What We're Watching

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Now that we're all up to speed on our reading and our TBR lists/stacks are ever more burgeoning, it's time for a look at what's on the tube for when we can tear ourselves away from our books.

From the reality TV queen here, we are glued to the new season of GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF–oh, sorry, GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, as we're supposed to call it in the US, although that doesn't have nearly the same ring as GBBO. My non-cooking, non-baking hubby is now hooked and keeps asking me, "When's the baking show on again?" (Some of his enthusiam this season might have to do with one very cute contestant...) He's also gotten hooked on THE VOICE, my other reality TV indulgence, but is not so keen on the little bits I can manage to snag of the UK's STRICTLY COME DANCING on VPNs. (Shhh, don't tell.)

And now back to crime. In the lull between summer programming and new autumn stuff, we pulled up a UK series from 2003 called STATE OF PLAY. We couldn't find it streaming but it is available on DVD and Blu-ray, and I can't recommend it highly enough. The writing! The cast! It was directed by David Yates and featured David Morrisey, John Simm, James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Kelly McDonald, Polly Walker, and more. Even more than twenty years later, it doesn't feel dated, and it's one of the best things I've ever watched on television. They made a movie of it a couple of years later starring Russell Crowe, but that doesn't begin to compare to the original 6 part series. (That's a very unflattering photo of the Scottish actress Kelly McDonald, who I adore, on the DVD cover. Most recently you will have seen her as Carl Mork's therapist on DEPT Q!)

We're watching SLOW HORSES, although the weekly dole-out formula is especially annoying with the complicated storylines in this series. We've also discovered a British (Irish) police series called BLUE LIGHTS that is really good. This is on Britbox and is in the gritty rather than cozy vein. The 3rd season just aired so we're looking forward to having several seasons to follow.

Oh, and we are now recording the late-night shows on our Tablo, so that we can keep up with the voices of sanity, AKA the late-night TV hosts. Who would have thought it?

Take it away, dear REDs. What are you watching?

HALLIE EPHRON: Like you, I’m watching The Great British Baking Show (Season 16) … so many great contestants to root for. This batch seem especially talented. 

My daughter was visiting and she’s never watched “Sherlock” which we could stream on Britbox. I do love Britbox. The plots are SO COMPLICATED I have no trouble being challenged to follow the storylines even though I’ve seen them all. And Benedict Cumberbatch is so deliciously and gleefully sociopathic as Holmes. And Martin Freeman the perfect foil as the very human Watson.

And I confess, sometime during the pandemic lockdowns I got hooked on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. They’ve become a weeknight ritual.

DEBS: Hallie, I LOVED Sherlock, and would happily watch it again. Also, my parents were religious watchers of WHEEL OF FORTUNE and that brings back fond memories for me.

LUCY BURDETTE: We’ve been on a busy vacation so I’ve not been watching TV except for the occasional Jimmy Kimmel or Steve Colbert clip. However, I am very much looking forward to seeing Jane Goodall’s FAMOUS LAST WORDS, and Jeremy White playing Bruce Springsteen later this month. Debs, John loved BLUE LIGHTS but I only watched one or two episodes–too dark for my soul before bedtime!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I have been on book tour, so hotel TV is all about Chopped, which is always on.

 But in real life, back home, so many good things–Slow Horses is back, hurray. Cannot wait for The Lincoln Lawyer to return.

Also, I just spent the day with Elizabeth George, she is incredible, so I came home from Atlanta and instantly started bingeing the new Lynley, and then will return to the old Lynley. SO fun, now that I know all the backstory.

I am a massive fan of The Morning Show, and crossing fingers  the new season is good. Oh, and Invasion. 

I LOVED State of Play, Debs. And isn’t The Diplomat coming back?

OH, and finally–THE OFFER! (Debs, did you tell me about this?) About the making of The Godfather, and it is fantastic.)

DEBS: Yes, it was me who recommended THE OFFER. I don't know why this series didn't get more press. I think it's worth a temporary subscription to Paramount just to watch it!!!! So glad you liked it, Hank. We watched THE GODFATHER when we finished it, and that was fascinating, too.

And, yes, we are looking forward to THE DIPLOMAT, too.

RHYS BOWEN:  A big fan of the Great British Baking Show here too. They are always such nice, kind people who cheer for each other. How could you not love it! We also watched the Thursday Murder Club.. which deviated quite a lot from the book.

