Hacker Cinema
The Killing
2011 · TV series · 4 seasons
Created by Veena Sud
The Killing is an American crime drama television series based upon the Danish television series Forbrydelsen. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the various murder investigations by homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder.
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16 comments on Hacker News
I’ve never been there, but the US version of the tv series The Killing is so great and it sure gives a grim impression of the weather.
Not that serial killers are any better on a nice day in pleasant weather.
Danish: I watched The Rain, and Chestnut Man is on my list to watch soon. I'm also interested in Elves and The Killing.
Russian: I loved Road To Calvary and To The Lake, and watched some of Better Than Us and liked it.
German: One of my favorite shows of all time is Babylon Berlin :)
Norwegian: Ragnarok is kinda interesting.
Egyptian: Paranormal is good, and only 5 episodes long.
Spanish: Cathedral of the Sea is interesting, and I loved Ministry of Time - although this one vanished from all online streamings :/
Swedish: The Restaurant is available on Sundance/Star or some other channels. Like Downton Abbey. Just watched a couple episodes, but it was nice
French: Lupin and Les Revenants (The Returned) - although I think the second is not on Netflix now, but somewhere else. Watched it many years ago
Belgium: not fantastic, but Thieves of the Wood is just one season long and enjoyable.
Italian: I liked Curon, although it didn't seem to please too many people, I think?
On my list: Trapped, which is Icelandic.
Cheat: Hinterland - it's made in both English and Welsh
I could go on and on about how great Nordic Noir shows are. They are a refreshing change from the American style of shows. The best are, in order, "Before We Die" (Sweden), "All The Sins" (Sweden), "Broen Bron - The Bridge" (Sweden, Denmark), "Bordertown" (Finland), "Deadwind" (Finland), "Ófærð - Trapped" (Iceland), "Rebecka Martinsson" (Sweden, first season)
I have the Millennium series queued up: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl who played with Fire", "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets"
The only Nordic Noir book I've read is Smilla's Sense of Snow, but I can't recommend.
There are two American Nordic Noir series I recommend: "The Killing", set in Seattle and based on the Danish show "Forbrydelsen." Also "Fargo" the movie and all 4 seasons of the TV series.
It's interesting that that Fargo sensibility that the Cohen Brothers captured so well comes from the Nordic regions. Duluth Minnesota was once called the Helsinki of America.
isn'it a bit of an exaggeration to claim that Netflix is creating a common European culture?
First of all Netflix productions are not great in general, there are a few very good ones, the rest is just mediocre.
Secondly, Netflix is not the only streaming service offering the same content.
Last, but not least, in Europe we have been watching European shows since forever on national and private television networks.
Two of the most popular shows ever in Italy are Fantomas, which is French, and Derrick, a German crime series started in 1974 that lasted ~~14~~ (TYPO! it was 24!) seasons. We've always translated and dubbed foreign content, Netflix hasn't really changed anything in that regard. We also watch a lot of national productions, like for example in Italy Gomorra is very popular and highly rated (there are many others)
European movies in theaters have also been quite popular over the years, it used to be more popular until the 80s, but French cinema for example is still producing great movies (I think everybody knows who Luc Besson is).
The Italian actor Carlo Pedersoli (Bud Spencer) was so popular in Germany that when he died German Post offices released a series of ten stamps as a sign of gratitude and respect.
Besides, some popular American productions are remakes of European content:
Forbydelsen (Danish) -> The killing
~~Humans (Sweden) -> Real humans~~ (not American)
The Returned (France) -> The Returned
Warning: there is a US show "The Killing" that is an adaptation of the original show (originally called "Forbrydelsen"). While the US version initially starts as a shot-by-shot remake, after a few episodes the story diverges quick significantly.
Thanks for the recommendations! I haven't watched many Scandi shows since binging through Borgen, Forbrydelsen (The Killing) and Broen (The Bridge) few years ago. All highly recommended.
I watched a few episodes of The Rain and while it has impressive CGI, the acting is school-play level. The Killing or Borgen though a bit older are much better IMO. Also, while even older, Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom is fantastic tv.
True about the wider demographic, but that has an unarguable correlation with lower quality. A show, book or movie which has something to say (artistically, socially or whatever) will upset someone; by definition the only way to reach a wider demographic is to make something blander or with less to say, so that you minimize the risk of upsetting/disappointing your audience.
This doesn't even apply to arguably good shows like The Killing, whose later Netflix-produced season is so awful it's embarrassing, not because it appealed to a wider demographic -- it was pretty niche -- but simply because it was terrible, badly acted and worse plotted. I've no explanation in this case.
I'm surprised by what people are saying about Bright. I disliked it because it was a bland knockoff of Shadowrun and similar scifi-with-orks-and-elves settings, with weak SFX and an even weaker plot. The commentary about racism -- whether well or badly done -- didn't even factor in my dislike. Bright is indeed a by-the-numbers urban fantasy made to appeal to a wide demographic, with nothing interesting to say about scifi, fantasy or even action. It was quite accurately described by the press as "a movie done with an algorithm". So of course it will likely have a sequel!
I really hope bland shows aren't the future of Netflix, but I fear they will be because they make business sense.
Netflix originals are hit or miss. They make (or take over) some good stuff, like Stranger Things season 1 or Bonus Family, but they also make some embarrassing, awfully bad things, like Bright or Bird Box. Even within the same show they are hit or miss, like when they took over The Killing or Black Mirror. I find there's no correlation between "made by Netflix" and quality.
