TV Series On The Television

[Thad]

Any excuse to repost this.

[Upthorn]

Now, you might think ending the first season of Willow with Money for Nothing is jarringly inappropriate to both the setting and the theme.

But only if you think the theme is something other than '80s nostalgia.

Yeah, that was definitely the most confusing of the creatively bankrupt ending theme picks.
By the way, Thad, thank you for tempering my expectations of Willow enough that it was actually enjoyable when my partner finally insisted we watch it.

[Thad]

I stand by my assessment that it's still better than the books.

[Upthorn]

I can't keep track of what shows goes in what threads anymore...

It's technically not on broadcast television, but has anybody else checked out Severance?

Great show; awesome premise.

Yes, absolutely. It's like... What if Lost was actually about something?

After finishing the whole first season, my only writing critiques are:

• Ricken's buffoonishness seems both excessive and pointless.
• It strains belief somewhat that [REDACTED] gets the exact same treatment as everyone else.

I wish I could say more about this show without spoiling things. Because it is extremely good, but it is centered on a mystery, so it is very difficult to talk about anything.

[zaratustra]

Ricken kinda needs to be a pretty extreme goofus, because that's what sets up "Mark" relating to him in a way Mark can't.

[Thad]

In other unsurprising news 'Rick and Morty' co-creator Justin Roiland faces felony domestic violence charges. Roiland was charged with domestic battery and false imprisonment in May 2020 after an incident with a woman he was dating, according to a criminal complaint. (via NBC)

And he's fired.

New voices for Rick and Morty TBD. What's Christopher Lloyd up to these days?

[Upthorn]

Still confused why it took 3 years for those charges to come out and make Roiland face consequences, but better late than never.

[Thad]

Yeah, I can understand why his coworkers and bosses might not have known about it (how would they, unless he told them himself or they were contacted as part of the investigation?), but this has been public record since May 2020 and you better believe the news media would have been all over it if it had been a C-list on-camera actor.

[Mongrel]

Even F list actors get loads of media coverage though, we just don't usually see it because it's ultra-trashy tabloid coverage.

Laziness being what it is, a lot of celeb reporting may consist of regularly running a lengthy prepared searchlist of names. So I'm wondering if it was simply a case of signal-to-noise ratio for live, on-camera actors versus voice actors for animated shows, who are not (usually) a group covered half so much; Roiland simply wasn't on the mainstream radar.

Of course there are journalists who cover the animation industry beat, but I suspect they have far fewer resources than your average tabloid.

EDIT: Man, absent its current meaning, "The Tabloids" would make a great name for some alien menace in a cartoon.

[Thad]

Laziness being what it is, a lot of celeb reporting may consist of regularly running a lengthy prepared searchlist of names. So I'm wondering if it was simply a case of signal-to-noise ratio for live, on-camera actors versus voice actors for animated shows, who are not (usually) a group covered half so much; Roiland simply wasn't on the mainstream radar.

...yes. That's what I said.

[Thad]

Yeah, I can understand why his coworkers and bosses might not have known about it (how would they, unless he told them himself or they were contacted as part of the investigation?)

Orrrr, there were "multiple covered-up internal WB investigations re: sexual misconduct."

I think they call that a Whedon Special.

[Mongrel]

Laziness being what it is, a lot of celeb reporting may consist of regularly running a lengthy prepared searchlist of names. So I'm wondering if it was simply a case of signal-to-noise ratio for live, on-camera actors versus voice actors for animated shows, who are not (usually) a group covered half so much; Roiland simply wasn't on the mainstream radar.

...yes. That's what I said.

don't Th@d me

[beatbandito]

Good thing Dan Harmon's assaults are all emotional and psychological. Or the show would be ruined.

[Brantly B.]

Still confused why it took 3 years for those charges to come out and make Roiland face consequences, but better late than never.

I knew without looking that the show's viewership was just starting to show a downward trend.

[Mongrel]

Still confused why it took 3 years for those charges to come out and make Roiland face consequences, but better late than never.

I knew without looking that the show's viewership was just starting to show a downward trend.

Goddamn. On the nose.

Am I allowed to say that I can't find this remotely surprising given how mean-spirited the show has always seemed to me? Because, yeah.

[Thad]

I'm not surprised either, but I think it's careless to assume a connection between mean-spirited entertainment and abominable actions by its creators.

Plenty of nasty stuff is written by nice people (keep in mind that Roiland's been accused of sexual misconduct toward other writers on the staff; does their writing for the same "mean-spirited" show reflect badly on them, too?), and plenty of people known for wholesome family-friendly entertainment turn out to be monsters (Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Savile...).

I think a lot of people have a tendency, when something terrible comes out about somebody, to support it with "I never liked that guy." But that's really not relevant, and I don't think we should mistake it for relevant. We've probably all liked somebody who turned out to be awful at some point or other, and disliked people who haven't.

[Mongrel]

TBH I didn't know who Roiland even was before this, so I can't really say "I always disliked that guy".

I don't think it's a 1:1 lock by any means, and lots of horrible people clothe themselves in wholesome guise of course; that's a very valid point. But at the same time, mean-spirited is a big tent. I guess I should specify that there's a particular petty, bullying, and these days often meme-laden mean-spiritedness in fiction which will always make me wonder about its creators. The stuff which revels in punching down. As you say, it's not a guarantee, but for me it's just a tone that's always going to put me on edge.

As for the writers, some showrunners dominate staff, some allow them a lot of latitude, and some mix the two by nastily playing favourites. No idea what the dynamic was in Roiland's staff.

Eh... honestly I don't want to get too far into this. At the end of the day more of these guys get thrown out on their asses the better and whatever shows we get when they're a lot less common (hopefully) will tell, but as Brent points out, for now they're still getting cover.

[Grath]

Still confused why it took 3 years for those charges to come out and make Roiland face consequences, but better late than never.

I knew without looking that the show's viewership was just starting to show a downward trend.

Goddamn. On the nose.

Am I allowed to say that I can't find this remotely surprising given how mean-spirited 4chan the show has always seemed to me? Because, yeah.

I mean, I think this is the stronger correlation.

[Mongrel]

Still confused why it took 3 years for those charges to come out and make Roiland face consequences, but better late than never.

I knew without looking that the show's viewership was just starting to show a downward trend.

Goddamn. On the nose.

Am I allowed to say that I can't find this remotely surprising given how mean-spirited 4chan the show has always seemed to me? Because, yeah.

I mean, I think this is the stronger correlation.

True. It's not like the fanbase of the show had no impact on my opinon of it.

[Mongrel]

Well, it eventually became clear why the staff didn't quite have the full picture of Roiland's scumbag nature sooner than they did: Roiland basically stopped doing much work after the first season, and stopped showing up for work at all after the second. Even his voice work ended up being done from home, without direction. The staff say that on the rare occasions he did show up at the office after the second season, he was indeed creepy and made everyone feel uncomfortable.

Roiland ultimately knew this was going to blow up at some point too - according to the article, he insisted on securing prominent voice roles precisely because he believed that this would make him indispensable.