TV Series On The Television

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Kayma
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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Kayma » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:30 pm

The obvious question is, "Yahoo?".

I don't care though, as long as I can stream it to my TV somehow. Now we wait for the movie.

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beatbandito
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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby beatbandito » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:04 pm

Community picked up for another season? We're getting another Pacific Rim?

Dear lord. It's Six Seasons and A Movie.
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Thad
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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:13 pm

I'm not sure if Under the Dome is actually any good, but it sure entertains the hell out of me.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Mothra » Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:11 pm

Read the TV Club review of the season opener, and while it sounded terrible, it also sounded wacky and kind of fun.

I think the episode starts with all metal in all houses getting pulled to the top of the Dome or somesuch.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:26 pm

Characters do a bunch of things that don't make sense and contradict previous behavior, Dome is apparently trying to get them to do something that is the opposite of what it clearly wanted them to do last season, two major characters die abruptly and purely for shock value, two new characters are conveniently introduced to fill the quota, and there is the requisite scene where someone puts a gun on Barbie but stands close enough for him to take it away from her, because that has to happen at least once an episode. And Stephen King gives himself a cameo, because he is Stephen King.

Basically I shouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did.

For more information, you can consult io9's review, written from the Dome's perspective. I wholeheartedly endorse it except for the numerous times it suggests that Linda is not terrible.

And rarely do I say this, but the comments are pretty great.

Linda was actually kind of a groundbreaking character. Say what you will, but it takes real guts to have the "young woman of color, suddenly thrust into a position of great responsibility" trope and then have her be the goddamn worst sheriff in the history of all sheriffing ever.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:01 pm

Fargo is getting a season 2; so far no information available except that Hawley has the good sense to make it standalone instead of a continuation. (Which I kind of expected given that that also describes season 1 vis-a-vis the movie.)

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Mothra » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:29 pm

Was hoping that would happen. Just watched the first episode a few days ago and really liked it.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:58 pm


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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:24 am

Amazon orders Man in the High Castle pilot.

This is a great idea for a TV series. It can easily be expanded far beyond the events of the book, and can be made for cheap.

I'm not sure "Produced by Ridley Scott and written by one of the guys who did X-Files" is quite as good a pitch as it would have been twenty years ago. But what the fuck.

There's a part of me that wonders why they're even bothering to pay for the rights to Dick's book since I expect this'll look about as much like the book as...well, as Blade Runner looks like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But I'm glad they are; it means Dick's children get a check and that's really what he always wanted.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:18 pm

The first episode of Black Jesus feels a lot like a middling Chappelle sketch: it's not bad, it's not great, it's mostly toothless, and there's a pretty good bit with Charlie Murphy in the middle.

Of course, pilots are often rocky, and this one was good enough that I have some hope it'll get better.

Obviously Aaron McGruder can create brilliant, inspired satire out of (1) race and (2) religion, but this show hasn't really done that yet. It relies mostly on haha-look-how-blasphemous-we're-being humor and tired depictions of Jesus as a magic hippie (loves and forgives everyone, never chips in for the weed).

It's got a good cast and good writers. It may take a little while before it gels, but it's got potential.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:14 pm

Watched the first episode of Penny Dreadful. It's good, but it's weird how people always slot Frankenstein in with Victorian stuff. It's not Victorian. It was published in 1818. Queen Victoria wasn't even BORN yet.

I suspect the Universal Monsters films are to blame. People always readily associate Frankenstein with Dracula. Even though they were written nearly 80 years apart.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Mongrel » Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:12 pm

Thad wrote:I suspect the Universal Monsters films are to blame.


Hammer Horror too.
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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:18 pm

Sure, but the Universal films were 20 years earlier so I think it's safe to assume Hammer was following their lead.

Hammer's DEFINITELY a huge influence on Penny Dreadful, though; there's no doubt of that.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:53 pm


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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:57 pm

and Amazon is making a live-action Tick pilot, bringing back Patrick Warburton. No word on whether the rest of the cast is returning.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:31 pm

Why I quit watching game shows:

I was just channel surfing and caught a bit of Millionaire. A guy could not correctly answer the question, "How many Winter Olympic Games have been held in years that are prime numbers?"

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Mothra » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:05 pm

Thad wrote:and Amazon is making a live-action Tick pilot, bringing back Patrick Warburton. No word on whether the rest of the cast is returning.

I remember not really liking the original pilot, but I was really, really charmed by the cast. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the idea of the same actors with different writers.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:17 am

I read that Edlund is returning; didn't see that sourced but I'd be surprised if he weren't involved in some capacity.

I'm assuming McCulloch isn't, what with Venture Bros.

The live-action show was actually largely written by the same people as the cartoon; I agree that the first couple of episodes were weak but I think it started to find its way after that.

And you're right, it WAS impeccably cast. I defy anyone to find a better choice for live-action Tick than Patrick Warburton.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Thad » Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:29 am

MEANWHILE: I think this week's Under the Dome may have been the dumbest episode yet, which is quite an accomplishment.

In our "A" story, Big Jim saves everybody (this is an odd-numbered episode so he is saving everybody, after dooming everybody in last week's even-numbered episode) by going to get fuel.

He goes to get fuel in a car. Science Lady explains to him that there is enough gas in this car's tank because they have siphoned gas out of all the other cars.

Despite Big Jim having a huge supply of propane tanks, as was a really important plot point back in season 1, the fuel supply he goes to get is...a fucking gas can. I am not kidding. Not only is this a thing that happened, this is a thing that happened WITHIN FIVE MINUTES of the dialogue about how they had siphoned the gas out of all the cars so that this car could drive.

And in our "B" story, Barbie wrecks an ambulance and Julia falls on a metal bar which drives its way through her leg. They spend the whole episode trapped in the ambulance because he is worried about removing the bar in case it's gone through a major artery. Finally, he has the brilliant idea of letting her catch hypothermia so her body will stop pumping blood and he can pull the rod out.

And that's what he does.

He pulls the rod out.

Let me be clear about that.

He does not pull her leg off the bar.

He pulls the bar out of her leg.

It is not attached to the interior of the ambulance, or stuck to anything in any way. It is just a disconnected piece of bar. It was not pinning her to the floor, or trapping her in any way. There is literally no reason he could not have just moved her with the bar still stuck in her leg.

It is quite clear that the writers have long since stopped giving a fuck and I really kind of love it.

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Re: TV Series On The Television

Postby Mothra » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:19 am

According to the AV Club, Under the Dome only ever became watchable when they left the dome, which... does not bode well for a series called Under the Dome.

I actually ended up reading how the book ended on Wiki and it is as stupid as you think.

In other news, I stuck with True Blood all the way to the end, because it's one of the few things I can have a conversation with my sister-in-law about. Oh my god, is that show terrible. This final season saw them attempt a zombie apocalypse, only to resolve it a third of the way through the season. Then they tried an HIV parallel that they just didn't come close to pulling off, before giving up and devoting the final third to all the characters realizing they can drink the blood of the bad guy to cure thier vampire HIV, hunting her down, and effortlessly capturing her.

END OF SHOW

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