Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta

The Bar Room => The Champagne Cabana => Topic started by: jpd01 on March 20, 2011, 06:57:24 AM

Title: Tv
Post by: jpd01 on March 20, 2011, 06:57:24 AM
Anyone have any good recommendations for a good tv series to download? I'm starting to run out of ideas. My taste generally runs in comedy, but I wouldn't mind some other suggestions as well.
Currently I'm watching (in no particular order) :
outsourced
top gear
how I met your mother
modern family
family guy
futurama
american dad
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on March 20, 2011, 11:14:33 AM
If you like animation,

Drawn Together
Harvey Birdman
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: teacheraus on March 20, 2011, 11:41:46 AM
I just recently discovered The Big Bang.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: becster79 on March 20, 2011, 12:42:05 PM
30 Rock. Funniest. Show. Ever.

And Glee, of course!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on March 20, 2011, 01:22:02 PM
I just recently discovered The Big Bang.

Really, its not new, what about 14 billion years ago?

Oh, you mean the television show, good show for kids
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Con ate dog on March 20, 2011, 01:29:05 PM
Comedy:
- The IT Crowd
- The Office
- Black Adder
- Absolutely Fabulous

Other:
- Dexter
- The Wire
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Breaking Bad
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: xwarrior on March 20, 2011, 02:46:35 PM
I am watching "Criminal Minds" - based on the police use of profiling. Sort of thinking mans CSI  mmmmmmmmmm so it sure is not comedy.

No TV where I am so it is helping while away the hours.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Kid Presentable on March 20, 2011, 03:54:17 PM
One show I got into just before I got here was Better off Ted. It's a very underrated comedy series, and kind of has an Arrested Development tone to it. It centers around the personalities who work for an evil American defense contractor a la Raytheon, or General Dynamics. If you like Adult Swim type stuff you should check out Venture Bros. and Frisky Dingo, those are my personal favorites.  For drama I strongly second the suggestion of Breaking Bad and The Wire. Prepare to waste some serious time if you start watching those shows.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: jpd01 on March 21, 2011, 02:49:37 AM
Hmm mostly you are naming the shows I'm not currently watching right now because I've watched them all!!
Better off ted was a great show and COMPLETELY underated, I had both seasons on my hard drive before I came to China a couple of years ago. Please continue brethren  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Slim Pickens on March 21, 2011, 06:02:58 AM
Anyone have any good recommendations for a good tv series to download? I'm starting to run out of ideas. My taste generally runs in comedy, but I wouldn't mind some other suggestions as well.  Currently I'm watching (in no particular order):

...top gear...

If you like Top Gear then you might like the work of Charlie Brooker, because Brooker is to television what Jeremy Clarkson is to cars.

Take a look at his recent series How TV Ruined Your Life (which is a kind of compilation of his best rants wrapped up and presented as a new series).  If you like that you can search for his older work Screenwipe and Newswipe.  All brilliant stuff in my opinion.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: mlaeux on March 21, 2011, 04:09:57 PM
Lie To Me
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: jpd01 on March 21, 2011, 07:03:14 PM
Lie to me is pretty good, I have two seasons of it.
I'll check out Charlie brooker.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on March 21, 2011, 07:08:21 PM
In a movie class, I chose to show Kyle XY. It helped with everyday conversation and social interaction. Interesting program.

I also like Weeds, eerily funny
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Kid Presentable on March 21, 2011, 10:09:35 PM
Everything else I could name just sounds too obvious. Old Simpsons and Futurama. Trailer Park Boys has a certain appeal if you have a warped sense of humor. Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Archer (by the folks who brought you Frisky Dingo). I don't really watch drama besides The Wire and Breaking Bad.

Oh maybe The Walking Dead. That was a really good AMC series. Only 6 episodes of it but it rulz.  bfbfbfbfbf

Honestly sounds like you should be telling us TV shows.  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: xwarrior on March 22, 2011, 12:41:28 AM
A blast from the past:

3rd Rock from the Sun
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on March 26, 2011, 06:52:08 PM
For a surprisingly funny comedy that's about teaching let me heartily recommend "Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby." It's a New Zealand show about six years old, I think, so it's not that easy to find. But there are so many "I can't believe they just made a joke about ________!" moments.

Other comedies that aren't banal. That's hard. Ummm...
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Californication
Weeds
Shameless US (I haven't watched Shameless UK yet, but it's the original with 8 seasons.)
another vote for The Trailer Park Boys.
Suburban Shootout (a little quirky I must say)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: El Macho on March 26, 2011, 07:06:38 PM
If you like Big Bang Theory, download Dharma & Greg…it's much better, IMHO.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mac Attack on March 26, 2011, 07:35:31 PM
I can't believe no one mentioned these gems:

Leverage - About con artists that help the little guy against big business.

Hustle - This is also about con artists that go after the rich and the wealthy. Plus it stars
         Robert Vaughn from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Opps, I am dating myself).

I also agree with what's already been mentioned, Of Course!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mac Attack on March 26, 2011, 07:37:59 PM
Also, try The Defenders about two trial lawyers in Las Vegas and Harry's Law about another lawyer in Boston. Harry's Law is made by the same guy who did Boston Legal.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 26, 2011, 07:49:07 PM
I've run out of things to watch, I'm reduced to Bones and House.  They should hurry up and start making more Breaking Bad, Weeds and Walking Dead

Luther however was a briefly shining gem.  Only six episodes but by the last episode the show had become quite something... else.  Same with Sherlock.  Excellent stuff.  Both of them waft off into the crazy in a most compelling manner.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Kid Presentable on March 26, 2011, 08:05:01 PM
Oh yeah I forgot about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I haven't watched in a long time, but thats a must see if you haven't yet. Hilarious. That show Leverage, mentioned above, sounds pretty cool I'll probably check that out.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on March 26, 2011, 10:09:41 PM
Just finished watching the first season of Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing), a Danish Crime series. No, really come back!

The BBC have been showing it, and English subtitles are easily available, although those available for the second series have a few deficiencies. They've made an American version, called 'The Killing' which will start in the next week or two if you really can't handle subtitles.

It's become a real cult hit in the UK, or lots of other countries.

The first series is 20 episodes long, so 19 hours investigating a crime. There are plenty of unbelievable twists and the odd thing that doesn't make sense, and it's a long, long journey, but it is worth it. I'm not the only person who thinks that it's the best TV show for absolutely ages.

If you like your crimes wrapped up in 44 minutes, this probably isn't your cup of tea. The American version will be 13 episodes long, so basically half the real length, and I don't know how much they've changed it. They claim that they may have changed 'whodunnit', but that might just be to stave off spoilers.

Seriously! Watch this show (preferably the original).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on March 29, 2011, 02:48:01 PM
Ah post wiped by server problems this weekend.
Let me recommend a New Zealand Show about teaching, "Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby." Funny stuff.
Also:
another vote for The Trailer Park Boys
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Bored to Death
Shameless US (In first season, but Shameless UK is in its 8th season.)
with caveats:
Weeds
Californication
The Big C
a quirky UK comedy, but at least it's not the same ole; Suburban Shootout
and... I think it qualifies as comedy: True Blood (Oh, Sookie!)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Monkey King on March 29, 2011, 05:30:53 PM
Friends are raving about 'Sons of Anarchy' (about a biker gang) it hasn't sucked me in yet though.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on March 29, 2011, 06:12:40 PM
Not sure if my recommendation was wiped out.

Imagine Criminal Minds, but 19 hours long and the best TV programme for years, great script, fantastic nuanced acting and moments that will keep you breathlessly awake marvelling that God, after all that ridiculous nonsense about The Bible and Koran, has finally decided to exercise his creative muscles.

(in Danish)

Ladies and Gentlemen - Forbrydelsen

Or, if you trust US remakes - 'The Killing, starting this weekend on the same channel as 'Breaking Bad' 'Mad Men' etc.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on March 29, 2011, 09:13:31 PM
Oh dear Lord, not Forbrydelsen...I am Danish and have watched it...Unless it is a US remake, stay clear of the show...crime shows set in Denmark are notoriously lame, unless you really like drab colours, mumbling and heavy-handed social realism....Forbrydelsen is like "Midsumer Murders" only not as funny or weird.  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mac Attack on March 31, 2011, 10:31:15 PM
How about the British show Coupling? It is no longer being aired but did have three seasons. They tried to do this in the US but it never took. I think it is because the British version was raunchier with more innuendos.

This show is about several couples and their relationships. Think of it as friends on steroids. It is definitely one of the funnier shows out there.

 bhbhbhbhbh

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on March 31, 2011, 11:35:27 PM
How about the British show Coupling? It is no longer being aired but did have three seasons. They tried to do this in the US but it never took. I think it is because the British version was raunchier with more innuendos.

This show is about several couples and their relationships. Think of it as friends on steroids. It is definitely one of the funnier shows out there.

Actually there was a fouth season, but it (the fouth season) wasn't very good. I watched the US pilot, and I thought the problem was the acting, not the script. The UK series was somewhat predicated on the fact that the way that we see the universe, and by extension ourselves, is skewed, and the UK version had the benfit of likeable characters that you could laugh with, even as you were laughing at them.

Stephen Moffat who wrote it, produces and occasionally writes Doctor Who now. He wrote the US version as well. He must have felt like Gielgud who was discovered crying one night after a performance.

'Johnnie, why are you crying? You were wonderful.'

'I know I weas wonderful dammit. I just don't know how.'

If you like Coupling type sitcoms, may I suggest that you try 'Traffic Light.' It's not racy, but it is a bit cleverer than HIMYM (which I love btw). Coupling was one of a kind though, because it had elements of farce, and for that you need to watch 'Modern Family'.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: jpd01 on March 31, 2011, 11:38:11 PM
Yeah the forth season didn't have jeff in it anymore and it kind of lost its momentum
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: jpd01 on April 04, 2011, 11:28:01 PM
So I just started watching a couple of new shows traffic light is great (can't remember which one of you recommended it to me but thanks)
Misfits, loving this one right now. I just watched season one and am now downloading season two. It's a show about some teenagers on community service when they get hit by lightning and develop powers. It's pretty cool, for example one of the girls power is that whenever she touches a guy he becomes powerfully horny and has to phuck immediately.
Season 5 of skins seems a bit light and nor really to my liking.
But I have to say I picked the US remake of skins and..... wow it is terrible bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq, truly one of the worst things I have watched in a long time. The casting is terrible and bland and the pace is slow and all the interesting things in the first season of the British version have been edited out.
Matthew Perry has a new show called Mr Sunshine and it seems decent but I'm not yet sold on it as yet but it's pretty decent. I was pissed when his last show studio 60 on the sunset strip was cancelled as I really liked it but it seemed it was hyped up way to much and by the time it came out people's expectations were way to high.
If you haven't checked out being human yet then it's worth a watch, it's a British show about a vampire, a were wolf and a ghost living together and trying to be "normal" season 1 was pretty good and I've watched half of season 2.
Also just watched the latest season of the peep show, pretty good. I enjoy this show and I'm glad that they never try to sort out the two main characters life.
I think that's about all for now, I'm downloading some other stuff right now and I'll let you know if it pans out.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on April 05, 2011, 12:59:03 AM
jpd, I had to download the British version of Skins and check it out after I watched the first episode of the American version because I couldn't believe that a show so successful could be so awful. The American version is so unbelievably bad compared to the British version. It is embarassing really, especially the kid who plays the American Tony. He's just absolute crap.

Luckily the American version of Shameless is pretty good. The actors can actually act and of course William H. Macy is a legend and it is great to see him at it every week. It got off to a shaky start, I thought, but by the end of the season I was hooked.

I just watched the first episode of the new Showtime series The Borgias and it looks like it'll be good. Very dark and sexy, full of intrigue, and also very visually pleasing what with all the period era costumes and sets. It will be interesting to see if they stick closer to historical fact than they did with The Tudors, which at times was almost more like a Henry VIII fan-fic than anything resembling history.

I'll also second Subtitle on Californication. Great show. The main premise has gotten a tiny bit old in the later seasons but the first two seasons are classic.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on April 05, 2011, 02:11:36 AM
I just watched the first episode of the new Showtime series The Borgias and it looks like it'll be good. Very dark and sexy, full of intrigue, and also very visually pleasing what with all the period era costumes and sets. It will be interesting to see if they stick closer to historical fact than they did with The Tudors, which at times was almost more like a Henry VIII fan-fic than anything resembling history.

I also just watched this episode, but too be honest, I didn't like it that much. I felt like they were just trying to hard to be the 'Tudors in Italy.' But I like historical dramas, so maybe I'll keep watching it to see if it gets better. I fI remember correctly, I thought the first episode of the Tudors was lame, and I ended up liking that series a lot.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on April 05, 2011, 12:57:52 PM
To Mac Attack - If you're a Coupling fan, perhaps you should check out Steven Moffat's very old show 'Joking Apart'. It only lasted 1 series, but it was very good, and stylistically a precurser to Coupling. I confess I'd forgotten about it, but it popped up on 'thebox.bz' this morning.

Ericthered - Good to read an opposing point of view about Forbrydelsen.  The darkness and gutteral mumbling is fantastic, and as for the clunky social relaism; sorry, we just figured that's what Danish politics was like. I'll watch the first episodes of the US version 'The Killing' today.

I couldn't be doing with The Borgias I'm afraid. 'Camelot' is a piece of fluff, but I find it a lot more enjoyable. Merlin is a kind of immortal Peter Mandelsen /Rahm Emmanuel. Even though it's a piece of fluff, the characters are more complex and interesting. Papa Borgia - I wanted power, but I don't want to lose my soul. It's been done better before.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on April 05, 2011, 01:05:46 PM
bump
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on April 05, 2011, 04:42:04 PM
If you are into period drama, intrigue and that kind of thing, there is a new show called "Downton Abbey". I just watched the three first episodes and I found it to be really good. agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on April 06, 2011, 05:39:24 PM
It is, at least, easier here. bhbhbhbhbh

Today the Science Fiction Channel showed the fine documentary films Mega-Shark versus Giant Octopus , followed by DinoCroc .

These two contenders for Oscar nominations both celebrate the famous Exchange Between America and Japan, in which the Japanese got total world domination of the automotive, electronics, and specialty chemicals industries, while America gained the ability to produce the very finest in laughably bad, unconscionably written and acted, utterly cheesy low-budget monster movies.
Welcome to the New World Order! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: latefordinner on April 07, 2011, 01:04:31 AM
I don't watch a lot of TV, but this thread has got me curious enough to start looking for old shows. One in particular that I'm interested in is Boardwalk Empire, from HBO.
Has anyone seen it? Can I catch it online somehow?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on April 07, 2011, 01:16:42 AM
Boardwalk Empire is awesome. I downloaded the entire first season and watched it all in one day agagagagag agagagagag I downloaded it from monova.org
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on April 07, 2011, 02:08:07 AM
It's worth checking out 'The Good Wife'.

Standard US legal TV show. New case wach week. Love life back stories.

But here's the thing. It's really good; the acting, the scripts, the moral ambiguity. Sometimes a great TV show doesn't need to have an original concept. It just needs to be great.

Michael J Fox turns up every now and then (such as this week) and is awesome.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on April 07, 2011, 12:01:06 PM
Are there any fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) on here?
If so, I've discovered to my delight that you can torrent whole- or half-seasons of it on btjunkie.com! axaxaxaxax

I recommend the early seasons...Season 3 is a particular favorite.
Don't waste your time or break your heart on the last few seasons...by then all the real talent had left, and the show had degenerated into a tragically emetic kiddie show. aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on April 07, 2011, 06:39:50 PM
Highly recommend breaking bad and in treatment, the latter being hard to find online
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on April 07, 2011, 09:21:28 PM
Just saw the first two episodes of the new Camelot. Different, but not bad. (Plus it's nice to see Joseph Fiennes on the screen again.)

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mac Attack on April 07, 2011, 10:55:18 PM
I subscribe to a service that provides TV Episodes from the major outlets including the old series like MST-3000. It also has first run movies. It starts around $4.99 per month for a basic membership. Here is the link: http://www.graboid.com (http://www.graboid.com).

I have been using this for awhile and have found it to quite reliable and useful. You can also sign up for a free 30-day trial!

I watched the super bowl using this service. Plus, as an added bonus, is that the videos do not have any commercials.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: xwarrior on May 14, 2011, 05:22:14 PM
{I thought I have seen this site mentioned in the Saloon before, but it does not show up in Search}

FixPlay
 http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/

It:
- is Australian (if I can handle that I am sure you can!)
- comes compliments of Ninemsn.au
- was streaming a really good picture
- has 30sec advertising breaks ... but seemed a small price to pay for a programme i watched this morning

Programmmes  include:

The Middle - USA
Doctor Who - UK
Day of the Triffids - UK
The Vampire Diaries - USA
Naked Chef - UK
Nikita - USA
Spooks - UK
plus Australian programmes

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Ben-Dan on May 14, 2011, 06:15:55 PM
{I thought I have seen this site mentioned in the Saloon before, but it does not show up in Search}

FixPlay
 http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/

It:
- is Australian (if I can handle that I am sure you can!)
- comes compliments of Ninemsn.au
- was streaming a really good picture
- has 30sec advertising breaks ... but seemed a small price to pay for a programme i watched this morning

Programmmes  include:

The Middle - USA
Doctor Who - UK
Day of the Triffids - UK
The Vampire Diaries - USA
Naked Chef - UK
Nikita - USA
Spooks - UK
plus Australian programmes



Thanks. Was in the mood to watch a movie, and am giving Blood Brothers a try at the moment. Good quality, too.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: the_otter on May 14, 2011, 08:59:49 PM
{I thought I have seen this site mentioned in the Saloon before, but it does not show up in Search}

FixPlay
 http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/

It:
- is Australian (if I can handle that I am sure you can!)
- comes compliments of Ninemsn.au
- was streaming a really good picture
- has 30sec advertising breaks ... but seemed a small price to pay for a programme i watched this morning

Programmmes  include:

The Middle - USA
Doctor Who - UK
Day of the Triffids - UK
The Vampire Diaries - USA
Naked Chef - UK
Nikita - USA
Spooks - UK
plus Australian programmes



Thanks. Was in the mood to watch a movie, and am giving Blood Brothers a try at the moment. Good quality, too.

And thanks from me too! They've got Coupling and I've be meaning to watch that.

I'm late with the recommendations, but I don't think I've seen Life on Mars (BBC) or Game of Thrones (HBO) mentioned. I also love The Thick of It.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on May 14, 2011, 11:55:24 PM
FixPlay
 http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/

xw: Big ups for that link  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

With my VPN messin' up today, I can't get a reliable connection to Hulu. I can get to Hulu no problem, but the Reverse Fire Wall ("Sorry, You must be in the U.S. to stream this content.") is blocking me.

Never been to Fixplay and it's great that they don't have geographical blocks like most of the providers in the U.S.

Looked at the lineup of shows there and immediately focused on "The Farmer Wants a WIfe" so clicked on that and away we went. I'm a sucker for some types of Reality Shows (Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice (just to remind myself what a d*ck Donald Trump is) and "Farmer" hit the jackpot for me. It's about the most antithetic (is that a word?) TV show vis-a-vis life in China that you could watch. Wide open spaces filled with lush vegetation, intelligent and well-spoken farmers, gorgeous and voluptuous, mostly city-women yearning to marry a farmer (in China and in math, that's called a NULL SET) and they're real.

I got some editing work to do tonight, but I called Sherpa's an hour ago, and moments ago a nice Hatsune meal of Terriyaki Chicken, Avocado Thin Rolls, Miso Sup, and Salmon Sushi arrived. No, it's not farmer food, but I'm putting the work aside, gonna eat Japanese food, and  watch Australia's The Farmer Wants a Wife for the rest of the evening. Without Firewall interference from either China or Australia. I need an un-China evening.

Thanks xw and thanks ninemsn Australia.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Bugalugs on May 15, 2011, 02:58:10 AM
I loved Life on Mars :)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: psd4fan on May 15, 2011, 03:10:45 AM
I'm loving Everybody Loves Raymond, Shit My Dad Says, Game of Thrones, Stargate Universe, Dr.Who, Chicago Code, House , and others. As often as possible I use www.funshion.com which is a Chinese site and the streaming and simultaneous downloading it lightning fast. The bonus is that these come with Chinese subtitles which helps my wife when we watch together. Often they come out a day or three after they are available for download elsewhere.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: the_otter on May 15, 2011, 03:16:09 AM
I loved Life on Mars :)

I loved John Simm's leather jacket.  akakakakak

Thanks for the link, psd4fan.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: adamsmith on May 15, 2011, 05:07:25 PM
i can never find the tv shows on funshion - just the movies. where or how do you find them? llllllllll
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mimi on May 15, 2011, 05:58:09 PM
I search for TV shows the same way I do for movies, but the selection is definitely more limited.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on May 15, 2011, 06:44:01 PM
No, there is a sh*%ton of tv shows on funshion including Crown od Swords, Camelot, Big bang, Castle, house, 30 rock, the office etc etc.

On the top of the page is like a couple of grey boxes with things inside. The first Grey box is the movies (电影) and all the other words are the countries. So if you hit 美国 it will list all of the american movies.

The second grey box lists the TV shows (电视) and again, it is listed by country. So american is 美剧. Then, when you click on it, it will bring you to a page of the most popular shows. Of course Vampire Diaries is number one! ha ha!

Anyway, you can see it listed in chronological order of most recently added shows. Right above the pictures for the TV shows is 4 buttons, one is orange (and that is the most watched button. Click on the left most button, and it will show you the newest episodes.

All the names are in Chinese, and they use some pretty weird pictures for the TV show (for instance there is a picture of Justin Beiber for 'Glee') Just put your cursor over the picture and a little thing will pop up with an official cover or poster or something, which usually has the name in english. To see the list of episodes, just click on the picture and another little pop-up box will come up listing all of the episode numbers.

I think funshion has one of the biggest selections of TV shows on the internet. I mean, they have all the HBO shows, like the Tudors and stuff that Hulu doesn't have. Only problem is to search it you have to know the chinese names, so that's hard.   
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on August 15, 2011, 01:23:32 AM
I've just watched the first of 4 programmes in a Discovery Channel series called 'China Rises'. It seems to be an informative and balanced portrayal and would be a good primer on the country for new arrivals, or for people like me who've been here for ages, but still don't know what the hell's going on around me.

All 4 programmes in the series are available.

Getting Rich
City of Dreams
Food is Heaven
Party Games
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Mac Attack on August 15, 2011, 02:36:41 AM
I started using a torrent download site for my TV shows. This site has the shows from the UK, Australia, US, and Pay Channels for free. You will need a torrent download software to access these shows.

Here is the link for the TV shows: http://www.eztv.it/ (http://www.eztv.it/).

Here are a couple of sights to search for specific Torrents: http://www.bitsnoop.com/popular/rated_all.html (http://www.bitsnoop.com/popular/rated_all.html) and http://www.kat.ph/new/ (http://www.kat.ph/new/).

Here is where you can get the software: MAC: http://www.transmissionbt.com/download/ (http://www.transmissionbt.com/download/). (I use this on my Mac and it works pretty good. Here is one for PC's: http://www.utorrent.com/ (http://www.utorrent.com/).

Hope this helps. I had a service that I had used for part of the year until I came across this method. I hate those sites (like HULU that stream the shows online. The main problem with them is that if you have a slow connection, it will show part of the show and stop. Then, you have to wait. With torrents, you can download the movie or TV show and watch at your leisure. I setup my Mac to download the shows at night while I am sleeeping and have them available the next day.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on August 15, 2011, 07:03:58 PM
Can't suggest sources, but a few worth looking for...

Mekong: Soul Of A River  , currently showing here on Planet Green, is excellent. The cinematography is gorgeous, and the stories told are interesting and authentic. I think it's a 4-part series, and follows the river from the South China Sea to the T'tan Plateau.

If you can get programs from the National Geographic network, try to find some episodes of Locked Up Abroad . It'll sho'nuff scare you tout suite out of any thoughts of ever being an international drug smuggler, for any amount of money. aoaoaoaoao  Really interesting true stories, well told. bfbfbfbfbf
One really harrowing story follows a Brit and his pregnant (by the Brit) Filipina girlfriend, who despite long separation was still not divorced from a local husband...and in the Philippines, the sentence for Adultery is 14 years. The ex got angry and went to the cops...and everything just went horribly wrong. The Philippines are a lovely place with mostly lovely people...but from what I've seen their legal system is disturbingly harsh. oooooooooo
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on August 15, 2011, 11:53:20 PM
Hey, I was able to find full episodes of Locked Up Abroad  on the National Geographic TV site. They're under the "NatGeo TV" link, then the "Shows" link at http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/ (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/)

This is the US site. If it doesn't work for you, try starting at http://www.natgeotv.com (http://www.natgeotv.com) and select a different country's site.

Hope it works for ya!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Jedi Smurf on August 18, 2011, 04:48:50 AM
To the OP: Since you like comedies, you may want to check out Eastbound and Down. It is unsubtle humor :lickass:, but hilarious.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: piglet on August 22, 2011, 05:12:38 AM
Anyone else seen "Big Train"? Just discovered it and found it suitably Pythonish for my tastes.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on September 06, 2011, 02:01:54 AM
Anyone else seen "Big Train"? Just discovered it and found it suitably Pythonish for my tastes.

