Topic: The TV Show Thread

@Tjuz Fringe and Person of Interest are excellent examples of what I meant, yeah. Liked both quite a lot. I would recommend checking out The X-Files if it's available on a streaming service near you; I think like you'd like it. It does suffer a quality loss after a while, and most seem to agree that it occurs around season 4/5. I enjoyed it to the very end, though your mileage may vary.

Will definitely report back on Harley Quinn. I've just started Warrior on Max, but I'm struggling to get properly into it. Have only seen the first two episodes, so I'll give it at least two more to reel me in before abandoning it. The plan is to tackle Harley after that

Now we've had our first casualties of the strikes: Amazon has reversed the previous season 2 renewals for A League of Their Own and The Peripheral, citing production delays due to the strikes as the reason.
I haven't seen League, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Peripheral, so that was disappointing. Oh well, I did plan to read the books anyway, so I guess I'll still get to see how things turn out.

Still, even though it will impact us viewers, I sincerely hope both the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA will be able to continue to strike until AMTP can give them a fair shake.

@FuriousMachine I think there has been some kind of breakthrough on the strikes. I've only seen a couple of headlines on it, so don't know too much. But fingers crossed it can be resolved soon.

@JohnnyShoulder WGA and AMTP resumed talks last Friday, then adjourned till Tuesday where they met again and that meeting ended with "mixed results". That was the status reported by Deadline on Thursday, adding that "as of yesterday, there hadn’t been meaningful progress bridging the gap on the outstanding issues", according to sources. Apparently, there was to be another meeting on Thursday and there was uncertainty surrounding a potential meeting on Friday. At least the studio CEOs were supposed to meet yesterday to "discuss where things stand".

So, there seems to be movement, at least.

Full Deadline article here:
https://deadline.com/2023/08/writers-strike-update-studio-ceo...

@FuriousMachine I'll definitely keep The X-Files on my list. Whenever I'm in the mood to start a long show, I might just make it that! I've seen the first two seasons of Warrior myself and definitely understand what you mean. I'm not really into action movies or shows. I tried this out because the production quality looked very good and it was supposed to have some incredible action scenes. I can't say that's not true, but I never got fully invested in the show overall. There's a few characters I really like such as Young Jun or Ah Toy, but I think the storylines within the show as a whole are rather inconsistent. There's some real highlights in both seasons though. There's one episode in the first season which is very The Hateful Eight-inspired and I very much enjoyed, and there's another one in the second which is also fairly stand-alone and very good. The second season finale is probably the show at its very best for what it usually is though. There's some really incredible directing and choreography on display there. I think I will actually give the third season a shot at some point as I've heard good things about it. I would say if you're not feeling it by now however, I don't think you're gonna change your opinion at any point.

A shame to see Amazon cancelling these shows. I had watched neither so far, but was interested in both of them. I guess I saved myself from disappointment by delaying them long enough. The news that scared me the most the last few days was Syfy announcing a Chucky season three premiere though. I love the Child's Play franchise. I know they did not finish filming in time, so does this mean they're just going to be airing an unfinished season? They didn't mention anything about parts like American Horror Story did either. This happened before with the corona-pandemic where Paramount+ just aired the completed seven out of ten episode of the fourth season of The Good Fight. That was so disappointing. That season was actually quite good, but never got the resolution it deserved. I hope the same doesn't happen here.

@FuriousMachine Definitely heavily disappointed that they cancelled The Peripheral. I loved the first season. It was one of the better sci-fi shows on right now, and one of Amazon's best shows period. Their show quality is inconsistent, but still, it earned the right.

I also think the reasoning is BS. I'm not saying they are lying, but Amazon has so much money they could have easily waited until they could have resumed production and not felt it at all.

If I was just a Prime Video subscriber and not a full Amazon Prime subscriber, I probably would have cancelled it last night when I read about it. That might sound drastic, but decisions like this are frustrating, and it brings back memories of regular networks doing that to shows I loved in the past (one in particular being a show called Tru Calling).

