The TV shows you've seen recently thread.

[Madrun Badrun]

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Good trailers. Is Werewolf by Night supposed to actually continue into the MCU stuff or is it just a standalone thing?

They don't really know what to do with him in the comics (ditto dracula and frankenstein and the rest of the for-copyright-reasons-not-the-universal-versions movie monsters) so I doubt hes showing up in avengers, but also by the same token this 'phase' of the MCU seems really unfocussed and just flinging as much shit as possible at the wall to see what if anything sticks - there's just no way any future 'avengers' movie is going to cover the multiverse AND time travel AND the supernatural AND cosmic stuff AND street level

[HaughtyFrank]

Good trailers. Is Werewolf by Night supposed to actually continue into the MCU stuff or is it just a standalone thing?

They don't really know what to do with him in the comics (ditto dracula and frankenstein and the rest of the for-copyright-reasons-not-the-universal-versions movie monsters) so I doubt hes showing up in avengers, but also by the same token this 'phase' of the MCU seems really unfocussed and just flinging as much shit as possible at the wall to see what if anything sticks - there's just no way any future 'avengers' movie is going to cover the multiverse AND time travel AND the supernatural AND cosmic stuff AND street level

It surprises me a bit that the multiverse angle isn't more explained. Now we got multiverses and divergent timelines (or are those supposed to be the same?) and in the most recent She-Hulk episode some clown magician simply opened a portal into another dimension. What's that now? A multiverse? A timeline? Or it's own whole thing? I don't expect a comic book universe to explain the science behind everything but they're really playing it loose right now.

[Tasty]

Good trailers. Is Werewolf by Night supposed to actually continue into the MCU stuff or is it just a standalone thing?

They don't really know what to do with him in the comics (ditto dracula and frankenstein and the rest of the for-copyright-reasons-not-the-universal-versions movie monsters) so I doubt hes showing up in avengers, but also by the same token this 'phase' of the MCU seems really unfocussed and just flinging as much shit as possible at the wall to see what if anything sticks - there's just no way any future 'avengers' movie is going to cover the multiverse AND time travel AND the supernatural AND cosmic stuff AND street level

Marvel has a Frankenstein too? In DC he helps Batman and I think briefly joined the Justice League recently. He's kind of a Clayface type.

[Potato]

Cobra Kai s5 was fun, but flawed.

It's always been a show that flirted dangerously with the ridiculous, but always managed to keep it from going over that fine line, but I think this season really went too far into the silliness.

I think maybe the cast has grown too bloated and it didn't have the grounding of following the younger characters enough.

[chronovore]

William Gibson’s THE PERIPHERAL is coming to Amazon next month. I’m hopeful.

[Phoenix Dark]

Slowly working through The Bear, almost done. This is the first 30 min-ish show I've watched in a long ass time. In fact I kind of avoided it because of the length assuming it wouldn't be worthwhile. But the pacing is great and it's arguably the best shot show on television right now. Well worth checking out, folks.

[james]

Anyone have any new sitcom comedy recommendations? Only show Ive even heard of is Abbott Elementary, anyone seen it?

[Polident Hive]

It’s good. I’d recommend it. Hits those Parks and Rec highs before it got cloying.

The Other Two is another one on HBO. Been watching episodes here and there. A reductive comparison is Broad City + 30 Rock.

[Potato]

She-Hulk continues to defy my low expectations and remains watchable. Daredevil should ramp up the fun this week

[Potato]

Welcome to Wrexham is pretty good.

[Tasty]

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Better call Saul?

Better call sawZZZZall...

[Potato]

So, my biggest complaint about She-Hulk is that they've waited five episodes to introduce an antagonist that isn't just "men". What are they supposed to do with only 4 episodes to go?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

If the season finale is just Titania and She-Hulk making friends and agreeing that all men are trash, that would actually be fitting.

[close]

[Bebpo]

I thought the antagonist was the Titania from ep1?

