Which television shows are you watching? Series 4

[Sommerswerd]

Most of the show is fake (including most of the science) - on youtube you can find a number of documentaries, with real people from the period, explaining the break from reality.

Well its a show... not a documentary... so by definition all of it is fake, not just "most". But if you are claiming that the whole story depicted in the show is just made up, sorry, you're wrong. Chernobyl definitely happened. I remember it growing up. If you are saying all the science depicted /presented in the show is completely inaccurate then I'm going to need a little more than "cause Youtube says so" to believe that. Especially given that one of the major themes of the show was the concerted effort to spread misinformation about the event.

I haven't finished the show yet, but I've bookmarked a couple of these articles for later. I'm curious to see what was genuine and what was dramatized.

I feel the same way. The subject of the show is so fascinating that I was really interested to see what parts they took artistic license with to make it more entertaining/dramatic. The bottom line is Chernobyl definitely happened, so they didn't make the whole thing up out of whole cloth, but there were certainly some liberties taken. The epilogue actually addresses a few of these, which I thought was a nice touch.

 

[Kyriakos]

Mentioning youtube vids with people from the period, who were scientists then, is exactly what not based on my view means

 

[EgonSpengler]

Nielsen's U.S. streaming chart, Aug 31-Sept 6, courtesy of Deadline:

Cobra Kai, Netflix (20 episodes, 2.171B minutes)
Lucifer, Netflix (75 episodes, 1.415B minutes)
The Boys, Amazon Prime (11 episodes, 891M minutes)
The Office, Netflix (192 episodes, 843M minutes)
Criminal Minds, Netflix (277 episodes, 675M minutes)
Shameless, Netflix (121 episodes, 639M minutes)
Away, Netflix (10 episodes, 631M minutes)
Grey’s Anatomy, Netflix (361 episodes, 616M minutes)
The Legend of Korra, Netflix (52 episodes, 541M minutes)
Mulan, Disney+ (1 episode, 525M minutes)



p.s. Nielsen just started releasing streaming numbers last month. Here was the inaugural list, for the week of Aug 3-9. First number is number of episodes available, second number is millions of minutes viewed. I'm fascinated to see that In the Dark was on this list. I watched a bunch of the first season, and thought it was fine, not enough to make me watch the 2nd season. I wasn't aware it had any kind of following, but I guess I was wrong.

The Umbrella Academy (20, 3,011)
Shameless (120, 1,125)
Grey’s Anatomy (361, 918)
The Office (192, 897)
Criminal Minds (277, 697)
NCIS (353, 524)
In the Dark (26, 418)
Dexter (96, 316)
Supernatural (321, 315)
Parks and Recreation (121, 304)

 

[Kyriakos]

Which cm seasons have D' Onofrio?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Which cm seasons have D' Onofrio?

You're thinking of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Criminal Minds is a different show. I mean, it's the same, but it's not the same-same. They're kind of all the same.

 

[Kyriakos]

You're thinking of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Criminal Minds is a different show. I mean, it's the same, but it's not the same-same. They're kind of all the same.

Yes, I mean CI.

 

[Narz]

Wentworth Season 8 is out so I guess I'll check that out

Want to watch Rick & Morty season 4, anywhere I can watch it for fee?

 

[EgonSpengler]

I finished Chernobyl last night. Good stuff. A couple of the articles I read said that the details of the setting were very well done. People who'd (said they'd) lived in the Soviet Union said the apartments and phones and cars and clothing were all startlingly authentic. One of the survivors said the recreation of the control room was excellent. One criticism levied was that the story seemed to portray Bryukanov, Fomin, and especially Dyatlov as having been too instrumental, and not emphasizing enough the institutional and structural problems of the whole Soviet system. It's impossible to know how much is the Western (over-)emphasis on "heroes & villains"* and how much is the cynicism of former Soviet citizens viewing that whole construct with disgust. Both could be true simultaneously. One article said Scherbina likely never had to threaten Legasov quite so bluntly, because by the 1980s Soviet citizens were so compliant it wasn't really necessary anymore; the scenes with the strangely-relaxed KGB agent, so confident that everyone will comply that he doesn't even need to be threatening, may have been more accurate. Great cast, great photography. I liked the sidestories with the miners and the soldiers, even though they weren't pivotal to the larger story about the catastrophe (I read somewhere that the work the miners did ultimately proved unnecessary). The scene of the enormous parking lot of abandoned, contaminated equipment and vehicles spoke volumes.

