The TV shows you've seen recently thread.

[Tasty]

Words flow from your mouth like shit from ass.

[fistfulofmetal]

Shawn MicGannicus

[Tasty]

Gannicus was kind of a little bitch tbh

Crixus

Asher

[paprikastaude]

Spartacus was a good soap opera. I was surprised that the German translation had a pretty good grasp on how Latin translations are usually structured.
Though I remember them recycling the same end-season twist at least once. Also, the constantly changing actors was a bummer (the case of Spartacus was of course inevitable, since the original passed away).

[BlueTsunami]

I think Halt & Catch Fire is my fav show of all time. Yeah it can be melodramatic, and plays fast and loose with anachronisms when it comes to tech but it somehow made me care about the core five characters for four straight seasons. I'm sitting here nearing the end of Season 4 and can basically call it.

[Tasty]

I liked s1 of H&CF but I kinda started to stop caring by the end of the first season. Gonna finish it eventually.

[chronovore]

REALLY enjoying Mindhunter. The writing is fantastic. My wife, who is into psychology, is also loving the hell out of watching nascent profiling efforts be created.

I don't like the chemistry between Holden and his hippie academic GF; from the first scene, their dialog was performed like they were pretending they didn't know each other, but it turns out they really /are/ just getting to know each other. It's odd and stilted.

Tench is my spirit animal. He's like a combination of my Dad's temperament and my own personal inclinations on justice.

[Quaker]

Yeah, my biggest gripe was probably the protagonist being such a dweeb(like Baby Driver), but Tench would always bring me back on board.

[VomKriege]

I watched The People v. O.J. Simpson and I won't deny it was expertly done as I watched it all in one sitting. In the end though you still get the feeling of having seen a by the numbers TV movie (with the washed up cast) or a Law & Order episode on steroids (including being slanted to the prosecution). Unfair remarks, as the show does an excellent job with its character writing, capturing an era and having the ambition to say some meaningful stuff but at times I was wondering if they didn't miss the forest for the trees sometimes : for instance, media influence is brought up quite a bit however it's not shown how cameras ended up in the courtroom in the first place.

Anyway, nitpicks. Overall an excellent show with great performances (Paulson, B.Vance, K.Brown and I like what Gooding Jr. does with a difficult part despite not looking like OJ), impeccable pacing and certainly more thoughtful than crass even if it doesn't always avoid some dramatization.

[benjipwns]

That series kinda baffles me in the planning, the execution like you note is almost everything, especially with the choices they've made as to the future stories (Katrina?!?!? and the Clinton sex scandal?!?) and even the Versace one sounds terrible in setup.

They need to do a season with some kind of mystery involved. And lesser known cases. I mean everyone knows OJ was framed for a crime he probably committed then found not guilty. Where's the drama over the season? Versace will at least have the manhunt, I assume?

Personally, I feel like the Oklahoma City Bombing would make an appropriate season. Should have followed OJ with that. Actually, I can't think of it ever being portrayed fictionally in a series or even film now that I think about it. There was that documentary that came out this year, they would have helped promote each other probably.

[chronovore]

Yeah, my biggest gripe was probably the protagonist being such a dweeb(like Baby Driver), but Tench would always bring me back on board.

Finished s1 tonight. A good wrap up and I can't wait for s2. Holden's a dweeb, a little self-righteous, but it must be hard to be right all the time. His girlfriend was really negative, and I wished she'd been as independent as she pretends to be and broken it off with Holden instead of being passive-aggressive and waiting for him to realize it. I really don't like her. I also don't understand what Dr. Wendy Carr was so upset about — is it that capital punishment will dissuade cooperation from the killers they're interviewing (seems likely) or that Carr has a personal problem with capital punishment because she's experienced almost all of this vicariously and has maintained her objectivity so strongly that this exercise is still largely theoretical to her?

Fantastic writing and acting. Great show.

[VomKriege]

The Dark Side of Film & Television Archiving
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141105044334-66434591-the-dark-side-to-film-television-archiving

Fandom is a disease.

