The TV shows you've seen recently thread.

[TVC15]

Himu spitting truth. It’s something Willco would have liked.

[Stoney Mason]

Tell me what you like so I can tell you how bad it is.

[Phoenix Dark]

S1 starts very strong but like a lot of Netflix shows it slowly gets less interesting. The finale was quite disappointing. I like the cast and the concept though.

Haven't seen S2.

[Cindi Mayweather]

This show had a creeper take photos of a private party, including a girl taking her clothes off. The guys rightfully confront him about it and smash his camera. They are in the right. Yet the show wants you to empathize with the dude. Why? The girl whose picture was taken of herself half naked doesn't immediately freak out and instead tries to get closer to the guy, why exactly? You can say "her friend" but that's just a forced interaction (a way for her to find her friend sitting at the pool) and doesn't take away from the fact he's a creeper.

That's just one sample of the bad writing on this show. It's like it was written by robots.

[jakefromstatefarm]

It’s p lame. I think the main appeal is 80s nostalgia?

[Cindi Mayweather]

There has to be more to it than nostalgia to get the kind of hype this show recieved?

[thisismyusername]

Isn't it just an ET sort of thing in regards to said nostalgia? That's about the only thing I heard Twitter going ape-shit over, the nostalgia fuel.

[Tasty]

Was wondering when the next #HimuHotTake would land.

[Let's Cyber]

Isn't it just an ET sort of thing in regards to said nostalgia? That's about the only thing I heard Twitter going ape-shit over, the nostalgia fuel.

Kind of.  The creators took their favorite 80's movies and TV shows and threw them in a blender.  Sometimes they break the barrier between homage and ripoff though.

It's fine for what it is and I enjoyed both seasons, especially like the soundtracks.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Was wondering when the next #HimuHotTake would land.

This is not a hot take. This is merely having taste.

[Bore Expert]

I didn’t like it either. I just assumed I was guilty of wrong think so I never mentioned it on gaf. I once said there that I thought an episode of Better Call Saul was boring as shit and they reacted as if I’d kicked their dog.
 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Isn't it just an ET sort of thing in regards to said nostalgia? That's about the only thing I heard Twitter going ape-shit over, the nostalgia fuel.

"Isn't it just an ET sort of thing in regards to said nostalgia?"

I've been trying to parse this sentence the last five minutes. ET sort of thing? No. It has Goonies. Akira. Poltergeist. ET. X-Men. Freaks and Geeks and more  thrown into a blender.

[desert punk]

I guess it's mostly nostalgia-fueled, but I like this show, both seasons, though it ain't perfect. The likeable cast is a huge draw I think.

Re The Get Down: I really wanted to like this show; the first episode was so fucking great. But I got fed up real quick with the soap opera shit, particularly everything concerning Mylene and that wasted fuck of a producer. I'm still at season 1, tho I'm gonna finish the show someday.

[Beezy]

Was wondering when the next #HimuHotTake would land.

This is not a hot take. This is merely having taste.

You chose to make a thread about it instead of just posting your thoughts in the TV show thread, so... hot take.

[TVC15]

If anyone else says anything bad about Better Call Saul, I’m going to track them down and make them eat Arby’s.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Was wondering when the next #HimuHotTake would land.

This is not a hot take. This is merely having taste.

You chose to make a thread about it instead of just posting your thoughts in the TV show thread, so... hot take.

Hmmm tru

lets move this to the tv thread where we can shit on this awful show like queens

[team filler]

I enjoy saul more than breaking bad.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Continued in tv thread

[Cindi Mayweather]

Continuing our discussion.

I enjoy saul more than breaking bad.

Better call Saul > breaking bad

[Cindi Mayweather]

I guess it's mostly nostalgia-fueled, but I like this show, both seasons, though it ain't perfect. The likeable cast is a huge draw I think.

Re The Get Down: I really wanted to like this show; the first episode was so fucking great. But I got fed up real quick with the soap opera shit, particularly everything concerning Mylene and that wasted fuck of a producer. I'm still at season 1, tho I'm gonna finish the show someday.

Likeable cast?! Who?! They're all shit except El, Mike, the fat kid, and police chief IMO. I don't like any of the characters and find the majority of them poorly written.

Get down only has one season. The other thing is a part 2 to season 1 because they were fucking dumb. Part 1 owns. Part 2 isn't as good but the ending is really strong.

[Bore Expert]

Continuing our discussion.

I enjoy saul more than breaking bad.

