From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

Best Medicine S01E01

This is the American version of Doc Martin which ran for 8 seasons on
British TV after being spawned by a couple of movies. I only started
watching Doc Martin this summer and watched the whole thing through
once, in order, so my memory of it is quite fresh. For those familiar
with the UK version, I think you'll find the US version largely faithful
to the original. That may well be because two of the Executive Producers
held the same role in the UK version and one of them is the wife of
Martin Clunes who played the doctor there.

In the US version, the doctor is played by Josh Charles and Louisa, his
love interest, is played by Abigail Spencer. The rest of the cast is a
mix of familiar and unfamiliar, with the familiar names being John
DiMaggio (who I know best for voicing Bender in Futurama), and Annie
Potts (who I remember best for Designing Women but has done lots more).

Out of the roughly 400 people who have reviewed this episode on IMDB,
the rating is a rather weak 5.5, far lower than the 8.4 for Doc Martin.
I have no idea how many of them are comparing Best Medicine to Doc
Martin and how many are completely unfamiliar with the original version.

For fans of the original series, it appears that Martin Clunes is going
to make an appearance as the father of the main character in an upcoming episode. At least that's what IMDB says.


Will Trent S04E01

A rather suspenseful episode as Will and Faith try to track down the man
who killed Will's mother and escaped from prison to launch a killing
spree. The ending is even more suspenseful but I won't spoil that for you.


The Rookie S08E01

A trip to Europe as Nolan and Bailey escort Monica to Prague to take
down a notorious international gun-runner as part of her plea deal and
the rest of the team work to shut down his operation on the LA docks.
Tim and Lucy's relationship moves forward and the Texan rookie revisits
his housing situation.
--
Rhino

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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Will Trent S04E01

A rather suspenseful episode as Will and Faith try to track down the man
who killed Will's mother and escaped from prison to launch a killing
spree. The ending is even more suspenseful but I won't spoil that for you.

I liked the episode, but I dislike the show's broad comic elements, and
always have. That's Richard Fish from Ally McBeal! How much did he have
to pay to be cast as a serial killer?

The Rookie S08E01

A trip to Europe as Nolan and Bailey escort Monica to Prague to take
down a notorious international gun-runner as part of her plea deal and
the rest of the team work to shut down his operation on the LA docks.
Tim and Lucy's relationship moves forward and the Texan rookie revisits
his housing situation.

Eight seasons? Eight seasons? When will it end? This show got to be too terrible for me to tolerate; I haven't watched in years.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

On 2026-01-07 1:46 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Will Trent S04E01

A rather suspenseful episode as Will and Faith try to track down the man
who killed Will's mother and escaped from prison to launch a killing
spree. The ending is even more suspenseful but I won't spoil that for you.

I liked the episode, but I dislike the show's broad comic elements, and always have. That's Richard Fish from Ally McBeal! How much did he have
to pay to be cast as a serial killer?

What do you mean by "broad comic elements"? The dog?

The Rookie S08E01

A trip to Europe as Nolan and Bailey escort Monica to Prague to take
down a notorious international gun-runner as part of her plea deal and
the rest of the team work to shut down his operation on the LA docks.
Tim and Lucy's relationship moves forward and the Texan rookie revisits
his housing situation.

Eight seasons? Eight seasons? When will it end? This show got to be too terrible for me to tolerate; I haven't watched in years.

The eye candy still works for me, particularly Alyssia Diaz and Jenna
Dewan. The writing not so much.

I see you snipped Best Medicine. Are you boycotting it for some reason?
--
Rhino
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Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

On 2026-01-07 1:46 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Will Trent S04E01

A rather suspenseful episode as Will and Faith try to track down the man >>>who killed Will's mother and escaped from prison to launch a killing >>>spree. The ending is even more suspenseful but I won't spoil that for you.

I liked the episode, but I dislike the show's broad comic elements, and >>always have. That's Richard Fish from Ally McBeal! How much did he have
to pay to be cast as a serial killer?

What do you mean by "broad comic elements"? The dog?

I like the dog. The fight scenes with the two "wives", Ormewood acting
like a high school girl once Angela told of her engagement, Angela
refusing to tell Will straight off about her engagement, and Will's
imaginary mass killing crime scene reconstruction running everything
backwards. The nongendered person who lives with Will who was obnoxious
at the family dinner by telling embarassing stories about Will.

