The TV Discussion Thread

[Mara]

How much fun is Tom Hollander?

He was fantastic in this. He does best with parts that let him have a smarmy charm.

EDIT: No major spoilers but this is after seeing all six episodes.

Overall, I'm not sure how I felt about The Night Manager. There were enough great elements that it's worth watching, but plenty of other elements I found frustrating. You can't fault the cast, though-- everyone was perfect. Olivia Coleman was stupendous. And the last two or so hours were pretty thrilling.

But.... but. There was not enough story to stretch over six hours, not by a long shot. There were long stretches of nothing in particular happening.

Also, there's a reason why most spy stories have a trained spy as the lead character; because untrained people make terrible spies. Jonathan does almost no spy work for the entirety of the story; he is passive passive passive. Most of the time he hangs around silently waiting for seven-year-old children to tell him how to break into secure rooms, or essential strangers confess their marital problems (with a side bonus of What Illegal Crap my Husband is Doing) to him. He is told he will have to behave like "the worst person in the world" in order to fit into Roper's world but we mostly see him swimming, dancing, eating ice cream, being polite to people, and smoothing over misunderstandings. Oh, and lurking... he lurks a lot.

I know Hiddleston is brimming with charm but I just wasn't seeing it in this character. His butt looked great in the butt shots, but other than that pretty much anyone could have played this part.

Roper fares a little bit better, because although he is repeatedly called "the worst person in the world" for 80% of the running time he's just chilling at the beach, playing with his kid, and having gentle domestic squabbles. Laurie, though, can really bring just the slightest hint of menace to these proceedings, and his gradual moral strip-tease into a villain plays out beautifully. Plus, we keep seeing clips of what I assume was his TED talk on "How to Be Evil" and that is amusing to me.

My final impression was kind of that I couldn't understand why so much time, money, and talent was thrown at a story this slight. Not that it was bad, I just felt like it could have been better.

[Mara]

Totally just found out that AMC cut Hiddleston's butt out of their broadcast. WHAT GRIM DYSTOPIAN OLIGARCHY IS THIS

[Winston*]

I definitely liked it more than you but my ultimate impression was less positive than I was earlier in the thread. The Egypt-Switzerland-Spain build up is much more compelling than the follow through. It builds up the impression of a complexity that it doesn't really deliver on. There's not much to reveal with these characters. Roper is just an oblivious bad guy, the love interest is just uncontrollably in love with Hiddleston etc.

Speaking of spy things, watched the first two episodes of The Americans season 3 last night. There's a death and aftermath in the second episode that is one of more viscerally shocking things I've seen on TV in ages, and I watched the Red Wedding this week. Jesus.

[Mara]

Speaking of spy things, watched the first two episodes of The Americans season 3 last night. There's a death and aftermath in the second episode that is one of more viscerally shocking things I've seen on TV in ages, and I watched the Red Wedding this week. Jesus.

Suitcase?

*googles*

Yeah... suitcase

[Winston*]

For the record I thought it was an intelligent use of shock. I don't feel that way about the Red Wedding,

[dreamdead]

Re: The Night Manager. We're watching through AMC, so we've still got the final two episodes left. Thus far it's engaging enough despite being relatively flat in terms of character development. It's biggest strength is some solid and consistent filming courtesy of Bier's direction. Each character has their one trait that identifies them--Hollander and Coleman are the best here simply because they get a few additional shades with which to work.

The blonde love interest is super-silly. After diverging from the love interest trope at the beginning of the episode, the Hiddlebutt (lame expurgating, AMC) sequence just comes across as Sub-Bondian silliness, and it does little to advance either her or Hiddleston's character, and so it seems utterly needless.

This series, then, basically exists to remind me to return to Rev, which we've abandoned midway through the second season.

[Mara]

For the record I thought it was an intelligent use of shock. I don't feel that way about the Red Wedding,

It was horrifying, but it served the story well. It also set up what I thought was an emotional gut-punch that I still think about:

Later, when Phillip tells Elizabeth that he doesn't want to raise Paige to put people in suitcases... or to end up in a suitcase. Elizabeth responds viscerally to this, as do we as the audience, but someone needed to say out loud that this is what was risked by bringing Paige into the game. I think it's also an important character moment to divide Elizabeth from Phillip; she can put a person into a suitcase and disassociate and compartmentalize that action, while he can't help thinking that this girl is someone's daughter.

[Mara]

The blonde love interest is super-silly.

I thought the actress was ill-served by the character. She has an open, expressive face and her physicality is interesting. I'd like to see her in other roles. (Also, she's extremely tall and I always admire that.)

[amberlita]

He was fantastic in this. He does best with parts that let him have a smarmy charm.

EDIT: No major spoilers but this is after seeing all six episodes.

Overall, I'm not sure how I felt about The Night Manager. There were enough great elements that it's worth watching, but plenty of other elements I found frustrating. You can't fault the cast, though-- everyone was perfect. Olivia Coleman was stupendous. And the last two or so hours were pretty thrilling.

But.... but. There was not enough story to stretch over six hours, not by a long shot. There were long stretches of nothing in particular happening.

Also, there's a reason why most spy stories have a trained spy as the lead character; because untrained people make terrible spies. Jonathan does almost no spy work for the entirety of the story; he is passive passive passive. Most of the time he hangs around silently waiting for seven-year-old children to tell him how to break into secure rooms, or essential strangers confess their marital problems (with a side bonus of What Illegal Crap my Husband is Doing) to him. He is told he will have to behave like "the worst person in the world" in order to fit into Roper's world but we mostly see him swimming, dancing, eating ice cream, being polite to people, and smoothing over misunderstandings. Oh, and lurking... he lurks a lot.

I know Hiddleston is brimming with charm but I just wasn't seeing it in this character. His butt looked great in the butt shots, but other than that pretty much anyone could have played this part.

Roper fares a little bit better, because although he is repeatedly called "the worst person in the world" for 80% of the running time he's just chilling at the beach, playing with his kid, and having gentle domestic squabbles. Laurie, though, can really bring just the slightest hint of menace to these proceedings, and his gradual moral strip-tease into a villain plays out beautifully. Plus, we keep seeing clips of what I assume was his TED talk on "How to Be Evil" and that is amusing to me.

My final impression was kind of that I couldn't understand why so much time, money, and talent was thrown at a story this slight. Not that it was bad, I just felt like it could have been better.

God this is so on point. I'm also watching via AMC so just 4 eps in but this sums it up. I like watching it, but it's so damn limp in story and emotion. Plus I still don't fully believe the main character has any good motivation to be doing any of this.

[Henry Gale]

Wow, ABC is really cleaning house. The following were cancelled there today:

- Agent Carter
- Galavant
- The Muppets (The plan was to significantly re-tool next year, and it got better from what I saw after the mid-season break showrunner switch. Oh well.)
- Castle (Katic was leaving, and I guess they didn't see the point in continuing.)
- Nashville

[Mara]

- Agent Carter
- Galavant


I'm not surprised, but I'm not happy.

[Mara]

They pulled the plug on the S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff, too.

[Henry Gale]

- Agent Carter
- Galavant


I'm not surprised, but I'm not happy.

I'm sure there are more complicatedly tangled rights-related roadblocks than I'll reduce it to with such an easy answer, but I really think if those two shows just got beamed up by Netflix ‒ even just the existing seasons ‒ they'd flourish.

Especially to the relatively uninitiated with it, Agent Carter would naturally seem like it's just the next in line of their big Netflix/Marvel shows. One with actual characters from the movies!

EDIT: Congrats on the palindromic post count, Mara! (16661)

[Winston*]

The Grinder was also cancelled. Bummer. That show is great.

[number8]

They pulled the plug on the S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff, too.

This is a good thing, though. Bring Bobbi and Hunter back to the team. That departure was dumb anyway.

[number8]

OMG.

730903848987054081

730905487433207808

[Mara]

WHAT THE WHAT

Sarah Polley is filming a miniseries of Alias Grace: https://popgoesthenews.com/2016/05/13/sarah-polley-making-alias-grace-in-toronto/

It is a good time to be an Atwood fan. The Blind Assassin is still available, folks.

[number8]

I didn't think this was still happening, but yup, looks like SyFy is ordering this to series.

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2016/05/kryptonlogo-1280jpg-886949_1280w-720x405.jpg

(It's a sci-fi drama set on Krypton that follows Superman's grandpa)

[number8]

I think this, more than any other announced projects, is the one that finally made me think that they need to cool it on the Marvel and DC shows.

[Irish]

The CW will have a comic book show leading four of five nights (Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, Legends).

Crazy Ex-G has been kicked to Friday's at 9, because that will oh so totally improve its ratings.

:|

[Russ]

Since we don't yet have a 2017 TV series thread yet, I'll just share this here:

Fargo Season 3 casting news (http://deadline.com/2016/05/ewan-mcgregor-cast-lead-fargo-fx-1201760430/): Ewan McGregor is set to be the lead, and he'll be playing twins.

Man, I love that show!

[dreamdead]

Classes have ended and the move to Georgia doesn't happen for another few weeks, so it's been TV time. First up, Hannibal. Season one is so good--so detailed in its framing and build-up, and the cast constantly delivers. Can't wait for the next two seasons to wallop me even more.

[Morris Schæffer]

Since we don't yet have a 2017 TV series thread yet, I'll just share this here:

Fargo Season 3 casting news (http://deadline.com/2016/05/ewan-mcgregor-cast-lead-fargo-fx-1201760430/): Ewan McGregor is set to be the lead, and he'll be playing twins.

Man, I love that show!

Came to post this. Great news!

[dreamdead]

Aw man, Beverly's out from Hannibal season 2. Episode four, aka the Bee episode with Amanda Palmer, was mad good. The opening scene with the lure, with the overarching motif of fishing and conning, became a perfect grounding of how Hannibal is playing with Beverly even as Will Graham counsels her to not trust Hannibal.

That closing sequence, where the lights go on in the basement. So. Good.

[Mara]

The Americans will run for two more seasons, and then end.

http://deadline.com/2016/05/the-americans-end-run-2-season-renewal-fx-seasons-5-6-1201762485/

That seems... about correct. This is exactly the sort of show that needs an end date to tie up all its threads, and I don't think we could do that in a single year. I can emotionally handle two more years.

