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

I've been catching up on season 2 of "Highlander," the mid-90s series based on the cult movie about a sword-wielding immortal cousin of the character in the film.

It is so 90s. So 90s sci-fi filmed in Vancouver. It's like the entire industry said "you want to make a show with a science fiction/fantasy theme? Go to Vancouver! They have great tax incentives and the city can look like pretty much anywhere."

And it's not bad, but it hasn't aged well. They went out of their way to recruit celebrity guest stars like Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals as a villain, or Roger Daltrey of The Who as a good guy, but at the end of the day they were only able to get so much mileage out of the "immortal swordsmen living among us" thing. It became rote. Duncan would be found by another immortal, they'd fight, he'd win, and the show would go on to the next episode.

I still like it, though.
 
The Last Ship - 7/10

Pretty good post-apocalypse show about the world being devastated by a super virus and this one Navy ship with a virologist on it trying to make a cure while fighting off a bunch of cartoonish James Bond villains. Engaging with good action, but it lasted four seasons while really only having two seasons worth of plot.

To see if you'd like it, though, ask yourself how many times per day you masturbate to magazines filled with pictures of military weapons. If the answer is "more than twelve", this is definitely the show for you because they go all in on the army porn.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
The Last Ship - 7/10

Pretty good post-apocalypse show about the world being devastated by a super virus and this one Navy ship with a virologist on it trying to make a cure while fighting off a bunch of cartoonish James Bond villains. Engaging with good action, but it lasted four seasons while really only having two seasons worth of plot.

To see if you'd like it, though, ask yourself how many times per day you masturbate to magazines filled with pictures of military weapons. If the answer is "more than twelve", this is definitely the show for you because they go all in on the army porn.
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Yeah, you couldn't tell Michael Bay was a producer for the show.
 
schitt's creek - 3/10
this show is really fascinating to me simply for the juxtaposition of expectation (based on the creative talent involved) vs execution and how abysmal this show is.
for a few brief seconds in each episode it sometimes nearly aspires to almost wishing it were Trial and Error, which was everything this show wishes it was only 10,000,000,000,000 times better and yet of course only got 2 seasons.
 
3 episodes into the new season of Lucifer on Netflix and it's fantastic. We're so happy that this show was saved.
 
Atlanta 8/10

A half hour "Comedy" written, directed, and starring Donald Glover about his characters efforts to manage his rising rap "star" cousin. I put "star" in quotes b/c while he's getting some local play and recognition on the streets, he's getting almost no $ as of yet. I put "comedy" in quotes b/c it's comedy in the way "Louie" or "Better Things" are comedies. Lots of funny moments but plenty of drama and serious social/political observation as well. Glover is going for social and emotional realism, not directly for laughs, but life has funny moments. It's really well acted and the episodes are very "tight" with little fluff.

Ironically, there isn't that much rap music in the show.


It's on FX in its third season, but I just found it and am binge watching it online at FX+, which has a Free 1 week trial.
 
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - 7/10

I was shocked by how much I liked this show. It has a very odd setup and switches back and forth between a quirky teen sitcom about a friendly witch trying to fit in with her human friends and a horror show where demons are stabbing people in the head, guys are getting attacked by swarms of spiders and straight up on screen cannibalism. That makes for a very discordant tone that has you asking WTF the first few times it happens, but then ... somehow starts to work.

It is surprisingly compelling and engaging with interesting characters and story arcs. Worth watching.
 
Watching Blacklist and some of it is pretty good, but the weak points involved medical and hard science. Viruses can't cause people die literally seconds after exposure.

A day yes, and why not structure the plot like that?

I just wave it away and keep watching.
 
repoman said:
Watching Blacklist and some of it is pretty good, but the weak points involved medical and hard science. Viruses can't cause people die literally seconds after exposure.

A day yes, and why not structure the plot like that?

I just wave it away and keep watching.
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A lot of TV and movies requires waving it away, there's so many plotholes and contrivances in today's film.
 
letterkenny: 7/10
(available on hulu)

this show is quite fascinating because it's so good but in a way that makes you go "why the hell is this good!?"
it sort of defies describing it accurately, the best i can think of is imagine the mocumentary films like "a mighty wind" and "best in show" and those, combined with king of the hill, set in rural hicksville canada.

the premise sounds unappealing but it's insanely well written and acted and kind of a joy to behold it in action because it's so astoundingly improbable that it be as damn good as it is.
 
All in the Family -- Live remake 8/10

The original show was fantastic. I was highly skeptical when I heard of the remake, especially Marisa Tomei as Edith (I like her generally, but didn't think it fit). However, she was amazing and the highlight of the show, and they stuck true to the original script which sadly did not require any updating to be reflect current society.
Woody wasn't as believable delivering Archie's lines, but was passable, while the Jefferson family was done very well even if Jamie Foxx flubbed a line and broke the fourth wall.

Maybe may rating is a bit higher due to low expectations, but I'm gonna watch is again just for Tomei's performance alone.
 
I like Woody, but yeah he wasn't right for that part, was the weak link. Otherwise, good.
 
ronburgundy said:
All in the Family -- Live remake 8/10

The original show was fantastic. I was highly skeptical when I heard of the remake, especially Marisa Tomei as Edith (I like her generally, but didn't think it fit). However, she was amazing and the highlight of the show, and they stuck true to the original script which sadly did not require any updating to be reflect current society.
Woody wasn't as believable delivering Archie's lines, but was passable, while the Jefferson family was done very well even if Jamie Foxx flubbed a line and broke the fourth wall.

Maybe may rating is a bit higher due to low expectations, but I'm gonna watch is again just for Tomei's performance alone.
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The entire show is a US remake of the UK show 'Til Death Us Do Part, later rebooted as In Sickness and in Health.

It's evidently very well suited to remakes. Though I find it hard to imagine anyone other than Warren Mitchell in the lead role.
 
Watched the first episode of the new "season" of Black Mirror. They've gone back to having only a few episodes.

As always, set in the near possible future, with a new technology that has unintended consequences. They're exploring the possibilities of virtual reality again, and (IMO) asking the broader question of if you are really "you" when you go online or play an online game.
 
Riverdale - 1/10

Really poorly made, even by the standards of a teen drama show. If one were to ask the writers and directors of this show what it's about, I seriously doubt any of them would be able to tell you. They just have a bunch of random, unrelated stuff going on switch back and forth between apparently trying to be serious and apparently trying to be silly and failing miserably at both. Really, the only ongoing theme which remains consistent from episode to episode is that the highest form of morality is absolute loyalty to your street gang and submission to its leader. That's the major message of a shockingly large number of episodes in a completely unironic way.

It was a decent Archie TV show for about two episodes, but then apparently the entire production team got addicted to crack and stopped talking to each other.
 
bilby said:
ronburgundy said:
All in the Family -- Live remake 8/10

The original show was fantastic. I was highly skeptical when I heard of the remake, especially Marisa Tomei as Edith (I like her generally, but didn't think it fit). However, she was amazing and the highlight of the show, and they stuck true to the original script which sadly did not require any updating to be reflect current society.
Woody wasn't as believable delivering Archie's lines, but was passable, while the Jefferson family was done very well even if Jamie Foxx flubbed a line and broke the fourth wall.

Maybe may rating is a bit higher due to low expectations, but I'm gonna watch is again just for Tomei's performance alone.
Click to expand...

The entire show is a US remake of the UK show 'Til Death Us Do Part, later rebooted as In Sickness and in Health.

It's evidently very well suited to remakes.
Click to expand...
What show isn't a remake? Typically the only changes are the types of quirks a character has.
 
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