Who likes crime shows?
Jan. 23rd, 2009 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tacitI need TV recs, oh wise flist.
I went over to my buddy Frank's this afternoon, and he showed interest in getting some new TV shows to watch. He goes to bed at 7 o'clock because there's nothing on TV and he has nothing better to do. He's widowed and lonely and bored. He's 83, but he has a DVD player, so whatever the Internet can provide, I can burn.
He likes crime shows - detective things like Jonathan Creek, Morse, Poirot, Miss Marple... but not so much CSI because of the bad language. His eyesight is failing, so no subtitles or reliance on subtle visual clues, but he's sharp and intelligent, and entirely with it brain-wise. He's an absolute sweetheart and I love him like he was my own grandpa (he's Claire's) and I want to be able to do something nice for him. I'll be seeing him for our weekly lunch tomorrow, and it'd be great to have some ideas by then. I was thinking maybe Dexter? Hustle? But really I'm stuck. I'd like to take half a dozen pilots for him to try out.
???!
Over to you guys!Virtual cookies actual real cookies to anyone who can help, if you give me your address!
I went over to my buddy Frank's this afternoon, and he showed interest in getting some new TV shows to watch. He goes to bed at 7 o'clock because there's nothing on TV and he has nothing better to do. He's widowed and lonely and bored. He's 83, but he has a DVD player, so whatever the Internet can provide, I can burn.
He likes crime shows - detective things like Jonathan Creek, Morse, Poirot, Miss Marple... but not so much CSI because of the bad language. His eyesight is failing, so no subtitles or reliance on subtle visual clues, but he's sharp and intelligent, and entirely with it brain-wise. He's an absolute sweetheart and I love him like he was my own grandpa (he's Claire's) and I want to be able to do something nice for him. I'll be seeing him for our weekly lunch tomorrow, and it'd be great to have some ideas by then. I was thinking maybe Dexter? Hustle? But really I'm stuck. I'd like to take half a dozen pilots for him to try out.
???!
Over to you guys!
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:54 pm (UTC)Excellent! Will acquire those pilots posthaste. ♥
I'm at tacittype@gmail.com and if you zap me your address, cookies will be forthcoming...
Edited to fix my own email address - Oy.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 09:39 pm (UTC)I'm going to get all of those... and I might be tempted to watch them, too. They're all shows I've heard of but never actually seen.
Cookie? ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 07:04 am (UTC)... and I might be tempted to watch them, too.
I'd heartily recommend all of them. Burn Notice is, like I said, very fun. It's got a very Ocean's Eleven-y vibe to it, with the feeling that the good guys are seriously badass. What's great about it, though, is the juxtaposition of all the spy asskicking with the interpersonal relationships, which are just as normal and dysfunctional as you'd expect from the average joe.
Leverage is a recent favorite. The episodes are a little uneven, but when it's on, it's very on. It's kind of what you'd get if you took Ocean's Eleven and The A-Team and threw them in a blender. Also, the eye candy is nice. *g*
Life... Oh, Life is one of my very favorites. It's one of those shows where the characters just suck you in and break your heart, and yet crack you up all the while. Charlie Crews is... well, "woobie" applies, but he's kind of a woobie who has a great deal of broken, will-mess-your-shit-up damage hiding underneath the skin. Then there's his partner, who's the opposite: she's got really overt issues, but she's also got this sense of strength and honor about her that won't quit. I'm possibly very in love with Damien Lewis because of this show; there's this one scene in the first season where he says exactly one sentence during the whole thing, just a single question, and then just shatters right there in front of you, and it's all in his eyes.
So, um. Yeah. Totally worth watching yourself. *g*
I also thought your friend might get a kick out of NCIS. It's definitely on the detective end of the spectrum, has great characters, and has some nice running intrigue arcs. This one does come with some political baggage, though, so if he's sensitive to that sort of thing, he might not enjoy it as much. It doesn't tend to bother me, but some members of my flist find it harder to swallow, so YMMV.
Best of luck with your TV tryouts!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 06:04 pm (UTC)I am totally going to check out Life, at least. That sounds like exactly my thing. Dammit!
Thanks so much for the great info - I'm downloading as I type and should get a full DVD of pilots together this week. Which is excellent!! ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 10:47 pm (UTC)And I was serious about the cookies. ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 12:23 am (UTC)ETA: Just to second the plug in the comments above for Monk and Psych. I liked Monk better in the first season, when it was a tad more serious, but I love Psych's overall goofiness.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:09 am (UTC)What about Wire In The Blood, that's an english crime show, pretty good as well.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 02:56 pm (UTC)Life - it's a lovely, quirky show. It's almost David Lynch levels of weird sometimes, and I think the second season has been a bit of a letdown after season 1, but season 1 is quite brilliant. And Damien Lewis is English! Fabulous actor.
Psych - is fun and funny, but I can only take it in small doses. I love the characters, but there is nothing serious about it at all, and the silly gets to be too much for me. But it's a sweet little show - nothing offensive about it, almost no violence, and Gus and Shawn make adorable hetero life partners.
Leverage & Hustle - of these heist shows, I still prefer Hustle. It's a little sharper and smarter, with less annoying UST/romance and more team/family stuff. But they're both excellent shows! ♥ If Frank really is as sharp as you say, he should be able to follow most of Hustle, though they sometimes do set things up subtly enough that you've got to be looking closely at what they do to be able to guess at what's going on before the denouement.
I'm assuming Frank has seen The Midsomer Murders, since it's British and all? It's my parents' favorite. *g*
NCIS might be a little too close to CSI? Though it has a lot more humor! The first season's plots are quite out there, though, and until third season the show suffers from a serious case of American jingoism. It gets better, but - the first season has stuff which paints Guantanamo in a very positive light and such. Stuff I literally could not watch because it pissed me off to much. Fortunately, they tone it down later, and it's totally worth sticking through all of that for the characters!
Numb3rs I hear good things about from people, and you know
Oh, oh! And you really should try and get hold of the BBC "No 1 Ladies Detective Agency" pilot/movie thing. It's not a series, but it's a really great adaption of some of the best feel-good detective books I know. It's filmed on location in Botswana, and it's absolutely charming! It's a little different from the usual detective stuff, but still has those elements that it sounds like Frank likes. (I checked Wiki, and it seems the BBC & HBO have commissioned a full 13 episode series! Whoo!)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 06:09 pm (UTC)Thanks so much - you guys all rock! ♥