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What TV are you watching and how would you rate it? [Revive from FRDB]

WandaVision

Only two episodes out so far. I’m liking it, definitely a change of pace from The Avengers. So far it is playing like a 50’s sitcom, it’s even in black & white, but little things keep happening to hint to them that this isn’t reality.
 
So I started watching the Mandalorian. 4 Episodes in. It's obviously an old western series, Maybe Have Gun Will Travel or the Lone Ranger.

Or maybe I need to watch a few more episodes to see how the Baby Yoda storyline works out.
 
So I started watching the Mandalorian. 4 Episodes in. It's obviously an old western series, Maybe Have Gun Will Travel or the Lone Ranger.

Or maybe I need to watch a few more episodes to see how the Baby Yoda storyline works out.

I felt more of a Lone Wolf and Cub vibe. There's a lot of fan service Easter Eggs in the show.
 
So I started watching the Mandalorian. 4 Episodes in. It's obviously an old western series, Maybe Have Gun Will Travel or the Lone Ranger.

Or maybe I need to watch a few more episodes to see how the Baby Yoda storyline works out.

I felt more of a Lone Wolf and Cub vibe. There's a lot of fan service Easter Eggs in the show.

Not familiar with that one but I've never been much of a comic book person.

Also, I kept seeing Jon Favreau in the credits so I did a little research on him, wondering if it was the same guy as the actor. Holy shit, he's had quite a career.
 
The Unforgotten, Season 1, 7/10; A murder mystery available on Amazon. During the demolition of a building in London a body is found that has been there for decades. The police investigate and a dogged detective sets out to find out who the body is and how they died. The body seems to be that of a Liverpool youth that went missing back in 1976 and forensic evidence shows the victim had been murdered. With few clues, the detective pieces together who the victim knew at the time and starts asking uncomfortable questions of the main characters who knew the victim back then and are potential suspects or have skeletons in the closet. Some really good performances from a number of fine British actors. The problem with these types of mini series is that they are all a bit formulaic. The plot introduces a number of characters who all have something to hide but are not necessarily the actual bad guy but things that are brought out from the past have a detrimental affect on their life anyway.
 
The wife is watching Yellowstone. I only saw one scene...guy was fly fishing in rapids, standing in the middle of a six foot wide brook, casting upstream, the line was floating past him in seconds....he's decked out in all the gear...but is stupid, or inexperienced...either way, what am I supposed to make of this character from that point on....
 
I'm 2 and 1/2 into season 5 of The Expanse.


So Amos isn't really Amos? He's Timmy?



This is going to be a good ride.
 
I'm 2 and 1/2 into season 5 of The Expanse.


So Amos isn't really Amos? He's Timmy?



This is going to be a good ride.

Somebody forgot certain easter eggs in season 3. The same somebody needs to read "The Churn". It's a short story about life in Baltimore in the Expanse world.

Also

The Stand (2020 version)

I'm starting to wonder if James Marsden is the Ryan Gosling of TV shows. Neither are particularly good actors but both are in prominent TV/movies that are depressingly mediocre. The best thing I can say about this miniseries is that it gives me the chance to use the word discombobulated in a sentence. If you haven't read the book or seen the 1990's miniseries, you're going to be confused as fuck. And the thing is, it didn't have to be. A lot of problems could be fixed simply by resequencing the order of the scenes. The show suffers the same problems as Westworld, where they think confusing is the same as complicated and pretentious is the same as sophisticated.

Essentially what a stupid person thinks smart TV should look like.
No/10
 
American Horror Story (season 7)

2/10

A psychopath goes around recruiting people in a clown murder cult because Trump won the 2016 election. I have no idea if this is supposed to be horror, comedy, or political satire. Regardless, it fails in every genre. The characters are unbelievably one-dimensional and stupid even for horror, the political commentary is superficial and stale to begin with and has not aged well during the Trump presidency, and the killer clown posse is a tired cliché. I would give it a 1/10 but it gets an extra point for the slight possibility that there may be some camp humor value for certain type of viewer. It's just so bad that it might be good.
 
