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

[ronburgundy]

It did have potential, but never realized that potential. I was also one of the people who really tried to like it, but just couldn't. There were some interesting moments and cool things, but it mainly went nowhere and every plot twist and reveal made it less interesting than it had been before them.

One of the things that bugged me the most, though, was the girl who was haunting herself. When she died, her spirit went back in time and you saw all the interactions with the ghost from the other side, but then she was a regular ghost after that who had no time travelling ability and was helpful and friendly to everyone instead of scaring and haunting them. Then that one tall ghost apparently had no power over people who weren't afraid of him, but the main evil lady ghost didn't seem to have this restriction. Also, why was the clockmaker ghost there? He didn't seem to be haunting anyone and didn't seem to be particularly tortured or anything else, he just hung out in a hallway playing with a clock.

Basically, they needed to sit down before the show started and decide what a ghost is and what they can do and then have some consistency. Instead, they just rammed a bunch of ghost ideas in all willy-nilly and made half a story with each of them.

I liked the Haunting of Hill House more than most here and thought it was an interesting blend of literal and metaphorical haunting related to childhood tragedy. I have some thoughts on the internal logic of the show that relate to what you saw as problematic, but I'll hide them so to not spoil it for others.

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I think the broke-neck girl was never a real ghost. She was a sort of long-con mind fuck created by the house to terrorize the girl and make her fulfill the house's desire for her to kill herself there. That's why she never appeared to anyone else and was gone after the girl actually kills herself and becomes a real ghost. Note that when the oldest son leaves the house for the last time, the broke-neck girl is not among the myriad of ghost standing there. The various ghosts did different things because they were different people. Some were ghosts of bad people who lived there (like the main flapper women ghost), while others were good people (like the mother and daughter), and yet others were just rando people (clock fixer) who died there and ghosts were trapped there but were not there to haunt or terrorize people. The caretaker tells the dad who wants to destroy the house that "this house is full of many things and they don't all belong to you." the he brings his wife into the house to die at the end, so her ghost can be with the ghosts of her children. Basically, the house traps the ghosts of those who die there and itself a supernatural place (the red room), but the ghosts themselves are not all controlled by the house and reflect the people they were.

Overall, I thought the show was pretty good and far better than almost all other haunted house / ghost movies that are only about the terror. It was as much about the familial relations of those metaphorically haunted for decades by their mother's suicide as about the supernatural stuff. In fact, I hoped that it was going to lead toward a reveal or at least suggestion that none of the supernatural stuff was real. I was imagining / hoping that basically, the older brother, despite being an opportunistic asshole peddling ideas he didn't believe in, was correct and the mom went crazy and tried to poison her kids and did poison the neighbor kid then kill herself, and that everything else was the metaphorical haunting of the family as a result. The twins were most impacted b/c they saw their mom kill the kid and they coped by amplifying their childhood fears of ghost in the house so they could pretend that it was all the house that did it. This isn't what the show implies, the haunting is clearly real.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Finished "The Man in the High Castle" today.

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It was frankly kinda lame. Anti-climatic. Julianna becoming a commando hunting down Smith through the forest was ridiculous. She suddenly became a ruthless soldier? That didn't work. Smith's death was entirely unsatisfying. I thought he'd somehow go through the portal and step into the alt John Smith life. Smith's second calling off the airstrike against San Francisco? Ridiculous. The ending itself was a head-scratcher. Who are all these people coming through the portal, again? The only thing that had a satisfying end was Childan's story. He wound up a bit like Klinger at the end of MASH. He spent his entire life secretly hating the Japanese, but at the end it's all he can to do travel to Japan and be with the woman he loves.

Just finished it. I feel similarly with an exception.

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I think Smith's physical death isn't the payoff, it is when his wife honestly reflects on who they became, that she wouldn't want Thomas to have have her as his mother. Smith never really gets it, which is foreshadowed with his alternative self, when he says he just quit because he knew he'd get lost in it.

