Topic: The TV Show Thread

Looking good for Season 2 of The Boys:

@JohnnyShoulder Haha, I'm not quite as in love with The Boys but it really is a solid show. I'll say I preferred Doom Patrol/Watchmen/Harley Quinn/Legion last year in terms of comic book TV, but it was just a really good year in general so that doesn't really say anything about The Boys. Aya Cash being cast in S2 is the reason I started it in the first place, and judging from the reviews she's fantastic as expected. Super excited to get started on this second season.

@Vahla_Hanesh I always feel like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1 is quite underrated. I still had a lot of fun with it, but I think people are very easily turned off by procedural aspects in shows nowadays. Season 4 remains the very best season to me with ease, and 5 and 6 were probably the worst seasons of the show, but I thought 7 really managed to stick the landing and give us a very satisfying ending. The whole ending scene with everyone meeting up again was very bittersweet, although I did get terrified by Fitz and Jemma's picnic because it gave me Fringe flashbacks... and since the Cronicoms were a lot like the Observers in Fringe, well.. y'know. I also really, really loved the time loop episode this season. I'm a sucker for any kind of storyline that plays with time, and this just did it so well. Besides that though, I'd say the best episodes are 4,722 Hours, Self Control and Inescapable. In terms of long-running, network, sci-fi TV it's definitely up there as a great choice to get into. Agent May was my favourite for the entire run (even though I clearly also have a soft spot for FitzSimmons). Ming-Na Wen is just amazing.

@nessisonett Ah! Watchmen! I had no choice but to watch that show simply because of Damon Lindelof's involvement. The Leftovers is easily my favourite show of all-time, and I'm so glad that his follow-up project did not at all disappoint. Quickly found its way into my top 25 shows of all-time as well. The character centric episode approach Lindelof loves to do worked so well for this show, and it really gave all the characters and actors a time to shine. Regina King and Jean Smart were definitely my faves, but Jeremy Irons is certainly up there. Then you also have the double whammy of This Extraordinary Being/A Gold Walks Into Abar which are just... perfection. Both for very different reasons, directing and writing respectively, but both so, so good. I believe I ranked A God Walks Into Abar as my second favourite episode of last year. (Not surprising, I suppose, since I mentioned earlier in this comment my love for anything that plays with time.) Fantastic miniseries. I'd still say The Haunting of Hill House is my favourite miniseries, but Watchmen is a very, very close second.

And also, yes to the Succession shout-out! I'll admit that I kind of hated the first season of Succession and thought it was pretty awful, but the second season was such a ridiculously great 360. Feels like it took all the solid groundwork from the first season and really just ran with it. A more engaging overall storyline, tighter and funnier writing and a much better focus really made for a much-improved second season. Loved the second season, and I'm glad to see you've gotten into that already. Brian Cox in particular in this show is just pure genius. He runs acting circles around everybody else when he gets the spotlight, and I'm a sucker for it. Recently saw his Penny Dreadful stint as well, where he was equally amazing. I guess he just can do no wrong. Cool to hear how he grew up in Dundee though. That's a fun fact I didn't know about! Also glad to see you've been enjoying Lovecraft Country! I'm definitely gonna start that one soon.

@Th3solution I've always felt Amazon Prime has the most consistently high quality shows coming out, but obviously with Netflix's insane quantity it can usually pump out great shows at the same rate if not faster. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Transparent and Undone on Amazon for example are all incredible, so percentage wise I think Amazon has the edge. Just hard to match the insane rate at which Netflix puts out all kinds of shows of wildly varying quality, haha. They're still going strong, even with corona! That said, I would also like to give a shout-out to Apple TV+. They haven't been around for very long yet, but the lineup in the 9-ish months they've been here is truly impressive. I've only seen For All Mankind, The Morning Show and Central Park, but the first two are both really incredible shows. For All Mankind I actually finished just this week and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Besides that, they have so many shows I am very interested in and want to get to. I'm also currently finally watching Mythic Quest, and while I haven't finished that yet, it's been a great ride so far. They're really doing great stuff over there, but not many people seem to notice! In terms of HBO Max, they've been around for even less longer so in terms of original content there's not much to judge yet. I have watched quite a few of their initial offerings. Search Party S3, Legendary and Love Life were all great fun, although Love Life is also wholly inconsistent. Hard to pass up Anna Kendrick, though! Search Party I would also put as one of my favourite seasons of the year so far. Off to a solid start at least, and I am very interesting in Raised by Wolves coming out next month.

