Topic: The TV Show Thread

@BearsEatBeets It’s a pastiche of classic sitcoms. The joke is that it’s camp and silly.

@nessisonett It's certainly an interesting style to go for and despite me finding the opening episode awkward rather than charming I believe it's going to jump through different eras of sitcom and maybe some of it will land better with me. Besides, even if it ends up not clicking for me I'd still hope it does well with most viewers (which seems the case for early commenters here) as there is plenty of room for more unique shows.

Descriptions like Bewitched, campy, silly and cringey have me a tad worried. Which is just as well since I barely have time to keep up with another tv series. Does make me wonder who the target audience is though.

@BearsEatBeets Fair enough. I do see hints that it is going to evolve into something more serious and with an impactful background narrative. We’ll have to see. If there is one thing about the MCU, it’s that they can never be accused of not having a long term plan. They usually know where their product is going narrative-wise years in advance.

@zupertramp I think the show is clearly intended to counterbalance the tedium of a 23 movie stretch which has some people complain of fatigue with the series. Whether it accomplishes that is still up for debate.

As for the target audience, I think the rabid MCU enthusiasts (I’d probably fit in here) are bound to like it just because it’s more Marvel hero stuff. I think the casual MCU fan who has had mostly a fleeting curiosity in the series will also like it because it’s different from the pew-pew explosion based movies that such a person wouldn’t likely gravitate to. Unfortunately, the middle ground — the lukewarm fan who has seen and enjoyed most of the movies but doesn’t have a large commitment to the franchise is where the show is likely to fall flat. I also think it might be designed as a tool to bridge the gap between mega-fans and their spouse or kids, since it’s relatively generic in its execution. I mean, who doesn’t like a good sit-com? 😄

So WandaVision is definitely something

What that something is I can't really discern but it's probably going somewhere significant. I like the sitcom approach to the presentation even if some of the jokes fell flat for me and it's nice to see characters usually in the supporting position being given extra room to really expand on their arcs. I still think something House of M-like is going to happen by the end of this season. With this show connecting to Multiverse of Madness, Wanda's role in this show seems to be heading into that direction, especially with the reality bending stuff

@TheFrenchiestFry I could probably hazard a pretty accurate guess towards what’s going on in WandaVision. Spoilers for the first two episodes of course.

@nessisonett I knew that voice over the radio was Jimmy Woo, it just sounded too familiar

I think Kathryn Hahn's character being named Agnes (I think) should be a dead giveaway she's going to end up being Agatha Harkness, and based on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier set photos they're already on their way to setting up S.W.O.R.D.

I've heard people speculate the ship Nick Fury was on in Far from Home's after credits scene beared a resemblance to the Peak VII, which is obviously where they primarily operated in the comics, and the biggest roadblock to getting them in the MCU to begin with was mainly that Fox owned the rights to S.W.O.R.D. specfic characters like Lockheed. I wouldn't be surprised that their plans to introduce them in the MCU canon might've been fast tracked as a result of the Disney-Fox merger going through alongside their plans to reboot Fantastic Four and the mutant characters

Also regarding the pregnancy, I distinctly remember in one of the trailers they showed Wanda and Vision cradling two babies, so really who else could they be at this point. It's probably Wiccan and Speed they're setting up as potential Young Avengers in the future given we already have Kamala Khan and Kate Bishop on the way, and Homecoming also indicated Miles Morales exists in this universe on top of that

So after @Th3solution totally bounced off New Who, I decided to go back and start binging it on iPlayer and see if it holds up! In my opinion, it actually does. I started to think watching the new episodes that perhaps I’d just grown out of it and I would have thought the older episodes were rubbish if they aired today but I couldn’t be further from the truth. The writing is brilliant and I was especially amazed at how well the contemporary jokes about celebrity culture land even today. Each individual story in the first 3 episodes that I’ve seen had interesting characters and settings. Even ‘Rose’, which admittedly looks a lot more dated than the other two, was heaps of fun. I miss the campy take on Doctor Who and sheer unbridled joy that the characters embody.

@nessisonett Lol, well ... there’s no accounting for taste! I’m probably in the wrong mindset to really appreciate the camp and the cheese. Maybe I’ll warm up to it eventually

So that new WandaVision episode definitely had a plot

What that plot was completely perplexed me at that moment but also they said Billy and Tommy and I am now very happy

@TheFrenchiestFry I mean... considering the plot of House of M then I somewhat fear for the ‘realness’ of the twins but yeah, I do love the Young Avengers and I have to say it was cool. Can’t have Wiccan without Hulkling though unless they bring him in with the Secret Invasion TV show.