I had a main beef with the whole:

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Oh... that'd right, black people. It would have been nice if those characters existed prior to season 4.

And the ending...

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Here they come. Oh goody! Look people are coming into our dystopia... isn't that wonderful! Hope you like schnitzel!

Overall, the series was real good, if not a real long slow burn. Season 3 involved the unlikely return of a character that just didn't feel right. But definitely enjoyed it. I'm not certain whether this will feel as good the second time.

 

[Ford]

I'm halfway through "Messiah" on the Netflix.

Hmm...I really like Michelle Monaghan. She's very good generally and is good in this...with what she's been given. Tomer Sisley, who plays the morally murky Shin Bet officer is also very good. So far, though, it's just not quite working for me. The characters are just a bit too simplified, the "is he a prophet or a con man" thing is handled in a heavy-handed manner, and every attempt at creating drama seems to fall flat for the most part. I'll stick it out through the remaining episodes, but I'm not hopeful for a satisfying outcome.

As a side note, Netflix really needs to pare down it's number of offerings. They seem to be throwing original series at the wall repeatedly and hoping one will stick, instead of sticking with a limited number of really good ones.

 

[TSwizzle]

Aaron Hernandez: An ID Murder Mystery. I watched part one of this two part series about former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez who was convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison and ultimately killed himself while serving in prison. It's a very interesting look at the character of Aaron Hernandez. When people first hear of this case a lot of people's reaction is "how could a guy with so much going for him screw up so badly?". This documentary shows there was a lot more to Aaron Hernandez than what meets the eye. Lots of interviews with detectives, attorneys, associates and school friends etc that give an insight to this troubled young man. (Ashleigh Banfield is still a babe !). there is also a Netflix documentary on Hernandez that is similar but I have not finished watching that but what I did see was very interesting.

 

[Goodchild]

I'm sad that this week is the finale for The Good Place, it's been such a great show. But it's coming to a logical conclusion and has paid off on all its promises.

I was especially pleased that in last weeks episode, after finally reaching The Good Place, they addressed the problem of am eternity of "bliss" and the inevitable boredom of such perfection.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The Witcher - 5/10

This was a show that I really tried to like, but just couldn't. There were eight episodes in the first season and I enjoyed two of them. The rest were just weird and confusing and I guess you kind of needed to be a fan of either the books or the video games in order to understand what the hell was going on and how all of these totally random scenes interacted with each other. Also, a couple of the main characters were either immortal or long lived or something and the timeline randomly jumped between them interacting with at least a couple of generations worth of people and you just needed to work out halfway through a scene that it was taking place a few decades before that other scene which was why that guy whom you were pretty sure had died in the last episode was now fine and playing a major role.

I watched one breakdown of the first episode that went over the short story it was based off of and provided the context behind everything that the book gave but the show just completely dropped and it made sense and was very interesting. Absent that context, however, it was just a confusing jumble which they actually put onscreen.

Also, the magic users made no sense at all. There's one scene where a lady waves her hand and twenty bad guys drop dead at her feet and I just thought "Well, that was a useful move which would have worked well in at least six or seven other scenes where that didn't seem to be a power people had". Then the whole plot of one episode was that a wizard had made himself an impenetrable castle and they had to find a way to get him to invite an assassin in or lure him out, but then a bunch of wizards are defending a different castle and they don't seem to have anything in the way of "make this place impenetrable" magic that would have been really useful to do in that situation. It was just confusing.

They had a decent concept and there were some good parts, but mainly the shoddy execution undercut all the positives.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I'm sad that this week is the finale for The Good Place, it's been such a great show. But it's coming to a logical conclusion and has paid off on all its promises.

I was especially pleased that in last weeks episode, after finally reaching The Good Place, they addressed the problem of am eternity of "bliss" and the inevitable boredom of such perfection.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

The writing fell off this season, but the last episode was one of the best finales I've ever seen for a series. And I also found it very interesting that a network TV show would put forth the idea that "eternal life" can really suck after a while, even in "the good place". I haven't seen any religious folk comment on it; maybe they weren't watching?

