The TV Discussion Thread

[number8]

Anyway, House of Cards is better.

[Mara]

I found it.

I started watching Party Animals because I thought I should see Matt Smith try to play another character.

I knew that he uses his natural London accent as The Doctor. In Party Animals, he uses a northern accent (same one Eccleston used as 9th Doctor, which was his natural one). So that's... kind of interesting.

I'm gonna check out Christopher and His Kind next, where he uses a German accent.

Did you watch the whole series? Is it worth investing in? (I mean, it's only eight episodes. And I could probably invest that for Matt Smith's hair alone.)

[number8]

I think I gave up after 3.

[Lucky]

She was the girl in S1 who claimed to have slept with Veronica's favorite teacher. Veronica tries to prove that she's lying, but her dad is hired to prove that it's true.

Oh ok. With Adam Scott as the teacher. Don't remember the girl at all.

[Lucky]

Walter White is going to Downtown Abbey?

[Irish]

I've started the second season of The Good Wife, because I don't want to finish Fringe yet. (Midway through the final season, amazing how far this show has come since its rocky beginnings.)

Anyway, does anyone else watch this? I had forgotten how good this show is. I usually hate procedurals, but the cases in this are quite interesting, and the series long narrative continues to impress me.

Yes! I don't know why, but I sat down and watched the first two seasons in one sitting and I've been following it ever since.

The first two seasons are good, and hang together well thematically. The third season gets increasingly silly and melodramatic, and I felt a few of the resolutions to certain plots badly undercut the show's own premise.

The fourth season is coming back to form, though. I'm a little bummed that Matthew J Fox's character must be leaving at some point. The interplay between Canning and Alicia is so much fun. But Fox himself just signed a broadcast deal for his own show, so I can't imagine he'll be a semi-regular after this season.

[Mara]

I watched the first season of The Good Wife and thought it was pretty good, but then it never occurred to me to return to it.

[[ETM]]

Very powerful season (series?) finale of Tron Uprising, as expected.

[ledfloyd]

I've been interested in The Good Wife, but it always gets preempted by shows that are available on Netflix.

[Irish]

Is there seriously not a Shameless thread? I just met my future wife Emmy Rossum.

I started watching this because you mentioned it. You're right about Rossum*. It took me a few episodes to fall into its groove. At first, I didn't get the whole thing. It plays like "Horatio Alger" mixed with "The Dead-end Kids" and "Eight is Enough," with mostly ridiculous, fantasical plot lines.

But then a couple of stories -- not to mention Joan Cusack pulling a huge dildo on a bound William H Macy -- and I kinda, haha, "got it." It's mostly a caper show that tries hard to be vulgar when it can.

* She's gorgeous, and although the lizard part of my brain appreciates the .. uh .. form, another part is contemptuous of shows that meticulously and gratuitiously put their female actors on display like this.

Like, the producers must have a pretty low opinion of their audience, not to mention their own material, that they feel the need to toss out tit shots in hopes of keeping everybody interested week in and week out.

Boardwalk Empire does this too and have I have the same reaction ... "Oooh, that's hot. You fucking jerks."

[Thirdmango]

I really like Legit. That is all.

[number8]

They finally started putting Peep Show Season 8 on Hulu. Burned through the first 3 episodes in a row. I'm so glad it's back.

[Mara]

Downton Abbey / The X-Files theme mash-up. WOW. I LOVE THE INTERNET FOR THINKING OF THIS.

[Dukefrukem]

* She's gorgeous, and although the lizard part of my brain appreciates the .. uh .. form, another part is contemptuous of shows that meticulously and gratuitiously put their female actors on display like this.

Like, the producers must have a pretty low opinion of their audience, not to mention their own material, that they feel the need to toss out tit shots in hopes of keeping everybody interested week in and week out.

Boardwalk Empire does this too and have I have the same reaction ... "Oooh, that's hot. You fucking jerks."

I'm glad you like it. You're absolutely right about the gratuitous aspect. Sopranos did that a lot and so does Game of Thrones to an extent. But yeh, I have a huge TV crush on her.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Like, the producers must have a pretty low opinion of their audience, not to mention their own material, that they feel the need to toss out tit shots in hopes of keeping everybody interested week in and week out.

Boardwalk Empire does this too and have I have the same reaction ... "Oooh, that's hot. You fucking jerks."

I feel like this just goes with having a show on a premier channel. Spartacus, House of Lies, True Blood, Californication, etc. There seems to be a need from these channels to push the boundaries and show exactly what they are capable of putting on the air that other networks can't get away with. I too wish they'd get away from that. If it's appropriate, so be it. If it's done right, it can be a valuable addition. If it's out there every week just because it can, it's time to reevaluate.

