seen from Australia
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Maldives
seen from Maldives
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from Poland
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Maldives
seen from Malaysia
seen from Nigeria
seen from Malaysia
seen from Maldives
seen from Singapore
seen from Singapore
Rishi Nair by Michael Shelford
Some recentish shows of note, or lack thereof:
COUNT ABDULLA: Charming comedy about a Pakistani doctor who gets turned into a vampire by a white vamp with a fetish for brown men, and the many complications that ensue. Not so much a horror story as a witty parable about the travails of being a person of color in Tory Britain today. (So, a horror story after all, then.) Jaime Winstone needs to dial it back, but the rest of the cast delights.
DEADLOCH: Snarky comedy-mystery by a well-known Australian comedy team, about mismatched cops investigating a gruesome murder in a small town. The mystery is clever; the payoff is blah; and despite the predominantly female, mostly LGBT cast, the humor is awfully reliant on misogynistic and homophobic cracks that frequently cross a line from "laughing with" to "laughing at."
HIJACK: Tense but very contrived seven-part thriller about the hijacking of a British airliner on a seven-hour-flight from Dubai to London, with passenger Idris Elba the wildcard. Gripping, but not terribly plausible, and the many false climaxes become exhausting, especially if you watch the episodes back to back.
THE LAZARUS PROJECT: Convoluted, intermittently fascinating, unpleasantly mean Sky sci-fi thriller about an app developer named George Addo (Paapa Essiedu), who's drawn into a secret organization that can undo world-ending disasters (natural or manmade) by resetting time to a predetermined save point, like a video game, although this has harrowing consequences for the handful of people capable of remembering the repeated resets. At first, this is basically just window dressing for grim espionage procedural nonsense, with some extremely questionable character motivations, but after a relentlessly bleak midsection, the first season finds its dramatic footing in the unexpectedly interesting final episodes, in which the premise is pushed to its breaking point and the grimness gives way to black comedy. This is the note on which the considerably more complicated second season begins, but it again grows uglier and bleaker as it goes on, and any sympathy for George, positioned at the start of the show as a relatable everyman, has long since evaporated. There are some provocative ideas and a number of surprisingly funny moments, but the whole story is predicated on pushing the characters into morally compromised positions (one assumes creator Joe Barton always has a browser tab open to the TV Tropes "Moral Event Horizon" page), and the fact that some of the (many) atrocities the characters perpetrate in hopes of fixing the existential catastrophes they've set in motion are subsequently undone doesn't make them any easier to stomach. Anjli Mohindra (who plays Archie, the veteran agent who initially recruits George into the project) remains frustratingly under-utilized in both seasons.
THE MORNING SHOW: Big-budget, all-star TV news drama is all dressed up with nothing to say, undone at every turn by truly spineless whataboutism and a centrist world view so gormless it makes Aaron Sorkin seem like Alexander Berkman. Reese Witherspoon is pretty good as closeted bisexual cohost Bradley Jackson, but costar Jennifer Anniston's limited range becomes a problem, particularly as the quality of the scripts declines noticeably in later seasons. You could always just watch BROADCAST NEWS.
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL: Disjointed adaptation of the 2021 Zakiya Dalila Harris novel scores when it focus on the workplace drama of a young Black woman in a painfully white publishing company, but trips over its own feet in its attempts to also be a paranoid thriller, with plenty of bad vibes that never add up to a coherent sense of threat and a conspiracy plot that doesn't really make any sense.
THE PERIPHERAL: Misfired adaptation of the 2014 William Gibson novel is executive-produced by the same people as the recent WESTWORLD series and has the same problems: big ideas that don't translate into action and an infuriating tendency to consign characters of color to marginal or villainous roles. Worse, it eventually becomes clear that several more compelling characters have been sidelined in favor of the poor white trash leads (Chloë Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor), who are neither very interesting nor especially sympathetic.
WHO IS ERIN CARTER?: Kinetic but preposterous seven-part action thriller with Evin Ahmad as a suburban mom in Barcelona who is secretly an incredible badass with a shady past. Basically a violent Walter Mitty fantasy for soccer moms who love the JOHN WICK movies, with a showy supporting role for Denise Gough from ANDOR.
