The TV Series discussion thread

NewDArt said:

Except for the "realism" argument, sure.

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Oh, there are many people who think fantasy excuses crappy writing all-round

NewDArt said:

Oh, there are many people who think fantasy excuses crappy writing all-round

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Oh, there are many people who take the writing too seriously

Caddy said:

Oh, there are many people who take the writing too seriously

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Clearly, we're in the minority

The suits thank you for your unwavering support!

I think the popularity of the show has finally convinced Martin that he topped Tolkien in terms of quality - like he so often wants to not-quite-say out loud.

NewDArt said:

Clearly, we're in the minority

The suits thank you for your unwavering support!

I think the popularity of the show has finally convinced Martin that he topped Tolkien - like he so often wants to not-quite-say out loud.

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My pleasure!

I find that pretty much all narrative drama is contrived to some degree, and there's always holes to be picked if you have a bit of a think about it. My test is whether it's sufficiently entertaining that the problems don't loom too large while I'm engrossed. I find that Thrones is still on the right side of that, but has definitely been pushing it a bit recently.

I've always thought it's a bit of very well-made fluff, and I don't really expect it to be a serious meditation on the human condition and the realities of war.

Dez said:

A great finale for this season. Few comments:

Spoiler: Heavy spoilers

-What a scene to watch where The Hound says "hi" to his big brother. Hehe… Basicly every Hound scene is like that. What a great character. His character arc has definitely been a delightful one to follow.
-The scene where Cersei and Tyrion shared wine. Ouch I almost came to belive that Cersei actually had a small bit of concience and honour left, but the evil queen ofcourse thinks only for herself.
-When Jon Snow acted lawfull stupid (like Ned Stark) during the negotiations, but hey atleast dragon queen respects him now more than ever. Still I just bursted in laughter when they complained about his honesty…
-The long waited romance ofcourse which everyone was hoping to see.
-Bronn sharing few friendly words with Tyrion. I hope our favourite soldier of fortune switches sides soon. Serving Cersei just doesn't suit him at all.
-Littlefinger finally getting what he deserved… He was an awesome character, but a bit too clever for his own good. Sansa clearly is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she is a good learner. Well played girls and so fitting that Arya got to execute him with his own dagger. And finally Bran got to do something usefull as a third eye raven. Web of lies littlefinger had weaved was no use against Starks anymore.
-Jaime just never stops surprising me. He has come a long way: I just couldn't belive that he was willing to abandon Cersei and ride alone to help Jon Snow against white Walkers. I imagine that he won't be returning King's Landing… I expect him to regain his honour in the next season in some way.

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Ripper said:

I find that pretty much all narrative drama is contrived to some degree, and there's always holes to be picked if you have a bit of a think about it. My test is whether it's sufficiently entertaining that the problems don't loom too large while I'm engrossed.

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Stop it. You're making too much sense.

I find that "nothing is perfect" and "there are dragons and shit" is code for having turned off your brain because of the spectacle.

Nothing wrong with that at all. I just have a hard time doing it when things get too stupid.

Obviously, we all react differently to different kinds of omissions - as is evident in this thread about GoT. For instance, I really don't care about realistic travel times - because, to me, it's an acceptable story-telling device to skip over it. Well, for the most part.

My own biggest issues are related to character consistency. I'm very big on characters and the psychology of how people work.

For something like Tolkien, where all characters are obscenely black and white - it's not a problem, because the style is so blatantly about something entirely different.

His writing is fantastic because it's so incredibly consistent in terms of what he's trying to do - and how to go about it. Also, he put in the work and then some. So very little of Tolkien seems improvised. Even the dull as dishwater bits about Ents or whatever clearly belong there - and have not been put in as filler.

For GoT - I find it tries to come off as a realistic medieval "low fantasy" tale of political power struggles. It tries to sell the characters as "real people" within the given context of a fantasy narrative.

That is the problem for me, because I do not think the characters are convincing portrayals of human nature.

Some shows have absolutely amazing characters that seem utterly real and convincing. The Wire would be a good example.

Not only that, but GoT has been going in circles for ages and ages - and I really don't think what the very first episode promised has been given until very recently.

The core narrative and big plot points really are incredibly insignificant compared to the spectacle and little musings of characters that never seem to go anywhere.

So...

Is anyone watching something other than Game of Thrones?

What about Preacher? Surely I'm not the only one enjoying that.

No, Preacher is another series I'm waiting the season to finish before watching it.

And of course we're watching stuff that isn't Game of Thrones. Some of us at least.
Orphan Black ended recently, season 5 was the last. While the story could have been better, can't praise cast in this series more. Give it a shot when you find time so we can discuss which (known) clone is the best one.

I started watching Walking Dead again - from the first season.

I forgot how great that show used to be

Preacher is fairly entertaining, how they treat Hitler is pretty amusing.

I've watched Wynonna Earp, Suits, and The Tick. I also finished season 2 of Shadowhunters. I have not watched any of GoT!!

NewDArt said:

I started watching Walking Dead again - from the first season.

I forgot how great that show used to be

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Rated by Zombie jucges and Zoimbie audiences as the Number One choice for Zombies!

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I've been watching also a canadian made series called 19-2. It's a police series which feels very authentic and raw. It is kind of like the other police series called Southland, but this one is set in Montreal. At the moment they're running the third and final season, so now is the perfect time to jump in. It has been quite a ride and I've gotten very fond of the main characters.

I'm not sure that 19-2 is for everyone though, because it is very character driven drama and it can feel somewhat slow paced at times, but the main actors are really good and the show actually tries to offer an viewer an honest raw look about a modern urban society. It's not going to be the next Wire, but I belive it is a show which has a purpose. The writing is real and natural and believable, and the stories hit home. Season 1 will start really slow, but the payoff is really great as you keep following the lives of these policemen through thick and thin.

Been keeping up with Preacher. This season has been great IMO.

Also been watching "The Sinner", which I think is intended to be an 8 episode miniseries. The first episode started off really slow and I almost shut it off but about midway through it began to get more interesting. I don't normally watch cop shows or murder mysteries, but this is a Whytheydoneit & keeping me curious enough to watch it until the end at least.

I also recently watched Dark Matter which just ended the 3rd season. I like it. It's a sci-fi show that doesn't take itself too seriously and I've found it to be pretty entertaining. Some bits of drama & comedy, with cyberpunk themes throughout. If you like sci-fi shows at all I'd suggest maybe checking it out.

I tried watching Timeless, but after 4 episodes I abandoned it. I feel it would have been much better if they were more serious about it, but it's very formulaic... Bad guy goes to year X, trio goes to year X, they stop bad guy from doing the bad thing, they come back. And the whole 'rescue my sister' thing is too stupid for me.

Unsubscribe that crap and go watch El Ministerio Del Tiempo. Maybe it still didn't come on Netflix (the contract allows them to air it when season 3 ends, something like that) so check TV/IPTV channels.
Silly it is. Funny even more. But it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

We watched the first episode of the Sinner, and still have yet to watch the second one. It seemed to start off pretty slow, but I suspect we'll watched the next couple to see how it pans out.