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What TV are you watching and how would you rate it? [Revive from FRDB]
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Ford
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Yeah, I was way wrong about that. Wish I was wrong about Picard but apparently the gimmick for season two is that they are bringing back John de Lancie as Q. Yay, more fanfic!
marc
Veteran Member
I loved B5. G'Kar and Londo were definitely the best part of the series, and how it was foreshadowed from the very start. But I think my favorite part was Vir and Mr. Mordent. I've read two trilogies for the series. One on Bester and the other on Vir after the war. Both interesting additions.
At a convention met Patricia Tallman (telepath Lyta Alexander) and got her autobiography. Found out some cool things, like she was also a stunt woman on Star Trek TNG, that her roll was written specifically for her after Joe Straczynski saw her in the Night of the Living Dead remake. The reason she was in the pilot but not in the first season was some producer was trying to pressure her to have an affair, but she refused.
At a convention met Patricia Tallman (telepath Lyta Alexander) and got her autobiography. Found out some cool things, like she was also a stunt woman on Star Trek TNG, that her roll was written specifically for her after Joe Straczynski saw her in the Night of the Living Dead remake. The reason she was in the pilot but not in the first season was some producer was trying to pressure her to have an affair, but she refused.
Jimmy Higgins
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Long story short, B5 is the Firefly that actually got made. If you really like DS9, you should really really like Babylon 5.
Long story long, DS9 was great because it had a viable arc with great characters, some of which do have growth in the run. I love DS9, it is my favorite Star Trek series. When I watched Babylon 5, I was really blown out of the water. Like I noted in my post, there are the tiniest things planted early in the series that come back and have serious relevance. It is great story telling, and it is a great story. Like all good stories, resolutions always lead to the following conflicts. There are standout episodes or multiple part episodes. The creator knew where he was going with this the whole time, so there almost never is a a plot hole. The show addresses almost everything, even things that you don't expect it to address. Characters stay within themselves, but grow. And the show has several awesome moments. One was already linked, which they shouldn't have done. My problem with Babylon 5 was having accidently seen two very minor blips of the show back when it was airing. One of those was a huge spoiler! Regardless, the show is worth watching, because despite its age and lower budget, it is superior to DS9. When DS9 is at its best, it is exchanging punches with B5, but otherwise, B5 doesn't really lull. Every episode pushes the whole arc along.
I would recommend watching at least the first several episodes of Season 1 episodes to get a feel for the characters. I did skip to Season 2, Episode 1 after being uncertain about Season 1 through several episodes. Season 2 Episode 1 is post the big wow, but it is still workable for viewing. Then it is perfection to the end of Season 4. Hints (signs and portents?) are dropped occasionally in Season 1 which will be missed by the watcher, but caught on a second viewing. .Season 5 has issues because of the rush to produce Season 4 because the show was always on the verge of cancellation.
FYI, Episode 1 of Season 1 isn't episode "1". There is actually a movie (scored by Stewart Copeland of The Police) that is actually the first first episode.
Criminal Minds - 6.5/10
About an FBI team called the Behavioral Analysis Unit who hunt serial killers by trying to build profiles of them and get into their minds. It really runs hot and cold. Sometimes it's really good and sometimes it really flops. Most of the time it's interesting enough, but they do tend to lose the plot more often than it should. Also, they seem to be confused about whether or not they're a crime serial which focuses on the cases or a character drama where the cases are just background to the interactions between the people and it randomly goes back and forth between those with character plotlines that are focused on as important just dropped forever after an episode or two.
Worth watching if you have nothing else on your list, but not a must-see.
About an FBI team called the Behavioral Analysis Unit who hunt serial killers by trying to build profiles of them and get into their minds. It really runs hot and cold. Sometimes it's really good and sometimes it really flops. Most of the time it's interesting enough, but they do tend to lose the plot more often than it should. Also, they seem to be confused about whether or not they're a crime serial which focuses on the cases or a character drama where the cases are just background to the interactions between the people and it randomly goes back and forth between those with character plotlines that are focused on as important just dropped forever after an episode or two.
Worth watching if you have nothing else on your list, but not a must-see.
Ford
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I always hated the episodes with Q in them. They were stupid.
