Absolutely Delicious..."The Great British Baking Show"

The Great British Baking Show (2010)

Starring Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins

The Story:

12 of Britain's best amateur bakers face off in a giant outdoor tent where each week they attempt to make 3 different recipes. Their efforts are judged by renowned British baking experts (Berry & Hollywood) and each week, one baker is rewarded as Star Baker, while the one most lacking that week is sent home. Finally at the end of the season, one baker remains triumphant.

Ah, reality TV as brought to you by the BBC and renamed and aired over here on PBS.

:)

Now, 3 of the shows 7 seasons are available on Netflix for streaming.

I really enjoyed the first season, the 2nd season not as much, but I am enjoying the 3rd season as well.

The difference in the 3 seasons?

It all comes down to the contestants.

The first season had a nice variety of people, and there were so many interesting characters, you don't really mind who the ultimate winner might be, and you're almost sad to see them all go.

Season 2... not nearly the connection for me with those contestants at all, and I think we wound up jumping a few episodes just to see who won and move on.

In the third season, again a better mix of contestants that rise and fall with the challenges and keep the viewer interested in who will succeed and who will be sent home.

So how is this different from every other reality TV show?

I'd say the judges, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. One, the duo has the best possible names ever for baking judges! :)

But two, and most importantly, they are quite possibly the nicest judges in reality TV history. Always offering the most enthusiastic reviews when they taste something good. Yet when they eat something that doesn't work, they are often quick to answer why it tastes bad.

Normally it's either too much or too little flavor, or the recipe in question is raw and inedible.

Not sure if we'll ever get the other seasons on Netflix, but if we do, I'll definitely give them a try.

Final Grade: B+

It's Bound To Be A Funny One..."Mel Brooks: Make A Noise"

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise (2013)

TV-PG

Starring Mel Brooks

Written and Directed by Robert Trachtenberg

The Story:

Part of the PBS "American Masters" series, this in-depth biography finally lets Mel Brooks talk about his favorite subject: himself!

Okay, that may or may not be true, but for the first time that I can recall, here's Mel opening up about his life, his career and his films, in his words, as well as some of his collaborators over the years.

If you've never seen his work, this will help showcase his efforts in one career spanning retrospective and you'll begin to understand why he's so funny and a comedy legend.

If you're a fan of his work, this is icing on a delicious cake of a career.

The great thing about Brooks career, is even his bad stuff is good, when compared to other offerings.
It's only when you compare one Brooks film to another that you can really see the difference, which also elevates how truly great his best films really are.

The biography also reveals a lot of interesting facts that you may be unaware of, or have simply forgotten over the years.

Definitely worthwhile.

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing. You can probably also find it, and other American Masters episodes on the PBS.org website.

Final Grade: B+

Two For Tuesday - "Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic & Richard Pryor: Icon"

Richard Pryor: Icon (2014)

PBS

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic - B+

Rated R

Directed by Marina Zenovich



The Stories:

Both documentaries take a look at the rise and tragic end to one of the greatest comedic performers of the 20th Century, Richard Pryor. Archival footage from many of his performances are used, as well as interviews from people that knew Pryor and those that were influenced by his comedy.

Both are good ways to get your feet wet on the history and impact of Richard Pryor.

Icon, part of the PBS series, clocks in just under an hour and follows the rise to stardom in the 60s until the end. They often repeat many of the pictures during the show and while a nice primer, it doesn't really break any ground or do much to showcase Pryor, except for hearing lots of people telling you how great he was.

Omit the Logic on the other hand is almost 90 minutes, and since it isn't airing on PBS uses much more audio and video of Pryor's comedy routines which helps solidify the fact that everyone found him to be hilarious. A little bit more of his life is mentioned in this documentary and it feels more well-rounded. The one piece either film was missing would have been to get some commentary from Gene Wilder since the two were linked so strongly together through film.

At the end of the day, you can't go wrong with either, or both.

Pryor was a genius, and he paved a way for generations of comics to follow.

Icon is currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grades:

Richard Pryor: Icon: B-

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic: B+

I Just Don't Get The Fascination With "Downtown Abbey"

Downtown Abbey (2010)
N/R

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt,

Created by Julian Fellowes

The Story:

We are introduced to the Crawley family who live in Downtown Abbey, and the servants who work there  to keep the house and Crawley family running smoothly.  It opens the day after the Titanic sinks, and the heir to the fortune goes down with the ship.  Whatever will the Crawley's do?

I'm not sure, but I can tell you this much...

zzzzZZZzzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZ

I don't know what the rest of the world sees in this show, but color me unimpressed.

Don't get me wrong:

The actors, great job.
The sets are absolutely gorgeous.
The period piece, marvelous.

The story?