* One bit of Western embellishment: When the 3 divers returned from their mission, they weren't greeted with cheers and applause. As far as everybody there was concerned, it was just another day at work, I guess. "Whelp, we could've died in there." *shrug* "Anybody spare a cigarette?"

 

[Kyriakos]

I erased the rest of CI season1, cause it became ridiculous after a point. Suspects just breaking down in front of the awesome shaman D'Onofrio is so late 90s- early 00s.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I finished Chernobyl last night. Good stuff. A couple of the articles I read said that the details of the setting were very well done. People who'd (said they'd) lived in the Soviet Union said the apartments and phones and cars and clothing were all startlingly authentic. One of the survivors said the recreation of the control room was excellent. One criticism levied was that the story seemed to portray Bryukanov, Fomin, and especially Dyatlov as having been too instrumental, and not emphasizing enough the institutional and structural problems of the whole Soviet system. It's impossible to know how much is the Western (over-)emphasis on "heroes & villains"* and how much is the cynicism of former Soviet citizens viewing that whole construct with disgust. Both could be true simultaneously. One article said Scherbina likely never had to threaten Legasov quite so bluntly, because by the 1980s Soviet citizens were so compliant it wasn't really necessary anymore; the scenes with the strangely-relaxed KGB agent, so confident that everyone will comply that he doesn't even need to be threatening, may have been more accurate. Great cast, great photography. I liked the sidestories with the miners and the soldiers, even though they weren't pivotal to the larger story about the catastrophe (I read somewhere that the work the miners did ultimately proved unnecessary). The scene of the enormous parking lot of abandoned, contaminated equipment and vehicles spoke volumes.

* One bit of Western embellishment: When the 3 divers returned from their mission, they weren't greeted with cheers and applause. As far as everybody there was concerned, it was just another day at work, I guess. "Whelp, we could've died in there." *shrug* "Anybody spare a cigarette?"

They also reveal in the epilogue that the divers ultimately didn't die, contrary to the certain death that was predicted in the show. Another thing that was interesting was how they used Khomyuk as an avatar for a whole network of scientists that Legasov was working with throughout the crisis, rather than introduce a horde of minor characters.

I've read that the melted down parts of the core are still in "lava" form and are still oozing and melting their way through the structure in a blob referred to colloquially as "the elephants foot", so the miner's work may still be useful at some point. My understanding is that there really is no "permanent" solution to the issue and that at some point they are going to need to address it again. Pretty scary since the nation has already experienced a collapse.

I will say, if even half of Dyatlov's depiction is accurate, then he richly deserves whatever blame is placed on him. That dude was a bastard of the highest order.

 

[Kyriakos]

Dyatlov was the only cool character in the show. No wonder he is the only one to be immortalized in tonnes of memes.
Virtually everyone else comes across as some trope. Gorbachev's depiction was beyond ridiculous.

 

[really]

I heard a recommendation for 'Defending the Guilty' a legal somewhat cynical comedy on the radio and i am enjoying it.
Only 6 episodes long from the BBC.

 

[Synobun]

Season four of Kim's Convenience is finally out on Netflix. Burning through that now.

Also watching Veronica Mars. My friend has been trying to get me to watch it for eight years and I always got out of it because it wasn't available in Canada. It's okay so far. Kristen Bell is more endearing on this show than on The Good Place. But I don't like how everyone just lets her do whatever she wants with absolutely zero consequence.

 

[EgonSpengler]

They also reveal in the epilogue that the divers ultimately didn't die, contrary to the certain death that was predicted in the show. Another thing that was interesting was how they used Khomyuk as an avatar for a whole network of scientists that Legasov was working with throughout the crisis, rather than introduce a horde of minor characters.

I've read that the melted down parts of the core are still in "lava" form and are still oozing and melting their way through the structure in a blob referred to colloquially as "the elephants foot", so the miner's work may still be useful at some point. My understanding is that there really is no "permanent" solution to the issue and that at some point they are going to need to address it again. Pretty scary since the nation has already experienced a collapse.

I will say, if even half of Dyatlov's depiction is accurate, then he richly deserves whatever blame is placed on him. That dude was a bastard of the highest order.