I ran out of streaming sites so I'm on ITV and I started watching Count Abdulla and its been a while since I've been hopeful about a show but I am
I paint my nails. I envision Carmilla. I end up this bitch.
Jess Watches // Fri 31 Oct // Day 733 Synopses & Random Poll
Deli Boys (with mum) 1x09 Shaadi Boys
On the first day of Mir and Bushra's pyari pyari shaadi, the Peruvians want their money - and it's threatening Mir's ability to be a fab dullah. Raj is acting super weird, the boys might tiff (no tiffin) and a mystery finally unravels.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (rw) 6x16 Hell's Bells
Anya and Xander's wedding is thrown into turmoil when a man claiming to be Xander's future self turns up at the ceremony.
Count Abdulla 1x06 The Shadow over Heathrow (Finale)
Abdulla's terrified of the consequences of his identity being revealed as he escapes with Amrita from the wedding. But as they come clean about their feelings for one another, she offers a potential route out for the young Muslim doctor.
How would you entertain wedding guests?
Dance
Juggle
(runs away)
Jess Watches // Mon 27 Oct // Day 729 Synopses & Random Poll
The Resident (with mum) 6x11 All In
A famous cardiothoracic surgeon comes into Chastain after experiencing heart pain. Kit breaks the news that the emergency room can no longer accept trauma patients due to budget cuts.
Deli Boys (with mum) 1x07 Delivery Boys
The boys learn the value of work-life balance. Raj and his lover smoke a fat rosin donut en route to deliver drugs to his business partner at West Philly Pakora Palace. Meanwhile, Mercer and Simpson finally get on the same page.
Six Feet Under 3x05 The Trap
Fisher and Diaz deals with the recently discovered body of a man missing for years.
Count Abdulla 1x05 The Red Shaadi
Gate-crashing Amrita's sister Preethi's hen night, Abdulla is introduced as Amrita's new Sikh boyfriend and Preethi is beyond excited to welcome him to the family. So much so that she invites, in fact insists, that he comes to the wedding.
What would you like to do with your best friend?
Hold hands
Drugs
Art Class
Bite them
Jess Watches // Sun 19 Oct // Day 721 Synopses & Random Poll
Call the Midwife (with mum) 12x01
It's April 1968 and change is coming to Nonnatus House. Racial tensions cast a shadow over Poplar, and the sisters welcome a new recruit.
Six Feet Under 3x04 Nobody Sleeps
The partner of a recently deceased gay man orchestrates an operatic tribute at Fisher and Diaz.
Count Abdulla 1x04 Malika of the Damned
Abdulla, desperate for some answers and unfaltering in his desire to find a cure to his vampirism, agrees to go on a date with Kathy at her favourite haunt.
Worst group hang?
Meet the parents of your fiancé's dead wife
At her birthday party you realize you've married your mother
Human friends gatecrashing your first visit to a vampire bar
Jess Watches // Mon 6 Oct // Day 708 Synopses & Random Poll
The Newreader (with mum) 3x03 Behind The Front Line
Dale embraces his success, hosting a lavish birthday party. Meanwhile, Helen is struggling personally and professionally - Public Eye's ratings are dire but when offered an exclusive, she sees an opportunity to save her show.
Deli Boys (with mum) 1x01 Pilot
After their Baba's sudden death, brothers Raj and Mir realize their family's deli empire is actually a criminal front. Their survival depends on Lucky Auntie, who does something totally messed up but also kind of awesome.
Six Feet Under 3x03 The Eye Inside
Keith and David find the reality of a resort vacation different than advertised.
Count Abdulla 1x02 The Exorcism of Abdulla Khan
Abdulla wakes up in a bed in his own hospital, unable to recall the previous evening's events. He's soon in for a shock, and it'll take a lot to convince his mum Bushra that he's not turned to alcohol.
What would you like to do?
Go to therapy
Drugs
Shoplift
Eat homemade Garlic Naan