I love Big Train

Do you know Brass Eye and Time Trumpet?

Same sort of surreal British humour

I've just been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm. Just can't get enough of it
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on April 07, 2012, 02:44:36 PM
lately I have mostly watching the following:

Game of Thrones
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
The Shield
The Killing (Danish Version)
Battlestar Gallactica
THe Walking Dead (this is pretty crappy, but still very watchable, like Prison Break)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Monkey King on April 07, 2012, 05:13:19 PM
Quote
lately I have mostly watching the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-z5T8meC84

I recently discovered 'Archer', a kind of animated American-James-Bond spoof, it's very un-PC but also hilarious.  Season 1 is a bit weak but it gets better.

'Californication' with Agent Mulder is still going but getting a bit tired - the never-ending will-he-wont he thing with his ex-wife, meh.

'Finding Bigfoot' - I am a sucker for paranormal documentaries, but this should actually be called 'Not  Finding Bigfoot', interesting in places, mainly for the bizarre personalties of the 'stars'.

My guilty pleasure is 'The Dog Whisperer' that guy is pretty awesome and it's a very 'feel good' show.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on April 07, 2012, 06:02:57 PM
I should also add the following documentary websites:
http://www.snagfilms.com/ (this one needs you to change your VPN to an American IP)

http://documentarystorm.com/

(on the latter I've been watching a lot of Louis Theroux - my guilty pleasure)

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on April 07, 2012, 06:28:06 PM
I still love Californication. The story is old but the dialogue is so amusing and David Duchovny was so perfectly cast that I wouldn't mind if they just dropped the love story altogether and just made it a half an hour of Hank and Runkle's antics.

Recently I've been watching a couple of British shows. Finally jumped on the Downton Abbey bandwagon and went through both seasons of that, then I watched another period drama, Call the Midwife, which I really enjoyed (as the name implies, it is about midwives, set in the 1950s). There's also a series, White Heat, which is currently running, that follows this group of friends from the 60s to present day.

Fozz, the second season of Game of Thrones just started. Did you catch it? I love that show. The Borgias is another one that is starting back up again really soon. The USA version of The Killing also just started its second season. The first season really pissed me off towards the end but I'm trying to give it the benefit of the doubt.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Jedi Smurf on April 07, 2012, 07:38:01 PM
This week's episode of Game of Thrones has been up for download several days now. Doesn't air until Sunday!   ababababab
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on April 07, 2012, 07:58:12 PM
@LD -  you really should try to download the Danish version of the killing, with subtitles by BBC4, I'm not being pretentious here, it really is super-moody Scandinavian cool.

as for Game of Thrones, I frickin' LOVE IT. I'm re-watching series one in anticipation of series two, of which I already have episode 1 downloaded. Yay! 

Will try californication on for size.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: AMonk on April 07, 2012, 11:07:48 PM
... then I watched another period drama, Call the Midwife, which I really enjoyed (as the name implies, it is about midwives, set in the 1950s)....

This is based on a series of autobiographical books with similar names bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: fox on May 04, 2012, 08:40:52 PM
Ch4.China.Triumph.and.Turmoil in three parts, seemed an unbiased look at the middle kingdom with some realistic expectations of what the future may hold.

Im british and its a british production so that may attribute to my unbiased feel. available at a torrent site near you.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on May 05, 2012, 12:42:11 AM
fox - where'd you download this doc from? I tried isohunt but no dice
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: becster79 on May 05, 2012, 02:16:16 AM
I've fallen very hard for a kind of new show from the States- "Once Upon a Time". BEAUTIFUL telling about all the fairy tale characters (mostly Disney) having a curse set upon them by the Evil Queen and they're all dumped in a modern American town. Snow White's daughter, 28 years later, is tracked down as the only saviour for all of them!

Twists & turns every week and amazing how the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin somehow ends up interwoven in everyones former (and current) lives! Love love love!!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on May 05, 2012, 02:59:29 AM
It certainly helps that Robert Carlyle is Rumplestiltskin
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: fox on May 05, 2012, 02:02:39 PM
fox - where'd you download this doc from? I tried isohunt but no dice

http://torrentz.eu/02a0b0bf18203bce77426156740b8f4d0b7404f1

you will get links from torrentz.eu  for the other 2 too.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on May 05, 2012, 02:23:00 PM
thanks!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on May 05, 2012, 06:06:30 PM
Oh yeah,
The mention of The Borgias brought to mind a couple of good ones from a few years back:
Deadwood
Rome
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Rin on May 06, 2012, 06:56:42 PM
http://www.thepirateschest.net/tv-shows-bittorrent/ I use this torrent site for TV shows, they have a great selection and update weekly.
Right now, I'd recommend Fringe, Grimm, Vampire diaries and Alcatraz!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on May 27, 2012, 10:32:51 PM
just to say that I've started watching Californication on the advice of TLD - man that's a hell of a show!

have gobbled a season and a half in less than a week.

I kinda wish those people were my friends.  :wtf:
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: El Macho on May 28, 2012, 12:36:42 AM
I've been watching Man Vs Wild dubbed in Chinese (http://video.baidu.com/v?word=%BB%C4%D2%B0%C7%F3%C9%FA&ct=301989888&rn=20&pn=0&db=0&s=0&fbl=800) on video.baidu.com. I don't understand much, but it's still awesome.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on June 13, 2012, 07:28:29 PM
I hope this happens

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/Bissessar/Expat%20Saloon/photo2.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on June 13, 2012, 10:45:09 PM
Oh yes, please yes... agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on June 16, 2012, 11:09:33 PM
Watched both seasons of Game of Thrones in a week. Might have to read the books cos I don't think I can wait for them to film the rest to find out what happens next
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on June 17, 2012, 01:10:56 AM
Time for a compilation? Put almost all of the shows mentioned here, and attempted some sort of categorization. Maybe it will spur some memories out there :)

Drama
-Lie To Me
-Leverage
-Hustle
-House
-Bones
-Sherlock
-Downton Abbey
-Call the Midwife
-Spooks
-The Middle
-Day of the Triffids
-Castle
    Drama, cable
-The Borgias
-Boardwalk Empire
-In Treatment
-Mad Men
-The Hour (UK)
-House of Cards
   Drama - Lawyers
-The Defenders
-Harry's Law
-The Good Wife
    Violent or gritty Drama
-Game of Thrones
-Breaking Bad
-Deadwood
-Dexter
-The Walking Dead
-Luther
-Rome
-American Horror Story
-The Following
    Cops and Crime
-The Wire
-Sons of Anarchy
-Southland
-Criminal Minds
-Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing)
-The Killing (US)
-Wallander (UK)
-Life on Mars
-Awake
-The Shield
-Alcatraz
-The Blue Rose
-Justified
-Foyle's War
-The Americans
-Longmire


Sci-fi
-Firefly
-Battlestar Galactica
-Doctor Who
-Stargate Universe
-Continuum
-Revolution
-Orphan Black
-The Twilight Zone
-The Prisoner (1967)
    Fantasy
-The Secret Circle
-Vampire Diaries
-Once Upon a Time
-Heroes
-Fringe
-Grimm


Comedy
-Outsourced
-How I Met Your Mother
-The Big Bang
-30 Rock
-Glee
-Better off Ted
-The Office (US)
-3rd Rock from the Sun
-Shameless (US)
-Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby
-WKRP in Cincinati
-Freaks and Geeks
-Mystery Science Theater 3000, Early seasons
    Comedy, cable
-True Blood
-Bored to Death
-Weeds
-The Big C
-Curb Your Enthusiasm
-The Sarah Silverman Program
-Eastbound and Down
-Trailer Park Boys
-It's Always Sunny in
Philadelphia.
-Californication
   Comedy (UK)
-Shameless (UK)
-Black Adder
-Absolutely Fabulous
-Skins (UK)
-Coupling
-The Thick of It
-Joking Apart
-Traffic Light
-Doc Martin
-The IT Crowd
-Misfits
-Peep Show
-Big Train
-The Office (UK)
-Black Books
   Animated Comedy
-Drawn Together
-Harvey Birdman
-Aqua Teen Hunger Force
-Family Guy
-Futurama
-American Dad
-Venture Bros.
-Frisky Dingo
-Archer

Documentaries
-Wild China (BBC)
-China Rises
-Mekong: Soul Of A River
-China Triumph and Turmoil
    Infotainment
-Top Gear (If you're
 unfamiliar, I'd suggest
 watching the 1st Africa special.)
-Mythbusters
-Bang Goes the Theory
-How TV Ruined Your Life
-Locked Up Abroad
-The Dog Whisperer
    Kid stuff
-Star Wars - The Clone Wars



Desperate?
-Terra Nova
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Camelot
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on June 17, 2012, 01:34:24 AM

Watched both seasons of Game of Thrones in a week. Might have to read the books cos I don't think I can wait for them to film the rest to find out what happens next


The next book is probably the best and apparently will be split into 2 seasons.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on June 17, 2012, 01:44:19 AM

Watched both seasons of Game of Thrones in a week. Might have to read the books cos I don't think I can wait for them to film the rest to find out what happens next


The next book is probably the best and apparently will be split into 2 seasons.

good, cos the last season felt a bit rushed in places...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on June 17, 2012, 01:58:14 AM
Time for a compilation? Put almost all of the shows mentioned here, and attempted some sort of categorization. Maybe it will spur some memories out there :)

Whoa! Good work Subtitle on the categorizations but even better work on the ASCII/tablisation (?) of your post which shows up nicely in my browser (Safari).  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on May 25, 2013, 07:26:23 AM
Thanks Old34. A few additions to my list; The Following, The Americans, Orphan Black... Still wanting more input. What are you watching that's excellent? It's the early summer doldrums for TV. Please tell....
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 25, 2013, 08:29:10 PM
Subtitle, that is very cool of you to organize the contents of this thread so nicely. I appreciate it!  bfbfbfbfbf

I wanted to add a few of my favorite TV shows to the list:

WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-81)
US Comedy / Sit-com, 22 minute episode format.
One of my favorite shows of the 70's and 80's. Clean entertainment with minimal amount of negative messages mixed in. Characters and actors consistent throughout entire series. This torrent has 88 episodes digitized from VHS, so you get the original music, although quality is not stellar, but it's totally watchable and enjoyable. Missing two episodes from the original series: Season 3 Episode 6 "A Mile In My Shoes" and Season 3 Episode 8  "Baby It's Cold Inside". I've attached an episode guide. Nope, looks like my 252 KB .doc is too big.
Torrent available here from inside China (http://pirateproxy.net/torrent/3945514/WKRP_in_Cincinnati) (but this changes) 6.71 GB total

The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
A true classic from television and excellent sci-fi writing. Looking back on these episodes, I can see the origins of many sci-films that came after. Excellent quality and small file size. 28.1 GB total with very fast speed for 156 episodes and an interview between Rod Serling and Mike Wallace.

The Prisoner (1967-68) original series with Patrick McGoohan
Fascinating series that lasted only two seasons and 17 episodes is difficult to categorize between spy, political, and sci-fi. Seemingly bizarre two season series makes sense when understood from the perspective of predictive programming and social control.

The plot is a British secret agent suddenly and unpredictably resigns his post and then finds himself prisoner on a strange little island with other characters from the intelligence millieu. The Village represents the future (from 1967 p.o.v.) surveillance society where "democracy" means committee-empowered control freaks are given say over everyone else's minor affairs, but the important decisions are left to the scientific dictatorship behind the scenes. Work credits are doled out to all citizens in good standing, small disobediences are punished with loss of status and presumed reduction in credits, thought criminals are re-educated with advanced mind control techniques, and those who rebel are met with the enigmatic force of a giant, white-translucent, all-powerful beach ball. The imagery is chocked full of Masonic and Fabian Society symbology for those who can spot it.

The later Prisoner mini-series from 2009 with Ian McKellan and Jim Caviezel is equally good, but even stranger, which reflects the overall changes in society from the relatively simpler outlook of the 60's to a more anything goes attitude 40-odd years later.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on May 25, 2013, 08:54:30 PM
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-81)One of my favorite shows of the 70's and 80's. Clean entertainment with minimal amount of negative messages mixed in. Characters and actors consistent throughout entire series.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest shows ever. As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on May 25, 2013, 11:29:25 PM
Thanks for those. I might even re-watch The Prisoner. What an awesome show. And speaking of golden oldies, I must add the not-so-oldie Freaks and Geeks, the show that got James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jason Segel their start. Coming of age comedy, but actually defying the genre and being funny.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 26, 2013, 02:56:40 AM
If you want to see media parallels between The Prisoner and a very curious film from 1968, watch "The Magus" starring Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn. Most critics hated it, which to me is a sign of its quality as it was way too complex for them.

You will see a big similarity between the "The Magus" and The Prisoner episode 16, although it may be uninteresting to those who aren't into the relationship of the ancient mystery religion and social institutions of today. Yah, so that's about 99.99% of people :) Anyway, it's still curious to see identical plot lines show up in a TV program and a feature film.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 26, 2013, 02:58:33 AM
Without a doubt, one of the greatest shows ever. As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly
The writing and acting in that show was so perfect for TV comedy.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Tree on May 26, 2013, 08:02:54 AM
If you like animation,

Drawn Together
Harvey Birdman
Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Have you seen Archer? By far the best animated series I have ever seen, rivaling Futurama although in a thoroughly different way.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Tree on May 26, 2013, 08:04:45 AM
Comedy:
- The IT Crowd
- The Office
- Black Adder
- Absolutely Fabulous

Other:
- Dexter
- The Wire
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Breaking Bad

Try Black Books. It's only 3 seasons long so a quick download, and I think it's on Netflix as well. It's a Graham Linehan production, like IT Crowd, but with Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on May 29, 2013, 05:49:05 AM
Loved season 1 of Black Books.
Added Longmire, just beginning its second season ... with Starbuck from Battlestar!  ajajajajaj ajajajajaj
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on May 29, 2013, 04:05:52 PM
Dylan Moran is the greatest Irishman that has ever lived, forget about Joyce, Wilde, Yeats, Jedward. 
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 29, 2013, 11:30:18 PM
I'm watching a bit of Locked Up Abroad as I like the premise and wanted to see how other countries legal and penal systems work. First two eps are fairly boring about young, stupid kids agreeing to smuggle drugs, "just this once" and getting caught.

Thankfully, I looked for a better episode and found one about an American who got kidnapped in Columbia. Much more interesting as he's intelligent and confronted with a difficult situation.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Li Fu on June 01, 2013, 03:53:38 AM
I brought 4 sets of DVD's with me:
"Yes Minister"
some "Seinfeld" episodes
"The Complete Benny Hill" collection and
"The complete Mr Bean" collection.
At home is the complete "M.A.S.H." and some "McHale's Navy" dvds and the complete "Everyone Loves Raymond" collection.
I also have with me the complete "House" collection, but that is as much for lessons as it is for my own entertainment.
I am sure most of these could be downloaded from Yu Ku or similar bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Subtitle on June 02, 2013, 07:12:51 AM
Yes, I think I must add a "classics" category to the list. But "Everybody .. Raymond"? Really? I view this as misogynistic humor reversed. Yeah, it's kind of funny (sort of), but, no, I won't add it to my "page six list".
It's a hard call. Gilligan's island wouldn't make it, bit McHale's Navy would. Not because of any quality difference, but because of familiarity.
And Benny Hill's various theme songs are what get me through my morning commute. :-)
House though. House is work-a-day, but brilliant.
Meanwhile .. I want more. I want a Trailer Park Boys or a Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby",  not "What you can do with your mother."
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on June 02, 2013, 07:42:48 PM
In the classics category, you must add one of the all time greats, the groundbreaking "All in the Family"

Jean Stapleton, who's roll was the housewife Edith Bunker died on Friday. We lost "Dingbat", stiffled forever
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on June 02, 2013, 07:55:19 PM
Amen to that.  Funny as hell and spoke for their generation at the same time.  The "Greatest Generation" versus the "Baby Boomers".  I had my choice to watch it on "All In The Family" or watch it in person between my older siblings and my parents.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on June 02, 2013, 09:44:55 PM
"All in the Family" is a good example of very clever programming that took years to unfold. They gave us someone in Archie Bunker we could call a benevolent bigot, a somewhat realistic and familiar figure of ignorance that allowed us to laugh nonstop at the older, unenlightened generation of patriotic and patronizing white guys. Archie was the kind of man who always felt better about himself if there was a black man around to prove Bunker's unspoken and unfounded superiority.

His antagonist was the simplistically idealistic Michael Stivic, who allowed us to laugh at socially progressive ideas that were news to no one who cared about important social issues by the time they were on prime time in the 70's. All the stuff about racism was old hat by the time the show was aired, however where did the show end up going? What new minority group needed special status at that time?

And if you agree with Archie or identify with him regarding certain changing social mores, you're calling yourself an ignorant bigot, so you sort of end up going along with *all* the new ideas that he is against because he's an unenlightened old fart and you're an idealistic and forward thinking person, one who feels automatically superior to both Bunker and also more clever than Meathead, right? Why, just having them around on TV makes one thank their parents for being raised better.

Then is the main reason they made that show just so we could all feel better about ourselves because we're not bigots like Archie Bunker?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on June 02, 2013, 10:23:59 PM
Another theory is that while Archie may have been all that you said, he was also not ALL those things. He was more of an amalgamation of every social problem of middle America.

As such, while no one (I hope) would say, "I'm just like him," most of us can say, "Yes, on a perticular subject, I'm exactly like him. Oh, shit! I never realised how bad that looked. Up until now, I thought it was okay."
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on June 02, 2013, 10:39:03 PM
Interesting synopsis, but I can't agree with you about the state of human rights in America when the show first aired in January of 1971.  Recall the heated brawls that occurred over the busing issues; and these did not take place until years after.  Gays had no place in public and, I believe, was still considered a disease by the American Psychiatric Association.  And women's rights?  What professional options did an adult woman have in 1971?  Let alone social ones; Roe v Wade was not decided for another two years.

The social issues that surfaced, and in some cases decided by the courts, in the '60's were only just being digested in the early '70's and "All In The Family" helped to assuage the opposition by just familiarizing millions of people to the issue and putting a face on those demanding rights.

Your evaluation is a good one for 2013 and even for many people in 1971, but it's an understatement to say that the issues that Archie faced during the show where already moot points.  There was still some very real, heated and widespread opposition to the specific issues and the cultural changes in general.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on June 02, 2013, 11:12:14 PM
@ DD: Yes, I think that's one of the aspects of that show I like very much.

@ A-Train: Thanks for the feedback. I was born in '68, so I wasn't old enough to know how much was just new to TV or just getting integrated into society. There are a lot of important and of course valid social issues, like those you mentioned, but the reason I think the show was cleverly programmed is that the way the argument is presented through the drama, it seems to me that the complexity of the issue comes down to a simplistic for or against because if you're not totally for every aspect of: women's rights, gay rights, racial equality, then you're a bigot like Archie.

Sometimes the validity of those issues get used like a social wedge to create a polarized audience, which is the part of the programming I don't care for. Perhaps that's just part of the process, but I'm sort of waiting for things to settle down instead of continuing to accelerate toward extremes, which still leaves people on the outside who were supposed to benefit from those changes.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: xwarrior on June 04, 2013, 09:32:15 PM
 


Sopranos named best-written US TV series

The New Jersey mob saga The Sopranos was listed as the best-written US TV series above comedy show Seinfeld in a list compiled by the Writers Guild of America.

The guild, which represents writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media industries, released its ranking of the 101 best-written TV shows based on a poll of its members, with comedies and dramatic series evenly represented in the top 10.

The guild favored recently-produced shows. Only one top 10 entry, third-placed The Twilight Zone, pre-dated the 1970s and nearly half the entire list aired in the past decade.

In releasing the list with The Sopranos at the top, the guild's Paul Brownfield said: "No show has been more responsible for TV's storytelling renaissance." In the HBO hit, mobster Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, struggles with domestic life even as he orders mob hits and confides in his psychiatrist.

Comedies joining Seinfeld high in the poll included 1970s-era hits as All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and M*A*S*H, along with bar-room comedy Cheers.

The West Wing, The Wire and Mad Men, the only currently airing show, rounded out the top 10.

Long-running animated show The Simpsons was ranked 11th, followed by the 1950s hit I Love Lucy. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart at 17 placed highest among series outside the scripted comedy or drama format.

Coming in 43rd, PBS' Downton Abbey was the highest-ranked non-US series, followed by the BBC's The Office in 50th place.

While most of the series on the list were hits in their day or at least enjoyed a steady run, the short-lived Twin Peaks (35), Friday Night Lights (22) and the cult series Arrested Development (16) also fared well.

And while NBC, CBS and HBO were all represented in the top 10 with multiple entries, the list's highest-ranked ABC series was the comedy Taxi in 19th, followed by Lost in 27th place.


The Top 101


1. The Sopranos

2. Seinfeld

3. The Twilight Zone

4. All in the Family

5. M*A*S*H

6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show

7. Mad Men

8. Cheers

9. The Wire

10. The West Wing

11. The Simpsons

12. I Love Lucy

13.  Breaking Bad

14.  The Dick Van Dyke Show

15.  Hill Street Blues

16.  Arrested Development

17.  The Daily Show

18.  Six Feet Under

19.  Taxi

20.  The Larry Sanders Show

21.  30 Rock

22.  Friday Night Lights

23.  Frasier

24.  Friends

25.  Saturday Night Live

26.  The X-Files

27.  Lost

28.  ER

29.  The Cosby Show

30.  Curb Your Enthusiasm

31.  The Honeymooners

32.  Deadwood

33.  Star Trek

34.  Modern Family

35.  Twin Peaks

36.  NYPD Blue

37.  The Carol Burnett Show

38.  Battlestar Galactica

39.  Sex and the City

40.  Game of Thrones

41.  The Bob Newhart Show

42.  Your Show of Shows

43.  Downton Abbey

44.  Law & Order

45.  Thirtysomething

46.  St. Elsewhere

47.  Homicide: Life on the Street

48.  Homeland

49.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

50.  The Good Wife

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51.  The Colbert Report

52.  The Office (British version)

53.  Northern Exposure

54.  The Wonder Years

55.  L.A. Law

56.  Sesame Street

57.  Columbo

58.  The Rockford Files

59.  Fawlty Towers

60.  Moonlighting

61.  Freaks and Geeks

62.  Roots

63.  Everybody Loves Raymond

64.  South Park

65.  Playhouse 90

66.  The Office (U.S. version)

67.  Dexter

68.  My So-Called Life

69.  Golden Girls

70.  The Andy Griffith Show

71.  The Shield

72.  Roseanne

73.  24

74.  Murphy Brown

75.  House

76.  Barney Miller

77.  I, Claudius

78.  The Odd Couple

79.  Star Trek: The Next Generation

80.  Alfred Hitchcock Presents

81.  Upstairs Downstairs

82.  Monty Python's Flying Circus

83.  Get Smart

84.  Gunsmoke

85.  The Defenders

86.  Sergeant Bilko

87.  Justified

88.  Band of Brothers

89.  Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

90.  The Prisoner

91.  The Muppet Show

92.  Absolutely Fabulous

93.  Boardwalk Empire

94.  Will and Grace

95.  Family Ties

96.  Lonesome Dove

97.  Soap

98.  The Fugitive

99.  Louie

100.  Late Night With David Letterman

101.  Oz

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/8752447/Sopranos-named-best-written-US-TV-series
 04/06/2013
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on June 04, 2013, 09:38:07 PM
I can't help but think that the following tells you all you need to know about how valid any list like this can be:


#12.  "I Love Lucy"

#77.  "I Claudius"
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on June 05, 2013, 04:43:22 AM
I don't see F-Troop on that list.  ananananan
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on June 05, 2013, 04:56:50 AM
I don't see F-Troop on that list.  ananananan

I don't see F-Troop on that list.  ananananan

I didn't recognize your avatar until now.  Nice to see you again Corporal Agarn!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on June 05, 2013, 05:24:01 AM
LOL!!!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on June 06, 2013, 04:33:59 PM
I never watched F Troop. At first I thought you were talking about The Rat Patrol. So I downloaded the show and watched a few episodes. I can see why it was popular a thousand years when it was on. My God, what a lame and racist show. It reminds me of a western Gilligan's Island. Funny at times

I don't recall it ever appearing in Canada, maybe out west. Any other Canuck see it either in first run or syndication?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: adamsmith on June 06, 2013, 05:17:07 PM
F troop was popular back in the day. It either preceded or was right after giligans island both back east in Ottawa and out west in BC when i was a kid. Watched it regularly after school.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on June 08, 2013, 05:54:03 PM
I've been watching the show, funny at times. Nice to see some of the old time actors. But wow, didn't the writers or producers have access to a history book, almanac, anything that had facts.  The jokes got stale quick. The hot Native girls were something.

One thing I never liked about pre-80's American television and movies was the use of non-real or authentic people representing the characters. John Wayne as Ghengis Khan, David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, you get the picture (haha, after television and movie, I said picture)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on June 20, 2013, 02:08:52 AM
Just finished watching Hatfields & McCoys (miniseries).

