The TV Series discussion thread

Pongo said:

Four episodes into Season 2 of Stranger Things. I love the setting and the atmosphere, it's well written and the actors are great. I'm finding the overall plot less engaging than the first one though. It just doesn't really seem to be going anywhere. And one of the kids has done something inexplicably dumb with something he found in a bin, the kind of dumb that serves to move the plot forward but just doesn't really make sense. Still good TV though overall.

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Pongo said:

I'm currently watching Season 2 of Stranger Things (six episodes in), and it is just as beautifully shot and well acted as the first season, and still has great characters and dialogue. Its good television. But the overarching narrative just seems to have been lost. The first season was driven by a really strong plot point (finding Will) which gave everyone motivation. They could absolutely have wrapped the entire thing up at the end of that season. But it did well, so hey let's make more of it. The new season? Basically, stuff is still happening. You start to doubt that anyone has a clue where they're taking the story, just that the writers know they need to keep making more episodes. I'm not saying it isn't good TV, just that I think some stories work better in a shorter arc (like the way each season of Fargo is self-contained, for example).

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Dunno why it took me so long. Finally binged Stranger Things 2.

The kid does a stupid thing? But of course he does! When I was at that age I brought home a new bug/beast every day. And it made no sense. And it moved me (and my family getting disgusted) forward. Kids in this show are totally opposite of spielberglikes, in fact as this is supposed to be fantasy their reactions and behavior feel perhaps too real.
I don't see how finding a kid in the first season is stronger then getting him help due to a sort of PTSD (in this case though it isn't just a halucination).

IMO, ST2 upgrades the first season in all the right places.
The main villain in second season is not yet another spielbergish evil and cunning human but an actual monster with it's minions, 80s references are even more exaggerated and I don't mean just the variety of new old hairstyles, deliberate cheesyness in some scenes brings up nostalgia more effectively, humor is dosed in right amounts and happens unexpected (b: it's shit, s: I don't see any cows, b: wait till you meet highschool girls), new characters are not filler, 80s scores used totally fit what's currently on screen, etc etc
Sure, the lost sister might be taken as negative but let's be real, she's season 3 material and here was just introduced.

Younger audience will for sure disagree with me on Stranger Things 2. Maybe watching working girl movie, cindy lauper clips and mad max original would help a bit on understanding it completely.
But to me the second season is not only better than the first one, it's a masterpiece. Don't repeat my mistake and don't wait for Godot. Life is too short to spend it on mediocrity. Watch Stranger Things (both seasons) now.

We just finished tearing our way through the Netflix series ‘Grace & Frankie’ ... it is a fun 30-minute comedy-ish about two couples in their 70s who were best friends broken up when the husbands come out as gay and in a relationship with each other ... and the wives are suddenly living together in their shared beach house.

The cast - Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen - really make it all work very well, and the guest stars have been wonderful across the four seasons. The four adult kids have their ups and downs but have gotten better as they’ve grown into their characters, but ultimately it is the core relationships that make it all work.

I know - not typical for this forum, but something we have enjoyed.

Erm, what's not typical?
Comedy does get mentioned, shows with gay couples too (IIRC I wrote How to Get Away With Murder is impressive with it's fast pace and twists).

Or you mean the old masterpiece with Fonda&Tomlin Nine to Five.
Yea, I don't think anyone wrote anything about it. It's one of those mustwatch before dying movies made in times when Hollywood still knew how to film something good. IMO.

Started Ministry of Time, with my wife, not only do we both love it but are astounded at the production qualities. And we have 2 more seasons after this . . . ? ? ?

It kinda reminds me of the very early Doctor Whos. That did a lot of story telling with very little effects.

Thanks Joxer for the heads up. Please link me to your earlier review.

I've been meaning to check that one out. Early Dr. Who, before the hacks got hold of it, sounds interesting.

Ripper said:

I've been meaning to check that one out. Early Dr. Who, before the hacks got hold of it, sounds interesting.