Better call Saul > breaking bad

Hell no. And to clarify from the locked thread, I only mentioned that it was one particular episode of BCS that I thought was boring as shit. Because it was.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I enjoyed BCS more than all of BB put together. BB was forgettable in the end.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Stranger Things Season 1 was great.

Season 2 was zzzzz until episode 5 but now it's ok.

[Nola]

It’s a solid show to me(Stranger Things), but I went in expecting little more than a B tier show with A tier nostalgia. Not a new David Simon drama or anything.

That after two seasons I think did a better job evoking the homage and atmosphere of the 80’s small town sci-fi/horror films that inspired it in the first season than the second season. Though I still enjoyed it. Though I do kinda think they should of stuck to the original idea of making the series self contained each season like American Horror Story. I am not sure how they think they have 4-5 seasons worth of material?

I guess I had also always assumed that the whole camera scene was contrived in the same vain as those contrived 80’s relationships and plot points. Johnathan is the stereotypical loner with a heart of gold with artistic aspirations and he stumbles upon a pool party where he sees an opportunity to capture people in moments as they “really are,” or whatever that cheesy line was later on. And she is set up as the stereotypical empathetic girl that sees him for what he is inside because she’s like him, but is caught in the stereotypical internal conflict with the bad boy popular guy....until they sort of mess with that formula superficially toward the end of the season. I do get where your coming from though.

[TVC15]

Vince Russo’s WCW years > Stranger Things

[chronovore]

Watched the first episode of Van Helsing, which claims to be inspired by the manga, HellSing? Is that correct?

Well I don't know the intent but Hellsing is not post apocalyptic, has Alucard as the main protagonist and its Van Helsing is female so they're fairly loose if that's the case.

Yeah, I thought the gender-switch was maybe the biggest change, but it's even more ridiculous: http://www.zenescope.com/liesel-van-helsing

It's like one of those Wildstorm/Image Comics titles where the heroine can't seem to keep her breasts covered. So, yeah, not the manga I assumed, but also still looks barely associated.

[Momo]

I gave Van Helsing like 4 eps before I bailed faster than cocaine fueled Jon Jones at an accident scene.

[etiolate]

Godless is good.

[Momo]

Godless is good.

Been a while since I saw him in anything, but was Jeff Daniels always this good of an actor? Guy hit it twice the distance of out the park.

[VomKriege]

Finished the IT Crowd and it was excellent throughout. I kept thinking it reminded me of Black Books which I adore and only realized midway through both series have the same creator. I like that the writing is zany and the characters quirky without being lazy or facile, the British formatting of much shorter seasons helps a lot I guess. Guess I'll have to get around to watching Father Ted, apparently legally available on YouTube.

Otherwise started Rick and Morty s3 and it's great.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Almost every scene in stranger things has someone screaming. Good lord.

[desert punk]

Almost every scene in stranger things has someone screaming. Good lord.

You're still watching it? 

No shame in ditching it, if you don't like it. It's good but it's not a must-see.

Otherwise started Rick and Morty s3 and it's great.

I started watching Rick and Morty earlier this summer and yeah, it's good stuff. But ever since that embarrasing McD promotion shit happened last month, I just can't bring myself to watching another episode somehow 

Fucking nerds ruining my entertainment 

[Kurt Russell]

Vince Russo’s WCW years > Stranger Things

Vince Russo's TNA years > Vince Russo’s WCW years > Stranger Things > Breaking Bad > Game of Thrones

[chronovore]

Almost every scene in stranger things has someone screaming. Good lord.

You're still watching it? 

No shame in ditching it, if you don't like it. It's good but it's not a must-see.

Otherwise started Rick and Morty s3 and it's great.

I started watching Rick and Morty earlier this summer and yeah, it's good stuff. But ever since that embarrasing McD promotion shit happened last month, I just can't bring myself to watching another episode somehow 

Fucking nerds ruining my entertainment 

Sure, but let's be clear: McD's wasn't even a branded promotion. It was them using a throwaway line in Rick and Morty to promote their own ends. Even the poster is not R&M, it's random "chaotic" sci-fi. McD's bungled it, the fans faceplanted into that hot mess, but it's not got any read/write permissions from the show. So I say wubbalubba-dub-dub.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Almost every scene in stranger things has someone screaming. Good lord.

You're still watching it? 

No shame in ditching it, if you don't like it. It's good but it's not a must-see.

I have to where the train wreck ends and also see just how much society has bad taste in entertainment.

[chronovore]

Almost every scene in stranger things has someone screaming. Good lord.

You're still watching it? 

No shame in ditching it, if you don't like it. It's good but it's not a must-see.

