Email Roundtables

Email Roundtable #57 – Last Tango in Halifax and 2020 TV

/ GoldenAgeGuest / Leave a comment

In this roundtable, Jane and Kerri attempt to discuss a show that maybe they didn’t like so much but they did watch this year, the BBC series Last Tango in Halifax.

Kerri: How the heck would you describe this show to someone?

Jane: Oh boy. Last Tango in Halifax is the melodrama of Celia and Alan. The couple reunite via facebook in their 70’s; fall back in love and join their daughters, daughters’ partners and grandchildren into one big dysfunctional family. Many, many little children come and go along the way. I’ve never experienced a show with so many little children stuffed into scenes.

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Email Roundtable #56 – Big Little Lies

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

In this week’s roundtable Jane and Kerri attempt to discuss Big Little Lies, the HBO mini-series about a group of women whose children are all in the same first-grade class. At the beginning of the series, Shailene Woodley’s character, Jane, moves into the Monterey Bay area and is quickly befriended by Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and Celeste (Nicole Kidman). Things take a turn when Jane’s son, Ziggy, is accused of attacking the daughter of Renata (Laura Dern). The truth is hard to come by. Big Little Lies involves multiple MYSTERIES (some big, some little) and there are MODERATE spoilers ahead. Read on at your own risk.  Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #54 – Orphan Black Once Again

/ Katie Man / Leave a comment

This week, Kerri and Katie attempt to discuss the first four episodes of season 4 of Orphan Black.

Kerri: Well, Katie, welcome back to Clone Club. While we’ve lost most of the Castor Clones this season (thank god, or whatever higher power you pray to as a Neolutionist – science, I guess?), we’ve gained some Leda clones, namely M.K., aka Mika, aka Veera Suominin. We’ve also made it to episode 4, “From Instinct to Rational Control”, in this fourth season and we’re veering toward what is likely to be the story arc of this year, that of the Brightborn project and a new nemesis in the form of the luminous and way too perfect looking, Evie Cho. I know you planned on doing some “research” before staring this Roundtable, Katie. With that additional knowledge in mind, would you like to give a general rundown of where we are in this sprawling story, if that’s even possible? Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #51: TV in Fits and Spurts, or what we watch when we are busy

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

Kerri and Jane attempt to discuss how they fill their down-time during busy times.

Jane: So, full disclosure, Kerri and I are both fully immersed and crazily busy with the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Obviously, we still have time for TV; meaning we have some things to say this week. We’ve discovered that both of us turn to cooking shows during those hectic, busy days when we have a bit of time to ourselves. Kerri, why are cooking shows so important to your down-time and what are the favourites that you rely on? Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #50 – Jane Makes Kerri Watch Parenthood

/ Jane Walker / Leave a comment

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This week Jane attempts to convince Kerri that the NBC drama Parenthood is the perfect show for her.

Jane: Parenthood is my show. I know we could be round-tabling about the brilliant last episode of Community or the crazy-butt-crazy things happening on Hannibal (or not happening, I can’t tell,) but those shows haven’t been consuming my TV life in the same way. I want them to consume Kerri’s life too. If there is one thing I know, Kerri will love this show as much as I do. Kerri, you need to watch this show and you need to start soon because I really, REALLY need to talk to you about it! To get down to basics, I know you will love this show because it is about good people. They are flawed people sure, but they are trying to do what’s best for the people they love. What I think creator/writer Jason Katims does so well is present and perfect tired TV clichés (a son with a disease that makes him different, grown children moving back home, balancing work and family life) in new and surprising ways. Katims reveals many sides and corners to previously one-note stories by populating Parenthood with well-intentioned characters and not passing judgement on them. Life is hard and everyone is trying to do the right thing. I think as a lover of good people and creative melodrama, you will fall deeply in love with this show. I really do. I know you’ve seen the pilot. What were your initial thoughts?

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Email Roundtable #48 – The End of Mad Men

/ Katie Man / Leave a comment

This week, we attempt to discuss the series finale of Mad Men.

Kerri: First off, I’d like to gloat. I long ago stopped making public predictions about Mad Men (I kept making predictions in secret) because I never, ever, ever got anything right ever. Well, it’s been 7 seasons and finally, in the last episode, FINALLY I got something right. I almost got two things right, so maybe we can score me a plus 1.5 (and minus, like 3 thousand, but that’s beside the point). First, I declared that Peggy and Stan should get together. And they did. Beautiful, wonderful, perfectly banter-y Peggy and Stan realized what we’ve known for a long time and professed their love for each other. And, I mean, ok, sure, as far as things being telegraphed from miles away, this relationship was a straight ahead lazer beam. So I got the obvious thing right. Way to go, me. (At one point I had also said that Peggy and Joan should start their own firm. I was this close, too, dammit). But here I am speaking in “shoulds”. And if Mad Men railed against anything, just like the hippie retreat in the last episode, it was these “shoulds”, these things that we expect to happen in our TV shows, with our favourite characters. Because I do know as an audience member I deserve nothing. What I want to happen won’t always happen and what I think should happen is meaningless. Just like in life. Continue reading →