 

[DrZoidberg]

The Witcher - 5/10

This was a show that I really tried to like, but just couldn't. There were eight episodes in the first season and I enjoyed two of them. The rest were just weird and confusing and I guess you kind of needed to be a fan of either the books or the video games in order to understand what the hell was going on and how all of these totally random scenes interacted with each other. Also, a couple of the main characters were either immortal or long lived or something and the timeline randomly jumped between them interacting with at least a couple of generations worth of people and you just needed to work out halfway through a scene that it was taking place a few decades before that other scene which was why that guy whom you were pretty sure had died in the last episode was now fine and playing a major role.

I watched one breakdown of the first episode that went over the short story it was based off of and provided the context behind everything that the book gave but the show just completely dropped and it made sense and was very interesting. Absent that context, however, it was just a confusing jumble which they actually put onscreen.

Also, the magic users made no sense at all. There's one scene where a lady waves her hand and twenty bad guys drop dead at her feet and I just thought "Well, that was a useful move which would have worked well in at least six or seven other scenes where that didn't seem to be a power people had". Then the whole plot of one episode was that a wizard had made himself an impenetrable castle and they had to find a way to get him to invite an assassin in or lure him out, but then a bunch of wizards are defending a different castle and they don't seem to have anything in the way of "make this place impenetrable" magic that would have been really useful to do in that situation. It was just confusing.

They had a decent concept and there were some good parts, but mainly the shoddy execution undercut all the positives.

I couldn't get through the first episode. Sooo much pointless talking. Talk talk talk talk. Everything is explained in excrutiating detail. "Show, don't tell" wasn't a big thing when they wrote this. It's bad in books, criminal in films. It's lazy/underworked writing. Which makes me think this was a rushed production. Which might explain the inconsistencies of the magic use.

 

[ronburgundy]

Ken Burns "Country Music" on PBS 9/10

Finally got around to watching this and it's incredible. It's basically a tale of 20th century US history told through American folk music. You don't need to like country music to find it worth your time, but this series will make you realize you like country music more than you thought or at least see it in a more positive light. The past 30 years have given the genre a bad rap of being flag waving crap. The series starts with the late 1800's hillbilly music, deals with the major black influence from start to present day, ties in sexism, feminism, classism, civil rights, the Great depression, etc.. It also discusses the relation to many other genres.

 

[Goodchild]

the last episode was one of the best finales I've ever seen for a series. And I also found it very interesting that a network TV show would put forth the idea that "eternal life" can really suck after a while, even in "the good place". I haven't seen any religious folk comment on it; maybe they weren't watching?

It was the best finale for me since Irresponsible Captain Tylor It really paid off everything it needed to and wrapped the show up perfectly.

 

[TSwizzle]

Workin' Moms, 7/10; A quirky Netflix comedy series set around a group of women who are in a "mommies group" social circle. Set in Toronto the series follows the five main characters as they go about dealing with work, relationships and each other. It's not hilariously funny but it does enough to keep you interested. I think it would appeal to females more than men but I still liked it, my wife really liked it so it is something we can watch together.

 

[Goodchild]

So excited for the Survivor: Winners at War premiere tonight!

 

[marc]

Locke and Key 8/10
Based on comic books by Joe Hill (Steven King's son)

Never read the comic, but the series is pretty well done. After the murder of their father, the Locke family moves to their ancestral home, where the kids start to find a number of magical keys with different powers. Some magic keeps adults from remembering anything about the keys or their magic, but the mother does start to find there are mysteries about her late husbands friends from back in high school.

 

[Ford]

So excited for the Survivor: Winners at War premiere tonight!

I'm surprised the show is still on the air.

A long time ago I participated in one of those "celebrity" softball games that had professional athletes, musicians, and these two guys from the first season of this show called "Survivor." It was sold as regular people participating in this competition, but after spending some time with them, it became apparent that they were not at all regular people. We were at this baseball stadium in Scottsdale and they (Joel and Gervase, if anyone remembers them) were on opposite sides of the outfield. They were playing catch. Launching the ball from one end of the outfield to the other like it was nothing.

