The TV Series discussion thread

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/arts/television/2018-emmy-awards-winners-list.html

Again I have to :rolleyes:. Not saying *everything* went south, but again nominations were pathetic, omitting too many obvious candidates and in some cases sucking up to political correctness.

How can one pretend not to notice a career crown performance Sissy Spacek made in Castle Rock?
For those who're not sure, do please watch this combination of mystery with thriller and you tell me if 7th episode isn't a masterpiece of it's own - in which Sissy who's support stole the whole show!
 
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I know I won't be watching that one, unless it mysteriously shows up via my cable channels. Same with all the DC shows on their boutique little network, who on earth wants to subscribe to, like, twenty different outfits?
 
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Yes, I do think they've over-saturated the airwaves with superhero stuff. At this point my reaction is just not to care, even though one or two of them might be quite good.

I've mentioned before, it does seem to be the kind of action-entertainment sector that's creatively bankrupt these days. There's some really good stuff in the serious drama category, but the fun entertainment stuff, which is what you want sometimes, I find just feels like poor copies of copies.
 
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joxer said:
How can one pretend not to notice a career crown performance Sissy Spacek made in Castle Rock?
For those who're not sure, do please watch this combination of mystery with thriller and you tell me if 7th episode isn't a masterpiece of it's own - in which Sissy who's support stole the whole show!
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Yep that episode was incredible, and a bit hard to watch. Haven't finished the season yet but it is a pretty good show. My criticism is that I don't feel very connected to the characters. Henry as the lead is interesting and has an interesting past but for some reason I just don't care about him all that much. Maybe it changes in the last few episodes.
 
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They were talking about taking the show in a new direction, with a female Doctor and all. I was curious if they could reboot it into something watchable. But, it looks like they've dialed the cringe up to 11.

 
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vurt said:
Just finished Maniac. Best i've seen this year, really great!
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Ditto. My wife was hoping for more the next day. Could have done without all the F bombs, and cigarettes though (Netflix, brought to you by Philip Morris), etc. Jonah Hill had a hard time playing straight though, like he did in Moneyball - but paired off Emma Stone who doesn't. I loved the whole retro future look. I am told the Norwegian original is not quite as good. How is the book I wonder? I would think it would go more in depth with the odds.

Carnifex said:
I know I won't be watching that one, unless it mysteriously shows up via my cable channels. Same with all the DC shows on their boutique little network, who on earth wants to subscribe to, like, twenty different outfits?
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With the CBS streaming service they are getting away from the contract with Viacom they saddled themselves with when they up the company (in the split Star Trek universes one had the television rights and the other had the movie rights, but the look and feel of the movies couldn't look anything like the tv shows. Its pretty bizarre. The STEU movies are done anyway. Not sure what they are going to do with Picard - the man is in his 70's now).

With Moonves out maybe they will rethink they're whole strategy. I'm about as disgusted as a I can be with what they are doing to the Teen Titans. Riverdale with even more adult themes?

Ripper said:
They were talking about taking the show in a new direction, with a female Doctor and all. I was curious if they could reboot it into something watchable. But, it looks like they've dialed the cringe up to 11.
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She's such a Minerva
 
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Ripper said:
They were talking about taking the show in a new direction, with a female Doctor and all. I was curious if they could reboot it into something watchable. But, it looks like they've dialed the cringe up to 11.
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Changing it into something watchable for you would make it unwatchable for the millions of fans worldwide, so no.
 
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wolfing said:
Changing it into something watchable for you would make it unwatchable for the millions of fans worldwide, so no.
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I don't see why. It used to be watchable (by me and millions of others) when it originally established its worldwide popularity, before the hacks that "rebooted" it.

Also, its viewing figures have crashed as it's got steadily even worse, and the BBC knew a major shakeup was required. IMO, what needs to happen now is for it to go back into mothballs for a while, and be revived down the line by some writers with actual talent and vision.
 
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Watching old Kung Fu (1972-75) episodes on Amazon Prime video. Nice to see them in 1080p blu-ray quality even if those skin wigs in high definition do look like Halloween store skin wigs or what you could buy through mail order from the back of old comic books for a buck.