Disney+, Hulu and Peacock are definitely the ones I don't have as much affinity with. I haven't started watching anything on Peacock yet, although I'm interested in Brave New World thanks to Grant Morrison's involvement and Angelyne looked fantastic, but hasn't yet premiered. Hulu seems to be going all-in on these smaller, creative comedies, but not many of them have piqued my interest yet. Woke is probably one of the first ones to do it, and that's coming out next month I believe. I did enjoy my time with Castle Rock (particularly the second season), There's... Johnny!, Catch-22 and The Great a lot though, but honestly they always seem a bit hit or miss to me in the content they produce. Probably didn't help that my first experience with them was The Handmaid's Tale and... the less said about that show, the better. On Disney+ I have greatly enjoyed both Encore! and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, but they don't really have much in the way of orgiianl content that I am interested in besides those shows. They also feel like they have the least of an identity outside of just having (not the) entire Disney back catalogue, so I'm not particularly fond on that service.

.... to answer your question a lot less complicatedly, I'd probably rank them in the order of: Netflix > Amazon Prime > Apple TV+ > Hulu > HBO Max > Disney+ > Peacock.

@LN78 I'm about halfway through Perry Mason, and I'd say I'm definitely enjoying it more than I thought I would. I'm not usually really into the whole period mystery shows, but this one has exceptional production values and a cast with Matthew Rhys, Tatiana Maslany and John Lithgow is hard to pass up. The fourth episode's ending was also a huge swing for the show, so I'm intrigued to see how that plays out. I'll continue the show later on for sure, although I must say I'm very excited for once we finally start getting into the law stuff. I do love me some courtroom drama!

(P.S. Sorry for the long-winded comment. TV really is my ultimate obsession and if I start getting into it then well... there's no stopping me!)

@Tjuz Wow! Thanks for the breakdown! That’s a solid review of the different services. You really know your stuff! I don’t have experience with most of the streaming services but that’s quite interesting to see some of the good content highlighted.

@RogerRoger Buffy is one of the best. The only reason I watched AoS in the first place was because it was a Mutant Enemy production (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse). I've probably watched Buffy about 20-30 times. I don't know if that says more about me or the show though. I did grow up with it, which considering the show is a metaphor for growing up it was perfect timing for me.
@Tjuz I agree with you on most of what you've said. I still enjoyed every season, and thought they came up with something unique each time, but it was fairly obvious there was budget constraints in later seasons.
In regards to season 1, of the complaint that the show took too long to get interesting - I think it was set up reasonably well. Without spoiling, we needed to see the team for a good half a season before Turn, Turn, Turn. You can't have a big twist a few episodes in when no one cares yet. I adore Fitzsimmons but I didn't much care for them until FZZT, and that was the right amount of time for me to start to get invested in them and get over my initial annoyance.
While everyone was losing their mind over Game of Thrones, Agents of Shield was my Game of Thrones. Eagerly awaiting each week for a new episode to destroy me in all sorts of ways. I had no passion for GoT and all of it for a show most people had given up on.

@Vahla_Hanesh Given your good taste in games, I'm grateful for your endorsement of both Buffy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which I believe you mentioned before, when discussing the MCU). I've certainly got some catching up to do, and will be starting the former this weekend. Will share some thoughts!

@RogerRoger Cheers man! I am very jealous of you being able to watch Buffy and Agents of Shield for the first time. Looking forward to seeing what you think.

So I've started Buffy the Vampire Slayer and early impressions are good.

Beyond the general rule about all shows taking time to find their feet, I think it helps that I have some vague childhood recollection of the characters and concept, because I kinda know they're all gonna grow into their roles and gel together much better down the line. The chemistry is there, and I already have my favourites, but there's still an undeniably hokey edge to everything. I really shouldn't have been taking a sip of tea when the opening two-parter practically ended with Giles turning to the camera and saying "Who knows what madcap scrapes we'll get into each week, hmm?"

It's charming, though, and I like charming. The third episode even managed to surprise me with its outcome, pushing itself past what could've easily become a predictable plot. I also had no idea that Angel was introduced so early on, so that was a cool "Ah-ha! I recognise you!" moment as well.

Fun television. Not sure I'll ever end up marathoning it in vast quantities, but an episode a day seems to be a decent pace to start with, at least. Looking forward to the rest!