Apart from that we watch a lot of Britbox, all our favorite mystery series, plus I like all the travel shows on Britibox. Martin Clunes and various British islands, others on favorite villages, canal trips etc. I guess I’m nostalgic for a simpler era at the moment.

Finally finished up Clarkson’s Farm which got rather annoying in the end.

How about it, dear readers? What other gems have we missed, and are we all "baking" together? (I keep promising to buy some kind of a treat for Friday nights, because we always feel so deprived when the episode is over!)

What's On Your Radio

DEBORAH CROMBIE: One of the things that always strikes me in the UK is how different radio is from the US. Radio in the US has always seemed very age and genre segregated. Country music fans listen to their country station, rock music fans their rock station, old hippies like me, the Oldies station, etc, etc. And I have to admit that the only thing I listen to in the car or at home is usually NPR. (For which I am very grateful!) But I think this segregation encourages us to live in our own little bubbles.

In the UK, everyone listens to the radio. Most people have radios in their kitchens. And most people still listen to the four main BBC stations. 

Here's an example of the retro-type radios people tend to have in their kitchens (many are digital and bluetooth!)

BBC 1 skews a little younger music-wise. BBC 2 is the most mid-range--they play everything from oldies to the most current music. BBC 3 is mostly classical but they play jazz and other interesting stuff, too. All the stations have some news and talk programs, but  BBC 4 is all talk (don't even THINK about equating this with American talk radio!) There are plays and books and dramas written just for radio, news, current affairs, comedy, games, science documentaries, just about anything you can talk about, really.

I know we can get  a lot of varied programs like this now on podcasts, but that's not the same as having everyone sipping from the same cultural bowl, talking about the new band that debuted on Radio 1 or the latest Radio 4 drama over the water cooler.

I love the idea of radio being a way for us to be more connected, rather than less.

Reds and readers, do you still listen to the radio?

JENN McKINLAY: I love BBC radio and it's sad that we don't have something similar here. I am a hardcore NPR listener. In the car and I keep a radio on my desk that I flick on when the words won't flow and I need to hear other grownups thinking big things. Otherwise, I listen mostly to classic rock since the punk rock of my youth is now classic. When exactly did that happen???

HALLIE EPHRON: When I'm in the car I listen to NPR - we have two stations that are talk, though I get tired of listening to the voices of the same commentators over and over again - and one station that's classical music. I alternate. LOVE it when it's the weekend and I can hear Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me or Celtic music on A Celtic Sojourn. And when I'm home alone, cooking dinner, the radio is my companion. (Funny, I don't need it when Jerry's home.)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We listen to Celtic Sojourn too! And love Wait, Wait. And Fresh Air. There's a show on a local college station that's all Broadway music, and I love that, too. But when I am in the car, it is usually with Jonathan, so we don't listen to the radio. On road trips, it's Sirius with classical, or politics, or folk music, on, when I get my hands on the controls, I choose Broadway music, or oldies (Jenn, agreed!)  or Frank Sinatra channel. I get to hear new stuff, thank goodness, when I am in the car with my news photographers. So I remain a tiny bit--and I mean TINY--not completely out of it. Sunday mornings we listen to classical radio until Meet the Press is on.

Whoa. I remember when the radio was on ALL the time, my little transistor plugged into my ear. 


DEBS: I LOVE Wait, Wait!! I'll bet we all do. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I do! Like the rest of you, I'm an NPR junkie, and listen to many of the shows on my local station, MPBN. I'm also grateful they introduced the wonderful Maine Public Classical last year, and that tends to be on all the time at my house. Interestingly, though I get most of my music from "the radio," several of the stations I love I tune into by streaming from my Alexa. It's wonderful that living out in the country, I can have any station I want crystal clear. I told you I love Alexa!

I also have certain types of music I enjoy listening to depending on what I'm up to. Housework - oldies on 100.9. Cooking and puttering in the kitchen - adult contemporary on 98.9, Country music in the car - we now have at least three stations in our area playing country.

LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie, I'm just like you--if John's not home and I'm cooking, I always turn on NPR. And that's what I listen to in the car too. Unfortunately in our building in Key West, the reception is AWFUL. You have to practically stand by the window holding the antennae to avoid static. My favorite show on Saturdays is the Moth radio hour (storytelling) and on Sundays, love the baroque music.
 
RHYS BOWEN: As one who started out working for BBC radio, I regret that only NPR comes close in the US. I worked in radio drama and our plays got as much rehearsal as a TV plays. The most distinguished actors in England were in our casts. And the first piece of writing I sold was a radio play. But also comedy, quiz shows, talk on the arts. I only listen to radio when I'm driving. Usually NPR.

