Topic: The TV Show Thread

@ralphdibny I think it’ll be interesting going into the episodes with Elongated Man just because of the truly silly and terrible things the actor said. It’s hard to love a character when you know they’re going to be a goner due to external circumstances. For me, it’s strange watching Kevin Spacey movies now even if I loved them at the time. It’s a strange one.

@nessisonett it is a shame really, he's proper loveable in the show. I think trying to be funny on twitter in incredibly bad taste is a far cry from Kevin Spacey though. But yeah I still love all the X men films despite Bryan Singers involvement. I still think American Beauty is a great film. Just wish old Dibbers didn't get sacked though! It's a great loss to the show.

@ralphdibny Oh yeah, I’m not equating the two, it’s more in the sense that going back and watching stuff with people who’ve completely stuffed their own career by being idiots is sometimes quite hard!

@nessisonett it can taint it when the people are obviously horrible people like Kevin Spacey and Bryan singer but I'm not too fussed by the James Gunns and the Hartley Sawyer's because their work is such good quality that while it doesn't excuse their mistakes, trying to be funny and it falling flatter than a pancake is not something I'm going to hold against them. I know you will probably disagree but that's kinda how I feel about it, plus I want Ralph Dibney back 😭😂

@ralphdibny It’s a tough one because while people definitely have done worse, people have also done a whole lot less and yet their careers have gone down the pan. Generally, the ones that survive are the ones who quickly apologise, pledge to do better and take a bit of a break from social media. It’s the people who double down, victim blame or throw a wobbly that won’t recover. I have to say though, seeing Blake Jenner on screen in Supergirl alongside Melissa Benoist was insanely awkward given what we now know about his abusive behaviour towards her, like watching a car crash before it happened.

@nessisonett I didn't even realise he was in Supergirl to be honest, though I don't really know who he is anyway apart from the whole abuse thing. Hartley sawyer did tick all your boxes for getting his job back but alas no luck and I doubt he will have any to be honest. Bryan singer on the other hand was ahead of the curve, he deleted his Twitter before the (then) most recent allegations came out and it barely registered at all because he didn't have a twitter handle to be tagged. He was still directing bohemian rhapsody at the time and only got replaced because he just left work one day and never came back. Not sure if he's working on anything now. The guy who did jeepers creepers is the worse one though, he's a convicted paedo and still had regular jobs for like 30 years after it (I may have some of my facts a bit wonky, it's not really something I follow in great depth tbh!)

@ralphdibny ah yes Elongated man, sorry. I knew something seemed off when I typed that. Wasn't someone I knew about prior to the show. And I forgot all about Julian. Yeah that was a good character and done well by Felton.

I was actually just thinking about Twitter today and how it tends toward outrageous bombastic rhetoric for whatever reason. I was actually even considering this may explain why Trump says things in real life that are remarkably dumb and incendiary and all that but on Twitter it's dialed to 11. Just seems it's the nature of the platform. So I'm generally willing to give people leeway as to what they say on there, especially when it's in the service of humor.

Spacey on the other hand, oof. That's certainly a weird one. About the only thing I can still watch him in is Seven. And I never liked the X-Men movies so it's no problem avoiding those on account of Singers very Cosby like behavior.

@nessisonett I didn't realize Blake Jenner was in Supergirl unless maybe you're referring to her current partner. Those two are great together onscreen which is why I really enjoyed the episodes where he's there. I forget his name.*

Also as regards Blake Jenner, it didn't sound like a one way street on the abuse stuff. Which I've seen too many relationships like this (my parents), where couples basically just bring out the worst in each other to a violent degree, to think he's making stuff up. His version of events sounds more true to life in my experience. But I'm open to being wrong.

Edit: Chris Wood

@zupertramp He was in a couple of episodes in the first season as Cat Grant’s son. It was strangely morbid viewing.

@nessisonett lol yeah i just looked it up and you're absolutely right. In my defense I couldn't pick him out of a lineup and I slept through most of the first season.

@zupertramp I’m ashamed to say that I actually watched the Glee reality show back in the day which he appeared on and won, which is how he ended up on Glee with Melissa Benoist. Glee’s a show that’s proper haunted, just look at how many of them have died. That might be more telling about the general conditions as a ‘teen star’ though.

@nessisonett Glee wasn't or isn't for me but more power to you if that's your thing, reality show and all. You're not kidding about it being haunted though. Whether we file that under the dangers of youth stardom idk but it's unfortunate nonetheless.

@zupertramp yeah elongated Man doesn't exactly roll off the tongue too easy does it? It's an awkward name, at least Reed Richards had the common decency to just be called Mr. fantastic!

@zupertramp Glee was terrible but it was a staple of my teens so it was rather hard to avoid 😂

@ralphdibny I was looking there at the circumstances surrounding Hartley Sawyer and it’s an interesting one as obviously it came to light at literally the worst time ever. Also, looking at the executive producer’s statement, himself African-American, it seems to have been a decision he made with his team out of genuine disgust and anger rather than kowtowing to some unseen Twitter mob. Grant Gustin also seems to have legitimately been angry over what he said. If it had come out last year, he’d probably have been fine. It’s a case of utterly terrible timing, not that the sorta stuff he said would ever have been acceptable.

@Kidfried Having never watched a single episode of Twin Peaks, I gotta say that your description had me mesmerized. Don’t know if I’ll try it out, it depends if it’s on one of my streaming services, but I’m haltingly curious.

@Kidfried The constant feeling of unease lingering in the background is part of what makes Twin Peaks so interesting to me. I’d never really thought much about that hum you describe, but it’s definitely part of what makes it so unsettling. There’s an off-kilter strangeness and nothing ever feels “quite right” the whole time it’s playing, reflecting the darkness that lives inside the town and its people. My own interpretation is that the supernatural stuff is largely a metaphor for that darkness. Most of Twin Peaks’ residents have some sort of secret and any one of them could have been Laura Palmer’s killer (although I had guessed correctly before the reveal).

The show has certainly dated in many ways, and there is a certain naffness, but I love it. I also respect it for its innovations and challenging the scope of what television could be. There’s more of a filmic quality in both how it is shot and the length of scenes compared to other TV programmes of the time, and a richness to the mise-en-scène. It was also quite forward thinking in how it uses sound and music to convey ideas, and in using respected film actors at a time when TV was viewed as cinema’s ugly child.

@Kidfried Yep, as it aired.

@Kidfried Forgot to say that the first time I saw the first two series of Twin Peaks was around 2011 during a rather long period of terrible insomnia. I’d watch it in the middle of the night with the lights off and I swear that BOB appearing to Sarah Palmer was one of the most terrifying, unsettling things I’d ever seen on television before or since. I guess it’s quite tame really, but in the context of how I viewed it it really creeped me out and the memory has stayed with me.

I still haven’t seen Twin Peaks’ third season despite being hyped about it for years. I just never got round to it and I might binge the first two seasons again before attempting it.

Anyone watch the first episode of The Mandalorian Season 2?
I just got through watching it and quite enjoyed it. I hate having to wait a whole week for the next episode. Especially when the episode ends with the final shot of Temuera Morrison / Jango/Boba Fett or a clone... That’s crazy. I was thinking the armor that the Marshall had was Boba’s but was it extracted from the dead Sarlac? Can’t wait to see where this goes!