The TV Series discussion thread

While I love Agent Carter, it appears not to have rated well, so a third series seems a long shot!!

Well, that would be terrible. I'll pray ABC cancels it so Netflix can snatch it up and make it even better!

Posted what's coming up in a month for anime, but there is also possible gamebreaker on TV too.

CW, the network notorious for polluting air with shows aimed for low IQ people, seems getting from the butt to the head and will try with safe-bet story.

A show Containment will start airing one month from today (19th of April). Here's the trailer:



What's it about? Nothing we didn't see yet, an outbreak, governments, CDC and importance of ordinary people. Synopsis:

The series follows an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving the large city quarantined and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives. The drama tells the story of loved ones torn apart, and how the society that grows inside the cordon reveals both the devolution of humanity and the birth of unlikely heroes.

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But why am I mentioning this probably mediocre product?

Because we will all watch it. And we will all watch it because Rain From Stars (2010 movie) never got released on optical media and is impossible to buy or watch unless you were lucky. We will watch it because one can't have enough of Morrigan. Vala Mal Doran. Admiral Xen. Aeryn Sun. Etc. Even if she's now blonde.

Bonus regular cast appearance by Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School, brilliant aussie TV show) just adds more to the value.

Watched the first episode from Daredevil series two, boy oh boy did that one come out swinging. Say what you want about Netflix, but imo they sure nailed the whole Daredevil mythos quite well.

Finished 2 sci fi shows: The Expanse and Colony

The Expanse (SYFY):
A kind of missing person/ detective story told in the far future that takes place in space. It’s basically a story that could have been told in 3 episodes stretched to 9. The Expanse was filled with characters I did not care for, in particular just about all the leads. And this is curious because the acting was okay, but the roles seemed miscast to me. Also the violence and killings always felt added on for effect instead of being an organic part of the story. The special effects were okay and did not detract from the story telling but the story arc was weak and could not carry the series for me. OTHO, the world of the Expanse was interesting and held me for the first season but the story telling was too far spread out. I got the feeling they were trying to be like Babylon 5 in the long story arc but they had no compelling characters to keep my interested in season 2.

Colony (USA):
Earth has been invaded and kind of colonized. The series takes place about one year later. Unlike The Expanse, there are a ton of interesting characters in this series. Even the bad guys. But like the expanse, they stretched out a 3 or 4 episide story arc to 10 episodes. But unlike The Expanse, the story world in Colony is damn near a blank slate. Very little time was spent on the actual invasion, the aliens, their place of origin, the state of Earth. Only a couple lines are dropped each week to fill in the blanks. For the most part we never see the aliens nor their technology. And actually this show is hardly a sci-fi show. If you replace Los Angeles with Paris and the Aliens with the Germans, and the contemporary time line with WW2, well . . . that’s your show.
There is, however a lot of tension in the stories and the acting for the most part is great but this really is not a sci fi show. It is a sci fi only with some surface dressings. I felt betrayed.

One of the things both of these shows completely and utterly lacked is a sense for humor. They were all one hour of pure drama. If you feel your stories would be weakened with some slapstick, then give me some irony, or satire, or some droll humor, maybe some over the top, or even some juvenile humor. The Colony was interesting but pretty intense, I did not enjoy my time there and there was no sci fi. The Expanse OTOH was Sci fi, but I don’t have the patience to wait for their story arc to unfold – I might come back to The Expanse when it comes on DVD.

I refused to watch Colony based on it's, sorry to say, retarded Falling Skieslike premise, and completely disagree with you on Expanse - IMO every single character there is interesting.

That aside…

Carnifex said:

Watched the first episode from Daredevil series two, boy oh boy did that one come out swinging. Say what you want about Netflix, but imo they sure nailed the whole Daredevil mythos quite well.

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Can't watch that season yet, but I've heard two things that suggest you're wrong.
1. Kirigi doesn't make appearance
2. Episode 3 feels like a hommage to The Raid Redemption movie

Point 1 means Netflix is stalling or is saving it for a spinoff show just like stuff in case of Jessica Jones. Point 2 means the season is most probably awsome and something not seen in Hollywood TV production yet. The show will get close to 10/10 for sure, but hell that ain't actually Daredevil from comics.

In fact I bet just like in case of Divinity Original Sin, we'll agree that it's awsome yet everyone will be "complaining" on something.

joxer said:

CW, the network notorious for polluting air with shows aimed for low IQ people, seems getting from the butt to the head and will try with safe-bet story.

