PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Ehtoolehto - Sunset Grove S1 2025

Ehtoolehto - Sunset Grove S1 2025 Based on novels by Minna Lindgren, screenplay by Johanna Hartikainen, Markus Mäkelä and Helena Sorva, directed by Severi Koivusalo and Taru Mäkelä. A Finnish TV series set in a retirement home.

Siiri, Irma, and Anna-Liisa live in a retirement home. Siiri becomes upset when one of the cooks at the home dies. The trio attend the funeral and find out he killed himself. Poking into his life they find out more troubling stuff. The home is run by a horrible woman, the trio poking about brings more interesting info to light. When Irma becomes upset she's taken to the nursing home part of the retirement home. It's a dingy place run by another horrible home. The poor people are drugged and strapped to their beds.

There are oodles of characters, some are customers, some are staff and some are outsiders who interact with the folk in the home. The trio meet a biker friend of the dead cook, he helps them a lot in their investigations, there is some serious badness going on. Irma is eventually rescued, the baddies arrested and order restored.

Reviewers are calling it a comedy cozy. It's got that going on but there's a nice dark edge to it. The cast is grew and there's plenty of nice scenery. It's set in winter so there's plenty of snowy scenes. I particularly liked the train rides through town.

The Nightmare Worlds Of H G Wells Series 1 2016

The Nightmare Worlds Of H G Wells Series 1 2016 Based on H G Wells stories, series created, produced and written by Graham Duff, directed by Adrian Shergold. Four episodes aired in January and February 2016. Graham Duff is an actor writer who created one of my favorite shows Ideal.

The four stories are The Late Mr Elvesham, The Devotee Of Art, The Moth and The Purple Pileus. Each story has characters who make poor decisions and suffers consequences. In The Late Mr Elvesham a man gets robbed of his youth, acting on impulse he makes his situation even worse. The other characters make similar choices and fare poorly. All are set in the Victorian Era with Ray Winstone as H G Wells doing some narration.

They shows have some good actors and decent production values. The 23 min length supports the story type. They are a bit creepy but none of them are outstanding and the series gets a deserved 5.9 on the IMDb. Having Wells narrate so much made the stories weaker than they could have been. I mostly enjoyed them but probably wouldn't bother with them again. Sad, I've watched Ideal 4 or 5 times and still enjoy it.

Matlock Series 1 2024

Matlock Series 1 2024 Based on the old Matlock series, developed by Jennie Snyder Uman. Kathy Bates stars as Matlock, a law talkin' lady with vengeance in her heart. Nineteen episodes aired over the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

I actually decided to watch the series because of Kathy Bates. I didn't really know any of the cast, other than Beau Bridges and Sam Anderson. Kate, playing Matty Matlock, joins a law firm to dig out who in the firm covered up some evidence in a pharmaceutical trail that might have meant opiates would be taken off the market much sooner than they were. Matty's daughter died from opiates. Her husband and grandson help with the investigation. It's all rather conflict creating.

Matty proves to be clever and resourceful, helping win some cases. Little by little she works her way into the firm and finds out the truth about the evidence that went missing. I enjoyed the law wielding action but started fast forwarding through some of the personal drama. Sometimes it seems to overwhelm the case. I got to the end, a bag full of cliffhangers and wide open doors, and decided I wouldn't bother with them again. I might watch the 2nd series when it rolls around. I'm trying to get caught up on the TV I've got stashed away to watch and I'm being more ruthless when it comes to keeping stuff for another go around.

No Heroics Series 1

No Heroics Series 1 Created by Drew Pearce. One series of 6 episodes aired in September and October of 2008.

No Heroics universe is simulated to ours but it's populated with superheroes. Locally they're nicknamed Capes. Many are good and helpful, some are so much less so. A little group of lesser Capes hang out at the superhero pub The Fortress.The club doesn't allow superheros to wear costumes or use their powers. It's rather like a normal pub otherwise.

The group we follow along with are:

Nicholas Burns - Alex - The Hotness - controls fire.

Claire Keelan - Sarah - Electroclash - controls machines.

James Lance - Don - Timebomb - can see 60 seconds into the future.

Rebekah Staton - Jenny - She Force - World's third strongest woman.

Their main annoyance is Excelsor, he's a full of himself superhero that has plenty of powers and exciting pieces on the news. He especially likes picking on The Hotness. Jim Howick plays Simon the bouncer, he's the Thundermonkey and he can summon monkeys to kick your ass. If you wait around for them to arrive by delivery service, it may take a couple of hours for them to show up. Sometimes the baddies just go home. Steve Speirs plays Norse Dave, he's the bartender, we never learn much of anything about him.

