Topic: The TV Show Thread

@LN78 yeah I hope the physical releases are very successful and maybe some of the others give it a try. I would love an Arcane or Stranger Things box set from Netflix.
I guess it could diminish the need to subscribe for some people but maybe they will discover that the kind of customer buying the physical don’t stay subscribed for long anyway and can make extra money this way.
I certainly have no plans to re subscribe to Disney plus until season two of Andor and will drop it again right after.

@LN78 Blue Eye Samurai is one I added to my watchlist a while back and kind of forgot about. I'll have to get to that.

@LN78 "Sandman" has been released on 4K; imported mine from Amazon.com and it arrived just the other day. Haven't gotten around to testing it yet. Not sure how they decide what's getting released and what's not, but they're obviously very reticent about releasing anything on physical. I was quite surprised to see that "Sandman" had a release, tbh

@LN78 And thank you for returning the favour; I was unaware of the "Haunting" releases, which is very good news as Flanagan himself recently lamented that Netflix refused to release his stuff on physical. I suppose he was referring to "Midnight Mass" and "Usher", maybe?
But, yeah, I expect you're right when thinking that the fact that these are all co-productions is what helped these get disc releases.
I was about to sign off bemoaning that "Arcane" was a Netflix original through and through and thus would probably never get a home release, but when I went to Wikipedia to verify if it was indeed a co-production or not, I saw this little beautiful sentence:

In June 2024, it was announced that GKIDS had acquired the home video rights to Arcane, which will be released on digital and 4K

Just finished a six episode miniseries on Netflix called “Supacell”. While not as funny as Misfits, it's probably the closest comparison, both British shows that combine super powers with social realism. This story is focused on a range of Black characters in London, for a lot of the show, its just about their day to day lives, but people start developing super powers, and a wider, greater, narrative begins to shift into focus. Its a different take on a super power show, telling stories that are sadly underrepresented and made the show feel refreshingly different. I think its pacing, and focus on real world drama, will probably polarise some, but I found the blend pretty damn engaging. Sure if you’re expecting some MCU level production, you’ll probably be disappointed, but I was surprised by how satisfying the payoff was, even on a smaller scale.

@Pizzamorg I did Supacell this week also whilst travelling - and actually enjoyed my time with it.

Not sure if you ever watched a show from about 13-14 years ago called "Heroes"? Supacell seems to borrow heavily from that show, alongside Misfits (as you point out), but the likeable leads and authentic portrayal of London made me stick with the show.

I thought most of the characters were well drawn, particularly liked Michael and Tazer.

If you enjoyed Supacell, the creator ('Rapman') had a film a few years back called "Blue Story" - about 2 best friends who grow up within gang culture in London estates. It is really excellent, and tonally reminiscent of Supacell (no powers though obviously!)

@CJD87 Heroes was one of those early teenage year TV obsessions where I was starting to really get into my own interests, like Lost and the anime Bleach. Although I remember being so disappointed by the second season of Heroes and I am not sure I watched any more after that.

I'll have to seek out Blue Story. Ironically I think the superpower stuff while still good, is probably the least interesting part of Supacell, so I don't mind the idea of something spiritually similar but without the powers.

@Pizzamorg Scrolled past that one last night. Might give it a look.

I watched episode 6 of Season 4 The Boys last night, it was hilarious. Loved their take on Spider-man. All sorts of wrong going on but really funny!

@MightyDemon82 Yeah the last two episodes have been bangers. The scene on the farm from last week's episode took an unexpected turn! Not sure if I can stomach eating cake again after this week's episode!

@MightyDemon82 @JohnnyShoulder I almost got a bit nauseous watching this week's episode, but I was laughing all the same. This show is so bats*it insane and I love it. The aerial attack at the farm last week almost had me in tears from LOLs

@FuriousMachine @JohnnyShoulder my sister said the same thing about not eating cake again 🤣.

