Topic: The TV Show Thread

Speaking of American comedy where the leads are bad people, I'd absolutely recommend You're the Worst to anyone and everyone who listens. It's an incredible romcom following a highly dysfunctional relationship, while also being able to tastefully handle subjects such as depression and PTSD. Makes it sound like it's tonally all over the place I'm sure, but I promise it's great stuff. It's easily my favourite comedy show I've seen period, and one of my favourite shows overall. Aya Cash as Gretchen in particular is just a masterful performance that was somehow snubbed from any and all awards. She's also going to show up in the second season of The Boys in a few weeks, so if you love that show you might as well familiarise yourself with her!

Also, with all the Band of Brothers talk here, I'm starting to feel like a bad person for dropping out, haha. I think I watched the first 7 episodes and afterwards just had no desire to continue. WW2/military movies and TV shows generally aren't really my thing though, so that probably helped in my disinterest. I did really like the Catch-22 TV adaptation from last year though, but that's mostly because it had a very interesting and more comedic tone to it that you don't usually see in a military setting. It felt fresh, and Kyle Chandler was fantastic in it.

@Tjuz I got so much flack from some of my friends for really enjoying that Catch-22 adaptation. I have the book, I’ve read it many many times and love it but still appreciated that show for trying to tackle it. My friends hated it and I don’t really know why, it would have been a headache and a half trying to adapt the non-linearity so I was OK with them straightening out the narrative. I think I prefer it to the movie adaptation.

@nessisonett I'll admit I didn't read the book nor had I watched the movie adaptation before the show, and I was generally unfamiliar with the source material outside of the meaning of a Catch-22 and that it was satire, so I went in with totally fresh eyes. I thought the linear narrative worked very well and I honestly wouldn't have thought it was originally non-linear had you not told me. I loved the show for its different feel compared to most other shows and movies that tackle war, but I imagine that feel is the same in the book and movie. I also thought it did a great job of balancing both the comedy and the serious aspects. It never felt tone-deaf or insensitive. Add a great cast to that with overall humorous and good writing, and I think it was a very successful miniseries. Had a great time with it for sure.

@Tjuz Yep, can't wait for season 2 of The Boys! Feels like it's been 'coming next month' forever.

I'm already missing Agents of SHIELD, as its last episode aired just over a week ago. As an obsessive of the show I was very satisfied with the ending it gave us for the story and the characters. It's one of my most recommended shows since most people seem to give up on it a few episodes into the first season, just before it hits its stride. Definitely the ugly stepchild in the eyes of ABC and Disney who didn't know what to do with it or to bother with it at all, as cancellation constantly loomed over it and its budget got smaller and smaller. No matter that the writing, directing, and acting was top notch and I highly recommend it to whoever who was read this till the end. Will not disappoint.

Another show that I would probably rate amongst my all time favourites is Watchmen, it just got better and better as it went on. Jeremy Irons’ performance as Ozymandias was brilliant and I loved how it adapted the little side story format of the comics by showing a character’s background each episode. It might not be a straight adaptation but personally, I think that’s the best way to go about it. And I say that as somebody who really quite enjoys the Snyder movie for what it is.

I’ve been watching Succession and I just have to say it’s really cool seeing Dundee in a legitimate big budget HBO show. I went up there all the time when my sister was at the Uni and Brian Cox was rector and is a Dundee native so I assume he was also happy about showing off the city to the world! Sat there tonight pointing out places I recognised which was fun. Reminded me of when Infinity War was in Edinburgh Waverley station!

@nessisonett the Watchmen series is mad, I definitely enjoyed it but still don't know what to make of it overall in terms of one of the possible larger Watchmen universes. There was one episode that really stood out to me as being awesome television but I forget which one it was now. But I will agree with @LN78 , Tim Blake Nelson easily played the best character in the whole show. He was unrecognisable in the role which is a testament to his acting ability. Considering I'd only seen him as The Leader in the incredible hulk before, I was very surprised when I found out who the actor was. Thinking about it, it was probably the looking glass episode that I thought was the best one but I'd have to rewatch the series to be sure! He was kind of a likeable version of Rorschach and that's not an easy thing to pull off. I mean I love rorschach as a character but I probably wouldn't go for a beer with him.

@ralphdibny I saw Alan Moore absolutely rip into Rorschach fans who were annoyed that the Seventh Kavalry use his imagery. It’s funny because as a character, he’s Moore’s way of poking holes in Steve Ditko’s Ayn Rand inspired heroes so him becoming a symbol for that lot is rather ironic.

"I wanted to kind of make this like, 'Yeah, this is what Batman would be in the real world.' But I had forgotten that actually to a lot of comic fans that smelling, not having a girlfriend—these are actually kind of heroic. So actually, sort of, Rorschach became the most popular character in Watchmen. I meant him to be a bad example, but I have people come up to me in the street saying, 'I am Rorschach! That is my story!' And I'll be thinking, 'Yeah, great, can you just keep away from me and never come anywhere near me again for as long as I live?'" - Alan Moore

@nessisonett I didn't think this new Watchmen series would even be on Alan Moore's radar letalone him even know what the seventh cavalry is to the point where he can rip into fans/trolls for their opinions. I am curious as to what he said about it!

