Topic: The TV Show Thread

@LN78 Better Call Saul is great! Better than BB by a country mile.

Don't like Paul particularly, but found Jesse annoying in the extreme.

@KratosMD I haven't even finished season 3. My life has just been busy that I haven't been able to watch much TV.

So, despite not liking Ruby Rose at all, and being particularly unimpressed with Batwoman in the Elseworlds crossover, and the trailers, I decided to give Batwoman a fair shake anyway.
There are worse TV pilots out there. Perhaps if the the current CW shows hadn't already bedded themselves in and maybe if another person had the lead, Batwoman might have the wings to soar - but it doesn't.
Rose remains alarmingly miscast. She just cannot actto save her life and looks all of 80lbs ringing wet, there's not a token of convincing physical performance. The rest of the production feels like a ham-fisted sixth former's idea of what 'representation' means.

Since the entertainment media is already pointing at 'trolls' for the poor reception - you should all absolutely watch it just to see for yourselves what an unwieldy mess it is.

@KALofKRYPTON My best friend adores Ruby Rose. Given your comments, I think she'll end up adoring the show. I'll be honest, it's the first of the Arrowverse shows I've given more than a "will catch it all on Blu-Ray once it's finished" thought to, but it being shown on NowTV over here is a blocker. I hate that service.

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My partner and I started Stranger Things this weekend. We ended up binge-watching the first two seasons and will likely get through the third next week, just to say that we have.

We watched it because we'd heard it was a "big deal" and yet both of us struggled to account for its ridiculous levels of popularity. There's no questioning its production values, solid pacing and overall charm but otherwise, it's just a couple of derivative eight-hour monster flicks. Was that its point? If so, I kinda wish I'd known that going in, because I could've adjusted my brain to enjoy it for what it was. As it stands, I was just kinda disappointed not to "get" yet another mainstream thing.

The first season was much better than the second. It all had a point; despite having a narrow focus, it left itself enough wiggle-room to write in, layering its multiple stories neatly atop one another without veering off in random directions. When compared to Season Two, which just felt like so much "we want another paycheque" meandering nonsense, it was eight episodes I can see myself re-watching someday. It also managed its suspense well, never showing more than one or two seconds of the monster, whereas Season Two went for extended close-ups of various nasties, totally undermining their effectiveness.

But I'm oddly curious to see what Winona Ryder is gonna string up in her house next; if it really does descend into repeating itself year in, year out then it'll stand forever as an example of how to totally squander audience goodwill after a decent first season.

@KALofKRYPTON @RogerRoger i'm sure it's perfectly serviceable but i gave up on the Arrowverse ages ago back when they just started recycling the same plot season after season although Crisis on Infinite Earths is looking good

@RogerRoger If your friend likes Rose, then she might get something out of it, but it is terrible. I abandoned Arrow early on as it was and remained a horribly sombre take on Green Arrow. It never escapes the feeling that the producers wanted to make a Batman show.
Batwoman was a great opportunity that seems to have been missed.

For me, Stranger Things is one of those shows that I thought I wouldn't like, but really do. It's chock full of tropes and is incredibly derivative in many ways, but it manages to do all of that and revel in the 80s setting without annoying me a jot. Few characters are needlessly stupid, plot contrivances are usually well handled and it manages to just feel very... 'right' I suppose. I was young in the 80s and it evokes a lot of that nostalgia; it looks like the time when all I knew of America was from films and TV shows and it all seemed very cool and amazing and sunny and big!

The third season is by far the weakest, so I'd be interested to see what you make of that.

I started Swamp Thing today as it showed up on Amazon Prime. Very good. Damned shame that it was canned!

@KALofKRYPTON @LN78 It's funny, because my partner is older than me and therefore has much more of a connection to 80s cultural touchstones (he kept dropping names like The Goonies, Flight of the Navigator, etc. whilst I just sat there calling the smaller Season Two monsters "raptors" and wondering if Sean Astin would end up hiding in a kitchen) and yet, he kinda hated the first season for being so unoriginal; it was only during the second that he lightened up and started laughing at it for being so ridiculous. I think it was when Max directly called Lucas' recollection of the first season "derivative" that he laughed the most, nodding towards it as a moment of self-awareness which he'd found lacking before (well, that and the Ghostbusters episode). And the longer it went on, the more valid his reaction; if you're gonna rip something off to that degree, at least point your tongue towards your cheek, if not have it take up permanent residence.

But you're both spot on about nostalgia. I've seen a lot of its influences, but have very little connection to such things, so my opinion was flipped. I took the first season relatively seriously, and then just rolled my eyes at the second. Also, nobody panic, but I again agree with @LN78 that the first season would've been so much better if it just ended, rolling the credits before the tacked-on "One Month Later" epilogue could drop any of its deliberate narrative breadcrumbs. As a one-off, eight-episode mini-series, it would've been absolutely fine... heck, almost great.

