The TV Discussion Thread

[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.

[

Show Spoiler

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:

[

Show Spoiler

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:


[

Show Spoiler

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]

[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" 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.

[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.