@RogerRoger I kinda love how incredibly hokey it is. Despite the fact that I’m a 00s kid, my mum had all of Buffy and Angel on VHS so we binged it growing up. We’ve never been one for age ratings, if it’s too violent or whatever then I’d be running out to my bed anyway. Buffy’s just a great character, I like that she isn’t your typical outsider trope but is more friends with Xander and Willow due to not being afraid to speak her mind around Cordelia. Angel’s acting does improve though, he’s like a big meaty cut-out in the first season 😂

@RogerRoger Ahh.. I watched the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a while ago. I never managed to get myself to continue, though. I'll definitely say that the season gets better as it progresses and it honestly ends on quite the high note. A bit all over the place before that though, but if you're enjoying it already then I don't see why you would suddenly stop! I think episode 10 and 12 were my favourites. It's at least fairly consistent in its tone and humor, which seems to be what you're enjoying the most so far. The very worst part about season one for me was... Willow. I don't even hate her character necessarily, but the actress playing her (Alyson Hannigan) was genuinely terrible throughout. I heard she gets better, but watching her in the first season was like nails on a chalkboard! They're all quite uneven (and occasionally outright awful) with their acting, especially Xander, but she's the only one who really just started to annoy me by just being consistently the worst, haha. I do have quite a soft spot for Sarah Michelle Gellar, even if only because she was amazing in Cruel Intentions. Not Oscar-worthy amazing... just trashy amazing. I definitely should continue some time since I've heard great things about everything after the first season, but 132 episodes remains very intimidating and hard to dedicate yourself to! Props for getting yourself started on that! I'll keep an eye on your thoughts from whenever you get past this season!

@Tjuz Willow does my head in. I don’t know why she speaks in slow motion.

@nessisonett @Tjuz Oh, er... Willow is my second-favourite character thusfar, right behind Giles. I think she's a pretty realistic interpretation of several people I know. Guess you can't please everybody!

Don't really think I actively dislike anybody yet, although it's early days. Xander annoys the heck out of me, with his jealous fawning over Buffy and selfish approach to most situations, but I think that I'm supposed to think that, and he has shown potential in some of his slightly more heroic moments. If they give him a decent character arc, even if it takes a while to kick in, then he could end up really cool. Angel is a bit "look at me, I'm pretty mysterious and also just pretty" but knowing he ends up with his own spin-off show means there's obviously gonna be some major development (and improvement) there.

Anyway, I'll see how I go. Will most likely take breaks between seasons, drop in a couple movies or shorter modern shows, as an ill-fated attempt to marathon Babylon 5 last year taught me that my binge-watching limits have shifted in recent years. I'll get there eventually!

I’ve been binging Arrow. It’s pretty terrible but I’m actually enjoying it. I can even push through my John Barrowman distaste, which is mostly due to him as a person since I actually like him in Doctor Who and Torchwood. It’s not exactly peak TV but it’s serviceable and I’ve always been intrigued by the wider Arrowverse even though I bounced off Arrow back when it first aired. I think it’s better being able to binge it.

@nessisonett I hear Arrow gets better over time, but I bowed out somewhere in season 3. I remember a lot of the acting and dialogue being pretty cheesy, even for a superhero show and it just couldn’t hold my interest. Which is too bad, because the core origin story is a really cracking tale.

@nessisonett Glad I'm not the only person who can only stand John Barrowman when he's in-character. I often worry that I'm being too judgemental in such circumstances.

Good luck with the DC TV rabbit hole. You'll have a lot to watch if it draws you in!

@nessisonett I found Arrow way too soapy, it felt like Dawson's Creek with superheroes. Think I gave up 3/4 through the first season and decided couldn't be arsed with the rest of the DC tv stuff either.

@JohnnyShoulder @RogerRoger @nessisonett My goal had been to make it to the point in which Flash is introduced in the Arrowverse and then make the transition over to watching the Flash series, which apparently is much better. However I wasn’t able to survive in Arrow long enough to see Flash integrate and so I never started his show; although I hear it is completely independent and does not rely of knowing the background from Arrow. Still, I’m just a little obsessive about watching things in order.

@Th3solution Yeah, I'm the same. As such, I live in fear of people telling me "you'll love this show eventually, it gets better as it goes along" and then having to trawl my way through some pretty dire early seasons. Given that Arrow is the gateway to so many DC TV shows, I doubt I'll ever see them!

@JohnnyShoulder Same. I could never get into any of the Arrowverse shows at all. The soap opera-esque structure and production values felt like a really strange direction to take the series in given the source material. Much prefer watching stuff like the MCU-Netflix series or hell anything from the DCAU over the CW shows

Don't even get me started on Riverdale

I like how soapy Arrow is. I’ve binged loads of shows like Justified, Deadwood, Succession and The Borgias recently and just want some stupid fun. Plus I have great memories of the old CW shows from the 00s like The OC, One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl, that aren’t very good and are hugely dodgy now but were soapy af and great fun. Anybody who reads comics knows that 99% of heroes have at least some soapy melodrama in their back catalogue!

@TheFrenchiestFry Yeah much preferred the Marvel stuff on Netflix, although I did stop on the last seasons of each of the shows. I think i may have over indulged on them by watching them back to back. I do tend to finish them off one day. Maybe once I've finished the upcoming season of The Boys.