TV: "The Decameron" and "Zero Day"

I am very reluctant to approach TV series, because knowing there are 365 episodes and 7 seasons always feel like a task and most of the time these series visibly loose the steam after a while. However, from time to time I accept an exception, specially if its something like mini-series with limited amount of episodes, at least than I know it will not go forever and I can deal with 7-8 episodes.

The medieval romp "The Decameron" was surprisingly delightful, though it has almost nothing to do with 14th century novel that inspired it - the original by Giovanni Boccaccio was something like a medieval "One Thousand and One Nights" set in plague-ravaged Italy, but instead of stories told by Scheherazade, Boccaccio uses a group of young aristocrats entertaining each other with the stories while isolating from plague in a luxurious countryside villa. In this TV version, there IS a villa whose owner invited some wealthy guests to hide from the plague, but what his guests don't know is that the owner of the house had already died from plague and his servants are just keeping appearances and pretending that he is somewhere on a trip to Venice. The show focuses on the wealthy guests and their interconnections with each other - once they found out the owner is dead, they manipulate and fight each other in order to get their hands on a villa. 

There are many excellent and entertaining characters:

Pampinea (Zosia Mamet) spoiled and arrogant wealthy lady who came to marry the owner of the villa. Once she discovers he is actually dead, she pretends they have quickly been married and in fact she claims to be pregnant in order to inherit the villa.

Misia (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) her loony servant who always fights to protect her mistress and dares anybody to disobey her orders

Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin) another obnoxious nobleman who is totally narcissist and self-absorbed, mostly tolerated because of his wealth and always demanding attention with his hypochondria .

Dioneo (Amar Chadha-Patel) his personal doctor who in reality is nothing but a charlatan and manipulating Tindaro in the background.

Panfilo (Karan Gill) young aristocrat who arrives with his wife, social-climbing and secretly twisting everything in order to get his hands on a villa

Neifile (Lou Gala) his extremely religious wife who has vowed to chastity and later eyeing every man around, as she regrets her promises. 

Filomena (Jessica Plummer) selfish young aristocrat who leaves her sick father alone at home, so she can visit the villa and catch a wealthy husband

Licisca (Tanya Reynolds) her servant who - in a comical twist - exchanges place with Filomena and now pretends to be wealthy lady and real Filomena her servant

Stratilia (Leila Farzad) the villa's cook and mother of a boy who is son of villa's owner, therefore the real owner of the villa

Sirisco (Tony Hale) the main servant of the villa, who buried his master and is pretending that everything is still in order

"Zero Day" had only six episodes and cast to day for: Robert De Niro (in his first ever TV series), Angela Bassett and Lizzy Caplan lead the star-studded show about the retired US president who is investigating a cyberattack. It's all extremely convoluted and complicated, with nods to a very current political atmosphere and squabbling inside the government itself. While people on social media are busy arguing amongst themselves about pronouns and such, real trouble is brewing in the background where heavy hitters are intriguing and planning a coup. It's all very interesting and gripping up to a certain point - there is a very fascinating idea about someone using cyber-weapon from a distance on president's brain - perhaps some wavelength? - which potentially makes him distracted and vulnerable. Unfortunately the show goes on and on without ever resolving this potential weapon and settles on suggesting it was simply stress that De Niro suffered and therefore it was all (literary) just in his head. So after 6 one-hour episodes it all ends up pretty bland and pointless, almost a waste of all this spectacular talent.