Television, drug of the nation

Cell Block H

Toast of London - understated, strange and very funny in places

Something has been bugging me and I can't believe that I watch so much TV that I am asking this.

In the last 6-12 months* I watched an american TV programme where one of the characters ends up in prison. He finds himself in a cell-block run by a massive, bald character who is probably the last person (real or fictional) that I'd wish to be in prison with. They have a massive fight.

Most of them - in the scriptwriters rules to have at least one episode inside a prison.

Or so it seems

Just finished The White Queen, really enjoyed it. Hard staying off Wiki to se how long they ruled for.

Also enjoying Elementary and The Originals

What? The Governor was the best thing in it. How could David Morrissey in an eye patch not be great?

The last 2 episodes have been a good change. Why can't we just follow him around instead of the boring bunch inside the prison?

Toast of London - understated, strange and very funny in places

love it. and man down.

Toast of London is the funniest thing I've seen on TV for a long time

Was wondering how ^ was going to top Oz,
in terms of prison fights.

Guess it did.

the new american horror story is lols.

Never watched Oz... sounds like I should be adding it to the list.

I am actually watching Fringe on and off at the moment - if that isn't a reason to find an old show to start on then nothing is.

Sons of Anarchy has some proper dark prison fight / violence shit as well... really nasty stuff.

Whenever it was, (late 90s probably), Channel 4 were broadcasting it,
but long ago enough that I was still routinely using a VHS recorder,
it was, and remains, the only tv show where I immediately rewound the first, introductory episode & watched it again.

If you do watch it, give it a break, seeing as it is 15+ years old,
it was really nfsw in its time,
so a lot of the tv you see now is inhabiting the space Oz carved out,
and,
given the body count, (not really a spoiler for a prison-based show),
you'll be amazed the number of faces you recognise in cameo, and main roles, who served their time in Oz.

Oz was awesome, so much wrongness! Beecher's journey from drunk lawyer to bellend-biting psycho was so good.

Oz was awesome, so much wrongness! Beecher's journey from drunk lawyer to bellend-biting psycho was so good.

I eventually caught up with the opening series of Homicide : Life on the Streets,
and saw the young Lee Tergerson,
and some of the other faces from Oz in that as well.

Many of them, of course, also 'graduated' to The Wire.

Some great characters in that show too - Munch and Giardello in particular.

True. I'd argue that you should watch Banshee. But if you're not going to (or you don't mind a semi-spoiler flashback sequence) then this is some fucked up prison fight shit right here -
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoeL_Y8D1SE"][/URL
]

The most violent series I've seen. Not a complaint.

I got bored of banshee after 3 or 4, should I have stuck it out?

I got bored of banshee after 3 or 4, should I have stuck it out?

I only made it to 5 or 6, still to catch up on the rest. Not the easiest of viewing.

I found it a bit boring and just kinda trailed off.

^ that

Oz was great, though jumped the shark somewhere around season 4 or 5 IIRC. Plenty of Wire and other HBO actors in it.

Ruined the Spiderman films for me, as I always pictured the newspaper editor bloke carving a swastika into Beecher's arse.

The Governor is not dead. At least, nobody saw him die.

Trufax, he'll become king of the zombies.

Nothing is accidental though. The only reason he didn't die there and then must be to leave open his return. After all, she finally had the chance to finish him off and she didn't. Makes about as much sense as the rest of it really.

Yup, if he was dead dead they'd have shown the bullet hitting him, not just the sound.

Banshee was pretty awesome I thought, some great characters, that prison scene was brutal and unforgettable - looking forward to series 2

Homeland has me wetting my pants at the minute, also gone back to X Files, it is still good!

Ah, I was thinking more about Michonne who decided that one little stab was enough.
On the bright side I suspect that baby Judith made it out alive. I have some sympathy with The Governor killing Hershel. I might have done the same myself just to stop Rick continuing with his speech. The man only has two voices - unconvincingly earnest or unconvincingly angry.