Has anyone watched “American Rust” with Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney? I started watching it because it was shot in and around Pittsburgh. (It was going to be shot in Brownsville but that was dropped when Covid delayed shooting for a year.) it’s set in Fayette County and yet in the three episodes I watched the word “yinzer” never was uttered. So much for authenticity.
I just found it excruciatingly slow and boring, despite excellent performances from Daniels and Tierney (accents notwithstanding). I can’t imagine forcing myself to sit through the remaining episodes. “Mare of East town” it ain’t.
Now for the good news: For years, I have been looking desperately to find the Swedish/Danish version of “The Bridge”, the series that spawned the not so good American (FX) version of the same name, the excellent British/French version called “The Tunnel” and the excellent Finnish version (which takes place in Finland and Russia but Finland did not enlist the cooperation of Russia in making it.)
The original, released in 2011, became such an enormous hit all over Europe that viewers demanded more seasons even though it was only intended as a one season show. It was the #1 show in Britain. The creators finally did do 3 more seasons but the second season didn’t get released until 2014-15 because they had to get the entire cast and crew back together as well as write a new story. They ended up doing three more seasons, each 10 one hour episodes except for season 4 which is 8 episodes.
I have been trying to find it for years. It was on German Netflix for a while, but only available there. Finally, I found Season One on Amazon Prime. It was an extra, pay per episode, but I bought it. It was terrific! My internet isn’t very good and is especially weak on Prime, but I downloaded the episodes onto my phone and the cast them to my smart TV. One of the best television programs I ever have seen.
Prime also offered Season 2 and I did the same thing with it. Also terrific. But, no Seasons 3 and 4. I assumed they would be coming and waited.
Then, I discovered that all 4 seasons are available on Apple TV through their add-on subscription to Topic(s). It’s free for 7 days and then $5.95 per month, much cheaper than Prime. If “The Bridge” were an ordinary show I could have finished at least Season 3 during the free trial period. But, it is far too intense to binge. (Topics appears to have some other interesting programming as well.)
I just finished Season 4 on Sunday. I think it was the best of all 4. Seasons 2 and 3 were excellent, but not quite up to the almost-impossibly high standard of Season 1.
All 4 seasons involve serial killings, and almost all of the killings are gruesome (but not seen on screen for the most part). All of the stories are very complex and you will be led down tangents frequently which end up being brick walls. When the crimes finally are solved, they astonishingly make perfect sense. In explaining why the stories are so complex, one of the creators answered that they don’t have many real murders in Denmark or Sweden so they felt free to be wild and creative with these fictional crimes. And, they are.
Like “Unforgotten”, a terrific British series about solving cold cases, it takes a little while (almost a full episode) to get into the flow of each new season. Don’t get discouraged. Just watch it. It’s pretty much as good as television can get!
I just found it excruciatingly slow and boring, despite excellent performances from Daniels and Tierney (accents notwithstanding). I can’t imagine forcing myself to sit through the remaining episodes. “Mare of East town” it ain’t.
Now for the good news: For years, I have been looking desperately to find the Swedish/Danish version of “The Bridge”, the series that spawned the not so good American (FX) version of the same name, the excellent British/French version called “The Tunnel” and the excellent Finnish version (which takes place in Finland and Russia but Finland did not enlist the cooperation of Russia in making it.)
The original, released in 2011, became such an enormous hit all over Europe that viewers demanded more seasons even though it was only intended as a one season show. It was the #1 show in Britain. The creators finally did do 3 more seasons but the second season didn’t get released until 2014-15 because they had to get the entire cast and crew back together as well as write a new story. They ended up doing three more seasons, each 10 one hour episodes except for season 4 which is 8 episodes.
I have been trying to find it for years. It was on German Netflix for a while, but only available there. Finally, I found Season One on Amazon Prime. It was an extra, pay per episode, but I bought it. It was terrific! My internet isn’t very good and is especially weak on Prime, but I downloaded the episodes onto my phone and the cast them to my smart TV. One of the best television programs I ever have seen.
Prime also offered Season 2 and I did the same thing with it. Also terrific. But, no Seasons 3 and 4. I assumed they would be coming and waited.
Then, I discovered that all 4 seasons are available on Apple TV through their add-on subscription to Topic(s). It’s free for 7 days and then $5.95 per month, much cheaper than Prime. If “The Bridge” were an ordinary show I could have finished at least Season 3 during the free trial period. But, it is far too intense to binge. (Topics appears to have some other interesting programming as well.)
I just finished Season 4 on Sunday. I think it was the best of all 4. Seasons 2 and 3 were excellent, but not quite up to the almost-impossibly high standard of Season 1.
All 4 seasons involve serial killings, and almost all of the killings are gruesome (but not seen on screen for the most part). All of the stories are very complex and you will be led down tangents frequently which end up being brick walls. When the crimes finally are solved, they astonishingly make perfect sense. In explaining why the stories are so complex, one of the creators answered that they don’t have many real murders in Denmark or Sweden so they felt free to be wild and creative with these fictional crimes. And, they are.
Like “Unforgotten”, a terrific British series about solving cold cases, it takes a little while (almost a full episode) to get into the flow of each new season. Don’t get discouraged. Just watch it. It’s pretty much as good as television can get!
