Topic: The TV Show Thread

watching the last two episodes of Season 3 of Babylon 5 on Tubi

@nessisonett Hopefully Gary Oldman redeems himself for you in Slow Horses.

@JohnnyShoulder I’ve softened on that Dracula mostly because it’s so camp, and mostly because no other adaptation actually comes that close to nailing the sexual metaphors of the original novel. But yes, his sister is the better actress 😉

So about a month ago, I broke my umbrella and decided to order a new one from Amazon. At the checkout, I was offered a free month of Prime Video, which I gladly accepted. During the past month, I've watched the following shows and movies:

• The Boys: Season 4
  Another fantastic season from this phenomenal show.
• Fallout: Season 1
  Enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
• Like a Dragon: Yakuza: Season 1
  As a huge Yakuza fan, I enjoyed it overall but was left slightly underwhelmed towards the end.
• Borderlands
  I played the first Borderlands so much as a kid and the movie captured the first game perfectly. I really want to start up Borderlands 2 soon.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
  Another brilliant Sonic movie that focused more on pacing and action. Heavily reminiscent of a 90s movie that doesn't take itself seriously. Desperately need more movies like this.
• Twisted Metal: Season 1
  Had no expectations going into it and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Really liked the characters and the humour.

Managed to watch all of this simply because I broke my umbrella. Sometimes you can get great luck from bad luck.

@seinfeldfanatic Hope you've been enjoying Babylon 5! I'm about at the same point as you in the show currently, just a few episodes ahead. It's truly remarkable the level of storytelling and serialisation they were able to pull off in that time. Is this a first watch or a re-watch? Who's your favourite character thus far?

Love Babylon 5! I imagine that it’s aged something chronic… but back when tv shows didn’t really have season-long arcs, it was the ****!

@graymamba I've been slowly been watching it for the first time since about a year, and I would say it certainly holds up. Of course it has some dated elements like the VFX and some of the very 90's acting, but overall nothing that I think withholds the show from its shine. If anything, I really appreciate seeing all these practical sets with how overdone modern sci-fi is with its green/blue screen. I also think the acting of the main cast all very much holds up, even if some took possibly a longer time to grow into their roles than others. I can still recognise Andreas Katsulas, Mira Furlan and Peter Jurasik as some top-tier acting performances roughly thirty years removed from when they put them to screen. Ultimately, I think it's the writing most of all that has really kept the show from feeling like "just something from the past". The dialogue, the plotting, the pacing... it all just feels so modern thanks to it being so groundbreaking at its time. It's truly impressive the forethought JMS had when writing this of what prestige television should look like.

I'm glad I finally gave it a shot after waiting all these years. I always heard great things from sci-fi fans, but the thought of it having a rough start as well as it possibly feeling very dated always held me off. At some point you've seen most of the more modern classics however, so it felt only right to finally give it its fair share. It didn't disappoint... or rather it surprised! I'm sure watching this week to week back in the day was an incredible experience, but sadly I was not even conceived by the time the series finale aired, haha.

@Tjuz glad that it’s holding up as well as you say. I actually think it’s a hell of a lot better that [em]The Expanse[em], which everyone seems to think is amazing.

Some of the ladies I work with were raving about Dept Q so I just finished it. Was honestly a little disappointed.

Save for the odd dodgy green screen and obvious set, it looked gorgeous, the lighting, direction, locations etc (well minus the styling, never seen it so bad that actors are needing to make public statements to confirm they aren’t wearing a wig. Fire that styling team!), for the most part was very well acted, with a cast of recognisable faces and I liked the tonal balance of this show (outside of the kinda cheesy Hollywood ending).

I was kinda worried it would be another dreary detective show with a big city cop sent to a perpetually overcast dying seaside town where half the run time is just the copper looking sad by the ocean. But instead, it balanced the darkness with some genuinely laugh out loud moments, the cast had a warm, lived in, chemistry that felt charming, real and emotionally engaging.

Yet, I dunno man, I felt like it started really strong, the first episode really was for the lack of a better term, killer, but somehow that momentum didn’t carry forwards, meaning it really sagged in the middle for me. Felt like I was waiting for some big flip it on its head twist to reenergise the show, but I feel like most of the developments were way too heavily telegraphed and obvious. And that isn’t even me trying to be a smart arse, I usually always guess wrong for these things, but here I feel like I could see almost everything from miles away.

Words cannot describe my disappointment of The Last of Us: Season 2. Where to start...

@graymamba @Tjuz I’d love JMS to get the Doctor Who job because he really wants it and the show is crying out for that blend of fun and meaty sci-fi that he knows how to write. The only real issue is that him being both American and well, a bit old, means that there’s no chance he’ll get it, and that’s if RTD hasn’t fully gotten the show cancelled. I’m actually on his Spider-Man run at the moment and his writing style is just a joy to read.

Binged all 4 seasons of Slow Horses. Probably the best show I’ve watched in the last few years. It’s that good. Can’t really think of anything outside of miniseries that grabbed me this much made in the last decade, maybe True Detective season 3 or the Fargo season with Chris Rock.

@nessisonett I’d imagine JMS was a perfect fit for comic book writing tbh, what with how he drops seeds for major payoffs, while juggling multiple long narrative strands etc.

Really surprised that he fancies the Dr Who gig… but it would definitely interest me. I haven’t watched any Who since the end of Tennant’s run but I’d definitely give it another go if JMS was at the helm. My only concern would be the Americanisation of something so quintessentially British… but I’d be fairly confident that he would be extremely cognisant of that and do everything to avoid it. Very interesting!

@graymamba He’s just moved to the UK with the intention of securing writing gigs over here so you can’t say he’s not trying!

Just started watching "The Bear". I'm about 4 episodes in. It is fantastic so far. It reminds of Shameless. Not only because of the same actor, but the setting of a struggling family in a rough neighborhood.

Busy with binging through 1992 Season 17 of Saturday Night Live. the good old days when Phil Hartman was pretty much the leader along with the new young guys like Farley, Spade, Sandler and little bit of Al Franken along with the gals Melanie Hutsell and Julia Sweeney

pretty much sort of the 2nd rewatch of it. i kind of watched some episodes of the show when it was on TNT back then but missed out on alot of it

Chased Dept Q with the first season of Unforgotten. Had it been five episodes long, it would have been basically a perfect show. Maybe a little blandly constructed from like a physical sense. Had this very flat, plainly lit, TV feel. But that sixth episode…oh boy. Not sure I can think of a final episode that so utterly ruins a season of great telly like this episode did. Just a closing episode of nonsensical twists, rushed developments, plotholes and unresolved or just straight up forgotten threads. Seemingly going for some big emotional payoff over one that really makes any sense. I also don't really understand why the paedophile priest and the violent racist characters both get cleanly wrapped up redemption arcs at the end. Just left a really sour taste in my mouth. In fact, no one really faced any repercussions in the end.

my opinion, Kim in 24 was pretty much the damsel in distress where she was doing something stupid. that and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Binged the whole season of The Waterfront yesterday and really quite liked it. It’s kinda like Bloodline meets Ozark and holds up pretty well in the comparison. I’d even go as far as to say it’s more enjoyable than the former while not quite up there with the latter.

Really solid cast too with Holt McCallany being the standout… love that guy in everything I see him in tbh and he gets great support by Maria Bello and Melissa Benoist. For a tense, crime-filled family drama, it’s actually quite an ‘easy’ watch, which is the opposite of Bloodline, which I felt was a quality show… but a real trudge to watch for some reason. Recommended.

@graymamba Wow, that one had completely passed me by. Awesome cast! Adding it to a very long list, thanks