Alex and Sarah used to date, now they're that annoying couple that bicker, Don is gay, rather dark and always on the pull, Jenny and Sarah used to be a super duo, they didn't last too long, they weren't very good, Jenny has trouble with dating.

I liked the scripts, I found some nice funny bits and some nice dark bits, I even laughed out loud a few times. People compare it to Mystery Men but it's more like The Specials. I was happy to see it and hope to watch it again before the end of time.

Science Fiction Sunday 842

Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams Series 1 2017-8 Developed by Ronald D Moore and Michael Dinner. Ten episodes based on PKD short stories aired on Amazon Prime in 2017-2018.

Half the episodes were filmed in the UK and half in the US. There's a bunch of name actors involved: Timothy Spall,Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Buscemi, Greg Kinnear, Sam Witwer, Anna Paquin, Maura Tierney and Brian Cranston were the ones I knew. There were plenty more I didn't know.

Episode Titles and Story Title:

The Hood Maker - The Hood Maker

Impossible Planet - The Impossible Planet

The Commuter - The Commuter

Crazy Diamond - Sales Pitch

Real Life - Exhibit Piece

Human Is - Human Is

The Father Thing - The Father Thing

Autofac - Autofac

Safe And Sound - Foster, You're Dead

Kill All Others - The Hanging Stranger

The episodes were about 50 mins each and the stories adapted were rewritten, some more than others. The Hanging Stranger get re-titled Kill All Others and the story changed from a secret alien invasion to mind control by the government. I actually read the story just a few mins ago. Way different. Autofac was a bit more like the story. I didn't check any of the other stories. 

Enjoyment wise, it's a mixed bag, some I found more interesting than others. Some just left me cold, I didn't care for those stories. It's often compared to Black Mirror, which started in 2011, the 3rd Series came out in 2016, PKD's Electric Dreams came out the following year. It has a similar feel but not quite as sharp as BM. Sometimes BM leaves me cold too. I still prefer Charlie's Wipe Work.

I don't think I'll ever get back to Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams but I know I'll watch some of my favorite Black Mirror stories again. 

Science Fiction Sunday 841

Karaoke 1996 Written by Dennis Potter and directed by Renny Rye. A BBC & Channel 4 co-production. Dennis Potter was dying of pancreatic cancer during the writing and production of the TV productions.

Albert Finny plays Daniel Feeld, he's a well known and well paid writer, he writes books, plays and TV programs. He likes to drink, lately he's been feeling poorly. Daniel's out at a restaurant with his agent Ben. Daniel thinks he hears people at another table speaking lines from his as yet unreleased TV program Karaoke. It's being edited as Daniel and Ben have a drink. Trouble is, the table is too far away, Ben isn't hearing any lines, neither is Anna, the producer on Karaoke who just dropped by for a chat. Daniel drinks more and his agent gives him a ride home. Daniel gets out of the car, goes for another drink and collapses in the bar.

Daniel's taken to hospital. While there he learns there's something seriously wrong with him. He'd better get his house in order. Daniel decides to write a play set in the future. We meet a bunch of people over the 4 hours, several stories are revealed, small incidents give Daniel his end plans. He helps some people and punishes a really bad man. Couldn't ask for a better ending.

There's a good cast, the ones I knew were Albert Finney, Roy Rudd. Richard E Grant, Keeley Hawes, Hywel Bennett, Saffron Burroughs, Ian McDiarmid, Liz Smith, Alison Steadman, Julie Christie, Fay Ripley and Ewan MaGregor. It's a good production with plenty of interesting bits going on. The musical numbers were worked in well and there's a nice version of Pennies From Heaven near the end.

Cold Lazarus 1996 Written by Dennis Potter and directed by Renny Rye. Each story was aired as 4 episodes, each about an hour.

In 2370 some scientists are working in a bio-lab in Britain. They're trying to access the memories of Daniel Feeld's long frozen brain. They've managed to retrieve some memories but with great cost. The company that owns the lab is headed by a horrible woman called Martina, she's tightfisted with her cash and vindictive when you go over budget. She's not happy with the lab spending so much money on some bio products and cuts it's budget. A media company owner called David is thinking he needs to steal the head and peddle the memories as reality TV. He approaches the head of the lab and she's interested in his money. David's offering a lot of cash.

The Britain of the future has a heavily damaged landscape with armed guards guarding buildings. Conglomerates run things and the police are rather fascist. Citizen's stay home and experience virtual reality. There's a resistance groups called RoN, they want Reality or Nothing. They're disruptive and murderous. One of people in the lab is in the group. There's a good amount of time spent on the RoN part of the story. I found it the least interesting bit of the story.

