The TV Discussion Thread

[Irish]

David Fincher's HBO show halts production:

Production on the 1980s music video comedy was stopped abruptly early Thursday, with the cast sent home and told producers hoped to know more about the future of the show Monday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. A source close to the project indicated that the show was likely not dead, but may undergo some script touch-ups and use the time to catch up on scripts.

HBO declined comment.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...y-stops-802055

[Mara]

Firing up the first episode of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which in case you haven't been paying attention, is one of my favorite books of this last decade. I loooooove it and might enjoy the miniseries adaptation, or might be crazy critical and hate-watch the whole thing.

[Mara]

Hey, Jonathan Strange showed up, like, fifteen minutes into the show! In the book I think it takes about 200 pages.

I mean, I love the book, but it does... not... rush.

[Winston*]

I finished Bloodline. This is a bad show. Banal, protracted and completely humourless. Ben Mendelsohn gives such a good performance though that I felt compelled to keep watching for the little moments he brings.

[Mara]

I approve of the fact that Mr. Norrell looks like a rather grumpy frog.

[Mara]

However, the Man with the Thistle-Down Hair does not have hair that looks at all like thistle-down, and I mean, come on, he only has one description.

His hair is neat and lacquered.

COME ON.

[Mara]

Overall, a solid first episode. They've trimmed the storylines way down in a way that makes sense for the format, and the casting and look of the thing work well. Some of the promotional stills looked cheap, so I'm glad the production values are relatively high.

Not loving The Man with the Thistle-Down Hair. He's being very villainous and serious and otherworldly, and they've lost all the fey gaiety, vivacity, and capriciousness of the original character. Part of what makes him so unnerving is how cheerful he is about everything in the book.

Overall, pretty good.

[DavidSeven]

Veep:

Won't create a new season thread for it since it's come and gone, but wanted to throw out that Anna Chlumsky probably deserves an Emmy nom for her meltdown scene in Ep 5 alone. Another stellar season. Has to be one of the best acted sitcoms ever.

[Philip J. Fry]

I'm really going to miss Jon Stewart.

[EyesWideOpen]

I checked out the two new HBO shows Ballers and The Brink this morning even though both didn't look very interesting. Ballers was decent. I could see them getting a lot of mileage out of the likability of the Rock and he has good rapport with Cordry. I'll give it a few episodes. The Brink was terrible in every way. I was ready to turn it off 10 minutes in.

[amberlita]

I'm going to miss Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News (in a way), but I'm super happy for Lester Holt. Dude is a workhorse and has been treated as such ever since he came to NBC, getting all the crap jobs like Dateline, weekend anchor, subbing on the Today Show. He just puts his nose to the grindstone and does his job without flash or a lot of style and with just a little bit of a lisp. I feel like the underdog just got quietly crowned top dog and nobody's paid much attention. It's like the Albert Brooks character in Broadcast News just got his due.

[Philip J. Fry]

I don't know about you, guys, but I think Swat Kats would probably be the most perfect animated show to remake in this post-911 world.

Just imagine: something like Blade Runner or Brazil in style, but with post-911 undertones and with cats. You know this idea is fucking awesome...

[EyesWideOpen]

I decided to watch the first episode of The Whispers for the hell of it and man that was not what I was expecting. I'm interested to see where they go from here.

Still watching this and it continues to be surprisingly intriguing. Just found out online that it is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Zero Hour which I've read a long time ago but must have completely forgot about.

[dreamdead]

Four episodes into the British series Catastrophe, airing in the States via an Amazon exclusive, and it's thoroughly captivating. Essentially a more sophisticated take on Knocked Up, it nonetheless has a much stronger balance on when to double down on the comedy or when to draw on the more humane elements of the character. This is the rare show so far that gives equal attention to the female in this sort of pairing, and the leads have great chemistry together.

[number8]

I literally just came into this thread to post about it. I'm 3 eps in. It is absolutely wonderful.

[number8]

Done. So glad this is getting a second season.

[Mara]

Rectify gets a fourth season order before the third season airs.

<3

[number8]

Key & Peele revealed that the current season is actually the last. Seems like a smart decision, really, but interesting that they knew all along and kept it a secret. More interesting that Comedy Central is not promoting it as the final season.

http://www.thewrap.com/key-peele-to-...son-exclusive/

[Henry Gale]

Key & Peele revealed that the current season is actually the last. Seems like a smart decision, really, but interesting that they knew all along and kept it a secret. More interesting that Comedy Central is not promoting it as the final season.

Honestly, between them having just wrapped their first movie, having at least two more in the pipeline as a duo, and especially Keegan showing up in seemingly everything, I kind of felt this coming. Also, having just watched the first two episodes of this season yesterday, I'd say the general tone of the sketches don't feel as essential or inspired as they have in the past. If they kept going with it, I feel like the show would become less and less of a prime focus.

I definitely hope and think it's likely that Comedy Central is leaving the door more than open for them to do one-offs like the (now Emmy-nominated) Superbowl Special last year, or even just to make timely sketches with Atencio for their site and YouTube channels whenever they want like they have in past off-seasons. All reasons why they likely generally didn't market the finality. No need to announce the end of the brand.

[EyesWideOpen]

Four episodes into the British series Catastrophe, airing in the States via an Amazon exclusive, and it's thoroughly captivating. Essentially a more sophisticated take on Knocked Up, it nonetheless has a much stronger balance on when to double down on the comedy or when to draw on the more humane elements of the character. This is the rare show so far that gives equal attention to the female in this sort of pairing, and the leads have great chemistry together.

100 times this. Everyone needs to stop with whatever garbage show they're currently watching and put Catastrophe on immediately.

[[ETM]]

We started episode 1, and my computer crashed... I'm scared now. We switched to Sense8 immediately and it's fantastic so far.

[number8]

I tweeted "fuck menus" a while back and Rob Delaney fav'd it. That was a pretty good day.

[[ETM]]

Roger Ebert once replied to my comment on one of his articles... I wish I had screencapped it.

[Spun Lepton]

When the Internet was still in its infancy, I emailed Bruce Campbell a fan letter and he replied. That was a good day.

[Mara]

100 times this. Everyone needs to stop with whatever garbage show they're currently watching and put Catastrophe on immediately.

Okay!

The first episode was disarmingly charming. It's very... not American? British? It's not quite what I expected.