The TV Series discussion thread

Oh, I could give you a huge list of why the final season didn't resonate well for me, but I'll just toss out the biggest error: Making a vapid, brain-dead, incestuous wannabe-queen the principle enemy rather than a malevolent, ancient evil that has threatened the realms for millenias. Keep in mind though, the decline started way earlier than the final series, at least for me. I'd say the last really good series was the fourth year, when the telly people didn't have a bible to follow anymore, the overall decline was pretty obvious.

Originally Posted by Philistine
Finally watched GOT8. Thoroughly enjoyed. I know there was a huge backlash against this season, could anyone tell me why? Sure it was it was depressing but but since when has GOT had any happy endings for the characters?

Mostly because the G.R.R Martin fans refuse to believe that anything not directly written by him can be good. I also enjoyed GoT to the end.

Originally Posted by Philistine
Finally watched GOT8. Thoroughly enjoyed. I know there was a huge backlash against this season, could anyone tell me why? Sure it was it was depressing but but since when has GOT had any happy endings for the characters?

It was entertaining but the storytelling went downhill for a few seasons for me too.
The first season were much more about political intrigue, characters, overall atmosphere.

How did people expect it to end? Personally I was thinking Dany would execute Jon for treason causing Arya to assassinate her. She would marry Gendry and would jointly rule, her through right of conquest and he as his birthright.

I hoped Ice King will win and turn everyone into undead, but deliberately leaving only Cersei alive to enjoy her rulership over noone.

I kind of expected ninety percent of the kingdom to perish, and the ancient evil to reestablish the physical connection that previously existed to the other continent in the novel series, thereby ending the television series on quite the somber note. Not only would most of the kingdom that we'd known be decimated, but much of the rest of the existing world would shortly share the same peril. I sure didn't ever expect that some trailer trash maven would trump an old world power for being the diabolic arch-foe. Then again, as usual the book series is always best, and I'll have to hope Martin finishes his series at some point. Personally though, as long as he keeps contributing to the superior Wild Cards, I'll give him a pass on the low fantasy series. I'm chuffed to see where the Wild Card blokes go next!!

Seriously. If you didn't watch 6 seasons of Clone Wars, do it. Yes, it's that good.
Not sure? Even after that trailer for the upcoming the final, 7th season?

No, you don't need to watch anything to enjoy it, except the original movie trilogy. And you've watched it.

Did anyone else make the vast mistake of watching episode one of Star Trek: Picard? If not, let me save you the time, observe someone painting or washing a wall instead, you are welcome in advance!

Finally binged season 3 of True Detective. It was great. A lot better than nr 2. But still not as good as 1. But very close. In a different way.

I also saw season 1 of Sharp Objects. Pretty good. Liked the story and atmosphere. But the ending was a bit underwhelming.

Currently binging season 2 of Fargo which i never finished, and which is fantastic.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Did anyone else make the vast mistake of watching episode one of Star Trek: Picard? If not, let me save you the time, observe someone painting or washing a wall instead, you are welcome in advance!

Just saw it. I kind of agree; Patrick Stewart has lost his powerful voice and it's a little too action oriented. A bit sad but I may stick with it for a while. Overall, I'd say it's mildly disappointing but maybe expectations are too high.

edit: you're probably right. If the lead were anyone but Stewart it would be crap - just the nostalgia talking.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Did anyone else make the vast mistake of watching episode one of Star Trek: Picard? If not, let me save you the time, observe someone painting or washing a wall instead, you are welcome in advance!

Totally disagree … I found it to be an interesting start, layered with enough Trek-lore to have my (non-Trekkie) son pretty well lost (interesting having my wife explaining things to him!). The pacing was a bit too slow mixed with too fast - but part of that I found to be intentional and necessary … they are establishing that Picard was “waiting to die” rather than living, and around him is a world every bit as fast paced as it was decades before.

Anyway, this first episode was not a reason to either disregard it, nor to heap praise. It was … well, basically a classic pilot. Next Thursday we’ll watch again, and see if we make it to episode #3.

Agreed in the sense that it is only the first episode, and it might drastically improve, but it could also easily go the other direction. Assuming that the post-budget was over a few hundred dollars per episode, there are some glaring editorial errors that shouldn't exist in that premiere episode, and while the pacing of the first ten to fifteen minutes was fairly solid, after that it just becomes some sort of chaotic nightmare. I did enjoy some things, like his treasure-trove room with all the artifacts in it, some of them stirring some excellent memories like the Captain's Day banner, old models, and that this does seem to actually be the Picard from the telly show, not the weirdo from the films that hardly seemed like Picard at all. For as many re-shoots and re-takes that I know took place with this production, I was just expecting better. I'll check out at least another episode or three before declaring love or despite, I stomached Discovery's entire first series so I can practically take anything. I just don't want this one to turn into Discard.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I stomached Discovery's entire first series so I can practically take anything. I just don't want this one to turn into Discard.

Haha - I didn’t manage to get into Discovery, which is a good thing. For me it will come down to (a) will my wife want to watch more episodes and (b) do I care enough to watch on my own? So we shall see …

The only way I could come close to enjoying Discovery was by pretending that it wasn't in the Star Trek universe. That took me through series one, then I decided that was simply enough for me, I think that's when I got into Counterpart, which was a far superior show, actually one of the best I've ever seen, and it perished far too soon. Matter of fact, I believe the person doing the music for Picard also did the same for Counterpart, and his work is pretty good.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed the Picard Pilot. It didn't make the mistake of revealing its entire hand at once (Riker, 7of9, Deana, etc). I'll probably have to watch it again, as some of the Romulan plot details confused me.

I assumed some of the Romulans we saw during the premier were some of those that Picard himself had helped rescue before he resigned, and likely how some of the others hid in various places. But agreed, we're likely to see more of exactly what went on, as well as hearing more about the android insurrection. If I remember right, some of Soong's creations looked almost human, at least when compared to Data, so I'm curious to know if there are some infiltrators lurking about. I did like how Maddox came back to be so very important, I'm sure that story will be vastly important as the story progresses.

CBS All Access also has a ‘overthinking’ segment called ‘Ready Room’ with Wil Wheaton that looks into each episode. I found it pretty helpful for this one to tie stuff together (haven’t watched a Trek movie since VI whenever that was … nor a show since DS9).

Many of us cannot access CBS access… Ehm… Yea.
Currently, Picard is available only on Amazon outside of USA. Which is kinda odd as previously ST: Discovery was given to Netflix. I guess the upcoming animated series, ST: Lower Decks, except CBS will air on Disney+ and nowhere else.

I can tell you that obviously the people behind the last two iterations of Star Trek telly series either don't get what makes good episodic television and/or never viewed the Next Generation/Deep Space Nine shows. The templates for excellent science fiction are right there in both of those, and Discovery could really use the help. I'll give this newest show a few more attempts before I bringeth the smack down on them. Even the Expanse gets stuff more right than Discovery, and don't even get me started on the glaring science mess-ups!!

Recently rewatched the first season of Westworld. I still think it's one of the greatest single seasons of any drama I've ever seen.