It's a classic series but damn I wish it didn't have such a kinder and gentler approach to violence and the comeuppance of bad guys. For once I'd like to see David Carradine's Caine go completely nutzoid and pull the villains' intestines out through their pooters, but noooo. He just roughs them up a bit and reduces them to ineffectual and beaten cowards or turns them over to the marshals who politely hangs them off-camera a few months past the epilogue. In the original pilot - a made for TV movie directed by Jerry Thorpe - Cain does in fact get incredibly homicidal and kills at least 3 assholes, 2 of whom he stalks in the desert, and it was refreshing, but they basically turned him into the hippy dippy kung fu fightin' monk/priest chinaman for the series. Other than this annoyance it's a worthy series to revisit in HD.
 
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Ripper said:
They were talking about taking the show in a new direction, with a female Doctor and all. I was curious if they could reboot it into something watchable. But, it looks like they've dialed the cringe up to 11.

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Nothing nice to say about this new Doctor.:disappointed:

This season will probably be the lowest rated after the first few episodes. It will of course have the usual articles about how the toxic vocal minority sabotaged it.
 
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I think Jodie Whitaker is a very good actress. The show has been godawful for a long time, and I was hoping such a radical change and new showrunner might set it on a new path, but the trailer still smacks of the same cringemaking drivel.

I actually suspect the show will fail, and there will be lots of handwringing about sexism, which will miss the point and dodge the blame - the show has been shit for a long time, and suddenly making the Doctor a lady is not going to fix it.
 
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Ripper said:
I think Jodie Whitaker is a very good actress. The show has been godawful for a long time, and I was hoping such a radical change and new showrunner might set it on a new path, but the trailer still smacks of the same cringemaking drivel.

I actually suspect the show will fail, and there will be lots of handwringing about sexism, which will miss the point and dodge the blame - the show has been shit for a long time, and suddenly making the Doctor a lady is not going to fix it.
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Wont bother me all that much if it is canned for a while. The last time I actually watched and enjoyed this show was when the SCFY channel broadcast it in the evenings.

David Tennant was the Doctor then followed by Matt Smith.
 
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Yes, I didn't like the new show from the get go, but during the Tennant era I thought it might be finding its feet, and coming into its own. It went sharply downhill after that, though. As I say, I think it might be best if it does get canned, and revived later by people with a completely different take on it.

(I must admit, one of the comments on the video did make me chuckle. 0/10 - needs more social justice. :biggrin:)
 
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Ripper said:
(I must admit, one of the comments on the video did make me chuckle. 0/10 - needs more social justice. :biggrin:)
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Must refrain from posting another video about social justice….

What the hell you all know me by now.


Enjoy at least it's not a basement Troll this time.:cool:
 
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Well I suppose I asked for that! :biggrin:

I do think it's an interesting conversation, though. As I've said before, I see no inherent problem in shows tackling the political issues of the day. Star Trek, for example, was clearly interested in examining what could only be described as issues of social justice - it's hit on race, sexuality, gender, religion, the sanitisation of war, state propaganda, you name it. But, it used those issues as the basis for good storytelling ideas, and sometimes did it brilliantly.

There are some shows today that have a very different feel to them, and say to me, "Here's some thoroughly mediocre shite for you, without any depth, subtlety, or writing talent. But, don't worry, it's actually good because we've ticked all these boxes that display our progressive credentials." There is a certain whiff around media produced by that sort of mindset, and so I can understand what is meant by the "social justice" criticism (though I still think it's a silly term for it.)
 
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Ripper said:
Well I suppose I asked for that! :biggrin:

I do think it's an interesting conversation, though. As I've said before, I see no inherent problem in shows tackling the political issues of the day. Star Trek, for example, was clearly interested in examining what could only be described as issues of social justice - it's hit on race, sexuality, gender, religion, the sanitisation of war, state propaganda, you name it. But, it used those issues as the basis for good storytelling ideas, and sometimes did it brilliantly.
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Yep Star Trek was great at tackling the political issues of the day. They just didn't force it on you without a good plot. So never had a problem with that series social justice.

Just don't mention that abomination called Star Trek: Discovery around me.
There are some shows today that have a very different feel to them, and say to me, "Here's some thoroughly mediocre shite for you, without any depth, subtlety, or writing talent. But, don't worry, it's actually good because we've ticked all these boxes that display our progressive credentials." There is a certain whiff around media produced by that sort of mindset, and so I can understand what is meant by the "social justice" criticism (though I still think it's a silly term for it.)
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That's what I always try to convey with those basement dwelling videos as you call them that I share off YouTube. Diversity is fine but forced diversity just to fill a quota is not.

You can also blame bad journalism that spouts labels, and calls opposite opinions toxic to everyone. No wait I believe it's "Toxic Vocal Minority" those articles like to use.

So still here TLDR I agree with you Ripper.:handshake:
 
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