Surprisingly good.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on September 03, 2013, 09:07:51 PM
A Touch of Cloth is a British television comedy police procedural series created and written by Charlie Brooker and Daniel Maier. It is a parody of British detective and crime dramas, and stars John Hannah and Suranne Jones. The title is a play on the title of another detective series, A Touch of Frost, as well as the vulgar British euphemism "to touch cloth".

Funniest show I've seen in quite awhile. Clever and stupid, just plain bonkers.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on September 03, 2013, 09:43:48 PM
Orange is the New Black is a great series. It's one of those netflix series so all 13 episodes for season 1 were released at the same time. It's about a upper-middle class white New Yorker who goes to a womans prison for something she did 10 years prior. It's quite funny and has a very diverse female cast which is not so common in today's TV landscape.

I would totally recommend it. 
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: roadwalker on September 03, 2013, 10:49:35 PM
Someone mentioned Trailer Park Boys:  my brother turned me onto that one this summer on Netflix. I only saw a few episodes but feel hooked. 
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2013, 02:23:44 AM
Breaking Bad is great. I will watch it through to the end. But what they're doing with it now... is it just me, or has it been just so by the numbers for everyone? The second half of season five has been like it's some other show.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on September 17, 2013, 04:46:23 PM
Breaking Bad is great. I will watch it through to the end. But what they're doing with it now... is it just me, or has it been just so by the numbers for everyone? The second half of season five has been like it's some other show.

Wow, I'd have thought your was a minority opinion, (although you do say that you think the show is great). Incidentally, I'm not going to give any spoilers.

This final season (both halves) has leaned on the suspense that comes form the audience knowing things that the characters don't, in large part because of the flash forwards.

As an article I read recently pointed out, some stories rely on surprise and plot twists, but the whole modus operandi of BB is tension and suspense. There's never really been any secret how the show would end. It's a tragedy, like King Lear.

So, yes, it's fairly easy to predict what will happen in the final two episodes. I could write the basic episode plots now, (because of the flash forwards), but I think that this is continuing to be a masterpiece right to the end.

In order to undercut myself, may I say, I loved the second season of 'The Newsroom'. I understand why the critics hate it. I even agree with their criticisms, but I still enjoy the show. It's like chocolate. I know it's crap, but I like it anyway.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2013, 06:27:25 PM
Yeah, it does seem to be a minority opinion, but particularly for this second half of the fifth season, the episodes seem rote. I'm sure there's tension in there, but how they're building it and what they're having people do in response is just... pedestrian. That is, compared to other seasons. The tricks and twists just feel empty now. There isn't any complexity. (I may be overstating--this is all just a narrative feeling I have.) Jesse's character is a tour-de-force. But Walt...

That said, I will be watching this week episode again tonight. There's always gems in there. (The first episode of the second half of season 5 is a perfect example of this: boring episode, but then "tread lightly". And this week... I want to watch that telephone call again.)

I compare it a bit to Dexter. Dexter is winding up as well, but I still find the narrative thrilling.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Con ate dog on September 17, 2013, 08:25:30 PM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Weeds, a screamingly funny look at the suburbs.

The creator is now busy with Orange is the New Black.

Here's an obscure one to check out:  Please Like Me.  Australian, offbeat, hilarious.

I just completed Six Feet Under.  Masterpiece.

I'm into Elementary, Sherlock and House; they are all contemporary retellings of the same classic.



Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on September 18, 2013, 03:43:56 AM
Weeds petered out quickly
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on September 18, 2013, 04:11:46 AM
I love Orange is the New Black. It's one of those netflix shows so all 13 epsiodes came out at once.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on September 20, 2013, 04:02:49 AM
Rant time...I just watched episode 1 of a new show called "Sleepy Hollow". Ichabod Crane, a former professor of History at Merton College, has joined Washington's forces and is killed in a battle by a masked red-coat whom he has just decapitated. Thanks to some magic mumbo-jumbo he wakes up in present day US. Turns out that Katrina, his wife, albeit if her name was van Tassel we do not know, was a witch and mr. Crane and a young sheriff now has to hunt down the Headless Horseman who is decapitating people left and right. To make it even more interesting, the Headless Horseman is Death, as in one of the Four Horsemen and Crane and the sheriff are the two witnesses mentioned in Revelations.
So essentially it has bugger all to do with Irving's story, the 18th century man very rapidly fits into modern times and the flogged horse, namely stopping the apocalypse, is once more used. Why "Sleepy Hollow"? Why not call it "Rip van Winkle, Apocalypse Stopper"?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on September 20, 2013, 11:19:31 AM
Why not call it "Rip van Winkle, Apocalypse Stopper"?

That sounds just as idiotic as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Which, sad to say, I watched on a TV movie channel in Thailand this summer (there was torrential rain). I couldn't believe it; and sat there slack-jawed, going WTF?

Edit: SOMETHING is in the water in America!
 bibibibibi
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 03, 2013, 05:15:52 AM
Any comments on the "Breaking Bad" wrap-up?  I know flaws can be found; nothing new there. But, taken in the context of the entire series, I thought the last three episodes were nothing short of masterful.  The dialogue, acting and camera work as great as they were, were still no match for the drama and soul-searching that is provoked.  I'll miss those characters dearly.

Please, "Game Of Thrones",hurry up with the airings.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 03, 2013, 05:17:44 AM
I thought it was an excellent ending. Compared to the finale of "Dexter" which blew ever so many chunks.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on October 03, 2013, 02:16:43 PM
I enjoyed the last episode, especially the scene in Skylar's house but I didn't like how everything went Walt's way.

Walt won.

He began cooking meth as a way to make money for his family before he died of cancer and that's what he got in the end.

I would have liked one more scene, with a someone knocking on the window of the snow covered car in New Hampshire.

"You all right buddy?"

Walt frozen to death, his prayer to God to 'just get me there" un-answered, with the rest being what he wanted to happen.

Great, great show but still behind The Wire for me.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 03, 2013, 02:38:30 PM
I liked the Dexter finale. Not sure about Breaking Bad.

I didn't get Walt's transformation. He spent five years pretty much ignoring every other person alive but then losing weight in snow changes him? I mean sure, he's used to New Mexico, snow must strain the soul. But it leeches the Heisenberg out of him too?

Dexter's transformation was a stretch too, but it's been coming for a long while, and it isn't as real as he thinks. So he goes to ground like serial killers do. Plus, the stuff with Deb was freakish enough to be awe inspiring.

People have been saying the real Breaking Bad finale was the third last episode, Ozymandias, and the last two were appropriate anti-climax. I don't quite get that either because, although it's probably true, Walt's argued with Flynn often enough that I don't see why that particular conversation broke him good. Or was it the death of Hank? I'll have to watch again, except that Walt's treatment of Jessie seems to come out of nowhere there too.

And for a Breaking Bad finale, what was with all the nodding? There was a lot of nod-acting, nodding used to convey the thinking of the character, the most egregious example being Jessie's. That kind of literal projection of information across the screen maybe kinda symbolises what the second half of season five became - rote. IMHO. And horror too. It's sort of appropriate that Jessie drives off, possibly nearly insane. I know he was supposed to be over-joyed at finally being free of both Walt and meth cooking, but jeez, can we have at least one scene where there's more than just the one concrete meaning available?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on October 03, 2013, 03:16:21 PM
I didn't get Walt's transformation. He spent five years pretty much ignoring every other person alive but then losing weight in snow changes him? I mean sure, he's used to New Mexico, snow must strain the soul. But it leeches the Heisenberg out of him too?

That might have been the cancer.

Dexter;s final season was pretty poor to me.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 03, 2013, 04:06:59 PM
I didn't get Walt's transformation. He spent five years pretty much ignoring every other person alive but then losing weight in snow changes him? I mean sure, he's used to New Mexico, snow must strain the soul. But it leeches the Heisenberg out of him too?

That might have been the cancer.

It might have been too. Probably was. But if the narrative made that point, it was in passing. Walt was a bundle of outstandingly offensive impersonal plans directed at people for the betterment of some goal he claimed was altruistic. Then at some mysterious point, unannounced by narrative, he discovers he did it for "me". So he invents one last moderately offensive impersonal plan directed at people to finally do it for "them" and, bleh, show's over.

I know for instance that I was supposed to understand something by Walt's phone call to Skyler just before he leaves Holly behind. And I tried. But it didn't look transformative. This opinion perhaps varies by watcher. I DON'T KNOW WHERE HIS TRANSFORMATION CAME FROM!

Quote
Dexter;s final season was pretty poor to me.

It was weird to be sure, and full of irrelevance (Masuka has a daughter? SO WHAT?!), and a so-so antagonist, but I got a lot out of watching Deb and Dexter interact. Given the ending of Season 7, that's pretty much what season 8 was supposed to be about.

When season 7 ended, it seemed to me that only Dexter was getting out of this show alive. So it kinda went where I expected it to. Not sure what I expected for Breaking Bad. Had it been a morality play in the past? Did good things ever come to anyone, or bad things ever come to Walt? The show was about audacity and corrosion. Not sure how it ended.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on October 03, 2013, 05:12:32 PM
There was never any secret as to what the show was about; Mr Chips becomes Scarface.

Of course, we all bring our own expectations and hopes to any piece of fiction. If Jane Eyre was a modern TV series, I'd be really annoyed with the ending. I see it as a piece of feminist fiction, and I hate the ending. There's all kinds of novels that end 'badly'.

Great works of fiction are always reinterpreted, and I guess some people have reinterpreted Breaking Bad as it went along, and wanted it to end badly, but it's fairly normal for fiction to end with resolutions and catharsis.

That doesn't invalidate the criticisms of the final episode. Everything fell miraculously into place for Walt, the whole episode was about him, and perhaps the show copped out on an implicit understanding with the audience that Walt would get what he deserved. I didn't have a problem with any of these things, but everybody sees things differently.

I can't quite take in the idea that Dexter and Breaking Bad can even be compared, because I see Dexter as an initially amusing piece of fluff that jumped the shark when Rita died, and Breaking Bad as one of the greatest works of fiction ever created. Not just the writing and  acting.

But you know, I don't think much of Mad Men, and various other shows that are supposed to be greats. We all like what we like. I've given the JLMB thumbs up to some real pieces of crap on this thread. I agree with ericthered about forbrydelson (sic) and  Borgen now, (although I do think those shows turned out to be quite influential in some of their tones and elements, and have given rise to some of the best recent shows, like Broadchurch and that Gillian Anderson show set in Belfast). Under the Dome just became silly. I'm in no position to judge someone who thought that the final season of Dexter was good, although that won't stop me.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 03, 2013, 08:10:10 PM
Walt pushed so hard for ego survival. When he finally properly broke, when he was confronted so fully by having his cover blown, that's to say, when "I did it for my family" no longer was real even to him, WE COULD HAVE AT LEAST BEEN SHOWN A LITTLE OF THAT FOR GOD"S SAKE! Because if he no longer had his family, he still had the person he did it all for, himself--he could have, and maybe should have, carried on. And the balance of audacity to corrosion should have tipped over to the corrosion side. He should have corroded. They tried to do it that way, I think. They put him in snow, made him lose weight, and had him break down coughing. They metaphored it. Telegraphed it. And therefore he became the Meth Fairy, slipping into people's houses at night to leave giant piles of money on top of the pillow or lottery tickets to grave sites.

It's okay.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 04, 2013, 04:48:48 PM
I saw no redemption given to Walt in the finale, (Felina).  Just because his gadgets worked and he got revenge, does not mean he received forgiveness. On the contrary. He admitted, finally, that he had chosen his own ego over his family.  Verbally, to Skyler and in the last scene where he dies fondling the prized meth tank. He was evil and warped, but yet, had humanity, unlike Scarface. All of this was true to the character from the beginning.

Yeah, giving him superhero status was a bit much, but certainly enjoyable.  And I did feel that he had a transformation of sorts. We didn't get enough time with him in New Hampshire, but we certainly saw him hit rock bottom, (in the Granite State).  He was reduced to a small box of money, no family, friends or loved ones.  Let with only himself which is what he craved and was not enough and never is for any of us. 
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 04, 2013, 04:54:59 PM
"I know for instance that I was supposed to understand something by Walt's phone call to Skyler just before he leaves Holly behind. And I tried. But it didn't look transformative."

I don't think it was supposed to be transformative. I think it was just a way of helping Skyler with the police. To say, knowing it was being recorded, that she knew about none of this, that he did it all.  But, we saw his tears so he knows the separation from his family is now permanent.

The wrist-watch being left on the telephone was interesting too.  I heard it was just to fix a continuity error, but it seemed to symbolize that he knew he was out of time.  Or that he was soon to be beyond time. Or that I just can't read symbols...not sure which.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on October 05, 2013, 05:22:49 AM
In case anyone is having Breaking Bad  withdrawals, there is always Metástasis (http://dangerousminds.net/comments/metastasis._the_spanish-language_remake_of_breaking_bad)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 05, 2013, 05:11:09 PM
Been watching the third season of "Hell on Wheels", now that is a good show  agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: rattie on October 05, 2013, 06:20:51 PM
Kostya and I have been watching Peaky Blinders, Brit telly series, enjoying it very much.
R x
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 05, 2013, 10:17:24 PM
Breaking Bad spoiler alert.  But, funny.

http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/breaking-bad-walter-white-obit-1200694265/
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on October 05, 2013, 11:16:47 PM
I don't think Breaking Bad comes anywhere near The Wire or even The Sopranos

It was very entertaining and beautifully filmed but the whole story was just ridiculous, Walt had that sort of James Bond luck where he's going up against all these evil people who have been killing people all their lives and yet they can't kill him because he's really good at making drugs?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on October 06, 2013, 12:35:15 AM
Well all this talk about the greatest TV show ever is about to become redundant anyway.

Tomorrow is the premiere of 'The People's Couch'.
Quote
"The People's Couch" is a new three-episode, limited series that features real people watching and commenting on popular shows and news from the past week. Bravo will deliver the buzziest water-cooler moments of the Fall television season by showcasing avid TV watchers in their homes, as they laugh, cry, talk, gasp, and scream at their TVs.

Hell yeah, bitch.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 06, 2013, 01:30:29 AM
Wait...hold on..a TV show basically about normal people watching TV? So, essentially, we will be watching people watching TV??? I am not sure but I do think that might actually be the beginning of the Apocalypse, ending with our solar system imploding out of sheer shame... agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on October 06, 2013, 04:19:08 AM
Wait...hold on..a TV show basically about normal people watching TV? So, essentially, we will be watching people watching TV??? I am not sure but I do think that might actually be the beginning of the Apocalypse, ending with our solar system imploding out of sheer shame... agagagagag

Admittedly I did watch those Youtube videos of peoples reaction to the Game of Thrones "Red Wedding" episode. That was pretty funny to watch!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Arnold J. Rimmer on October 06, 2013, 12:10:21 PM
I don't think Breaking Bad comes anywhere near The Wire or even The Sopranos

It was very entertaining and beautifully filmed but the whole story was just ridiculous, Walt had that sort of James Bond luck where he's going up against all these evil people who have been killing people all their lives and yet they can't kill him because he's really good at making drugs?

I think the point is that he has a natural flair for criminality,.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 06, 2013, 04:56:40 PM
I don't think Breaking Bad comes anywhere near The Wire or even The Sopranos

It was very entertaining and beautifully filmed but the whole story was just ridiculous, Walt had that sort of James Bond luck where he's going up against all these evil people who have been killing people all their lives and yet they can't kill him because he's really good at making drugs?

I think the point is that he has a natural flair for criminality,.

Yeah, "The Wire" (and "Deadwood"), set the standard for me.  I've watched three seasons or so of "The Sopranos" and I don't feel like it's much more than just, okay.  I know it gets big props from critics and audiences but it seems to cast a wide net while "Breaking Bad" drills deeper. 

I agree about the McGiver quality to the last episode, but all-in-all I have to put it right up there in the pantheon.  Aside from the production and acting quality, the dialogue dives into some pretty significant issues about a man's role today.  Duty to family vs. personal fulfillment. Especially in an age where we're asked to be specialists.  "Partial" human beings and the rage it can summon from having capabilities and potentials taken, or given away.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Fozzwaldus on October 09, 2013, 05:19:00 PM
I don't think Breaking Bad comes anywhere near The Wire or even The Sopranos

It was very entertaining and beautifully filmed but the whole story was just ridiculous, Walt had that sort of James Bond luck where he's going up against all these evil people who have been killing people all their lives and yet they can't kill him because he's really good at making drugs?

I think the point is that he has a natural flair for criminality,.

Yeah, "The Wire" (and "Deadwood"), set the standard for me.  I've watched three seasons or so of "The Sopranos" and I don't feel like it's much more than just, okay.  I know it gets big props from critics and audiences but it seems to cast a wide net while "Breaking Bad" drills deeper. 

I agree about the McGiver quality to the last episode, but all-in-all I have to put it right up there in the pantheon.  Aside from the production and acting quality, the dialogue dives into some pretty significant issues about a man's role today.  Duty to family vs. personal fulfillment. Especially in an age where we're asked to be specialists.  "Partial" human beings and the rage it can summon from having capabilities and potentials taken, or given away.

for me Breaking Bad was remarkable in the sense that it started off looking like it was going to be a very entertaining but not brilliant TV show, and then reached heights of excellence as it went on. The Wire and the Sopranos (most of it) and Deadwood are still the benchmark. Agreed.

Just watched the first series of Black Mirror, as recommended above, and it is very very god.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on October 09, 2013, 05:54:06 PM
I think one of the reasons that so many people (myself included) rate Sopranos so highly might be because it was the first one of those shows. HBO were heading in that direction, I remember Oz (about the prison) was like that, but Sopranos had top class actors and had a lot more 'normal' people and situations in.

I only watched Deadwood this year, total mystery why they cancelled it to me, what there was of it was brilliant.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on October 09, 2013, 05:56:47 PM
Well all this talk about the greatest TV show ever is about to become redundant anyway.

Tomorrow is the premiere of 'The People's Couch'.
Quote
"The People's Couch" is a new three-episode, limited series that features real people watching and commenting on popular shows and news from the past week. Bravo will deliver the buzziest water-cooler moments of the Fall television season by showcasing avid TV watchers in their homes, as they laugh, cry, talk, gasp, and scream at their TVs.

Hell yeah, bitch.

There was a 90s TV show called 'The Royle Family' which was mostly just a working class family in Manchester sitting in the living room watching TV, it worked really well
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: becster79 on October 11, 2013, 01:50:21 AM
I'm really enjoying "Hostages", new this season in the States (currently 3 episodes in). It's been panned by critics, but, suspending belief sometimes, it's great escape tv!

Basically, top DC surgeon is about to do surgery on the President, but the day before her entire family is taken hostage by a group led by an FBI agent. They want her to kill the President or else....and lots high up are involved. And every person, family and kidnappers have dirty secrets slowly coming out.

Great fun!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 16, 2013, 02:22:08 PM

I only watched Deadwood this year, total mystery why they cancelled it to me, what there was of it was brilliant.

I think the director, David Milch, ended it. I believe there were creative differences but, basically, he believed it had run its course. Milch is one weird dude; actually arrested in college for shooting out a police car cherry lights. Here's an interesting interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyl3iswI0Dc
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 17, 2013, 10:51:34 PM
Up until recently I liked "Once Upon a Time" but the plot simply seems to go nowhere. Robin Hood is the soul-mate of the Evil Queen of the Enchanted Forest? I am all for weird and fascinating twists and turns and I have long waited for a show that would, once and for all, reveal Peter Pan for the black-hearted villainous kidnapper that he is, but the show has turned silly and every episode ends with, I assume, a sudden revelation which is only not predictable if the viewer is, well, dead. It was such a promising show...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on October 17, 2013, 11:49:45 PM
Up until recently I liked "Once Upon a Time" but the plot simply seems to go nowhere. Robin Hood is the soul-mate of the Evil Queen of the Enchanted Forest? I am all for weird and fascinating twists and turns and I have long waited for a show that would, once and for all, reveal Peter Pan for the black-hearted villainous kidnapper that he is, but the show has turned silly and every episode ends with, I assume, a sudden revelation which is only not predictable if the viewer is, well, dead. It was such a promising show...

I agree (And uh, thanks for the spoiler you bastard, haven't watched the new epsiode yet!) I thought it had a great premise but then it seemed like even the writers were thrown off that it would continue running for so long. Like, they just randomly throw in pieces of the back story willy nilly to create dramatic tension (Snow Whites long-lost favorite nursemaid that was a surrogate mother showed up all of two episodes just so they could kill her, and the "your grandson will be your downfall" appeared and dropped pretty quickly.) 

I love re-telling of fairy tales but this show sucks now.

Meanwhile I am loving the new season of Downton Abbey. Poor Anna!!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 27, 2013, 02:21:34 AM
Ever since watching "The Tudors" I have been wondering why someone has not cast that Rhys-Meyers chap as a vampire. He looks like a vampire. No, he looks like vampires probably would like to look like. It would be so easy. He wouldn't even need make-up. So, it was with some delight I sat down to watch the premiere of "Dracula" starring him as Dracula. It was a good beginning. I am, mostly, a purist and deeply despise the brooding tween vampires that we, for absurd reasons, seem to be inundated with, but Dracula is different. However, in the show, one gets the impression that good old Drac is not evil, not completely anyway. The show is definitely promising, except for one thing and that is Dracula's American accent. It is horrible. Halfway through the episode, I so desperately wanted Rex Harrison in his role as Henry Higgins to jump out, put Drac in a leg-lock and shout "Longer vowels, old chum, let me hear it...come on...the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain...no, not uncle, come, come, there's a good chap, let me hear those long, beautiful vowels". It is, I must clarify, not American accents in general I have a problem with, just the way it is spoken by mr. Meyers. He is not very good at it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 31, 2013, 07:12:09 AM
VIKINGS

Just watched the first season of only 9 episodes. Viking mythology is captivating, and this show is so well done. Not too much gratuity with splendid scenery, characters, action and intrigue.

What amuses me is that I didn't know that the Norsemen had Irish accents
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on October 31, 2013, 08:30:53 AM
What amuses me is that I didn't know that the Norsemen had Irish accents

That's okay - I think back in the days of the Vikings, a lot of the Irish had Norse accents.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 31, 2013, 01:09:31 PM
I thought it entertaining too. However, as for historical accuracy, it is about as true and factual as Wodehouse's depiction of Edwardian society. A fun show, nonetheless.  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on October 31, 2013, 01:21:44 PM
The show is definitely promising, except for one thing and that is Dracula's American accent. It is horrible. Halfway through the episode, I so desperately wanted Rex Harrison in his role as Henry Higgins to jump out, put Drac in a leg-lock and shout "Longer vowels, old chum, let me hear it...come on...the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain...no, not uncle, come, come, there's a good chap, let me hear those long, beautiful vowels". It is, I must clarify, not American accents in general I have a problem with, just the way it is spoken by mr. Meyers. He is not very good at it.

I liked this show too but I disagree with the accent. I mean, yes, its REALLY bad, but I thought that was the point. They show him in the beginning trying to get used to it, and I think it is bad on purpose because it's Dracula trying on a new "role" and being someone he's not.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 31, 2013, 01:51:53 PM
I thought it entertaining too. However, as for historical accuracy, it is about as true and factual as Wodehouse's depiction of Edwardian society. A fun show, nonetheless.  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag

At least they don't have horns on their helmets

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on October 31, 2013, 05:47:13 PM
True, I see the point of the accent. As for horns on helmets, that would have been very silly.
As for really dumb shows, poor acting and general wallowing in conventions and cliche, I recommend watching one episode of "The Witches of East End". It is spectacularly horrible.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on November 01, 2013, 01:28:59 AM

Ever since watching "The Tudors" I have been wondering why someone has not cast that Rhys-Meyers chap as a vampire.


Seems he agrees with you. He's a producer of the show.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on November 16, 2013, 07:09:45 PM
Hmm..sometimes one has to wonder who writes or researches TV shows. In "Sleepy Hollow" a show I am starting to like simply for its entertainment value, the residents of the Lost Colony of Roanoke are discovered and, apparently, they communicate in Middle English. Uhm...hmm...Yes, a colony established during the reign of Queen Elizabeth speaks Middle English...right..
Watching "Grimm" today, I was mildly chuckling at the last conversation between the main character and a befuddled young man who had, albeit he did not know it, been saved by a naiad with a tween crush on him and had seen something he could not understand. He then stated the girl was "not normal", to which the main character replied "No-one is, Jake, it's Portland", the gf could not understand reason for chucklimg and now I am trying to download "Chinatown". I can't help but wonder how many such references are lost on a less nerdy demographic, the same demographic, I assume, who has no problem with a 16th Century English colony speaking Middle English.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on November 16, 2013, 07:24:27 PM
Hmm..sometimes one has to wonder who writes or researches TV shows.