TV and credit cards
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The Year Earth Changed
Documentary of how quickly other species were able to recover during the early months of the pandemic when humans stayed home. 94 year old David Attenborough narrates. And here I am giving up on y’all at 57. What an inspiration.
There were some lessons learned. A few things taken to heart of working with and better respecting other species. I wish one of them was not to subsidize the tourist industry.
The lesson I got was was it worth losing 0.1% of the world’s human population to hopefully bring other species back from the brink of extinction? I think we all know the answer to that.
Documentary of how quickly other species were able to recover during the early months of the pandemic when humans stayed home. 94 year old David Attenborough narrates. And here I am giving up on y’all at 57. What an inspiration.
There were some lessons learned. A few things taken to heart of working with and better respecting other species. I wish one of them was not to subsidize the tourist industry.
The lesson I got was was it worth losing 0.1% of the world’s human population to hopefully bring other species back from the brink of extinction? I think we all know the answer to that.
ideologyhunter
Contributor
Jonathan Miller's three-part A Brief History of Disbelief, which is from 2004 but somehow stayed hidden from me for 17 years. (I believe some PBS stations were offered the program but wouldn't take it, since it was considered a fund raising buzz kill.) It covers the historical roots of freethought and atheism -- some excellent material, especially on the French atheists of the 18th C. and on Thomas Paine. Watched it online.
Jayjay
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Purge: Anarchy
I haven't seen any of the other purge movies, so I can't compare, but this one was underwhelming. To me it seems that the concept of the purge isn't really thought through. It's implied that high-level government officials have immunity, and rich people can afford their own security so they don't need law enforcement to protect them on the purge night, and also some weapons like heavy explosives are banned even during the purge. So basically the idea is that poor people will kill each other and thus help the economy with unemployment... or something.
But what about white-collar crime? How can you trust any bank, when their employees have one night in the year when they can transfer the money out of your account to theirs, with no legal ramifications? And how would you stop the violence from spilling beyond the purge, with angry people seeking vengeance, and murderers and thieves committing crimes just before or after the purge, but doing it so that there is no evidence of the exact time? Like, if you go to your victims house five minutes after the purge, when they have their guard down, and shoot them dead, who's going to prove that it wasn't just regular purging instead of murder?
I haven't seen any of the other purge movies, so I can't compare, but this one was underwhelming. To me it seems that the concept of the purge isn't really thought through. It's implied that high-level government officials have immunity, and rich people can afford their own security so they don't need law enforcement to protect them on the purge night, and also some weapons like heavy explosives are banned even during the purge. So basically the idea is that poor people will kill each other and thus help the economy with unemployment... or something.
But what about white-collar crime? How can you trust any bank, when their employees have one night in the year when they can transfer the money out of your account to theirs, with no legal ramifications? And how would you stop the violence from spilling beyond the purge, with angry people seeking vengeance, and murderers and thieves committing crimes just before or after the purge, but doing it so that there is no evidence of the exact time? Like, if you go to your victims house five minutes after the purge, when they have their guard down, and shoot them dead, who's going to prove that it wasn't just regular purging instead of murder?
marc
Veteran Member
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 9/10
At the end of Avengers Endgame Steve Rogers handed the shield over to Sam Wilson. Sam responded that it felt like it belongs to someone else. In the first episode he hands the shield over to the Smithsonian Institute, only for the government to take it for their new ‘captain america’. Bucky is dealing with the guilt of all the murders he committed when he was controlled by Hydra. They team up against the “Flag Smashers”, a group fighting against governments because of the turmoil caused by their efforts to handle the billions of people reappearing after 5 years.
The overall story is of Sam becoming the right man for the shield. It has some great scenes dealing with things like black patriotism: loving a country that has a long history of not caring about black people. Sam even says he feels millions of people hating him just for picking up the shield. Some very good action, one in particular we replayed like 5 times. The writer for the series is writing the next Captain America movie, and I can’t wait to see more of Sam’s Captain America in action.