@Tjuz I haven't connected with any of the characters on Warrior yet, so I'm gonna give it a couple of more episodes to see if I will. This happens with me sometimes when I'm starting a new show. When Alias originally aired I loathed the first half of the first episode so much that I stopped watching and quietly resented the success it enjoyed (I was young and petty... now I'm just petty). Came back to it a couple of years later and loved it immensely. Also realized that if I'd stuck with the entire first episode I probably would have loved it the first time around as well. After that I've always made sure to give a new show that should appeal to me, for various reasons, at least a few episodes before giving up.

Have yet to watch Chucky, as it's only available on the sorriest excuse for a streaming service in Norway, but sounds like it's worth a watch (I'm currently begrudgingly subscribed to said service due to them holding Norwegian football hostage there). I'm a fan of (most of) the Child's Play movies, so I've been wanting to check it out.

@KilloWertz Absolutely agreed! A League of Their Own co-creator Abbi Jacobson called them out on it and labeled the decision and the justification "cowardly". I can't help but feel that there were other reasons for them regretting the renewal decisions for these shows and decided to use the strikes as an excuse and also holding up the cancellation of these shows as proof of the damage the evil and egotistical strikers are inflicting on innocent shows.

I do wish I had the backbone to stand up to these companies by not subscribing to their services, but even if I stuck to boycotting only the megacompanies with the most loathsome business practices, that would still mean that I'd have to cancel Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Max and Netflix, and then what would I watch? Sorry, I'm too weak and too dependent on too many of their shows to do the right thing

(I want to say that supporting Amazon, Disney and Apple, in particular, really chafes me, though.)

@FuriousMachine My wife pays for Prime and I pay for Netflix and that's enough for us. I succumbed to the dreaded superhero fatigue sometime ago and Star Wars just doesn't do much in the way of new for me. Some great stuff on Apple+ but not enough to make me subscribe. The Bear looks good on Disney+ but I refuse to subscribe!

I'd rather discover new things than be hooked into the same 2 or 3 franchises. Barely have time to watch all the stuff on netflix I want and Prime has one or two things I'll watch but my wife watches a lot of her stuff on that.

@MightyDemon82 Yeah same here (well apart from the wife part lol). And I'm not afraid to cancel Amazon Prime either, if I feel I'm not using it for streaming or deliveries enough.

I might sub to Apple TV just finish off a few things, but I don't feel the need to subscribe to every service out there to watch all the stuff that interests me. Even if I was, I doubt I would be able to find the time to.

@FuriousMachine I have my doubts about there being other reasons given that The Peripheral's second season was in pre-production before the strikes happened. If they were considering doing this beforehand, you think they would have told them to not even go that far yet. It's exactly as Abbi described... BS.

Not subscribing to the streaming services is harder nowadays given how much crap is on network television nowadays. It would be different if there was more to watch there, but at least 90% of the best shows are on various streaming services. Some of my favorites are Wednesday, Poker Face, Ted Lasso, Silo, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, all on streaming services and on many different ones. I can't think of anything on network television anymore that I think can compete with any of them.

I would love to cancel Disney+ and only use it whenever they actually drop something that isn't a turd (Loki, The Mandalorian, hopefully Ahsoka), especially with how much they've butchered Star Wars overall and even the MCU (and raising prices twice in a year), but they bundle it with Hulu and ESPN+ here in the US, so it makes the most sense just to keep it rather than go through unsubscribing the bundle and then redoing it. I subscribe to a bunch of them, so I can't criticize you at all for keeping whatever you have.

busy binge watching the Videogame Years show on Tubi.

wasnt that show on youtube a few years back?

Finishing up on the last episodes of Star Wars Clone Wars Season 3. the Citadel episodes and the Chewbacca episode.

Damn. That is a long ass wait. And I've only watched season 1 recently. I may have to watch the first series again before this drops.