Remind me of a story a friend told me about some drama in some fan society of the Prisoner and it went up to at least the use of conversations recorded without consent on top of over the top acrimonious exchanges. As my friend aptly concluded "They all think themselves as Number 6 but they act like Number 2".

[TVC15]

I personally loved it. It’s being trashy and over the top in just about every way was a great way to mirror the feel of how the case was covered. The big dollop of camp added some weird realness to the proceedings. You were watching the affairs of the gods.

[nudemacusers]

Agree 💯 percent.

The Versace series is going to be amaze

[BlueTsunami]

If People v. OJ was played straight I would have been zzz real quick. The camp factor is real.

[TVC15]

Iirc my complaints were:

1. While he wasn’t bad, and at times fit in quite well, Cuba could’ve gone bigger with the O.J. role. I may just not be able to buy Cuba as O.J., no offense to Cuba. 

2. John Travolta was like an alien acting like a human. It was bizarre and strange. It was kind of absurd but I don’t think he was going for that. Either way, he was so strange that he was usually interesting.

3. I think there was a weak episode or two.

[Himu]

Holy crap. Black Mirror is legit. Season 1 had a few stumbles (the first ep in particular) but season 2 they've found their footing and this is some Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex type sci-fi shit.

[TVC15]

Holy crap. Black Mirror is legit. Season 1 had a few stumbles (the first ep in particular) but season 2 they've found their footing and this is some Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex type sci-fi shit.

What did you not like about the first episode? I loved it. It really felt like it was just 10 minutes into the future. No sci-fi needed.

[VomKriege]

First episode is striking and intense so in that sense it's perfect but it's distinctly different than the rest of the series with the absence of any science fiction.

[bdoughty]

All Netflix shows. Past few weeks.

Binge watched 19 seasons of Midsomer Murders and each episode is one hour and thirty minutes (Netflix so no commercials). My biggest gripe is the length. One hour w/o commercials is more than enough for this type of a show. It was a consistently good show with the occasional dud having the murderer being someone nobody would ever consider.  Preferred early Barnaby but hated how poorly they handled his daughter. The amount of shoe-horning her in episodes was exorbitant. The dog Sykes and the wife of the later Baranby were more interesting.  Enjoyed my time with Death In Paradise and Inspector Lewis a bit more but well worth the time put in. Tried to watch the older Inspector Morse but that guy was just an old creeper who hit on every female, including those who just lost their husband/boyfriend to murder.

Finished Broadchurch's latest season and David Tennant and Olivia Colman continue to make a great pair.  Show consistently does a good job of a whole season spending the majority of time on a single event.

Finally, the final season of Halt and Catch fire. Great cast throughout. Final season was ho-hum for me due to a few poor episodes that dragged on. The Joe and Camron relationship took up far too much time in the final season.

[Mupepe]

Holy crap. Black Mirror is legit. Season 1 had a few stumbles (the first ep in particular) but season 2 they've found their footing and this is some Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex type sci-fi shit.

What did you not like about the first episode? I loved it. It really felt like it was just 10 minutes into the future. No sci-fi needed.

First episode is striking and intense so in that sense it's perfect but it's distinctly different than the rest of the series with the absence of any science fiction.

Agreed on these.  It's the most shocking because it's the most plausible and realistic at this point.  Besides that, it's just incredibly well done.

The reaction of the crowds watching the tv going from laughter and ridicule to shock and shame is the most incredible part IMO.

[Himu]

I liked ep 1! But it felt like the pacing was kinda off. Like the ending. Was it really the actor who did it?

I liked the tragic element to it. The princess who was never in any real harm from her kidnapping is living happily while the dude who sacrificed his public face and reputation now lives in a loveless marriage when the reason the PM did it in the first place was to protect his family.