It's weird, because no matter what Moore says, all the characters in Watchmen are relatable and/or could be people you know. I mean, their traits are taken to the extreme but they're all conflicted characters with huge shades of grey, even Rorschach who kind of does bad things for good reasons. But that's one of the reasons why the book is so good, the characterisations are very realistic and I can look at myself and say hmm yeah, I get where they're all coming from. But it's probably the balance of all the traits that stops me being a hopelessly nihilistic, frustrated, super smart, rich, gadget making axe murderer that experiences all of time in one go...😅

@LN78 I’m gonna be honest I (doomsday) clocked out after the original. Really not a fan of the cashing in on the brand even if I loved the original and the mini-series. Having them in the DC Universe just seems weird.

@LN78 @nessisonett I thought mister miracle was brilliant but I also loved Tom Kings Batman run which I know is contrary to popular opinion but I just liked how it wasn't too wordy but effectively told a story. It really communicated emotions without saying a lot.

The prospect of Doomsday Clock is kind of what got me back into comics, but since I started collecting, the series linked to what I was getting just balooned out (originally it was Batman Flash Titans and Teen Titans) to the point where I am so behind on about 20 different series that I still haven't got around to reading doomsday clock. But I am looking forward to it!

I think what excited me was wondering how they were going to do it. I love Watchmen, it's one of my favourite books but when you've seen three spider man continuities in film and two versions of deadpool in the same film continuity I think you come to realise that stuff just exists and you can enjoy it or not. But there's not alot of point holding a particular piece of work to be so precious that nobody can sequelise it. Any new material doesn't detract from the original work, what is "official" is only in your mind and therefore you can regard any additions to the canon however you see fit!

I've got the first couple of issues if rorshchach ordered because of how cool the covers look (standard and variant) but it remains to be seen if DC actually sort out their UK distribution by the end of the year or not and whether I can carry on collecting it. I'm probably going to pick up the trade of Strange Adventures when that comes out though, I just couldn't afford to add that to my monthly comics at the time!

What do you all think is the best streaming service, as far as quality content and value? Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO Max, etc. including perhaps others that are unique to the UK (I think I see you all talk about Sky and others I don’t think we have)

To me it’s pretty annoying that in order to have access to all the content you have to carry multiple subscriptions. I used to think Netflix was the best all-around value due to large quantity of content and good quality original shows, but honestly I find myself rarely watching it anymore. I watch Disney plus the most but the content is definitely more limited on there.

@Th3solution Personally I think it is between Netfix and Amazon Prime. Netflix has the most content that interests me and quite a far bit of stuff in 4k but you have to pay extra for. Prime has stuff like 4K content at no extra cost plus you get free next delivery but has less content which I'm into. NOW TV is the streaming service from sky, but you pay for separate packages for Cinema, Entertainment and Sport, plus you have to pay extra to get any content in HD (1080p) which really grinds my gears. They do have the HBO shows which is probably worth the sub on its own. Disney+ has a low price but has by far the least amount of content for me and I've only got cos it was free for 6 months. I've not tried Starzplay as yet. As far as I'm aware we don't have HBO Max or HULU in the UK.

I think I've become accustomed to the seperate services now, and I think it will only get worse so we might as well get used to it. I usually rotate between all the services but this year because of lockdown i've kept Netflix and Prime.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, I might have mentioned this before, but I have a hard time with Netflix partly because there is too much and I don’t know where to begin. Disney Plus is more manageable as far as its content. They need to hurry up though with Mandalorian 2 and the Marvel TV shows.

@Th3solution Just pick a show which you think you like and if you enjoy it keep watching it until the end or you stop enjoying it. Not sure how hard it can be really? Or if you are not feeling it, just unsubscribe and be done with it.

@JohnnyShoulder Netflix has awful discoverability. It skews what shows you see to what you’ve watched before, therefore making it quite hard to truly see what’s on the service.

@JohnnyShoulder Lol. Yeah, well it’s a personal flaw in my character, think it stems from some mild obsessive compulsive personality traits. And unsubscribing isn’t an option because it’s a shared account. So I just largely ignore it lately and pretend it’s not there when I look for something to watch, until I have a specific title to search out; which the majority of the time lately they don’t seem to have the show I’m looking for.

@nessisonett Well yeah it's using the shows you have watched and liked to reccomend new stuff. It doesn't always get it bang on but I'm not expecting it to either. Never really had an issue with that in all honesty. I pretty much know what i want watch though, and I tend not to binge watch either. There have been a few occasions when I can't decide what to watch when I've finished a show, but that is me being in a odd mood and I usually watch a bunch random stuff on YouTube or something. Next time I'm on the service I've usually found something to watch no problem. In the past when time has passed and nothing interests me I cancel it and try another service.

@Th3solution So in that instance you could subscribe to the service the show is on, you can sometimes get a free trial and then cancel it when you finished it, hopefully before the free trial ends. Or you never know you might find other stuff on there that you might enjoy and you can stay subbed for a bit longer. You could have a look to see what other stuff is on there before signing up.

My mum has profile under my Netflix account, but i have cancelled it before. Not until she has finished whatever she has needed to though. I have been subbed to it continuously for a couple of years now but I am always watching stuff on it. You shouldn't be forced to use something that you are not really using at the end of the day.