ZzzzZZZzzzzZZzZZzzZzzz

I was completely underwhelmed for almost the entire running time of the first episode.

Things heated up, barely, we're talking candle heat, not space heater or fireplace heat at the end with the shocking revelation of one of the servants and the honor that Mr. Crawley showed to the former comrade in arms now servant.

But alas, way too little, much too late.

There's no way, nor reason, why I would want to come back for more.

You can argue that "it gets better" or "I'm being too harsh", but that's my judgment for the show, and I've got a million and one other things I can watch next, so why come back to something I found to only be so-so, at best?

Nah.

Available to stream free for Amazon Prime members.

Final Grade: C-... maybe lower!
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No to both, thank you though.

Halloween Candy Hangover? The Antidote Would Be To "Make 'Em Laugh" Disc One

Now that's funny!

The Story: 

A retrospective of comedy in America, as originally presented on PBS back in 2009.  6 episodes, spread out 2 per disc, because apparently 6 hours of information is too much for one DVD...

The first episode concentrates on the oddballs, jerks and nerds.

Emphasis falls on Johnathan Winters, Robin Williams, Harold Lloyd, Phyllis Diller, Woody Allen but many others are mentioned and featured.

The second episode is the breadwinners and homemakers.

This concentrates on tv shows, especially I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners and the Dick Van Dyke show.

The documentary seems to jump scatter-brained from past to present, back and forth, with no real rhyme or reason to the skipping.

The subtitle of this documentary was "The Funny Business of America".

To me, that's how this should have been presented.  They were looking at 100 years, start with vaudeville and the silent movies and end with the stand-ups/tv/movie funnymen of today.

I think that would have given a bit better focus on the growth and importance of American comedy.

So there was some interesting nuggets to be had, but I'm not sure that anyone in the house wants me getting the remaining 4 hours to see how it turns out.

The series was hosted with intros by Billy Crystal, and it offered some insightful commentary by people that are no longer with us, like George Carlin.

Overall it was a nice experiment that could have used some tightening in execution.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, not even sure I'll get around to finishing the rest of the series.

Streaming Sunday..."Nova: The Mystery of Easter Island"

My fascination with PBS continues...

The Story:

How did all of those giant statues get placed all over Easter Island?  There's been many theories over the years, but now the crack team at Nova may have finally uncovered the truth...

Space Aliens!

No, just kidding.

Instead, we've got historians and scientists that postulate how the statues got to their location.  The old, best theory was the statues were laid on logs and rolled across the island.

That's so last century.

No, the legend has it that the statues "walked" into place.

And before the end of the episode, they are going to prove that very fact. 

They created their own scale model of one of the statues for experimentation.

While they gear up for the big moment, there is much discussion about what happened on this island centuries ago and how it came to be.  Pretty interesting stuff, in addition to the mystery of how the statues got around the island.

So they finally get to the moment of truth, and with a bunch of muscles and some rope, the statue begins to wobble.

I have to admit, it's pretty cool when they fail, because the failure actually proves they were right.

As an armchair quarterback, I was yelling at the tv going, don't put the ropes "there!"... "Move them over there..."

Thankfully, they could apparently hear me. 

:)

When they fix the way they tried to move the statue, suddenly it all clicks, and until someone else comes along with a better idea...

Mystery Solved!

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Pretty interesting subject for a viewing, but I won't be rushing out to see it again in the near future.  Could revisit it down the road again for science/history with the kids though!  Still very entertaining subject.

Thursday's Thirst For Knowledge..."Nova: My Life as a Turkey"

The heartbreak of motherhood...

The Story:

Joe Hutto is a naturalist in Florida.  His goal was to imprint on 16 young wild turkey eggs so that when they hatched, they considered him their mom. 
What follows is a year of heartwarming and heartbreak as he guides these babies from egg to adulthood, but not without casualties along the way.

Imprinting is nothing new.  People have done it for years with various animals.  Hutto takes a year (actually more) of his life and spends nearly every waking moment with his babies in this charming documentary.

Keep in mind, these are wild turkeys, as opposed to the domesticated Thanksgiving table-fillers you're used to seeing.

He learns their sounds, and does his best to communicate with the birds, and he learns that these birds are really rather smart.

They know their snakes, and which ones are dangerous and which ones are not.  Joe begins to see the swamps and life in general through their eyes and it opens up a world that nobody could even imagine with how these turkeys communicated with one another.

Dozens of different clucks and calls are used by these birds to talk to Joe and each other, and he does a good job of mimicking them as best as he can.

It's a fascinating story of these turkeys and how they follow him without question, and then one day, almost literally,  as if on cue, they all grow up and are ready to live their own life, 'away from mom'.

Sad, especially how he has to part ways with 2 of his favorites.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again, it is pretty amazing stuff, but a little sad in a few spots.  Such is life, right?