The head is stolen and installed in David's lab. Lots of money and equipment open up more memories. Things go south after that. Most of the lab staff don't make it to the end of the story. It's a tough world in the future. There's a good bit of story near the end pondering the ethical side of revealing a person's memories to the general public as entertainment. 

Besides Albert Finney I knew some of the cast, Frances de la Tour, Ciarán Hinds, Henry Goodman, Donald Sumpter and Rob Brydon as a head in a jar.

I enjoyed both stories. I hadn't seen them before. Not sure if I'd watch them again.

Your Money Or Your Wife 1960

Your Money Or Your Wife 1960 Based on the play Count Your Blessings by Ronald Jeans, screenplay by Ronald Jeans and directed by Anthony Simmons. A British film about inheritance and divorce.

Donald Sinden and Peggy Cummings are married and in debt. They rent rooms to tenants who are behind on their rent. Peggy's aunt leaves them some money but it's doled out monthly. There's a bit that gets them thinking of divorce, they can access a large chuck of the inheritance if they split. Trouble with that is getting grounds for divorce. It leads to some comic bits.

Despite the script being a bit dull and weak jokes it's generally fun to watch. Richard Wattis is the actor that stands out among the cast. Barbara Steele pops up for a few scenes.

The Franchise Series 1 2024

The Franchise Series 1 2024 Created by Jon Brown A British American co-production about the making of a superhero movie called Tecto: Eye Of The Storm.

Daniel is the first assistant director on the film, he's trying to keep the staff focused on getting the day to day work done and problems that come up from the various personalities of the actors and crew. There are plenty of problems that pop up. Everyone is needy, weak and prone to complain about everything. It would be a horrible place to work. Not for me.

It's fun to watch. I got a good number of laughs. Sadly the series got the axe after one series.

Saint-Pierre Season 1 2025

Saint-Pierre Season 1 2025 Created by Allan Hawco, Robina Lord-Stafford and Perry Chafe for Hawco Productions. Written and directed by a bunch of people. 

There were 10 episodes of this Canadian production set on the island of Saint-Pierre. It's one of the small group of islands known as Saint-Pierre and Miqelon. They are a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France. The group of islands are just west of Newfoundland.

Allan Hawco plays Inspector Donny "Fitz" Fitzpatrick of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. He was sent to Saint-Pierre for investigating a Newfoundland politician. That politician is also living with Fitz's ex-wife and their children. His arrest by Fitz goes viral, as punishment he's reassigned to Saint-Pierre. It begs the question: why would S-P take him on in the first place? Some might remember Allan from The Republic Of Doyle and his other TV appearances.

Fitz is in a fish out of water sort of situation. It's a rather common plot point, trouble making cops are sent to small towns in the hinterland but usually their assignment is in their own country. Death In Paradise and Rocco Schiavone are similar enough. I bet you could name a dozen more without having to work too hard. I'll start off with The Mallorca Files.

Joséphine Jobert, late of Death In Paradise, plays a Paris cop who's called Geneviève “Arch” Archambault. She's Saint-Pierre's Deputy Chief. She's come to the island for her own reasons. She's not happy with Fitz at first but she comes to value his crime solving talents. The crimes are fairly varied, some tie in with the local baddie Sean Gallagher, played by James Purefoy. It's Arch's life goal to take this scumbag down.

There's a new victim or two each week. There's plenty of driving around and a few punch ups. I mostly enjoyed the stories each week, though there seems to be a good bit of family drama going on. Sadly the show ends on a cliff hanger. I don't care much for that. I'd still watch a second season if there is one and I'd rewatch the first season again.

Science Fiction Sunday 835

Masters Of Science Fiction - The Complete Series 2007

A series of six stories that were adapted from SF writers John Kessel, Howard Fast, Robert A Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, Walter Mosley and Robert Sheckley.

The stories are a mixed lot but none of them are very positive. Kessell's is post apocalypse, Fast's story has alien's tell the Earth to stop fighting among themselves or die, Heinlein's story is about a synthetic man who just wants a cigarette or some candy, Ellison's story is about a plague ship of mutants getting screwed by the Earth government, Mosley's story is a look at laws and policing, Sheckley's story is about a robotic bird that meters out justice.

Mick Garris is involved and this is a series that apes the format of his Masters Of Horror series. Like that series the stories here have a bit of a sting at the end that reminds me the future isn't going to be so bright with certain people in charge. Sadly the message isn't going to get to the bad people, they don't read or watch this sort of nonsense.

The production values are pretty good and there are plenty of great actors in the cast. Most of the stories were OK but I didn't think I'd bother with the series again. I've got more entertaining shows to watch and rewatch.