Well I finally finished my abridged MCU marathon (partially for a refresher before starting WandaVision but also because I'd been playing the Avengers game and it mostly just left me wanting to see the movies again) and have now caught up on the first three episodes of WandaVision.

So it's not horrible but at the same time it feels a little derivative. Kind of Pleasantville, Truman Show, Wayward Pines, The Village, Stepford Wives, Edward Scissorhands, Suburbicon vibes or something. I mean we'll see where it goes but I can't imagine it goes any place that shocking. Not to say a mystery is all about its destination but having a fascinating and unexpected destination does help. That said I'm half watching out of curiosity. But then half watching because I'm worried I'll miss something relevant to the broader MCU if I skip this. Basically the same reasons I sat through Dr. Strange.

Enjoying Servant though. Nice to see Rupert Grint in something.

Man, I’m amazed at how much I got right about WandaVision’s plot. That was a brilliant episode this week.

I got a month trial of Disney + as a game pass perk and finally watched WandaVision!

It's weird, I didn't really dig the sitcom vibe until the climax of episode 1. But that kind of made it weirder because it was like a 30 minute build up to a dramatic and troubling moment. It was almost like a short film in structure but way too long in its build up.

As always, Paul Bettany is just great in this show and seems to be having a lot of fun. Olsen seems to be coming out of her shell a bit too, a shell that was necessitated by being a bit player in crowded 2 hour movies in the past. Both of them were great in the talent show episode.

I really thought episode 4 was great too as it seemed to explain more what was going on. I think it's just one of those shows you have to stick with past the bizarre opening episodes to get to the crux of the matter. I'm not sure if it would work better as a film, or if the first couple of episodes were merged into one.

I definitely think this show would be super confusing if you hadn't watched Avengers AoU, Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War and Endgame though.

All I can say is that Vision is still my favourite character and I really hope he makes it out of this show alive, even if it is only a magical recreation of himself. Though I suspect he won't because it's more dramatic to have dead characters in television so I imagine it's going to end up being a bittersweet swan song for the character.

Other thoughts on Disney+: I've messed around with the app and found you can see a Disney through the decades section but I think it would be nice to be able to sort other collections or search terms by release date. Especially as an archival tool for silly symphonies or the Pixar shorts/films. Obviously these titles are more educational than entertaining (though many are still quite entertaining!) So it would be nice to watch them in release order without looking at a list on Wikipedia.

I had to mess around to find it but there is an option to switch the Simpsons to 4:3. Doubt I'll be using my free month to watch the Simpsons though.

So far I've watched the original chip n dale short, the first episode of Doug and Wandavision. I always thought I used to watch Doug on Nickelodeon and when I looked it up it turns out that Disney took over from season 5 so it's actually the last 3 seasons that are on the service. It would be nice if they added the previous 5 but god knows who has the rights to them.

It's good to see Darkwing Duck and Timon and Pumba on there. It would be good if they added the Hercules and Aladdin TV series from the Disney channel too. I also had no idea DuckTales had that many episodes! I'm not sure how much watching I'll get it in during this month!

Good to see the silver surfer series on there too, I think it's the only 90s marvel cartoon I don't have on dvd because it's quite rare so I'll probably give that a watch.

I should also add that it was quite funny seeing references to Charlie Brown, Arthur! and Citizen Kane in the episode of Doug I watched. I used to love Recess too so I might give that a watch

So the missus and I were scratching about looking for things to watch until Wanda Vision has aired in its entirety. We watched Its a Sin yesterday... and it was fantastic. One of the most emotionally powerful things I have seen in a long time.

We have started Carnival Row today, just the 3 eps deep right now but liking it. Cool world and lore presented with movie-like production values.

@colonelkilgore I’ve been watching It’s A Sin as well, I’m watching it weekly though. It really has been fantastic and I worry that it’s only going to get more depressing.

@nessisonett well episode 3 absolutely slayed me, I was in bits by the end... the final ep also packed an emotional punch and was a great if intentionally sad climax to the series in general... but I don’t think anything will touch me the way episode 3 did for a long, long time. How far through it are you?

@colonelkilgore Episode 2 was on Friday so I guess I’ll have to prepare myself for this week’s episode 😬

@nessisonett brace yourself... can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

I am now onto the latest seasons of the Arrowverse, somewhat worryingly. This means I’ve started Batwoman, which I watched at the time out of context and dropped off. I actually don’t mind it. Yeah, Ruby Rose is a literal block of wood but Gotham’s actually pretty well realised and the angle of a missing/retired Batman is refreshing. Arrow’s been incredible so far too, which is good as seasons 6 and 7 were pretty dire. Black Lightning’s been pretty confusing but I do love the cast and then Flash/Supergirl have been more of the same - sorta bland and a bit stale. Really looking forward to Crisis though.