[Momo]

Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 1

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pretend 'nice guy' being a complete psychopath trope, wasn't really paying that much attention during this episode, been on the internet long enough that this trope specifically bores me. I think the episode is a missed chance to explore immortality (digital) and what rights and ownership we can have over ourselves and real world possessions (from the pov of our digital selves) if we chose it. Would have been a better episode if the digital selves interests were put into conflict with the 'real' selves, instead we're given a nice guy trope, complete meh. Additionally, the chase at the end is stupid (I feel like I've seen that in a recent sci fi! :kappa) he's the god of that universe so he could have just turned space solid or something, how dumb

[close]

[Momo]

thanks obama.

[Momo]

Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 2

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Complete snooze fest, overbearing and intrusive parent story as old as time, the technological element does not change the base story much and it's been done before in BM. 

[close]

Fuck, two eps in and i disliked both :/

[Momo]

Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 3

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Guy and a girl run over a guy on a bike in a hit and run and hides the body and gets the fuck out of there, one of them has a moment of conscience and wants to send the grieving widow a letter to tell them what they did and stop looking then the other kills them for it as they are selfish and concerned only about themselves. Alcohol and a descend to paranoia and more crime to cover up follows. Another completely uninteresting trope - only thing slightly subversive is it's the girl who kills the guy. The psychic detective B-plot is fucking lame and i get it's the big point of this story -  loss of privacy in an over legislated society knowing where and who you are and letting people poke into your memories for bullshit like insurance claims, but fuck is it lame. The initial girl turning into a T-X is fucking hilarious also

[close]

when in the fuck did black mirror become generic eps of the outer limits? season 1 and 2 were legit great and while 3 was patchy it had highs. I dont even know what this season is, except for not living up to my expectations. Going to take a break here and watch the rest Sunday, hopefully by then my dislike of the first three will have been forgotten and i can watch the rest fresh.

[TVC15]

Yeah, I just finished 3 and this is not good so far.  Arkangel had potential and started promisingly but they picked a really boring angle to run with by the halfway point.

Highlight so far has been Jesse Plemons doing Shatner.

[TVC15]

Hang the DJ had a fun ending but it was the slowest episode yet

[TVC15]

Metalhead is also very not good.

[TVC15]

Black Museum is kinda fun but has a shitty ending that doesn’t know when to stop twisting. Penn Jillette’s part is probably the best bit of the season for me, although it feels more like a Tales from the Crypt episode than a Black Mirror ep.

Overall, very weak season. I think Brooker has run out of things to write about in the context of the show’s themes. He’s retreading ground he’s been over before; in some cases, it’s ground he’s been over several times. That’s not necessarily an issue if the material is compelling, but it’s really not here. I’m wondering if he’s maybe bored of the show at this point.

[Momo]

[seagrams hotsauce]

I really liked Black Museum, but Metalhead might be my least favorite episode of the entire show. The first one was cool too but the other three didn't stick with me much. I liked the insurance claims investigator girl.

[Mupepe]

1, 4 and 6 were really good. Hang the DJ was probably my favorite. Metalhead was bad.

[VomKriege]

Heh I think I said it here then, but Black Mirror  already was a bit chasing its own tail in the third season. I guess there's only so much you can do with "Your information is recorded & stored somewhere and will live on perhaps beyond death - implant of some kind will alter your perception - guilt and social pressure will follow you everywhere everytime - We are enslaved by representations".

[Dickie Dee]

Yeah, I just finished 3 and this is not good so far.  Arkangel had potential and started promisingly but they picked a really boring angle to run with by the halfway point.

Highlight so far has been Jesse Plemons doing Shatner.

That was low-key one of the best TOS Shatner impressions (even hesitate to call it that) I think I've seen.

[paprikastaude]

I bailed out of Black Mirror after 2 seasons and that christmas thing. All the stories are just dumb if you think about them for two seconds. It feels like the worlds the show created were based on ideas for twists first and foremost, while not considering whether each premise makes actual sense without its twists and turns. I guess the first episode was still the best. I recently watched the 2009 movie Moon and felt like that would have been an actual good episode of what BM tries to achieve.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Moon would have been so much better without the last two minutes. They might as well have just posted a screenshot of the studio notes saying 'Audience is too dumb to get that he won, spell it out in insultingly explicit terms'

[bdoughty]

Finished Peaky Blinders Season 4. Another terrific season and Tom Hardy's role as Alfie is one of my favorite characters, though he appeared very few times this season.  Can't wait for Season 5.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

We will miss you Alfie!

