""Boring" TV miniseries to watch/listen to while painting?" Topic

I like to throw TV miniseries on while painting. I've got Fall of Eagles, Shogun, Rome, Rome II, Winds of War, War and Rememberance. Can anybody recommend more? Preferably something with a military/political content.

Try The Borgias.
Game of Thrones is problematic, since you have to be on the lookout for fine boobies. But, The Borgias is surprisingly chaste, at least as far as bare boobies are concerned.

North and South Book I and II…

Not the version I saw! The one with all the Czech actresses.

I am talking about the curent one on Showtime. relatively sedate…

Spartacus
Band of Brothers
(these make better vids to paint by for the 2nd viewing and later…)

Also decent old TV series:

* Good quality dramatic content = Combat! (although the episodes that Vic Morrow directed are worth watching closely while not painting -- they're arthouse quality black and white short films)

* Not as top drama as that, but not nearly as cheesy as we remember it = Rat Patrol

Also take a look at DVD's of movies you have seen before. I enjoyed listening to the director/actor commentaries of those movies. If you have access to the web, while you are painting try listening to podcasts. History of Rome was one of my fav's.

Not boring at all, but if you're just going to listen, then "I, Claudius" has some of the most entertaining dialogue ever scripted for a TV series. And it's the dialogue and character interaction that carries this show, not the visuals. All delivered with aplomb by some of Britain's finest thespians.

Great suggestions. I had forgotten about the Borgias. I'm reading The Prince at the moment, and I like to follow themes in reading/listening/viewing.

I also like to listen to audio books. Machiavelli's history of Florence is brilliant. Free audio book here. Lots of other good stuff on this site.

link

Other series to watch – The Walking dead, Deadwood (very good, and very funny in places).

Not sure if you can get these but:

Secret Army
Wings
By the Sword Divided

I've listened to a lot of the BBC Radio 4 In Our Time podcasts. They cover various subjects – religion, culture, science and history – in 45-minute episodes. The only problem is when I put them on and do something else, I keep having to rewind them because I've missed an important detail.

Piece of Cake
Once an Eagle
Danger UXB

Also try radio.macinmind.com for some good old-time radio shows.

I'd go for one of those two gettysburg movies – they are sooo long and with sooo little action that I think they both count as mini series and as dull enough for painting

- not to mention the somewhat inexplicable portrayal of every single person involved to be both moral and righteous at the same time, on both sides. A civil war with no bad guys – how unexpected.

or James Adams – an excellent series, but for a second viewing (as with the above two films) all that dialog about moral convictions – perfect for background chatter while I focus my eyes elsewhere.

far better though, are decent dialog based programs (or radio, as we used to call them).

so the old Powell and Pressburger films are perfect.

Sharpe
Deadwood

Chortle, superb link. I shall try that one in my car.

Not a mini-series or movie, but baseball is nice to have on in the background while painting, and if something exciting happens they will have a replay.

Lately I've been watching Foyle's War while painting. It is about an English Detective investigating murders and other crimes on the South Coast of England during World War II.

I usually have old radio shows on, hopefully matching whatever project I'm working on, the guy I get them from has themed CD's such as the ACW or news broadcasts from 1940 or '44. But sometimes it's just Sam Spade or the Goon Show.

BBC war and Peace if still available – 20 parts – seems like the entire novel word for word. The battle scenes are all pre CGI so they make do with a few hundred a side.

M*A*S*H.

That's it. I give up. I'm buying a PAL-capable all-region DVD player! Thanks guys.

Books on tape from the public radio and Audible.com

That's public "library" not "Radio"

The Blue and the Gray(1982) with Gregory Peck as A Lincoln. The present version deleted some scenes(why, I don't know).

Definitely get the multi-region multi-format DVD player! The basic ones are dirt cheap these days, I got one on the internet for $40 USD and it's working fine!

Still working through quite a stack of Hammer films that hadn't been released on Region 1 discs <3

@Timmo, Now that I have the aforementioned DVD player, I might have to break down and pay the exorbitant cost for By The Sword Divided. Haven't seen those since they were first being shown while I was over there.

The Borgias – get a sick bag ready when the Frenchies fire their chainshot into the Papal army. Great stuff!

By The Sword Divided, The First Churchills, Robin Of Sherwood – if only for the Clanaad soundtrack!

Not Boring but world at War and Ken Burns ACw series would be my favourites

As for Multi Region as far as I know 99% are capable you just need to find the right code

link

I listen to radio often while painting so Ken Burns anything would work, World at War but I would have to look up (not that I haven't seen every episode two dozen times including its first run) because I love the film clips.

The new series on "History" Channel might be useful for background noise. Vikings and The Bible. They're not so good.

< likes the latest series of war and peace … also , Band of Brothers , the Pcific, Gettysburg & Gods and Generals , to name a few