It's Fascinating to Learn the "Secrets of the Dead: Churchill's Deadly Decision"

Don't mess with Winston!

The Story:

Winston Churchill gets elected as Prime Minister...just in time for World War II to effectively kick off and all of Europe falls like dominoes except Britain and France.  Then literally, within the month that Churchill is in power, France gives up the fight, and so it's Great Britain, alone, to face the Axis Powers, who are about to get their hands on the 2nd largest naval fleet in Europe.  The United States will not honor Churchill's request for aid, fearing Britain will fold as quickly as France has, so Churchill makes a fateful decision.

This is that story.

Wow!

Just when you think you know everything about World War II, it's nice to find documentaries like this that focus on specific events or times that bring clarity to some decisions instead of the overarching "we won, they lost" perspective of the war.

Why does France giving up elicit jokes to this day?  Watching how fast the Nazis stormed in, and the timeline for their surrender makes it abundantly clear now.  It is amazing how fast it all happened, and seems inconceivable that one country could literally swarm over Europe that quickly and decisively.

Scary.

Meanwhile, all of this is happening as Churchill is learning the ropes and trying to keep Britain out of Nazi hands, as he watches government after government fall before Hitler.

Then, Roosevelt is not even close to offering aid to the Brits, and Churchill gets desperate.

The French Admiral claims that if they fall to the Nazis, he vows that not a single ship will be taken by the Germans.

What do you do in Churchill's position?  Here's a government that signed a treaty with Great Britain that said neither country could surrender without approval by the other party.

We give up!  Sonuva...

Needless to say, some French are still bitter about what Churchill did.

But at the end of the day, the ships did not fall into Nazi hands and could not be used against the British (or America) and because he showed the true backbone of the British, Roosevelt sent ships to bolster the British navy.

Fascinating stuff, and great also because they actually have a lot of footage from events...not reenactments, and also managed to interview several survivors, both French and British.

Highly recommended, and available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing!

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Hard to say, once you see it, you've seen it.  Let some time go by, and yes, it would probably be just as impressive on repeated viewings.  Plus, I always love WWII history!

PBS Does History Better Than The History Channel... "Nova: 3D Spies of World War II"

Nova...You couldn't get me to watch this show growing up...

:)

The Story:

In the early stages of WWII, only Britain remained in Europe to stop Hitler's advance.  The British (and Americans) turned to the Spitfire, armed it with cameras, and had them fly over Hitler's Germany to gather intelligence.

Putting those films under stereoscope, the Allies gathered 3 dimensional information about what the Nazis were up to, and were better able to coordinate their attacks to do the most damage with the least amount of effort.

When sites are discovered and shelved due to not understanding what they have seen, the Allies will discover with great horror when they go back and check the film again that the Nazis have been working on the V-Series of rockets:  The first weapons of mass destruction that can be, and ultimately were,  launched at Great Britain.

Great information, much of it only recently declassified in the last few years, and a chance to once again marvel at the technology that the Allies and the Axis were using for their time, and how something so innocuous as photographs helped change the course of the war and curb the Nazi advance across Europe.

Highly recommended for... just about anyone, really.  This is some fascinating stuff.  A bit of the information is repetitive as the show plays, but it's an amazing hour of knowledge worth viewing.

Available to stream as of this writing on Netflix.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'll keep this one in the queue and bring it up the next time we do history...or photography...or...  : )

A Man Who Lived Up to His Nickname: "American Masters: Johnny Carson - The King of Late Night"

Oh no... not a PBS show!

:)

The Story:

From the American Masters series, this is a look at the life and career of the Johnny Carson, the King of Late Night.

This documentary chronicles Carson's life as a boy in Nebraska who came to love magic, and then realized that he loved getting laughs when he performed on stage.  From there, the idea to entertain was locked into his mind, and the rest is history.

They take a look at all of the shows Carson wrote or hosted leading up to his getting the gig of the Tonight Show.

Comedians recount their tales of how honored they were to get their start on the Tonight Show, and how it propelled them to bigger careers than they ever dreamed of.

Included are Letterman, Leno, Seinfeld, Joan Rivers and with perhaps the most touching story, Drew Carey who cannot help but choke up when he relays the story of his appearance with Carson.

Archival interviews with Ed McMahon and others who had passed help fill in the gaps of this very private man, who was perhaps also the most public man ever, coming into our homes every night for 30 years.

Also, his second wife is very forthcoming with a lot of information, and helps fill in the personal details of Johnny's life, but never in a mean/salacious way.

Highly recommended if you grew up watching any bit of Carson during his 30 year tenure or want to see what we used to enjoy before Leno took over...

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade:  A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor:  Enjoyable, but I think I would prefer a greatest hits of the Tonight Show instead.