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

[Colonel Sanders]

Boogie Nights

I hadn't watched this in at least 15 years. In case you don't already know it's about the porn industry in the late 70s to mid 80s or so. It starts as something of a comedy with excellent dramatic foreshadowing that becomes darker and darker as time goes on. It has a large cast of characters that all have their own believable arcs and each part is perfectly casted, so you really care about them.

Burt Reynolds has said that he wished he'd never been in it, but sorry Burt, it's the best thing you've ever done--by far.

One scene that especially grabbed me is one in which three characters try to pull off a drug deal. Back in my early to late 20s I could've been the poster child for casual drug use. But even though it was casual, some of the places you end up in and interact with clearly dangerous people was portrayed perfectly. I never had anything close to the psychotic experience portrayed in the movie, but that tenseness and desire to just get the fuck out of there really took me back.

If you haven't seen it, see it.

9/10

 

[ZiprHead]

(Google shows Ned Flanders in Simpsons? I'm the one American who has never watched a single episode of that series!)

 

[unapologetic]

Simpsons? I'm the one American who has never watched a single episode of that series!)

[Bragging] I had the original shorts on VHS.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Simpsons? I'm the one American who has never watched a single episode of that series!)

[Bragging] I had the original shorts on VHS.

I've seen 10 or so seasons of the show. Can't believe that means I've missed 2/3s of it!

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

Tell us what you think about this (slightly too slow-moving?) epic! Many, including myself, rate it G.O.A.T.

(Google shows Ned Flanders in Simpsons? I'm the one American who has never watched a single episode of that series!)

I binged the first series. Liked the pace and the humour. A topic like that needs some leaven in the lump, and I thought they got it just right.

Now I see what everybody was raving about.

Can't help wondering if the resemblance to Ned was deliberate. It adds subtext without the scriptwriters having to say a word. (Ned is a VERY straight arrow.)

 

[unapologetic]

Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I don't see it.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

Tell us what you think about this (slightly too slow-moving?) epic! Many, including myself, rate it G.O.A.T.

(Google shows Ned Flanders in Simpsons? I'm the one American who has never watched a single episode of that series!)

I'm bringing up second last place with a total of one episode seen. It was a Halloween episode with drooling aliens as I recall. 1990 perhaps. I was in Pohang, Korea. It was cold and wet, again. I had duty and was stuck on the ship. It was that or CNN Headline News for the umpteenth time. Sometimes Oftentimes being in the navy could be like sitting in an airport, for months on end.

 

[Emily Lake]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I've tried Breaking Bad multiple times, and I just can't get into it. It's very well acted - no question of that. But I just can't get into a show where the "hero" is a drug-crafting, drug-selling, killer. I had the same problem with How to Get Away with Murder - at some point, it ends up being a justification of the absolute worst and most antisocial behavior and the audience is supposed to sympathize with and support the bad guy. I just can't do it. I can get an anti-hero, I can get the bad guy being the protagonist in a story line, but I can't get into the bad guy being presented as if he's the good guy and the audience is supposed to be sympathetic and supportive of him.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I've tried Breaking Bad multiple times, and I just can't get into it. It's very well acted - no question of that. But I just can't get into a show where the "hero" is a drug-crafting, drug-selling, killer. I had the same problem with How to Get Away with Murder - at some point, it ends up being a justification of the absolute worst and most antisocial behavior and the audience is supposed to sympathize with and support the bad guy. I just can't do it. I can get an anti-hero, I can get the bad guy being the protagonist in a story line, but I can't get into the bad guy being presented as if he's the good guy and the audience is supposed to be sympathetic and supportive of him.

Well, he got into it because his health insurance sucked, so there’s that.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I've tried Breaking Bad multiple times, and I just can't get into it. It's very well acted - no question of that. But I just can't get into a show where the "hero" is a drug-crafting, drug-selling, killer. I had the same problem with How to Get Away with Murder - at some point, it ends up being a justification of the absolute worst and most antisocial behavior and the audience is supposed to sympathize with and support the bad guy. I just can't do it. I can get an anti-hero, I can get the bad guy being the protagonist in a story line, but I can't get into the bad guy being presented as if he's the good guy and the audience is supposed to be sympathetic and supportive of him.

Well, he got into it because his health insurance sucked, so there’s that.