[Potato]

I thought the antagonist was the Titania from ep1?

Yes. Then she disappeared for four episodes.

[Madrun Badrun]

I thought everyone wanted something to change up the standard MCU formula but then complain when their expectations about it following the same formula are not met?  Not that She-hulk or many of the phase 4 stuff doesn't deserve criticism, it's just so much of it can be seen as stemming from modifying the format, like turning Thor into a comedy but still expecting MCU plot beats and tone.   For she-hulk, the main conflict can just be the social constraints of being a superhero with a regular job, and living in a man's world as an auxiliary conflict, without having an identifiable superbad to focus a season on. Though the suggestion about them bonding over men would be a really great way for the show to go. 

[Potato]

Having an identifiable antagonist is not just an MCU thing though, it's pretty universal.

Honestly, I was good with not having a big bad and it just being a sitcom style show. My complaint is that they've waited until past halfway to do something with the antagonist that was introduced in the final scene of episode 1. Almost like having a big bad was forced on the show by the suits.

[Himu]

I thought everyone wanted something to change up the standard MCU formula but then complain when their expectations about it following the same formula are not met?  Not that She-hulk or many of the phase 4 stuff doesn't deserve criticism, it's just so much of it can be seen as stemming from modifying the format, like turning Thor into a comedy but still expecting MCU plot beats and tone.   For she-hulk, the main conflict can just be the social constraints of being a superhero with a regular job, and living in a man's world as an auxiliary conflict, without having an identifiable superbad to focus a season on. Though the suggestion about them bonding over men would be a really great way for the show to go.

Haven't seen She Hulk. However, just because something is different doesn't make it good. Wandavision was different but it was very good, though. so it's not like MCU hasn't done unique things recently.

That being said, the tone I've seen of She Hulk seems in line with the She Hulk comics which is sarcastic, absurdist, pro-sex, very feminist, and sometimes off the wall in your face 4th the wall breaking humor. Basically Deadpool before Deadpool.

[Madrun Badrun]

You can have conflict without a main antagonist though, and, while most genres do have a central antagonist, most sitcoms generally don't, but rather have a weekly situational conflict that gets resolved with various characters that might play antagonist or support from week to week.  And when they do have a main antagonist, lots of times they only show up at the season premiere, mid-season, and season final to keep them fresh.  I do think you are right about having a forced antagonist and that this season will probably end with some big fight despite the hulk hardly fighting through the season.  Hope I'm wrong though.

I guess my point was why did you have an expectation about her being the main villain (or the show needing a main) and hence taking issue with her not being used until now, but you're probably right in that marvel set up that expectation by introducing her in the first episode combined with knowledge of the standard formula.  It would have been better for them to do a clean break from the standard formula in episode 1 to prevent setting expectations like that. 

[Tasty]

MCU has become uncompelling because it's unfocused. I can follow the soap opera interconnecting storyline when there's 2-3 films a year, and stay hyped for what's next.

Not so with 3-4 films and 6-8 TV shows hitting D+ every other quarter.

[HaughtyFrank]

I'd enjoy She-Hulk a lot more if She-Hulk kept mocking the writers shortcomings like she did in the John Byrne days

[Potato]

You can have conflict without a main antagonist though, and, while most genres do have a central antagonist, most sitcoms generally don't, but rather have a weekly situational conflict that gets resolved with various characters that might play antagonist or support from week to week.  And when they do have a main antagonist, lots of times they only show up at the season premiere, mid-season, and season final to keep them fresh.  I do think you are right about having a forced antagonist and that this season will probably end with some big fight despite the hulk hardly fighting through the season.  Hope I'm wrong though.

I guess my point was why did you have an expectation about her being the main villain (or the show needing a main) and hence taking issue with her not being used until now, but you're probably right in that marvel set up that expectation by introducing her in the first episode combined with knowledge of the standard formula.  It would have been better for them to do a clean break from the standard formula in episode 1 to prevent setting expectations like that. 