[Mara]

Also, an open note to Outlander: [Should warn vague SPOILERS for most recent episode]

There is no conceivable reason to ever show us, as the audience, a visual depiction of a child being raped. You're better than that.

Don't be an asshole.

Sincerely, Your Viewers

[Mara]

People think Hiddleston should play Bond?

Hiddleston shouldn't play Bond. Don't be ridiculous.

Hiddleston should play Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet, in a high-gloss BBC miniseries remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel; FIGHT ME.

[number8]

I'm really into the fact that Gillian Anderson said she wants to do it.

[Mara]

I'm really into the fact that Gillian Anderson said she wants to do it.

We're so close, 8. So. Close. (http://www.avclub.com/article/james-bonds-nipples-erect-no-fucking-reason-gender-236609)

[dreamdead]

Guys. Guys. Why didn't you all tell me how good Hannibal was? Forgive the fact that multiple people totally told me how good Hannibal was. Season two was just as absurdly beautiful in all of the right kind of horror ways, and the finale of season two is just great set-up of cliffhanger moments, where everyone is bloody, bruised, and tempting me to mainline season 3 even faster. We're moving to Georgia at the end of the week and it seems that Georgia's library system is impeccable in interlibrary loans, so we're gonna have to wait out one agonizing week before continuing it since Amazon doesn't appear to be adding it to Prime anytime...

[Mara]

Season 3 is next-level amazing. It did the "We're probably getting cancelled anyway; let's stop taking it easy" thing.

Oooh, I need to rewatch it.

[Winston*]

Anyone's watching Lady Dynamite on Netflix? It's great. Been a fan of Maria Bamford for a decade and the fusion of her comedic voice with Arrested Development style meta-ness works surprisingly well.

[Henry Gale]

Hannibal was easily my favourite drama on TV and having loved it so much, watching as it aired week to week from Season 2 on, once it truly started to sink in that it was ending I unintentionally stopped watching and kept the rest of the episodes for myself later. But I'm finally finishing Season 3, having just watched maybe the most stunningly horrific episode of the whole thing for exactly one element (the pig), and officially moving my way into the Red Dragon arc with the next one.


Anyone's watching Lady Dynamite on Netflix? It's great. Been a fan of Maria Bamford for a decade and the fusion of her comedic voice with Arrested Development style meta-ness works surprisingly well.

Very unintentionally similar deal with me and Hannibal, but the first episode of it was so amazing I kind of want to just re-watch that and save all the others. Every scene felt like it was from a different series nevermind a different episode, in the absolute greatest way. Everything with Patton pulling her aside out of the scenes to stop her from falling into convention was incredible.

And holy shit Fred Melamed. After popping into this season of New Girl but absolutely not enough, his scenes killed me. Even stuff outside of him that his character just has, like the same picture of Andy Kindler framed twice in his office.

[Mara]

And holy shit Fred Melamed. After popping into this season of New Girl but absolutely not enough, his scenes killed me. Even stuff outside of him that his character just has, like the same picture of Andy Kindler framed twice in his office.

He was great in Casual (on Hulu) last season. In fact, that whole season was under-watched and under-appreciated. You all should go watch it.

Um... Eliza Coupe is naked in it. (This is true, but I am also trying to sneakily get you all to watch it.)

[Mara]

Also, Peaky Blinders season 3 is on Netflix now.

[number8]

Oh, you mean Pee-eeh Bwine-durst?

[Mara]

It's midnight. Literally just woke up and thought "I FORGOT THE CUTTIES"

Thread will go up tomorrow.

[Mara]

Oh, you mean Pee-eeh Bwine-durst?

If it wasn't for subtitles I wouldn't have understood a single word Tom Hardy muttered last season.

[number8]

If it wasn't for subtitles I wouldn't have understood a single word Tom Hardy muttered last season.

I read from the showrunner that the reason why so little of British television is set around the Birmingham area is the accents. No one wants to do it. But he's from there, so he was determined to get Brummies represented.

[number8]

I thought I wasn't gonna be surprised by any comic book adaptations anymore, but I was wrong. I can honestly say I never expected the announcement of an adult-oriented cable drama about Legion from the X-Men, written by the showrunner of Fargo. How did this even happen. And it stars Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza? What the hell.

[number8]

Anyone else watching The Girlfriend Experience on STARZ? Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color) directed half the episodes. I'm just five episodes in. I liked Soderbergh's film, but I think this is better. Operates similarly as a mood-piece, but I think the long-form narrative is a better format for this. Also, the lead actress here is much stronger than Grey, and I think the parallels to capitalism are more focused. Definitely a slow-burn though.

I'm finally diving into this. Decided to also comment after 5 episodes in, ha. I agree with all of these. It's weird how it's simultaneously warmer and colder than the film: Not being so tied to real world finance and introducing elements of corporate espionage makes the environment more dramatic and accessible, but at the same time the characters and relationships are portrayed to be even more distant and duplicitous to an almost eerie level of iciness.

Seimetz's Sun Don't Shine is one of my favorite directorial debuts in a long time, and this is a rather interesting move for her to do. She shoots the sexuality and business transactions like she did mystery in that film. It's almost even more of a mood piece than Soderbergh's version, although that may change in the second half of the season if the P-L-O-T ramps up.

[Mara]

I wasn't sure about Lady Dynamite at first-- I admired it but found it a little too scattered and inaccessible but now a few episodes in I'm grooving on it.

EDIT: I just spent four episodes thinking that Ana Gasteyer was Kathryn Hahn and now I question everything.

[Ezee E]

I thought I wasn't gonna be surprised by any comic book adaptations anymore, but I was wrong. I can honestly say I never expected the announcement of an adult-oriented cable drama about Legion from the X-Men, written by the showrunner of Fargo. How did this even happen. And it stars Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza? What the hell.

Aubrey Plaza? haha.

Really afraid that someone as talented as her will forever just get supporting and mini-roles.

[Winston*]

Feels like they've amped up the cynicism based on the first episode of the second season of Unreal. I liked how Chet when on a vision quest in between seasons and came back even more misogynistic.

Don't know where they're going with the 'terrorist'. It seems bad.

[number8]

Jesus, I haven't started, but I can't imagine getting more cynical than that first season. I couldn't even binge watch more than two episodes at a time because it's so pessimistic about humanity.

[DavidSeven]

I'm finally diving into this. Decided to also comment after 5 episodes in, ha. I agree with all of these. It's weird how it's simultaneously warmer and colder than the film: Not being so tied to real world finance and introducing elements of corporate espionage makes the environment more dramatic and accessible, but at the same time the characters and relationships are portrayed to be even more distant and duplicitous to an almost eerie level of iciness.

Seimetz's Sun Don't Shine is one of my favorite directorial debuts in a long time, and this is a rather interesting move for her to do. She shoots the sexuality and business transactions like she did mystery in that film. It's almost even more of a mood piece than Soderbergh's version, although that may change in the second half of the season if the P-L-O-T ramps up.

I'll be interested to know your thoughts on the rest. The plot elements definitely ramp up at spots, but the show floats back down to its moody, dream-like foundation pretty quickly every time it does. I thought it was completely absorbing to the very end, though perhaps not entirely satisfying in the conventional sense. Hopefully, it's not a one-and-done type deal. I'm up for more.

[Mara]

Feels like they've amped up the cynicism based on the first episode of the second season of Unreal. I liked how Chet when on a vision quest in between seasons and came back even more misogynistic.


It's pretty dark, but I'm not sure if it's darker than last year.

I liked the premiere, but I'm a little concerned about the dynamic between Quinn and Rachel. Some scenes were great, like when Rachel lets her vulnerability through with her "We're not like that; you have my back" moment. She's still not sure if their moment of emotional honesty at the end of the last season changed things or was just a fluke of timing.

What I don't want to see is Quinn turn into Chet and Rachel turn into Quinn. If Rachel has abandoned her conscience and morals in favor of power, full stop, then that drains all the tension straight out of the relationship. The corruption of Madison is an interesting turn, though.

As for the men, whoo boy. Jeremy was always boring; now he's hateful. Chet was always awful, but now that he has a sense of purpose and is sober he's outright dangerous. (The actor looks great, btw.) And I like that Jay is the person showing some morals, as that makes sense with his arc last season where he tried to be bad but was terrible at it.

[Peng]

I don't think it's more cynical that last season. Maybe it's just that last season has to introduce the world so it ramps up the bile later on. This season starts out full-on toxic carrying over from last one's finale.

Other characters have done more damage, but Jeremy's false sense of smug righteousness is sooooo bad.

[Winston*]

I don't feel like the first season was quite as cynical as you imply. There were definitely some optimistic notes: the coming out plot line comes to mind. And I feel you mostly were supposed to empathise with Rachel.

Even in the final there was that "I love you" moment and Anna being able to leave the show with dignity .

[Sycophant]

Black-ish is probably the funniest, best live-action sitcom since Community. I've just joined it in the second season (the first season is frustratingly not available on Hulu), but I'm rather in love with it. Subplots with the kids sometimes play a little thin. But the performances of the leads and adult secondary characters are consistently fantastic. The jokes are rapid fire and yet so many of them land. It deftly loads critiques of social problems and oppression in ways that feel appropriately confrontational without ever crossing the line into sanctimonious preaching. And perhaps its greatest accomplishment is the redemption of the family sitcom by allowing its characters to fully inhabit their anxieties and insecurities about their roles in the family and culture at large.

(Still not through the entirely of the second season, but I'm at the point where Wanda Sykes seems to have joined as a recurring character, and she's a perfect fit for the show)

[Mara]

Lady Dynamite was more interesting-funny than laugh-out-loud funny, if you know what I mean, but that all changed when Bert picked up a guitar and started singing.

[Mara]

Lady Dynamite was more interesting-funny than laugh-out-loud funny, if you know what I mean, but that all changed when Bert picked up a guitar and started singing.

My roommate (who just lost her mother) was sad and tired last night so I showed her the Bert-singing scene and she laughed and laughed.

Bert: healer of broken hearts.