- The presentation should have to be up to 2018 standards, e.g. not like Project Gutemberg or some relic from the past. Nice photos and illustrations, quotes, etc.
- Leverage the hits: e.g. Joe Nesbo has had his books made into major movies, Uberto Eco is famous worldwide, European TV series have been remade for the US market (e.g. Forbrydelsen -> The Killing), people know Fry and Laurie, and so on. One could promote those works at the first level, point to the originals, and then expand the recommendations of other works by the same authors, and then of similar authors and directors.
- Hijack on the popularity of certain themes in general (even Hollywood-inspired) culture. E.g. the recent remake of "Murder on the Orient Express" (not the best example popularity-wise, but will do for now), could be leveraged to promote works by Agatha Christi(and expand to more European crime fiction writers).
- Build the recommendation engine with a knowledge of mainstream/US/best-selling content as well -- not to promote it, but to let someone say e.g. "I enjoy John Grisham, what EU stuff should I read" and have the system recommended the relevant authors. Or "I enjoy this and this mainstream US comic" and they get a recommendation for some French graphic novel, for example.
- Excerpts and quotes from the works could be used in campaigns in places like Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc to hook people in.
- It could start by building critical mass by appealing to and connecting the European and american more intellectual audiences who already consume these works in some kind of social media for smarties.
- Play into the "hipster" aspect of it, e.g. embrace smart/multi-cultural/open ended, as something cool to be (in an advertising perspective).
- Have content made by featured authors and directors directly for the website,
Some ideas from the top of my head
> If we didn't do that, we'd be completely inundated with American shows flogged off on the cheap
Absolutely. I deleted it from my post, but I was going to mention that on non-primary Australian TV stations that don't have the same content restrictions, we get 2 hours of non-stop Big Bang Theory reruns, or endless repeats of Frasier, Sex And The City, Charmed & Becker.
> What kind of tv show do you consider 'culturally significant'?
Glitch is my favorite recent Australian TV show, started on ABC but apparently Season 2 has been sold as a Netflix exclusive. Back in the 90s it would have been shows like Seachange, Frontline, Kath & Kim. Maybe Offspring & Packed To The Rafters are recent equivalents.
(Outside Australia, I'd think of shows like The Bridge, Springfloden, The Killing & Occupied, that have exported Scandinavian culture onto Australian TV.)
You have a valid point. I've been wondering when they will be forced to clamp down on cross-region browsing. There was already a rumor/story this was impending, some months ago, but it apparently did not come to pass -- yet.
In my case, in particular I'm interested in foreign language content that Netflix will not carry in my region -- even though licensing might be a relative pittance compared to other contracts.
In that vein, while Netflix has been promoting its English language (and transposed to Seattle) remake of "The Killing", the original Danish production is simply stellar and well worth watching, particularly if Scandinoire is your kind of thing. UK Netflix still had the first two seasons up until a few months ago, when they dropped. But, lo, January is here and they are back. Wish they would add the third season, though.
Well I was hooked on Dare Devil, The IT Crowd, House of Cards and Firefly on the first episode, but these shows pander to me beyond just plot, I'm sure you can detect the theme for most of them. I'm sure there is a key point for most shows that most who watch up to that point end up watching the whole thing. BSG I remember took 10-12 episodes before I really got into it, and I only went that far because people wouldn't shut up about how good it was. There are also shows I really liked but either dragged on or I just lost interest in or was just frustrated by the characters (The Killing, Buffy, etc)
So, off the top of my head I can think of these female lead roles who are 'strong' and a whole lot more, including sometimes vulnerable, weak, contradictory and even capricious:
Carrie from Homeland // Sookie from True Blood // Sonya from The Bridge // Sarah from The Killing // Jackie from Nurse Jackie // Tara from United States of Tara
All of those are TV shows, not movies. But I think that is just my own bias, I have a hard time remembering characters in movies because I only get ~90 minutes of exposure, compared to 450-1000 minutes a year with TV.
One point in support of the argument though -- Sucker Punch which was primarily a female cast, had to cut the most pivotal scene in the entire movie where the lead choses sex & death of her mental self rather than fighting because, despite not being explicit, it was the difference between a PG-13 and an R rating.
I think you'll find a bunch of stuff on the pirate bay. Off the top of my head I can think of these Scandinavian shows and movies that are all at least decent if not great:
Trollhunter // The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (trilogy) // Let the Right One In // Cold Prey [Fritt Vilt] (trilogy) // The Bridge [Bron/Broen] 2 seasons // The Killing [Forbrydelsen] 3 seasons // Kon-Tiki // Dead Snow // Headhunters // Easy Money [Snabba Cash] // Norwegian Ninja
When I want to watch content the first thing I do is check to see if it's available to buy on itunes. If it is I pay, if not I go to pirate bay and download it, simple as that. I've just started watching The Killing season 3. I was only introduced to the series a few months back so I bought seasons 1 and then 2. Season 3 isn't available to buy so unfortunately I'm pirating it. To be honest, for the money, I'd rather have it on itunes, I don't have to search for a decent version and I can watch the first episode while it's still streaming. As a bonus it gets added to my 'collection' in itunes.
I'd actually like to reward good content with my money. I've often wondered what would happen if the pirate bay had a tip jar for each download. The money would go to the company that had created the content. Obviously it's complicated, HBO for instance, being tied up in cable contracts, would probably not be able to actually collect the money.
There's lots of talk amongst those who pirate about how they would pay for it if they could. I for one would like to put my money where my mouth is.