Viewing - Chapter Two

I don't know why we're paying for cable. We get the basic 30 channels, and there is absolutely nothing to watch, most of the time. News? radio is enough for that.
Anyway - we rent TV series on dvd and gorge. It's so much better. Some are fluff, some are gruesome, some are pure gold.
The latest is Top Of The Lake - made by Jane Campion (she of the masterpiece The Piano), placed in New Zealand. We're not done with it yet but I can tell you now: the villain is a very very bad man. You want him dead from the get go. The detective is played by Elizabeth Moss, who we know better as Peggy from Mad Men. She's good - beautiful and talented, a pleasure to watch.
We always want a certain amount of quirkiness to hover around the story, and this is provided here by the sure hand of Holly Hunter. She is only a side character - a bit of a witch/sage/cult leader/nutcase, not an essential part of the mystery, but she is such a powerful performer that whenever she makes an appearance, you want her to stay and do more. She provides a layer of positive craziness that makes us hope for the best.

Another worthy series is from Sweden: Annika Bengtzon - a young and very hot looking investigative journalist who gets too deep and personal with her chosen subjects, very bad people who hide their dark side with money and/or glitz. The actress is a true beauty, in the same way Bergman's actresses were beautiful - you can't stop watching them. She gets results, she entices, we grow to like her a lot and we want her to get the bad guys, and she delivers. I admit it is a bit of a fluff, but it's satisfying fluff, and they speak Swedish which makes it exotic, to me.