[Peng]

Finished Season 2 of Person of Interest. Never knew how much I need Amy Acker and Michael Emerson acting the hell out of each other in my life so much. "Revelance" melts my brain in its awesomeness, and then the final two episodes are so tantalizingly heart-pounding. My second favorite procedural ever after The Good Wife now.

[Mara]

Peaky Blinders is still good, but I'm feeling less of a return on investment than I used to. Season 1 was terrific, season 2 was good, and season 3 is more of the same. It may sound strange to say this about a show that tries so hard to make us gasp (brutal beatdowns! train explosions! orgies with exiled Russian aristocrats!) but it feels like it is playing things pretty safe.

[Mara]

Aaaaaand Mr. Robot season 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime in time for you to get caught up before season 2 (or the Cutties.)

[Mara]

Bert: healer of broken hearts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/640.jpg
I've watched this about six times now.

[Mara]

The funniest parts of that scene, upon multiple re-watches:

1. Obviously, Bert's paw is a puppet paw when he picks up his guitar. However, when Maria picks up her guitar, it's actually a mannequin hand reaching down.

2. During one part of the song, the doggie playing Bert gives a huge yawn.

3. Maria doesn't even pretend to play her guitar. Her hands kind of float around aimlessly.

4. Bubbles

5. Sometimes you can see the pillows behind Bert moving a little as the puppeteer moves his paws around.

6. The doggie playing Bert is so freaking happy during the entire scene. At the end Maria reaches for him and he's like "YES I GET LOVE."

[number8]

So Mary Elizabeth Winstead apparently got a show on CBS with a goofy premise and I think I'll watch it?

http://www.avclub.com/review/cbs-political-satire-braindead-defiesand-embracesi-237963

[Mara]

So I had heard that the new season of Orange is the New Black was good, but I wasn't prepared for how good. After the revolutionary first season, the next two seasons were really just sort of more of the same. The show didn't really go anywhere. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel fresh and Innovative anymore. But this new season really put me through the wringer this weekend. It might be the strongest season to date. I'm completely invested again. It finally feels like they're playing with live ammunition for the first time.

[Sycophant]

So I had heard that the new season of Orange is the New Black was good, but I wasn't prepared for how good. After the revolutionary first season, the next two seasons were really just sort of more of the same. The show didn't really go anywhere. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel fresh and Innovative anymore. But this new season really put me through the wringer this weekend. It might be the strongest season to date. I'm completely invested again. It finally feels like they're playing with live ammunition for the first time.

I don't know what to do about this (really good) news. My girlfriend and I abandoned ship a few episodes into season 3. Do you think we need to slog through the last seven episodes of it to get on board with season 4?

[amberlita]

I don't know what to do about this (really good) news. My girlfriend and I abandoned ship a few episodes into season 3. Do you think we need to slog through the last seven episodes of it to get on board with season 4?

Same, minus the girlfriend. I'd love an answer to this question too.

[Mara]

Ehhhh season 3 was pretty disposable overall. I might recommend reading the synopsis on Wikipedia and/or watching the final episode of that season, which had some interesting imagery/setup for season 4.

[Henry Gale]

Um, wow. Westworld might actually be worth its long wait.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3u0IlBBO4

Looks absolutely gorgeous. From the look of it, it might even be one of the few current things (especially new things) on TV shot on 35mm?

[number8]

Yeah, it looks less like the original movie and more like Blade Runner meets Deadwood. That is a combination I can get behind.

[number8]

Bad news for Hulu subscribers, good news for Netflix subscribers. (http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/netflix-cw-output-deal-the-flash-hulu-1201799176/)

Essentially, Hulu will soon no longer have CW shows on it. Instead, Netflix will put up full seasons of CW shows only two weeks after the season ends.

90% of my Hulu use are Criterion movies and CW shows, so I guess I'm closing my account later this year.

[Mara]

Rami Malek's face is Good.

But his eyes are Really Really Good.

(Rewatching Mr. Robot for Cuttie reasons.)

[dreamdead]

After marathoning Hannibal last month, we've moved onto Outlander. There are some weak tropes in the first season, namely the tired betrayed woman sentiment that Laoghaire exhibits, but the show generally masks over those flaws by having a strong rapport between Claire and Jamie. We've finished episode 11, which seems to indicate (and IMDB backs this up) the end of Geillis, which is unfortunate since Lotte Verbeek's portrayal functioned as such a contemporary parallel for Claire's actions even before the reveal.

At this rate, we'll be adding Starz onto our Prime account and able to consider season 2 for the Matchies. W00t!

[Mara]

This rewatch of Mr. Robot has been really rewarding. It's a show with problems, but also has strong assets that make up the difference.

For me, here are the three things that I have to just kind of accept in order to enjoy the show (all of which I think could be fixable in the second season):

1. The worldview of the show is really simplistic. Corporations are bad, people are good. There's very little nuance.
2. Several plot points are derivative, and a couple are stolen verbatim from the same source. I mean... come on.
3. The character of Tyrell Wellick is so broad that I have trouble with every scene he's in. Every other character has dimensions and shading. His wife, for example, has a lot of the same qualities but she's far more intriguing.

The good:

1. Most of the cast is good, and Rami Malek is outstanding. This last year of television has really had lots of characters with mental illness, but his twitchy, awkward, glassy performance is something else. This is a character ill enough that nobody in his life can have an interaction with him without realizing how off he is even in his best moments.
2. Without being slick or stylish, the show has a really defined and unique look. You wouldn't mistake a frame of this show for anything else on television.
3. It's hard to pull off an unreliable narrator in a visual medium, but this really succeeds. Watching the show for the second time with a better idea of how much / how little I can trust Elliot's perception of what is happening was great.
4. Many serialized tv shows struggle with keeping enough secrets to keep you invested, but giving out enough information to keep you interested. This show does a good job of answering a question before you're bored, while raising three new mysteries at the same time. There's stuff I really want to know in the new season.

[Acapelli]

So Mary Elizabeth Winstead apparently got a show on CBS with a goofy premise and I think I'll watch it?

http://www.avclub.com/review/cbs-political-satire-braindead-defiesand-embracesi-237963
this is incredibly entertaining

also, if you don't mind getting spoiled for episode 1, i'm surprised how much i like the previously on recaps, which are done in the form of a song:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfLNwndVfKM

[Henry Gale]

I don't imagine very many of you frequently watch John Krasinski & Stephen Merchant's inexplicably savvy way of turning their Lip Sync Battle bit from Fallon into its own Spike TV show, but as much as it's very superfluous and corny, if the celebrities battling are people I like enough -- Broad City gals, the cast of The Night Before, Alison Brie & Will Arnett, Clark Gregg & Hayley Atwell, Jim Rash & Joel McHale -- then I am definitely watching it and enjoy myself.

But a recent episode managed their most baffling but beautiful match-up ever: Rachel Bloom vs......... Michael Shannon.

Shannon was as game, awkward and adorable as you hope he would be. They even included a clip of him meeting John Legend backstage, in which he immediately excitedly mumbled, "Ah, yeah, you did MC Hammer!"

If you can find the full episode, I weirdly recommend it. There's no clips full enough on YouTube to really showcase the lovely weirdness of it all, but here's something that highlights the ending and post-show reactions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edg54XjA8rc), if you don't mind getting spoiled (lol).

http://cdanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Michael-Shannon-Ends-the-World-for-Rachel-Bloom-on-Lip-Sync-Battle-RECAP.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/06/17/06/3561E93700000578-3646156-image-a-83_1466141171132.jpg

[Peng]

I am too lazy to look the details up but I believe if this lasts more than this year, they are going to switch up the location every season.

[number8]

The Russos are making a Warriors tv show for Hulu. (http://deadline.com/2016/07/the-russo-brothers-cult-classic-gang-film-the-warriors-tv-paramount-hulu-1201782686/)

Huh. Either they move it out of New York, or this'll have to be a period piece.

[Mara]

Since most of my shows have ended and I've had a number of tasks recently that didn't require my full attention, I've been catching up on shows for the last several weeks.

Steven Universe: I'm only a dozen or so episodes in. I like it, but I'm not sure I get it exactly. I do know that Steven could really use some tough love. He's sheltered from the negative consequences of his own choices to an alarming extent.

Selfie: I had not interest in this but an internet friend strongly recommended it, and I found it much more rewarding than expected. Most of the charm comes from the two leads (John Cho is on fire in this) and the odd-couple witty banter between them. The throwback, judgmental premise was really unfortunate but a couple of seasons could have worked that out.

Drunk History: this is amazing. Why didn't anyone tell me this was amazing?

Enlightened: Oh boy. Lucky was singing this show's praises a couple of years ago and it's been sitting on my to-watch list since then. I worked through it over a couple of months, because I really did not find it to be binge-able. The writing, cast, and performances are all top-notch and I found myself moved almost to tears more often than I expected. It was also bitingly funny.

The main reason I couldn't just bust my way through it was how difficult I found the main character to be. Laura Dern is pitch-perfect as a woman who is, at least partially, a good person, but isn't nearly as good a person as she thinks she is. That kernel of truth buried in a swarm of self-delusion was emotionally exhausting to watch. Amy is such a wreck that you are pulling for her and really wishing someone would smack sense in to her at the same time, at all times.

Once I gave myself permission to watch the show when I felt up to it instead of in chunks, I enjoyed it much more. "Un-binge-able" isn't a criticism as it is a recommendation to let the show move at a more leisurely pace.

[Winston*]

The writing, cast, and performances are all top-notch and I found myself moved almost to tears more often than I expected.

Enlightened definitely has my highest tears to screen-time ratio of any show.

[Dukefrukem]

So this show has come a long way in 15 years. Wow!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkbAcwYix7I

[[ETM]]

I love the new Battlebots. It's good that my girlfriend shares my enthusiasm, too.

[Sycophant]

Catching up with Veep season 5. About halfway through, and I'm feeling disappointed. Ianucci is missed. The turn toward a greater focus on people's private lives feels like a misstep, the characters' flattening (perhaps inevitable in sitcoms) has accelerated to the point of paper-thinness, and I can't help but feel the characters' shocking crudeness and callousness has become more the point than the atmosphere. Fun performances and great one-liners are still to be had, but it all feels more forced somehow.