The same people who research and write this networks "news".
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on November 17, 2013, 09:58:01 PM
Having tried, once more, to like the new show "Dracula", I am confused. First, we, the viewers, are presented with good ol' Vlad being all miffed about not being being able to work on his tan and van Helsing informing him that, due to the fact he has no heartbeat, the anti-sun serum cannot be transported around in his body. Ok then, fair dinkum. Moments later, we are introduced to Drac making mad monkey-love to a blond vampire hunter who, despite being a professional hunter of the Nosferatu, is incapable of noticing such trivial things as her lover's body being ice cold, doesn't have a heartbeat and does not breathe. I fail to grasp how Drac can perform "the beast with two backs" when we have recently been informed that his blood is dormant. Thus no blood can surge to any members, rendering the possibility of an erection somewhat null, I would say. More to the point, if his increasingly annoying accent is used to play a part in front of the gullible citizens of London, then why does he keep it up in private? And Dracula is now a do-gooding humanitarian whose aim is to provide the world with green energy and destroy the evil oil magnates??? Why in the world did they have to call this show "Dracula"?...oh, hold on..never mind...for the same reason that the inhabitants of Roanoke spoke Middle English...if they really want a good show with good characters and plot set in the Victorian era, why not just turn "No Name" or "Armadale" into a series? They were serialized before they were novels...I should probably just stop watching TV. The gf was watching the new show "Atlantis" the other day, I watched 3 minutes...Hercules is a fat boy playing with beetles... mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm bibibibibi aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on November 17, 2013, 10:13:25 PM

if they really want a good show with good characters and plot set in the Victorian era, why not just turn "No Name" or "Armadale" into a series?


Why would you think they want a good show?

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Borkya on November 18, 2013, 02:13:38 AM
hahahah, ETR, that is quite a funny criticism of the show. Good point old chap, good point!  agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 08, 2013, 10:00:39 PM
A bit behind the times... just started watching Person of Interest. (Season three is on going in, I'm still on season one.) At first, particularly in the first episode, I was like, everyone speaks what they're doing, literally speaks it, how is there going to be anything worth watching. But then the characters started getting interesting. Shall watch more while waiting for Revolution and Continuum to start again.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 23, 2013, 02:59:27 AM
I am really enjoying this Person of Interest. It's basically Batman and Robin but post-9/11 and Robin's the money and the brains while Batman's the muscle. It's great. They even have super-villains. Batman's skills come from him being ex-special forces and CIA, and he has no special gadgetry beyond one gigantic "Machine", a super-surveillance program created for the government by Robin Finch.

What I'm enjoying is, in the proper sense of the word, this tv show "realizes" the Batman story, makes it real. Or real enough anyway.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 22, 2014, 01:06:27 AM
So this is starting to suck: I've caught up with all the Person of Interest episodes and got used to watching two a day but new episodes are hard to come by. CBS in it/their wisdom has rationed them to once a fortnight. IT IS NOT ENOUGH! I NEED MY STORIES!

I need a new show. I like Person of Interest, Revolution, Continuum, and taking walks in the rain. When they were on I liked Dexter and Breaking Bad. Going back a bit, West Wing was cool, so was The Wire. Also Dollhouse and Buffy.

WHAT IS THERE LEFT?!?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: kitano on January 22, 2014, 02:34:03 AM
So this is starting to suck: I've caught up with all the Person of Interest episodes and got used to watching two a day but new episodes are hard to come by. CBS in it/their wisdom has rationed them to once a fortnight. IT IS NOT ENOUGH! I NEED MY STORIES!

I need a new show. I like Person of Interest, Revolution, Continuum, and taking walks in the rain. When they were on I liked Dexter and Breaking Bad. Going back a bit, West Wing was cool, so was The Wire. Also Dollhouse and Buffy.

WHAT IS THERE LEFT?!?

I try to avoid new shows because I much prefer burning through the whole thing in a few sittings. I wish I hadn't gotten into Game of Thrones....

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 22, 2014, 03:56:30 PM
I'm just glad Game of Thrones sucks so much. I mean, sure, it's great, but they have a billion story lines and every episode reads like a complication of five minute skits. If there's some over-arching narrative, it gets skewered every time. Plus, is it actually still on? It feels like years since I saw an ep....

Anyway, Imma try out Orphan Black and Hannibal.


Episodic tv is the new novel.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 22, 2014, 05:09:53 PM
I watched Season 1 of a Swedish series called "Real Humans"

Wish the English subtitles had been larger, but other than that, no complaints.

What happens when robots not only look like us, but start to be able to think and act like us?  Besides hookerbots afafafafaf, there are some serious social issues raised.

Plus, Anita/Mimi is amazingly hot. akakakakak

Season 2 is in production.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 26, 2014, 05:32:57 PM
Orphan Black turns out to be great. Tense, speculative, funny, plus really well realised characters (even when they teeter along the stereotype line). Tatiana Maslany is superb as several different characters (whereas Matt Frewer as just one, Dr. Aldous Leekie, is kinda miscast, but whatevs). You can still see what should be invisible, the technical wizardry when several of Tatiana's characters appear on the screen at the same time, but given the heights everything else reaches in terms of story, production and performance, it's forgivable.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 26, 2014, 08:49:19 PM
True Detective (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjY1MjkzMzA0.html) - weird, hard to follow sometimes, but great, a new kind of scary tv. Also, very definitely must watch in HD.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on May 02, 2014, 01:41:27 AM
I'm just glad Game of Thrones sucks so much. I mean, sure, it's great, but they have a billion story lines and every episode reads like a complication of five minute skits. If there's some over-arching narrative, it gets skewered every time. Plus, is it actually still on? It feels like years since I saw an ep....

Anyway, Imma try out Orphan Black and Hannibal.

Episodic tv is the new novel.

Caught up with Game Of Thrones? Yeah, it is extremely dense so you almost have to be obsessed with it to like it at all, but I think it's the best thing since Deadwood and The Wire.

I agree with your TV/Novel comment. I think we're in some kind of golden age of television; so many great series that are actually given the time to develop over many seasons. I never would have thought I'd say something like that about TV having grown up in the "Smokey And The Bandits/P.J. And The Bear" era.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 02, 2014, 02:30:57 AM
Game of Thrones is better this season. The episodes seem are more coherent, somehow. When the characters are clothed, anyway. The interludes with the boobs and shaven boy toys continue roll eyes-worthy, but HBO.

In other news, I didn't like Hannibal. Too much like watching Dallas. With Hannibal as Larry Hagman.

Orphan Black has started its season two. I wish to keep liking it but I worry it has jumped a shark somewhere.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 16, 2014, 10:53:39 AM
http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/2j80wh/glenn-greenwald-pt--1
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2014, 04:23:40 AM
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzExNDIwMTk2.html
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on May 17, 2014, 05:22:46 AM
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzExNDIwMTk2.html

Brilliant! I was gifted a boxed set of the "Taste of China" DVD series. Well worth watching, but it got a bit, no a lot, tedious after an episode or two.

Here's  a minute and a half of British satire on Taste of China style that made my night. Thanks Calach!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2014, 06:24:48 AM
It's a thing, apparently. Gone "viral" on the Chinternet.

http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2014/05/16/talking-entertainment-taste-potato-come-haiza-get-out
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 22, 2014, 08:58:55 PM
The 100

Post-apocalyptic drama with teenagers. Surprisingly not awful. The "grounders" have exactly the same accent as the "the 100", who've supposedly been off-Earth for two generations, which is jarring, but the story develops in a watchable fashion anyway.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 05, 2014, 03:07:39 PM
Well, it's that time of year again - all my shows have finale'd. And it seems like movie season has been woeful. So I don't know what to watch. Started on Fargo instead.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on July 05, 2014, 08:53:13 PM
Well, it's that time of year again - all my shows have finale'd. And it seems like movie season has been woeful. So I don't know what to watch. Started on Fargo instead.

May I suggest a few British shows.

Most recent is Hugo Blick's new drama 'The Honourable Woman'. You'll either love it or hate it, but either way you'll spend 8 hours of your life having no idea what the hell is going on. Episode 1 was last week.

Happy Valley.

Line of Duty (there's been 2 seasons, but the second one might be slightly better.

As for American series, based on your posts I think you'll completely hate this next one, but I kind of like 'The Last Ship' which has started recently.  Hammy acting. Lots of action. Sort of like a mix between transformers and an advert for the American Navy, but me like the 1st 2 episodes.

Of course, it might go down the sink quickly. To my shame I liked the first couple of episodes of 'Under The Dome' and that went rancid very quickly.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on July 06, 2014, 12:58:38 AM
Line of Duty was excellent. I agree that the second season was better than the first but the first was good too.

Fargo was also really good.

I've just watched the first two episodes of Tyrant about a despot in a fictional Arab country. They weren't quite brave enough to make it completely Arab, so there is the family member that grew up in America as the lead. It could go either way really but it's different at least.

The first episode of The Leftovers was interesting. 2% of the worlds population disappears in an instant but instead of focusing on the why and how, the show seems to more interested in the effect the disappearance has on the people that are dealing with the loss. Not exactly a cheer you up kind of show but I'm looking forward to more.

The rest is fluff but that doesn't mean not enjoyable. Gang Related is a new show. Falling Skies is back and so is Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day, which is a fun show.

In the running for stupidest concept for a show ever, is Taxi Brooklyn. It's a police procedural. A pretty detective who is sometimes reckless and a terrible driver gets put on foot patrol because she can't be trusted to drive and no will partner with her. Through a series of increasing unbelievable events, she ends up helping a French immigrant taxi driver. He offers to drive her anywhere, whenever she needs, and so becomes her new unofficial partner. With her detective skills and determination and his awesome driving abilities and worldliness, they fight crime in Brooklyn. Meanwhile her cougar mother has the hots for the taxi driver.

This show really has to be seen to believed.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 06, 2014, 02:09:41 AM
As for American series, based on your posts I think you'll completely hate this next one, but I kind of like 'The Last Ship' which has started recently.  Hammy acting. Lots of action. Sort of like a mix between transformers and an advert for the American Navy, but me like the 1st 2 episodes.

Thus challenged, I did watch. Even the women had lantern jaws.

*salutes*
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on July 06, 2014, 04:52:57 AM
I started watching Tyrant, which is by the same production team as Homeland. It is kind of an interesting premise -- this guy is the second son of some Saddam Hussein type. He's made a life for himself in America, even married an American woman, and has tried to put his past and heritage behind him. His wife finally convinces him to return home for a visit so the kids can get in touch with their heritage, etc etc, and of course while the family is there some shit goes down and they find leaving isn't so easy.

I've seen two episodes so far and it has managed not to be terribly offensive, which would be my major concern with a show set in the Middle East. I was one of the people who watched Homeland always kind of wishing Brody would just stay a terrorist, and this show satisfies some of that desire to see more Middle Eastern political intrigue where the Americans are not automatically the good guys. It also has the guy who played Andy on Weeds. He plays this smarmy expat guy and does a good job of it. Maybe check it out?

HBO also has a new show out, an adaptation of one of Tom Perrotta's books, The Leftovers. Tom is a friend of a friend so I started watching it out of support for him. The premise is rather odd -- a large portion of the world's population just disappeared, in a rapture like event or something. The story is set many years later, after the immediate aftermath, as people try to rebuild their lives.  The first episode was alright. If you like strange and like HBO, it might be a good one to try.

The only other summer show I've checked out is Reckless, which I watched because it is set in my hometown of Charleston, SC. I was not terribly impressed with the first episode, but it is always fun seeing shows set in familiar places.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on July 06, 2014, 03:02:49 PM
Stil, I agree with everything you said about Taxi Brooklyn but you left out how every single line in the show is a cliche and delivered with what can only be called melodramatic, overacted pathos, the characters are so flat you could slide them under a door and there is not a single element of the plot that hasn't been lifted from somewhere else. In actual fact, this is a good show...if one wanted to use a TV show in class to show how bad something can be by over-usage of stereotypes, cliches and cut-and-paste plot formulas. agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on July 06, 2014, 08:05:17 PM
Line of Duty was excellent. I agree that the second season was better than the first but the first was good too.

Fargo was also really good.

I've just watched the first two episodes of Tyrant about a despot in a fictional Arab country. They weren't quite brave enough to make it completely Arab, so there is the family member that grew up in America as the lead. It could go either way really but it's different at least.

The first episode of The Leftovers was interesting. 2% of the worlds population disappears in an instant but instead of focusing on the why and how, the show seems to more interested in the effect the disappearance has on the people that are dealing with the loss. Not exactly a cheer you up kind of show but I'm looking forward to more.

The rest is fluff but that doesn't mean not enjoyable. Gang Related is a new show. Falling Skies is back and so is Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day, which is a fun show.

In the running for stupidest concept for a show ever, is Taxi Brooklyn. It's a police procedural. A pretty detective who is sometimes reckless and a terrible driver gets put on foot patrol because she can't be trusted to drive and no will partner with her. Through a series of increasing unbelievable events, she ends up helping a French immigrant taxi driver. He offers to drive her anywhere, whenever she needs, and so becomes her new unofficial partner. With her detective skills and determination and his awesome driving abilities and worldliness, they fight crime in Brooklyn. Meanwhile her cougar mother has the hots for the taxi driver.

This show really has to be seen to believed.



I just realized that we watched the same new shows. That's what I get for not reading upthread.

I rather liked The Leftovers but I am kind of wondering how it will play out as a multi-season series. It doesn't immediately strike me as having massive amounts of plot to develop, but I guess we'll see.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on July 06, 2014, 11:40:11 PM
I just realized that we watched the same new shows. That's what I get for not reading upthread.

I rather liked The Leftovers but I am kind of wondering how it will play out as a multi-season series. It doesn't immediately strike me as having massive amounts of plot to develop, but I guess we'll see.

That 2% could always come back, I suppose. Maybe religious factions?

It's based on a book that was well received but I don't know anything about it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on July 06, 2014, 11:42:27 PM
Stil, I agree with everything you said about Taxi Brooklyn but you left out how every single line in the show is a cliche and delivered with what can only be called melodramatic, overacted pathos, the characters are so flat you could slide them under a door and there is not a single element of the plot that hasn't been lifted from somewhere else. In actual fact, this is a good show...if one wanted to use a TV show in class to show how bad something can be by over-usage of stereotypes, cliches and cut-and-paste plot formulas. agagagagag agagagagag

Yeah, you got it.

I watched the second episode, couldn't help myself. It's like watching a car crash or something.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: redoctoberblack on July 07, 2014, 05:19:00 PM
I was a big Burn Notice Fan.
Currently I've just started watching Defiance.
Also pretty much any animation gets watched.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 07, 2014, 09:59:32 PM
Currently I've just started watching Defiance.

Is it any good? I kept seeing promos for it on the end of Continuum and wondered.


Meanwhile, I have accepted the Line of Doody challenge and sought out the first episode. We shall see,
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 07, 2014, 11:58:44 PM
Sherlock from the BBC vs Elementary from CBS.

SPOILER ALERT
If you haven't seen these, skip this post.
SPOILER ALERT - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Each one takes its own spin on modernizing the Sherlock Holmes tradition.  Updating Holmes to the current year isn't as new of a concept as it seems.  During WWII, there were movies with Sherlock Holmes foiling the Nazis.

Sherlock has epic, movie quality writing and production, but only 3 episodes per year.  At 24 episodes per year, Elementary can't quite compete on the quality level, but more than makes up for this in quantity.

And now, let's let our 2 versions of Sherlock Holmes debate for points.  To save time, we'll use S for the one from Sherlock and E for the one from Elementary.

S - I think I left my riding crop in the mortuary.

E - I prefer to strangle a corpse with my bare hands.

Point goes to S just for the quote value alone. cbcbcbcbcb


S - I have a mind castle.

E - I sit on the floor staring at the evidence.

S - I meditate.

E - I watch 10 TVs at once.

Tie - both Sherlocks definitely need therapy.


S - My parents are boring, normal people.

E - I never speak of my mother.  My father is very rich and powerful.

Close, but S's parents stole the show when they appeared.  E may yet recapture this point if we ever meet his father or mother.


S - I permit no distractions in my life.

E - I have one night stands with different women all the time to keep my mind clear.

Considering that at least one of his explorations involved checking a pair of identical twins for any possible differences, E definitively wins this point. afafafafaf


S - I have a network of homeless people assisting me.

E - I have a shadowy group of hackers assisting me.

S - I pay my assistants with small amounts of money.

E - I pay my assistants by performing bizarre acts of self-humiliation both online and in public.

Point goes to E. ahahahahah


S - Dr. John Watson is also a cute little hobbit named Bilbo.

E - Dr. Joan Watson is Lucy Liu. ajajajajaj

No question that E wins this point.


E - I won't even admit it to myself, but I think I'm secretly in love with my Watson.

S - I'm also secretly in love with my Wats . . .  Oh wait, I didn't say that. bibibibibi

Tie - there probably are betting pools worldwide on which Holmes-Watson couple will be the first to kiss. ahahahahah


E - I've had sex with Moriarty.

S - But I thought you were straight.

E - My Moriarty is Irene Adler.

S - WHAT?!? aqaqaqaqaq

E - Have you done it with your Moriarty?

S - Wait until next season to find out.

Point to E.


E - My brother owns restaurants and works for MI6.

S - My brother owns most of the UK government and MI6 works for him.

Point to S.


E - I'm a recovering heroin addict.

S - I could consume twice my body weight in drugs and my mind would overcome the effects with no effort.

Point to S.


S - My housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, smokes pot, but is a nice lady.

E - My housekeeper, Ms. Hudson, is a ladyboy.

Tie - we have to wait at least one more season to see who's going to win the point for weirdest version of Mrs. Hudson.


S - I do foolishly dangerous things when I'm bored, and I'm often bored.

E - I do foolishly dangerous things when I'm angry, and I'm easily angered.

Tie - and another recommendation for therapy along with large doses of anti-psychotic medication too.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: redoctoberblack on July 08, 2014, 05:28:22 PM
Currently I've just started watching Defiance.

Is it any good? I kept seeing promos for it on the end of Continuum and wondered.


Meanwhile, I have accepted the Line of Doody challenge and sought out the first episode. We shall see,

It's quite alright, I enjoy it much more than Dominion.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 14, 2014, 03:48:47 PM
Line of Duty - Season 2

Finished it. Liked it a lot. BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND>...

SPOILERS

So Jane Ackers was on the take. And she was working with Dot Cotton to set up Tommy. Then Lindsay Denton blunders in. She wants to arrest Tommy, or hassle him, not knowing what or who he is, only that he beat up a girl who may or may not have blown Lindsay's estranged ex-bf, DCC Dryden. Jane Ackers sees Lindsay's naive actions as an opening. She makes contact and begs Lindsay to help her pull Tommy out into the open because...

I don't get who Jane wanted Tommy to fall into the hands of. She said, no guns, no heroics. She said there were people who had an interest. I *guess* since she was on the take and Tommy was getting unstable, she did mean for him to disappear. She knew moving Tommy would be a hit? Or she didn't know, and she was trying to protect him, but someone else, possibly Dot, made other arrangements?

Who put the tracker on Lindsay's car?

Etc.


Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on July 18, 2014, 07:53:15 PM
I have been watching "Sons of Anarchy" for the last few weeks. I am on Season 5 now and it is a good show. Quite gripping. There is not a single likeable character in it, the supposed internal struggle that Jax, the main character is apparently dealing with is non-existent. The thing that makes the show so watchable is that it is populated by the most intriguing and messed-up bunch of sell-serving, delusional sociopaths I have ever seen, if one disregards "Breaking Bad".
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 18, 2014, 06:47:37 PM
Outlander

In 1945, married World War II nurse Claire Randall finds herself transported back to 1743 Scotland, where she finds civil war and the dashing Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser.

This is a new show, only two episodes have screened so far. I am entertained. The romance and inter-personal danger elements are attractive and working well so far. It could turn soap opera-ish, but the sci-fi/fantasy elements might yet keep it afloat. Haven't read the books. Might give them a try.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on August 18, 2014, 11:58:55 PM
I watched the first episode of Outlander too, but haven't seen the second episode yet. The book series, which I haven't read either, is really popular, so I'm trying to give it a shot even though for some reason I really hate time travel just as a general thing.

(I have not really examined why I dislike time travel so much ... SciFi and fantasy don't bother me, I can even enjoy the genres, but time travel really really bugs. Why, I wonder?)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 19, 2014, 01:40:38 AM
But, but.... DOCTOR WHO!

(Who, in his twelfth incarnation, premieres in five days....)


I think the time travel conceit in Outlander would work less well if Claire were any less 1940s upper class British than she is. She's out of place in the time she landed in, obviously, but not by so much that she couldn't be a real person there. This is true at least according to my sensibilities, and apparently according to how it's working out on screen. So for now I'm okay with the time travel element. It might get old though. Depends how they render it. Like why it happened and what it is. I don't know how much sci-fi/fantasy they'll end up leaning on though so we'll have to see.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 25, 2014, 10:07:49 PM
Doctor Who - (new) season 8 - twelfth doctor - episode 1

I AM NOT CONVINCED!

First ep of the eighth season of the Doctor Who reboot was last night. Peter Capaldi is a cool doctor, and in some ways he is a return to the doctors of the original seasons, but the episode last night - Deep Breath - was carried by Clara, and as such had something of a miasma about it. The feeling to me was "this guy is not the last two doctors!"

I don't follow Doctor Who that closely. I only really started watching because Rose Tyler. But I think I recall taking the David Tennant / Matt Smith transition better than this one. I also think it probably doesn't matter. Given a few more episodes and hopefully some new story themes, this new guy will take over nicely.

Clara was pretty cool though. It's a good episode.


Outlander - 3rd episode

Third episode last night. And they started working on their answer to "wtf, time travel?!" The bulk of the episode was still on the actually very interesting modern fish in old water thing. Claire is of a modern mindset with relatively modern tools in the form of specialist knowledge and she has to deal with people who have their own specialities and ways of doing things. It remains interesting to watch how she navigates.

I think as fantasy this show is working out pretty well. The people, the time, the places, the politics, the world are all worked out in delightful and compelling detail, and there is challenge, complexity and danger abroad. It seems like calling the show fantasy might undermine its value a bit, but since the rules of the world are meaningful and substantial, it might be okay. If, for instance, we were seeing just a Scottish highlands story, it'd probably be okay. But we're seeing a 18th century world connected to a 20th century world, and that adds something of a fillip.

Not really sure what I'm saying here. I don't really get fantasy. But Outlander remains entertaining anyway.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 01, 2014, 01:59:13 AM
Doctor Who - (new) season 8 - twelfth doctor - episode 1

I AM NOT CONVINCED!

Doctor Who - episode 2

I AM NOW CONVINCED! It's like he always was the Doctor.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: psd4fan on September 01, 2014, 04:14:40 AM
I liked him. It will take time for him to truly be our Doctor but he will get there.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 30, 2014, 07:05:04 PM
Doctor Who

I like this Doctor and his sense of what's normal. The stories thus far are a bit so-so. The eventual arc associated with "God" could be interesting.

Outlander

Last week was entirely romance. I nearly can't watch anymore.

Person of Interest

Is back.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 30, 2014, 07:07:10 PM
Z Nation

I want to like this. The first episode was good, a throwback to the nearly campy zombie movies of, say, Bruce Campbell. But we've just past episode three now and the poor acting is no longer bearable. There's literally one, maybe two, cast members who have any screen presence and an overwhelming number of what feel like uncalibrated amateurs.

</scorpion>

Not holding out high hopes. It looks like The Brady Bunch for "geniuses"
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 30, 2014, 07:14:15 PM
The Blacklist

Is inherently absurd but pretty good drama nonetheless. I hope in season two that stop using "reach out" to describe acts of communication.

Gotham

Now this looks very cool. Last week was episode one and it began with that crucial turning point in Bruce Wayne's childhood. The series proposes to tell the origin stories of everyone in Gotham City by following new departmental recruit, Detective James Gordon, about the place as he comes into his own.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: A-Train on October 04, 2014, 04:24:29 AM
Thought that "The Honourable Woman" was excellent.  What "House of Cards" would be if done seriously and well. Maggie Gyllenhal's character is unique and the plot peals back layer after layer secrets and deceptions without getting ridiculous.

(Still  put "True Detective" on top of the list for this year, though).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Con ate dog on October 04, 2014, 02:25:20 PM
I hated David Tennant for replacing Christopher Eccleston.  I hated the bow tie guy for replacing Tennant.  I hate the new guy for replacing the bow tie guy.

Watching The Guardian now.  Very good, in a slow and depressing way.  Farah Fawcett has a guest shot; that chick could act!

Just starting True Detective, and it's good.  Trying to torrent it.

The animated The Tick is all up on youtube!  Well worth it.  I finally watched the live series, 2 episodes- then that was taken down.  I want more.

Any Fringe fans here?  The first season is an entirely plot-driven X-Files clone, with flat characters and wooden acting; but I figure the actors threatened/ blackmailed/ slept with the writers, and from there every season is better than the last.

Netflix recently added Accidentally on Purpose, my vote for the worst TV show in human history.  Yes, worse than the Police Academy TV series.  If you can't resist peeking under a bandaid, take a look and tell me I'm wrong. 
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 14, 2014, 03:09:40 AM
The Walking Dead

Oh man. That was intense.

A whole lotta payoff on the unrelenting grimness of season 4 too. And that was the first episode of season five! Which I suppose is clever. And probably serves as a warning for the rest of season five.

One of the things that was making Z-Nation so dull to watch was in fact the grimness of The Walking Dead. Next to how callous "life" was over on AMC, this other zombie show, Z-Nation, was like cracking jokes at a funeral. They however have turned grimmer recently too. Not nearly as hardcore as The Walking Dead, but who can be, eh?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 08, 2014, 12:57:02 AM
All my shows have gone away. I've started watching Borgen. It tells the story of charismatic [,moderate] politician Birgitte Nyborg who unexpectedly [in 2010] becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark. It has been called a bleaker, Nordic version of The West Wing. I haven't seen the "bleaker" aspects just yet. So far the Danes seem remarkably Danish, and while it seems easy to spot how each episode will turn out, they remain compelling in the telling.