I have to where the train wreck ends and also see just how much society has bad taste in entertainment.

Why do you insist on pissing on stuff that other people like? It's tiresome.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I don't do it because people like things. I'm legitimately baffled that this is it.

So, did anyone bring up that the writers might be "nice guy losers"? Because they keep making it seem like people smashing a dudes camera after he took stalker photos totally was mean and that we should emphathize with this poor misunderstood teen. I can see the writers going,"she goes for Steve rather than Jonathon and that's messed up because he's a nice guy". You can tell by the treatment of the Jonathon character that writers are losers.

[Joe Molotov]

I don't do it because people like things. I'm legitimately baffled that this is it.

So, did anyone bring up that the writers might be "nice guy losers"? Because they keep making it seem like people smashing a dudes camera after he took stalker photos totally was mean and that we should emphathize with this poor misunderstood teen. I can see the writers going,"she goes for Steve rather than Jonathon and that's messed up because he's a nice guy". You can tell by the treatment of the Jonathon character that writers are losers.

I'm not sure why you're so hung up on this, the nerd/jock dichotomy is a cornerstone of the 80's entertainment that inspired Stranger Things. Instead of just picking on Johnathan because they're jocks and that's what they do however, they actually give Steve a legitimate reason (the creeper pics of Nancy) to be pissed at Johnathan and smash his camera. I don't see how this makes Johnathan more sympathetic; if that's all the writers were after they would have just had Steve kick Johanthan's ass for no reason.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also Johanthan doesn't do shit except mope around and sleep with Nancy for most of the series, while Steve is a goddamn hero who fights monsters and hunky shirtless dudes (who I have not written into Rule 34 slashfic with Steve) like a true bro. 

[close]

[TVC15]

I don't do it because people like things. I'm legitimately baffled that this is it.

So, did anyone bring up that the writers might be "nice guy losers"? Because they keep making it seem like people smashing a dudes camera after he took stalker photos totally was mean and that we should emphathize with this poor misunderstood teen. I can see the writers going,"she goes for Steve rather than Jonathon and that's messed up because he's a nice guy". You can tell by the treatment of the Jonathon character that writers are losers.

Oh, the show is dripping with behind the scenes sleaze. These two blind items are believed to be about the actress that plays Eleven.

"Despite her young age, this foreign born B+ list mostly television actress from a very hit almost television show is going to file to legally emancipate herself from her parents. She is tired of being their cash cow. Literally cash. I have written about their tactics before. They make her go to events without telling her management or agent and pocket all the money paid to the actress. Currently that can be as much as $75K per day. The actress apparently generally is given a few hundred bucks by the parents and keep the rest. They try to make her do two events per week."

"In an effort to lock down even more money earned by their daughter, the parents of this B+ list actress are auctioning off a nude scene when she turns 18."

It wouldn't surprise me if the parents are also selling her to the writers/creators and production staff for more money as well. There was a blind item the other week about how any 80s show centered on kids was basically a child abuse factor, and I bet Stranger Things is down with emulating that aspect of the 80s as well.

[Cindi Mayweather]

They definitely tried to make him sympathetic, between the shot of him looking at his broken camera to Nancy looking all caring and "poor baby, let me help you after I found out you took creeper pics of me". The entire thing is to show Nancy the Barb pics.

The entire thing is contrived and stupid.

Let's look at the shows poor plotting. The show establishes that Jonathon takes photos as a hobby. Fine. But then he goes around taking photos of the site where his brothers bike was found. Why was Jonathon taking photos at the site to begin with? What was he hoping to accomplish? Why did he take photos of the party? His taking photos is irrelevant. The writers needed someone that takes photos so they gave Jonathon a photographer tag in his character sheet because it was convenient. It was all done just to show the photos of Barb at the pool but even that's a dead end and didn't go anywhere. Therefore, you have drama for the sake of drama. That's why the show is shit. The characters aren't characters with whims and feelings and emotions and reasons for doing things. They're cogs. They are only there to push the plot forward.

You can see it in Lucas whose only purpose is to yell, cause drama, and be a general bitch. The writers took 80's movie tropes and injected absolute zero into them. That's all they are: tropes.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Just watched a scene that proves Joe wrong.

Nancy and Jonathon are walking through the woods. She apologizes to him - the guy that took photos of her in her underwear - for Steve smashing the camera. "He was just being protective."

Lol

They're treating what Steve did as a bad thing. Steve was absolutely, 100% in the right. But the writers are losers who equate jocks as bad people, so of course, anything they do is bad. Even if it's smashing some camera of a creeper.