A show Containment will start airing one month from today (19th of April). Here's the trailer:

Click to expand...

At least the outbreak won't produce zombies for once. I thought the vampire wave was bad, boy was it dwarfed by the current zombie shows wave.

No mentions of the walking dead lately, it's been an amazing Season thus far imo. Too bad it's almost over just 3 more episodes.

By far my favorite show on television.

Also, just started watching last man standing on recommendation of my brother. I'm not usual that in to sitcoms but this show is absolutely hilarious. Going back to watch previous seasons on on demand.

I have been watching:

Vikings, The outsiders, and suits.

Waiting for humans, Mr. Robot and Halt and catch fire.

sakichop said:

No mentions of the walking dead lately

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All I can tell you about that one is I refused to giving it a try after people expressing disappointment in season 2 and also successfully dodged an impulse to buy the 1088 pages big comic. And that's just the first omnibus, the second is 1077 pages long, are they turning that comic/series into Santa Barbara?

CelticFrost said:

Waiting for humans

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Most probably will give that one a shot. The rumor is while it's a remake, it tells a different story, aka it's not exactly a silly and unnecessary remake but is just based on the original show. Not sure if the rumor is true, so will have to check myself although I despise remakes.

Currently watching:
- Black sails (catching up, currently about halfway through season 2)
- Agents of Shield (finished season 2, about to start season 3)
- Magicians
- The Expanse
- The Office (starting season 7 I think)
- Scrubs (starting season 8)
- DC Legends of Tomorrow
- Shannara Chronicles
- Angie Tribeca
- Persons of Interest (catching up, starting season 3)

Rewatching:
- Star Trek TNG (on last 4 episodes of the series)
- Star Trek DS9 (finishing season 2).

Interesting list I have to comment. Sorry 'bout that.

- Black sails - dropped as it's bloody drama and only drama, I don't want drama
- Agents of Shield - posted IMO utter boredom that should learn from Agent Carter
- Magicians - can't watch it yet, apparently it's confusing pos full of kinkyness?
- The Expanse - superb series, can't wait for second season
- The Office - never heard
- Scrubs - never heard
- DC Legends of Tomorrow - not available but apparently plenty of humor so I'll go for it
- Shannara Chronicles - never heard
- Angie Tribeca - never heard

Note that "never heard" often means that what I've heard would be better if never heard.
Scrubs is an exception. I actually never heard about that one, what's it about?

Currently watching Bron/Broen season 3 and I don't understand why Pibbur dropped it. It's as good as first two seasons, at least so far. In fact, the new guy and his relationship development with Saga is kinda refreshing. It's impossible any other show could pull out the scene "sex come in, no sex go away" for example. And other crazy stuff they do in there.

joxer said:

Interesting list I have to comment. Sorry 'bout that.

- Black sails - dropped as it's bloody drama and only drama, I don't want drama

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I'm feeling that in the last few episodes I've watched. Will see through end of season 2 at least.

- Agents of Shield - posted IMO utter boredom that should learn from Agent Carter

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Don't know how many episodes you watched. Personally I didn't like the first several episodes, but loved season 2.

- Magicians - can't watch it yet, apparently it's confusing pos full of kinkyness?

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It's not as good as I thought it would be (i.e. I was hoping for a Harry Potter for adults), but I'll watch the first season and decide.

- The Office - never heard

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I originally watched the british (original) version of The Office, which I liked, and didn't think the US version could be any better. I am watching it now and, if not better, it's at least as good, and there are many more episodes to enjoy.

- Scrubs - never heard

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It's a comedy show in a hospital, very funny (to me).

- Angie Tribeca - never heard

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It's a comedy show in the style of 'Police Squad!' (i.e. Airplane, The Naked Gun type of humor). I love that type of humor so I love the show.

wolfing said:

Rewatching:
- Star Trek TNG (on last 4 episodes of the series)
- Star Trek DS9 (finishing season 2).

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Neat. I'm rewatching Enterprise (currently near the end of season 4) and will continue with the rest in chronological order. I'm also interspersing the novels. Looking forward to finally getting to TNG again after all these years (my favorite), but I guess that's still a long time off.

Currently watching….

Expanse: Finally a scifi series which focuses space exploration. Closest to babylon 5 or battlestar galactica we've seen in a long time.

Vikings: Can't stop watching. Its just so unique and I'm really liking the characters.

Better Call Saul: BCS is one of those rare cases when the spin off idea really works. Its not trying to be breaking bad II. Its quite different. Same characters yes, but the tone is certainly lighter.

