natalie pont's List: TV to watch

• magnificent—the kind of achingly grand BBC drama that gathers every estimable actor within a hundred-mile radius and has them portray a story so intricate and ambitious and tragic that it could only come from history itself.
• There are no smarmy Frank Underwood asides or preposterous Sorkinian soliloquies here. Rather, the adaptation looks at a quieter, more authoritative manipulation of power, via a hero so inscrutable that most of the pleasure in watching him comes from having no idea whatsoever what he might be thinking, or what he might do next.
• The stakes in Tudor England were often remarkably simple, with death more of an imminent inevitability than a faraway, abstract concern.
• All the while, the king struts and frets like a 16th-century Vladimir Putin, eliminating those who fall out of favor and leaving little room for dialogue. Henry is not, as becomes immediately apparent, accustomed to hearing the word no, which is why the intractability of the Catholic Church makes it yet another enemy that needs to be disposed of,
• sphinx-like as ever in his utter fearlessness.
• Historical dramas can often feel rote, and uninspired—just look at Downton Abbey’s half-hearted attempts to reference that nasty Mr. Hitler, or any other early 20th-century moments of import.
• It’s as much an analysis of politics as contemporary shows like House of Cards and Veep are, and Cromwell is shown to be a master manipulator
• Like any antihero worth watching, he has a tragic backstory.
• The attention to detail is lavish, to say the least, but not mindlessly prepossessing—ugliness and puritanical simplicity are as important to the storytelling as each individual jewel attached to Anne’s neckline.
• Playing possibly the most famous second wife in history, Foy is pleasingly uppity, pronouncing Cromwell’s name as “Cremuel” with an affected French accent, and uttering strings of invective in that language when frustrated.
• “The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms,”

9 more annotations...

• Meanwhile, poor Alicia — played by Alycia Dabney Coleman [sic] — spent most of the season staring sadly out at the ocean, wondering why she chose to leave The 100 to be in this disaster of a series.
• It’s as though showrunner Dave Erickson has no delete key on his laptop. Instead of tossing out bad ideas, he goes through with them, tries to write himself out of it, and ends up writing himself into another bad idea. Rinse, lose one million more viewers, repeat.

• The Mind of a Chef
• Misfits
• Nathan For You - Comedy Central
• Episodes
• The Goldbergs
• Borgen

4 more annotations...

• Battlestar Galactica
• ER changed the way TV looks and feels,
• Six Feet Under
• Twin Peaks
• Fargo
• Picket Fences
• Brotherhood
• Southland
• Dexter's first season is so stinking good, it's hard to believe how the show ended up.
• House is another guest who stayed too long at the party, but my God, you should have seen us all right when he got here.
• Damages
• Law & Order
• Black Mirror is today's Twilight Zone, only much more disturbing.
  Borgen — now on iTunes! — is a Danish political drama that feels grounded in reality rather than melodrama or soap.
• The 100 combines decent sci-fi with strong emotional choices and surprisingly grounded performances that give everything a much realer sensibility than the material always warrants.
• The Americans started good and then got stronger — and then got even stronger. The show plays with tempo better than almost anything else out there: Long, slow, dread-filled stares are as effective as its brutal action or hand-to-hand combat sequences, and deliberate, controlled spy moments give way to chaotic family dinner-table ones.

13 more annotations...

• The Americans

  Some shows have certain inevitable plot developments baked into their central premise. When one of those developments arrives finally, it can be anticlimactic—or it can be a moment of transcendence that allows the show to become freer and scarier and more profound.
• Fargo
• Halt and Catch Fire
• Master of None
• Black-ish
• You’re the Worst

4 more annotations...

• Portlandia
• The Crown
• Black Mirror
• Damages
• Halt and Catch Fire
• Sons of Anarchy
• Lady Dynamite
• American Crime
• Archer

7 more annotations...