I agree with you on all of those things and am generally enjoying the show BECAUSE it has so far avoided all the MCU clichés. I guess I am just fearing the worst that they are going to go full MCU    for these last few episodes and end it with a dumb "throw the super-powered bad person through a building" fight.

I guess my point was why did you have an expectation about her being the main villain (or the show needing a main) and hence taking issue with her not being used until now

Because I don't think the Marvel suits can resist meddling and making a quite clever show into something dumb and cliched and only having 4 episodes to actually do something with the character.

I hope I am wrong, but all evidence points to them fucking up a cool concept with a super-powered shitfight like they did with WandaVision.

[Bebpo]

Rings ep4 was probably the weakest of the four eps so far, but it still had its moments. Enjoyed it.
McCreary is putting in real work on this soundtrack. I love all the melodramatic epic slow-mo and hymns and gorgeous lighting stuff in this.

[HaughtyFrank]

Rings ep4 was probably the weakest of the four eps so far, but it still had its moments. Enjoyed it.
McCreary is putting in real work on this soundtrack. I love all the melodramatic epic slow-mo and hymns and gorgeous lighting stuff in this.

Enjoying the show as well though I'm not quite sure how I feel about that whole elf vs human racism, that feels a little atypical to the Lotr world to me. Sure you had dwarves, elves and humans mistrust each other in Lotr but those always felt more like century old grudges they've held onto than a direct racism allegory. The way it's in Rings of Power is imo more fitting to something like The Witcher.
Though also possible I just had a wrong impression of Tolkien's universe, been a while since I read the books

[Potato]

No, my impression was the same as yours. Centuries old grudges much like Great Britain and France rather than racism.

I haven't started watching TRoP yet, bit I'm getting shitty vibes.

[Bebpo]

No, my impression was the same as yours. Centuries old grudges much like Great Britain and France rather than racism.

I haven't started watching TRoP yet, bit I'm getting shitty vibes.

Eh, it's not shitty even if it's not amazing at this point. It's mostly good and better than the Hobbit movies so far haha.

In terms of racism, so far it's just one human town that hates elves because they basically treat them as 2nd class citizens since the town's ancestor's aligned with the orc army (which makes some sense) and then one human city that just hates elves because uhh they're racist fucks? 

[Potato]

No, my impression was the same as yours. Centuries old grudges much like Great Britain and France rather than racism.

I haven't started watching TRoP yet, bit I'm getting shitty vibes.

Eh, it's not shitty even if it's not amazing at this point. It's mostly good and better than the Hobbit movies so far haha.

Very, very low bar.

In terms of racism, so far it's just one human town that hates elves because they basically treat them as 2nd class citizens since the town's ancestor's aligned with the orc army (which makes some sense) and then one human city that just hates elves because uhh they're racist fucks? 

My take on Tolkien has always been that the most likely candidate for "racist arseholes" was the elves rather than the humans.

[Transhuman]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

[Bebpo]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

 

[Tasty]

I need to get around to watching Rings, but I heard they kinda made the Hobbits (Harfoots?) into massive assholes and that kinda makes me go "eh."

[Madrun Badrun]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

When I read your posts I'm always super impressed by them. I very much think 'wow that man has fine taste in television.  I wonder how he cultivated such fine judgement in television'.  Your posts are also very nostalgic to me because growing up, I use to know so many 14 yearolds who seemed so cool when they used to shit on other people's choices in entertainment, and, you just really don't see many 30 yearolds doing that.     

[Tasty]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

Humans favor habit and familiarity. A lot of people ended up watching GoT eventually, but that first season didn't really do gangbuster numbers. Same for Breaking Bad until the S1 finale.

New IP is known to be a harder sell for a reason, you're fighting against human nature. And humans lose their taste for newness the older they become, and tastes get ossified.

