Nalkarj

Wow, it’s been three years since I wrote this comment. Wow. Anyway, this thread seems mostly dead, but here’s hoping it can rise, ghostlike, from the Great Beyond! Does anyone remember these memories? I think 2 might be the Isles of Shoals episode. Maybe? I was never able to find any leads on 3.

Geez, so no more Columbo on Sunday nights? Too bad.

On “…Cried Wolf”: Exactly! On “…Red-Headed Stranger”: Yeah, we chatted about it a few pages back… That one is infuriating.

Two random things that have come to mind as I’ve watched Monk in its new, replacing-Columbo time slot on MeTV: 1. Anyone else find the environmental activist’s death disturbing in “…and the Blackout”? For some reason that episode always seems to be on, and every time I watch it I think that murder by bulldozing a tree the victim is locked to (such a common method, there should be a word for it) is just such an awful way to go. Not sure why, maybe because of the inability to get away? That may be some relative of my claustrophobia speaking. ;) 2. “…and the Girl Who Cried Wolf.” Man oh man, this may just be the goofiest, least-convincing mystery I’ve ever seen. Monk’s solution doesn’t even explain half the mystery! I don’t viscerally dislike the ep as much as “…and the Red-Headed Stranger” because, well, everything about that one drove me up the wall, it was so off and mean-spirited. But “Cried Wolf” is just plain goofy, which is too bad because it’s by my favorite Monk writer (Hy Conrad).

And unless you say, “After you,” “Well, you know what we did here” [if the client knows what you did here, why are you saying it—again?!], and other assorted catchphrases 12 zillion times.

I’ve seen a few more of the McEwans now and enjoyed all of them. Kind of baffled that so many Christie fans don’t like these. I find them much more entertaining than the much-praised Joan Hickson adaptations—and McEwan a much more dynamic, fun presence. She’s fantastic in every episode.

I mean, as you say the demeanor isn’t the same, but I was delighted to see that he really did throw his head back when he laughed, which he did as Marty. That’s one of my favorite things about Marty.

I’ve only seen the first two episodes, but I enjoyed them both (though with reservations, natch). I first found out about Omar Sy from, yes, Intouchables—he’s an excellent actor with a real talent for comedy. I don’t speak French fluently (though I know enough to get around), but Sy’s inflections are so good that you can tell the emotion he’s conveying even if you don’t speak the language. A Lupin adaptation is a good idea; making a new character who bases his M.O. on Lupin is an even better one. The series seems to have the budget of a movie, the scripts are well paced, and the acting is all very good. My one major criticism from the episodes I’ve seen so far, though, is that they’re not surprising or complex enough. Assane Diop is supposed to be the world’s greatest thief, inspired by the fictional Arsène Lupin (to thieves what Sherlock Holmes is to detectives), but… The schemes and plots are more or less the same as you get in an average episode of Leverage. I want hyper-complex, elaborate robberies and wild, unexpected twists. To be fair, I have only seen two episodes. And that bike-delivery thing in Episode 2 really was clever. I just hope the scripts eventually match the quality of the leading man’s performance.

This a question about the original (Jason-Grant) Ghost Hunters… If anyone can help, I’d greatly appreciate it. Not sure if I’m remembering one, two, or three GH episodes (I’m thinking two), but no matter how many, I have some specific memories of it/them. First memory: Jason and Grant are investigating a staircase—I think in a private residence. There’s a door at the top of the steps. Every time they look away, the door closes. The camera at one point shows the door closing on its own. Jason and Grant try to figure out if the door is on an angle that makes it close. I think the kicker is it’s actually angled the opposite way. Second memory: Jason and Grant are at opposite ends of a staircase and the guy at the top hears a noise coming from the bottom and the guy at the bottom hears a noise coming from the top. (Of course neither of them is making a sound.) Third memory: One of them team, I think Kris Williams, puts down flour in an attic and then locks the door; when everyone returns, there are footprints in the flour. If anyone remembers an episode or episodes like these, please let me know. I distinctly remember these plot points and for the life of me can’t anything with them.

Is anyone else here a big fan of the Geraldine McEwan Marples? At least Season 1, the only one I’ve seen. I know most Agatha Christie fans don’t like these because McEwan herself is a little too impish and witty to be a faithful Miss Marple and because the screenwriters took liberties with Christie’s plots. But—as filmmaking and as mysteries, I think they’re fantastic. Production values of a Hollywood movie; fine, witty, fast-moving scripts; lots of clues and other mystery-plot niceties. Even the changes to the books work: A much-criticized change in The Body in the Library doesn’t actually alter Christie’s plot, and a change to A Murder is Announced only clarifies a same-sex relationship about which Christie was coy. Reportedly the episodes degrade in quality after Season 1, but I’m watching the Towards Zero adaptation (Season 3) now and think it’s really quite good so far. What say you?

Thanks, all! As you can probably tell I’ve only watched Monk in reruns and have definitely missed a few episodes (though I think I’ve seen “…and the Rapper”). That said, I always wanted a supporting character—Sharona/Natalie, Stottlemeyer or, yes, Disher—to solve a case entirely on his/her own. For whatever reason I always feel like I want that in a mystery show… Maybe because I like showing that someone other than the genius sleuth has brains? 😉

Or Natalie—or Stottlemeyer, or even Disher (!)—solving the case. That’d be a small but, I think, nice change on formula.

Oh, this interested me… I watched another episode of The Good Cop tonight on the chance that it may be better—and it was. More to the point, though, the writer (an old hand from Monk, as all the Good Cop writers were) used that same Monk trick I was going on about above: apparently motiveless murder, but the murderer killed the victim to gain access to something that victim had. I’m not going to say what episode it was just in case anyone wants to see the show, but I find it quite something that they used that same solution again! What I will also say is that this episode is marvelously clued—at least as well as some of the best Monks. This one restored my faith in the Monk writers. Also, I feel bad for Monica Barbaro, who plays Groban’s love interest. She’s quite good in this (and, er, very attractive), but the show around her flopped, so she’ll get no credit for that.

“So I’m alone because I’m afraid of being alone?” 😉 All you’re saying is true, but it was also a way for the writers to keep the character more or less the same (romantically, at least) throughout eleven seasons. That’s what makes the Laura Linney arc so unsatisfying, I think; she’s not suitable for him, yet she’s the one he ends up seeking because the show is ending. (Of course, no guarantee that “she’s the one”—as you say, Frasier will probably never find “the one.” Except maybe Lilith. 😉) If he’d ended up with Faye, who I think is the most compatible with him, he’d have to lose some of his over-the-top, snooty ways because she’d call him out on them (and is, I think, the only one of the girlfriends to do so—except, again, Lilith). I guess the Faye/Cassandra name thing could be a result of that desire for self-sabotage. There’s really no other psychologically convincing reason he would mix up two such unlike people with such unlike names.

Excellent—we’re all Faye fans! Fabulous Faye! Forever Faye! 😉 As I said in the Monk thread for me it is definitely the writing. Both shows you could the episodes were clearly plotted out from start to finish. With some shows it seems like the plot was made up as it went on. And also both shows had little things you could easily miss but catch on a second viewing. Yes, spot-on about the clarity of the plot. That’s something else the writers’ theater-background probably taught… Also, re: what I was saying there about detective stories, I should note that Frasier’s “Retirement is Murder” (S2:E13) is a pure detective story, complete with an Ellery-Queen-esque dying clue, a false solution, and a least-likely suspect who’s the killer. The writers just had to be mystery fans. And yes again! Frasier’s pretty much the only sitcom I can actually say I learn from! 😄