Topic: The TV Show Thread

@Th3solution No worries man, you haven't spoiled it for me. I can make my own mind up and we can't all like the same things.

Reports are coming in that Jodie Whittaker has quit as Doctor Who. Obviously it’s not known yet but still, I’m not sure it really surprises me. I’ve not loved her run but that’s absolutely down to the showrunner and writers and not her take on the Doctor. Twitter’s mostly just full of dudes rejoicing and calling the recent episodes ‘PC nonsense’ so yeah, part of me would prefer her stay in the role just to annoy them 😂

I finally finished binge watching the rest of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina...I'm bitter about the ending and sad to see the series go.

However it was nice to see 3 of the characters from the ABC sitcom have cameos in Season 4.

@RogerRoger I can’t believe she’s done the same amount of series as the others. That honestly doesn’t feel right.

@RogerRoger Are her episodes not all on iPlayer? Although I’m not sure if you need a TV license to watch that.

Just finished season 6 of Bosch (love it, it’s like a mini The Wire reunion... nowhere near as good but still good) and season 1 of Queen of the South... not my favourite show about the Cartels but decent.

I’ve been rewatching Band of Brothers, forgot just how incredible it was. It’s probably the best war drama ever going by the sheer scale. You watch it and it feels like you’re actually watching a war and that there’s fighting happening off-screen. It’s just brilliant.

@nessisonett I have had that in my watch list for a while now. Thanks for the recommendation because I really need to take the plunge and start it. I watched The Pacific and I quite enjoyed that a couple years ago. Being an American I have particular interest in the Pacific theater of the war, but am also fascinated by the European front as well. I’ll move Band of Brothers up the list!

@nessisonett @Th3solution

I haven’t watched The Pacific (I do want to at some stage) but yes Band of Brothers is so good. It took a lot of arm twisting to get the missus to watch it but even she (who hates all things war and military) absolutely loved it.

Damien Lewis is something else.

@nessisonett it's a great show, I loved seeing loads of familiar faces in it that wouldn't have been familiar at the time it came out. It really could be sold as an all star cast even if it wasn't at release!

I just watched the first series of Not Going Out on iPlayer. Lee Mack is one of my favourite comedians so I've been planning to watch this for a long time but never got around to it. Glad I did but it didn't help me sleep much, it's really funny!

@RogerRoger nice! I dont normally go in for sitcoms because I find the laughter track really awkward, especially on British sitcoms where the humour is a lot dryer and less laugh out loud in places. That being said, I have watched and enjoyed loads of different sitcoms, I just meant I don't watch too many these days

I weren't sure how Lee Mack would translate to a scripted sort of thing because I like him more for his quick off the cuff remarks on would I lie to you. After a couple odd, the TV's laughing but I'm not moments in the first episode, it does get into the swing of things. I think that's true of any sitcom though because either the canned laughter gets put in or a sign lights up instructing the audience to laugh!

@nessisonett @RogerRoger Her series have been shorter than previous ones haven't they?

@RogerRoger yeah I agree. I think IT crowd was a live audience and I've seen a few later episodes and it's quite funny but I tried watching it from the beginning and the laughter was a bit too loud for me in that show. I'll probably get around to it some time because I do want to watch it

Yeah laugh tracks are the worst. And you don't know true laugh track hell until you've made the mistake of sitting down with the kids to watch some show on the Disney channel.

I forgot to mention that the guy who plays jay brown (Mitchell) in EastEnders was in the first series of not going out as a tiny child who kicks Lee Mack up the bum!

So, the reviews of the first 3 episodes of Wanda-Vision seem to imply it is Incredible! As much as I have missed my regular (prior to 2020) piece of MCU entertainment I’m gonna hold off from starting WV next Friday and wait for the whole season to be available and then binge it all in one day... can’t wait.

With all the talk, I decided to give Doctor Who a try. I had very little knowledge of the series and even when people talk about it on here I usually just skim lightly over the discussion, not really paying attention.

As I prepared to watch my first episode, I researched where to begin and I didn’t realize the series started back in the 1960’s. I decided it was reasonable to start at the first season of the modern (?) iteration, I think it was from 2005. (It starts with an episode entitled “Rose” and introduces this Rose character with the world being attacked by plastic... mostly in the form of mannequins).
Well, I didn’t particularly enjoy it at all, but I gave it one more chance to win me over and rolled on with episode 2 (they travel to the future to watch the destruction of the earth) and disliked it even more.

I guess it’s suppose to be campy and corny but I couldn’t quite tell if I should be taking this show seriously. It almost seem like a parody of Sci-Fi television. The special effects were comical, the script was quite harebrained, and the whole thing felt very “B-movie.” It wasn’t at all what I expected. I don’t think I will be returning to the series unless there is a better jumping in point where the quality is higher.

Not to totally dismiss the BBC, I decided to try Sherlock instead to get my British show exposure. And I was very pleasantly surprised by it. The show was interesting, acting was wonderful and the premise intriguing Even if the first episode ended in a knockoff of The Princess Bride Vizzini-Westley ‘choose the poison to drink’ showdown of the wits.. I’ll definitely keep giving Sherlock more time as I already love the characters and the style of the storytelling.

@Th3solution

Sherlock is fantastic but don’t give up ‘just’ yet on Doctor Who (although I have in fairness). The David Tennant ‘run’ (basically the season after the one you began) is pretty much DW perfection. As a student of all things sci-fi, I have gone back and watched quite a few ‘classic’ runs... in particular a good few of the Tom Baker run which many established DW fans believe to be the best (the City of Death arc during Tom Baker’s reign is ****ing special if I’m honest) but for me (as an 80’s Star Wars-first fan, Dr Who fan a distant second) I gave Who a second go during the post millennium run and while Ecclestone never convinced me Tennant was a revelation. As much as I appreciate Baker as a voyeur from the future, Tennant is my quintessential Who. Give him a try.

@colonelkilgore @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy So the episodes and seasons don’t necessarily build on one another? I’m not sure if Rose continues to be a central character. She seems a bit throw-away at the moment. Like just someone to stand in the background and scream most of the time. But if there is not real connection between the seasons, then I guess I could try Tennant’s or Smith’s versions. I think I got the gist of who The Doctor is (? a time and space traveling alien, the last of his kind, who incarnates in different human bodies ?) so hopefully that’s enough to understand what’s going on seasons later.