The TV Discussion Thread

[Ezee E]

How is Season 2 of Big Love? I thought Season 1 was pretty good although nothing special.

Agreed. I watched a few episodes of Season 2, got bored as hell, and didn't bother with the rest which I heard was great.

[Sycophant]

Onto season 4 of The Sopranos for me. I'm getting a little anxious, because I've heard a good deal of trash talked about seasons five and six (particularly part one). So far (watched the great episode 3 of season 4, "Christopher", last night), while the show has surely experienced some changes, it's still grade-A material.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I'm about to start Rome as a series. I've been looking forward to it for a while.

[MadMan]

Onto season 4 of The Sopranos for me. I'm getting a little anxious, because I've heard a good deal of trash talked about seasons five and six (particularly part one). So far (watched the great episode 3 of season 4, "Christopher", last night), while the show has surely experienced some changes, it's still grade-A material.

I found Season 4 to be the weakest out of all of the seasons. Season 5 is actually one of the best seasons of the show. I still haven't see Season 6 yet, but I'm just dragging my feet on that one plus other things have gotten in the way.

[number8]

Hayden Panettiere Sexual Harassment PSA

[[ETM]]

She should just change her name to Baker, so you can remember it, Eight.

[Marley]

Agreed. I watched a few episodes of Season 2, got bored as hell, and didn't bother with the rest which I heard was great.

Yeah, Season 2 is rather tedious. I stopped after the third episode and decided to finish the Wire: Season 1 instead which was bloody brilliant. Season 2 can't arrive soon enough!

[Saya]

The first season of Masters of Horror was overall a bit disappointing. There were a couple pretty good episodes (Sick Girl, Cigarette Burns, Deer Woman), but most of them didn't work for me.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, Season 2 is rather tedious. I stopped after the third episode and decided to finish the Wire: Season 1 instead which was bloody brilliant. Season 2 can't arrive soon enough!

The only good thing about the show by that point was Chloe Sevigny, and I loved that cast.

[number8]

What does everyone think about Masters of Horror moving to NBC?

[MadMan]

What does everyone think about Masters of Horror moving to NBC?

It'll probably feature episodes with less gore, violence, nudity, etc. Other than that I don't really care. I'll eventually get around to seeing the older episodes, although the ones I mostly want to see are Carpenter's and the ones from Dante.

[EvilShoe]

What does everyone think about Masters of Horror moving to NBC?

I had hopes this would mean more psychological horror, but then I read they'd be filming gory stuff but save those for the unrated DVD's.

So yeah, not really anticipating it.

[Duncan]

Clinton, Obama, and Edwards on The Colbert Report last night. Pretty crazy.

[number8]

Clinton, Obama, and Edwards on The Colbert Report last night. Pretty crazy.

EdWords was hilarious.

[Winston*]

Wonder Showzen brings many lulz.

[MadMan]

I'm not sure which show is more stupid: Squidbillies or Assy McGee. Both suck hard though. I'd lump Tim and Eric in with the bunch but I think that show falls under the category of "Utterly idiotic times infinity." All I know is that Adult Swim means very little to me right now until the new season of Venture Brothers starts in June.

[Sycophant]

Netflix says they shipped me a copy of The Sopranos season 5, disc 4. It never arrived, even though most of season six is now here. I reported the problem. I should have the right disc by tomorrow, but I haven't watched an episode since Sunday and I'm going through withdrawals.

[number8]

It's really sad that Bruce Campbell is rarely utilized for this dramatic acting. He played very serious roles in X-Files and Homicide and were fantastic in both roles.

[MadMan]

Hey number8 I know that Bruce Campbell was in an episode of The X-Files, but I can't remember the name of the episode.

Anyways today I saw the X-Files episode featuring Mulder and Scully encounter Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin as ghosts. I believe it was titled "The Ghosts That Stole Christmas." I thought it contained a good deal of humor and weirdness, and I really enjoyed it.

So far so good concerning Season 4 of Dr. Who. Tonight's episode rocked, and featured some cool stuff. It even dived a little bit into the Doctor and the burden of being a Time Lord. Something that gets revisited quite often on the show.

Oh and thanks to Adult Swim I've been seeing some older episodes of ATHF I've never viewed before. God they are hilarious.

[number8]

Hey number8 I know that Bruce Campbell was in an episode of The X-Files, but I can't remember the name of the episode.

Terms of Endearment, the one where he plays a polygamous demon.

[MadMan]

Terms of Endearment, the one where he plays a polygamous demon.

Ah. I think I've seen that one.

[Sxottlan]

Gunslinger Girl is a curious little series and not always one that works. More than anything though, it's the subtext that grows increasingly distracting as I watched the box set I had picked up on sale.

Perhaps most disappointing is the overall lack of any real action. You get the occasional shoot-out, but for a series called Gunslinger Girl, I was expecting more. I was also disappointed with the story. We're just sort of dropped into the middle of this apparently ongoing fight with the RF, but I don't believe we're ever told what it is they want or why they're supposedly terrorizing the country. I sort of figured the show would eventually build towards something regarding the story, but it never really does. Then it just sort of ends. I hear a second season is now on the air, but there's nothing to indicate that would happen from what we see in Season 1 (and I hear it's not that great to begin with anyway).

Art direction wise, the series just doesn't look up to par with other similarly themed series i.e. pale static backgrounds, characters not blending into those backgrounds, a setting in beautiful Italy however with a curious lack of real detail.

Most disturbing of all is the puppy dog devotion of the "cyborgs" to their handlers. I put that word in quotation marks because for all of the talk that the little girls are cyborgs, there's absolutely nothing to indicate that they are on the outside. I understand that is supposed to be part of the conflict for the handlers, but they bleed like regular people and seem to act like pretty much everyone else. The deck is really stacked against the humans working with the girls to see them as anything else other than human. The unspoken reason for using children as assassins is disturbing enough, but then their slavish devotion to the handlers is another sticking point. The show adds a gender subtext by insisting that all of the handlers are guys and the cyborgs are girls.

So we have scene after scene of the girls fretting over whether or not they've pleased their men, which considering they appear as little girls and the handlers are all older guys just creates too bizarre an image to really get past. It's certainly not something we've seen before, but does seem to walk a fine line. The girls almost can't seem to live without the handlers although I saw no reason for these relationships to exist in this manner to begin with. One particular "couple" is dysfunctional contrasted against the main couple of Jose and Henrietta, but it's really only because the girl is hopelessly portrayed as having about the worst luck of anyone, human or cyborg. Her master doesn't seem to sympathize, which just makes us dislike him all the more.

Overall, I'd say the show is a minor misfire with the interesting subtext worth debating.

Anyone else ever see it? Or this supposed new season?

Actually, since the post is as big as it became, I'll make a separate thread for it too.

[Acapelli]

Series 2 of Life on Mars is much better than the 1st so far.

[Sxottlan]

If indeed that was the final episode of Scrubs, then perhaps it needed to end. However, I'm also under the impression that it was a strike shortened season anyway and maybe it wasn't planned to be the finale, but it was kind of weak.

I've never watched the show's new episodes, but caught it in reruns on Comedy Central and usually found the show incredibly funny. My mom and sister both work in the medical field and say that for all the absurdity, the relationships between doctors, nurses, surgeons and administrators as seen on the show are quite realistic.

[number8]

If indeed that was the final episode of Scrubs, then perhaps it needed to end. However, I'm also under the impression that it was a strike shortened season anyway and maybe it wasn't planned to be the finale, but it was kind of weak.

That shit is still on??!! Jesus F. Christ.