[Mara]

ABC is streaming throwbacks: http://www.avclub.com/article/abc-now-allows-you-stream-my-so-called-life-sports-239498

My So-Called Life, Felicity (1st season), Sports Night, and Trophy Wife deserve watching.

[Dukefrukem]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfNRPKKF4qU

[number8]

Lots of superhero trailers coming out Comic-Con, but this one is the best and it's getting the least attention. I am so looking forward to this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pep_HiCqYJA

[dreamdead]

We took a break from evenings devoted solely to Olympic coverage last night and knocked out four episodes of The Girlfriend Experience (eps. 6-9). And while the show's obstinate refusal to bring us into Christine's psychology prevents the show from being a type of binge-show, as it devises jump cuts to deny us easy pleasure, the last two episodes where Christine has her freak-out at work, and the collateral that unfolds from it, are all strikingly designed.

The show doubles back on its chronology to retell stories from multiple perspectives, it places us square in multiple viewpoints that are entrapped and struggling to secure a way out, and just pays off the slow build that's been uncurling throughout this first season. Meticulously crafted and unique in an era of long form drama...

[Morris Schæffer]

Yes! There is going to be a 4th season of the Scandinavian The Bridge (Bron/Broen)!!

Saga Noren returns! :cool:

[Skitch]

This has "cancelled after 6 episodes" written all over it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh2oMMDRCks

[Morris Schæffer]

This has "cancelled after 6 episodes" written all over it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh2oMMDRCks

"How you gonna stop an airplane?!"

"Tinfoil!"


LOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!! :cool:

[Irish]

This has "cancelled after 6 episodes" written all over it.

Odds this'll get cancelled before Lethal Weapon?

(We should start a pool :D)

[Mara]

I've been checking out You're the Worst per Cutties recommendation, and though I'm not to the amazing second season yet it has been really surprising so far. It has way more bite than I expected. I think I might have confused it with another unhappy-couple show that was on a main network? Anyway the level of cynicism really works for the show and helps highlights the rare sweet moments. (I am particularly fond of how ardently Edgar ships the main couple.)

[Mara]

Okay I got through eight episodes thinking Lindsay was played by Sarah Drew but I guess it's Kether Donohue? I feel that they have the same face.

Also, who is named Kether? That's not a name.

[number8]

It's somewhat similar in tone and marketing as Married, another FX show.

[Mara]

Well, the back half of second season of You're the Worst was devastating, and I spent a certain amount of time keening and hiding under blankets.

What a total gut punch.

[Peng]

"LCD Soundsystem" broke me good.

[Irish]

http://i.imgur.com/7Arpzcx.jpg

Fall 2016 premieres

https://pmctvline2.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/tv-schedule-fall-premieres-2016-h6.jpg

addendum:

"The ultimate guide to every science fiction and fantasy show on tv this fall"

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-every-science-fiction-and-fantasy-1785570299

[dreamdead]

So You're the Worst remains on solid footing through its season 3 opener. Love the whole business of a rejuvenated relationship bonding through a wannabe Blue Apron meal-=the Lindsay storyline hasn't been quite as interesting as the Edgar and main arcs, so hopefully this twist takes us somewhere interesting.

Halt and Catch Fire season 3 has been good so far--some of the female-centered sexism can become a little bit self-congratulatory, but the showrunners make sure that the women error and miss good ideas, too. All become just too strongheaded to see potential greatness, which makes for more dynamic viewing. At times, Joe becomes too much of a cipher, but at this point I assume that the show will ensure that it doesn't overly mythologize his Jobs-tendencies too much but rather chronicles the collateral that comes out of it.

[Morris Schæffer]

I always thought Luther was a really great show, perhaps because of the BBC or Elba being in it, but boy does it get sloppy, silly and preposterous at times. Barge in at any time, and you may rightly think it's ace, but stick around and shit will eventually reveal itself. Season 3 is half good, and half deeply average.

[Gittes]

I recently came across some discussion about an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants called "Nasty Patty," which is where Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob come to believe that they have killed a health inspector and then proceed to try and dispose of the body. I had never seen the show, but this premise surprised me, given what I thought the show was, so I had to check it out. It lived up to the claims made about its hilarity and the surprisingly darkly-tinged storytelling.

[amberlita]

So we're all in agreement that Lindsay is The Worst, right? Lindsay!

[Mara]

So we're all in agreement that Lindsay is The Worst, right? Lindsay!

I love Lindsay, but she is terrible.

[dreamdead]

I'm enjoying Gretchen's journey this season--it's a bit recursive in whether she's advancing or not, but that feels true to her character, and Aya Cash continues to nail it. Jimmy, though, feels perhaps the least fruitful of the core cast. I expect that the season will end with his growth being something that's manageable rather the cyclical like Gretchen, but he feels a little too static right now.

We're halfway through Amazon's Fleabag, and the surprise sequence in episode two is probably the funniest thing I've seen all summer. It's set up so simply, but there's two or three parts where the show ups the ante in the payoff, and they're glorious. Love Waller-Bridge, and Olivia Colman steals every sequence she's in.

[dreamdead]

Well, You're the Worst finally delivered on the promise of last season's excellent mid-season form. The focus on Edgar and PTSD was far stronger than some of the more facile takes on adulthood this season, as I'll admit that some of the shenanigans regarding Jimmy's dad didn't really go anywhere. But the design and concern over Edgar's losing it pushed this show back into terrain where I'm optimistic that Falk and company keep it--it had a more cinematic take beyond Irish's valid complaints, and it approached "issues" with grace and righteous anger. Hopefully we don't detour back to hijinks without a stronger balance of these issues.

[Gittes]

I'm not sure if this will actually interest anyone here, but Rolling Stone released its list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. (http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/lists/100-greatest-tv-shows-of-all-time-w439520) As per the usual response to these things, I'll share a few of the ways in which it didn't correspond to my own tastes and views:

The X-Files being put ahead of Buffy. I greatly admire both shows, but The X-Files became something of a sprawling mess (which, in all fairness, was part of the fun). Whedon's show is far less desultory and has greater stretches of uninterrupted quality, among many other virtues.

Breaking Bad, while ridiculously good, is not better than Seinfeld or Mad Men. To what degree it's even productive to pit a drama against a sitcom is another question, but I know which show I'd pick if I were forced to decide between the two.

There is no sign of Frasier at all, which is one of the most curious things about this list. Up until recently, it held the record for having received the greatest amount of Emmys. Moreover, it's terrific, and certainly not the kind of show that I would have expected to be completely absent from the list.

I haven't seen The Wire yet but I assume that many will contest The Sopranos being placed ahead of Simon's show.

[number8]

If you want an alternate take, I recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/TV-Book-Experts-Greatest-American/dp/1455588199/

[Gittes]

If you want an alternate take, I recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/TV-Book-Experts-Greatest-American/dp/1455588199/

Oh yeah, I heard about that. I'm definitely interested in checking it out.

[Acapelli]

anybody watching timeless?

i think i've found the show to fill the network-sci-fi-sized hole shape in my heart

[Gittes]

I just recently discovered that Michael Rosenbaum is the star of this show called Impastor, where, from what I can tell, he plays a criminal who is pretending to be a priest in a small town? It's been a weird experiencing seeing the commercials for this show because I'm so used to the reserve and relative inertia (and baldness) of his Lex Luthor performance from Smallville. Then I came across a recent interview, and he's got so much energy and charisma. The idea that actors vary from role to role, or that their real-life personality might be different, is hardly shocking but…I don't know, the incongruity still surprised me.

No clue if Impastor is actually good, but, based on the commercials alone, I can see that this guy has strong comedic sensibilities that were definitely not utilized on Smallville (or what I saw it of it, anyway).

[number8]

I know him mostly from his voice acting career, where he's always playing energetic characters like The Flash. So I always thought his Smallville work was the outlier.

[Gittes]

Matthew Weiner's next move after Mad Men will be a novel, which is pretty cool news (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/arts/television/mad-mens-matthew-weiner-new-novelist-in-town.html?_r=0).

It's called Heather, the Totality, and it will be out next fall.


The narrative unfolds from the perspective of multiple characters who are obsessed with a teenager named Heather, and who aim to control or possess her, including her parents, who compete with each other for her affection. The story takes place in contemporary Manhattan, as well as Florida and New Jersey.

[Gittes]

In less exciting Mad Men-related news, the very talented Vincent Kartheiser is playing the "heartthrob Nashville Hot Colonel" in a new KFC ad campaign (http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/pete-campbell-lands-kfc-account-vincent-kartheiser-your-new-colonel-173968).

http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/6047/09/16x9/640.jpg

[Ezee E]

TV since 1990 is almost like trying to compile a best movies list. Having The Wire, Seinfeld, Doug, and Game of Thrones on the same list and trying to determine the best of them is a crazy good thing.

[Henry Gale]

TV since 1990 is almost like trying to compile a best movies list. Having The Wire, Seinfeld, Doug, and Game of Thrones on the same list and trying to determine the best of them is a crazy good thing.

Wait, unless I'm totally misunderstanding, is Doug really thought of on this high an echelon of TV series? Even just for you personally. I mean, I grew up watching it and really enjoying it, and anyone my age still brings it up now and then, but I think I was too young to really remember all that much about it now, especially to know how great it might've been.

[Ezee E]

Wait, unless I'm totally misunderstanding, is Doug really thought of on this high an echelon of TV series? Even just for you personally. I mean, I grew up watching it and really enjoying it, and anyone my age still brings it up now and then, but I think I was too young to really remember all that much about it now, especially to know how great it might've been.

To me, yes. I don't think it's at all established as a big thing in the community as a top ten of all time. Kind of like having Ghostbusters in your top ten movies of all time.

[Gittes]

Any list worth its salt should probably nod to at least some of the animated greats: Doug, Rugrats*, Daria, Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Rocko's Modern Life, Avatar, and certainly Batman: The Animated Series.

Admittedly, I can't confidently vouch for all of those shows, but my memories, and the laudatory remarks I've noticed about them over the years, are persuading me that this contention probably makes sense.

*
http://i.imgur.com/y7BBN.jpg

[Morris Schæffer]

War of the Worlds TV show on the way.

