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

Has anyone seen Runaways? The reviews make it sound like we'd all be better off reading the comic book.
 
Tried it. Couldn't finish the first episode. Having said that, I got the vibe I wasn't the target audience. It's been a while since I was an angry teenager.
Marvel hasn't had a good record with TV shows IMO. Iron Fist was generally disliked. The Defenders felt like work. Inhumans was utterly forgettable. Runaways strikes me as NewWorseTwilight. Marvel TV is getting close to being an example of Sturgeon's law
 
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Patooka said:
Tried it. Couldn't finish the first episode. Having said that, I got the vibe I wasn't the target audience. It's been a while since I was an angry teenager.
Marvel hasn't had a good record with TV shows IMO. Iron Fist was generally disliked. The Defenders felt like work. Inhumans was utterly forgettable. Runaways strikes me as NewWorseTwilight. Marvel TV is getting close to being an example of Sturgeon's law
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Maybe not knowing the canon helps, but I've enjoyed each series and am half way through Ironfist. I'm thinking the Dojo girl isn't completely skewing my opinion.
 
Maybe, but the only comic books I've read are Watchman and the Transformers series when I was a kid, so I'm ignorant on the lore as well. Marvel just feels as though it is spreading itself too far too fast, whereas I am definitely looking forward to this years Arrowverse crossover, even though I don't watch half the shows involved.
 
The Mind of a Chef
7/10

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From PBS. Now available on Netflix.

Narrated by Anthony Bourdain, starting David Chang.

Not exactly Earth-shattering, but Chang is wildly creative and has a larger than life personality, and you get to watch him travel the world and interact with other wildly creative chefs.

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Keith&Co. said:
Underseer said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Micro from the Punisher is the original "guy in the chair" (referenced by Ned Leeds in Spider-Man: Homecoming) that has become so cliche in modern superhero stories.
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I would have thought shows like Search
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068131/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_57
and Time Tunnel set up that trope. Man (or mans) in the field with a support crew only they can hear...
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It's that movie about a comic book superhero? ;)
 
HarmonQuest

Dan Harmon plays dungeons and dragons in front of an audience. Doesn't sound like much fun. But is. There's two seasons out. Hilarious. I can also recommend his podcast, Harmontown, which is basically the same thing, but just the audio. HarmonQuest is an offshoot from the podcast
 
Fate Apocrypha
(now available on Netflix)
4/10

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Bleah.

The Fate/Stay Night series never really did it for me. I have trouble emotionally connecting to the characters, and so I don't care about what happens to them, which among other things makes the action sequences and dramatic moments pack a lot less punch. This latest incarnation compounds that problem by also making it unclear who is the protagonist, so not only do I not care about any of the characters, I can't even tell who I'm supposed to care about. Some of the throwaway background characters are more compelling than the characters we spend more time with.

But on the other hand the art and animation is pretty slick. So there's that.
 
Versailles. I don't know what to rate it, but I absolutely love it. Wasn't expecting much after sifting through a ton of crap TV and movies lately, but I am thoroughly absorbed in the story and have no complaints. Usually even with shows I enjoy, there's always something to bug me. Not this show. Casting is magnificent. I don't know how historically accurate it is. I look up a few things here and there, but I'm finding nothing annoyingly inaccurate so far.
 
Gifted
7/10

Still nowhere near some of the better superhero TV shows, but the main plot tension comes from

the fact that comic book nerds know that the family name Strucker has sinister connotations. Sure enough, the young siblings are the great granchildren of the supervillainous von Strucker twins known as Fenris (basically Nazi mutants who become more powerful when they hold hands).

So now we have all this tension. The children could become supervillains at any time. Their father (who we now know is a mutant with a suppressed X-gene) could also become a villain or supervillian if things go wrong enough.



Also, Blink. Yay!
 
The Orville 8/10

It's Galaxy Quest the series, or Star Trek the comedy spoof. It's so similar to Star Trek I'm surprised they got away with it. I know Star Trek are extremely litigious.

But it's too serious to be just a comedy spoof. At times it mostly feels like a Star Trek ripoff. But I'm fine with that. I like Star Trek so I like the Orville.

Seth MacFarlane plays the captain, and he's not a good actor. I don't think he's ever acting. He's just being himself. But it works for the role. It could be funnier. A lot of the jokes are a bit forced.

I liked that this spaceship and captain isn't the most famous ship and prestigious position in the fleet. I've always wondered what life is like for the more mundane Star Trek ships. Granted that Deep Space 9 was that. Initially. Still, it's nice with a whole series like this.
 