I've noticed how Jonathon's photography hasn't come up since that incident. Probably because the writers are shit and do things to make unnecessary drama. *everyone starts shouting*

[Cindi Mayweather]

Video embedded:



bad writing trying to make audience empathize with a creep

[desert punk]

Steve is the fucking hero of season 2:



 

[Joe Molotov]

Women being irrational is bad writing and proof that I'm wrong? 

Don't worry, if you keep watching, the show will give you plenty of opportunity to bask in the glory of Steve da gawd

[Cindi Mayweather]

I don't even like Steve.

[Joe Molotov]

You will.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I don't do it because people like things. I'm legitimately baffled that this is it.

So, did anyone bring up that the writers might be "nice guy losers"? Because they keep making it seem like people smashing a dudes camera after he took stalker photos totally was mean and that we should emphathize with this poor misunderstood teen. I can see the writers going,"she goes for Steve rather than Jonathon and that's messed up because he's a nice guy". You can tell by the treatment of the Jonathon character that writers are losers.

Oh, the show is dripping with behind the scenes sleaze. These two blind items are believed to be about the actress that plays Eleven.

"Despite her young age, this foreign born B+ list mostly television actress from a very hit almost television show is going to file to legally emancipate herself from her parents. She is tired of being their cash cow. Literally cash. I have written about their tactics before. They make her go to events without telling her management or agent and pocket all the money paid to the actress. Currently that can be as much as $75K per day. The actress apparently generally is given a few hundred bucks by the parents and keep the rest. They try to make her do two events per week."

"In an effort to lock down even more money earned by their daughter, the parents of this B+ list actress are auctioning off a nude scene when she turns 18."

It wouldn't surprise me if the parents are also selling her to the writers/creators and production staff for more money as well. There was a blind item the other week about how any 80s show centered on kids was basically a child abuse factor, and I bet Stranger Things is down with emulating that aspect of the 80s as well.

What about John Hughes films? Did they abuse children too?

[fistfulofmetal]

The Jonathan/Steve/Nancy thing was one aspect of the first season I wasn't a fan of.

But like... that didn't tank the whole show? It was one aspect of an entire 10+ hours of content that I didn't like. Doesn't meant the whole thing sucks.

I mean if you just don't like the show at all, that's fine but it's weird to pinpoint a single plot point from something and throw the entire thing in the trash because of it.

[VomKriege]

I actually liked that Steve was not just an abusive jock roided up by the writing as a foul individual to justify some sort of cosmic comeuppance. The show is pretty fair in that regard.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I clearly said that's just one example as to why it's shit. I also brought up Lucas. I could easily bring up Winonan Ryder's awful character. I'm kind of scratching the surface here. The Jonathon/Steve/Nancy thing is just the egregious example of "wow these writers are hacks."

[fistfulofmetal]

Found nothing wrong with any of the other things you've brought up.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Found nothing wrong with any of the other things you've brought up.

As said earlier, I feel that the characters aren't characters. They're cogs. Cogs for what? Drama.

Lucas is a straight man to the point of being an anal retentive asshole. He makes everything dramatic and freaks out about every fucking thing. Kid meets girl with literal super powers. Still doesn't believe her just to stick to his character trope. You can see this in the scene where they talk to the cops where the fat kid corrects Lucas on Mirkwood being from Hobbit rather than Lord of the Rings. Why? It's to establish Lucas as the straight man of the group. But his straight man peddling comes off as forced, why can't the kid let it go? Because he's a cog. So now every scene must have Lucas acting like an annoying dip shit in order to fulfill his role as straight man. But the show doesn't present us with a reason he's like this. He's just an asshole all the time and you're supposed to like the kid for whatever reason even if none of his actions make any sense. Time to start yelling and create drama!

Winona Ryder's character isn't even a character. It's a lady screaming "WILL! WILL! WILL!!!!!" over and over. Shut is giving me Lost flashbacks. "WHERE'S MY SON?! WHO TOOK MAH BOY?!" Winona Ryder not once ever stops being a crazy psycho mother. Here's another scene with her screaming! Another cog.

It's hard to articulate the difference between cogs and characters. It's subtle but it's apparent when I watch certain entertainment.

El isn't a cog. She has actual emotions and reasons for doing things. She's scared to go back to the lab. She wants to protect the boys because we have established that the science group will kill anyone who has any knowledge of her. Yet she wants to make friends and is earnest in her attempts to want to help in some small way. She is a genuine character who answers the why's and what's. The rest tho?