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/war-worlds/new-war-worlds-tv-series-works/

Could be so sweet if it was HBO for instance and then set in Victorian times.

[Gittes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aFcHFu8QM

1:29 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aFcHFu8QM&t=1m28s) is my favourite moment, I think.

[Lazlo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aFcHFu8QM

1:29 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aFcHFu8QM&t=1m28s) is my favourite moment, I think.

Gotta go with giraffe-kicks-lion-to-the-ground.

[Mara]

Okay, but are you guys watching The Good Place? Because it is excellent so far.

[Acapelli]

Okay, but are you guys watching The Good Place? Because it is excellent so far.
so much better than i expected

even knowing the pedigree behind it i wasn't really into the concept previously, but everything's clicking for me

[Irish]

I like Good Place quite a bit, especially the cast.

But: The premise is so completely narrow and one-note that they can only tell a limited number of stories with it. Even within those stories, they focus on Kristen Bell to the exclusion of everyone else. Every episode has almost the exact same plot -- will Eleanor be found out or won't she? Any specific details are almost incidental.

I think that hurts the show's possibilities (the problem demonstrates itself in the way they bent over backwards to point out Chidi's essential problem to the audience--that he'll never meet his true soul mate as long as Eleanor is there).

It's also on NBC, which is a shame, because I think it'll be too weird for NBC. It seems like the kinda show that'd be safer on FX or CW.

[Gittes]

Matthew Weiner's next move after Mad Men will be a novel, which is pretty cool news (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/arts/television/mad-mens-matthew-weiner-new-novelist-in-town.html?_r=0).

It's called Heather, the Totality, and it will be out next fall.

A new series (https://deadline.com/2016/10/matthew-weiner-series-amazon-weinstein-company-mad-men-creator-1201843020/) is on the way, too:


Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is returning to television with a high-profile new series. After heated bidding between six entities, we have learned that the project has landed at The Weinstein Company and Amazon to air on the streaming service, in a $70 million commitment for eight-episode straight-to-series order. Series will be co-financed by TWC and Amazon.

More info is available via the link.

[dreamdead]

A thanks to those who lauded The Good Place. We're now fully caught up with the show--and the initial sendoff for Michael, where he finally tastes Saltines--was tremendously and delightfully bitter. Not so sure that the Adam Scott material is that strong, though I love seeing him as something other than the straight man in a comedy, as this version of the bad place is slightly too neutered by its NBC-ness.

Hopefully the writers will find more angles for Jianyu, as his childishness is more one-note than I think it means to be; the Janet material, however, is now pretty much adorable anytime now.

[Morris Schæffer]

I quit Black Sails after 5 episodes in Season 1. I never ever quit TV shows so this is a rarity.

Was it too meandering? Characters too one note?

Not sure, but with so many other shows waiting in the wings, 5 episodes is all a show's gonna get to grab me. :)

[[ETM]]

I had just played Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and the show's setting struck a chord. Still only a couple of episodes into S2, though.

[Acapelli]

anyone here watch channel zero?

genuinely very creepy show

[Irish]

"..."

[number8]

Question: Am I the only one here who's a big Gilmore Girls fan?

[Mara]

Question: Am I the only one here who's a big Gilmore Girls fan?

I am a fan, I guess, in that I have watched and re-watched it regularly, and watched all the new episodes. But it's probably about 70% actual enjoyment and 30% yelling at the screen, for me.

[Morris Schæffer]

I started rewatching Band of Brothers. It's quite ridiculously cool how many well-known (now, perhaps not quite back then) are in this that I absolutely did not know back in 2001. Stephen Graham, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Simon Pegg, Dominic Cooper, Tom Hardy, Andrew Scott, Jimmy Fallon, there are probably others. Not counting Damian Lewis and a few others such as Neal McDonough whom I knew from ST: First Contact.

[number8]

I am a fan, I guess, in that I have watched and re-watched it regularly, and watched all the new episodes. But it's probably about 70% actual enjoyment and 30% yelling at the screen, for me.

I feel like that is a pretty normal ratio for fan engagement. Especially when there is a deliberate sabotaging of the main characters (re: Rory's choice in men).

[dreamdead]

Finished off the first season of Atlanta, which was fun and surreal and wonderful, if at times meandering in ways that didn't always benefit the show's rhythm. Still, the "Juneteenth" episode, and any moment or episode that centered on Van, was wonderful. I'm hoping that Glover pushes Van to the forefront even more in the second season.

Halt and Catch Fire's third season settles into the groove that the second season achieved and the balance between Bishe and Davis is awesome. The eighth episode of this season is stellar, with an amazing voiceover, and if the last two episodes falter just a bit in justifying reasons for these people to accept the burden in coming together, it's worth it for Bishe's final scene in the car. This is a show that struggled to find its footing throughout the first season, but it's the surprising series that makes me completely interested to see where the showrunners go for their final season.

You're the Worst never quite held onto the magic from the second season, with Jimmy in particular struggling to find an angle into this season's drama. Edgar's standout episode ("Twenty Two") delivers on cinematic touches, which Irish notably identified was something that was missing from many of its shots, but the style went back to being more perfunctory afterwards. I will say, however, that the season finale has an incredibly touching moment between Jimmy and Gretchen.

My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the happy-place show for me while I wait for the Good Place's return. I didn't know how much I enjoyed Rachel and Valencia until now. It might not always work, but the Maya stuff is such easy material, and they're doing good character work while I wait for Greg (or someone).

[Skitch]

I desperately want to like Penny Dreadful, and I just find it boring. First five minutes of every ep is cool, last five minutes are cool, and forty minutes of nothing in between. Wife and I agree, we care far more about all the characters around Eva Green at all. Needs more werewolves, vampires, undead, witches...and far less spiritual exorcismy stuff.

[Peng]

Been watching Black-ish a bit now into season 2, and this has some of the best child acting on television. I love Diane.

[Henry Gale]

Been watching Black-ish a bit now into season 2, and this has some of the best child acting on television. I love Diane.

For sure. I also think Fresh Off The Boat and its young cast might be even better at this point.

The most recent one ‒ with Eddie and his girlfriend going to see the Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet, each of their dads tagging along and bonding over it, birthing a forbidden love between houses ‒ was an especially great showcase for the whole cast (and the guest actors!).

[Peng]

I had actually hesitated between starting that and Black-ish before choosing the latter because the critical reception seems to be better and people have said it to be a more consistent show. Still very interested in Fresh Off the Boat though, as an Asian who used to live in America for a year.

I just finished this week's New Girl, and it reminds me that although other sitcoms may be more consistently hilarious and creative (Brooklyn 99), there is currently no other one I like more in capturing the feeling of being among a group of friends hanging out who enjoy each other's company very much.

[Irish]

You're the Worst never quite held onto the magic from the second season, with Jimmy in particular struggling to find an angle into this season's drama. Edgar's standout episode ("Twenty Two") delivers on cinematic touches, which Irish notably identified was something that was missing from many of its shots, but the style went back to being more perfunctory afterwards. I will say, however, that the season finale has an incredibly touching moment between Jimmy and Gretchen.

I was disappointed by this recent season. They took an incredible creative risk last year and it paid off handsomely. This year, I wondered if the writing staff had been fired and replaced with scabs.

There were too many episodes that had classic sitcom style writing (everybody knows Jimmy's dad is dead except Jimmy! Two minor characters get lost in the woods!) or repeated premises from the first two seasons (rando scavenger hunts, "Sunday Funday," etc). There wasn't much energy or interest behind any of that stuff.

Somewhere along the line, this show forgot that if you're gonna make your main characters obnoxious as hell, then all the supporting players have to be much worse (cf: Seinfeld). Otherwise, it ceases to be funny. Half way through the season, I found both Gretchen and Jimmy grating in ways they weren't before.

But I liked the last few minutes of the finale, mostly. On one hand, everything Jimmy did was in keeping with his character. On the other, it felt like a bullshit cliffhanger; conflict for the sake of conflict where there was none before.

[Winston*]

Wow. Gaycation is heavy duty.

[transmogrifier]

Shows I have given up on recently: Mr. Robot, after the 9th episode of Season 1 (twist was dumb, don't care), The Leftovers, after the 4th episode of Season 2 (not going anywhere, doesn't earn its pretentions, and as much as I enjoy Ann Dowd, I hate how the show uses her), Rectify, sometime early in Season 3 (I have an automatic disinterest in sullen, repressed main characters, and nothing else much happens) and Fresh Off the Boat, after about 5 episodes (broad and not funny enough).

Giving up on shows is actually pretty liberating.

[Henry Gale]

Aw. Like Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, The Office U.S., and any number of comedies before it, Fresh Off The Boat's initial batch of episodes is definitely its weakest.

Easily one of the best network comedies around at this point.

[transmogrifier]

Coincidentally, I'm struggling through the 5th season of Parks and Rec for the first time (I gave up after Season 4 when it was airing). It was around the time of the Anne/Tom thing and just blatantly stupid plots (e.g., why on Earth would Leslie choose (or Ben allow) Andy and April to host a donor's dinner?) I got sick of the forced situations designed to reinforce the Flanderization of all the characters. Season 5 has not improved on this.

[Thirdmango]

I found recently that I have little tolerance and find almost no enjoyment from low-poverty comedies. When a decent chunk of the humor is that they are poor or that they are in a low income situation so comedy, I just can't enjoy it. So a show like Fresh off the Boat I have a very hard time watching because a decent chunk of the humor is about how they deal with being poor.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Sarah Silverman is in Star Trek: Voyager? I like her better when she's not talking about Jesus farting.

[number8]

I don't watch The Apprentice but I just found out that Arnold's catchphrase on it is "You're terminated. Now get to the chopper." He makes the losing contestant get on a helicopter and fly away. This is absolutely terrible.

[Henry Gale]

I don't watch The Apprentice but I just found out that Arnold's catchphrase on it is "You're terminated. Now get to the chopper." He makes the losing contestant get on a helicopter and fly away. This is absolutely terrible.

Hey! Sometimes he says "Hasta la vista, baby" instead!

Kimmel immediately pointed out that the contestants walk towards a helicopter, then a close-up of it as the door closes, with then the subsequent shot of it flying away is obviously carrying nobody.

