csdcsdcsd2003

My husband and I love nature shows - we haven't seen any in quite a while so we were happy to find this Tom Hanks narration of The Americas. What I don't understand is the order of subjects - we start along the East Coast and then swing all the way down to Mexico . . . And then back up to the Great Plains. Although I'm not complaining because the images are wonderful and explanations are clear. I just love watching feisty male blue Mexican bees gathering "cologne" from gorgeous orchids to attract a mate and spread pollen - who knew there were such creatures? It always puzzles me how camera work is done in such tiny obscure locations such as 9 feet underground to view unusual desert ants sucking watery nectar from living ant-balloons.

I usually don't watch network TV (mostly Euro/British shows for me including 24 hr French tv but unfortunately not the carrier of the French original of High Potential though I looked at film clips of it on YouTube; also, I'm a huge fan of mysteries and true crime documentaries). ~ I happened on an intriguing trailer of Kaitlin Olson as Morgan and so just finished viewing all 13 episodes; so far so good but who has to replace a carburetor these days unless the car is classic which Morgan's is not? Lots of small incorrect details like this bothered me throughout. I also avoid Single Mom stories, especially not in police procedurals - Morgan has a house full of kids, very distracting, especially here where the premise of each murder, back at the station, is explained in a breathless rush every episode. I like the cast with one exception, the eldest child. Daniel Sunjata is very very good. ~ I couldn't understand why someone as precise as Morgan (a cleaning lady of all things) could live in such an sloppy house nor why she resembles a 70s street walker in every scene. ~ What kept me watching was the trivia Morgan explains, including stunning images (like House, with films of for-real medical matters). Morgan relies on the father of her children to baby-sit but from the first we learn there is more than one father. ~~ When LA was plagued by fires and floods early this year, I wondered how filming shows like this would continue. Hope everyone is okay.

Stellan Skarsgard gives a remarkable, tireless performance as River, an seasoned homicide investigator who relentlessly tracks down the truth about who shot dead his younger female coworker Stevie on a dark London street. It has been said that murder victims won't rest in peace until their killers are brought to justice, and so ghostly Stevie swirls about River throughout this 6-part drama. All right, River has been around for 10 years already but I've only managed to see it thanks to my subscription to BritBox. Very nice, including the always charming Lesley Manville as River's petite boss. It is quite amusing to see how the towering River is forever being cowed by women, living and dead, throughout this fascinating mystery series. My only problem with the premise is that the dead interact a lot with the living - there are many such tv series such as the French series about a coroner haunted by his murdered fiancee. I enjoyed all the cast, including Adeel Akhtar, the hard working cop who replaces Stevie on the police force. And the visuals are stunning: night time filming of glittering London and the stylish apartment where River hallucinates in peace (sort of). Worth a second viewing.