[close]

[Freyj]

BM S4:

I thought 1, 2, 4 and 6 were standout with 4 being the winner and 1 following.

The show hasn’t benefited from expanding from 3 to 6 episodes much and you could easily cut 3 here. I don’t really understand the whining about S1 and 2 being so much better because honestly they aren’t. Be Right Back is still the strongest episode of the entire series but the rest is as uneven as S3 / 4 especially if you were to cut S3 / 4 to half as many episodes.

I do hope we’re done with the device that records memories / consciousness being a central plot device.

[D3RANG3D]

Chappelles specials are up.

[Tasty]

Be Right Back is the best episode? I like Fifteen Million Merits, Nosedive and San Junipero more.

[toku]

what tasty said but i'd sub entire history of you in for nosedive

[Tasty]

Another good episode. I think I like Nosedive mostly for BDH's performance, and also I see it becoming more and more true as time passes.

Your fucking credit score is gonna integrate your tweet activity soon, watch my words.

[paprikastaude]

Chappelles specials are up.

The one on the big stage was good, the other eh.

[VomKriege]

Another good episode. I think I like Nosedive mostly for BDH's performance, and also I see it becoming more and more true as time passes.

Your fucking credit score is gonna integrate your tweet activity soon, watch my words.

I think Nosedive stood out because of its aesthetic quality. The story goes where you'd expect but it was stylized in a way a lot of the other episodes aren't. Dallas-Howard is good in it too.

[Freyj]

Be Right Back is the best episode? I like Fifteen Million Merits, Nosedive and San Junipero more.

All top tier but BRB hit me harder.

[BlueTsunami]

Man the Michael Scott exit episode is fucking heart wrenching. Say what you will about the show but this episode shows all this love for all these characters with real emotion that's coming from a personal space from these actors.

[etiolate]

The Good Place finally returns tomorrow.

[Momo]

http://ew.com/tv/2018/01/03/true-detective-season-3-stephen-dorff/

[BlueTsunami]

Calling it, this is Stephen Dorffs Pulp Fiction

[TVC15]

New X-Files was worse than I was expecting

[Momo]

New X-Files was worse than I was expecting

[CajoleJuice]

REALLY enjoying Mindhunter. The writing is fantastic. My wife, who is into psychology, is also loving the hell out of watching nascent profiling efforts be created.

I don't like the chemistry between Holden and his hippie academic GF; from the first scene, their dialog was performed like they were pretending they didn't know each other, but it turns out they really /are/ just getting to know each other. It's odd and stilted.

Tench is my spirit animal. He's like a combination of my Dad's temperament and my own personal inclinations on justice.

I just finished up Mindhunter last night. I fucking loved it. I agree about that weird conversation in the first episode and their chemistry as a whole, but at least that relationship ends up how you would expect. And yeah, Tench is fantastic. His interaction with Holden in the second ep is what really got me into the show. I can't wait for the second season.

[VomKriege]

Currently in the middle of Lady Dynamite s2, it's uneven, the Future parts especially won't be for everyone and as such break up the pacing. The good parts are still very funny though. The weirdness is genuine and that makes the whole thing endearing. The actress playing Maria's mother is really perfect.

[chronovore]

Someone's favorite cold open from Brooklyn NINE-NINE! is also my favorite one:
https://imgur.com/gallery/75quD

[toku]

soderbergh back at it

[shosta]

that looks visceral

[VomKriege]

Sorry for being crass, but Stone looks amazing, if nothing else.

[Raist]

Looks like American Gods is RIP in pieces.

Funding got cut. Fuller and Greene bailed. Anderson bailed.

[CatsCatsCats]

That sucks.