I feel it's not necessarily a "responsibility" for the studio gatekeepers to create new IP along with recycling known IP, but it certainly makes me respect a studio trying something new (A24, etc.) I don't pass the same judgment on the consumers (most of the time), because saying "You'll only get more of what you pay for if you keep paying for it" doesn't really work; if humans had their bugs up on GitHub that'd be "Won't Fix - Working As Intended."

[Tasty]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

When I read your posts I'm always super impressed by them. I very much think 'wow that man has fine taste in television.  I wonder how he cultivated such fine judgement in television'.  Your posts are also very nostalgic to me because growing up, I use to know so many 14 yearolds who seemed so cool when they used to shit on other people's choices in entertainment, and, you just really don't see many 30 yearolds doing that.     

A YouTube I follow (YourMovieSucks) has a similar stance, that popular stuff is generally trash (I think a direct quote from him was "WandaVision is weird/art for people who have only seen Marvel Movies") and he consumes dozens and dozens of indie films a year, rating and ranking almost all of them. He's a great resource for art films, and I know his opinion on certain genre films will never apply to me.

However it's still worthwhile hearing his thoughts on why popular things are overrated. Mostly it boils down to him watching so many films that the mainstream stuff never does anything new -- the "new" things that wow most people probably got done in 11 other indie films years before Marvel did it. But those people didn't see those films (and I generally blame lack of marketing/discovery for that these days, rather than the people themselves), so it's "new to them."

[Madrun Badrun]

Most popular things are trash in that they are repetitive, derivative, and often poorly done.  At the end of the day, it's entertainment and it's good as long as one finds it entertaining.  Maybe some people have less tolerance for derivativeness and prefer more novel and artistic entertainment.  That's fine.  It doesn't make them have better taste.  Hell, even if most people were totally oblivious to the fact that, at some-level, their preferred choices of entertainment doesn't meet artistic criteria, that still doesn't make them have poor taste because this is an entertainment-focused art form.   "WandaVision is weird/art for people who have only seen Marvel Movies" is also big 14 yearold energy because it's implying that people only like it due to their ignorance of having not seen the things that he thinks are better.  It's far more mature to criticize the work for any shortcomings it might have instead of the people enjoying it.  It's the golden age of TV and it's not like really good TV is not being made because LOTRs is taking up the primetime slot.  There is enough of everything for everyone's tastes to go around, so there really is no reason to try to bring other people's stuff down.   The assumption that 'trash' TV pulls views from good TV is also not correct in the age of streaming.  If people stopped making TV I found entertaining, to make 'good' TV,  I'd just end up reading more books. 

[Potato]

I need to get around to watching Rings, but I heard they kinda made the Hobbits (Harfoots?) into massive assholes and that kinda makes me go "eh."

The hobbits in general were always kind of arseholes being that they were based on small English village inhabitants with their noses in other people's business constantly.

[Transhuman]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

When I read your posts I'm always super impressed by them. I very much think 'wow that man has fine taste in television.  I wonder how he cultivated such fine judgement in television'.  Your posts are also very nostalgic to me because growing up, I use to know so many 14 yearolds who seemed so cool when they used to shit on other people's choices in entertainment, and, you just really don't see many 30 yearolds doing that.     

The italicizing of "television" as though television is some lowly form that's impossible to be poignant or meaningful says it all really. I love television. Television is my friend. Best friend, even. You really think i'm a snob or an edgelord or trying to be counter-culture or contrarian or whatever you're trying to say here?

It's the golden age of TV and it's not like really good TV is not being made because LOTRs is taking up the primetime slot.  There is enough of everything for everyone's tastes to go around, so there really is no reason to try to bring other people's stuff down.   The assumption that 'trash' TV pulls views from good TV is also not correct in the age of streaming.

The financial viability of well-marketed dreck fuels the funding and creation of more dreck, and there is a finite amount of money to be spent developing shows.

And when these repetitive, derivative, and poorly done shows (your words) are the most heavily marketed, and then the most widely watched and discussed, it does create a sick feedback loop that rewards mediocrity in shows that fail to earn critical acclaim or even positive word-of-mouth, and criticism can brushed off with accusations of snobbery, and maybe sexism or racism to boot just to be sure no-one would want to be too critical openly.

