TV Series On The Television

[Mongrel]

oh my god

[Blossom]

[Mongrel]

air

i need air

[KingRoyal]

I went into Midnight Mass (2021) completely blind, having no idea of what it was about or any details, and I recommend this to anyone else. MM is probably the best Netflix series to be released, a slow-burn horror show that dwells on morality, faith, death, cults and forgiveness. The show is gorgeously shot and well acted, with particular highlights being Samantha Sloyan as Bev and Hamish Linklater as Father Paul. Do yourself a favor and watch this show

[Thad]

It always fascinates me when two different things have the same idea at the same time.

To wit: WandaVision and Kevin Can Fuck Himself, two very different shows appearing in the same year and built on the same conceit of using sitcom tropes to create a sense of malaise and foreboding.

WandaVision was, ultimately, a Marvel product and reverted to the Marvel formula at the end. Kevin isn't that; it's a dark comedy/psychodrama.

The show is a critique of stifling gender roles. More specifically, it's a critique of gender roles in sitcoms; more specifically than that, it's a critique of the "fat meathead with a hot wife who's barely a character" subgenre. And, as the title implies, it's most directly a reaction to Kevin Can Wait, Kevin James's followup to King of Queens and a hopelessly generic sitcom that would have been forgotten except for the one memorable thing it did: audiences didn't like Kevin's wife, so they had her die offscreen between seasons and introduced Leah Remini (who played James's wife on King of Queens) as a new love interest in season 2.

Kevin Can Fuck Himself is the story of Allison (Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy), a sitcom wife who has an epiphany, realizes her loutish husband Kevin (Eric Petersen) isn't a lovable goof, he's a selfish asshole, and decides she's going to kill him.

The sitcom conceit is most directly addressed in Kevin himself -- every time he's onscreen, it's a brightly-lit three-camera sitcom with a laugh track; when he leaves the room, everything gets darker, both literally and metaphorically.

It's still fundamentally a sitcom, because it's fundamentally rooted in sitcom structure: there's a problem (Allison's husband is terrible), it has an obvious solution (divorce the motherfucker), but instead of pursuing that obvious solution the main character chooses a route that's absurd and over-the-top (murder), and conflict arises from her inability to successfully execute her needlessly complicated plan (Allison isn't really cut out for plotting a murder; she's thwarted every step of the way but that only convinces her to escalate and take increasing risks).

Allison herself makes for a great flawed lead; she's a mess, she very definitely makes poor decisions, and she's not always likable. And she's heightened and exaggerated in her own right; not exactly in the same way as a typical sitcom lead is, but in ways that echo that tradition.

I enjoyed the first season, though I suppose there's an argument to be made that it's starting to wear out its premise by the end. There's a second season on the way, which I suppose spoils the ending of the first -- no, she doesn't succeed in killing Kevin; at least, not yet. (Of course we can't rule out having him die offscreen before season 2. That would be brilliant but I'm not quite sure where you go from there -- keep the show going with a new Kevin? Continue the show without its title character?) Apparently the show's planned to end with the second season, like Kevin Can Wait did, so they must at least have an ending in mind.

At any rate, I think it's good stuff -- it's darkly funny, its characters are complex and messy (except for the ones who aren't supposed to be), and it's a smart satire of dumb shows.

[nosimpleway]

guy dies offscreen and she gets remarried, after the timeskip she realizes her new husband is also a selfish buffoon, because all sitcom husbands are

[beatbandito]

Kevin Can Fuck Himself is the story of Allison (Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy), a sitcom wife who has an epiphany, realizes her loutish husband Kevin (Eric Petersen) isn't a lovable goof, he's a selfish asshole, and decides she's going to kill him.

The first episode was really good. Had a real sense of loneliness and loss. Sadly, the rest of the season basically plays out like Weeds.

I guess I'm in now for the second season if there's a promise of it ending and actually bizarro world mirroring Kevin can wait.

[Niku]

i do think it's basically inevitable that sometime near/at the finale we see kevin in the real world and shit's a lot more real than it seems. overall i give the show a thumbs up and it keeps me watching but i do get a bit frustrated by it not living up to its potential and its (really realllllllly good) cast

i also constantly get distracted by how much kevin looks like jeff gerstmann

[KingRoyal]

Started watching Peacemaker and it confirms both Bat-Mite and Kite-Man in the DCEU and these desperately need to be followed up on

[Mothra]

Really enjoying Peacemaker. Feels like James Gunn is in the exact right position of having a weird property to explore as he sees fit but shittons of money from corporate.