Also, the emotional stuff in this show gets trying. Scott Foley has the misfortune of being too perfect, so of course Angela will screw it up,
make herself miserable, return to drugs, then dump him.

I like this show when it tries to do straight drama but the rest of it
gets distracting.

The Rookie S08E01

A trip to Europe as Nolan and Bailey escort Monica to Prague to take
down a notorious international gun-runner as part of her plea deal and >>>the rest of the team work to shut down his operation on the LA docks.
Tim and Lucy's relationship moves forward and the Texan rookie revisits >>>his housing situation.

Eight seasons? Eight seasons? When will it end? This show got to be too >>terrible for me to tolerate; I haven't watched in years.

The eye candy still works for me, particularly Alyssia Diaz and Jenna
Dewan. The writing not so much.

I see you snipped Best Medicine. Are you boycotting it for some reason?

We had a whole thread about Doc Martin, which I didn't like. No, I'm not watching the American remake.
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On 2026-01-07 4:49 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

On 2026-01-07 1:46 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Will Trent S04E01

A rather suspenseful episode as Will and Faith try to track down the man >>>> who killed Will's mother and escaped from prison to launch a killing
spree. The ending is even more suspenseful but I won't spoil that for you.

I liked the episode, but I dislike the show's broad comic elements, and
always have. That's Richard Fish from Ally McBeal! How much did he have
to pay to be cast as a serial killer?

What do you mean by "broad comic elements"? The dog?

I like the dog. The fight scenes with the two "wives", Ormewood acting
like a high school girl once Angela told of her engagement, Angela
refusing to tell Will straight off about her engagement, and Will's
imaginary mass killing crime scene reconstruction running everything backwards. The nongendered person who lives with Will who was obnoxious
at the family dinner by telling embarassing stories about Will.

Also, the emotional stuff in this show gets trying. Scott Foley has the misfortune of being too perfect, so of course Angela will screw it up,
make herself miserable, return to drugs, then dump him.

Now I know what you mean. Yes, it does get a little bit like giddy
teenage girls at times....

I like this show when it tries to do straight drama but the rest of it
gets distracting.

Thanks for the clarification. I really wasn't sure what you meant.

The Rookie S08E01

A trip to Europe as Nolan and Bailey escort Monica to Prague to take
down a notorious international gun-runner as part of her plea deal and >>>> the rest of the team work to shut down his operation on the LA docks.
Tim and Lucy's relationship moves forward and the Texan rookie revisits >>>> his housing situation.

Eight seasons? Eight seasons? When will it end? This show got to be too
terrible for me to tolerate; I haven't watched in years.

The eye candy still works for me, particularly Alyssia Diaz and Jenna
Dewan. The writing not so much.

I see you snipped Best Medicine. Are you boycotting it for some reason?

We had a whole thread about Doc Martin, which I didn't like. No, I'm not watching the American remake.

Fair enough. I must have missed that thread. I didn't realize you'd seen
the original.
--
Rhino
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On 1/7/2026 1:49 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

On 2026-01-07 1:46 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

snip

I watched:

Opus (HBO) 2025 movie produced, written, and directed by Mark Anthony
Green (Yeah, I have no idea who he is either). The movie stars Ayo
Edebiri as a journalist who heads out to interview a reclusive musician
(John Malkovich) who is releasing his first album in 30 years. When
Edebiri and some other journalists arrive at the isolated compound they
find a cult like environment which soon prompts Edebiri to want to get
our while she still can. The movie seemed to have an interesting
concept but generally failed in the execution. One of the main problems
I had with the movie is it didn't seem to have much of a point beyond
the premise (I hope that makes sense).

Then when it came to the two leads, Malkocvich is more than capable of
chewing the scenery, but for whatever reason he held back. I don't know
if he was told to hold back by the director or just showed up for the
paycheck and didn't care. Edebiri also felt like she was maybe phoning
it in. Or if not that, her character reminded me way too much of her character from "The Bear." I know some actors pretty much always play themselves, but because I haven't seen her in much else, I just couldn't
tell if that's simply how she always acts, or if like Malkovich, she
just didn't care and decided to put in zero effort to differentiate this character from her character on "The Bear."
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