[Madrun Badrun]

Nah, you are just someone who thinks your taste is better than other people's and want to pretend that makes you interesting.  It's not even snobbery, it's just being an immature loser.  Watch what you like.  Other people enjoying things you do not takes nothing away from you.  TV can be poignant or meaningful but it doesn't all have to be and it doesn't make you cool if that all that you like. 

[Himu]

They say there's no accounting for taste but maybe the reason you people keep watching the new Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/MCU spinoff/Star Wars spinoff etc has less to do with taste and more to do with a lack of self-respect.

When I read your posts I'm always super impressed by them. I very much think 'wow that man has fine taste in television.  I wonder how he cultivated such fine judgement in television'.  Your posts are also very nostalgic to me because growing up, I use to know so many 14 yearolds who seemed so cool when they used to shit on other people's choices in entertainment, and, you just really don't see many 30 yearolds doing that.     

A YouTube I follow (YourMovieSucks) has a similar stance, that popular stuff is generally trash (I think a direct quote from him was "WandaVision is weird/art for people who have only seen Marvel Movies") and he consumes dozens and dozens of indie films a year, rating and ranking almost all of them. He's a great resource for art films, and I know his opinion on certain genre films will never apply to me.

However it's still worthwhile hearing his thoughts on why popular things are overrated. Mostly it boils down to him watching so many films that the mainstream stuff never does anything new -- the "new" things that wow most people probably got done in 11 other indie films years before Marvel did it. But those people didn't see those films (and I generally blame lack of marketing/discovery for that these days, rather than the people themselves), so it's "new to them."

I think this is being a contrarian, to be frank. Technically, nothing does anything new. Almost every storyline has been done and they're revamped takes. You take narrative, such as the heroes journey, or three act structure, and just fit your own take, but guy sounds like a contrarian who likes less popular stuff just because it's less popular. Also, the idea that WandaVision isn't unique much less entertaining for the reasons listed are kind of banal. A story doesn't have to be unique to be worth telling; it has to be simply well told.

[Himu]

I need to get around to watching Rings, but I heard they kinda made the Hobbits (Harfoots?) into massive assholes and that kinda makes me go "eh."

Hobbits were always sniveling, oafish, holier than thous. They put their nose up at anyone that ventures from The Shire. Someone of Bilbo's ilk  (or by extension Merry or Pippin) was judged as "queer" for going on adventures rather than staying put, getting fat, and gossiping. One of the main themes of LOTR is one of sovereignty. Hobbits felt that others' matters didn't need to involve them, until they did, and their country was ransacked and they were enslaved, with their culture destroyed. Only when the four hobbits heroes returned and taught Hobbits that their culture, their lives, and their worth was worth defending did Hobbits get their noses out of their ass and there's virtue in more swords and shields just as much as there is in pipe weed, because one doesn't exist without the other.

The idea that Hobbits are lovable comes from the Jackson movies, which mostly skips the nature of Hobbit politics in favor of pacing.

This is another problem. Things that are mainstream are grossly misunderstood. For all the belly aching about how mainstream stuff is bad, people really don't seem to put much time into trying to understand them and LOTR is the one of the most beloved stories ever and even the people you heard this from couldn't bother to try to understand it.

I say all of this despite thinking Marvel movies have (mostly) been ass since Avengers 2, with the exceptions of Black Panther and WandaVision.

[Transhuman]

Nah, you are just someone who thinks your taste is better than other people's and want to pretend that makes you interesting.  It's not even snobbery, it's just being an immature loser.  Watch what you like.  Other people enjoying things you do not takes nothing away from you.  TV can be poignant or meaningful but it doesn't all have to be and it doesn't make you cool if that all that you like.

