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Thread: The TV Discussion Thread

  1. #12501
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Winston* (view post)
    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.
    Last edited by Mara; 05-11-2016 at 06:06 PM.
    ...and the milk's in me.

  2. #12502
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Totally just found out that AMC cut Hiddleston's butt out of their broadcast. WHAT GRIM DYSTOPIAN OLIGARCHY IS THIS
    ...and the milk's in me.

  3. #12503
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    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.

  4. #12504
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Winston* (view post)
    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
    ...and the milk's in me.

  5. #12505
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    For the record I thought it was an intelligent use of shock. I don't feel that way about the Red Wedding,

  6. #12506
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    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.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  7. #12507
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Winston* (view post)
    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:

    [
    ]
    ...and the milk's in me.

  8. #12508
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting dreamdead (view post)
    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.)
    ...and the milk's in me.

  9. #12509
    Quote Quoting Mara (view post)
    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.

  10. #12510
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    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
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  11. #12511
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Henry Gale (view post)
    - Agent Carter
    - Galavant
    I'm not surprised, but I'm not happy.
    ...and the milk's in me.

  12. #12512
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    They pulled the plug on the S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff, too.
    ...and the milk's in me.

  13. #12513
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Henry Gale (view post)
    - Agent Carter
    - Galavant
    Quote Quoting Mara (view post)
    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)
    Last edited by Henry Gale; 05-13-2016 at 05:30 AM.
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  14. #12514
    Winston* Classic Winston*'s Avatar
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    The Grinder was also cancelled. Bummer. That show is great.

  15. #12515
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Mara (view post)
    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.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
    Movie Theater Diary

  16. #12516
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    OMG.

    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
    Movie Theater Diary

  17. #12517
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    WHAT THE WHAT

    Sarah Polley is filming a miniseries of Alias Grace: https://popgoesthenews.com/2016/05/1...ce-in-toronto/

    It is a good time to be an Atwood fan. The Blind Assassin is still available, folks.
    ...and the milk's in me.

  18. #12518
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    I didn't think this was still happening, but yup, looks like SyFy is ordering this to series.



    (It's a sci-fi drama set on Krypton that follows Superman's grandpa)
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
    Movie Theater Diary

  19. #12519
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    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.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
    Movie Theater Diary

  20. #12520
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    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.

    :|

  21. #12521
    Bark! Go away Russ's Avatar
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    Since we don't yet have a 2017 TV series thread yet, I'll just share this here:

    Fargo Season 3 casting news: Ewan McGregor is set to be the lead, and he'll be playing twins.

    Man, I love that show!

  22. #12522
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    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.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  23. #12523
    Since 1929 Morris Schæffer's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Russ (view post)
    Since we don't yet have a 2017 TV series thread yet, I'll just share this here:

    Fargo Season 3 casting news: 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!
    [+] closer to next rating / [-] closer to previous rating

    • Dark (S3) ✦✦✦½ [-]
    • Fall (Mann, 2022) ✦✦✦½ [-]
    • Ms. Marvel (S1) ✦½ [+]
    • Dark (S2) ✦✦✦✦
    • Moon Knight (S1) ✦✦½ [-]
    • Get Carter (Hodges, 1971) ✦✦✦½ [+]
    • Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022) ✦✦✦ [-]
    • Black Bird (S1) ✦✦✦✦
    • Better Call Saul (S6) ✦✦✦½ [+]
    • Halo (S1) ✦✦✦ [-]
    • Slow Horses (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
    • H4Z4RD (Govaerts, 2022/BE) ✦✦½ [-]
    • Gangs of London (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
    • We Own This City (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
    • Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) ✦✦ [+]


  24. #12524
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    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.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  25. #12525
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    The Americans will run for two more seasons, and then end.

    http://deadline.com/2016/05/the-amer...-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.
    ...and the milk's in me.

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