Topic: The TV Show Thread

@Ravix I think they are actually getting a bit better of late, especially since they farmed out some of it to Sony.

@colonelkilgore I was one of those who dropped off after S1, but not due to lack of interest. I enjoyed the first season very much, but I think the combination of the long wait for season 2 (two full years) and a lack of fanfare when it dropped alongside of a plethora of other things demanding attention, I (and I suspect quite a few others) slept on it too long. Then it got cancelled and I never bothered to pick it back up, for fear of it ending unresolved.

@FuriousMachine yeah, i was a little concerned for the same reason myself, so much so that I refused to check whether it’d been cancelled etc. until we finished it. Season 2 had a fully completed arc though… I’d even go as far as to say it rounds out an arc for both seasons 1 and 2 if that helps at all. They do set up events for a season 3 if it had been made but it did seem like it would’ve been very distinct from what went before.

@PeaceSalad Very surprised to hear that Slow Horses didn't click for you... I've just finished Season 2, and really rate it! A bit silly at times, but Gary Oldman is great in it. Penguin was 'OK' I thought, a fairly average show with 2 x outstanding lead performances.

We agree on Severence though, so unique and utterly brilliant. That S1 ending..!

I discovered there is now a way to actually properly legally stream AEW in Europe. I tend to get back into wrestling when the NFL is winding down to fill my newly empty Sundays.

I kinda bounced around on Cagematch for a while trying to find the right entry point. Glossing over these cards, AEW's short history is quite interesting cause a lot of stories seem to be booked long term, yet big stars will often seem to enter and exit the company at really rapid paces. This means trying to follow one story, will be wrapped around other stories which can potentially feel meaningless even a few months later, while that longer story chugs along with the faces around it changing.

I eventually landed on starting with AEW Revolution 2022, as I wanted to follow the rise of Moxley and Danielson's team up. Ironically this was probably one of the weaker matches of the show, I thought all these years lately Moxley would be a better wrestler, but he still has really soft, fake, looking strikes for a guy where that is like 90% of his offence. His whole persona is this sorta brawler not a wrestler thing, which is fine, but I think you gotta work snug if you wanna do that. There is also a cartoonish bladejob in this match where the guys clash outside the ring and then suddenly Moxley is bleeding like he'd just been attacked by Jason Vorhees, and rather than enhancing my investment it just kinda pulled me out of it.

I will say though, the AEW Title match was solid. It didn't necessarily have the greatest pacing, a few too many sequences for me where someone gets dropped on their neck from a massive move that should be better protected for finishes, only for people to kick out and immediately go into another sequence. However, Page and Cole had strong chemistry, and there were some really nice story telling sequences spawning from how well these two know each other, hitting some slick reversals and counters to their signature spots. The Buckshot Lariat has to be one of the coolest moves in wrestling too, makes almost zero sense, but seeing a guy the size of Page make it look so effortless rules every time.

The Dog Collar match was probably my match of the show honestly. The colour was probably a little excessive in this one too, but I feel like matches like this show the unique joy of wrestling, as it wove it's story through an entertaining display of pure violence.

@PorkChopExpress Honestly one of the biggest TV letdowns since Heroes season2.

Squid S1 was a lot of fun IMO, and a really good watch. But S2…. Towards the end I found myself hate-watching it, just out of love for S1. Wish I hadn’t wasted my time, pretty garbage and such a shame!

@PeaceSalad Shame you dropped S2 of Slow, as personally I thought it was a huge improvement on the debut season! But not every show is for everyone, and you do right to drop things that aren’t clicking with you

Severance is amazing I think. And a real ‘genre risk’ in a landscape of TV creative bankruptcy. I think Adam Scott is excellent in it, as is John Turturo!

@PeaceSalad Good to hear you gave Severance a shot! It is truly brilliant. I watched the episodes when they first dropped every week, so it feels like I've lived about seven different lives since I watched the first season. Crazy how long these shows can take to come out nowadays. Britt Lower was my personal stand-out, but each anf every one of the castmembers was impressive in their own ways. Really excited to see Merritt Wever join the fold this next season.

I've actually been very worried for the quality of the second season. They had much drama behind the scenes in terms of the writers not getting along. Seemed like much was getting constantly scrapped and reworked. One of the showrunners I believe even quit until Ben Stiller convinced them to return. Add to that the strikes and all, and you have what sounds like it could've been a recipe for disaster. Early reviews have been very positive though, so it seems like we might've gotten lucky!