The Magicians (Netflix)

I am only about six episodes into the first season, so I can only comment on how it’s starting.

In principle this is the kind of show that I would like: rich world-building and long story arcs.

I avoided this for a while because I thought it might have a teeny-bopper vibe. The characters can be a little stereotypical at times, but they do take themselves seriously and exhibit some darker tones. There’s a little humor thrown in too but it’s not campy.

I do worry that the writing might not be as tight as I would like, with perhaps a bit too many different ideas in play at a single time.

So far, I deem it worthy of continuing to watch. Often times shows like this really come into their own, finding their voice and can get quite good.
 
The Expanse (Season Five) - The good news. Well produced and generally a good story. The bad news? The screenwriters replaced nuanced Marcos plan for low hanging fruit llama drama. Awesome 50 minute episode dedicated to Naomi... never happened.

What bothers me most:

Okay, so the reporter starts off on testing of the protomolecule instead of the disappearing ships... but then at the end of the last episode, a ship disappears! Why change that?! The intrigue over what was happening with the missing ships provided a greater intensity. In the case of the show, they clearly show the ship disappearing, where in the book, the character and ship kind of just vanish, making you wonder what exactly happened.

Bigger complaint, season four has absolutely no purpose for having happened at all. Book four is the exposition that life in the ring is possible and the consequences of people choosing the ring (including Mars) was going to be catastrophic for the Belters. This is the part of the plot where you need to have empathy for the Belters and understanding that Marcos is right, in the sense there is a substantial problem that the Belters need to overcome because they are now obsolete. The amalgamation of Pa and Drummer pushed this through as they were supposed to be taking from Earthers heading to the ring and giving to the belt. After all, there is a specific reason Marcos wants the Ring. This is all dropped making Marcos into a one-dimensional villain who at times looks like he knows what he is doing. He is portrayed as a meglomaniac with control issues, but isn't provided what all villains need to be great villains, half of a good argument!

All of that could have replaced the needless Avasarla's attempt to uncover the plot and then the UN Secretary impeachment which wasn't needed. The rocks should have been a surprise, but they just told you what was going to happen.



One question I had regarding Alex and Bobby:

Didn't they eject their core to protect them from an attack? Yet, they were capable of high-G still. ???

 
Due to my love for Dan Harmon I decided to take a stab at watching Community. It's awful. It's brilliant. It's super creative and clever. The characters are well rounded. It has everything necessary to be great. But the lamest idiot humour ever. I've watched all of season 1 and 2 and none of the jokes have landed. It's so incredibly lame and unfunny. No jokes are allowed to build over time. Almost no callbacks. Zero subtext in dialogue. It's just setup -> punch. Setup -> punch. Repeat -> forever.

Rick and Morty is amazing. Very well written with great dialogue. Dan Harmon the person has amazing humour. So incredibly funny. His Channel 101 stuff is.. well... amateurish delivery... but still funnier than this shit. Where did he go wrong? He has in interviews said that he was doing a lot of pills at the time. He had a serious addiction to sedatives that fucked his life up and eventually led to him being fired from the show, twice. So perhaps it's just that?

To me Community comes across as nothing but a tremendous waste of his talent. I don't get how this was so popular. It had a massive fanbase. It's a mystery to me.

But it is funny that Chevy Chase isn't acting. He's just being his non-charming self. But that is unintentional humour.

I'm going to drag myself through this shit just for the sake of having seen it all. But it is hard work.
 
Godless, 7/10; A seven part miniseries available on Netflix. It's a western that tells the tale of a bad guy turned good. Roy Goode is a former member of a notorious gang of vicious robbers. He breaks away from the gang but is being hunted by them with its completely bonkers leader Frank Griffin obsessed with getting revenge. Roy makes matters worse by shooting Frank's arm which needs to be amputated. Roy recuperates from his injuries near a small, remote mining town that had most of the male inhabitants killed in a mining accident. The story is rather slow as Frank makes his way to town to get his revenge on Roy and anyone who dared give him shelter. The acting is good, characters are developed, music is fantastic and scenery too. The finale plays out well and the ending fades out gracefully.
 
