Telly thread

Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem on Netflix is a quick but good watch. Just even as a reminder as to what absolute joke Rob Ford was.

I do not need to be reminded of that chapter of insanity.

I am late to the party but am watching Gangs of London. It is absolute rubbish but great fun. It's basically a crime drama just through the eyes of John Woo. Which is not really surprising because it's written and directed by Gareth Evans who made the Raid films. Apparently everyone in London has automatic weapons. There is mayhem everywhere (especially the country side where you can blow everything up with impunity) and no by standers and apparently no police until you realise everyone is undercover.

Leave your brain at the door and you get to see it all. Extreme Violence. Norks. Swearing. Extreme Violence. Not much of a story, but enough of one to keep you slightly engaged. But let's face it, I had you at Extreme violence.

It's no Daredevil but it will do...

Chicago: Having a lobotomy.

Just watched both seasons of 1923. Now keen to visit Yellowstone park and ride a horse. It's really excellent TV. Thought it was going to be all guns and horses, which there was, but also a great love story and commentary on the changing way of life. I understand better the viewpoint of some Americans about small government and 'freedom' than I did before.

Did they all really have perfect teeth in 1923 though?

Started watching latest season of Clarkson's Farm. Don't know whether the Clarkson comedy shtick has been overdone or I just can't get over his ludicrous reinvention as standard bearer for ordinary farmers, but I'm really struggling to enjoy it.

The Bloke who writes these shows (Taylor Hackford) is a bit of a libertarian and leans heavily to the right. I suspect you would be a Trumpster in five seconds living here as you are so easily influenced. Anyway, he does make entertaining shows but best if you leave your brain at the door. See Landman which is great fun and has the hottest gal in it (strangely enough the daughter I believe in 1923) and you get the formula. Not boring though which is a good thing.

He has a million shows now on Paramount +. They are all roughly with the same world view but I do recommend them for passing the time.

Chicago: Freedom fighter.

Some people don't deserve a telly.

It’s Taylor Sheridan.

(Taylor Hackford is Mr Helen Mirren.)

Sounds like Sons of Anarchy without the hamfisted Hamlet allegory.

I just finished Daredevil Born Again and was annoyed how it was just getting good when it stopped. But I suppose that’s to keep you watching.

Some people don't deserve millions of pounds worth of assets

*winky thing because not all farmers are rich, deluded and massively protected people. Just some of them.

I think the point they're making with the show is that Clarkson can do all of this precisely because he's already a multimillionaire and can afford to fuck up, and they use that to highlight the fact that your regular farmer can't afford those fuckups even when they're the fault of the weather, or the government, or other factors beyond their control.

Exactly.

That level of "living it" is why the inheritance dodging and making a tidy packet from Amazon is glossed over by the farmers, for the first time in about 85 years their plight is receiving the focus it deserves. Occasionally it goes to far into Top Gear style set ups, I thought it had jumped the shark with the daft skit about opening a restaurant in a field at the end of Season 2, but I'd say this series is as authentic as any. Season 4, Episode 7 where he loses his shit was basically once a week for my entire childhood. Obviously this is making a lot of people uncomfortable because it's a good program & an ok cause, yet everyone knows Top Gear was shite/farmers are all toffs/farming is just a job/Clarkson is TV cancer* but for those invested, or like myself living in exile, Clarkson and Farming are the perfect marriage. What a platform. If you don't beleive me, try watching an episode of Countryfile, any ep will do, it's all crap.

*copywrite nod to left wing darling and bully-in-chief of anyone with a pointy nose Frankie Boyle.

Look, I despise Clarkson and everything he stands for and when I watch this programme and find myself nodding or laughing along, then I end up really hating myself as well. He is a savvy media manipulator like Piers Morgan, and like him he has the Farage knack of appearing to be just an ordinary bloke despite his millions and his famous, powerful mates. So I despise him enormously and no amount of discussion on the problems facing farmers will change my mind.

Also, he and farming is a match made in hell. I come from a farming background and I watched my Mum struggle financially because she inherited nothing while her brother, my uncle, was handed land and three farmhouses. I saw my farming cousin recently who had just sold his herd of cows for well over a million quid yet was moaning about the cost of buying a house so he could leave his farmhouse and land to his son. And his missus has the nerve to put stuff on Facebook about stopping the family farm tax. There’s a cow if ever I saw one.

So Clarkson and entitled farmers can fuck right off and I look forward to the episode when he has an unfortunate incident with a combine.

Rant over and Chicago mode now off.

Fuck the industry because your uncle is a cunt is a position I have a lot sympathy with. My uncle married a fat witch who in a attempt to secure succession for my uncle framed me in a jewellery theft, I was 12 at the time. She was literally hell bent on playing lady of the manor which with 86 rented acres, a tanking dairy sector and all the business nounce of Charles Ponzi was unlikely to play out well. It didn't, not even her children hear from her now, and I look forward to the day she dies so I can take a shit on her grave.

Also now done with oversharing.

The key word here is probably "rented" which skews my opinion and "landed" which skews yours but all I ever saw was an industry without a voice or union, grafting in isolation until Clarkson came along. Maybe he is doing it for more millions, and maybe the Chipping Norton set are laughing at us behind our backs but at least he's doing it for my cause. He's also now doing it for pubs, I also like pubs.

Always slightly unsure whether Gangs of London, featuring, as it does, various ethnic groups merrily running around London murdering each other in bulk, is the most racist or the most woke show on tv.

Started watching Adolescence. A bit late to the party on this one but it seems good a couple of episodes in.

Owen Cooper is a really impressive young actor.