@Pizzamorg Haha yeh what a time to be alive... Lost (!) Irrespective of a dodgy ending, that show was so 'ahead of its time' and those early few seasons are among some of the best / most enjoyable TV I have ever watched. Season 1 of Heroes was a banger also - but I fully agree it nosedived tremendously from S2 onwards.

OK if you like the gang-orientated setting/drama in Supacell, then definitely check out 'Top Boy' on Netflix - you'll also recognise some of the Supacell actors there .

@FuriousMachine "Zendaya...!"

@CJD87 🤣🤣🤣

Started watching Shogun on Disney+ today. A friend recommended this show to me as I love Japan and it's been absolutely superb thus far. I've watched two episodes and it's fantastic. I haven't experienced many media of feudal Japan so this setting is very interesting to me.

@LtSarge Shogun is, in my opinion, one of the absolute best TV shows I've seen in many years. I read the book this January (which was also extremely good) and the show did not disappoint. You've got some great hours of television ahead of you

My friends recommended chasing Supacell with another British superpower show called Extraordinary. This one is more of a sitcom / comedy than Supacell is. On the surface, Extraordinary is fantastic, a genuinely laugh out loud, lovely and feel good story, that manages to find the ordinary magic in a world where everyone has a super power.

However, what really made it special for me - and this is gonna sound so morbid - is this ever growing reflection on loss that runs through the show. I am fascinated by the presentation of grief on screen. Grief is unique to everyone, but at the risk of sounding like I am gatekeeping being sad - which is absolutely not my intention - anyone who has experienced true grief knows the difference between a genuine presentation of grief on screen and someone writing grief without having experienced it.

Light spoilers here - protagonist Jen is initially introduced as this quite chaotic figure. She is messy, bratty, rude, just generally quite unpleasant and unlikeable. We learn she has lost her Dad, and crucially this isn’t initially used as a tool for sympathy, it's just a part of her fabric. In a fun use of the show's twist, rather than really facing that grief, Jen gets to push it aside as her best friend’s power is channelling the dead. This means Jen can act like her Dad is still alive, and just sort of live in that lie, even though its stunting her growth (quite literally in the mechanics of this world) because this means she never really has to face what happened and let go.

The show touches on this throughout, a few poignant scenes like when she is reminded she still has a parent, alive, right there she is pushing away for the one who is gone, but it is always so carefully woven into the overall fabric of the show, so the show never gets lost in the misery and drama. It really helps us slowly learn why Jen is the way she is, and grow to organically appreciate the person she is, without it just cheating our sympathy with a dead parent card, it really makes sure to earn this.

It all comes to a head in the final episode of season 2, there is a brief goodbye sequence and I ugly cried like a monster at that sequence and it was all so brief, so perfectly tuned for the overall vibe of the show. Just perfect man.

So I love an adult animated comedy, and from time to time I'll watch anything ranging from fantastic to bang average and maybe even highly questionable at times...

I was really in the mood to get stuck into something new, but I watched a couple of episodes of Exploding Kittens last night and just felt incredibly empty. It felt like it had barely any redeeming factors, and I couldn't put my finger on why. I guess I was expecting an 8 out of 10 type show and it just fell completely flat. And this was while mildly inebriated too, when you'd think anything could get a laugh 🤷

I suppose I'll ask if anyone has any recommendations for soemthing much better, but there's a chance I'll have seen it already, possibly multiple times 😅

(It's really bad, it's really, really, really, really bad. It does not get any better, just much, much worse. Maybe the worst thing ever put on netflix 🤢)

@FuriousMachine That's very high praise and I'm starting to feel the same way as it has gotten me really hooked! The last time a TV show has gotten me this hooked was when I watched The Boys for the first time. Genuinely looking forward to watching more soon.

@LtSarge Like @FuriousMachine said, I thought Shogun was great. You obviously already know, but for a show that is 95% just them sitting there and talking, the episodes are really engaging and fly by.

No, I don't say that just because Anna Sawai is a beautiful woman either.