Also caught up on Foundation, which looks gorgeous, is well-acted, and has a pretty complex story, but is also not very interesting? I think it's the characters that are the weak point here... they all have interesting roles to play in the larger story, but they themselves seem kind of interchangeable. It's one of those shows where I don't really enjoy watching it, but I'm still powering through.

Raised By Wolves season 2 has been good. If you made it to the end of season 1, you know what you're in for, and it is more of that. This is largely good, but the specter of Prometheus looms large over this thing, and I absolutely 100% know that Ridely Scott will fuck this up with a hare-brained religious metaphor.

[Mongrel]

A tweest!



A major question here is if no rights to "The Silmarillion" means the story, or the entire book.

[KingRoyal]

It means that the story they're telling can't be about the information that comes from the Silmarillion, only the info coming from the Hobbit and LotR. And since it's a prequel about the rings, that means it's about Sauron but can't use any of the details

[Thad]

I mean there aren't that goddamn many details on the Second Age in the other books either. It's the least fleshed-out period in the lore.

Granted it's been some years since I read them, but I don't remember getting much more detail out of The Silmarillion's version of the Fall of Numenor than the rough outline in the appendices of RotK.

[Mongrel]

I mean there aren't that goddamn many details on the Second Age in the other books either. It's the least fleshed-out period in the lore.

Granted it's been some years since I read them, but I don't remember getting much more detail out of The Silmarillion's version of the Fall of Numenor than the rough outline in the appendices of RotK.

Akallabeth contains a pretty complete outline of what Sauron was doing and saying after they brought him to Numenor, as well as bits and pieces of what he was doing in Middle-Earth before that. It's probably about half and half between the Appendices and the Akallabeth overall.

The thing about the Second age not being fleshed out is that's sort of half-true. The EARLY-to-mid Second Age is really the truly blank portion, but then, that's where they're slotting the TV show, so fair enough.

[Upthorn]

Raised By Wolves season 2 has been good. If you made it to the end of season 1, you know what you're in for, and it is more of that. This is largely good, but the specter of Prometheus looms large over this thing, and I absolutely 100% know that Ridely Scott will fuck this up with a hare-brained religious metaphor.

I'm somewhat hopeful with regards to this because
A: Ridley Scott is neither the showrunner, nor the person responsible for the original concept of the show.
B: All the religious symbolism and metaphor in the show so far has been from real life ancient cult of Mithraism, so even if it does end up as a totally hare-brained religious metaphor, at least it's not gonna be Christian or Greek.

[Mothra]

True, that's a good sign.

[Thad]

Akallabeth contains a pretty complete outline of what Sauron was doing and saying after they brought him to Numenor, as well as bits and pieces of what he was doing in Middle-Earth before that. It's probably about half and half between the Appendices and the Akallabeth overall.

The thing about the Second age not being fleshed out is that's sort of half-true. The EARLY-to-mid Second Age is really the truly blank portion, but then, that's where they're slotting the TV show, so fair enough.

It sounds like they're smooshing it all together into a much shorter timeframe. I'm sure there's at least an outline to end the series on the Last Alliance and the defeat of Sauron.

[beatbandito]

I happened to start Peacemaker at the right point to catch the finale right on time. It was about what I expected, solid enough writing to accept it's a comedy/action when dumb stuff happens. There's a lot in here for dipshits to easily take at face value (also as expected) to support their terrible worldviews. I liked Det. Song, and hated that pretty much all she had to do was be the witty response that turns abject racism into a "joke". Not great that the only gay relationship (that wasn't suggested as a joke) was for a stupid relationship conflict that goes nowhere and fizzles out mid-season.

[Büge]

The thing about the Second age not being fleshed out is that's sort of half-true. The EARLY-to-mid Second Age is really the truly blank portion, but then, that's where they're slotting the TV show, so fair enough.

I suppose that allows for more flexibility when it comes to inserting Original Characters.

[Mongrel]

DO NOT STEAL