Tales of the City

Having read all the books several times I was looking forward to this series on Netflix. I'm so glad Olympia Dukakis, Laura Linney, Paul Gross and Barbara Garrick came back. Shame one of the original 'Michael' actors didn't return. The story was ok but hardly resembled the story in the last 3 books that would be appropriate for the passing of time for the characters. Anna's flashback story was a good addition however but the ending was quite underwhelming. I feel that it missed an opportunity to tell the real story of the characters as there was a wealth of story available from 'Michael Tolliver Lives' 'Mary Ann in Autumn' and 'The Days of Anna Madrigal' to make a brilliant season. Shame they got the timing wrong! Michael and Mary Ann should be in their 60s now! It would have sat better if it was set in the late 90s yearly 00s.

Also a shame they didn't keep the original theme music. It would have helped to retain some of the magic of the original. Netflix seem to have aimed the series at a new audience but forgetting the existing fans of the books and first 3 series.

A good watch that filled a rainy day.

We wait now for the next book by Maupin about Mona as he announced on Radio 2 last week.

I was very excited about this new series on Netflix, where love is standing central. Love told in many ways... new love, family love, love for friends. There are quite a lot of characters passing by in a short time, but in some way you get easily connected to their stories and all lead actors try to bring as many depth to their characters as possible. It doesn't want to be pretentious, which I was afraid of. Tales of the City does deliver some great stories. This should be clearly a series which needs more story and episodes to give some characters more space to tell their story. But, it's all heart warming and just the sort of series what we need these days. If your heart isn't made of stone, I'm sure you will melt in a heartbeat.

I was really looking forward to the updated version, as I have seen every episode as it originally aired on PBS. The story-line was great, it was awesome to see the original actors'actresses reprising their iconic roles. Then came "the twins". Absolutely not even needed to be a part of the series. Those characters ruined it for me. I understand that perhaps the creator wanted to include Millennials to introduce the series to a new generation, but OMG, the extreme stereotypes of our youth and their digital habits seem to have gone too far, and the outcome that was in the show was not only extremely annoying but downright ridiculous. And to think I was worried about the stereotypes of the LGBTQ community.

I'm two episodes in, I'm quite enjoying it, but the flaws are glaringly obvious. I'll start with the biggest one and that is the supposed gap in decades that has occurred. I would have much preferred that it was set in the 90s or early 2000s, with the first series being set in the 70s this just doesn't add up for me. I'm finding it hard to move past it and very distracting.

The second flaw is the constant nods and winks to the younger generation and references to Instagram etc. There was an annoying pause in the flower shop when a customer paid for his purchase using his phone. This approach, which I think is intentional, is incredibly obnoxious.

Aside from these criticisms, I'm still a fan of the original material, and I am hopeful it settles down. Laura Linney rocks

I thought this production was done well and was really poignant, although at times the acting was a bit contrived. However, speaking as one who was born and raised in The City, I found this to be very "San Franciscan"... the gay, the straight and the in between. I found myself getting nostalgic and teary eyed, especially with the night scenes from the roof showing North Beach....I could just feel and smell that night air. All in all, enjoyed it.