@PorkChopExpress If you're open to recommendations for Asian shows, I'd highly recommend the Korean TV adaptation of Little Women. I thought it was a fantastic modernised version of the tale with a superb thriller feel as well as shocking twists and turns. Kim Go-eun was also incredible in it and made me an instant fan after watching. It's from the same writer of The Handmaiden from Park Chan-wook if you're familiar with it, which is what made me give it a shot as that's one of my favourite movies of all-time. Highly recommended.

two shows i'm binging through

CW Swamp Thing that's on Tubi
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on Netflix.watched Part 1 couple of days ago. pretty good show. better than the original show that used to be on Cartoon Network Adult Swim a long time ago

Today I watched Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 and I was a little disappointed.

Aside from amazing battle scenes everything else was boring! I mean really boring. Specially the Anette stuff. That "3rd soul" thing could've been completely removed from the story.

They need to move to another timeline. Castlevania SotN season will NOT happen for sure.

Move forward to 1999 Castle War IF they can get the budget.

@Zuljaras I loved the first Castlevania series Netflix did binged on it in one weekend lol but for some reason I couldn't get into Nocturne. Maybe at the time I was just Castlevania out but yeah I just haven't had any urge to watch it.

As for watching shows myself, I started watching Tim Allen's new sitcom Shifting Gears. Saw the pilot last week and to be honest it was just meh. The kids just seemed like they didn't want to be part of the show and just seemed like they were force reading lines, even Tim Allen seemed off. To be honest it just made me want to watch Home Improvement or Last Man Standing again. I will watch episode two tonight to see if it gets any better.

Currently watching season 4 of Better Call Saul after I remembered I had never seen past season 2 (watched 3 last week). Quite nice to re--engage with all of the characters after a gap of however many years. Though I am more interested in what's going on with Mike and Gustavo than I am with Jimmy and Kim and the lawyers to be honest

i forgot that Castlevania Nocturne was still around on Netflix. that and surprised there's now a Season 2. I watched the first season like l last year but i forgot what the heck went on story wise during season 1.

might have to rewatch season 1 to refresh my memory of Nocturne before maybe jumping into Season 2

@sorteddan I was never so big into Better Call Saul like many people, but the third season is some incredible television. Chicanery, in particular, will always stick with me as an all-timer of an episode. Happy to hear you did yourself a service and got on with it! Hope the rest of the show doesn't disappoint.

I'm very excited to see both Severance and Harley Quinn back for new seasons this week. Now I'll just have to wait for our landlord to get the wi-fi back.

@sorteddan Better Call Saul just quietly gets better and better, enjoy

@PeaceSalad @Gremio108
Yeah thanks guys really enjoying it. My only issue is if I keep watching an episode every day it won't be long till it's over!

Also made my way through the first season of Yellowstone and also enjoying the modern day cowboy vibe. Think it was @colonelkilgore who brought it to my attention with high praise on here.

And think I'll have to add Severance to my future watch list after reading all the positivity from seemingly everyone on here.

By the time they got going with Better Call Saul they were just showing off, I think! 👏
They found their flow with Breaking Bad and you could see the quality improve before your eyes, but the craft continued and Saul really is great. It makes me want to go back and watch it all again, seeing these comments from everyone.

Anyway, popped in here as I've started re-watching Andor tonight. Not sure why, but probably because most of my media consumption lately has been medieval and Hussite focused so I needed a sci-fi palette cleanser.

Wish I had it on 4K disc, but its probably one of the best 4K streaming options out there on Disney. The level of detail is pretty awe inspiring, and it doesn't seem to lose much shine via streaming like some shows do.

I was one of the people critical of that animation style they chose for 'Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man' and now I've watched some of it, I will say the direction / camerawork means that the action scenes are actually pretty fun, but the animation otherwise is still just as stiff and jank as it was in the trailer. I mean hell, some of the non-action scenes kinda just look like a power point slideshow. I think they want to capture like that 50s era of Marvel Comics, but I am not fully sure why they thought this was the animation style they needed for this.

Just finished up a 2-day binge of Disclaimer on Apple TV. It does take a bit to get going… like 3/4 of its 7 episode run tbh… but once it gets going it’s very good. A dark exposé of truth and ‘my truth’, which highlights how a parents love - be it absent or over-indulgent can have a profoundly negative impact on a child’s development into adulthood, beautifully shot and composed, a great cast… actually well-worth the initial trudge.

We also finally finished up The Expanse last night. As a huge fan of sci-fi, I’ve never really connected with this show but have stuck with it due to the general consensus of it being of such a high quality amongst fans of the genre. Well… unfortunately for me… and not wanting to offend those who are big fans, it just never clicked. I liked the overall premise well enough and lore is pretty cool but I thought that the execution was generally poor. Personally I think it’s a massive example of the importance to show-not-tell within storytelling. There are just scene after scene thick with exposition and when they eventually do try a bit of show… I don’t think the budget enabled it to sing. Genuinely disappointed by it.