I never said being poignant and meaningful was a requirement, or that I thought I had superior taste. I said people who watch repetitive, derivative, and poorly done shows (again, your words) lack self respect. I was including myself in that, by the way. I have watched an awful lot of crap in my life before I grew out of the habit of watching things just to see how they end. No ill will.

[Madrun Badrun]

You are questioning people's character by the type of content they watch.  They lack self-respect because their time is should be more valuable?  You include yourself in this group, then quickly follow up by saying you are no longer in this habit and hence not actually in this group.  In fact, you are superior because you have found the true way of things and grew out of this bad habit of liking poor quality TV shows.  You are not doing anyone a favour by telling them how to use their time or what they should like.  It is delusional to think that trying to shame people out of watching She-Hulk will create a world where it is The Wire all the time and is just a poor justification for man-child behaviour.  You say no ill will, but also that people lack self-respect for watching shows you deem less than, come on man, I know you're not that fucking dumb.  BTW no ill will here either, I'm just trying to help you grow out of childish behaviour because, while you seem to have self-respect down pat, respecting other people needs some work.   

[Transhuman]

Any pointers on what this immature delusional fucking dumb man-child loser can do to respect other people?

[Potato]

Nah, you are just someone who thinks your taste is better than other people's and want to pretend that makes you interesting.  It's not even snobbery, it's just being an immature loser.  Watch what you like.  Other people enjoying things you do not takes nothing away from you.  TV can be poignant or meaningful but it doesn't all have to be and it doesn't make you cool if that all that you like.

I never said being poignant and meaningful was a requirement, or that I thought I had superior taste. I said people who watch repetitive, derivative, and poorly done shows (again, your words) lack self respect. I was including myself in that, by the way. I have watched an awful lot of crap in my life before I grew out of the habit of watching things just to see how they end. No ill will.

I think it took watching Sons of Anarchy and Dexter until their final episodes to break me of that habit.

[Himu]

Yeah, I've never been on that train. When a show gets bad I usually drop it. I dropped Heroes, I dropped Lost. I've never really bothered with Dragon Ball GT.

[Madrun Badrun]

Any pointers on what this immature delusional fucking dumb man-child loser can do to respect other people?

Yes, maybe try not jumping into conversations to say that people lack self-respect because they like certain TV shows, idiot.  You want to watch a show and discuss the contents of it great, you don't want to watch something also great, you want to pretend to be superior to people because you have cultivated your entertainment choices, you can fuck right off. 

[Potato]

Rings of Power is ok. Been worth it to see Moria in all it's glory.

[Nintex]

Watched 2 episodes of the Cyberpunk anime.

This is much better than expected 

[Tasty]

Animation is honestly the optimal medium for most IP adaptations, unless it's like true crime or something.

[Bebpo]

The credit roll song for this week's She-Hulk was great.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I haven't seen Shulk yet, but to pick up on some of the above comments and some other stuff I've seen online...

Ally McBeal was a huge fucking success and women loved it.
It was a big enough success it got to the point of metacommentary, as personified in that Futurama episode where aliens invade because they want to know what happens in the cancelled season finale of its-obviously-ally-mcbeal.

So Ally McBeal is a really good female lawyer, in a mostly male dominated firm, and the conflicts she dealt with were pretty much threefold;
 - Case Of The Week, which was usually a ripped from the headlines, but also with a dash of the slightly weird world she lived in (Boston Legal would do pretty much the same thing later). Shes a good lawyer, but didn't win everything. Even important cases. Even cases she worked really hard on, or had a really strong argument for.

 - Professional vs Private Life. This was usually shown by the way she was beginning to go baby crazy and would see dancing babies around, but she generally had some kind of struggle between being a great lawyer and not having the fulfilling personal life she also wanted; because its hard to 'have it all', especially as a career focussed woman. She struggled with dating, but it wasn't because All Men Are Bastards, it was because she was a complex believable character, and balancing career success in a high pressure time demanding career such as a lawyer with balancing her personal life and the time and energy required into making human relationships work is a believable and relatable thing.
(It was a nice meta-commentary nod to see Callista Flockhart get cast as Cat Grant in Supergirl, a woman who did have it all, and wanted to be a role model for young women (ie supergirl) on how to do that on their own terms, even in a mans world.)