Americans: The series is a about two soviet spies living in the america during 80s. To the outside they look like the most ordinary white middle class american family with two kids, but in reality Philip and Elizabeth are highly trained spies who are willing to do anything the motherland asks. The series is quite slow paced, but when something happens, you're on the edge of you're seat.

House of Cards: Watching Frank & Claire Underwood plotting how to destroy their political enemies is really satisftying. Its a shame that Frank Underwood is not running for the president in real life.

Fargo season 2: So many great things could be said about Fargo. Writing & acting is just top notch.

Not watching…

-Walking dead. I just got tired during late season 3 or something. Same things were repeated again and again. And it was really annoying how stupidly the characters acted in this series.

-Colony. I absolutely loathed Falling skies. And what I've read about Colony, there are certain similarities. The alien invasion is ofcourse only going to be some kind backdrop for this series. The scifi aspect is going to be kept in minimal to make sure that the mainstream audience is not confused. The real focus is in human relationships. Likely it won't be as disgustingly family friendly as Falling Skies, but the concept sounds awfully similar. I'm just really tired of these false scifi series which aren't really scifi series.

Dez said:

Not watching…

-Walking dead.

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Is there a compact cut of this show? A version that cuts out all filler and dragged crap so instead of 10 seasons there is max a couple?

wolfing said:

Rewatching:
- Star Trek TNG (on last 4 episodes of the series)
- Star Trek DS9 (finishing season 2).

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For some random reason, I started watching DS9 recently - currently on season 3.

When it first aired, it didn't click for me at all. I didn't like Avery Brooks' style, it all started with psuedo-spiritual mumbo-jumbo in space, there were a number of particularly clunky episodes early on, and so on.

But, now that I've given it a chance, it's really grown on me. The psuedo-spiritual fluff actually evolves into some fairly interesting political intrigue, and when Louise Fletcher arrives as the ruthless fundamentalist trying to shut down Keiko's "blasphemous" science lessons, it really gets going. Louise Fletcher played one of my favourite villains in cinema - Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I find the gentle, smiling surface belying her reptilian evil is genuinely chilling. "I only want what's best for you, My Dear…"

It's hamstrung by the old-fashioned format - it has to kind of reset to the same setup every week for the next episode - but some of the writing, characters and performances are actually very good, if you turn a blind eye to the silliness. Some of the dialogue is really quite sharp. I also think there are perhaps more consistently good, interesting episodes than any other Trek series. It's a shame that the format is at odds with the writer's ambitions.

Ripper said:

For some random reason, I started watching DS9 recently - currently on season 3.

When it first aired, it didn't click for me at all. I didn't like Avery Brooks' style, it all started with psuedo-spiritual mumbo-jumbo in space, there were a number of particularly clunky episodes early on, and so on.

But, now that I've given it a chance, it's really grown on me. The psuedo-spiritual fluff actually evolves into some fairly interesting political intrigue, and when Louise Fletcher arrives as the ruthless fundamentalist trying to shut down Keiko's "blasphemous" science lessons, it really gets going. Louise Fletcher played one of my favourite villains in cinema - Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I find the gentle, smiling surface belying her reptilian evil is genuinely chilling. "I only want what's best for you, My Dear…"

It's hamstrung by the old-fashioned format - it has to kind of reset to the same setup every week for the next episode - but some of the writing, characters and performances are actually very good, if you turn a blind eye to the silliness. Some of the dialogue is really quite sharp. I also think there are perhaps more consistently good, interesting episodes than any other Trek series. It's a shame that the format is at odds with the writer's ambitions.

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Yes, DS9 gets better and better as time goes on. TNG to me goes from bad to good to great to good to meh, but DS9 goes from meh to good to great.

Different tastes…
DS9 is IMO the best Star Trek series and in my case goes from awsome six seasons to utterly dissapointing final season.

The letdown has everything with decision to change the key character because of some paycheck idiocy and career chase rumors. The new doctor who incarnation just wasn't charismatic enough and the final season broke apart. Or perhaps the problem was that the exotic ear of the original noone can ever beat?
Whatever it was, it's good they killed off the show when they did because after disastrous season 7 I just can't see how the story could have been brough back on track.

The Walking Dead.
Perfect show, very intense and dramatic. Second half of Season 6 is probably the best right now. Good mixing of drama and action.

Peaky Blinders. Pushed myself to try it, because of my love to England. Pilot was very good. Let's see what's next.

Dea, you are talking about not watching TWD like about some achievement, lol.