3 miniseries that we sampled: Marcella, Sneaky Pete, Chef's Table

Some notes on a couple of miniseries we've dipped into but probably won't pursue any further. First, the Netflix series Marcella - yet another story about a woman who's a supersleuth police detective, in this case the eponymous Marcella who's drawn back into the force after several years on leave to help with an investigation of a series of murders - at the same time that he marriage is breaking up, etc. The writing and acting are OK at best, but this ground feels so familiar, specially after we've just finished with the mostly excellent series The Fall. If a detective is really supposed to be such a great sleuth, at least let them figure things out in a smart way over time - in other words, let them do the work, not the screenwriter. One example: M and another cop are interviewing a potential witness and M. pulls a snapshot from the refrigerator that just happens to be a photo of the prime suspect. That's the kind of stupid writing - and in this case along with a series of cartoon bullies in a family-owned construction company that's trying to cheat the City of London on a project. Nothing in this show feels authentic. Slightly better is the Amazon series Sneaky Pete, about a con man (Gregory Ribasi) who gets out of prison and poses as his former cell mate, visiting the family as the long-lost cousin they haven't seen in 20 years (they seem to accept this); what's better about SP is that it's clearly a comedy and we're not meant to question the probability or likelihood of any of the action. What's not so good is that it really isn't all that funny or interesting - despite Bryan Cranston's best efforts as a mob leader running a gambling operation. One episode was fine, two seemed too much - they maybe should have re-thought this as a movie. In desperation, we reverted to Season 2 of Chef's Table (Netflix), for a fix on exotic and traditional Mexican food - a good show for the visuals if nothing else, but at 60 minutes seemed too long and redundant - these episodes should be 30 minutes (as in Season 1, if I remember correctly) - give us a taste of the food, don't engorge us.