 - Rivalries. One of her biggest challenges was that there was another woman at the firm who was just as competent as she is as a lawyer, but also... maybe even better? and she couldn't help but have that rivalry despite both characters being so similar, because she served as a constant reminder that as good as she was, or as happy as her current personal life was, other people exist who may have their shit together even better. She wasn't bestest girl, and other women didn;t hang onto her every word as bestest girl.

Ally McBeal was pretty good TV, even if its not your sort of thing.

She Hulk is best girl and gets to twerk with couldn't-date-this-harder-if-you-try celeb du jour.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Finished up Cobra Kai season 5, and honestly, this show is so fucking stupid its absolutely brilliant, but I'm not sure what petrols left in the tank to go into another season.

Silver, who - as a fucking character literally point out in show - is a fucking Bond Villain, literally hired a gang of Bond Villain henchmen as sensei's, and to the shows credit nobody even batted a fucking eyelash

I'm still on board this crazy train, but I don't know how you can top having an actual fucking Bond Villain as your series big bad in a show about high school karate lessons 

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Also on the same page as "Still fun, but running out of steam" was The Boys Season 3 which I haven't seen much discussion about.

It's still doing its thing, and it still has hilarious moments of brilliance.
Homelanders verbatim verbal copy+paste 'apology' that he was fucking a literal nazi is one, so was the fucking ruthless dig at Woke Disney when they go to Voight World and its rainbow flags and vegan tacos everywhere 

[Potato]

The Boys could probably squeeze about 3 seasons out of skewering performative progressivism TBH...

[Himu]

Finished up Cobra Kai season 5, and honestly, this show is so fucking stupid its absolutely brilliant, but I'm not sure what petrols left in the tank to go into another season.

Silver, who - as a fucking character literally point out in show - is a fucking Bond Villain, literally hired a gang of Bond Villain henchmen as sensei's, and to the shows credit nobody even batted a fucking eyelash

I'm still on board this crazy train, but I don't know how you can top having an actual fucking Bond Villain as your series big bad in a show about high school karate lessons 

It was glorious dude.

[archnemesis]

I temporarily dropped both Cobra Kai and The Boys. I'll probably revisit them once I'm done with House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power, and The Patient.

[HaughtyFrank]

I haven't seen Shulk yet, but to pick up on some of the above comments and some other stuff I've seen online...

Ally McBeal was a huge fucking success and women loved it.
It was a big enough success it got to the point of metacommentary, as personified in that Futurama episode where aliens invade because they want to know what happens in the cancelled season finale of its-obviously-ally-mcbeal.

So Ally McBeal is a really good female lawyer, in a mostly male dominated firm, and the conflicts she dealt with were pretty much threefold;
 - Case Of The Week, which was usually a ripped from the headlines, but also with a dash of the slightly weird world she lived in (Boston Legal would do pretty much the same thing later). Shes a good lawyer, but didn't win everything. Even important cases. Even cases she worked really hard on, or had a really strong argument for.

 - Professional vs Private Life. This was usually shown by the way she was beginning to go baby crazy and would see dancing babies around, but she generally had some kind of struggle between being a great lawyer and not having the fulfilling personal life she also wanted; because its hard to 'have it all', especially as a career focussed woman. She struggled with dating, but it wasn't because All Men Are Bastards, it was because she was a complex believable character, and balancing career success in a high pressure time demanding career such as a lawyer with balancing her personal life and the time and energy required into making human relationships work is a believable and relatable thing.
(It was a nice meta-commentary nod to see Callista Flockhart get cast as Cat Grant in Supergirl, a woman who did have it all, and wanted to be a role model for young women (ie supergirl) on how to do that on their own terms, even in a mans world.)