Also been looking at Comedians in Cars getting Coffee. It's a web series with Jerry Seinfeld. He visits other comedians. They get in cars. The get coffee. There's no plot. They just talk about being comedians. Hit and miss, but still basically enjoyable. The Chris Rock episode stands out. Also, the one with Jon Stewart. And a bunch of others.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 30, 2015, 04:18:57 PM
Amazon made a pilot (http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-High-Castle-HD/dp/B00RSGIVVO) for a tv adaption of PK Dick's The Man in the High Castle. It's a pilot among several (http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=9940930011), and may or may not become a series depending on how well it gets liked.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 11, 2015, 02:30:50 AM
Better Call Saul

The pilot and episode two have aired. I am unsure. Jimmy McGill (aka "Saul Goodman") is an interesting character and his backstory looks like it'll have a lot of stuff going on. I don't know where they're going to go with him though or how it can be more than cursorily engaging because we know where he ends up and he's not that far from it right now. Who knows what'll turn up in the next few episodes, so I don't want just yet to say it's the All-New Breaking Bad Zero, some of the flavour none of the calories, but...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 20, 2015, 07:04:40 PM
Daredevil

Matt Murdoch, a blind lawyer by day, is also Daredevil, a fist-fighting crime fighter by night. The story is set in Hell's Kitchen, New York, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and takes place some time after the Battle of New York as depicted in The Avengers (2012). Each episode features at least one epic punch up, the most notable so far being the one-take, two-minute hallway smack down in episode two. (You can almost watch episode one and two together and call it a movie.) I'm about halfway through the first season, and the critics are right - Daredevil takes a little too long to tell its stories, but by episode five, they're swinging hard and hitting all the notes. Apparently the second half of the season gets a bit soggy too, but the finale payoff is going to be good. I'm willing to watch.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on April 21, 2015, 03:24:12 AM
Nice to see the hero actually hurting after winning a fight for a change. Daredevil a pretty good show.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on April 21, 2015, 02:27:47 PM
I find Daredevil's adversaries more likeable. Even the most amoral one of them gets all the best lines.

It seems to be mixing the crime and superhero genres. I'm not suggesting that it is anywhere near as good as The Wire, but I am enjoying the 'both sides of the equation' thing. Frankly I'd enjoy it more if the whole show was from the perspective of the criminals. The sociopath point of view is under-represented on TV. There's a secret cabal of caped terrorists controlling the media.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 21, 2015, 05:44:54 PM
I'm liking the supporting cast. Foggy's a bit on-the-nose with his dislike for the the masked terrorist, but Karen Page and Ben Urick are fab and getting even more substantial. (I keep hearing Ben's name as Yorrick, as in Alas poor.) Claire is great as well. Matt himself is a bit of a work in progress. And Wilson Fisk is weird. But yeah, one of the reasons I started watching was a review of episode two which emphasized the one-take nature of the fight scene and also that it ended with an exhausted hero. That was cool.

Plus, all the languages they use. English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Japanese so far by my count.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on April 21, 2015, 06:17:58 PM
just watched episode 1 of DD. As a Marvel freak, I'm pretty happy with what they've done on this one. It's better than any of the Daredevil movies they've done through the years.

Gotham was a revelation too. really enjoyable.

Other series i try to keep up with are Vikings, Agents of SHIELD, Flash and ARROW. As you can see, I don't want to overwork my brain.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on April 21, 2015, 10:18:39 PM


Plus, all the languages they use. English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Japanese so far by my count.

and I suspect somebody speaking Greek (Matt's ex) will turn up in season 2. (Although Netflix's original intention was that there only be 1 Daredevil season before The Defenders series, I think that might change. To be honest though, I have no idea how the Netflix financial model works, but if this turns out to be one of their most popular shows, I can't see them putting the character on hold for 3 years or however long it will be. I suppose that he might be a background player in the Jessica Jones / Iron Fist etc shows in between, but I hope there's a second series. I think that they were setting up the backstory for that in season 1 anyway, unless that was for The Defenders.

Also, I can't remember if Foggy ever actually spoke any Punjabi (or whatever language it was he studied in College).

Quote
“I want to look in their eyes while I salt the Earth with their blood.”

I think Wilson Fisk has taught a class like my Tuesday morning one.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 22, 2015, 12:45:39 AM
One thing is I kind of keep expecting Daredevil to break out the Batman voice. He doesn't quite, but he comes close a few times.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 22, 2015, 06:23:04 PM
Daredevil renewed for season 2, changing showrunners (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/21/daredevil-renewed-season-2)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on April 25, 2015, 03:48:59 AM
I love Vikings...since it actually gets a lot of stuff right.

Justified ended...buuhuuuu.....waaahhhh....no more Raylan Givens....I think Hollywood should make a proper Western, like Tombstone but with a Steven Spielberg budget and just get Mr. Olyphant to play the Marshall...oooh, if they had half a brain they would make the life of Billy the Kid into a mini series and cast him as Pat Garrett...

Arrow and Flash are both deliciously silly...if the brain ate, those shows would be...err...what has less nutrional value than cotton candy?

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 29, 2015, 07:40:50 PM
Wentworth

Long, long ago on Australian television and later on world television there was a show called Prisoner. The world knew the show as Prisoner Cell Block H, and Cell Block H knew Bea Smith as the intimidating Queen Bea. Meanwhile, in a bid to find a series worth investing in, I have stumbled across something recent, this show called Wentworth, which first screened in 2013. It's set in current times at Wentworth prison and follows a battered woman called Bea Smith as she's processed into H block on remand for the first time. Back when it started they were comparing it to Breaking Bad. I've watched the first two episodes and I'm ready to say that in some ways it may be better. Right out of the box, it is certainly the more intense. The characters are familiar from the old show, but this one is definitely worth watching on its own.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on June 13, 2015, 12:51:58 AM
Sense8

A series by the Wachowski (sic - Matrix) siblings. I wouldn't have thought this would be my thing. It's sort of style over substance, but I am enjoying it.

No Offence

Manchester Police drama, written by Paul Abbott.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 21, 2015, 03:26:27 PM
New TV started this week:

Killjoys

Already getting comparisons to Firefly. Could be justified. Two bounty hunters in space, sworn by guild rules to neutrality, are joined, dramatically, by a third, and revolution is brewing in the system.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Dark Matter

Started last week. Six crew wake up to an in-flight emergency on their spaceship, and none of them remember who they are. They discover an android, come under fire by "raiders", and land on a mining planet that's gearing up for a coming seige.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 23, 2015, 07:43:58 PM
True Detective

I'm not feeling it yet. First episode of the new season screened last night, and was complicated.


Wentworth

Last episode of season three will screen tonight. There are episodes in each of the seasons that veer into soap opera - which is to say, lean more on melodrama than authenticity - and the whole of season three is quite unlike the first two, but as a package deal, all the seasons and their episodes are fabulous. Heightened drama.

There's a season four in the works too. It'll have to go pretty far over the top to beat this season's Freak.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 26, 2015, 11:26:09 PM
Mr. Robot

best tv of all tv.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 01, 2015, 06:38:57 PM
(http://diziadami.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mr-Robot-Eliot.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 06, 2015, 06:52:58 PM
Trevor Noah

I don't seek out the Daily Show but I do like Jon Stewart, so I've decided to watch a bit of Trevor Noah. Watched "It's My Culture", an hour and a half of him doing a standup show in South Africa. He's good with voices, but I'm not sure he's funny. Also saw his spot on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 16, 2015, 02:02:46 AM
(http://www.returndates.com/backgrounds/mrrobot.logo.png)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on July 17, 2015, 12:29:16 AM
I gather that's a recommendation... have a ll the episodes (so far) downloaded but haven't watched any yet.

I expect great things.
 agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 17, 2015, 01:53:36 AM
Yes.

I also don't know how to say why this show is good. The potentially cheesy, possibly hackneyed elements turn out instead to verge on the stellar. It recalls Fight Club almost too closely, but without yet going wrong. In a handful of aesthetic elements it references movies like A Clockwork Orange, which could go awfully wrong but hasn't. It features hackers and hacker jargon, and no TV show or movie has ever done that without swimming the entire production in cheese and stupid special effects... until now. (This show displays an actual hacking of an actual Android phone using actual hacking tools, it's all reeeeeeeell!!) It appears to be tapping a vein of modern paranoid narrative that really is no longer that bizarre, not with real life stuff like Edward Snowden happening around us.

Plus, Rami Malek.


Either I'm really wanting something to watch or this show is pretty good.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 17, 2015, 01:49:00 PM
The show is also inconsistent in alarming ways. The pilot is brilliant. The second episode somehow doesn't match the pilot in tone. The third includes a bizarre left turn. The fourth episode starts introducing all the secondary characters like somehow this is a Scooby team show now.

But this is a show I rewatch, sometimes immediately. Flaws and all, it's resonating in some seemingly substantial way. I don't know that all viewers will find it to, so I don't know exactly what's going on here.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on July 17, 2015, 05:40:36 PM
The reason Mr. Robot is so good is the lead Rami Malek. All the elements that teeter on the brink of crap are pulled together by this guy's performance. He is doing some serious heavy lifting. I've never heard of him before but regardless of how successful Mr. Robot turns out to be, I am sure we are going to see a lot more of Mr. Malek in the future.

They do write the part of the geeky computer genius differently than we usually see. He has the usual social skills issues, although it's a bit Aspergery than through shyness but he's also a morphine addict that is getting laid all the time.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 17, 2015, 07:31:29 PM
Yep, the show has a lot of potential and mostly because the story is channelled through his characteristation. I am looking forward to finding out Christian Slater is a figment of his imagination if only because Slater is goofy as a hacker prince. That could go either way though. Do they upend the Fight Club narrative chunk or do they keep it? How long can it go on? Does it have a core of its own? Aaaaaargh!

If ever there was a show that should be binged... and instead they string it out, 45 minutes per week.

asasasasas
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 25, 2015, 12:24:05 AM
Mr Robot continues - I don't want to say inconsistent. I shall say an awkward melding. We have on the one hand Elliot's paranoid inner world played out as a real world. We have on the other hand, the real world, played out as a real world, ike on a real TV show. I think that's what's causing the week by week incongruity. I keep getting a sense of WTF, like threads get tugged one week and next week we're working on some different quilt instead. This week, for instance, sort of suggests we're moving into caper territory, like this gang of ne'er-do-well hackers are being set up as a Scooby gang for season after season of exploit caper games. Which is astoundingly odd given how much anger has been set up underneath various of the character's stories. This should be a viciously paranoid show. But maybe that's the kind of show you can't sustain season after season, and there already has to be two. Maybe they have to settle Elliot into a steady state of mere grievance. Sam Esmail apparently wrote all this first as a movie screenplay.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 28, 2015, 03:14:01 AM
The thing with True Detective s2 is there's all these bit players, man, and I DON'T KNOW WHO ANYONE IS! They saved a girl? I DON'T KNOW WHO SHE IS! They're looking for some girl because of some guy? I DON'T KNOW EITHER OF THEM! They killed Stan? I DON'T KNOW WHO STAN IS! I NEVER SAW STAN BEFORE! AM I WATCHING SOUTHPARK?!

I don't know who anyone is.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 01, 2015, 08:45:38 PM
Been watching a lo-o-o-ot of episodic tv, including Falling Skies.

Aliens invade, zap nearly everyone, and those few left alive look to be goners unless they organize a resistance. The Second Massachusetts is formed, an irregular militia who take their name from a regiment in the American Revolutionary War. In terms of story, the first 2 or so seasons remains a family drama with American War of Independence themes. The 2nd Mass faces Mechs (large lethal robots) and skitters (eight-legged alien foot soldiers) and such horrors as the harness, a parasitic device that render a human subject to skitter control and thus enslaved.

Now, this is all good. As tv, it's old school, largely wholesome and serious, and raised up by the central performance of Noah Wyle. Then at some point - finally - the show shifts. They start telling World War 2 stories. All the while retaining this family-centric focus, they shift rapidly through all the American war back-catalogue and by Season 5 they've become a sci-fi horror show with Overlords on the back foot, ancient aliens flitting about, and the continuing threat of skitterised humans. They've even been to the Moon. There's a weird lack of affect a lot of times. Stuff happens that should be accompanied by wailing and rending of garments, but characters just shrug it off. And other times, they dip right into psychosis. All of which is great. They do retain the family-as-god theme of the original show, which is probably a fixed point the show will never escape. All to the good, I suppose. Don't abandon your roots. In all, it's meta-fantastic! Strong, weird, compelling performances persist, and the art direction is spot-on. They sometimes even - just every so often - they let the characters express how odd every storyline has become too. And I don't mean to mock. This show has mutated in a way that episodic tv shows don't often survive. They retain their core and yet have become something different. It's astounding.

As of yesterday I'm all caught up. Season 5, I'm happy to note, is moving into Walking Dead territory as well. Things can only get better.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 04, 2015, 01:59:23 PM
If season 1 True Detective were season 2 True Detective, Rust and Marty would have made out.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 08, 2015, 08:50:36 PM
The Daily Show 2015 08 06 - Jon Stewart's last episode.

That was pretty fun. Highlights: Stephen Colbert's impromptu toast; Stewart's "Bullshit... is everywhere"; and the rest of it too.

Jon Stewart - a man who was on tv
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 11, 2015, 03:22:56 AM
Ray Velcoro and Frank Semyon are Chad Brune.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 24, 2015, 12:05:11 AM
Killjoys ten episode season one wrapped up last night. Comparisons to Firefly seem justified, though strictly speaking if you compare Killjoys to Firefly, Killjoys comes off goofy, so let's move on. Killjoys is more scifi, less cowboy western, thus cool in its own right.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


I wonder what they make of it in China.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 25, 2015, 12:08:08 AM
Currently watching Elementary Season 3.

Upgraded my TV on Saturday.  Lucy Liu's hotness is only increased by being on a larger screen. akakakakak
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2015, 01:11:30 AM
I like this collection of claims:

USA's Mr. Robot became an obsession thanks to this one weird visual trick (http://www.vox.com/2015/8/26/9211751/mr-robot-direction-best)

It's true, one of the very attractive features of the show, right from the beginning, has been framing, in particular, how people linger at the edges, half their faces off screen. Another feature I notice is how when people have 1-on-1 conversations, you have to move your head when each person takes their turn to speak, because while you only see one of them on screen, they're located and framed differently.

Also, the show rewards a re-watch.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2015, 06:40:39 PM
Fear the Walking Dead

Yeah, man! This show is looking good. I could do without the junkie main dude being quite so lame (literally), and maybe some of the other characters aren't toooo charismatic either, but the suspense the show generates around the imminent falling apart of all things is compelling.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 28, 2015, 11:08:24 PM
 asasasasas Always attach a spoiler warning for things like this. asasasasas
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2015, 11:53:20 PM
But none of that is spoilers! You know he's a junkie from the first scene. He limps from the beginning. It takes about one minute (in a one hour pilot) to discover all the things will fall apart. It'd be spoilers if I told you what happens after that first minute............


Oh, you mean the "one weird visual trick" article.... Sorry, man. The show's been on two months already.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 31, 2015, 11:56:14 PM
Yeah, but so far, I haven't seen the first scene.  Now I know there's a junkie in it and that he's apparently a major character, so is unlikely to be the next meal at the zombie cafe anytime soon.

I'm holding out until season 1 is over and watching it all at once.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on September 01, 2015, 12:29:05 AM
How did you know about the zombie cafe without watching the first episode all the way to the end?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 01, 2015, 12:59:12 AM
Also, technically I was speculating that the junkie dude is the main dude. Anyone who had seen the pilot would rightly point out that...................

[spoiler]

it's an ensemble show with at least three other significant characters. Frankly, the counsellor is more main. The junkie kid is probably going to be an internal antagonist who causes her trouble. She's the Rick of this show.


 oooooooooo
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on September 01, 2015, 02:24:03 AM
How did you know about the zombie cafe without watching the first episode all the way to the end?

Touché.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 02, 2015, 04:38:45 AM
Thing about Mr Robot is...

once you start wondering who isn't really a distinct person anymore....

But Imma just say it. Trenton isn't really there either. She's Darlene.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 04, 2015, 02:04:02 AM
So, to erase these unfortunate spoilers from my mmory, I tape the exposed ends of the lamp cord to my temples, plug it into the wall socket (extra safe because it has a power switch!), and then flip the . . .

 aqaqaqaqaq aoaoaoaoao


Damn.  Now I can't remember what series it was that I wanted to watch. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on September 04, 2015, 07:41:35 AM
So, to erase these unfortunate spoilers from my mmory, I tape the exposed ends of the lamp cord to my temples, plug it into the wall socket (extra safe because it has a power switch!), and then flip the . . .

 aqaqaqaqaq aoaoaoaoao

Ahhh, so you HAVE seen Mr. Robot.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 05, 2015, 02:50:53 PM
*spoilers*



We need spoiler tags. Because, for a finale, the last episode of Mr Robot was a pretty good first episode of season 2. It did an excellent job of showing how Dissociative Identity Disorder is more distressing than cool, but raised too many new plot points to be satisfying as a finale. Episode 9 works better as a climax to season 1, gun-in-the-popcorn cliffhanger and all.

Speaking of new mysteries, what Joanna says to Elliot when she speaks Danish is, "If you have done something to him (implying harm), I will kill you". (https://www.reddit.com/r/MrRobot/comments/3jg2wn/tyrels_wife_said_something_in_another_language/) Raising the unfortunate possibility that Elliot is Tyrell. There are all sorts of reasons that can't be true, but there it is.

Biggest mystery for me is why Elliot hasn't collapsed into catatonia. He discovers he is Mr Robot. He present himself with evidence of how messed up his perception is. And he doesn't fall apart. In episode 9, it was right and reasonable he expend all that energy arguing with Mr Robot. But by episode 10, he should be exhausted.

Perhaps he is. Perhaps none of the activity of episode 10 was real. But if it was... imma just say  "encryption key." You know, the self-deleting encryption key in Darlene's rootkit that Elliot told Tyrell about. Yeah. That one.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on September 05, 2015, 04:08:43 PM
Narcos

It'a about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar of Colombia. A different kind of show, more than half of it is in Spanish (with subtitles) and a lot of voice over. I'm not sure that it's good, but it's very entertaining. The guy playing Escobar is great.

UnReal

A friend of mine has been badgering me to watch this for awhile. It's a 'behind the scenes' look at a reality show based on the bachelor. This is not a reality show. It's a scripted show about the making of reality shows and it's excellent. Really strong female characters.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: The Local Dialect on September 05, 2015, 04:15:04 PM
I recently binge watched UnReal also Stil and it is, as you say, excellent. It was picked up for a second season too!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on September 06, 2015, 08:40:00 AM
I recently binge watched UnReal also Stil and it is, as you say, excellent. It was picked up for a second season too!

Great! I didn't know that.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 07, 2015, 04:34:36 AM
This I suppose counts as a Mr Robot spoiler, so....


Coltan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan) and Coltan mining (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan_mining_and_ethics). In particular, the relationship between mining coltan in the Congo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan_mining_and_ethics#The_Democratic_Republic_of_Congo) and China (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan_mining_and_ethics#China).

Phillip Price, CEO of Evil Corp, says, at the end of the finale, to Whiterose, "Go ahead, what's on your mind." And Whiterose says, "I know you're not without your troubles, but we still haven't discussed the coltan mines."

Or he says "the cold ten miles." But the subtitles say "coltan mines."
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 11, 2015, 06:25:14 PM
Catastrophe

That was fun. An American in Britain has a six-night stand with an Irish woman, she gets pregnant, they decide to get married. Six 25-minute episodes, and a cracking good time was had by all. (I just wish every tv station ever in the British Isles would give up that horrendous practice of splattering the whole of any decent tv show's credit roll with voice-over advertisment for some other damn show.)

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Blindspot

Woman appears in Times Square, naked and with no memory, but covered in new tattoos, one of which names a I-forget-which-agency agent. She is more than she seems, and is being shadowed by someone who knows who she is. (Show is kinda boring because the agent dude is as wooden as a very woody thing.)

 bfbfbfbfbf

Continuum

Has returned.


Other than that, I'm out of shows.

I watched Happy Valley, as recommended a while back up-thread, and that too is a fantastic short-run British tv show. A policewoman raising her dead daughter's son is confronted by the re-emergence in her borough of the man who raped her daughter and who she blames for her daughter's death. A superior portrayal of intense grief.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on September 12, 2015, 10:35:24 AM
Sons of Anarchy

I'm half way through season 4 (of 7). I love this show! As ETR said in this thread on July 18, 2014 -
The thing that makes the show so watchable is that it is populated by the most intriguing and messed-up bunch of sell-serving, delusional sociopaths I have ever seen, if one disregards "Breaking Bad".
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 07, 2015, 01:25:16 AM
For the slow to download and the reticent to watch:

SPOILERS

Fear the Walking Dead

Season 1

Sags in the middle. We were fantastically lucky the season was only 6 episodes. Otherwise we would have been treated to weeks and weeks of National Guard. The military as untrustworthy agent with all the power was the wtf ruination of 28 Days Later and it's been boring ever since. DON'T TRUST YOUR INSTITUTIONS! As it was, that stuff was over quickly. I nearly cheered out loud when they showed signs of abandoning the fence. That leaves us with hoping against hope that the only other drag on this show, the teenagers, can be bumped off quick. But they won't be. The "family drama" aspect of this incarnation of fear of the flesh means the parents must drag around this pair of youthful dimwits and those same dimwits must remain constitutionally incapable of mature action.

Howevaire.... those same teenagers could be, might be, likely won't be, the best resources the show has. The finale demonstrates that this show is about the deconstruction of people. It tore down Liza. It tore down Travis. It coincidentally tore down Exner as well. It's possible these two teeners will be for this show what Carl isn't quite for The Walking Dead. Or they'll be whiny sources of conflict.

That said, a boat is a bad idea.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 13, 2015, 04:19:39 PM
It happens sometimes when I watch TV that I start watching the teeth. The most recent Z Nation, the teeth where like beacons in an ugly world of yellowing age. I want white teeth.

(Z Nation btw has lifted it's game considerably. The dark days of season 1 are over. They did have a giant wheel of cheese this last episode, but from the first episode on season 2 has thus far been killer.)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 22, 2015, 03:16:15 AM
new from amc:
"Into the BADLANDS"
(http://images.amcnetworks.com/amc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AMC_ITB_S1_SP_FightingInTheForest1-800x450.jpg)

A southern eastern western - oh, yeah.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 23, 2015, 06:33:53 PM
Also...

(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markhughes/files/2015/11/Jessica-Jones-1-1200x674.jpg)

Marvel's Jessica Jones - a whopping 13 episodes of which are presently available for bingeing.

I watched the pilot. The production values and story-telling are high end, and also very familiar, which may or may not be a bad thing. Shall watch more.


Pilot synopsis: Jones was a superhero. She quit, and is now a punchy, hard-drinking private eye. The reason she quit may have found her again.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 23, 2015, 06:38:28 PM
Also...

Coming tomorrow, Syfy's new show, The Expanse.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 25, 2015, 03:49:56 AM
The Expanse

Like a JJ Abrams Star Trek without the lens flare.

Well, they packed a lot into the pilot (including two elements you won't know about unless you've read the books), and it still seemed to finish too soon. Can't tell if that was good or bad. What it definitely is is an extremely promising hard scifi show. Also very glossy and lovely to look at, and they definitely could have been a little more Kubrik in that regard. This show without sound in a vacuum would have equalled mind blown. Will nonetheless watch again.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: psd4fan on November 25, 2015, 01:22:54 PM
Nothing useful. Just want to pad my post count. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 02, 2016, 02:58:08 AM
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - w/ Barack Obama (http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/president-barack-obama-just-tell-him-you-re-the-president)

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 07, 2016, 05:13:32 PM
In about three weeks, starting Jan 24 to be exact, The X-Files will plod the earth again in the form of a six episode miniseries return. It has of course been twenty-two freakin years since the X-Files first aired so Mully and Sculder are looking somewhat... not young anymore. But anyway, in celebration of all my other shows not currently running, I've elected to watch the damn show again.

Well I'll tell ya, tv has changed in 22 years. I'm still on the first season, and sufficiently irritated at having to sit through monster of the week episodes I've started looking up ep guides to see which eps to skip. I want to stick to the mythology arc and turns out that means passing over nearly all of season one. But that does get me quicker to season two and there's some favs in there. Duane Barry and DPO for instance. I don't know how much past season two I'll go, but anyway that's me set up for the next week or so.

The other thing but damn if tv from twenty years ago isn't literally hard to watch. So much of the framing and scene work is head and shoulders closeups. Soap opera framing, basically. And nothing like the cinematic style one has become accustomed to. I have to lean back from the screen to see anything properly.