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You definitely should check it out. The content is mature and is looking at the adult audience more than the family audience. And it is subtitled, but since the language is Spanish, I can pick out a few words here and there that makes it even more enjoyable. Unlike when I watch Japanese, Italian or French productions and have no clue as to the language.

The other interesting aspect of the show is that it appears the bulk of their time travel deals with Spanish history. While there are a ton of familiar period pieces and figures, I think it is fantastic to see time travel from a totally different perspective. There is even a joke about that early in the series.

A big plus to giving this show a thumps up is that Netflix has recommended a number of interesting Spanish sci fi movies that were no where close to being on my radar.

Me for the win.

Spanish history is also much longer and varied than US history (comparing it to Timeless which is the US 'stolen' copy). One episode could be in 1950, the next could be in 800, the next in 1580, 1220, etc. Interestingly enough I just finished season 2 and I find it even better than the first season which was great. And now to season 3.

Dajjer said:

Started Ministry of Time, with my wife, not only do we both love it but are astounded at the production qualities. And we have 2 more seasons after this . . . ? ? ?

It kinda reminds me of the very early Doctor Whos. That did a lot of story telling with very little effects.

Thanks Joxer for the heads up. Please link me to your earlier review.

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Where is that playing?

Ministry of Time or
El Ministerio del Tiempo is on Netflix

joxer said:

Dunno why it took me so long. Finally binged Stranger Things 2.
.

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For what it's worth, I thought the final episode of season 2 was fantastic. The rest of the season, for me, just wasn't as strong as the first one. But it was still quality stuff and I'll definitely check out Season 3.

The Lost in Space reboot is even worse than the movie. Every one of the Robinson children is either a sniveling little nancy (Will) with a nervous disorder in crisis situations or an unattractive, gape-mouthed, wisecracking tomboy (penny) that thinks she knows it all… and can do it all.. Judy is just a great wet stick of sweating angst, reliving her trauma of having been entombed in ice over and over again. Professor John Robinson… ugh (is he even a professor in this? I think it's implied that he's just a grunt, letting his wife Maureen do most of the work and figuring out things… wouldn't be at all surprised if their sex life consists mainly of her pegging him with a 14" steely dan). Stories are boring and Dr. Smith is a distaff disaster. I don't even wanna think about how that cock-head Don West is going to factor into all this. I despise him already. Since there's no cool giant cyclops tossing boulders at those Robinson tossers from above, I'm taking my leave on only the 3rd episode in. It's junk. Tis a pity since the original LIS is one of my favorite favorite childhood SF shows. Oh, Irwin, what have they done to your poor children?

JackOfOwls said:

The Lost in Space reboot is even worse than the movie. Every one of the Robinson children is either a sniveling little nancy (Will) with a nervous disorder in crisis situations or an unattractive, gape-mouthed, wisecracking tomboy (penny) that thinks she knows it all… and can do it all.. Judy is just a great wet stick of sweating angst, reliving her trauma of having been entombed in ice over and over again. Professor John Robinson… ugh (is he even a professor in this? I think it's implied that he's just a grunt, letting his wife Maureen do most of the work and figuring out things… wouldn't be at all surprised if their sex life consists mainly of her pegging him with a 14" steely dan). Stories are boring and Dr. Smith is a distaff disaster. I don't even wanna think about how that cock-head Don West is going to factor into all this. I despise him already. Since there's no cool giant cyclops tossing boulders at those Robinson tossers from above, I'm taking my leave on only the 3rd episode in. It's junk. Tis a pity since the original LIS is one of my favorite favorite childhood SF shows. Oh, Irwin, what have they done to your poor children?

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Easy there, Killer.

txa1265 said:

.

The cast - Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen - really make it all work very well, and the guest stars have been wonderful across the four seasons. The four adult kids have their ups and downs but have gotten better as they’ve grown into their characters, but ultimately it is the core relationships that make it all work.

I know - not typical for this forum, but something we have enjoyed.