Man doing what he has to to ensure his family's well being after he's gone. Easy to sympathize with. So things got a little carried away. It happens to the best of us.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I am watching Breaking Bad for the first time.
Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I've tried Breaking Bad multiple times, and I just can't get into it. It's very well acted - no question of that. But I just can't get into a show where the "hero" is a drug-crafting, drug-selling, killer. I had the same problem with How to Get Away with Murder - at some point, it ends up being a justification of the absolute worst and most antisocial behavior and the audience is supposed to sympathize with and support the bad guy. I just can't do it. I can get an anti-hero, I can get the bad guy being the protagonist in a story line, but I can't get into the bad guy being presented as if he's the good guy and the audience is supposed to be sympathetic and supportive of him.

I think that is Supposed to make us uncomfortable. I am also starting to think the Ned Flanders thing was deliberate. We are seeing a middle aged, middle class man operating under all sorts of extreme duress and I think we can empathise with some of his actions while still being judgemental about the creation and distribution of very nasty drugs. Every situation leads him into a greater mess and his responses are in the nature of a clean up.

There may be worse in my future, (I intend to watch the lot) but remember that the first killing was not deliberate, and the second was of somebody who full intended to off him if ever he got free.

The best fiction is usually not a prescription of right action, but often an examination of how ordinary people act when circumstances become too much for them.

I avoided this for years because of the issues you raise, I'm sorry I did. It's a very dark comedy but i think it's worth the time taken to watch it.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Nobody told me that Walter White was the alter ego of Ned Flanders.

I don't see it.

I was having that niggling almost recognition thing for a while when Walter was shown against a clear blue sky in the right-semi profile-left-of-camera stance you often see Ned Flanders in. And a green jumper. The glasses matched. The moustache matched, and I went "Oh, yeah!"

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Oh god! I'm laughing and crying at the same time.

One of John Clarke's daughters did a program on himwhich I've just watched.

It may be weird to miss someone who you, strictly speaking, have never met.

John Clarke was a very funny man and a good human being and that shone through every word of his comedy.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Google: "John Clarke's daughters did a program"
"Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke" perhaps?
We'll never know.

 

[Swammerdami]

Has this ever happened to you? You watch two episodes of a TV series and, hoping it gets better, watch a 3rd episode. By the time you realize this is NOT going to be a favorite, you've invested so much time learning the characters and the story that you're tempted to keep watching. Like calling a poker bet with a bad hand because you've already invested so much in the pot you watch another episode instead of looking for something better.

This just happened to me with Mr. Mercedes. This crime drama has 7.7 imdb and 91% RT so it seemed a good bet. It's based on some Stephen King novels. I was never his fan but Shawshank Redemption is an OK movie (if somewhat over-rated).

I'll give Mr. Mercedes 5.5, far below the threshold needed to click the Start button. There's so much to dislike I hardly know where to start. Most of the characters are unsympathetic; the story fails. Long subplots are introduced that contribute very little. I'd assumed it was a 6- or 8-episode miniseries and was ready to quit it anyway; then discovered it's 30 episodes, with the same tedious characters and story spread over 3 seasons! Ugh.

I want to nitpick about its music. This is not an important reason to dislike the series but I think demonstrates the incompetence.

I know nothing about the craft of adding music to film. Sometimes it's just background or mood music for the viewer, but sometimes it's a song that character(s) in the film are listening to. But what about this absurdity? :-- The hero is at home, starts his phonograph and a song begins. The scene shifts to the villain's home on the other side of town while the song continues, without missing a beat. The song continues inside the villain's house, in his driveway, but stops abruptly when he closes his car door. This was so jarring and so stupid that I clicked OFF then and there.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Andor, midway through season two. Show is interesting, but feels more like a series of films packaged as a tv show. Almost like they were a bit nervous about the show surviving and decided to skip to the notable points from a larger script. But at the same time, other parts feel like filler and are nonsensically inserted, like most of the stuff with Saw Gerrera, a character that appears to have a lot going on, but almost nothing said about him (unless he has more stuff from other series to work from?). And the plots can be a bit silly.

By far, it is much better than the third sequel, but it struggles for me to remain fully coherent.

Finished Andor. Much like the before. It has notable plot flaws, but overall it is good enough. How it runs up directly into the film gives it a fond farewell.

