Author Topic: "God help me, I like it"  (Read 6499 times)

Susannah

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"God help me, I like it"
« on: July 18, 2007, 01:46:56 AM »
My guilty pleasures are BBC miniseries adaptations of novels and plays...give me eight+ hours of fey accents and period costumes, and I'm a happy girl.  It's gotten to the point where similar Merchant & Ivory projects don't cut it because they aren't nearly long enough! 

Favorites include:

Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (obviously...Colin Firth)
Charles Dickens's "Bleak House" (this stars Gillian Anderson, it's really good)
Anthony Trollope's "The Way We Live Now" (Cillian Murphy, Miranda Otto)
Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisted" (Jeremy Irons)
George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda"
And the grandaddy of them all, "I, Claudius," which is possibly my favorite thing ever recorded.  13 hours of Sir Derek Jacobi limping and mumbling his way through Roman history?  What's not to love?

So terrible...but god help, I love them. 

Anyone else?

Emily

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2007, 03:00:24 AM »
i like anything with Colin Firth.

as for BBC/Brit Lit, i'll love Sense & Sensibility, but Pride & Prejudice is my all time fav.

i'll keep an eye out for your recommendations - thanks!

Laurie

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2007, 06:38:37 AM »
Ooh... Cillian Murphy. He makes me feel funny in my pants.

Sarah

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2007, 07:39:27 AM »
So terrible...but god help, I love them.

There's nothing terrible about Brideshead and I, Claudius.

bruce

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2007, 08:01:44 AM »
Oh I've watched four of those two very recently on my local PBS. Also Sir Derek Jacobi rules in anything he does, especially that episode of Dr. Who "Utopia". He says one of the greatest lines ever in that shows history.

TL

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2007, 08:43:10 AM »
Speaking of BBC stuff, so help me, I like ANYTHING involving Hugh Laurie.  He stole the show in "Sense & Sensibility," and yeah, I'm a "House" fan.
I'm making my way through the entire "Jeeves & Wooster" series right now - ridiculous but amazing.
I gotta get a hold of some of the Laurie and Fry shows, too - Stephen Fry is even MORE unstoppable, come to think of it!  Does anybody know if those are on DVD?
Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

Martin

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2007, 08:59:29 AM »
The Entire Fry & Laurie series is available on DVD, yes - each season separately, or as a box set with all four seasons. And of course there's nothing shameful about liking one of the best sketch comedy series ever! Jeeves & Wooster is equally great. (As is Laurie in just about everything.)

Also, those BBC productions: this is the first time I've heard them talked about in a "guilty pleasure" context. I, Claudius and Brideshead are ridiculously adored, and always, always, pop up on all-time best TV productions lists. The rest are at the very least well respected. Far from terrible. Don't feel embarrassed!

Sarah

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2007, 09:21:03 AM »
I, Claudius and Brideshead are ridiculously adored, and always, always, pop up on all-time best TV productions lists.

And The Singing Detective is even better.

Now, watching Footballers' Wives, that's a guilty pleasure.  Although I wouldn't exactly call it a pleasure; it's more an object of sick fascination.  I especially love the bits where some woman is showing off a god-awful, vulgar piece of jewelry or sporting some insanely tasteless piece of clothing, over which others ooh and aah enviously (one character had the ashes of her dead husband compressed into a huge fake diamond).  A recent wedding featured a Pride and Prejudice them; another took Antony and Cleopatra as its inspiration.  Joan Collins is now a member of the cast.  Oh, it's so very awfulsome. 

Laurie

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2007, 10:20:01 AM »
I have the Jeeves and Wooster series in my queueueueue. I also have the Hugh Laurie-centric Blackadder series in my queue, because Dr. House is a dreamy LOOSE CANNON. I'm with Ed Shepp.

buffcoat

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2007, 10:34:25 AM »
Jeeves and Wooster is very good.  I would recommend that you space out the seasons, though, because if you watch them all quickly, there is a bit of "They're going to New York AGAIN?" that gets in the way of your enjoyment.  Better to come back to it fresh.

All the Blackadders are good.  I really like the British mystery/crime miniseries: Messiah, Prime Suspect (of course), Murphy's Law, Jonathan Creek, Waking the Dead (so much better than any American crime series, and I like the American ones, too), even Murder in Suburbia.  Although maybe that last one is that I would be willing to watch Caroline Catz or Lisa Faulkner for an hour just because.

You can tell British people are smart because of the way they talk.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

TL

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2007, 10:42:01 AM »
Jeeves and Wooster is very good.  I would recommend that you space out the seasons, though, because if you watch them all quickly, there is a bit of "They're going to New York AGAIN?" that gets in the way of your enjoyment.  Better to come back to it fresh.

All the Blackadders are good.  I really like the British mystery/crime miniseries: Messiah, Prime Suspect (of course), Murphy's Law, Jonathan Creek, Waking the Dead (so much better than any American crime series, and I like the American ones, too), even Murder in Suburbia.  Although maybe that last one is that I would be willing to watch Caroline Catz or Lisa Faulkner for an hour just because.

You can tell British people are smart because of the way they talk.

Word, word.  I just pre-ordered the Fry & Laurie series from Amazon (the whole shebang comes out as one DVD box on July 24th, apparently).
As far as British mystery/crime series, I mean, can we talk about Inspector Morse?  John Thaw and Kevin Whatley (not to mention Collin Dexter)?  Quite possibly some of the best mystery TV (not to mention books) ever.
Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

erika

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2007, 10:43:03 AM »
Bravo Reality Television:

God help me, I like it.

(Not just Top Chef or Project Runway, which are respectable shows, but junk like "Work Out" and the Housewives of Orange County. I don't watch reality TV anywhere else, but if it's on Bravo, I tend to like it. God help me.)
from the land of pleasant living

Sarah

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2007, 10:45:29 AM »
You can tell British people are smart because of the way they talk.

At least better educated.

Oh, and Cracker was good, too. 

bruce

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2007, 11:36:17 AM »
BBC mysteries are always better

Foyle's War
Inspector Lynley
New Tricks (I've got no reason why I watch this. Just enjoy all the old cops)

and of course Life On Mars. Can't wait to see how bad the American one will be. I mean who the hell are they going to get that can even equal the Gene Hunt character.

Dan B

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Re: "God help me, I like it"
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2007, 11:51:44 AM »
God help me I like ABC's Wednesday night reality line up.  Next Best Thing and American Inventor.  Bad television at its best.