[Irish]

I feel like this just goes with having a show on a premier channel. Spartacus, House of Lies, True Blood, Californication, etc. There seems to be a need from these channels to push the boundaries and show exactly what they are capable of putting on the air that other networks can't get away with. I too wish they'd get away from that. If it's appropriate, so be it. If it's done right, it can be a valuable addition. If it's out there every week just because it can, it's time to reevaluate.

Ha, funny you should mention those shows. I thought about "Spartacus" after I posted the last message.

The nudity in "Spartacus" fit with the setting, and it served a useful purpose. Other shows like "House of Lies" and "Californication" are more or less about decadence, so it kinda sorta fits too. And the nudity is mostly contained to supporting and walk on roles.

I think the difference with shows like "Shameless" and "Boardwalk Empire" is that they practically rotate the boobs every week, and every leading actress has to take a turn flashing the audience.

Which is nice and all (WHY AM I COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS GOOD GOD), but on the other hand it's like, thanks for thinking that I'm a complete caveman, and why the hell are you degrading your actors like this?

How does that producer conversation go, anyway? "So, listen, in scene 38 there's an intertextual dynamic going on and to really communicate that, I'm going to need your bra. And your shirt."

[DavidSeven]

Have you seen Homeland? Talk about a show that really has no artistic justification for having as much nudity as it did in its first season.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Ha, funny you should mention those shows. I thought about "Spartacus" after I posted the last message.

The nudity in "Spartacus" fit with the setting, and it served a useful purpose. Other shows like "House of Lies" and "Californication" are more or less about decadence, so it kinda sorta fits too. And the nudity is mostly contained to supporting and walk on roles.

I think the difference with shows like "Shameless" and "Boardwalk Empire" is that they practically rotate the boobs every week, and every leading actress has to take a turn flashing the audience.

Which is nice and all (WHY AM I COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS GOOD GOD), but on the other hand it's like, thanks for thinking that I'm a complete caveman, and why the hell are you degrading your actors like this?

How does that producer conversation go, anyway? "So, listen, in scene 38 there's an intertextual dynamic going on and to really communicate that, I'm going to need your bra. And your shirt."

An argument can be made for Californication needing the amount of sex/nudity, and doesn't stray into gratuitousness (I mean, it's in the damn title), but even in a show like Spartacus, it might "fit with the setting," but the quantity is gratuitous as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for House of Lies. It doesn't need to be a weekly exercise.

[Winston*]

An argument can be made for Californication needing the amount of sex/nudity, and doesn't stray into gratuitousness (I mean, it's in the damn title).

An argument can also be made that Californication is really shitty.

[Kurosawa Fan]

An argument can also be made that Californication is really shitty.

A very persuasive argument. It's pretty much fact at this point. Actually, I wouldn't really know personally, as I haven't seen an episode since season two. Only read about how hard it's fallen, which I could see coming a mile away.

[Winston*]

A very persuasive argument. It's pretty much fact at this point. Actually, I wouldn't really know personally, as I haven't seen an episode since season two. Only read about how hard it's fallen, which I could see coming a mile away.

I saw it coming when it was really shitty in season one.

[Irish]

An argument can be made for Californication needing the amount of sex/nudity, and doesn't stray into gratuitousness (I mean, it's in the damn title), but even in a show like Spartacus, it might "fit with the setting," but the quantity is gratuitous as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for House of Lies. It doesn't need to be a weekly exercise.

Well, yeah. I don't have a problem with T&A for T&A's sake (although it's always a lowbrow kind of proposition). Especially if the material invites it.

I have a bigger problem with exploiting the named actress and principals, week after week, for really no good purpose. It seems like such a cheap way to attract & maintain viewers.

Edit: To put it another way, "Shameless" is a good enough show that they don't really need to bribe the audience with boob-potential in order to get them to watch it.

An argument can also be made that Californication is really shitty.

Ha, it is. I stopped watching around the same time as KF. That show took an enormous nose-dive in quality somewhere around the second season.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I saw it coming when it was really shitty in season one.

You're not better than me, Winston*.

[Acapelli]

i'm pretty annoyed by the gratuitous nudity on banshee, but i guess it's to be expected of a cinemax original program

[number8]

The producers of Party Down were pretty candid about this. Starz kept demanding them to put more sex and nudity on the show, and they didn't know how to do that with their cast and premise, so they just wrote episodes that took place at an orgy and a porn star party, literally just to justify having naked women walking around in the background.