The show finally helps answer a few questions Rogue One didn't address that date to lines in A New Hope. Was not a big fan of the start stop of the timeline. It could have been better, but for what Star Wars had been putting out, it was top level.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

Has this ever happened to you? You watch two episodes of a TV series and, hoping it gets better, watch a 3rd episode. By the time you realize this is NOT going to be a favorite, you've invested so much time learning the characters and the story that you're tempted to keep watching. Like calling a poker bet with a bad hand because you've already invested so much in the pot you watch another episode instead of looking for something better.

This just happened to me with Mr. Mercedes. This crime drama has 7.7 imdb and 91% RT so it seemed a good bet. It's based on some Stephen King novels. I was never his fan but Shawshank Redemption is an OK movie (if somewhat over-rated).

I'll give Mr. Mercedes 5.5, far below the threshold needed to click the Start button. There's so much to dislike I hardly know where to start. Most of the characters are unsympathetic; the story fails. Long subplots are introduced that contribute very little. I'd assumed it was a 6- or 8-episode miniseries and was ready to quit it anyway; then discovered it's 30 episodes, with the same tedious characters and story spread over 3 seasons! Ugh.

I want to nitpick about its music. This is not an important reason to dislike the series but I think demonstrates the incompetence.

I know nothing about the craft of adding music to film. Sometimes it's just background or mood music for the viewer, but sometimes it's a song that character(s) in the film are listening to. But what about this absurdity? :-- The hero is at home, starts his phonograph and a song begins. The scene shifts to the villain's home on the other side of town while the song continues, without missing a beat. The song continues inside the villain's house, in his driveway, but stops abruptly when he closes his car door. This was so jarring and so stupid that I clicked OFF then and there.

I watched a couple of episodes of Mr. Mercedes, and decided I didn't want to spend any more time with those characters.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Andor, midway through season two. Show is interesting, but feels more like a series of films packaged as a tv show. Almost like they were a bit nervous about the show surviving and decided to skip to the notable points from a larger script. But at the same time, other parts feel like filler and are nonsensically inserted, like most of the stuff with Saw Gerrera, a character that appears to have a lot going on, but almost nothing said about him (unless he has more stuff from other series to work from?). And the plots can be a bit silly.

By far, it is much better than the third sequel, but it struggles for me to remain fully coherent.

Finished Andor. Much like the before. It has notable plot flaws, but overall it is good enough. How it runs up directly into the film gives it a fond farewell.

The show finally helps answer a few questions Rogue One didn't address that date to lines in A New Hope. Was not a big fan of the start stop of the timeline. It could have been better, but for what Star Wars had been putting out, it was top level.

Considering the pile of shite that Disney Star Wars was producing it wouldn’t take much to look good.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Has this ever happened to you? You watch two episodes of a TV series and, hoping it gets better, watch a 3rd episode. By the time you realize this is NOT going to be a favorite, you've invested so much time learning the characters and the story that you're tempted to keep watching. Like calling a poker bet with a bad hand because you've already invested so much in the pot you watch another episode instead of looking for something better.

Not really, but I've put in the effort and then stopped watching.

Earth Final Conflict. Gave that two whole seasons! Voyager I don't think I lasted a whole season, and I liked Star Trek. It was the first one I turned off. Bones! Several seasons of that before it officially just got too silly. I rewatched Bones, up to about Season Four I think, before it again, it just gets too silly. Downton Abbey, but if my wife wasn't watching, I would never have started.

I barely got over the hump with The Wire. But that was worth it!

On the other side, I can't rewatch Gilmore Girls. The main characters are too self-implosive and it is harder to cheer for them when they are screwing the lives of everyone around them.

 

[Emily Lake]

Has this ever happened to you? You watch two episodes of a TV series and, hoping it gets better, watch a 3rd episode. By the time you realize this is NOT going to be a favorite, you've invested so much time learning the characters and the story that you're tempted to keep watching. Like calling a poker bet with a bad hand because you've already invested so much in the pot you watch another episode instead of looking for something better.

I totally get the impetus to do so... but I got "sunk costs are sunk" beaten into my head so much that I've definitely gotten over that. There've been series where I make it two and a half seasons and then just lose interest.

We're notorious for the opposite end of that though. We'll watch something we really enjoy, and when it's done, we're just not read to move on. Add in my spouse's ADHD, and well, I think we've watched The Office through end to end something like 8 times. It's comfort food for the brain pan.