Ironfist - 3 of 4 (with general Marvel tv series spoilers)

I was surprised to see that this was ridiculed by critics. Criticisms ran from whiny protagonist, cultural appropriation, lazy writing. I'd agree that Rand seemed a bit too manipulable and such manipulation really drove a good deal of the plot. Characters seemed to cover a lot of ground in development over the season, mainly Rand's two friends who's personalities seemed to go all over the place. But at no point did I feel like this show was inferior.

I find it odd how cultural appropriation is an issue with this. I know, white guy gets Asian super powers, but him being an outsider isn't irrelevant, and it also offers a bit of credence to his deserving of the power. Luke Cage is some poor black guy that can't hold a job... not one complains about that? He is nearly indestructible, but sweeps floors for a living. Heaven forbid a rich black kid finds his way to Raman to become a super hero. Nope, the black guy does so... in prison. And don't get me wrong, I think Luke Cage is incredible because it successfully takes an indestructible guy and makes it reasonable how he can't just power himself into victory all the time.

Unlike Mr. Blind Guy, who finally decides maybe wearing armor isn't a bad idea. And of course, Mr. Blind Guy has two jobs and doesn't seem the worse for it. A little bleeding here, but overall, doesn't appear to need sleep in order to work as a lawyer.
 
DrZoidberg said:
The Orville 8/10

It's Galaxy Quest the series, or Star Trek the comedy spoof. It's so similar to Star Trek I'm surprised they got away with it. I know Star Trek are extremely litigious.

But it's too serious to be just a comedy spoof. At times it mostly feels like a Star Trek ripoff. But I'm fine with that. I like Star Trek so I like the Orville.

Seth MacFarlane plays the captain, and he's not a good actor. I don't think he's ever acting. He's just being himself. But it works for the role. It could be funnier. A lot of the jokes are a bit forced.

I liked that this spaceship and captain isn't the most famous ship and prestigious position in the fleet. I've always wondered what life is like for the more mundane Star Trek ships. Granted that Deep Space 9 was that. Initially. Still, it's nice with a whole series like this.
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I watched the season finale the other day. It was nice. The series seems to be getting it's legs. It is still Seth's "I have all the money in the world and I'm going to make my own version of 90's Trek with toilet humor" show, but I'll probably tune in to the next season.

One positive aspect I've noticed...and this might be unintentional...but The Orville doesn't put their attractive female cast members in tight-fitting clothing and treat them like eye candy. Ed's second in command/ex-wife Kelly is easily the most attractive person on the show, but she isn't reduced to parading around in a mini skirt or an outfit that showcases her cleavage like would have happened in some other Trek series.
 
Godless on Netflix is wonderful! It's a 7 hour long each western. Probably not for everyone. Very violent. Filled with clichés. But great acting. The vestiges were awesome, filmed in New Mexico. 9/10.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Ironfist - 3 of 4 (with general Marvel tv series spoilers)

I was surprised to see that this was ridiculed by critics. Criticisms ran from whiny protagonist, cultural appropriation, lazy writing. I'd agree that Rand seemed a bit too manipulable and such manipulation really drove a good deal of the plot. Characters seemed to cover a lot of ground in development over the season, mainly Rand's two friends who's personalities seemed to go all over the place. But at no point did I feel like this show was inferior.

I find it odd how cultural appropriation is an issue with this. I know, white guy gets Asian super powers, but him being an outsider isn't irrelevant, and it also offers a bit of credence to his deserving of the power. Luke Cage is some poor black guy that can't hold a job... not one complains about that? He is nearly indestructible, but sweeps floors for a living. Heaven forbid a rich black kid finds his way to Raman to become a super hero. Nope, the black guy does so... in prison. And don't get me wrong, I think Luke Cage is incredible because it successfully takes an indestructible guy and makes it reasonable how he can't just power himself into victory all the time.

Unlike Mr. Blind Guy, who finally decides maybe wearing armor isn't a bad idea. And of course, Mr. Blind Guy has two jobs and doesn't seem the worse for it. A little bleeding here, but overall, doesn't appear to need sleep in order to work as a lawyer.
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The issue people have with the character being white is a problem with the source material, so you can't really fault the adaptation.

Iron Fist was a cynical attempt by Marvel to cash in on the Kung Fu craze in the 1970s, so naturally, her is intended to let white boys imagine themselves a martial arts master. Shang Chi is Marvel's correction that features an Asian character.

I don't think Iron Fist is as bad as many say, but I do admit that I cared more about Colleen than Danny.
 
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