[number8]

Is he gonna do a different quote for each elimination?

"You're terminated. Your clothes. Give them to me now!"

[dreamdead]

Guys, Janet and Jason in The Good Place are so delightful together. And now Marc Evan Johnson? Come on NBC, renew this already...

[number8]

Also, I watched that Bret Easton Ellis miniseries starring a bunch of Vine stars and Instagram models about beautiful teenagers who were engineered by a science experiment to be desperately horny all the time. It's awful.

[Winston*]

Anyone watching Taboo? It's good.

[Irish]

I caught the first couple of episodes of Sneaky Pete, with Giovanni Ribisi, Bryan Cranston, and Margo Martindale.

It's fun, if a little implausible. I'm not sure I buy Ribisi as a slick con-man. Martindale and Cranston seem to be playing to type, which on one hand is always entertaining but on the other a little disappointing, too.


Anyone watching Taboo? It's good.

Have you seen Poldark or Frontier? I was curious about Taboo and wondered how it compared.

[Mr. McGibblets]

The last 10 minutes of the The Good Place finale are just so good.

[Mara]

The last 10 minutes of the The Good Place finale are just so good.

AMAZING

I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I went back and rewatched the whole season.

[number8]

It's kind of amazing how unexpected it was.

[Mara]

Upon rewatch, it really really works.

[amberlita]

I really didn't find it all that surprising. But i think the reason it works so well is because it's a weak show without it. I thought the show was pretty lame for about half the season, though it got better when Eleanor confessed. The twist really jacked up my enjoyment of everything that came before it and now I'm eager to keep watching; without it I suspect I wouldn't at all.

[Irish]

Can someone spoil the ending of Good Place for me? I'm curious what this twist is.

[number8]

Can someone spoil the ending of Good Place for me? I'm curious what this twist is.

Ted Danson is a demon who has fashioned a hell made to look like heaven but brings out the worst anxieties in the characters. This is why they're all tortured and miserable all season even though they're supposed to be in paradise. It's a simple and obvious twist but I honestly did not see it coming at all. I credit that to Danson's performance.

[Irish]

Ah, cool. Thanks!

[Mr. McGibblets]

I think it's a perfect twist because everything makes more sense in retrospect, including things that didn't make make much sense at the time.

I thought the point of the show was going to be that "The Good Place" was figuratively hell because "good" people (including Tahani and Chidi) are actually horrible to be around, but the real ending is much better (and Ted Danson pulls everything off perfectly - I'm rewatching the show just to see how he acts when things go wrong around him.)

[number8]

That first laugh he gave when the ball dropped was so perfect.

[amberlita]

That first laugh he gave when the ball dropped was so perfect.

I think I actually cringed it was so creepy. What a great moment for him.

Also this gives me a chance to say I've been thinking all season about how great Danson looks. He's almost 70! Very dapper.

[Peng]

Re: The Good Place. That was a great first season (MVP: Janet). I really liked this comment from a comment in The AV Club:

It's kind of a deconstruction of sitcoms. Michael is essentially a metaphysical showrunner, devising awkward and dramatic scenarios for the only few characters that matter. Everyone else and everything else are literally just plot devices, nothing more than a means to drive the story.

And also its subcomment:


Michael...

...Schur, my god, you're right.



Can't wait for Season 2.

[Lucky]

I've been on hiatus...but I want to try to catch up. I'm bummed I missed The Cutties this year, I'm on my way to scope that out. Some of my recent thoughts:

Fleabag (Amazon): The opening sequence ended with a self-posed question that had me in stitches. There is no denying that it has a filthy sense of humor, but it also aims to be a rounded portrait of a damaged young woman. And mostly succeeds.

Westworld (HBO): Boy, was I taken by the pilot. One of the finest introductions to a world that I have seen. Since then, the show evolved into a cerebral maze that I did not anticipate. I'm still engaged, but I'm still scratching my head.

Catastrophe (Amazon): The first season was a well-written, sharp romcom with two affable leads. The second season has its moments, but someone seems to have sucked the fun out of the show. The chemistry is still there, but the tone has turned from sweet to tart--verging on sour.

The Affair S3 (Showtime): This show does so many things right and has some of the most organic dialogue on television. As weird as this may sound, I enjoy watching the way these characters argue and hurt each other with words. What I do not appreciate is how the show is devolving with soap opera plotlines. Noah's descent into madness stains this season even though Dominic West is game. Helen steals the show for the second year in a row, and Irene Jacob is a welcome new addition.

Mozart in the Jungle S3 (Amazon): Monica Bellucci shines through her stint and the show never quite recovers from her grand exit. Rodrigo's antics are still amusing--the episode where he promises the donators a junior orchestra is a riot.

Currently watching Sneaky Pete and The Young Pope, more intrigued by the latter.

[Philip J. Fry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrv_n4tw7w

[Melville]

The Affair S3 (Showtime): This show does so many things right and has some of the most organic dialogue on television. As weird as this may sound, I enjoy watching the way these characters argue and hurt each other with words. What I do not appreciate is how the show is devolving with soap opera plotlines. Noah's descent into madness stains this season even though Dominic West is game. Helen steals the show for the second year in a row, and Irene Jacob is a welcome new addition.
I loved season 2, but this one was a mess. It dropped most of the interesting character dynamics, which it had developed so well in season 2, in favor of new plotlines that never really connected to each other, concluded awkwardly (Helen's confession), were weirdly left dangling (everything with Alison and Cole), or in Noah's case, just felt out-of-left-field and absurdly over the top (even in a show that does melodrama well). It also devolved toward every character having sex with every other character any time they meet. And Irene Jacob was fine, but giving her her own perspective for two episodes seemed very strange and inconsequential.

I wish they'd dropped Noah's madness and introduced his guilt about his mother in a more interesting way (if at all). That would have given them a lot more time to explore the ramifications of his prison time on everyone else and how Alison and Helen deal with their own guilt regarding his confession.

[number8]

Yeah, I agree. I wasn't sure what that third season was even about. It's disconnected from the larger narrative, and the obligatory whodunnit twist felt more like fulfilling a series signature than a narrative choice informed by where the characters were going since we last leave them. Juliette's addition is confusing. If they were really looking to bring in a fifth perspective, you'd think they use the chance to expand Luisa's.

[Peng]

Ever since finishing Dexter and dropping Masters of Sex, I need a Showtime show to either announce its end or finish itself first before I looked at its reception to see if I might watch it.

[Henry Gale]

Seriously, Showtime shows are cursed.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but they almost never stay good by their 3rd seasons. Every single one I've ever watched I've happened to drop on or wish I did around then.

[Melville]

Juliette's addition is confusing. If they were really looking to bring in a fifth perspective, you'd think they use the chance to expand Luisa's.
Yeah, Luisa or even the doctor would have made more sense.

[Acapelli]

i feel like riverdale is a matchcut show. am i right?

[Henry Gale]

i feel like riverdale is a matchcut show. am i right?

I mean, as ridiculous as it seemed prior to its generally positive response, I'd now definitely like it to be. I've just yet to see much of it.

The first episode did auto-play for me on Netflix and I was struck by the fact that the series opens with Saoirse Ronan's voice from Johnny Jewel's "Tell Me" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx83owWT5Ck) from Gosling's Lost River. So that's something.

It also apparently has some Santigold, Tegan and Sara, M83 and who knows who else packed in there too. So I'm not sure if its music is supervised by Alexandra Patsavas, but it's always nice to see another series soundtracked in her style.

[number8]

I love it.

[Henry Gale]

Everybody needs to watch Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special on Netflix. And if you already have, you probably want to watch it again anyway.

A definite must for fans of The Lonely Island and Comedy Bang Bang, since Akiva Schaffer and Scott Aukerman directed and co-wrote it (with a bunch of the Birthday Boys), with so many great guest stars you feel spoiled. Tons of highlights, but I still can't get over Maya Rudolph's number.

The sort of beautiful lunacy that I love Netflix for producing and facilitating when I can't imagine anyone else doing so on actual TV.

[Peng]

Between last season's Jess and Cece on weed and last week's Jess and Nick on glue, New Girl should just do an episode where all of the cast are high together. Jess' "A secret world!" to a pop-up book just about killed me.

[Irish]

Legion, anyone?

[[ETM]]

Legion, anyone?
Everyone, I hope.

[number8]

It's almost as great as I anticipated it to be. I'm not wild about the fact that he joins a mutant resistance, which so far is the only thing remotely X-Meny about the show. I'd rather if it doesn't have anything X-Meny at all.

Everything else is as hyped, though.

[amberlita]

It's almost as great as I anticipated it to be. I'm not wild about the fact that he joins a mutant resistance, which so far is the only thing remotely X-Meny about the show. I'd rather if it doesn't have anything X-Meny at all.

Everything else is as hyped, though.

Except for the girl and her touching people power being very Rogue.

It's very good. I hate the Lenny character and how she embodies Hollywood's cliche'd idea of crazy. Given her fate in the first episode I hope she is used very little.

[Sycophant]

First real DuckTales preview.


https://youtu.be/0-LNgU4e1rE

[dreamdead]

Not sure I'm really committed to The Last Man on Earth anymore, but the spring return had them doing an experimental episode with Laura Dern and Kristen Wiig, and it's one of the more sustained pieces of humor and pathos that the show's landed. As the show's been stuck spinning its wheel more this season, that was a pleasant surprise.

Meantime, The Americans is back, and it remains as quiet as ever, even if the digging/burial metaphor becomes a little too obvious. The final moments deliver, and the Oleg material promises to be interesting.

[number8]

I can't believe that digging scene was like seven minutes long, without any dialogue, and I watched it without even noticing that it's even been a long time and had to time it after the episode was over out of curiosity. The show can be so riveting with the most bizarrely mundane actions just because they provide context and mystery so well. Their idea of a flashy season premiere climax was seriously just a bunch of people wordlessly digging a hole for seven minutes of airtime. And it's the best show on television. Wow.

[Peng]

Hope for Legion to cohere to a more tangible center before the end of the season, but its increasingly nutso visual landscape of Inception-meets-David Lynch remains a weekly treat. And this week's evokes Buffy's classic episode "Hush" and then manages to creep me out even more than that one.