Also, MKVs, MKVs as far as the eye can see. VLC Media Player doesn't handle them well. I've had to find a new favourite player.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 22, 2016, 03:50:39 PM
Ash vs Evil Dead, the series. agagagagag

Bruce Cambell and the Raimi brothers are back, boomstick, chainsaw, and all! :candyraver:

Make some popcorn, crack open your copy of the Necronomicon, and enjoy. ahahahahah

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 23, 2016, 02:14:09 PM
The X-Files is returning and I don't know what to think because guess who didn't stay young:

(http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2015/12/11/13/x-files-2016.jpg)

Jan 24 the new six-episode miniseries premieres. Regular weekly broadcasts start the day after. In anticipation, I have been watching old episodes. The X-Files, as apparently no one knows, was always much more a monster-of-the-week show than a mythology show. Any given season always had fewer of the ongoing alien abduction/invasion eps than of the weird, the silly, or the supernatural. But, like any good X-Filer, I watched mostly the mythology eps. Right up until Sein und Zeit and Closure in season 7, which, in my humble opinion, is where The X-Files ended. The show nevertheless continued on for another two-and-a-half seasons and formally finished with the enormously trite double-episode, The Truth. During that two-and-a-half season anti-climax, Scully had a baby and Mulder and Scully started kissing. Also, Doggett and Reyes. It was hard to watch and I skipped most of it. I do't know what to think.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 27, 2016, 03:15:52 AM
Well it's ridiculous, especially how gravelly everyone's voices have become, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on January 27, 2016, 02:51:32 PM
 I watched this short Aussie show called "The Wizads of Aus" which had a splendid premise. A wizard from your stereotypical Middel Earth-Krynn-Faerun type realm gets sick and tired of the irrational behaviour and nonsensical structure of said realm and migrates to Australia. It was a really good premise but it was destroyed by relying on superflous cursing and a complete abandonment of plot.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 29, 2016, 03:27:56 AM
The Magicians

(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/oz3vffgamaffyrvxfztx.jpg)

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V8BQrvNI1t0/maxresdefault.jpg)

(https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/the-magicians-syfy.png?w=769&h=432)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 11, 2016, 11:20:41 PM
(http://www.justwebshop.nl/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/6/5/6526.jpg)

More story per square minute than any show you care to name.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 26, 2016, 03:03:25 PM
Chinese Censors Have Taken a Popular Gay Drama Offline (http://time.com/4236864/china-gay-drama-homosexuality/)

Online discussions garnered more than 110 million responses within a day of the show's cancelation

With its porcelain-faced young cast and tales of love, sex and family pressures, it is easy to see why the Chinese drama Addiction was such a runaway success. However, the hit online show, which features a predominately gay cast, was abruptly taken off the air this week, once again demonstrating the mainland Chinese authorities’ distinct discomfort regarding homosexuality.

The 15-part drama, which follows the lives of four gay high school students, has apparently been deemed unfit for viewing just three episodes before the first-season finale. The show’s producers, who have not given any official reason for why it was pulled, say it garnered 10 million views the day after its initial release. It was apparently the second most watched show on iQiyi, China’s leading commercial online film and television portal...



Reportedly the the second most-watched show on iQiyi. Is it any good?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: TrevorTheTee on March 01, 2016, 03:31:14 AM
I found The Good Wife surprisingly good.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on March 03, 2016, 09:54:39 AM
I found The Good Wife surprisingly good.

I agree. I 'discovered' it few months ago and have almost finished season 1 on CouchTuner (my hard drive is getting full of hundreds of hours of downloaded, but unwatched TV & movies).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 03, 2016, 06:08:54 PM
Hap and Leonard (2016)

(http://popseries.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Hap-and-Leonard.jpg)

Hearing goodish things, and I know it premieres today, but haven't found it yet.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on March 04, 2016, 04:21:17 PM

Hearing goodish things, and I know it premieres today, but haven't found it yet.


Hap and Leonard - Episode 1 (https://kat.cr/hap-and-leonard-s01e01-hdtv-x264-esc-t12182474.html)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 04, 2016, 04:40:07 PM
Yes, that was a bit awful. Brr, anything less than 720p these days... I don't even

I didn't realize until watching that Leonard is Omar from The Wire (Michael K Williams), which is promising. But Hap is James Purefoy, who is... not Texan, which detracts from the presentation somewhat.

Anyway, the pilot is pleasant enough but lacks bite. Coming episodes appear to promise of mayhem, which would be good, but I have a sneaking suspicion this show exists because season 1 of True Detective did. By the end they even have a Old Guy Rust Cohle-style hippie, a scarfaced mean guy, and a biker hangout.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 09, 2016, 06:46:30 PM
American:

Unfortunately, I have to agree about The Good Wife. I didn't want to like another law procedural. Being a completist, I didn't want to face a seven season back catalogue. But the fact is, season 1 is good from the beginning and even improves. And Julianna Margulies has a great voice.

Meanwhile, Better Call Saul continues good. Season 2 is building on season 1 and maturing into the stuff of Breaking Bad legend.

The Walking Dead is all over the place. Their episodes vary from week to week. One week will be tense and horrifying, and good. Another week will be episodic and almost beside the point. They're good either way but I do prefer it when they turn the screws.

I was pretty hot for The Magicians because the first episode was very cool. The rest of the episodes are not bad but I have cooled somewhat.

Hap and Leonard is a bit meh. Probably missable.

British:

Happy Valley continues excellent.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 19, 2016, 04:55:42 PM
Ladies and Gentlemen...

How do you watch your video? What format? Since I discovered it, I'm down for 720p wherever possible. You can see pores. Once you've seen your character's pores, you can't watch lower resolutions again. ("720p (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p)"means that hi-def format which has 720 horizontal lines.) My monitor can cope with 1080p but for one 45-minute episode of some show, a 720p encode is 1Gb in file size already so....

Watching old shows can be painful because of this. For eg, old Xena episodes where never encoded for anything other than crappy broadcast and that's exactly what they look like. No pores anywhere. So little definition indeed one might not even see nostrils.

Just curious,

Also, Daredevil.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 18, 2016, 12:57:02 PM
Fargo

I loved season 1... and season 2... until the last two episodes when the weird got ridiculous - flying saucer? WTF? - and the worst 'ending' since The Sopranos. I want to strangle Adam Arkin!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 18, 2016, 03:11:52 PM
(http://www.previewsworld.com/catalogimages/STK_IMAGES/STL000001-020000/STL002559.jpg)

Imperfect, and who really gives a damn about revenants, but in the second episode where she tries out various guns she's like Buffy meets Ash Williams. This is - almost - the Evil Dead tv show we should have had.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on May 14, 2016, 07:38:06 PM
A quick recomendation, because it's the kind of thing that can be easily missed.

Upstart Crow


Basically it's like Blackadder (written by Ben Elton) but about the life of Shakespeare.

Now I wouldn't watch it because of this description, (even though I liked Blackadder at the time). These attempts to recreate past glories never work. The thing is that it's really good. Episode 1 is available for streaming.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 07, 2016, 02:29:44 PM
Is it just me or has Game of Thrones turned into some other tv show? Season six has an almost Brady Bunch vibe.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 07, 2016, 03:06:40 PM
Is it just me or has Game of Thrones turned into some other tv show? Season six has an almost Brady Bunch vibe.

Maybe it's deliberate.  Let the audience relax, thinking everyone's now a big happy family - and then let the incest and murder begin. uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on June 08, 2016, 04:49:17 AM
Is it just me or has Game of Thrones turned into some other tv show? Season six has an almost Brady Bunch vibe.

I'm enjoying this season so far.. maybe it's due to the fact that for the first time in 6 years, i have no idea what will happen.
I read the books so many times that it used to be a guessing game as far as what they would do and what they would not do; now, i'm more relaxed about it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 08, 2016, 05:11:29 AM
It just seems so... not like it was. I want to say the writing focus has shifted, but it might just be the plotting has accelerated greatly. Nuance seems to have gone by the wayside and fine grain detail has disappeared. I have no examples to back up this impression.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 08, 2016, 06:16:11 AM
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/8a7a2f4e83eed41847b698ed3d701a9eb4ba13a1/c=0-55-746-1050&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/2015/09/09/USATODAY/USATODAY/635774211869886297-Preacher-AMC.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 08, 2016, 09:43:19 PM
(http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2013/04/26/1226629/459609-130427-rev-wentworth.jpg)

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/30/07/2A19A4D700000578-3144039-image-a-26_1435644306900.jpg)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Wentworth_title.png)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 12, 2016, 03:42:35 AM
New Dawn Fades - Moby (http://y.qq.com/#type=song&mid=001PHYJ438hTqp&tpl=yqq_song_detail&play=1)

"Listen, all I'm saying is then, if we're just information... just noise in the system... we might as well be a symphony." - /
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 13, 2016, 04:38:14 PM
Just started watching Season 6 of the Walking Dead.  So far, the zombies are doing a great job convincing the living to change sides. uuuuuuuuuu

And, also watched Episode one Childhood's End.  I was worried they'd find a way to botch this from the start, but so far it's being reasonably faithful to the spirit of the novel while still finding excuses to spend a small fortune on special effects.  I may have to go on a digging expedition through my library to find my copy and reread it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 14, 2016, 01:21:12 PM
What is going on with this show? Last night on Game of Thrones, along with guest spots from the Terminator and Jason Voorhees, basically one thing happened. The rest seemed like fluff.

I only complain because the vibe of these recent episodes seems to me so un-GoT that I'd like to know what's going on.


Also, personally speaking, one of the enduring wtf things in the books is Lady Stoneheart, and in the tv show.... pffft.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 14, 2016, 04:19:59 PM
What is going on with this show? Last night on Game of Thrones, along with guest spots from the Terminator and Jason Voorhees, basically one thing happened. The rest seemed like fluff.

I only complain because the vibe of these recent episodes seems to me so un-GoT that I'd like to know what's going on.


Also, personally speaking, one of the enduring wtf things in the books is Lady Stoneheart, and in the tv show.... pffft.


And at the end of the season, it turns out the whole season was just a bad dream. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 15, 2016, 03:01:44 PM
I legit do want to know wtf Lady Stoneheart is. I know who she is, and it's a book spoiler, I guess, so I'll leave it to the end, but the idea she was going to turn up leading the Brotherhood Without Banners was going to be one of the benefits of having the show outpace the books.

But then, in the show, people keep dying and coming back to life and everyone's like whatevs man. They're scared of the Night King and all his zombies, but some dude who resurrects from time to time is like okay lets move on? Pffft.

Book Spoiler-ish:
Lady Stoneheart is the undead Catelyn Stark. The Brotherhood Without Banners found her three days after the Red Wedding and Beric Dondarrion put all of his own resurrections into her, which brought her back and left him expired for real for once. But Dondarrion is still alive in the show so one supposes Cat isn't coming back.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2016, 01:52:23 PM
I have watched the first four episodes of Preacher and so far I am not sure what it is supposed to be about. The rather odd thing about this show is that I find the Irish vampire way more interesting than the titular character. Four episodes, things happen in them and yet it feels like nothing happened. I do like it but I hope it picks up the pace otherwise it will get cancelled. As for GoT, episode 9 was a very good apology for what I would term one of the least interesting seasons so far. Plot wise in that show, I am somewhat confused. I will refrain from discussing the plot here until later this week, so as to not spoil anything for anyone. But do not cry spoilers on Thursday, The episode aired on Sunday, four days is plenty of time to watch a tv show.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 21, 2016, 02:52:54 PM
Pretty sure Preacher is firmly within the Southern Gothic tradition, and as such is about people being flawed, disturbing or eccentric in a context of sinister or grotesque events relating to or stemming from poverty, alienation, crime, or violence. (Cribbed from Wikipedia.) Where, say, True Detective despairs of people and leads with nihilism, in Preacher there's a strong undercurrent of amusement or enjoyment in people being weird. We the viewer have the God's eye view. And as the show goes on, I expect we're going to shuffle between views. That's to say, I'm moderately sure the show is about temptation.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2016, 03:04:16 PM
Oh, yes, I get that. It is simply that after four episodes we have been introduced to a plethora of strange characters, some rather confusing flashbacks and have as such gotten not an inkling of understanding of any of them. This is, to me anyway, very much a show that seems to be driven by characters, not themes. But the characters are, so far, rather flat.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 21, 2016, 03:24:14 PM
Yeah, they are a bit flat. Except for the vampire (and Tulip) who have flair. It occurs to me I was thinking the other day I didn't know what the show was about either, but that it seemed to me each new episode promised something even more outrageous than the last, be it in terms of violence or mythical creatures, and as such each new episode is entertaining. It's not all about extremes though. There are some subtle outrages in there too - like for instance the angel at the vending machine. So I'm finding it fun, if a bit puzzling.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2016, 03:55:53 PM
I agree with all that. Though the angels are the most confusing. if they made a show just about the life of the Irish vampire I would watch that in a heartbeat.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 22, 2016, 03:36:39 PM
Despite my plans to go through Season 1 of Childhood's End and Season 6 of Walking Dead, my lovely wife vetoed and we're working through Season 2 of Gotham.  New villains are being introduced, but so far Penguin remains the most entertaining character.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 22, 2016, 06:31:40 PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The one dude who uploads HD episodes of Wentworth has ragequit Kickass

That's it, man. That's it. game over.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on June 22, 2016, 08:59:18 PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The one dude who uploads HD episodes of Wentworth has ragequit Kickass

That's it, man. That's it. game over.

Have you tried signing up for theempire.bz?

They have australian, canadian, etc commonwealth programmes.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 22, 2016, 09:37:08 PM
Have you tried signing up for theempire.bz?

They have australian, canadian, etc commonwealth programmes.

Thanks for the tip. They appear to have one guy uploading a day or two after broadcast, and going by past file sizes it'll be better than what's on kickass right now, but it won't be HD. Ever since I discovered the joys of 720p (plus a judicious amount of Sharpening), regular video literally looks wrong, like blurry or fuzzy or like there's something wrong with my eyes, and it's distracting. I want to see sharp lines and people's pores goddamit!

/picky
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 23, 2016, 07:01:11 PM
Well that's the end of an era. Person of Interest is over. They lost a little something when Carter [spoilered], and the Shaw/Root thing got not quite played right, but Reese was a fine Batman and many of the episodes were excellent. In storytelling, the show hit a nice balance, where there was a great deal of suspense (and current interest) associated with the Machine/Samaritan plotline, but they were able to have each episode be suspenseful and largely satisfying in its own right. Or so says my perhaps rose coloured recollection. Bye bye Person of Interest.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on June 25, 2016, 02:48:51 PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The one dude who uploads HD episodes of Wentworth has ragequit Kickass

That's it, man. That's it. game over.

https://eztv.ag/search/wentworth
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 25, 2016, 06:49:53 PM
Phew. That one dude came back.

But not before I suffered through an overly compressed 720p copy with mildly blocky video and a goddamn "downloaded from..." popup.

I don't know what to think anymore. I have grown accustomed to mostly accessible timely releases of high quality video, and one day that will all come to an end. Some day, when piracy finally gets choked off, can I blame the copyright holders and their representatives for restricting access? I talk up the shows I watch. Especially when they're new and do something better than other shows do. But being mr free advertising probably isn't what the producers want me to be.

It'll come to an end, my friends. At some point, it'll be worth a distributor and producer's effort to make content available for "free", but that time is a long way off and needs a revenue source that doesn't exist yet (and probably requires unification of all distribution on a massive and worldwide scale). Long before that happens, the torrents day will be if not done then certainly squeezed.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 12, 2016, 06:47:57 PM
Mr Robot premiere "leaked (http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/10/12145312/mr-robot-season-2-premiere-watch-twitter-youtube)".

The "leak" was of part one of the actual premiere which is a two-parter. Both parts of the premiere will air this Thursday (Wednesday, July 13, USAnian time).

Making a "leak" like this, especially with the tone-perfect "You deserve something new" hacker spiel ahead of the actual "leak", USA Network is kind of satirising its own show, which is a bit deflating, tbh, but part 1 does show a lot of promise. I'm looking forward to seeing both parts together.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 13, 2016, 02:59:58 PM
Walking Dead Season 6.  Proving once again (actually twice again) that live humans are generally much more dangerous than zombies.

The cliffhanger season-ending final scene was . . . exceptionally brutal. aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao  At least it was until the lyrics to Maxwell's Silver Hammer popped into my head.  Then I couldn't stop laughing. ahahahahah  OK, that's a weird reaction, but then again, I am a Lunatic.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 15, 2016, 01:07:31 AM
Mr Robot

eps2 0 unm4sk-pt2.tc

Did anyone else catch an Alien reference? Might be imagining.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 15, 2016, 06:02:23 PM
Finished watching Childhood's End.  Discs were labelled as Season 1, but it was really a miniseries covering the whole book.  True to the book, there is no possibility of a sequel.

I don't know.  It seemed like they deliberately padded things out to fill up 6 or so hours and did a much worse job explaining the what and why of the ending than the book did.  I don't mind additions to make characters more 3 dimensional, but not when those come at the expense of critical parts of the story line.  It's worth a watch, but I recommend reading the book first.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Stil on July 18, 2016, 05:03:05 AM
Stranger Things (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4574334/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)

If you are old enough to have been watching tv shows in the eighties, this is absolutely brilliant.

It's set in the eighties..... actually the whole thing is done in eighties style, an homage. The style of shooting, the music, the credits, everything except it has better acting and HD.

It's not particularly original but it's put together extremely well and just as Mr. Robot fits our time right now so well, this show perfectly fits the eighties.

I'd be interested in what younger viewers think as I'm not sure they will like it at all. They may find it too..... I don't know cute or boring or something. For me, I watched all 8 episodes of the first season (it plays more like a long movie) in two days.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 21, 2016, 05:17:17 PM
I don't know what to think anymore. I have grown accustomed to mostly accessible timely releases of high quality video, and one day that will all come to an end. Some day, when piracy finally gets choked off[...]

And with Kickasss seized, that day is today. if you've ever compared torrent sites in search of something timely, you'll have seen how Kickass had become the site where stuff was first made accessible. A lot of the torrents you'd have found on other sites appeared first on Kickass and wouldn't have appeared otherwise. I mean, piratebay is ad-chocked ass, demonoid is belly up, and everywhere else seemed just to be redistributing. So what now?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 02, 2016, 12:25:11 AM
I miss Person of Interest. I made the mistake of rewatching quite a lot of it - seasons 1 and 2, much of 3, some of 4, half of 5 - and now I don't know if Mr Robot is any good anymore.  ananananan
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 06, 2016, 09:07:22 PM
I am concerned about Mr Robot. The episodes are as attractive as ever, but they keep on not telling the story they promised to tell. And they've started having ideas bigger than their budget, most obviously when they went to "Beijing". And they're recycling, because if Ray isn't the new Vera then what is he? Etc.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 23, 2016, 03:32:55 AM
(http://television.mxdwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the-get-down-770x470.jpeg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2016, 12:37:01 AM
(http://static.highsnobiety.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/25162045/Flash08-960x640.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2016, 02:03:25 AM
微微一笑很倾城 (2016)

Just One Smile is Very Alluring

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/zh/9/92/%E5%BE%AE%E5%BE%AE%E4%B8%80%E7%AC%91%E5%BE%88%E5%80%BE%E5%9F%8E.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 04, 2016, 02:46:26 AM
Westworld (2016)

LOL @ Paint It Black
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 04, 2016, 02:52:28 AM
(http://cbr.imgix.net/2016/09/westworld-header.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: vettel on October 04, 2016, 10:22:30 PM
Trailer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvBPsIZ8dxk

Tangshan earthquake (2010 movie)

I am sure you will know where to find it.
Have some tissues to hand.

vette
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 17, 2016, 05:09:38 PM
Fear the Walking Dead - Season 1.

Saw it on an airplane back in April, but there's nothing like watching it on a big screen TV to get all the undead fun.  Season 1 appears to mostly be buildup (think 6 episode pilot) towards the recently finished Season 2 (hopefully available from the video pirates as soon as I convince them that there really are 2 separate Walking Dead series).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on October 17, 2016, 10:53:32 PM
better late than never... digging Sherlock.
I binge watched all 3 seasons... so good!
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on October 18, 2016, 01:18:36 PM
better late than never... digging Sherlock.
I binge watched all 3 seasons... so good!

I just downloaded all three seasons. I there really only three shows per season? That's less than Peaky Blinders (but like PB, I'll settle for quality over quantity).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 18, 2016, 02:08:30 PM
Guess I need to check the pirates for the rest of Season 3.

Yes, there really are only 3.  They decided to try to make each one extremely high quality.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on October 19, 2016, 02:05:38 AM
Guess I need to check the pirates for the rest of Season 3.

Yes, there really are only 3.  They decided to try to make each one extremely high quality.

considering each of them is 90+ minutes, i'm quite happy with the result
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 22, 2016, 09:38:42 PM
Had a bit of a Dr. Who marathon over the weekend.  Seasons 8 and 9 all in a row. agagagagag

"Oh Missy you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind."  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 01, 2016, 08:31:35 PM
(http://kingofwallpapers.com/suits/suits-006.jpg)

Someone recommended it as a post-The Good Wife show, and compared to the Good Wife, it is considerably fluffier, but then I kept watching and omg I've reached season 6 midseason finale and now there's no episodes until january. TV is MIKE ROSS to bear.

Oh, and one more thing...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 01, 2016, 08:32:47 PM
(http://cdn.spoilertv.com/images/headers/suits.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 19, 2016, 08:40:19 PM
The OA

(http://data1.ibtimes.co.in/cache-img-0-450/en/full/629794/1481614058_oa.jpg)

Two episodes in. Seems promising
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 09, 2017, 03:07:22 PM
Just finished watching season 1 of Westworld on the weekend.

Mind bhbhbhbhbh all around - on the "hosts", the park employees, and the viewers.  Think I spotted an early clue to one of the biggest ones, but need to rewatch to be sure.

Grab your 6 shooter, a big bowl of popcorn, and enjoy!

I can't wait for Season 2.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on January 09, 2017, 08:27:20 PM
Just finished watching season 1 of Westworld on the weekend.

Mind bhbhbhbhbh all around - on the "hosts", the park employees, and the viewers.  Think I spotted an early clue to one of the biggest ones, but need to rewatch to be sure.

Grab your 6 shooter, a big bowl of popcorn, and enjoy!

I can't wait for Season 2.

No spoilers please.. i'm waiting to have a whole day so I can binge watch it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 11, 2017, 03:26:07 PM
No spoilers please.. i'm waiting to have a whole day so I can binge watch it.

OK.  I won't mention anything about the crossover episode where Dr. Who pops in and saves the planet from Daleks pretending to be cowboys. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 22, 2017, 04:37:59 PM
Taboo (2017)

(http://esq.h-cdn.co/assets/16/08/1456422511-tom-hardy-taboo.png)

Starring Tom Hardy's tattoos and possibly his willy as well.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 30, 2017, 03:12:51 AM
Mad Shelia - 疯狂希莉娅 - (2016)

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DeTs-AwSYVI/hq720.jpg)

Production values: nearly none
Low Speed Action: lots
Cheese: uniquely Chinese

A mad max ripoff, yes, but a tv show, not a movie, with life after the apocalypse trading cell phones and virgins.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 31, 2017, 03:26:57 PM
A mad max ripoff, yes, but a tv show, not a movie, with life after the apocalypse trading cell phones and virgins.  bfbfbfbfbf

Because in China, even the apocalypse won't interfere with your cell phone signal. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 04, 2017, 11:32:19 PM
(http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/arc/images/shows/sweet-and-vicious/MTV_SV_Jumbotron_2.jpg?width=640&height=360&crop=true&resize=true)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 10, 2017, 09:43:01 PM
(http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/terminator/images/5/59/Poster17.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080706112910)

A remarkable show for 2008-9. In all the ways Terminator Genisys was a shitshow, Terminator: The Sarah Chronnor Conicals (sic) was some very fine storytelling. They adeptly handled recalled events, wove compelling multi-episode arcs, and left no thread behind. Characterizations were brilliant. (We don't mention the Jessie.) Everything was used. Cancelled possibly because nearly every character in the show had PTSD to one degree or another and the stories reflected that impressively. If this show were being made now and they could do a mean ten episode run instead of freaking 22, it'd be must-see tv. Goddamn you, Fox. Goddamn you to hell.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 22, 2017, 03:10:52 PM
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjMwMTA5NDc5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjQ4MTY0MjE@._V1_UY1200_CR93,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg)

The Network - Cristobal Tapia de Veer (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=27814653)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 24, 2017, 08:30:32 PM
(http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/downloads/humans-channel4.jpg)

(http://images.amcnetworks.com/amc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/humans-premiere-announcement-1200.jpg)

I'm giving some consideration to this. Trouble with sentient robot stories, Westworld included, is... who cares? So they might be people--so what? Any such show only becomes interesting if the robots might well be something other than human. If their sentience is alien to our own but is still sentience, and the story hones in on that, then I'm there. One episode in I don't know yet what the Humans tv show wants to do with that, but I do know the actual humans in the show are tiresome. We'll see.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 27, 2017, 02:37:47 PM
Originally, that was a Swedish series called real humans.  I saw Season 1 and liked it (other than the microscopic subtitles - where can I get opera glasses).  Haven't seen the US version yet.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 30, 2017, 02:54:29 PM
Took a look at Äkta människor aka Real Humans. Does it continue so very very pastel? Because for TV I can read I have been seduced by Midnattssol aka Midnight Sun. It starts with a man tied to the rotors of a helicopter.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 30, 2017, 03:04:32 PM
(http://static.webshopapp.com/shops/077966/files/100277432/lumiere-crime-series-midnight-sun.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 08, 2017, 07:04:02 PM
The Get Down

(https://www.thebboyspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/the-get-down-1.jpg)

has gotten back up, and will shortly be down down load.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 08, 2017, 07:07:39 PM
Meanwhile...

