19 thoughts on “Oh the Bad Movies & TV You’ll Watch 4!

  1. I’m from Denmark and I have never heard about Guldkysten. Now I need to find it just because!

  2. Agreed about WCTH. Atrocious acting, too.

    I’m gonna have to disagree about “Great Expectations.” I’ve seen many different adaptations over the years and think that one is fabulous — in two hours, it hits all the high points of a complex story. It’s way better than the ITV ? version from the same year, where the actress LEANED BACK on her corset. I wanted to slap her. (Tho, in that one, Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham was amazing!)

  3. There were a lot of Irish accents.

    The main character, along with a good number of supporting characters were Irish immigrants. That’s why the show’s main setting was the Five Points neighborhood in Manhattan.

  4. I actually liked “the great fire” (though I mostly watched the court scenes and ignored the baker storyline), Catherine of Braganza was such a sweetheart in it. And I liked the sorta friendship between Barbara Palmer and Frances Stewart.

  5. Only three I might watch: Great Expectations (love Holliday Grainger), Rebellion (Irish Easter Rebellion is an interest of mine) and Great Fire (sounds like a film that Barbara Castlemaine nee Villiers comes off not as a beotch)

  6. So “When Calls the Heart” is my totally guilty pleasure. It’s what my lit professor termed ‘Fascination of the Abomination’- you know when you can’t really watch, and can’t look away. The acting is terrible, the costumes are ridiculous, and there is a severe lack of hairpins. But I’m emotionally invested now, and can’t escape.

    1. I agree with you Rachel, I binge watch both season of When Calls… and was full of self loathing, while loving every minute of it. It reminded me of my liking Eddie Money, even thou I was a proud and in your face Punk Rocker. I blame my unholy attraction on the Mounty uniform. Gotta love a man who can ride a horse.

      1. I’ve never watched the movie, although it’s on my list. Janette Oke wrote the series, along with a bunch of others, and she was one of my favorite authors in high school. Also, she was the author I could read without mom fussing about bodice rippers. :D :D So, if you want to turn it into a guilty book pleasure, there ya go.

  7. I watched all of “Copper” and was disappointed that it was cancelled (although they tied up the main story arc — then dropped another one in at the end). It reminded me of “Gangs of New York,” which I think was deliberate. The men’s clothing was decent — usually dirty or frayed, in keeping with the general poverty of the Irish immigrants — but the women’s bordered on fantasy in some cases. I’m by no means an expert on 1860s women’s clothing, but when my squirrel alerts kept going off, I knew something was wrong. Wrong kind of material to go over hoops; no corsets; totally “off” silhouettes. It was interesting, however, to contrast the clothing of the upper class women (usually the more fantasy-based) than that of the hookers-putting-on-airs who wore a combination of cheap clothes with tatty hand-me-downs and tried to look tony.

  8. I have not seen a single one of these, and the only one I’d even heard of was Great Expectations (and I thought you were referring to the BBC/PBS version with Gillian Anderson. Which I stopped watching because Douglas Booth is much too pretty to play Pip.) Thanks for the anti-recommendations. Un-recommendations? Warnings?

  9. They made a series about ‘Demons’??? *heavy breathing*
    Honestly, though, that book was messed up. Halfway through it and I started to think it was a comedy. Then it all went belly up in the last fifty pages. I’ve been on a self imposed break from Dostoyevsky ever since.

  10. We were keeping the fingers crossed here in Ireland for Rebellion, but it was disappointing as most historical dramas seem to be these days. RTÉ are doing a second season, apparently. Not sure why. Didn’t think it was popular enough and I got the distinct impression that even non-history fiends were questioning a lot of the content.

  11. I quite enjoyed Rebellion, once I’d read enough Wikipedia articles on The Troubles and the Easter Rebellion to be able to figure out what was being referenced. And i thought the costumes were well-done.

    I tried two episodes of When Calls the Heart, and was like “ohgod my IQ just dropped 20 points in 90 minutes.” no more. :) (Also, dear god, avoid The Pinkertons for all the same reasons.)

    I was meh on Copper, but a huge fan of Ripper Street, which does grimy-London & middle-class toffs & well-to-do-but-whores all very well. Good plots, decent characters, quite-sexy Victorian men being all butch coppers and tecs. :D

  12. I tried When Calls the Heart, since cheesy, sugary-sweet stuff is my guilty pleasure. Plus, it has a good-looking Mountie. They tried at the beginning, but pretty soon the main girl didn’t bother putting her hair up and then things just went (even further) downhill from there. By the 2nd season they didn’t even bother. None of the women had their hair up, it was all cut and dyed, and curled in beachy waves. One coal miner’s widow had a light blue coat! Light blue, with fancy trim, on a poor widow in a coal mining town. What? They were adding bits of trim to old prom dresses at one point, I’m sure of it.

    Another show I tried and gave up on was Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. In one episode, she was wearing her hair down while at work, and let it drag through someone’s open wound! Even if they don’t know accurate hairstyles, it’s easy to just put it up in a bun. At least look like you’re trying, people!

  13. I loathe Dickens due to his treatment of his wife, and how he portrays women, also the sickening sweetness of his poor characters is demeaning. The only one I can tolerate is Bleak House and love Gillian Anderson in it.

  14. I have a 14 week old and have somehow found myself obsessively watching When Calls the Heart. It is dire but absolutely brilliant for mindless slush. Baby + crochet = bearable.

    Now I am hooked. Will Elizabeth (adorable) and Mounty Jack (not cheese but DOES have a face like a sad marshmallow) get together? Will Abigail (just stepped put of Real Housewives of Somewhere Tacky) keep her cafe? Will the miners memories be revenged?! Will those weird fake Victoria culottes ever take off? Why are they all wearing their hair down and are they in the US or Canada?!? WHY DO I CARE?

    DAMN IT NETFLIX WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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