[Mara]

I can't believe that digging scene was like seven minutes long, without any dialogue, and I watched it without even noticing that it's even been a long time and had to time it after the episode was over out of curiosity. The show can be so riveting with the most bizarrely mundane actions just because they provide context and mystery so well. Their idea of a flashy season premiere climax was seriously just a bunch of people wordlessly digging a hole for seven minutes of airtime. And it's the best show on television. Wow.

SERIOUSLY. It reminded me of a year or two ago when they had a car chase scene where everyone was driving really slowly and obeying traffic lights and I was drenched in sweat from tension by the end. This show has my number, for sure.

[Irish]

Anybody re-watching Buffy to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere? :D

[Peng]

Tempted to, with all these articles. I watched parts of "The Body" on youtube yesterday and was reminded of how each given 2 or 3 minutes of that episode can be brutal. Welling up just to those short snippets so I can't imagine what my full rewatch of it would be like, lol.

[number8]

I have never needed an excuse to put on Buffy.

[Peng]

Legion is often compared to Inception; if so, this week's episode is the van falling off the bridge and its ripple effects across many planes. So great that they can have that same grand sense in compressed time on TV.

[amberlita]

Anybody re-watching Buffy to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere? :D

I'm watching it for the first/second time. I'd seen season 1, most of 2, and smattering of episodes throughout. I pretty much know what happens on the show.

The girl who plays Tara is just not a good actress. At least, not so far. Could be she looks works acting across from Alyson Hannigan, by far the best actor on the show.

[Irish]

I'm watching it for the first/second time. I'd seen season 1, most of 2, and smattering of episodes throughout. I pretty much know what happens on the show.

The girl who plays Tara is just not a good actress. At least, not so far. Could be she looks works acting across from Alyson Hannigan, by far the best actor on the show.

The show is both worse and better than I remembered. I couldn't make it past season 5. (The Buffy-Spike romance was even more non-sensical and grating this time around.)

I noticed the same thing about Tara. I don't know what she was doing. Although, the episode where Amy Adams shows up in a walk-on part as Tara's cousin was kinda fun.

Agree about Hannigan. It bugs me that nobody behind the camera recognized her talent, and the writers didn't do much with her character until the sixth season. (Beforehand, I'm pretty sure Xander has more standalone episodes devoted to him.)

[Peng]

Finally started Twin Peaks and watched the first two episodes. Already in love with it, especially the pilot, Kyle MacLachlan, and that incredible music. This has the same beguiling atmosphere as Blue Velvet, but with the added benefit of not needing to wrap up itself within one feature length, so the seeping in of dark surrealism/unease can feel more invitingly slow-burn, natural and intoxicating. Also really taken in with one lingering, unexpected grace note among the montage of terror at the end of the pilot: Donna's warm and tender interaction with her dad about soothingly mundane stuff.

[Russ]

Oh my. Looks to be yuge.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXwBYTuST-8

[Winston*]

Anthony Atamanuik is so good as Trump.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDrqYyXWZig

[number8]

I knew he was going to be the host because of his multiple stints doing it on @midnight last year, which CC bosses must have noticed. He does the best Trump impression, but I really don't know if I'd be able to stomach this show.

[Morris Schæffer]

On the evidence of the first 2 episodes (directed by J.A. Bayona of The Orphanage and Jurassic World 2 fame) of Showtime's Penny Dreadful, I find myself utterly amazed there is no thread dedicated to it. Love the setting, so good to see Timothy Dalton back as well.

[Irish]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kya_uqiSQOY

http://ew.com/tv/2017/04/11/stephen-king-the-mist-tv-series-first-trailer/

How is this a series?

(I'll give it a look when it airs, but I can't imagine how tedious the show will become if they push this concept to 10 episodes and multiple seasons.)

[Winston*]

The movie was bad enough /controversial.

[Peng]

I hope they learn from Under the Dome.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Should really go to bed but want to at least imbibe some of the first new MST3K in 17 years when midnight hits.

[[ETM]]

On the evidence of the first 2 episodes (directed by J.A. Bayona of The Orphanage and Jurassic World 2 fame) of Showtime's Penny Dreadful, I find myself utterly amazed there is no thread dedicated to it. Love the setting, so good to see Timothy Dalton back as well.
There isn't? And it's a treasure... Silly at its worst, incredible at its best.

[Milky Joe]

Feud: Bette & Joan is really, really awesome.

[Irish]

Michael Shannon as Fire Captain Beatty. Holy fuck.

https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fahrenheit-451-michael-b-jordan-michael-shannon-hbo-1202390676/

[Morris Schæffer]

http://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/deadwood-revival-movie-script-hbo-ian-mcshane-david-milch-1201806914/

Deadwood movie script has been submitted to HBO. Fingers crossed.

[number8]

Between The Leftovers and Fargo, the next three months of my television life is just gonna be me being amazed by Carrie Coon.

[number8]

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a54762/the-flaws-of-prestige-tv/

[Irish]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipWCECpzj8

Gonna watch just long enough to find out what the "suck bus" is.

[Winston*]

Anthony Atamanuik is so good as Trump.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDrqYyXWZig

Amazingly good.

https://twitter.com/TheMattWilstein/status/857953230093004800

[number8]

I watched the first ep and even if you're not down with the concept of this show, you gotta admit that his impression is nuts. It's impressive that he's able to sustain it while engaging in banter and interviews. I'm kinda worried for him if he does this for years.

The show really is just Colbert Report 2.0 though.

[dreamdead]

While the pilot and second episode of Trial and Error double down on broad humor, the season settles down and actually gets fairly interesting after that. Jayma Mays plays a terrifically dirty lawyer, always halfway into innuendo, and the show is smartly structured even if the broadness returns to some hick-centric aspects afterwards. That said, for a first season, it's got potential to expand, especially if NBC shows it the grace to develop its tendencies.

It'll be interesting if Lithgow were to stick around or if he left...

[Acapelli]

so timeless was canceled and that's really bumming me out since i really did think it would get another season. making history less so because i was expecting it to be, but it still bums me out nonetheless

really happy that great news survived somehow. did not think it would make it to a season 2

[Peng]

Just realized we don't have The Americans thread for this season, which is kinda appropriate since this has been a very slow-burn season, even more than usual (a shame though since we have one for every season until now). It seems knowing like when their show is going to end gives the showrunners a confidence for this to be essentially 'Part1'. Occasional episodes of brilliance and general involvement, per usual, but it doesn't stun me as much as the previous 2. Still good but might be my least favorite season, behind 2.

Last week's "Dyatkovo", however, is up there with the very best of the series. It's been a while since I'm this upset by any TV episode, in part because the show has lulled me into a (sometimes to a fault) slow burn of (now false) security this season. That was so emotionally grueling. In my opinion the worst death (in term of feeling, not quality) the show has ever done, and I'm glad to see it seems to have a big repercussion down the line.

This week has me recognized something about Paige. For me, Paige Jennings is up there with Peggy Olsen as the best stealth character planning in TV history, and Holly Taylor is so great in the role. So organic and yet still surprising at every turn. Especially this season, the sight of her alone, with the weight of the show's history and the character's current turmoil seen on her face and posture, is enough to get me emotional. Quite remarkable, although I am a bit afraid how I'd react if/when any more heartbreak (or harm) happens to her in the final season, or even next week's finale alone. I've really come to feel and identify with her story strongly.

[number8]

Quick thoughts on TV seasons I've just finished this past week:

Master of None S2
The glowing reviews were correct. A marked improvement over an already excellent first season--This feels like it captures the stellar character work and unique perspective of that first season, but with a steadier hand. It's more at ease in trying out new stuff, but the return players seem to have settled into a sure groove (especially Aziz's dad's acting). I tried to dole this out because it's actually episodic, which makes it perfect to enjoy a little bit at a time, but it's just too well-done so I finished faster than I intended. The "Thanksgiving" episode with Angela Bassett is so good. It seems to know that the coming-out-to-family story is well-covered territory in sitcoms, so it tries to play with the format and cultural tropes instead (I laughed so hard at the idea that the mom was worried that she's gonna bring home a Jennifer Aniston). It all works so well. Gah, this show is fantastic. It bears mentioning, though, that I think romantic comedies are never as romantic as they tend to think it is if it focuses too much on one of the two parties. Somewhat understandably, this show sticks almost exclusively to Dev's point of view, which makes the whole story with Francesca wilt a little. I kept wondering when we would get to learn how she feels about all this, and we never did. The feelings of just one person is not romance.

The Americans S5
I'm pretty dumbfounded to find out that this season has been trashed by fans. I found it to be the series best. I get that the cat-and-mouse game has stalled, but that is obviously rather the point since this is the season where all they've done boils over. The show has always flirted with Phillip and Elizabeth's growing disillusionment with the job they're doing, but their patriotism has never been so upended and challenged like it was this season. How can you not find that riveting? Especially with them learning that all they did in S4 was bogus, committing to each other in a secret wedding, and then declaring their intention to quit, it feels like a monumental season. It also has several of the show's best-of moments, like the interrogation of the Nazi survivor. Great show remains great, and I argue got even greater.

Sense8 S2
It's hilarious and fascinating that this show manages to maintain the exact same quality while offering so many new things. The weak parts of the show stays just as weak, but not in the same way. In the first season, I wasn't enamored with Mr. Whispers' shadowy corporation conspiracy shenanigans. This season they've managed to make those dudes interesting enough for me to pay more attention to that thread, but simultaneously introduces a bunch of new mythology like the worldwide network of good and bad clusters that reminds me of my original apathy. Same thing with the good stuff. The way the show plays with the notion of empathy and cultural common ground is top notch, but it's not as new and exciting and sweeps me off my feet as it did in the first season. In its place, though, there's this new emphasis on teamwork and community-strength that I find equally as joyful. Is this an achievement as far as the show is concerned? Heh. Dunno, but man I continue to love this show for being the kind of nonsensical ball of unrestrained positivism that it is.

[[ETM]]

They just cancelled Sense8... :(

[number8]

Goddammit.