DEBS: Rhys, I love that your first piece of professional drama was a radio play. Don't you miss those here?

I manage to keep up with what's current a little bit because I watch The Voice. Thinking about it, maybe that's the biggest exposure we get nationally to a lot of different styles of music and performers.

Readers, tell us what you tune in?

Shed a Tear with Me

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I cry at the drop of a hat these days. Not just over things like the long-vanished Kodak commercials, remember those? But at everything. Movies, box of hankies after I've gone through my popcorn napkins. I'm an embarrassment to my movie dates. When I watch TV shows in the kitchen, I'm usually grabbing a roll of paper towels. Don't even mention This is US! I cry over Master Chef and The Voice, for heaven's sake.

And of course I cry when I'm reading. Sometimes I even make myself sniffle when I'm writing. So when did I turn into such a sap? I don't think I used to be this bad. I don't know if it's the state of the world that's getting to me, or if it's just the state of me, dealing with a lot of stuff as well as book deadline pressure. The weird thing is, I'm not all that prone to crying over real life things. It's mostly stories and images that get me. And music.

What about you, REDs and readers? Any fellow weepers? And here's a little challenge for you. I was going to post Smokey Robinson singing "The Tracks of My Tears" and ran across this video of Chris Blue, the winner of Season 12 of The Voice in his blind audition.
 

I dare anyone to get all the way to end of the clip without a sniffle. 

JENN McKINLAY: I'm a weeper. I've always been a weeper. I cry over everything. A complete stranger will be in tears and I will start crying with empathy. I've often thought I should rent myself out at weddings and funerals. Frankly, I don't get people who don't cry. Much like I don't understand people with no sense of humor. I mean if you're not going to feel things, what is the point of being alive?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I cry at TV commercials. At moms with their kids at the grocery. Hallmark cards. Movies and books? Don't even get me started. I have never seen Beaches or Terms of Endearment or Fried Green Tomatoes, WWI movies, WW3 movies, any war,  you name it, I will NOT see it, because I will cry for WEEKS. The Green Mile? DEVASTATED. In fact, the first movie Jonathan and I ever saw together was Sling Blade (because the movie we meant to see was full.)  Ten minutes into the movie, I started to sniff. Our conversation follows.(Remember, a first movie.)
Jonathan: Do you have a cold?
Hank: No, I am crying.
Jonathan: At what?
Hank: The movie.
Jonathan; But it's not sad.
Hank: Not yet! But it's going to BE sad.

LUCY BURDETTE: Me too, I'm a sniffler. John and I both sobbed through Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Yes, and if someone else starts to cry, I'm in too. And John is even softer at the movies, just like his father was. And Hank, I couldn't persuade you to read THE STORIED LIFE OF AJ FIKRY, remember? Because you knew it would be sad and it was for a while, and then got happy again.

HALLIE EPHRON: Last weekend we went to see Frozen on Broadway with our granddaughter and I welled up when the curtain rose. Something about that moment when a live performance begins always fills me with... joy. Overflowing emotion. Before the actors do a single thing I'm blubbering. I cry at sad, too. When Beth dies in Little Women. When Dora dies in David Copperfield. Jenny in Forrest Gump. I'm tearing up just remembering.

INGRID THOFT:  Oh, man.  I promise that I really do have a heart, but I’m not a big crier.  I feel things deeply, really, I do, but that feeling doesn’t translate to tears.  Recently, I had a conversation with my mom and sisters about “This Is Us.”  The subject was that everyone weeps during the show, except, you guessed it!  Yes, I tear up, but there are never full-on waterworks.  But you know what gets me every time?  Parades at Disney World.  Something about those extravagant displays makes me cry every time.  Obviously, Walt Disney cracked the code of the infrequent criers!

RHYS BOWEN: It's strange because I don't cry much in real life. I am stoic at funerals. But anything on TV when a service dog is returned to his handler home from Afghanistan, or even that Folgers commercial where the son comes home for Christmas, and the tears are trickling down my cheeks. I cried in Mama Mia 2.  I sob in some movies. And, strangely enough, the ARCs of my next stand-alone, called The Victory Garden, arrived yesterday and I flicked through to the ending and... I started crying!

DEBS: Oh, Rhys, even mentioning service dogs will make me cry! And I definitely went through the popcorn napkins in Mama Mia 2...

Readers, are you weepers?? Tell us your most sniffly book or movie or song!