Topic: The TV Show Thread

@sorteddan I'll get into it after the football this evening. It's always been pretty graphic so I'm guessing this is going to be pretty extreme.

@BearsEatBeets @sorteddan It's a bit annoying there is only one episode per week being 'aired'. Anybody know how episodes in the season, as I will probably wait until all the episodes are up.

@BearsEatBeets
As delightfully disgraceful as I expected it to be.

@JohnnyShoulder It's going to be 8 episodes again. I think they've put the first 3 up straight away so 5 weeks until they are all up. I suppose putting them out weekly gets them discussion and attention online for longer.

Releasing episodes of your favourite show on a weekly basis?

Diabolical.

😉

Ha, people today have grown too used to an entire season being released day one. Nothing wrong with making people wait a week for the next installment.

The Boys remains the most outrageous and outrageously entertaining show on TV. Loved Stranger Things and Obi-Wan is really good, but my favourite remains The Boys. Just when you think it's running out of steam or can't shock anymore, it flips the script and keeps you hooked.

@Col_McCafferty I think the majority of people don't consume TV shows in that way these days. Ironically I used to do that - watch a bunch of TV shows one or two episodes per week but I switched it up this year.

Of course there is nothing wrong with it, and not huge issue as there is plenty of other stuff to watch in the meantime. Just a grumpy old man moaning about something.

@nessisonett @sorteddan literally started watching a few minutes ago and I’m already certain I just watched it. 😳😆

The Boys Is brilliant, started watching season 3 and my wife looked up at a certain scene and said WTF are you watching 😂 and then it got worse 😂

@JudgeDredd Moaning about other people moaning. Good moaning. And after all that moaning, I may have to watch the first 3 episodes of The Boys, just to keep up with the Joneseseses. 😂

Finished up City Hunter (well, the 51 episode first season anyways). Excellent.

80's anime series that follows Ryo Saeba, the "City Hunter" (essentially a gun for hire who takes on jobs the law either can't or won't). While there are plenty of episodes that play it pretty straight (and a handful are dead serious), there are a good amount that find him in more humorous situations as well (and there trends to be some humor in the more straight laced episodes too). Granted, most of the humor centers around Ryo being an unrepentant womanizer (although he's often foiled by his assistant Kaori, who often bashes him with a giant mallet in such situations, even if his only crime is making her jealous).

Really the only thing in a similar headspace that I can think of are the older Lupin III series (like those, it doesn't have much of an overarching narrative, rather each episode tends to be it's own adventure), though I'm actually certain I prefer this (despite growing up with Lupin III Part 2 on Adult Swim). While it does have it's share of gags, it doesn't seem to get AS zany as Lupin can (both in terms of situation & character design), with some surprisingly good attention to detail when it comes to vehicles & firearms which is cool.

Currently free on Retro Crush.

Trying to wittle down my number of followed topics (I'm getting an unmanageable number of notifications) and don't know how to do that without first posting.

But to keep it on topic Severance was phenomenal.

Stranger Things s4p1 continues 3s trend of being corny and disappointing. It'd be one thing if the tone of the show had always been this way. But it wasn't. They just decided to change it mid run. It's just odd is all.

Dopesick is somehow really good and feels really important but I can't get myself to finish the show.

Ozark did what it did. I mean the show was such an incredible drama at times and such a let down at others. All in all it gave us one of the best downtrodden but badass female characters in all of television so I'm grateful for that. And who knew the meat market scale guy from Sopranos could be so convincingly ruthless? Hmm.

Then there's Yellowjackets. Not even sure on this one but looking forward to another season.

That's all I can think of. Now onto Winning Time, the final season of Better Call Saul, and Station Eleven.

Ouch, that part in episode one season 3 of The Boys made me wince and almost made my eyes water.

@JohnnyShoulder 😂😂 it was quite a shocker of a moment!

@LN78 she really was so good. Laura Linney and Tom Pelphrey were also great but Julia Garner surely stole the show.

@MightyDemon82 Makes me wonder what they will think of next! 😳🤣

Finished up IRIA: Zeiram the Animation earlier today. Sci-fi anime OVA miniseries that follows Iria, a bounty hunter of sorts whom, after being sent on a mission to rescue the crew & cargo of a ship that has sent out a distress signal, gets caught up in an entanglement involving a deadly & nearly indestructible alien presence & a company conspiracy to hide it.

Clearly it's base elements are inspired by Alien, but it does a lot to set itself apart, whether it be the aesthetic that mixes in a lot of traditional Japanese or otherwise Asian design with the deep space sci-fi stuff (kinda like Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star, & Photon, it's a vibe I've noticed a lot of 90's sci-fi anime fall under), the "alien's" largely unique appearance/skill set, & ultimately a more personal connection between Iria & her foe.

It can be watched free on Retro Crush & Tubi (at least in the US), so check it out if it sounds like it floats your boat.

Oooooh there is a new animated Castlevania Netfilx show coming soon

Finished up season 2 of the Man in the High Castle this morning, & I thought it was even better than the first. I do hope they eventually explain the mechanics behind traversing realities, but otherwise things are really starting to get going.

Finished up Wanna be the Strongest in the World! the other night. If that name makes it seem like an anime, it's because it is. J-Pop idol Sakura Hagiwara decides she's going to join the pro wrestling circuit & beat them at their own game after her group is humiliated during a cross promotional event.

Doesn't have that big a budget as it's primarily a fan service show (the premise gives the animators ample excuse for crotch or butt closeups, plus the after match showers), but it actually kinda works. They manage to get by effectively with a lot of relatively static action involving submission holds (I exaggerate, but it seems like someone's in a Boston Crab for 50% of the show's runtime). It helps that it's actually pretty well paced for the first half (she really struggles to make it & doesn't get her first win until the show's half done), though it gets overstuffed in the latter half as she immediately gets the attention of the world champ, gets her own protege (in a storyline that doesn't really go anywhere), and is menaced by a mystery assailant. That said, it actually manages to end in a pretty good place.

Binged through Aika R-16: Virgin Mission this weekend (currently free on Tubi), which wasn't that hard as it's only 3 episodes long.

Anime OVA miniseries that follows high school student Aika Sumeragi whom after obtaining her salvager's license, she can pilot a sub, is invited by her school's "Adventure Club" to take part in an expedition to a set of mystery coordinates which were hidden in a message within a butterfly tattoo that another, amnesiac, student has. Things won't be easy however, as there are forces aiming to kidnap said student during the trip.

The best I can describe it as is dumb, guilty pleasure, fun. It's so short it's really impossible to become attached to the characters or for it to build any sort of engaging narrative, so it just jumps from one zany scenario to the next. It's full of cheesecake fan service (if you couldn't tell from that title), and it's hard to be disappointed if you're going into it for that (the art direction is pretty simple, but things are typically animated & detailed well. I've seen much worse). The biggest negative I can think of is that it's a bit blurry, either an SD product that's been stretched to fit modern aspect ratios, or an SD copy of an HD production.