The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

The Jury Miniseries…

The Jury If you have read the other TV and Movie Reviews on the Cozy Mystery site, then you have probably figured out that I only post reviews about shows that I enjoy. Why waste time on the bad when there are so many good? And, The Jury is yet another example of a British miniseries that does not disappoint.

The Jury follows a trial that is a media frenzy. It shows how juries of such “made-for-television-ratings” crimes are affected by the constant barrage of reporters and “looky-loos” who feel that the public’s “need to know” far outweighs the biased agenda that spins uncontrollably…. out of control!

The jury members not only have issues trying to understand the crime, they also have issues in their private lives. This series left me wondering how jury members really relate to the particular crimes they are called to hear and how their different daily moods can affect the outcome of their verdicts.

For you Sir Derek Jacobi fans: he gives yet another great performance. Hopefully a lot of Gerard Butler fans will be attracted to this miniseries and be treated (possibly introduced?!?) to several other exceptional actors.

By the way>>> This is NOT a miniseries for the entire family!

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Manor House Miniseries…

Manor House To those of you who have read some of my other TV & Movie reviews>>> you probably have guessed that It was only a matter of time before I reviewed yet another of Sir Derek Jacobi’s works. Manor House is a departure of sorts, as he is the narrator, not actually one of the stars of the show. But his narration is a true joy to listen to… especially if you’re one of his many fans.

The premise of this six part miniseries: People from 2002 are transplanted back in time – the Edwardian period (early 1900s) – to a manor house in Great Britain. This was a time with vastly differing social classes. Upon entering the grounds of this particular manor house world, the twenty first century inhabitants lost all of their twenty first century technology. YOW! Have we improved our circumstances since then!

For those participants of the televised experiment who were lucky enough to portray (as in LIVE!!!) the aristocratic family>>> bravo for you! For those participants who were “lucky enough” to live the parts of scullery maids, stable boy, butler, cook, ETC>>> YIKES! Times were tough! (I don’t personally know anybody who could survive, let alone flourish, in the life of a scullery maid!) And, of course, as expected, the family living the aristocratic family’s part becomes…. Oops! No spoilers here!

My husband and I enjoyed this show immensely and looked forward to each and every episode. The one big draw back for us: we would have enjoyed spending even more time with the inhabitants of this particular Manor House!

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Halloween Movies Extravaganza!

It’s that time of year again! If you’re anything like me, it’s the time when you start to seek out the old Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff movies>>> to get you in the Halloween mood! And look what I found!!! I am so excited about some of these old movies!

Every year I end up watching the same horror movies from the (+/-) 1940s, and I have yet to tire of them. I know it would be easier to buy or tape the movies, but with this search and seek mode, I get a wider variety of the old scary movies.

Here is a list of the movies that both TCM and AMC are showing this year. I have only included the old movies… not the more recent movies that I cannot sit through… much too realistic/scary for me! (I did notice that AMC is showing a lot of the more modern movies… but they simply aren’t “cozy enough” for me!)

I am going to go right now to set up a few of these movies on my Replay machine (like a TIVO)… Hopefully you will be able to find a movie or two that you want to watch!

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) “48 Hours of Horror”
Friday, October 30: 
Mad Love     6:15 a
The Beast with Five Fingers   7:30 a
I Walked With a Zombie   9:00 a
Curse of the Demon  10:15 a
The Gorgon   12:00 p
Mr. Sardonicus    1:30 p
The Tomb of Ligeia   3:15 p
The Tingler    5:00 p
House of Usher    6:30 p
Dead of Night    8:00 p
Torture Garden   10:00 p
Twice-Told Tales  11:45 p
Kwaidan     2:00 a
Spirits of the Dead   4:45 a
Saturday, October 31:
Tell-Tale Heart    7:00 a
Cat People    7:30 a
Freaks     9:00 a
The Devil Doll    10:15 a
Mark of the Vampire   11:45 a
The Devil Bat    1:00 p
White Zombie    2:15 p
The Body Snatcher   3:30 p
Bedlam     5:00 p
The Ghoul    6:30 p
The Haunted Palace   8:00 p  
Die, Monster, Die!   9:30 p
The Shuttered Room  11:00 p
The Dunwich Horror  12:45 a
Blood Feast    2:30 a

AMC (American Movie Classics)
Saturday, October 25:  
The Curse of Frankenstein  6:15 a 
Son of Frankenstein 8:15 a  
House of Frankenstein 10:30 a  
Sunday, October 26:  
Jack the Ripper 5:00 a
Monday, October 27:
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte 4:00 a
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Invisible Man 6:00 a
Bride of Frankenstein 7:45 a
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 9:30 a
Wednesday, October 29: 
The Mummy’s Hand 6:00 a 
Thursday, October 30:
The Mummy 6:00 a
Friday, October 31:
The Fly 2:30 a
House of Dracula 4:30 a
House of Frankenstein 6:00 a
Horror of Dracula 7:30 a

Favorite Television Shows…

I have a few favorite shows on television which I missed when they first aired. I don’t know how I missed them, other than for the mere fact that they weren’t on any of the three major networks and, because I record everything I watch>>> so that I can skip through the advertisements.

I accidentally taped The Closer one night… and after the first fifteen minutes, I was hooked! Unfortunately, I caught it during a time when the network (TNT) was playing the shows as sort of filler, since they were all repeats, so I was unable to get the shows in their correct order. Which, of course meant that I either had to rent the shows (from the beginning of the series) or buy them.

I like this show so much, that I have given our DVDs to our daughter (22 years old) and she likes them as much as I do. I wonder if it’s because the lead detective is a strong-willed, opinionated woman who has the courage to appear without makeup (anyways that’s what it looks like to us) when the shows call for it, OR if it’s because all of the characters are well-developed, three-dimensional “people,” OR if it’s because the writing is phenomenal, OR because, it’s simply one of the best shows on television!

Anyway, if you have a favorite show that you would like to share with some of us cozy mystery readers>>> please feel free to write about it in a comment, or write me a letter via the website. If you all are anything like I am: tired of the writers’ strike, tired of tired shows, tired of the umpteenth season of the same shows, tired of the different shows that are actually the same show set in different cities>>> Then let’s share some ideas of really good shows!

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