Topic: The TV Show Thread

I like to watch America's Next Top Model when still being aired on Star World.

Okay so I've just finished the first season of The Boys and it's freaking brilliant. The premise of super powered people in the real world rather than fighting bizarre enemies of the week is so refreshing. That and them being far from beacons of virtue. The writing and acting is great so far but Antony Starr as Homelander is outstanding. I will save starting the second season for tomorrow but eager to see where they take this. I've just done a quick bit of research on the comic it's based on and was pleased it see it was a finite series. This makes me optimistic it may carry through to a fulfilling end when many a good tv shows fail to achieve it. If it maintains the quality of the first season through to the end this may well become one of my favourites.

@BearsEatBeets Yeah the comics are more extreme on every single level. I've only got a few of them and plan to get them all once the TV show has finished.

Huey in the comics was based on early Simon Pegg (who also wrote the foreword in one of them iirc), so was good to seem play his Dad.

Season 2 takes a couple of episodes to get going, but episode 3 was amazing. The whale scene was both shocking and hilarious at the same time. Huey is getting on my nerves a bit, but they are following his arc from the comics and hopefully he will get over it soon. Homelander is still fantastic and Billy has all the best one liners. 'C' Mon, let's go. F****** Pinocchio's staying in there'.
😂😂😂

I'll probably watch episode 4 later today or tomorrow.

@JohnnyShoulder I'm fine with a slow build up. Billy has some great lines, his Spice girls speech was funny in the first season. I'm tempted to check out the comic line having seen the show but like you will probably wait until it's finished. Elements of it remind of another comic line I thought was really good about a more real world take on a 'Superman' style character - Supreme Power.

I'd recommend it for a read.

Finished up the second season of Arrow. Yep, two seasons in a couple of weeks. I have to say that those last few episodes were right up there with Daredevil as some of my favourite TV superhero episodes I’ve seen. Deathstroke was just brilliant, a villain that isn’t explored enough as he’s great in the comics as well. Hopefully we’ll see him more in the Snyder Cut.

Oof, just finished season two of Cobra Kai. That was... something. AMAZING fight choreagraphy, and one of the most emotionally gutting episodes of television I've seen since Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias."

Also watching The Haunting of Hill House, which is just fantastic. Last episode was done in what looked like only a handful of shots and was reminiscent of a stage play due to how constrained the sets were and how reliant on dialogue and character chemistry it was. Amazing acting all around.

@Ralizah Yeah that episode of THOHH was a great piece of filmmaking. I can't wait to hear what you think of the next episode (or it could be the one after, I forget now), which I think was my favourite of the series.

Looks like I'll be getting Disney + again next month.

@BearsEatBeets Yeah can't wait. I've not heard any news of any other new shows coming to D+ to tempt me from cancelling my sub when the free period expires.

@JohnnyShoulder Will your free peroid cover the second series? Apparently it will be 8 weekly episodes so won't finish until the end of the year. I'm going to resubscribe the day the first episode airs or maybe few days after to try and cover it in 2 months of subs.

@BearsEatBeets It should do, it lasts to the end of Jan next year.

Honestly I watched about 4 episodes of the Mandalorian with my mum and she was a bit bored by it so I’ll probably watch the rest myself. It definitely is quite lowkey but I liked that.

I just watched the social dilemma documentary on Netflix, fascinating watch and would thoroughly recommend (though the irony of posting that on an Internet forum is not lost on me). I deleted my Facebook account years ago but made me realise that time on work emails, guardian app, lurking on reddit and maybe even my time checking news here also scratch some of those same itches the big apps target. I've just changed my browser, set an app time limit on my most used apps and deleted outlook/reddit off my phone. Kids tube is now banned in our house (though we manage screen time for our little one reasonably well). The echo chamber and positive reinforcement of our own beliefs on social media has never been more devicive than it is now (and I had an active Facebook account during an independence referendum). Nevermind, I've preordered a ps5, so even my controller can listen in on me now 😂

@R1spam Yeah — i watched The Social Dilemma too and was going to post my thoughts and it sounds like it moved you in pretty much the same way.

It’s pretty disturbing how social media and the internet have grown into this monster that we now cannot control. The AI in the apps is scary. And to see many of the executive leaders and early developers of these technologies and the strategic planners of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, SnapChat, etc. are voluntarily coming out in these interviews and pleading for some kind of regulation and warning us all about it, well it’s quite unsettling. I think it’s telling that most of the people they interviewed who’ve run these companies don’t allow their own children to use the products they helped develop.

I would encourage everyone to take an hour and a half and watch the show too. It could potentially change your life.

You need look no further than the recent furor right here on our very site (TLoU2, JK Rowling) and the subsequent calls for moderation to see the very things this documentary is warning about and the rapid polarization of society. COVID, racism, ... so many growing tensions escalating to violence. No one wants to have real discussions and learn from opposing viewpoints anymore because of the echo-chambers that their social media has manufactured for them which gives them a false sense of reality. I can’t believe how deftly and subconsciously the social media world has [granted, unintentionally] created pockets of radicals with a loss of any real way to know what is true and what isn’t.

When they interviewed the one guy (I forget all their names, I believe he was a former Twitter executive) and asked what did he foresee the end point to be and he said “Civil War.” Truly concerning, indeed.

As a person who doesn’t participate in mainstream social media — I also either deleted or never meaningfully used FB, IG, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok, etc — it pains me to see that it makes no difference and people who don’t actually use social media are still going to be affected by its parasitic effects because of the tumult in society it creates.