The scene where Fomin is literally sizing up Byukanov's office made me laugh out loud.

 

[Sommerswerd]

The scene where Fomin is literally sizing up Byukanov's office made me laugh out loud.

Who is the one that was ordered to go to the roof literally at gunpoint to look down into the reactor to verify that it wasn't destroyed (it was)? It was the first time they depicted someone outright refusing to follow orders and it was pretty funny, because he said exactly what I was thinking at the time. Of course once that soldier closed in on him he complied, but initially he was like "No, I will not do that, no way"

All the characters in the show were so good. One thing that I really liked is that they didn't have everyone try to do cheezy fake Russian accents. Everyone pretty much just spoke in their regular accent and it just came off as more real and relatable.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Who is the one that was ordered to go to the roof literally at gunpoint to look down into the reactor to verify that it wasn't destroyed (it was)? It was the first time they depicted someone outright refusing to follow orders and it was pretty funny, because he said exactly what I was thinking at the time. Of course once that soldier closed in on him he complied, but initially he was like "No, I will not do that, no way"

All the characters in the show were so good. One thing that I really liked is that they didn't have everyone try to do cheezy fake Russian accents. Everyone pretty much just spoke in their regular accent and it just came off as more real and relatable.

I do wonder whether the show could've been filmed with native Russian-speakers, but I'm not sure how easy that is. The Americans got a number of Russian-speakers, but I think some of them were Americans, Canadians, Brits or Aussies who had Russian in their background. And of course they weren't doing the entire show in Russian. I know that the producers of Babylon Berlin agonized over whether to shoot that series in English, because they needed the English-speaking audiences to make their investment back. I'm not sure how expensive Chernobyl was. But, yeah, having the Western actors do Russian accents might have been the worst option.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I do wonder whether the show could've been filmed with native Russian-speakers, but I'm not sure how easy that is. The Americans got a number of Russian-speakers, but I think some of them were Americans, Canadians, Brits or Aussies who had Russian in their background. And of course they weren't doing the entire show in Russian. I know that the producers of Babylon Berlin agonized over whether to shoot that series in English, because they needed the English-speaking audiences to make their investment back. I'm not sure how expensive Chernobyl was. But, yeah, having the Western actors do Russian accents might have been the worst option.

The head-miner's accent was cool because he had a gritty accent that matched the character he was playing. It wasn't a Russian accent, but it didn't have to be, because it matched the character. Same thing for Lagasov and so many others.

 

[really]

Why Russian accents?
They were a mix of Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusian.
Bryukhanov was from Uzbekistan originally.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Why Russian accents?
They were a mix of Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusian.
Bryukhanov was from Uzbekistan originally.

I presume Russian was the lingua franca of the Soviet Union. But certainly, if they'd chosen to film the series not in English, they would have freed themselves to allow any of the characters who would have spoken Ukrainian, or anything else, to one another to use that language instead. That'd be the most realistic, and for those of us who don't speak any of those languages, it wouldn't matter much. And for anyone who speaks one of those languages, I don't think subtitles are too distracting. I've seen the Japanese version of Kill Bill, and the Japanese subtitles didn't bother me (although, there was that scene where the characters were speaking Japanese; naturally there were no English subtitles, so I had no idea what anyone was saying - I just had to hope there was nothing too important in that scene ).

The head-miner's accent was cool because he had a gritty accent that matched the character he was playing. It wasn't a Russian accent, but it didn't have to be, because it matched the character. Same thing for Lagasov and so many others.

I also like the bit where all of the miners pat the guy in the suit as they're walking past, and then the last one says, "Now you look like a mine supervisor."

 

[local_hero]

I do wonder whether the show could've been filmed with native Russian-speakers, but I'm not sure how easy that is. The Americans got a number of Russian-speakers, but I think some of them were Americans, Canadians, Brits or Aussies who had Russian in their background. And of course they weren't doing the entire show in Russian. I know that the producers of Babylon Berlin agonized over whether to shoot that series in English, because they needed the English-speaking audiences to make their investment back. I'm not sure how expensive Chernobyl was. But, yeah, having the Western actors do Russian accents might have been the worst option.

Sad that's a consideration. I dropped Chernobyl after one episode partly because it was English speaking instead of "original" language.