@KALofKRYPTON Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol are the two DC shows I keep hearing great things about. I won't start the former, knowing its fate, but am keen to track down the latter at some point... unfortunately, all I currently have access to is Titans and I'm nervous to watch it, as I think I may hate it (despite being a big fan of Robin and Beast Boy).

@LN78 Yeah, I totally agree (sorry). For eight episodes, it felt like an homage that took itself seriously, treated the source material with respect and told a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. By having to expand that microcosm, and by adding in a bunch of nudge-wink casting choices, the second season felt much more like a cash-in on the nostalgia.

To borrow from your choice of reference, they dialled the wrong elements up to Eleven.

Although actually, having said that, I really wanna acknowledge the acting talent behind both Eleven and Will Byers. The other kids were mostly okay, but those two were on a whole other level; they were uniformly fantastic from start to finish. Well done them.

I quite liked Stranger things. Only watched the first season mind.

... That's my contribution for today

@RogerRoger Doom Patrol is worth it. Could do with a better budget, but it's a good show based on good characters.

Not sure how Swamp Thing will play out, but it is very good for the first few episodes I've seen. Feels almost like early True Blood in tone.
I think it'll be worth finishing the season.

Titans ranges from OK to dire in the first season. Largely because of the never anything but forced feeling of ultra-mega-edgleordness of it all 😂
Starfire (I forget the actresses name) is a surprising highlight considering the costuming.
I'm 5 episodes in to season 2 and it appears to have chilled out slightly to a degree. Still plenty edgy, but the writers seem to have caught up with the tone and the swearing seems a little more natural.

@KALofKRYPTON Good to know about Doom Patrol, thanks. Maybe it'll get a budget boost after the first season was received so well. As for Titans... well, now that you've dropped the E-word into the conversation, I'll have to watch it (whilst clutching a Shadow the Hedgehog plush)!

@LN78 Ah, nuts. And there I was thinking I was being all clever and whatnot.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be totally honest with you, as soon as you mentioned subtitles, I recoiled (yeah, I'm one of those... although my German might be good enough to get a general impression of what's going on, it wouldn't be good enough to keep pace). Having said that, my partner and I often struggle to find anything worthwhile or engaging that we can agree to watch together, at least in terms of UK / US output, so there's a strong chance we might give it a look-see when needing to break a deadlock. So yeah, thank you, I'll definitely keep it in mind.

@RogerRoger Haha! It's every other scene in the first season too - edge overloa(/r)d!

@KALofKRYPTON Shadow approves.

No, trust me; that reaction is known as the Edgelord Smile of Approval.

🎵Can you see all of me, waaaaalk into my mystery🎵

I quite like the Shadow the Hedgehog theme song @RogerRoger... And the game itself is alright too

As for the actual topic at hand I started watching OZ the HBO prison drama from 22 years ago now.

From season 1 of course.

... It's... certainly different then what I typically watch.

J.K Simmons is great. His character an absolutely horrible white supremicist... But he certainly has the acting chops (If I ever doubted him lol)

Was quite surprised to see Harold Perrineau or Michael from LOST in this as Augustus Hill, took me a couple of episodes to recognise him.

Not to mention Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje or Mr Eko from LOST or The Mummy Returns where he's imhotep and the museum curator's underling and "looks" after the bratty Alex O'Connel kid. He's... certainly interesting lol

The acting as whole is pretty good from all the leads to be honest.

Not sure if I'll watch the whole six seasons, but season one is pretty decent so far barring all the raw, ugliness of a male prison.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oz is great - if a bit harrowing in places. Saw a lot of it on it's run on Channel 4 (I think). I don't think I saw all of it - but a lot.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yes, thanks for dragging me back on-topic!

Although I doubt, from your description, I'd ever brave watching Oz (even with the guy from The Mummy Returns and Commissioner Gordon in it).

@KratosMD Darn it, I really wish all the DC shows were on our Netflix. Then I might actually stand a chance of watching them and making sense of it all.

@LN78 Not really a Marvel fan, only thing I've really seen him in, I like Justice League... take your pick.

Oldman was the one bright spark in an otherwise bleak trilogy of mediocrity for me. I respect his performance (and those of several co-stars, including Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson) but it can't be where my brain automatically goes, as I try very hard to keep that particular cul de sac of memories cordoned off.

I'm doing it again; this is the television topic, gosh darn it! Sorry everybody!

Well I have the Emerald city collection sitting here with all six seasons @KALofKRYPTON soooooo... We'll see how we go lol

...I... don't think I would reccomend it to ya @RogerRoger 😅 As Kal says it is quite harrowing and uncomfortable.

There's plenty of violence. Three people have died already and I'm four episodes in, frequent drug use, very frequent racist and derogatory slurs, implied "dropping of the soap" business, nudity and... yeah.

Agbaje does have a spiffy little hat that somehow stays atop his head though lol

@RogerRoger well, if you don't want to see old Jim as a rather nasty rapey aryan, probably best to steer clear!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy good luck, we're all counting on you! 😁

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy You're right, that hat is spiffy. Awesome!

But yes, otherwise, thanks to you and KAL for shielding me from the rest of that show.