Granted, they were nothing like the pro players on the team(s), but watching them play and interacting with them I realized "these are not regular people." Nice guys, but not normal humans.

 

[Ford]

Half a dozen episodes into season 2 of "The Expanse" on the Amazon Prime. I'm fairly well hooked. Yeah, there's a lot of hand-waving explanations for the ways it breaks science, but it is science fiction after all. The show does a good job of world-building (between Mars colonies, the asteroid belt dwellers, and an Earth dominated by the UN) and setting up the conflicts between them. It's got the moral ambiguity and good-looking cast you'd expect, but the performances are solid, and the show does a good job of holding it's cards and laying them out on the table when appropriate. Bonus points for working Mormons into the plot.

 

[bilby]

Half a dozen episodes into season 2 of "The Expanse" on the Amazon Prime. I'm fairly well hooked. Yeah, there's a lot of hand-waving explanations for the ways it breaks science, but it is science fiction after all. The show does a good job of world-building (between Mars colonies, the asteroid belt dwellers, and an Earth dominated by the UN) and setting up the conflicts between them. It's got the moral ambiguity and good-looking cast you'd expect, but the performances are solid, and the show does a good job of holding it's cards and laying them out on the table when appropriate. Bonus points for working Mormons into the plot.

I have read the books, which makes me nervous about the TV series - but I have generally heard good reviews, so that's encouraging.

It's a moot point unless and until the series is broadcast on cable or free to air in Australia; I don't watch enough TV to inspire me to bother with streaming services. I can't really justify the cost of the cable for that matter, but gmbteach has a few cable shows she watches regularly, and it's the only way to keep up with the English football.

 

[Patooka]

Half a dozen episodes into season 2 of "The Expanse" on the Amazon Prime. I'm fairly well hooked. Yeah, there's a lot of hand-waving explanations for the ways it breaks science, but it is science fiction after all. The show does a good job of world-building (between Mars colonies, the asteroid belt dwellers, and an Earth dominated by the UN) and setting up the conflicts between them. It's got the moral ambiguity and good-looking cast you'd expect, but the performances are solid, and the show does a good job of holding it's cards and laying them out on the table when appropriate. Bonus points for working Mormons into the plot.

I have read the books, which makes me nervous about the TV series - but I have generally heard good reviews, so that's encouraging.

It's a moot point unless and until the series is broadcast on cable or free to air in Australia; I don't watch enough TV to inspire me to bother with streaming services. I can't really justify the cost of the cable for that matter, but gmbteach has a few cable shows she watches regularly, and it's the only way to keep up with the English football.

I was in the same boat, but the show also has the authors as part of the production team. The key characters are there as are the main events, but there is enough of a difference you aren't watching a straight up copy and paste. For example, in the show Klaes Ashford isn't the one dimensional Arnold Rimmer personality like he is in the books, he's definitely more fleshed out in the show. My biggest issue with the show was that that I already had images in my mind as to how people like Amos and Naomi would look, but the show is just that fucking good I got over it real quickly. My guess is that in a few years time people are going to talk about The Expanse the way people used to talk about The Wire.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Brooklyn 99 - 9/10

A sketch comedy show about a group of New York cops. Really funny. Not so much of a "plot line" as it is a bunch of skits happening one after the other, but it's very well done and worth watching.

 

[ZiprHead]

Hometown guy and my brother-in-law's boss on The Voice

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/Qo1sKxFejeE[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Goodchild]

I read today that Disney has decided not to air the TV sequel of Love, Simon on Disney+ because it's not "family friendly". While I do agree that some topics might not be appropriate for very young viewers that doesn't change the fact that Disney+ carries shows with incredible violence and non-family-friendly fare. They will be airing the show on Hulu in June though so that's a plus for me as I get Hulu through my phone service so I won't have to pay for Disney+ to watch this.