Quick review: Poker Face

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Tom Wolper

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Jan 27, 2023, 1:03:06 PM1/27/23
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It’s a new series on Peacock from Rian Johnson starring Natasha Lyonne. It’s a throwback to crime drama series from decades ago like Columbo and The Rockford Files. As usual it’s tough to get a good reading from the pilot because there’s so much exposition to set up the characters. It seems a good enough idea in the genre and as they’re releasing an episode a week that seems about the right frequency to watch. I wouldn’t bother binging the series.

Bob Jersey

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Jan 27, 2023, 2:16:05 PM1/27/23
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There was a woman in a family member's past whom is mildly facially similar to Lyonne. Said member doesn't show up here often, so he hasn't asked about her... yet.

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Tom Wolper, Jan 27th:

Doug Eastick

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Jan 27, 2023, 6:17:20 PM1/27/23
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Seems that Canadian availability is hard to stream.    I'll have to look around for BetaMax versions.


On Fri, Jan 27, 2023, 1:03 p.m. Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:
It’s a new series on Peacock from Rian Johnson starring Natasha Lyonne. It’s a throwback to crime drama series from decades ago like Columbo and The Rockford Files. As usual it’s tough to get a good reading from the pilot because there’s so much exposition to set up the characters. It seems a good enough idea in the genre and as they’re releasing an episode a week that seems about the right frequency to watch. I wouldn’t bother binging the series.

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Kevin M.

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Jan 28, 2023, 1:25:42 AM1/28/23
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There’s a definite sort of The Fugitive vibe to this series. I’m not really very impressed with Lyonne’s acting ability, but she’s not bad in this. I’m curious enough to see where it leads 

On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 10:03 AM Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:
It’s a new series on Peacock from Rian Johnson starring Natasha Lyonne. It’s a throwback to crime drama series from decades ago like Columbo and The Rockford Files. As usual it’s tough to get a good reading from the pilot because there’s so much exposition to set up the characters. It seems a good enough idea in the genre and as they’re releasing an episode a week that seems about the right frequency to watch. I wouldn’t bother binging the series.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Bob Jersey

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Jan 28, 2023, 9:12:39 AM1/28/23
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It's in an add-on to Prime Video Canada, Citytv+. $5/mo. on top of whatever they're getting for Prime.


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Doug Eastick, to Tom Wolper, Jan 27th:

Tom Wolper

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Jan 28, 2023, 10:43:04 AM1/28/23
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I was going to mention that but I considered it a spoiler. And Rian Johnson has said in several interviews that it won’t be a real arc and that the episodes can be watched in any order after the pilot.

PGage

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Jan 28, 2023, 2:07:33 PM1/28/23
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I have watched the first three and found it to be very pleasant. Definitely more Fugitive than Columbo, and of course she does seem to be driving Route 66, and it has a little of that vibe. It does seem that, after the second episode, there is less of an ongoing serial arc (which I very much welcome), and just her landing in different towns dealing with different murders, which gives it that semi anthology feel.

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Marti Lawrence

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Jan 28, 2023, 3:52:06 PM1/28/23
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We have seen the first two episodes, and enjoyed them. The retro vibe is nice, and Natasha Lyonne is entertaining. 
According to Wikipedia, the first four episodes were released January 26, 2023, and after that they will come out weekly. 

~Marti

PGage

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Feb 9, 2023, 11:31:48 AM2/9/23
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Continuing to dig this show; not obsessing over it, but enjoying whenever I watch.

I am classifying this as an episodic show (though the aroma of a narrative arc still wafts around it), and wondering if anyone can suggest other good episodic streaming dramas? Seems like television has settled into a tidy division of 1) broadcast, low to middle brow episodic procedurals, or 2) putatively mid to high brow streaming serialized dramas.

 I like a good serialized show, but miss the attempt to do higher quality episodic shows (I guess that is why Poker Face is compared so much to Columbo and Rockford).

I watched the first episode of The Accused, which I guess is more Anthology than episodic. It featured the Commish, and struck me as aight, but not as good as it thought it was.

On Sat, 28 Jan 2023 at 12:52 PM Marti Lawrence <martil...@gmail.com> wrote:
We have seen the first two episodes, and enjoyed them. The retro vibe is nice, and Natasha Lyonne is entertaining. 
According to Wikipedia, the first four episodes were released January 26, 2023, and after that they will come out weekly. 

~Marti

Marti Lawrence

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Feb 10, 2023, 11:12:19 AM2/10/23
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Last night's episode of Poker Face with Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows was spectacular.

~Marti

Adam Bowie

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Feb 10, 2023, 12:13:19 PM2/10/23
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I'm getting very jealous about this show which I'm keen to see.

Sadly, the Comcast-owned Sky seems to have lost interest in the Comcast-owned Peacock here in the UK. Peacock has only ever been a tile in the Sky service and not a stand-alone streamer. But if I go in today, they seem to have a grand total of  just 14 series available!  As far as I can make out the only actual Peacock shows in there are Bel-Air, Brave New World (cancelled), The Resort and Vampire Academy (cancelled). The others are some Bravo reality shows, and things like The Office (US version). There used to be a lot more but they let all the licences expire at the end of last year according to some forum posts, hence the dismal state of affairs today. 

I believe the parent company doesn't really know what to do with the Peacock brand outside the US where it has just about zero name recognition. I've never once seen an advert for it. They could just put the shows on the Sky platform, but if Comcast is giving up the ghost on the brand internationally, they may just sell shows to the highest bidder.

Anyway, no Poker Face for us...

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Kevin M.

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Feb 10, 2023, 3:35:33 PM2/10/23
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On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 9:13 AM Adam Bowie <ad...@adambowie.co.uk> wrote:
I'm getting very jealous about this show which I'm keen to see.

Off topic, but I’m annoyed that Richard Hammond’s garage-centered series on Discovery is unavailable here in the states. It seems a no-brainer to secure streaming deals with both sides of the Atlantic. To do otherwise just invites piracy. 


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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Bob Jersey

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Feb 15, 2023, 3:16:31 PM2/15/23
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Hasn't stopped them from renewing.


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Tom Wolper, Jan 27th:

Tom Wolper

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Feb 15, 2023, 3:45:31 PM2/15/23
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I’m enjoying the series. I prefer to watch one episode each week rather than binging until I’m caught up. As for another season, when the Premier League season is over I’m dropping Peacock.

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