Miss Marple: The Mirror Cracked From SIde To SIde, 2010 (Grade D)

Director: Tom Shankland
Staring Julia McKenzie, Lindsay Duncan; Gene Goodman

sea says: this is part of a Masterpiece Theater MYSTERY SERIES..and it is exactly what you would expect as such--great production values, settings, costumes, acting are all first rate. .. but I just can't get involved in Agatha Christy stories.they seem so, so,,well so tepid. not not--not cold--just flat. So I doubt that anyone could make one that I'd like--SPOILER ALERT- read no further if you don't want to know the who done it --  This one is about a Movie Star, who got the measles when she was pregnant, and thus her child was born damaged -- in an off-chance encounter she meets the person who exposed her to the measles --and so she goes on a murdering spree.  Then, her husband kills her so she won;t have to suffer any more  (Grade D)

Crime Story, 1986 (grade F)

sez says: I thought this old series might be good -- It has some good names associated with it .... for instance Michael Mann directed some of the shows and Miles Davis is listed as one of the actors.. but --SOOOORRRYY--it is not any good. The best part are the clothes and sets. You see some pretty spectacular furniture and set props  (I am not kidding--it has really cool stuff and a nice look) but the stories are stupid and while I thought it was possible that the acting was intentionality kitsch--my partner in Crime argued it was just BAD. Aany we stopped watching about a 1/3 the way through the series --it is was not a hard decision to say enough of this. (Grade F)

WILD PALMS, 1993 (Grade F)

Six episodes starring James Belushi; Angie Dickinson; David Warner; Bob Gunton; Nick Mancuso; Robert Morse; Ben Savage; Kim Cattrall; Dana Delany; Brad Dourif; Charles Hallahan; Robert Loggia
Bebe Neuwirth.

sez says: this 6 episode series started off looking interesting. The costumes were inspired the sets stylish, the dialogue snappy.  But it descended rapidly into schwarmy trash.  The story is about 'bad guys' trying to take over the world via 3-D TV, tied to a pseudo-religious group that would keep people from thinking--as this 3-D virtual (aka false) world would replaced the good real word.   But before long gratuitous violence and unwieldy story twists takes the whole thing out on a limb that it never gets back from.. So it ends with some trite material saying all that matters is family.  Sure family matters--but that is a dud of an ending for what started out looking like a smart and slightly off kilter-artsy show.
I am warning you: Don't bother with this -- if you watch the first episode you will think -- "this is interesting", than you'll find the second episode slips a little but you figure its worth checking out the third episode, which drops off just a little bit further.  By the time you get to the 5th episode you realize you are lost but you'll  feel obligated to watch the 6th.  At that point you get to see not just the story but the acting fall  to pieces. Then you'll remember you were warned to not get started with this one. (Grade F)