At the end of Avengers Endgame Steve Rogers handed the shield over to Sam Wilson. Sam responded that it felt like it belongs to someone else. In the first episode he hands the shield over to the Smithsonian Institute, only for the government to take it for their new ‘captain america’. Bucky is dealing with the guilt of all the murders he committed when he was controlled by Hydra. They team up against the “Flag Smashers”, a group fighting against governments because of the turmoil caused by their efforts to handle the billions of people reappearing after 5 years.
The overall story is of Sam becoming the right man for the shield. It has some great scenes dealing with things like black patriotism: loving a country that has a long history of not caring about black people. Sam even says he feels millions of people hating him just for picking up the shield. Some very good action, one in particular we replayed like 5 times. The writer for the series is writing the next Captain America movie, and I can’t wait to see more of Sam’s Captain America in action.
Shadowy Man
Contributor
Hmm... I’ve been hesitant to watch this because of some of the bad reviews I’ve seen and because I didn’t do these two characters particularly compelling in the movies. Maybe I’ll at least give it a try.
Jimmy Higgins
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Wandavision - 2 episodes in. Liking it. A good start with the old school sitcom style, obviously something is going on, but I like how they didn't phone in the early sitcom portion. It is legitimately entertaining. This could flop, but I trust the franchise.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 3 episodes into this. This is going very well, and continues with character growth. It is a short season, so I'm curious how they'll 'finish' this.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 3 episodes into this. This is going very well, and continues with character growth. It is a short season, so I'm curious how they'll 'finish' this.
During my dinner I am watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine from first episode to the last.
Shadowy Man
Contributor
That’s a long dinner.
And after dinner I go to the basement, sit with the cat and watch The Waltons from the first to last episode.
Of course not all in one sitting. Wife and boys are not due back from Canada for another 2 months.
Shadowy Man
Contributor
So I've been on a kick of watching fantasy series seemingly aimed at young adults and enjoying them.
I finished the run of The Magicians. The characters were sometimes simple caricatures, with repeating 'gimmick's defining them, but the plot kept me on my toes long enough to enjoy seeing where it went. And there was a self-referential silliness that I respected.
Then I watched Fate: The Winx Saga. Kind of a similar premise as The Magicians and with similar flaws, but still enjoyable enough.
After that I watched Shadow and Bone. This one was a bit rockier on the start because it jumps right into a pre-existing complex world with no foreword and the first few episodes were pretty confusing, but I stuck it out and enjoyed the depth of the story. My guess is that the books are probably a better venue for this kind of storytelling. The acting was a bit too serious at times, with the main character's overly-quizzical look sometimes getting in the way. But there was enough potential richness to keep me interested.
Now, I've just started The Witcher but it's a little hard to get into. Two episodes in and I'm still a bit confused as to what to expect.
Keep in mind, that I usually watch TV on my phone while I do housework in the evenings, so this kind of fluffy YA stuff wouldn't normally be my cup of tea for a serious sit down, but for just kind of chewing on while doing other stuff it fits the bill just right.
I finished the run of The Magicians. The characters were sometimes simple caricatures, with repeating 'gimmick's defining them, but the plot kept me on my toes long enough to enjoy seeing where it went. And there was a self-referential silliness that I respected.
Then I watched Fate: The Winx Saga. Kind of a similar premise as The Magicians and with similar flaws, but still enjoyable enough.
After that I watched Shadow and Bone. This one was a bit rockier on the start because it jumps right into a pre-existing complex world with no foreword and the first few episodes were pretty confusing, but I stuck it out and enjoyed the depth of the story. My guess is that the books are probably a better venue for this kind of storytelling. The acting was a bit too serious at times, with the main character's overly-quizzical look sometimes getting in the way. But there was enough potential richness to keep me interested.
Now, I've just started The Witcher but it's a little hard to get into. Two episodes in and I'm still a bit confused as to what to expect.
Keep in mind, that I usually watch TV on my phone while I do housework in the evenings, so this kind of fluffy YA stuff wouldn't normally be my cup of tea for a serious sit down, but for just kind of chewing on while doing other stuff it fits the bill just right.
marc
Veteran Member
Thing with The Witcher is it is essentially showing multiple storylines that happen at different time periods. It is not until several episodes in that you realize events happening with the Witcher himself happened years before the stuff with the princess, and actually the cause of some of the stuff happening with her.