Season 6 of The Waltons. Then next will be season 7, etc... Then i might start over again with season 1. Or I might change subjects and watch a full Star Trek series. Or I might watch the Harry Potter series. Or i might watch the 26 episodes of the 1974 World at War documentary. Or I might watch either Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War or WWII. I might watch the mini-series ROOTS. I don't know. But you can be sure it will be something I have already watched many times.

My theory is that if i have already seen it I won't miss anything if I don't pay attention.
 
Season 6 of The Waltons. Then next will be season 7, etc... Then i might start over again with season 1. Or I might change subjects and watch a full Star Trek series. Or I might watch the Harry Potter series. Or i might watch the 26 episodes of the 1974 World at War documentary. Or I might watch either Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War or WWII. I might watch the mini-series ROOTS. I don't know. But you can be sure it will be something I have already watched many times.

My theory is that if i have already seen it I won't miss anything if I don't pay attention.

Tried Longmire yet? I guarantee you will enjoy it. It starts out not exactly spectacular, but it hooks you with interesting characters and a riveting story arc.
 
Season 6 of The Waltons. Then next will be season 7, etc... Then i might start over again with season 1. Or I might change subjects and watch a full Star Trek series. Or I might watch the Harry Potter series. Or i might watch the 26 episodes of the 1974 World at War documentary. Or I might watch either Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War or WWII. I might watch the mini-series ROOTS. I don't know. But you can be sure it will be something I have already watched many times.

My theory is that if i have already seen it I won't miss anything if I don't pay attention.

Tried Longmire yet? I guarantee you will enjoy it. It starts out not exactly spectacular, but it hooks you with interesting characters and a riveting story arc.

Never heard of it but I'll look it up.

But it means watching something I have never watched before. ??????
 
Season 6 of The Waltons. Then next will be season 7, etc... Then i might start over again with season 1. Or I might change subjects and watch a full Star Trek series. Or I might watch the Harry Potter series. Or i might watch the 26 episodes of the 1974 World at War documentary. Or I might watch either Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War or WWII. I might watch the mini-series ROOTS. I don't know. But you can be sure it will be something I have already watched many times.

My theory is that if i have already seen it I won't miss anything if I don't pay attention.

Tried Longmire yet? I guarantee you will enjoy it. It starts out not exactly spectacular, but it hooks you with interesting characters and a riveting story arc.

Yes, I liked Longmire as well. Got to the 5th season. Will finish it as some point. My favorite current shows:
1. The Expanse season 5 - half way through, love this show. But not quite as good as previous seasons so far
2. Mr. Mercades - just finished season 1 and 2. Great show. Our whole family loved it. 5/5. Can't wait for season 3.
3. Cobra Kai: loved season 1. Got bored with season 2. Was okay. It became very dark. But last few episodes of season 3 were great. Looking forward to season 4.
 
Mr. Mercedes is my favorite King tv adaptation by far. The third season is the weakest though. Surprised to see it's a David Kelly production, not his typical genre. But that guy's been on a roll lately. He also made Big Little Lies, The Undoing, and Big Sky, all good shit.
 
The Expanse (Season Five) - The good news. Well produced and generally a good story.

One question I had regarding Alex and Bobby:

Didn't they eject their core to protect them from an attack? Yet, they were capable of high-G still. ???


Yeah, they kinda fell back on that trope.

Star Trek made "eject the warp/reactor core" into a fix-all "don't think about it too hard" solution.That aside, I thought they handled Alex's death very well. I did not see that coming (and no, I haven't read the books)



The thing that bugged me a little bit was

that they telegraphed the "Naomi sees something just off screen that saves her" thing several times during her attempt to get off the ship/bomb. Reminded me of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gag where Ford (!) and Arthur are in the Vogon airlock and Ford finds the thing that will save them and then says something like "actually, no, we really are going to die."



On the plus side,

we finally got some brutally real emotions out of the famously stoic Drummer. Her character is becoming one of the most complex and difficult to nail down members of the cast. Add to that the fact that (and I watched an interview with her today) the actor is about as far as you can imagine from Drummer

.
 
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