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Some trivia about Martin Sheen - he played one of the very first gay men on American network television in the TV movie That Certain Summer, along with his boyfriend in the film Hal Holbrook. It was the very early 1970s. Not my kind of TV show though. I can't even stand Will & Grace.

Caddy said:

Easy there, Killer.

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It is my duty, my purpose, to save the children, the children, and prevent them from watching the awful Lost In Space 2018, which should be on the SyFy channel!

Don't be knocking The Expanse's channel!

Even the Sci Fi channel wouldn't touch the drek that this incarnation of Lost in Space is made of. Since the Expanse, I think they now might have some standards, at least where space shows are concerned.

Watched the first two episodes of "Lost in Space" and man...they are indeed awful.
In the first episode I still thought like well, maybe that was just a bit unrealistic to make a good entry, like "The 100" which had it's lows in the first season.
But instead "Lost in Space" just got even worse in the second episode.
Yes, as @JackOfOwls; already mentioned, the characters are pretty bad, but with just a few episodes in it might be a bit hard to tell. But what put me off was first and foremost the absolute lack of realism in favor of "Hollywood"-Szenes which make no sense at all. As the series uses that non-logic all over the board you start to actually lose to be attached to character (or don't even start to form any feeling of attachment).
It's like watching a show about a mage, who seems to have troubles of surviving just to use some spells in the end he could have used in the first place. After the first couple of times you just think like "now cast your spell already to save the day".

In the first episode the timing was all off, the whole thing about the space ship sunken in ice which is freezing like crazy within seconds didn't make a whole lot of sense.

But then the second episode: The "doctor" was introduced as character you are going to hate, then she seems to show that she is actually better than expected, just to fall back into the cliche. And doing this with a horrible, horrible sence. "Oh, we just came out of a deadly storm and made it to safety, but I lost my necklace along the way, can you get it for me?" Yeah...sure...oh, it's 50 meters outside convienently hanging from a branch. First you think like "yeah, I am used to see stupid things in the show now, so she might have dropped it and they just did a bad job vizualizing it". The alternative would have been "This guy must have been really stupid, but on the other hand, he was stupid enough to just run outside, risk his live for a one in a million chance to find the neclace".
And than after the thing they actually had to "reveal" what happened in between. Possibly because the viewer cannot differentiate between the stupidity of the show and the stupidity of the characters.

But the Family "rescue" was just as stupid. Yes, just blast all the ice away and get killed. Oh, it worked anyway. Then yeah, screw together that rover, everyone is an expert for everything anyways. Oh, and it's snowy, rocky AND there is some kind of jungle. No worries, the kid is able to just drive around the planet as if it was on a highway. Of course in a random direction, because why not. Apparently it came closer to the parents because in last minute she heared the signal. "Come to the light"...yeah sure. Because you can see this dude with his floodlight so easily from miles away, in rocky terrain, in the storm...and in the jungle.

About every scene which tried to bring some tension in this show is basically resolved by hollywood magic. Like when a 10 minute timer is literally defused within the last second 10 times in a row and only because random accidents actually made this possible.

Meh...too bad. I actually liked the idea of the scenario quite a lot.

Guess I need to wait for the second season of "Mars". The first season was pretty good. It's the complete opposite though as it tries to be as scientific as possible and is basically 50% acting and 50% documentary.
The Soundtrack alone is worth watching it

Just decided to abandon Lost in Space, I'm on episode 3 and just don't care for the show. Everybody has some stupid drama going on, things don't make sense, just … nope.

That Mars show is indeed excellent, we're really waiting for the second series to show up soonish!!

wolfing said:

Just decided to abandon Lost in Space, I'm on episode 3 and just don't care for the show. Everybody has some stupid drama going on, things don't make sense, just … nope.

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We made it through the second one by sheer force of will! Done!

Checked out the first episode of ‘Ministry of Time’ - solid intro, will be interesting to see if wife wants to keep watching or not, not really her sort of thing. I liked it.