Stranger Things would be far better if it were only about the kids and the science shit ET style. Instead you've got all this other crap that makes it come off as schizo.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Then there's the two bullies at school. What reasoning do they have behind their cruelty? On Freaks and Geeks the bullies are mean but not inhuman and have a reasoning for their actions. You see the bullies chase the kids with knives in Stranger Things and while the bullies were assholes before, there's nothing to answer "why are they chasing the boys with knives?". And if you cannot answer that question as a writer, you're shit. The answer is probably,"haha because they're assholes" and that's not good enough.

This is especially important because as an 80's teen film conneeisuer (Ferrie Bueller is my favorite movie) I know for a fact that that 80's teen films are all about establishing the "why". Pornhub dude acts like an ass on Breakfast Club because his dad abuses him. We find out the why. Cameron on Ferris Bueller lacks confidence, and is scared to live a little because his parents were never there for him. We solved that why. When it comes to 80's stories, the why is important because 80's films of this nature tended to go for heartfelt endings that lead to a general arc (watch Plinkett Phantom Menace review for this bit) that makes the journey worth it. On Stranger Things, there is no why for most characters. They just make drama.

It's funny that through all of the stuff they ripped off from 80's teen films they missed the genres most important conceit.

That's all I have to say about that until I finish this train wreck.

[Kurt Russell]

Steve is the fucking hero of season 2:

(Image removed from quote.)

 

75% of the cast of Stranger Things have weird faces. Even Winona Ryder doesn't exactly look conventional.

[Beezy]

Lucas is a straight man to the point of being an anal retentive asshole. He makes everything dramatic and freaks out about every fucking thing. Kid meets girl with literal super powers. Still doesn't believe her just to stick to his character trope. You can see this in the scene where they talk to the cops where the fat kid corrects Lucas on Mirkwood being from Hobbit rather than Lord of the Rings. Why? It's to establish Lucas as the straight man of the group. But his straight man peddling comes off as forced, why can't the kid let it go? Because he's a cog. So now every scene must have Lucas acting like an annoying dip shit in order to fulfill his role as straight man. But the show doesn't present us with a reason he's like this. He's just an asshole all the time and you're supposed to like the kid for whatever reason even if none of his actions make any sense. Time to start yelling and create drama!

I thought him being the lone black kid in a white ass town back in the 80s was reason enough.

And I'm not sure how your childhood was, but most kids don't have polite discussions when they disagree. They yell and argue.

Your points might be valid, but I got the 80s nostalgia and sci-fi shit that I wanted from the show. I loved the 1st season, thought the 2nd season was a step down yet still enjoyable, looking forward to the 3rd season.

[team filler]

That episode in season 2 where eleven goes to meet the hobo punk gang was about the worst possible episode they could have made.

[Joe Molotov]

That episode in season 2 where eleven goes to meet the hobo punk gang was about the worst possible episode they could have made.

It's not a cog that advances the plot forward, so Himu will probably love it.

[desert punk]

Lucas is a straight man to the point of being an anal retentive asshole. He makes everything dramatic and freaks out about every fucking thing. Kid meets girl with literal super powers. Still doesn't believe her just to stick to his character trope. You can see this in the scene where they talk to the cops where the fat kid corrects Lucas on Mirkwood being from Hobbit rather than Lord of the Rings. Why? It's to establish Lucas as the straight man of the group. But his straight man peddling comes off as forced, why can't the kid let it go? Because he's a cog. So now every scene must have Lucas acting like an annoying dip shit in order to fulfill his role as straight man. But the show doesn't present us with a reason he's like this. He's just an asshole all the time and you're supposed to like the kid for whatever reason even if none of his actions make any sense. Time to start yelling and create drama!

Lucas being an asshole bothered me too, though I just chalked it up with the writers overdoing his jealousy issues with Eleven as the new member of the group. Didn't realize that his behavior is an actual character trope. They rectified this in season 2 though. He's hardly screaming anymore and he somehow became even nerdier than the rest of his gang

Anyway, except when it comes to Steve, you're not exactly wrong with your points but you're blowing them way out of proportions. This show isn't some serious character drama or whatever, it's a pulpy but entertaining nostalgia wank. And for me, Beezy and I guess many other people who like this show, it was enough.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I finished Stranger Things season 1. The final two episodes were easily the best. More of that, please. I think ep 8 was legitimately good and it's unfortunate the show stumbles on the way to get there. I think the potential is there for the show but I have doubts they'll have learned from their mistakes in season 2. We'll see.

Godless after Stranger Things 2.

[Madrun Badrun]

True fact.  Cindy would be gushing over ST had it been written by a Japanese pedophile.