Really starting to feel the effects of the strike now. I just have four shows that I'm genuinely excited for this month in The Changeling, The Morning Show, American Horror Story and The Amazing Race. Normally September is the month stacked with interesting premieres! At least October looks a bit more promising so far. Chucky, The Fall of the House of Usher and Lessons in Chemistry should all be great with a little luck.

@Tjuz Agreed, it is definitely lighter than usual. I've never managed to get into AHS and The Morning Show is still on my ToDo list somewhere, but looking forward to The Changeling (Amazing Race will probably remain unavailable in Norway, unfortunately). I would add The Continental and GenV to the list of shows that holds promise, and The Other Black Girl looks interesting, but I'm a little unsure of that as the trailer couldn't seem to decide whether it was a comedy or thriller.

Not sure if we'll get The Continental here, though, as Peacock shows have a poor track record when it comes to availability on Norwegian streamers. It is a high profile show, so I have hopes that someone will pick it up, but could be a while. The others are Amazon and Apple TV+ originals, which have release parity over here, so I'm set for those The Other Black Girl is a Hulu show and they often drop on Disney+, so fingers crossed.

The strike doesn’t affect UK TV production and it’s still sh*te at the moment. The lack of quality TV in the states seems to be more systemic than just the writers being on strike. They won’t fund new writers’ projects but they’ll dump hundreds of millions on Hollywood actors to look bored on a green screen for streaming services. Dunno what the problem is over here though, can’t remember the last actually impressive British TV show I’ve watched. Possibly The North Water? Even that barely had any noise around it despite being Jack O’Connell, Colin Farrell and Stephen Graham.

I really need to get caught up on The Cuphead Show. I enjoyed the first season and I've been meaning to watch the second and third seasons for ages and I haven't gotten round to it whatsoever. I'll have to get it on the agenda this week.

@FuriousMachine Personally not a fan of either the John Wick franchise or [/i]The Boys[/i], so that's why those two aren't on my radar. To be fair, I've only seen the fourth film of the former and thought it was the worst I've seen in a while. Absolutely hated it, so that doesn't inspire me with much confidence for The Continental! The Boys I did give two seasons and I wouldn't say it's a bad show or anything, but it just wasn't for me. I mostly got to the end of the second season because I wanted to see Aya Cash. She gives one of my favourite ever comedic performances in You're the Worst, so I was just happy to have her around!

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@nessisonett I would say there's definitely been some quality British TV over the last year or so. Happy Valley's return earlier this year was absolutely fantastic and RTD's Nolly miniseries was great as always from him. Trying is still premiering new seasons (hopefully) yearly and hasn't faltered yet in my eyes, and The Devil's Hour was really intriguing stuff late last year. Incredible finale there and I can't wait to see how they follow up the cliffhanger. I know Bad Sisters was also quite loved, and while I didn't enjoy it to that degree myself I still thought it was a very fun show. This Is Going to Hurt was also a phenomenal miniseries from last year if you missed it. Definitely on the level (if not better than) The North Water! Also enjoyed Big Boys last year, though that show will heavily benefit from more episodes as it was just over too quick to make any meaningful mark. The I Am... episodic anthology delivered some great storytelling and acting too with their special Kate Winslet episode last year, and I Hate Suzie had a knock-out second season that easily eclipsed its freshman outing. Loved Billie Piper's performance in that show.

Gotta say that some of the best British TV this last year was found in The Traitors, though. Maybe not your cup of tea if you're not a fan of reality-competition TV, but it was easily some of the best in the genre I've seen. Just spectacular drama throughout the season that honestly couldn't have been scripted any better by a writer. So many edge of your seats moments and memorable characters with a freaking amazing conclusion to the season. Claudia Winkleman is also in peak form here presenting it all. Some of the most fun I've had watching TV in a while. Highly recommend giving it or any of the other shows I mentioned a shot if you haven't already!

@Tjuz The Traitors was brilliant to be fair. Felt like peak Big Brother in that the people in the show didn’t feel like they were just there to get famous, but to really immerse themselves in the concept.