[Peng]

I don't think The Americans is bad, but it's easily the weakest season for me. They've been a bit one-note with the disillusionment angle (saved for the Tuan storyline and the climatic 11th episode's last scene), which doesn't happen with any other main season's angle in the previous one. Everything with Paige is pitch-perfect though.

3>4 (I kinda think objectively 4 might be better, but 3 rallies ahead as my personal fav because of how they did the Paige storyline) > 1 >2>5

[Thirdmango]

Jason Dohring's now on izombie. He's a minor character but it's good to see him in another Rob Thomas shindig.

[Morris Schæffer]

Not even an Homeland Season 6 thread? Got one more ep to go, but huge respect for this show suddenly which ended on a sour note with the last season I thought. This is a really good season. Plausible, powerful, intriguing, Claire Danes is acting the hell out of this. I thought the Quinn subplot was incredibly banal, but now I must say that I was wrong.

[Sycophant]

I'm still baffled by the fact that we never once had a single The Good Wife thread (I only started watching the show after it ended).

It feels weirdly good whenever I see or hear someone agreeing with me that Veep is basically really shitty right now. I haven't watched past the second episode of season 6, but season 5 was barely watchable and season 6 seems like more of the same, except with really hacky sitcom developments that show how up the show's own ass it's gone. I almost just ranted about this on Twitter, but I really like the cast and it made me sad to think that one of them might somehow see it.

[Morris Schæffer]

Luther returns for season 5.

[Thirdmango]

The 100 season 4 may have been my favorite season of tv this year.

[Sycophant]

This is really looking pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURi91Eb6I8

[Henry Gale]

In news everyone would've loved even more a decade ago:

Damon Lindelof will make a Watchmen series for HBO. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/watchmen-tv-series-damon-lindelof-works-at-hbo-1014987)

[Peng]

I'd argue he has more credentials for this story after The Leftovers than during Lost though.

[Henry Gale]

As much as I do desperately need to watch the rest of The Leftovers, I just meant more in the sense that in the era of Greengrass being set to direct and then Snyder actually doing it, seemingly everyone was pleading for the comic to just be made into an HBO series instead of a single film, with the realists in everyone then seemingly saying to themselves, "With what budget?".. But now in a post-Game of Thrones and Westworld world, money and technology have seemingly no limits for them.

We also have no idea if they want to make this a very faithful miniseries or an entirely new take that doesn't have an immediate endpoint as a series. That'll be the most interesting development to me.

[number8]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK YES.

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19511385_670625573130399_88248 77100877166628_n.png?oh=38fb3b 8d8951568dfe6fd41d7cdfc951&oe=59D75EDA

[Philip J. Fry]

884416188280864768

[Skitch]

Other than the killing people comment, Darabont sounds like me watching the last several seasons.

[number8]

Mahershala Ali confirmed as the lead for True Detective 3. Cool.

[Peng]

Just finished Bates Motel. Some ups and downs (increasingly ups as the series go along) but Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, and their complex, creepy, affecting dynamics has been insanely enjoyable from the get-go. Gonna miss their characters and great performances. Farmiga especially nails the perfect combination of high camp and deep pathos since episode 1, and has made the rough Season 1 watchable.

[Ezee E]

Mahershala Ali confirmed as the lead for True Detective 3. Cool.

Any idea of location yet?

[transmogrifier]

Every time I watch Freaks and Geeks, I'm a little bummed out that we never got more of it, but then we did get what I think is the best season of TV ever, so that's something, I guess.

[Watashi]

With so many revivals of cult shows of late, I'm stunned Fieg and Apatow have not attempted to get another season out of this.

[transmogrifier]

With so many revivals of cult shows of late, I'm stunned Fieg and Apatow have not attempted to get another season out of this.

It couldn't happen without feeling totally forced because none of the freaks or geeks would still be hanging out together in their mid-30s, so I can't see how they could find a reason to have them all back together again.

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone want a 24 hour American Dad streaming channel?

I do


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4tbPmwC7Jk

[Henry Gale]

With so many revivals of cult shows of late, I'm stunned Fieg and Apatow have not attempted to get another season out of this.

I've said it before (though maybe never here...), I think if they do a Freaks and Geeks revisiting of sorts, it should be when it lines up to 1999-2000, when the show was actually made and the actors actually knew their own version of their youth and family to now play the adults of that time period.

So basically, since the series took place in 1980-1981 and it was made in 1999-2000, any new stories in its world would be perfect between 2018 and 2020.

[D_Davis]

I started rewatching Lost recently, along with my wife who had never seen it. Just finished the 2nd season, and we're loving it.

I'm actually liking it a lot more this second time. Not sure why. Maybe it's because of the complete lack of anticipation. I'm also recognizing more how straight-up Stephen King it is. In between my first viewing of Lost and now, I've reread The Stand, and I can clearly see how that was such a huge influence on the show, especially in how the characters form teams and sides.

I'm one of the few who liked the last season and ending when it originally aired, so I'm interested to see if I still do.

Still one of the best serialized genere television shows; it's mostly very well acted, and has some genuinely great mystery.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It's love-hate. While it was on, loved it. It hit at the perfect moment, post-internet pre-TV-fragmentation, when everyone could gather online and ponder its mysteries but the weekliness of it built anticipation (bingeing wasn't yet an option).

Now... I haven't rewatched it in years, because the final season sat so poorly with me, mostly on a story economy level (the flash-sideways universe infuriates me) but also due to the show's obstinate refusal to answer questions it could've answered without losing any of its pleasurable ambiguities*, but it's hard to argue the strength of the show at its best, in particular Seasons One and Four, which still manages to be some of the best TV I've ever seen. And the whole flashback format was a stroke of storytelling genius, especially in the first two seasons, before the writers were reduced to stories about Locke's pot farm and Jack's tattoos.

*I don't mind not knowing how precisely the magic of the Island functions (vis a vis donkey wheels and magic water and stuff), but not explaining what "infection" is or what it's doing to Sayid and Claire (both of whom eventually just sorta snap out of it when the plot requires it)? Never clarifying the actual risks of the Man in Black off-island (beyond some vague "We all go to hell" tripe)? There's pleasurable ambiguity, but then there's needless obscurantism.

[D_Davis]

The ambiguity does end up being more frustrating than cool and mysterious, and I know this is really going to piss me my wife off. But I think the drama is good enough that she will mostly like it.

It's a show of very high highs, offset by some clunkiness due to the writers having to make a lot of shit up on the fly while retrofitting things into the story and striving to make too many damn connections.

Even with its problems, though, I still feel like it is one of the better made genre/dramatic television shows. There is a ton of creativity on hand, and it's so well acted and executed.

I didn't watch it when it was on. It was one of the first shows I binged on Netflix streaming. So I never had that great anticipation people had having to wait week to week, season to season. I think this is why the ending sat so well with me.

The same thing happened with the Dark Tower. I don't start a series until it is done. I started Book 1 when Book 5 came out, and I knew books 6 and 7 were only a year away. By the time I finished Book 5, books 6 and 7 were done, and I bought them both. I was able to read the entire series in a single year, and I didn't have this huge built up thing about the ending in my head. I ended up loving books 5-7, and loving the end, even though a ton of fans don't like those books and don't like the ending.

Anticipation is more often than not, IMO, a detriment.

[[ETM]]

I guess binge-watching could work better for LOST in hindsight, as the high points would be much fresher in a new viewer's mind as to soften the blow of the disappointing ending.

[D_Davis]

I didn't find the ending disappointing at all. I don't remember it very clearly, but I remember being emotionally engaged and impacted. But then again I've also been one to never put much stock in endings, and never let a less than stellar ending ruin something for me. Always been far more interested in the journey than the destination, although sometimes the destination can really sour what has come before. I don't remember that being the case with Lost, but I do know that most long-time fans hated it.

But yes, binging it does make the whole thing flow better. Not having to suffer through a slow or disappointing episode only having to wait weeks or months for the next one makes everything better.

[Grouchy]

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/09/09/seth-rogen-evan-goldberg-to-develop-garth-ennis-the-boys-for-amazon/

Nooooooooooo please say it isn't so.

[number8]

Amazon having two superhero satire shows seem like a weird decision. They also greenlit a period drama about the Tongs directed by Wong Kar Wai, which I'll be following with cautious optimism.

[D_Davis]

The Good Place - what an absolutely brilliant show. Incredibly intelligent, funny, fantastical, silly, and reverent.

[D_Davis]

The new Seinfeld special is fantastic.

[number8]

OK, this is pretty funny. (https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/how-kevin-can-wait-handled-donnas-death)

912490145328201728

[Dukefrukem]

Wow that's funny. I dont watch the show, but I've seen enough The King of Queens reruns to know that chemistry did work well.

[number8]

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22154303_1439375519464033_2482 210423925514320_n.png?oh=df7a3 bf84f22260e5b7ff7c8b01eb9d4&oe=5A7DCA0D

[Grouchy]

I felt like that when people wanted me to like Arrow.

[amberlita]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is back! And still awesome.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwZyO2XHS50

[amberlita]

I'm just going to continue to leave these right here. Still the best show on television...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHf1Fc0OSg

[number8]

That episode was loaded with great numbers. Josh's Gene Kelly church routine, Rebecca at the end... But yes, the bathroom song was what floored me.

[[ETM]]

It's crazy that that was the first time a female character uttered the word "clitoris" on network TV, and explained what it is. The only other time EVER was Dwight on The Office.

[number8]

Wait, was it really?

[number8]

Speaking of great CW shows that are back, this week's ep of Riverdale has the best shot I've seen on TV this year.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22851820_10100121709037236_856 2071890788512160_n.jpg?oh=157f 23cefbc67cc8e3cae3f49da9d7da&oe=5A758453

[[ETM]]

Wait, was it really?Yes. Rachel Bloom talked about it.

[Dukefrukem]

So... where will TV go after Game of Thrones is over? Lord of the Rings.

J.R.R. Tolkien estate is shopping the rights to a Lord of the Rings TV series near $200-250 million. Just for the rights.

They are approaching HBO, Netflix and Amazon, with Amazon likely only having the funds to pay for something like this.

http://deadline.com/2017/11/lord-of-the-rings-series-eyed-warner-bros-tv-amazon-1202201636/