(http://www.bydinha.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/C3CEYUYWEAAUA08.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 09, 2017, 03:26:44 PM
In the Name of The People

(http://0img.mgtv.com/preview/internettv/sp_images/ott/2017/dianshiju/312289/20170329151754291-new.jpg)

Sans subtitles.

Where does one acquire English language subs for Chinese movies and tv these days?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 02, 2017, 04:41:19 PM
(http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/40200000/American-Gods-Official-Poster-american-gods-tv-series-40258268-2000-1333.jpg)

Some competition for Preacher
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 11, 2017, 09:41:03 PM
人民的名义 aka In the Name of [The] People

55 episodes of this exist.... and it's some kind of runaway hit for Hunan TV... and I don't know the broadcast schedule but I believe the finale for the first (55 episode) season aired recently.

And there're no subs!!

There are subbed youtube versions for the first 4 or 5 episodes (which is a crappy way to watch tv if you could otherwise have 1080p hd video of your own) and maybe a cc file for the first episode (haven't tried it yet), but that's it.

No one's translating.  llllllllll



BBC blog: China laps up glossy TV corruption drama (http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-39524084)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 16, 2017, 04:19:27 PM
American Gods

I can't tell if this show is all flash or if there is some substance to it. I'm reading the book at the same time and it feels like the book is better while the show is lots of colour and movement (and at least one erect penis per episode). Maybe reading the book is undermining the show experience.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on May 16, 2017, 07:47:28 PM
Is the penis on the TV screen?  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2017, 12:28:55 AM
ah haha
ha ha
ha
hm


No.

The penis is not on the tv screen.

But it is in the tv show.  (http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/188/drums.gif)

Quite often.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2017, 12:30:19 AM
ahem.

it is a feature of the tv show

that there are erect penises

on the screen

in the show

as a feature
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 17, 2017, 04:30:28 PM
So as a feature, you place it on the screen and insert it into the show.  Is there a special indicator for when you should utilize this feature, or do you do it whenever something . . . pops up? ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2017, 06:15:06 PM
Perhaps I shall put it this way....

if anyone should wish to observe one or more erect penises, both framed as photographs and as they occur supernaturally induced, influenced and otherwise aroused, then turn off that Game of Thrones Titty Fest and take a look at what's saluting the stars on Starz presents Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 23, 2017, 04:10:12 PM
If one is holding on with American Gods wondering whether or not to keep going, hold on until episode 4, Git Gone.


Meanwhile...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 23, 2017, 04:10:25 PM
(http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2017/05/rr-21080.ra-h_2017.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 27, 2017, 12:31:44 AM
Twin Peaks (2017)

Season 3.... generalised spoilers, I guess.

Watch out below.


Thus far:

Exceptionally tiresome outros. Bugs me every time. That'll probably continue for the whole season unfortunately. But the lengthy, time-wasting, not very informative wiling away of the hour on lengthy stays with boring characters seems finished by episode 4. Goodness, the first three eps included some tedious stretches, I was wondering if I hadn't been had. The intensity wasn't there. But then along comes episode 4. Worth it. By episode 3 I was wondering if I'd keep watching. With episode 4, I'm looking forward to 5.

General observation: age is interesting in this show. Everyone (and their actor) is literally 25 years older. It really, really works for Dale and his story. Not sure about everyone else.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 29, 2017, 03:10:45 PM
Thanks for the Spoiler Alert.  Skipped everything after that.

I read that some sort of 25 year followup was a possibility, but missed out that they reactivated the series.  I need to find out when Season 3 is complete and keep an eye out for it at the video pirates.

I wonder what America's sexiest dead girl looks like after all this time. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 29, 2017, 03:29:35 PM
Season appears to conclude halfway through September: 18 episodes, first two shown last week, next two officially shown today (but were available last week for streaming), and after that seemingly one per week until done. Lo-o-ong way to go to avoid spoilers.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on June 06, 2017, 08:39:10 PM
Just watched the series finale of 'The Leftovers'.

Damon Lindelof was behind one of the most criticised series finales in TV history with 'Lost'. Possibly now he's also behind one of the best final episodes.

Of course it's very different. He could choose when the story would be over and would end, and The Leftovers is a very, very different show.

if you haven't watched it, I'd really recommend watching the last 2 series. I found the first series unwatchable. It is extremely dark. I mean the whole 3 series are dark, but the way that I found myself guffawing out loud at various points during the last episode, and throughout the series, shows the way that humour often reveals itself in dark places. So, honestly, I'd watch the first episode, but if you don't think you can handle it, skip straight to season 2. Some parts of the lot will be very confusing to you having missed season 1, but most of the show will be confusing even if you've watched every episode 3 times, so don't worry about it.

As I say, very different from 'Lost, so don't be expecting a similar programme, but now having watched the entire arc, I think it's probably one of the best TV shows ever, and the finale is almost certainly one of the best things I've watched in the last couple of years.

A second show, and completely different, I'm watching is the 12 Monkeys series. Now, it's not even in the same universe of quality. In 12 Monkeys you know that somebody is sceptical about something because they will say, 'I'm not sure I believe it', whereas The Leftovers, having at least 2 of the best actors on the planet will show you that someone is sceptical about something by showing you their face, and building upon the fantastic character development.

But I do love timey-wimey stuff, and 12 Monkeys if far better than the tosh that's been on mainstream TV the last couple of years such as 'Timeless' (which I sort of like, 'Frequency' and that god-awful thing about Jack the Ripper and HG Wells in the 21st century.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 03, 2017, 04:51:53 PM
Rewatched True Detective Season One..

Finale still happens kinda fast. I also rushed the last eps. I was watching them one a day, then went through the last three in one sitting. That mystifying complexity that made season two nearly unwatchable is present in season one (I sometimes had to go back with subtitles on to catch details whizzing by), but much much more under control. Have to think about the last ep some more but in the end it probably makes sense.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 11, 2017, 09:43:22 PM
Probably a lo-o-o-o-ong wait before this gets a release date, but...

HBO and George R.R. Martin Set To Produce Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death TV Series (http://io9.gizmodo.com/hbo-and-george-r-r-martin-set-to-produce-nnedi-okorafo-1796778796)

We’ve known for some time that Nnedi Okorafor’s World Fantasy Award-winning novel Who Fears Death was being adapted into a live action project, but the author took to her Facebook page this morning to share news about where we can eventually expect to see it.

Though it was initially planned to become a feature-length film, Who Fears Death has now been optioned by HBO to be turned into a television series, with no less than George R.R. Martin attached as executive producer.

“Note: This did not happen overnight,” Okorafor wrote. “It’s been nearly 4 years coming.” Further down the comment thread on her Facebook post, she added:...



 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 18, 2017, 12:14:36 AM
Twin Peaks (2017)

I don't think I have ever been offended by a tv show before. But here we are and Twin Peaks is on, and it might just be garbage.

In trying to work out the mess that is Twin Peaks season 3, it came to me that where the real Twin Peaks tv show was the 50s (and had a story), Twin Peaks season 3 is the 80s, and that's sort of why it's so shit. No story, no fashion sense, no reason to watch other than the thin hope some of the many threads left dangling at the end of Season 2 might have some tying off. If I'm being kind, I'll say Twin Peaks' season 3 is True Detective's season 2. But I think it might be worse than that. There is, it seems to me, almost nothing in the show to care about. Anything that was worth caring about in the Twin Peaks story is almost never included in Twin Peaks season 3 except tangentially, and I think it might keep going that way. And with that in mind, those musical outros are sufficiently irritating that I might on principle stop watching the show. A summary of what little did happen over the next eight weeks will probably be enough.

Yeah, and don't clutch at straws: episode 8 was cool, but it was essentially a completely different story, and the one they should have been telling all along.

"Not the 50s anymore" spoilers: what clues you in to the how Twin Peaks is no longer the 50s, I mean among all the other roaring signals, is that worthlessly "important" scene at the end of episode 9 where two girls - a Laura clone and a Donna clone - sit around stoned and stupid at the One Eyed Jack's Bang Bang bar. You can tell by the hairstyles and the pimples, it's not the fifties no more. And who, I mean who, really gives a damn?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 23, 2017, 02:55:31 AM
(https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ozark-netflix-original-e1496074735361-770x387.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 25, 2017, 02:28:14 AM
Ozark

Chicago-based financial advisor, MIchael Bluth Marty Byrde, is disenchanted. One night he is called to a meeting with his partner, and "Del". And because Del is from the second largest Mexican drug cartel and Marty and his partner launder cartel money, well dammit, Marty has to go....

As a tv show, Ozark is pretty good. The tone is all over the place. The first ep is grimdark and frightening, while later eps are going almost for comedy. And, some of the "gritty" elements are undercooked. And maybe the black comedy is not the blacker for being played by Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. But there are truly excellent pieces in here as well. The straight drama is pretty great sometimes, and Bateman carries most of that. Overall? True Detective meets Arrested Development with a dash of Breaking Bad, except that overall Ozark is it's own show because of where it goes with relationships.

Liked
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 25, 2017, 02:30:55 AM
Meanwhile...

(https://aws.boxofficebuz.com/shows/video-images/4481-claws-shifty-promo.jpg)

(http://cimg.tvgcdn.net/i/2017/06/07/db900593-30b6-4bfb-b3cd-6335f7a225ae/3f6e7bbbec914a4c05a6f61a32acb15a/claws-news.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2017, 01:02:38 AM
Just watched the series finale of 'The Leftovers'.

Me too, just now.  ananananan

I have opinions about season three, not wholly formed as yet, except that while working through the season I kept thinking I was watching a necessary addendum but that the story, I'll call it the Passion of the Kevin, was complete with the end of season two. Not concluded, obviously, but complete. It is concluded with the season three finale though, so there is that.

Man, I'm going to miss this show. I can't do it any time soon, but I think I'm going to have to watch the whole thing over again.


Departure (Lullaby) - Max Richter (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=29995569)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 08, 2017, 12:51:14 AM
Twin Peaks

The following is either spoilers or a just a cranky meta-review, you decide.

The third season of Twin Peaks supposedly makes more sense - aka is less like garbage - if you observe - pun intended - that the episodes in their presentation often directly reference watching. Screens, tv clips repeated, people watching stuff, lengthy sequences where you have to watch nothing happen for so long that you cannot not notice that you are doing an act of watching. Goddamn freaking five minute outros that are stage shows and you're in the audience.

And here's what I'm going to say about that. The original series used lengthy observation of the mundane to make that mundane thing alien - traffic lights, trees in the wind, etc - and in the context of the murder investigation, threatening. And that what happens in this hopefully last series is that alienation is turned on the viewer. The lengthy observation isn't of a thing, a story, it's of the observer, it's of you. You get to become the alien. Or more exactly, the alienated. No one and nothing in here is what you used to love. It's all fallen apart, they've all fallen apart, there can be nothing but fragments. And what are you doing watching them?

That's interesting and all, but it's part 13 now and I only just found out so screw you guys I'm not going back to watch all this shit again.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 31, 2017, 07:32:46 PM
人民的名义 aka In the Name of [The] People

55 episodes of this exist.... and it's some kind of runaway hit for Hunan TV... and I don't know the broadcast schedule but I believe the finale for the first (55 episode) season aired recently.

And there're no subs!!

And there are subs! (For the first 18 or so episodes)

https://subscene.com/subtitles/in-the-name-of-the-people


I'm not sure I did this show justice. I watched the first two episodes, then the ninth, then I jumped straight to 55. I jumped from 2 to 9 to get some idea if all the episodes were going to be as dynamic as the first two - that is whether or not the major story telling device was going to be lengthy scenes where two people sit in a room or a car and describe everything that has happened. And it seems a bit like yeah, that's how the show works: two overactors elaborating this or that plot point without moving much. To my tv eyes, a lot of telling rather than showing, but I don't know all the ins and outs of Chinese drama. I'm not saying it's bad. In fact, so long as you have a playbook and can identify each character's role (because you so rarely see them doing anything other than talking to one another), the elaborations of everyone's byzantine thinking is fairly interesting. But I jumped to 55 anyway to see who ends up in jail. The last episode has a new story telling device: stoic tears, regular crying, and chest-beating crying. No subs for 55 tho, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 02, 2017, 02:08:48 PM
(http://scandifans.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IMG_0435.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 02, 2017, 02:11:09 PM
Valkyrien (2017)

If Batman (in Norway) were a doomsday prepper (and Norwegian) and Frankenstein (in Norway) were a physician-turned-biochemist (and also Norwegian) and they set up shop together in a disused (Norwegian) subway station (in Norway) and the subway station were called Valkyrie, then wouldn't we have a tv show? They could call it Valkyrien. I know I would.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 06, 2017, 01:12:03 PM
Welp, Twin Peaks is over.

Unfortunately, it rewards repeat viewing. There are, for instance, a few things in the first episode that you literally can't see until you've seen most of the other episodes. I suppose I'd like to discuss some of that, but I don't know I can face watching all that shit again. There's something afoot in Twin Peaks: The Return and I doubt it can be represented in overarching concepts but fragmentation is important, as is repetition. There are lots of repeatings and doublings, and a great many of them are not obvious. And as for fragmentation, pretty much everything in the show is incomplete, is indeed but a fragment. The people, their actions, what you see of their lives, how their stories play out - all in tiny pieces. If there is a whole, it is something other than everything they think and you see.

Nah, truth is, I don't know.

I have a tiny possibility hanging over my viewings saying what's being represented is not a wheel, but The Wheel, the cycle of existence. Which doesn't exactly help me understand anything much of what I saw, but in the cycle of existence one's gotta try, right?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 11, 2017, 04:10:25 AM
Twin Peaks (2017)


Season 3.... generalised spoilers, I guess.

Watch out below.


Thus far:

Exceptionally tiresome outros. Bugs me every time. That'll probably continue for the whole season unfortunately. But the lengthy, time-wasting, not very informative wiling away of the hour on lengthy stays with boring characters seems finished by episode 4. Goodness, the first three eps included some tedious stretches, I was wondering if I hadn't been had. The intensity wasn't there. But then along comes episode 4. Worth it. By episode 3 I was wondering if I'd keep watching. With episode 4, I'm looking forward to 5.


Well I don't know what's going on. I've rewatched episodes 1 and 2, and now 3, and... I was okay with the outro.

Twin Peaks: the Return is very much more acceptable the second time around. The "lengthy, time-wasting, not very informative" stays with boring characters have meaning now, mostly because there's a lot more context available to make sense of them. Meta-context is helping too. By that I mean it helps if I notice that there is narrative meaning in the amount of fragmentation and repetition that goes on, and that - I think, or it helps me to think - that meaning is related to the cycle of existence.

Also, [spoiler]Judy[/spoiler]


but I'm not gonna watch all the damn episodes again. I'm jumping to 8.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on November 20, 2017, 12:13:47 PM
"If You Are The One" Is a show I'm watching on SBS VICELAND (Ch32) in Oz. It is about Chinese males choosing a female as a partner to either go out with or to get more involved. It is in Chinese with English sub titles. I am leaning quite a bit about how both sexes think. Has anyone else seen this? I expect it is being shown in China.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: piglet on November 22, 2017, 12:51:39 AM
OMG saw it on holiday in OZ last month! It was jaw droppingly awful I thought.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on November 22, 2017, 11:45:48 AM
Piglet, do you think that the show gave a true indication of the way young people think? I am trying to understand the Chinese folk that are here in Oz.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: piglet on November 25, 2017, 05:42:11 AM
Granny Mae we were completely astounded by the sheer numbers. In Melbourne we stayed in an air bnb in a tower block in which we were the only non Asians I think. In Sydney we had dinner with an ex student of ours from China. He took us to a restaurant in which we were the only non Chinese. Menu in Chinese, waitress took order in Chinese it was amazing!THen as we went north there were fewer Chinese but still many more than we were prepared for.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on November 25, 2017, 11:54:11 AM
Piglet, that is why I was wondering about how the young Chinese folk think. bjbjbjbjbj I keep wondering how long it will be before English becomes the second language in Oz. ananananan
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: cruisemonkey on November 25, 2017, 08:36:48 PM
You can never prepare for enough Chinese.  kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 06, 2017, 02:12:22 PM
2018, Feb 2 - Altered Carbon on Netflix
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 05, 2018, 07:57:32 PM
The X-Files - season freakin' 11

almost like a return to zero - Scully in a hospital bed, Mulder doing faux-philosophical voiceovers that really just announce how little he's willing to know, bad guys who speak in riddles and no one shoots them for it. If Scully and Mulder were real people, they'd be exhausted by now with how little they listen to each other and how rarely either one can count on growth in the other. And for the love of god, Skinner being shifty again and Mudler being suspicious? IT'S BEEN ELEVEN SEASONS FFS!

And now that the show is rich, they had a car chase. In lieu of actual action, a freakin car chase!

This first episode catered to the mythology crowd and as such was tired, confusing, and slow. Next week, when we are more or less guaranteed little to no mythology, we might get a decent monster-of-the-week episode. As little as I like the X-files when they do that, it's 2018 now and they might have something good up their sleeves this time. Because otherwise, they're sucking pretty hard right now.

/imo
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 20, 2018, 05:06:31 AM
안투라지 (Anturaji), the Korean remake of HBO's Entourage

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3d/73/f0/3d73f0b1906f7ec5a900accf03d1c729.jpg)

Watching mostly for Amber, but also kinda interesting for a k-show.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 09, 2018, 02:16:33 PM
(https://imgix-media.dramafever.com/asset/series/4914/59c910f7/thumb.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 10, 2018, 10:10:24 PM
The Negotiator - 谈判官 - (2018)

(https://www.dramafever.com/st/news/images/44bd11ff-49d7-4b08-8436-2100e01f6925.png)

Supposedly the top rated drama at the moment, but I watched Entourage (Anturaji) and am watching Goblin (Dokkaebi) and right out of the gate this Negotiator has all the weaknesses of every c-drama I've ever looked at: an intro sequence of plot point clips from the show itself, one-note foreigner characters transparently overacting, and - worse - major characters introduced sitting down talking. All of that in the first five minutes and a sheen of cheap tv soap production values. There's really no life in these kinds of shows and you have to wonder what it reflects really. I may try a little further and see if it continues as shit as it starts out.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 10, 2018, 10:28:23 PM
btw, that Goblin show - Guardian: the Lonely and Great God  - (쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 – 도깨비) - is, well, the middle aged rich man plus fantasy-prone high school girls from disadvantaged background thing aside, really very compelling as a drama. Production values through the roof, tremendous characters and character interactions, arch humour, lots of pathos. I'm three episodes in and enjoying it.


Also, I wasn't expecting much from Entourage (Anturaji) inasmuch as I never liked the original HBO series, but the kdrama remake turned out worthwhile, I think. The characters, for one thing, are basically likeable. I suspect I missed a certain amount of characterisation inasmuch as none of the cursing made it into the subtitles and I'm aware Kim Eun Gab in particular was supposed to be "a psycho", but whatevs.


For reference, if anyone's measuring my taste in kdrama, Anturaji was a flop in Korea and Dokkaebi was the second highest rated cable drama of all time - in Korea - and became "a cultural phenomenon". Woo
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 12, 2018, 02:43:24 AM
The Negotiator - 谈判官 - (2018)

Yeah, it's shit. By the end of episode 2 it still contains no drama nor any characterisations of note. It's just memes and hair. They do kinda nail the idea of recent college graduates being cartoon characters, but that's it. The rest is serial repetition of the same message points. They literally say the drama points rather than have any action to enact them.

Still looking for a c-drama that isn't some cheap and nasty plastic replica.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 14, 2018, 02:55:00 PM
Is this an actual thing, no one in asia uploading dvd or bluray copies of tv shows? Weird complaint, I suppose, but there it is. I keep looking for 1080p versions of these shows that aren't hdtv rips and not finding them. I can cope with logos and scrolling crap and popups near the end of the episodes if I have to, but good lord, people pay for this?

And for Chinese shows, why is it all 720p? When there is 1080p versions, they're all massively compressed, which kinda defeats the purpose of hi dpi in the first place, wth? What are people watching these videos on, their phones?

Possibly shouldn't complain, but how can one not be a quality queen from time to time?


/vent
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on March 16, 2018, 04:29:17 AM

i'm able to find them just fine... on the right pirate bay
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 16, 2018, 02:01:29 PM
I mean the original video encoding sources.

For US drama there's usually a relatively crappy hdtv rip as soon as some episode airs but these days there'll also be a Netflix or Amazon rip sometime in the next twelve hours. Amazon 1080p video appears usually with a bitrate of 10Mbps or so. I don't know if that's a product of good encoding practice or just what Amazon puts out as raw video, but it's definitely hi def. Season blurays usually appear fairly promptly too, and they'll be 10-15Mbps.

For recent Korean drama though, I'm really only finding HDTV rips of cable broadcast. The best available for Goblin at the moment appears to be a 60fps 1080p hdtv rip, which really is very attractive to look at, but it's still only about 5Mbps bitrate (and has cable tv logos and watermarks). Given the movie-like production levels of that show, one keeps wishing for better and better free stuff.

Chinese drama encodes appear to be worse in every way too. It seems like every show is available only as highly compressed 1080p web rip with like 2-3Mbps only, which means you start seeing artefacting and a general loss of detail.



High bitrate isn't everything, of course. But given a good source video, the higher the bitrate of the encode, the more detail you see on the screen. My eyesight is crappy enough already. I want sharply detailed video, goddammit.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 17, 2018, 12:39:25 AM
Also, and I'm probably missing some nuance, but I don't think the actors in Chinese dramas act. They perform stylised impressions of caricatures, not people. I suppose there is the various opera traditions to contend with in tv drama, but Chinese movies are not without a more authentic person, so why can't the tv shows be?

I was thinking on my claim that Chinese dramas entirely overuse the device of two people doing nothing other than talking plot points at each other, and comparing that to my experience of this Goblin tv show, because in Goblin there's a lot of talking too. There are a tremendous number of scenes featuring nothing more than two people talking in fact. And I find it takes about 90 minutes to watch a 60 minute episode because I'm so often watching scenes twice, once for the subtitles, and a second time for the faces. And I don't watch c-dramas that way. Basically because there's so little to see in the actors faces. That's kind of alarming, and I hope it's sort of not true, but it does really look like Chinese actors spend a lot of time being non-expressive compared to Korean actors. Different traditions, maybe.

Would love to be directed to a Chinese drama that proves me wrong.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on March 18, 2018, 06:20:19 PM
On TV tonight: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rhonda-casto-death-theres-a-lot-more-to-the-story-says-man-charged-in-fiancees-fatal-fall-from-cliff/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rhonda-casto-death-theres-a-lot-more-to-the-story-says-man-charged-in-fiancees-fatal-fall-from-cliff/)


Anybody ever teach with this guy in China? He did two stints there.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on March 19, 2018, 01:34:39 PM
Bingeing on this Japanese drama/mystery. http://asianwiki.com/Million_Yen_Women (http://asianwiki.com/Million_Yen_Women)


It's packs a lot of stuff. Cute women, young authors, young call-girls, a few plot whodunnits, a few red herrings. Each episode is only 23 minutes, so it moves along pretty quickly.


it's currently on Netflix. Not sure how else you can get it, but worth an evening of bingeing if you can.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 26, 2018, 07:50:35 PM
Million Yen Women exists in torrent form. I'll take a look.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to find another Korean drama fix. I finished Goblin, and by jingo it was good. The one or two quibbles I had with it pale into insignificance given the seeming dearth of equivalent dramas.

I've recently tried...

Descendants of the Sun - could be good, watched one episode and saw that it had drama potential if only I didn't find the characters so very unremarkable and the story by and large non-existent

You Who Came From the Stars - big hit in China apparently, but again with the inaccessible leads - aloof and distant characters can be damn interesting if they aren't so entirely opaque, and airhead beauties can be enjoyable if they're at least whatshername the Hollywood actress with the red hair and teeth, but the airhead in this story is just noisy.

While You Were Sleeping - actually not bad, and if you watch the first two episodes, you've probably seen everything you need to see...

I expect Signal will be as good as everyone says so I'll probably watch that one. I'm also going to try out City Hunter and The Guardians, and one or two out there choices for me, Scarlet Heart Ryeo and Boys Over Flowers.


Starting out with Goblin(and the quite pleasant Entourage) might have set the bar way too high. I don't know I can find the like again.  ananananan
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 26, 2018, 08:30:59 PM
I'll give the Chinese drama industry another chance too. Shall take a look at Nirvana in Fire and see if it's good like everyone says or yet another period drama with everyone in clean clothes

I still have to wonder what the world is watching these dramas on. Must be some tiny screens out there because sixty minutes of tv in a 1080p file format cannot be a mere gigabyte big and still look good. ababababab
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 27, 2018, 01:44:24 AM
Shall take a look at Nirvana in Fire and see if it's good like everyone says [...]