To be devil’s advocate (and I think the developers interviewed alluded to this) these technologies have done a lot of good for society as well. The tool itself may not be rotten and unethical, it’s the user of the tool who is to blame, and so society at large must share in the burden of social unrest and declining mental health that has ensued. And just like many of societies other ills, probably the only way out is some kind of massive reform and regulation.

Or, like the chap you quoted said, it'll be some kind of war.

Fun times, eh?

***

Anyway, to drag the discussion back down to some meaningless fluff, yesterday I finished the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I reckon I need a break from it. There was a definite downward spiral in the latest episodes; everything became darker and more depressing, whilst it became less subtle and intelligent in the way it handled its social commentary.

For me personally, it's a shame, because I really loved it when it was happy being a campy, hopeful monster-of-the-week show. Characters I already didn't like have gone on arcs that have made them worse, not better (seriously, Xander is a... word I can't use on a family forum, but he's become irredeemable garbage at this point). Everybody's obsession with Drusilla is infuriating, as I can't stand her (and not in a "villain who's fun to hate" way). Sarah Michelle Gellar does everything in her power to make Buffy likeable and her efforts work wonders on a scene-by-scene basis, but the writers are putting her through so much awfulness that it's becoming a struggle to cheer her appearances.

In fact, it's the supporting cast who I'm really growing fond of. Had the show been about Oz, Willow, Cordelia and Giles awkwardly trying to fumble their way to victory every week, I'd have been calling it a firm favourite but alas, even Giles has been treated like garbage this season.

The BBC must've heavily censored some episodes, and probably couldn't even show a couple in its 6pm weekday timeslot. I still had some vague recollection of many key moments, but others completely passed me by. I think I'd remember Wentworth Miller ripping his own skin off and subsequently gang-raping his elderly swimming coach but hey, that's hardly appropriate teatime family viewing, is it? That episode, and unfortunately the werewolf one (despite its importance to Oz, who I really like), have been the lowest points. I really hope that they prove to be unfortunate anomalies in the long-run.

Am gonna shake things up, maybe catch a few movies or watch a limited-run series, before starting the third season and seeing if those hopes pan out. Fingers crossed.

@Ralizah Glad to see you're watching The Haunting of Hill House! It's easily the best miniseries I've ever seen, and absolutely up there as one of my favourite shows ever. Episode 6 truly is masterfully filmed. If I remember correctly, the episode was divided up into 5 takes total. Obviously all of them were made to have seamless transitions however, so it really does feel like a one-take episode a la 1917. Easily one of my favourite episodes of 2018. And you're right, the acting really is top notch as well. I'm particularly partial to Kate Siegel who plays Theo, and even nominated her in my personal Emmys of 2019. Really great cast all around. I'd gladly hear your thoughts whenever you finish it so we could discuss it more in-depth if you want! Super excited for Bly Manor to hit in just 19 short days.

@RogerRoger I really quite like the back half of season 2 but I think season 3 is widely considered the best one. I enjoy the darker stuff though, Buffy does have to grow up at some point even if people like Xander(grr) don’t. Yes, Oz is great and I love him!

@RogerRoger @nessisonett I've noticed everyone seems to really love the show's third season, but it sits firmly on the lower rung of seasons for me (although above seasons 1 and 7, obviously; it's probably better than season 6, but I enjoyed that season more for how audacious it was). Season 5 is probably my favorite season of the show overall, I think, in terms of having an interesting villain, and the best balance of funny episodes with heart-breaking ones. Also, the climactic episode of that season was never really topped, imo, which makes sense when you consider it was written in a way where it could have been a series climax.

I love season 2, though, in terms of how it takes the idea of "my boyfriend changed when we slept together" and turned it into an apocalyptic nightmare. Also, Angelus is crueler and sexier than most of the other villains in the show, and really flexes that male yandere vibe. And Spike enjoys some fantastic character development over the course of the series and Angel.

@RogerRoger I've not seen it i years, but i do not think Buffy ever goes back to being a "campy, hopeful monster-of-the-week show" as you put it, apart from the odd episode maybe. Good luck with season 3, hopefully it resonates with you a bit more.

@nessisonett @Ralizah @JohnnyShoulder Don't get me wrong; it's still a quality show, and its historical context in terms of serialised storytelling and themes is obviously to be applauded. Most of its contemporaries never allowed their characters to evolve beyond their pilot pitches, so it was (and is) very forward-looking in that regard. I think I'm inadvertently a victim of censorship; the amount the BBC must've hacked out of this show is incredible, from individual scenes to entire episodes. I never would've called it "outright horror" before, so it's a bizarrely compelling case study, of sorts.

Doesn't help that I haven't been feeling well lately, so I've been reaching for safe, comfortable content which I thought Buffy would be. Had it caught me in a better place, I might've been pleasantly surprised by the unexpected differences, but they're just bumming me out right now.

Which is why I'm taking a break. I've started something animated, so that'll help, I reckon!

Regardless, I do think that, whilst the broad story ideas must've looked great on paper, their execution has been a little lacking. The whole Angel / Angelus thing works as a post-game summary ("Buffy's boyfriend turns evil after they sleep together, and it turns out she must kill him to save the world, but he turns good right at the last moment OMG!!") but I reckon David Boreanaz could sell brooding, tortured hero better than insane, torturing villain. It also created a bunch of false tension whenever he and Buffy would fight, because it wasn't the end of the season and so they'd just stop and walk away from one another, mumbling something about "it isn't time yet" because the network demanded more episodes.

This kinda stuff doesn't usually bother me in the slightest; I'm well-aware of the realities of television production, after all. Clearly I'm just being Colonel Grumpkin at the moment!