails-read the instructions!)

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
i
« Reply #34 on: January 18, 2017, 07:10:11 PM »
My email delivered these links to me and thought you might like to read them:

http://history1800s.about.com/od/1800sglossary/a/1800stimeline.htm
.
http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/ss/Queen-Victoria-Facts.htm

I enjoyed "Victoria" and I looked to find out about her life.

I also rewatched "The Crown" Episodes 9 & 10. 

Does anyone know when they are going to put up more about Queen Elizabeth's life?  She has been on the throne longer than Victoria as of 2015.
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #35 on: January 19, 2017, 12:48:01 PM »
Years ago I read an interesting book about Queen Victoria titled Grandmama of Europe by Theo Aronson. It is amazing how many European royalty she was related to.

I enjoyed Victoria as a "fictional story." I don't know how much of it, especially the personal conversations, we can believe. The settings and costumes are fun to see.

I couldn't believe that John Lithgow didn't win the Golden Globe for his "Winston". I don't know anything about The Night Manager, whose lead actor won, but Lithgow was wonderful , and over all the episodes. It seemed to me to be a much tougher role than the one that won.

Jean

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #36 on: January 19, 2017, 02:03:19 PM »
I haven't seen Winston, Jean, but The Night Manager was fantastic. It's an adaptation of a John Le Carre book (he of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie were both outstanding in it. it was compulsive Sunday night viewing for everyone I know when it was on.

Frybabe

  • Posts: 9939
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #37 on: January 19, 2017, 03:39:18 PM »
I didn't care for The Night Manager. Took it off my watch-list after the first episode.

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #38 on: January 19, 2017, 07:13:40 PM »
Lithgow played Churchill on The Crown.

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 90352
Re: PBS Masterpiece 2017
« Reply #39 on: January 19, 2017, 08:15:33 PM »
And he was wonderful. There is a LOT of great competition this year, have never seen such strong contenders.

The Emmys are coming up for TV and hopefully by  carefully entering the categories entered, some of our favorites might have a chance to win in a very strong field.

The ratings for Sherlock fell for the last one, I think due to the unpleasant nature of the 2nd one. I guess it's our generation but the nasty guy with the IV thing was a major turn off to me.  The rest of the show I enjoyed;  it was Sherlock as we know him, but they came on very strong with those IV's and the drug thing  which I guess people have an aversion to. I don't think I'll watch the 2nd one again, it was not plausible to me.

I really liked what I saw, however, of the last one, the Final Problem. I'm not through yet (it was too scary to watch at night), but in looking ahead, what fun,  what a tease they are. I won't say why but it was good to see one of the characters return, or possibly not.    Very clever.  I kind of wish they had not done that second one, I don't think Mark Gatiss wrote that one, did he?