 - Rivalries. One of her biggest challenges was that there was another woman at the firm who was just as competent as she is as a lawyer, but also... maybe even better? and she couldn't help but have that rivalry despite both characters being so similar, because she served as a constant reminder that as good as she was, or as happy as her current personal life was, other people exist who may have their shit together even better. She wasn't bestest girl, and other women didn;t hang onto her every word as bestest girl.

Ally McBeal was pretty good TV, even if its not your sort of thing.

She Hulk is best girl and gets to twerk with couldn't-date-this-harder-if-you-try celeb du jour.

A lot about She-Hulk started to make sense to me when the authors mentioned in an interview that they quickly discovered that they're really bad at writing riveting courtroom scenes which is why cases that were supposed to run over like multiple episodes are just finished within one. There's also a real lack of all that Lawyer bravado. I only ever watched Boston Legal and not Ally McBeal, but the standout moment of usually every episode was the big closing argument with some really tight dialogue summing up the issue, or maybe the grand appearance of a surprise witness, or some crucial evidence that was found etc.
She-Hulk tries to have these moments but it plays out like a wet fart.
"We need to prove to the judge that our client is delusional and easily tricked, but how can we do that?
"I used to work with him, so how about I testify that he's delusional?"
"Omg, that's it! We cracked the case!"

Then she testifies, case won.

That barely deserves to be described as court drama.

Then I think okay, the comics weren't exactly Boston Legal either, so maybe I'm just being unfair? But a huge difference I see to the comics is that the comics are so much about just having fun. Even the most current run is a pretty sweet love story between She-Hulk and an old friend, a love story with some heart to it and it's just a nice comfortable read.
Meanwhile in the show everything is just so cynical, basically everyone who isn't Jen or her best friend is vapid, sexist, dumb, a bimbo or whatever. Initially people thought the show hates men but I wonder if it doesn't just hate everyone.

It's really frustrating because I actually was looking forward to a lawyer show about She-hulk but anytime the show makes a step in the right direction it takes two in the wrong one right after

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Then I think okay, the comics weren't exactly Boston Legal either, so maybe I'm just being unfair?

The really sad thing is that the comics run this seems to be mostly drawing from, actually does do a lot of interesting questioning of how exactly the law works in a crazy superpowered world;
 - there's a superhero called Starfox who has 'pheromone powers' he can use to charm women; he gets accused of date rape, because... if you can pheromone power women into having sex with you isn't that kinda scummy?
 - in marvel comics, there is an actual marvel comics, and the comics you read are officially licenced and authorised historical records, so comic books are actually legal documents of records
 - A dude is accused of robbery, and was caught 100% red handed, but how can you actually prove the person who was caught red handed actually is the person who did the crime when theres all sorts of shapeshifting / body swapping / mind control fuckery happening on a daily basis?
 - theres a big trial so to get an untainted jury, they bring them all from the past from right before they die so they aren't tainted by all the news coverage (and one of them happens to be a former team mate - can jennifer let him know hes about to die, or is that a conflict of interest and effectively jury tampering?)
 - There's this:

Because Spidey gets convinced he can sue J Jonah for millions for defamation; the twist being that as most of those stories were based on photos taken by Peter Parker, so he would have to sue Peter Parker as well


Like... in an MCU where literally half the fucking population vanished for 5 years, there must be so many interesting legal ideas to explore; half of the biologically aged 16 years olds have legit ID saying they're 21 and can go drinking. There must be a wave of unfair dismissals and pre-nups kicking in from people 'unfairly' made redundant or divorced. Did all real estate purchases from the last half decade get rolled back?

[HardcoreRetro]

"the authors mentioned in an interview that they quickly discovered that they're really bad at writing riveting courtroom scenes"

Why are these people the writers on this show?

[Bebpo]

Yeah, as a lawyer myself, the court room stuff in She-Hulk is really bad and nothing like real legal procedure. But it's an MCU comedy and it's funny so who cares.