Nope, it's not.

I mean, it must be right up a lot of people's alleys but right off the bat there's way too much clever deducing. Dudes sitting around stern faced hearing news that prompts, in effect, beard stroking? Pffft. Dudes (and the nefarious women who advise them) spending their time plotting plots isn't drama. I suppose of course it must be drama to someone, but I don't see how...

It's such a staple of Chinese drama though, dudes being inscrutably clever. I am definitely not grasping some inherent cultural value here.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 04, 2018, 02:13:44 PM
Signal - 시그널 - (2016)

(http://www.kdramalove.com/Signal_banner.jpg)

Korean police procedural with fantasy elements. A police lieutenant in 2015 is able to communicate with a mysterious detective in 2000 via walkie talkie at a time when a serial killer is active. I'm two episodes in and the drama is excellent. (Marred by a truly irritating aesthetic choice - the screen aspect ratio changes during flashbacks - everyone gets tall and thin - whoever decided on that should be fired and never let near tv production again.) Worth it.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 04, 2018, 08:12:25 PM
Stranger - 비밀의 숲 - (2017)

(https://www.dramafever.com/st/news/images/65d7a145-8eea-49c9-b0c5-e76041fcd653.jpg)

Also called Secret Forest. A prosecution procedural this time. A star prosecutor is investigating high level corruption and murder within his own department. Violent events in his youth have him labelled a "psycho" even as he is seemingly emotionless now. Co-stars Bae Doo-na, who you'll recognise from a Hollywood movie or two.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 21, 2018, 09:58:32 PM
Signal - 시그널 - (2016)

Imperfect, but pretty great nonetheless. The story shifts kind of wildly every so often when they move on to the next crime, and the tone is not always predictable, but the drama stays compelling, probably because of the on-point characterizations. (In that regard Profiler Park could have been calibrated a little better but he does a lot of great work otherwise so.... And there's thirty minutes tacked onto the end that the show didn't need but pffft.) Overall:

Enjoyed.


치유되지 않는 아픔 - 시그널 OST (https://y.qq.com/n/yqq/song/001nDj111Sbba4.html)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 01, 2018, 04:14:59 PM
I caught the first 5 episodes of Young Sheldon on a recent flight.  I was worried it would be a disappointment, but it ended up being quite good.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on May 02, 2018, 11:45:42 AM
EL, Young Sheldon starts on TV in Brisbane tonight. I will take a look at it! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 02, 2018, 04:46:31 PM
If you like Big Bang Theory, you should enjoy it.  If not, it could be odd.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 07, 2018, 07:28:18 PM
One Suits closes

(https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2017/02/nup_176273_0079-h_2017.jpg)

Another Suits opens

(https://www.hancinema.net/photos/fullsizephoto963836.jpg)

It's distracting at first that Jang Dong-gun in this iteration looks a little like Pee Wee Herman (and that Choi Gwi-ha so is Louis and yet so is not) and also that the first episode is so similar to the first episode of USA Network Suits that it invites too direct an opulence comparison (and comes of second best), but it's growing on me already. I'll see how the next episodes go. It'll go better if they can get out from under the original's shadow.

Park Hyung-sik is probably the perfect Mike Ross tho, wrong bicycle choice notwithstanding.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 14, 2018, 12:03:22 AM
(http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dramaworld-poster.png)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 14, 2018, 12:16:04 AM
Dramaworld (2016)

Kinda crap, actually. Not enough drama, a little too like sketch comedy gone serious, and no one has enough charisma to make the show work (apart from, ironically, the flower shop guy) (and I did also keep wondering where I'd seen "Seth" before - he was Eli, the lead guy in Gook).

But...

Still and all...

Not bad.

Ten short episodes about a kdrama fan who gets transported into Dramaworld, the tvland where kdramas happen, and how she messes it up. Kinda not worth it if you're not a fan of kdrama (and you can't make it through the first two episodes) but it does have some moments after a while. Just wish the writers had given the actors better stuff to work with.

It's kind of interesting how there's all this nearly-amatuer stuff going on with korean singers/actors. They have the money to do it, but not quite the skizzils. This one comes from Viki, a video streaming website no-one's heard of unless they've been looking for kdramas and subtitles. But they had the money and they had the contacts, and Netflix screened it too.

 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 25, 2018, 01:49:40 AM
(https://i.viewasian.tv/banner/1258/moonshine-and-valentine-chinese-2018.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 25, 2018, 02:01:49 AM
Moonshine and Valentine - 结爱·千岁大人的初恋 - (2018) - (aka. The Love Knot: His Excellency's First Love)

aka wut?

Would watch for Vicky Song, who, as is known to all, is both Chinese and, when she's called "Victoria", is the leader of kpop group f(x), but still have to ask why, why oh tv gods, why are cdramas so lifeless? Even with a car chase there's like nothing happening? Banter falls like bricks. A main character is introduced and for one minute does nothing other than literally stand in place with nothing else happening. Wut? I am surely missing something, I must be. Fox spirits, a 900-year-old love, only the guy knows it, he's freakin rich and a weirdo.... shyeah, why don't they do an actual remake of 2016's kdrama Goblin instead of this plaster cast version?

No stars. Maybe it gets better after the first episode but I shall never know.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 26, 2018, 06:28:43 PM
Meanwhile...

(http://ph.spotvnews.co.kr/news/photo/201803/197839_237885_4151.jpg)

(http://realnews.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/-%EC%95%84%EC%A0%80%EC%94%A8_1-e1522041200174.jpg)

My Mister
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 07, 2018, 01:58:34 PM
My Mister - 나의 아저씨 - (2018)

Based on blurbs, I wouldn't have watched this. They make it out to be some kind of office romance when it's not that at all. In this story two people, one with a crushing burden of debt and a despairing history and the other with a lifetime of choices leading him another way, become figures upon which the power politics of their company begin to turn. They do or don't survive based on how they treat each other and what everyone else around them does. Melodrama yes, but also a realistic look at people in a landscape of other people.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


어른 - Sondia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TkbJ3F52VY)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 14, 2018, 06:35:15 PM
Something in the Rain - 밥 잘 사주는 예쁜 누나 - (2018)

(http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/41300000/Something-in-the-Rain-Poster-korean-dramas-41352487-500-281.jpg)

A hypnotic salve, and charming to boot.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 14, 2018, 06:45:41 PM
Hyori's Bed and Breakfast - 효리네 민박 - (2017/2018)

(https://www.allkpop.com/upload/2017/12/af_org/07210501/Lee-Hyori-IU.jpg)

Also a hypnotic salve, and a reality show to boot.

Kpop royalty, Lee Hyori together with her husband some staff and a collection of dogs and cats host guests at Hyori's actual real semi-rustic home for real on freakin' expensive Jeju island, a bucolic holiday destination off the Korean peninsula. In season one the staff is IU, in season two Im YoonA AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE YOU DOBN'T DESEWRVE TO WATCH THIS SHOW AT ALLLLL.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 21, 2018, 06:52:16 PM
Something in the Rain - 밥 잘 사주는 예쁜 누나 - (2018)

Korean dramas are weird, the best description of the genre I ever saw called them "addicting and oddly comforting", which I think is true. This one especially is like that. Western title Something in the Rain, Eastern title "Pretty Noona who buys me food" - a younger man, her best friend's brother, re-enters an older woman's life, and she, who is stuck in a particularly damaging rut, responds to his attention. And then we see what really happens next.

This drama, in my opinion, is excellent, but according to reviews it confounds audiences. It seems like the candy-sweet and joyful romance elements of the first half gave audiences the impression - me too - that we were watching one of those eventually idealised romance stories, but it turns out those elements were real - that is, they were being shown as genuine experiences, real people "in love", and we eventually had to start seeing the next part, as their real characters really dictate their actions.

In idealised romance, it is "romance" that dictates the characters actions. In this drama, it seems more like the characters are being realised. It's a challenging balance, a romance story but honoring true character. As infuriating as some choices in the story were, I couldn't help but respect them because they were the creations of so seemingly real characters.

Having a hard time explaining, so, capsule review: "my heart was warmed in the first half, I yelled at the screen often during the second half, I think the whole thing was worth it, even if it was often quite easy to drift off thinking of other things during the long takes were no one says anything."

It's great. Watch it. You'll get angry


Something in the Rain - Rachael Yamagata (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLcNWPlZ1E)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 28, 2018, 04:39:33 PM
The Way We Were - 归去来 - (2018)

It's 2018 and Korea is producing dramas were women come into their own and what's China doing? The Way We Were is 52 episodes of payback. A miserly kid conceives a [male] stalker's crush on a college classmate and for four years does nothing. She's smarter, richer, more attractive, and much better connected than he and has normal relationships. Obvious shengnv is obvious. She even loves his passive-aggressive shots at her better birth. WTF China? Making objectively miserable college boys the hero is how you're making money these days?

Patriarchy - not the losing game you thought it was.

 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 14, 2018, 01:57:10 PM
Hyori's Bed and Breakfast - 효리네 민박 - (2017/2018)

(https://www.allkpop.com/upload/2017/12/af_org/07210501/Lee-Hyori-IU.jpg)

This is interesting, if you're into that kind of thing, and I am, so...

The Netflix version and the original JTBC version seen in Korea are cut differently. The Netflix edit appears sometimes to be missing banter and the occasional piece of context. I think it may at least partly be related to music rights. The people in the show act like normal people and often have music on in the background - bluetooth to the stereo from their phones or straight-up CDs playing - and the chatting they do at those times doesn't always make it into the Netflix edit.

the more you know
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2018, 01:28:44 AM
Because This is My First Life - 이번 생은 처음이라 - (2017)

(http://tenasia.hankyung.com/webwp_kr/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017092011064366557-540x769.jpg)

Cute and calm.
Enjoyable.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2018, 01:34:36 AM
Mother - 마더 - (2018)

(https://i.imgur.com/r1gsJj5.jpg)

Melodramatic almost to the point of surreality but played straight

Still good though
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on July 30, 2018, 11:13:17 AM
"Kim's Convenience" very funny Canadian TV Series about Koreans and other Asians in Toronto. Lots of cultural stuff most North Americans wouldn't understand. In English.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 15, 2018, 02:00:54 PM
Oh My Ghost - 오 나의 귀신님 - (2015)

(https://o.lnwfile.com/_/o/_raw/gh/gi/vt.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 18, 2018, 06:36:09 AM
延禧攻略 - Story of Yanxi Palace - (2018)

A current blockbuster, bladder-burster 70-episode drama from iQiYi, breaking viewership records in China, with an absolutely killer intro sequence which everyone should look at at least once (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr_R9s7gMgk). As for the drama itself, well I wouldn't know. There was a sudden decrease in production values when the title sequence ended and a heroine's clever social negotiation to deal with. This Confucian crap where people speak a lot and negotiate social difficulties with calm wisdom is sophistry rather than drama and watching it for entertainment is boring. This is my opinion and it bothers me because I think I may be wrong if literally millions disagree.

YMMV
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 18, 2018, 06:38:20 AM
延禧攻略 - Story of Yanxi Palace - (2018)

(https://cdn.hk01.com/di/media/images/1647299/org/5e3ce2a04c161338adb799356fb5c733.jpg/DkhQpzqzDbK7fcc-VLlPit2QulSXgA7g965LhfeuS4U?v=w1920)

#eyebrows
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on August 18, 2018, 11:49:56 AM
Calach, I'd love to be able to watch some of these shows, but I'm not set up to do so and don't have the data. I'll have to speak to the Grandsons if I see  them.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 18, 2018, 02:23:58 PM
Surprisingly, it's really easy to find these shows on streaming websites. There are a bunch of dedicated sites (that presumably make their money through advertising), but Youtube and Netflix often have complete, subtitled episodes too. A quick look through the internet suggested at least the following sites (which I can't vouch for personally, but which seem to work without registration or any particularly problematic advertising):

https://www.dramafever.com/
https://www3.dramacool9.io/
https://ondramanice.tv/

They work for me, at least. They might be blocked in Australia. But if your internet service can handle the download size and rate, then here are some testers:

https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4914/1/goblin-the-lonely-and-great-god/

https://www3.dramacool9.io/goblin-episode-1.html
https://ondramanice.tv/goblin/watch-goblin-episode-1-online

Note well: streaming video like this amounts to downloading a lot of information. If your internet account has download limits, be careful how much you watch...
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 18, 2018, 02:52:50 PM
Hyori's Bed and Breakfast - 효리네 민박 - (2017/2018)

(https://www.allkpop.com/upload/2017/12/af_org/07210501/Lee-Hyori-IU.jpg)

Also a hypnotic salve, and a reality show to boot.

https://ondramanice.tv/hyoris-bed-and-breakfast/watch-hyoris-bed-and-breakfast-episode-1-online


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Granny Mae on August 19, 2018, 12:42:20 PM
Calach thanks for the info. Yes, I do have very limited data . bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 19, 2018, 08:36:10 PM
https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/best-australian-internet-plans

As ridiculous as it sounds, internet in Australia is one of the things I worry about as a relocation issue...

Alternatively, with the both regulatory environment and what keeps on looking like monopoly pricing (but maybe technically isn't), well, could be that moving to a first world country is a good way to quit my internet habit.

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: old34 on August 20, 2018, 10:51:38 AM
Check out "Iris", a Korean political drama currently on Netflix. (English subtitles).
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2018, 02:13:22 PM
Pump Up the Bhangra: the Sound of Asian Britain

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlYzDcAXgAAXAm6.jpg)

A succinct history with a killer soundtrack


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 01, 2018, 02:05:09 AM
Check out "Iris", a Korean political drama currently on Netflix. (English subtitles).

I did check this one out. I feel like I should like it more since it is one of the famous dramas, but... .¯\_(ヅ)_/¯
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 01, 2018, 11:03:31 PM
My Mister (2018)

(https://www.dramafever.com/st/news/images/3abae14a-1027-478c-815c-3268453f327b.jpg)

Re-watched this ^^^.  It has a crappy title but it's a helluva drama.

무지개는 있다 (Band Ver.) -  빈센트 블루 (Vincent Blue)  (https://y.qq.com/n/yqq/song/004bKOBN4ZZRSW.html)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 04, 2018, 05:38:19 PM
There's some kind of in-joke in zombie shows these days: the dead walk, the living drive cars? How is this any kind of sustainable future? These days I watch fear the Walking Dead and I keep asking the screen, why is no one riding a bicycle? They insist so much on this kind of transport, they *walk* to find fuel. No wonder everyone keeps insisting the world has ended and there's no going back.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 18, 2018, 07:08:49 PM
I need some next-level korean drama. I feel like I've seen all of what kdrama can do up to now and the current dramas are more of the same. They better level up or I'll have to go back to reading books.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 21, 2018, 04:36:10 PM
Finally got hold of seasons 7 and 8 of The Walking Dead.

Finished Season 7 and just started season 8.

I firmly believe heroes need a good enough villain to make the story really interesting.  Negan outdoes all the prior villains put together.  The only other one in the whole series who could even make it into the competition was The Governor.  Where Negan stands out is that he's not just there to be evil, but is there to enjoy every second of being evil.  That's the hallmark of a true super-villain.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 25, 2018, 02:13:30 PM
Dream High - 드림하이 - (2011)

(http://pic.pimg.tw/pthuang/1329710062-1861512719.jpg)

Like "Fame" but Korean with 16-year-olds and a very cold sound stage
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 02, 2018, 02:09:05 PM
Master's Sun - 주군의 태양 - (2013)

(http://www.koreandrama.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Master%E2%80%99s-Sun-Poster5.jpg)

Imperfect. Enjoyable anyway because the principals are sprightly.
First several episodes have tiresome ghost-of-the-week subplots eventually ditched in favour of the more compelling longer form story.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 07, 2018, 07:35:58 PM
James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction - (2018)

(https://images.amcnetworks.com/amc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/james-cameron-science-fiction-key-1600x720.jpg)

6-part AMC cheapola scifi crapfest.

Should have been good, but just incredibly cheap instead. Does have James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro and totally wastes their time and ours with entirely superficial adver-interviews. And then does the same with a bunch of the semi-famous, like nk jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor. If this tv series does have any draw, it'd be the many (short) clips from the many films and the brief mentions of famous books. Otherwise: sucked.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 31, 2018, 03:19:05 PM
Ash vs. Evil Dead

Finally got to see seasons 2 and 3.  Rude, crude, socially unacceptable, and darkly hilarious. agagagagag

The only sad note - Bruce Campbell has announced that he's retiring Ash permanently. ananananan  Too bad - the final part of the last episode laid the perfect groundwork for a new season or else a movie.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 24, 2018, 08:50:43 PM
Blackpink House (2018)

(https://f.ptcdn.info/180/059/000/pdh6h64glnhu8zzb8zk-o.jpg)

Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 10, 2019, 04:11:00 PM
True Detective (2019)

(https://s3.drafthouse.com/images/made/1488389_PA_True_Detective_S3_600x3002_(1)_800_400_81_s.jpg)

Nothing beats season 1. But 3 is better than 2.


Blood - Algiers (https://music.163.com/#/song?id=401364419)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 10, 2019, 03:09:21 PM
Misaeng (2014)

(https://dramaforreal.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/misaeng_5.jpg)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 10, 2019, 06:35:14 PM
Dollhouse (2009)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G3KylSh_TMo/VuOMpJSyoWI/AAAAAAAAAdg/mC-tA0ZMjrY_CgFG4J7zx6ArXYjxfMUMQ/s1600/24305-dollhouse-dollhouse.jpg)

Holds up surprisingly well. And the Epitaph episodes are set in 2019. Boom.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 16, 2019, 02:55:40 PM
Game of Thrones - Season 8

Eh.

Having ventured further along the timeline than the books, each character has grown noticeably dumber, both figuratively and literally. Every character speaks less, says less, and I think probably means less with what they do say. I mean...

Sansa: What do dragons even eat?
Daenerys: (long beat)
Daenerys: ... whatever they want.

Pffft.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on April 22, 2019, 08:44:42 PM
Star Trek Discovery  Season 1.

Michelle Yeoh (who is already one of my fav actresses akakakakak) as captain of a star ship.  Oh Captain! My Captain! akakakakak akakakakak akakakakak

Oh, and there are some other characters too. ahahahahah


Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 02, 2019, 11:57:25 PM
Barry - Season 2

(https://mamasgeeky.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/barry-hbo.jpg)

"Barry" is funny is season 1, maybe a fraction twee overemphasizing the innocent abroad effect, but with season 2 they've pulled out some stops and started batting around some Mr Robot style surreality, episode 5 in particular. Worth it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 06, 2019, 04:10:06 PM
I finally decided to check out Dexter.  I'm currently almost done with season 4.

Comedy, extra dark. agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 21, 2019, 09:04:53 PM
Whoops, Game of Thrones went and ended. For some reason I thought season eight had seven episodes. But no, it was six, and last night was the last one.

This week and last week, I think, were less boring than everything else in season eight but mostly just because the book spoilers were new and somewhat unexpected. So I find myself looking forward to the books now. Which is annoying because, by jingo, if those books ever do get published it sure won't be soon...

I've contemplated starting the book series again. But I don't honestly think I can face it. Even the fact there are two books still to go and the trail is eight years cold....

 awawawawaw
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 23, 2019, 07:20:42 PM
Got all the way through Season 6 of Dexter before running out of disks.  I still need Seasons 7 and 8 (or a multi-region blue-ray player for the disks I picked up in the US).

Dexter has many of the same "good things that turned out bad" and "bad things that turned out good" type of plot twists than made Breaking Bad so fun to watch.  I haven't looked up who the writers are, but I suspect that there may be some overlaps.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Nolefan on May 24, 2019, 08:43:34 PM
i did re-read the books before this season started. was lots of fun!
It was also a reminder that many characters never made it to the series and a few changed a lot.
Heck Jon hasn't met Danny yet in the books and neither is aware of the other's presence

Lots of negative feedback on this final season but i have enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 26, 2019, 07:09:12 PM
Speaking of the books, seems like GRRM has sort of claimed Winds of Winter will be - finished? - "in hand" is what he says - some time next year. Worldcon 2020 happens July/August, so...

http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/


Phew, ugly blog, yo.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 27, 2019, 08:35:22 PM
The Walking Dead, Season 9.  You would think the next new villain would be some variant of the previous ones.  Think again.  This season introduces (and hopefully keeps for next season - not sure yet, I've got a few episodes left) the a new villain that makes even me wonder how deeply deranged the writers are.  I'd rather go to dinner in Terminus and spend an evening playing baseball with Negan than have to deal with this nightmare.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 28, 2019, 02:59:42 PM
Season 9 is over.  My new favorite villain is even more villainous than thought and will be around for Season 10.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 05, 2019, 03:20:42 PM
The Expanse - When I saw the title, I was worried it was a show about my waistline. ahahahahah

Reasonably well written and adequately acted.  Most of the special effect work fairly well, which puts is above a lot of Sci Fi.

Seasons 1-3 have a running plotline with lots of twists and turns along the way.  I thought Season 3 would be the end, but Season 4 appears to be in production.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 19, 2019, 02:17:28 PM
Better Than Us - Лучше, чем люди - (2019)

(https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Better-Than-Us-Russian-Original-Season-1-On-Promotional-Poster.jpg)

In non-Soviet Russia, all appliances obey Asimov's Three laws of Robotics, except for that one robot who doesn't.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 19, 2019, 06:05:17 PM
Better Than Us - Лучше, чем люди - (2019)

In non-Soviet Russia, all appliances obey Asimov's Three laws of Robotics, except for that one robot who doesn't.


Dammit!  The oven refuses to bake this cake.  It says that the cake is unhealthy and it cannot allow any risk we'll be harmed by eating it.

The exercise bicycle keeps following me around the house demanding I spend at least an hour working out on it.

The 3 laws are more than scary enough even if all the appliances and robots follow them.


Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 19, 2019, 06:18:41 PM
Z Nation (2014-2018)

It's not the same quality as The Walking Dead, but for a zombie series, it's still not bad.  On the other hand, despite managing to deal with the all the drama of end of the world as we know it, it still manages to maintain a deeply demented sense of humor.

BTW - George RR Martin has a guest spot in one episode.

I'm currently on Season 3 (of 5) and am still enjoying it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 18, 2019, 07:51:38 PM
Temple (2019)

Eh.

British remake of 2017's Norwegian tv show Valkyrien. Interesting that Valkyrien got remade so fast, I guess, but pretty sure they did so only because it got so much English-language press back in 2017. Foreign-language tv shows were the thing there for a hot minute a couple of years ago and Valkyrien was one of them.

So anyway, Temple is being raved about now. Personally, based on the first episode alone, imma go head and say Valkyrien's better. YMMV
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 29, 2019, 03:07:54 AM
Mr Robot

They left it too long. And strung it out too long in season 2-3. Season 4 feel kinda orphaned now.

Also I think episode 4 is a fakeout of some kind, a la It's A Wonderful Robot or something. Too much dicking around with classics
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 03, 2019, 06:24:27 PM
The Mandalorian

Boring. Supposed to be a western but it's a stupid puppet show with people and a terminator. No one cares about a terminator in a stupid puppet show. That's what Star Wars does to good ideas.

His Dark Materials

Boring. Supposed to be a condemnation of organised religion but they underplay the relationship between people and daemons so hard the daemons look like random pets when the inestimable value of the relationship between person and daemon is supposed to be a major driver of the horror and vitality of this fantasy.

Mr Robot

Not boring, but near to it just by virtue of how anticlimactic all the action and revelation has become, even in episode 7.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 10, 2019, 06:09:10 PM
Started watching this:

Twin Peaks ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (No, Really) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AYnF5hOhuM)
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 12, 2019, 10:24:04 PM
Started watching this:

Twin Peaks ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (No, Really) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AYnF5hOhuM)

That could take some of the fun out of it.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 13, 2019, 03:23:56 AM
Started watching this:

Twin Peaks ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (No, Really) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AYnF5hOhuM)

That could take some of the fun out of it.

Could do. But I'm finding it's adding a layer of meaning. The explanation is far less about in-show spoilers, which would be boring, and far - four hours far - more a thesis about how the story was constructed and what story it therefore becomes. I'm pacing myself in watching it through though. I'm 2 hours into the explanation and coincidentally eight episodes into a rewatch of seasons one and two.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 30, 2019, 06:14:00 PM
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzRjOWYyNDUtYTJhMC00ZmZmLThlYmYtOWJkMzk4MGQ2NDFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQyMDc5MA@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,647,1000_AL_.jpg)

Good and you?
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 15, 2020, 06:19:22 PM
Just finished 5 seasons of Better Call Saul.

This prequel to Breaking Bad has been amazing so far (Season 6 is due sometime next year).  There's one marriage proposal in the series I'm still trying to figure out - was it the MOST romantic proposal I've ever seen or was it the LEAST romantic proposal I've ever seen?

Overall, not quite as good as Breaking Bad, but pretty close.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: piglet on September 16, 2020, 10:27:22 PM
Agree. We also enjoyed it. Not quite up to BB but took our mind off impending second lockdown.
Title: Re: Tv
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 05, 2020, 07:23:33 PM
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ3NzBmYzItOTZjMC00NTkzLTkyMjQtNTlmZTM1NTUyYmQ5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_.jpg)