The TV Thread

[JonoBlade]

8 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Ashoka - Decent enough, not as good as Mandalorian S1&2 and certainly no Andor but still fun enough.

Superstition - Basically Supernatural but set in a southern town.  Mario Van Peebles is in it.  Fluff and occasionally a bit disjointed but still enjoyable. 

The Guardian gave Ahsoka a scathing review. Which I thought was hilarious because I swear the critic there gave the first episode of Obi-Wan 4 stars which is a joke. That show started shit, continued to be shit and ended shit. 

We waited to get started on Ahsoka, partly because of that bad review, but I reckon it is pretty good so far (4 episodes in). It is basically a continuation of the Star Wars Rebels storyline which was the most fun of all the spin offs I have seen. However, it would be horrendously confusing for anyone who hasn't seen Rebels. The casting isn't quite right to replicate the animated characters, but you're forced to get used to it.

I found Andor pretty boring, although my recollection is it picked up toward the end of the season. Not that I could tell you what happened because it was pretty disposable. Book of Boba Fett, the same.

Bad Batch is good when it is good but, as with Mandalorian, they don't have that much of a dense, rich central plotline and have to pad it out with bog standard episodic tropes.  Clone Wars was like that too. Over the course of the seasons it covers a lot of ground but is also padded out a lot. I napped through a lot of it while my daughter watched.

The Mandalorian had a genius central premise of a babysitting bounty hunter but quite a lot of it is really bad and paint by numbers. There are several episodes centred around slaughtering megafauna which is merely going about its business. I found that really lazy writing.

I am enjoying the second season of Foundation. I can't tell you what is going on because its high concept sci-fi well above my pay grade, but is visually great and with characters you can take time to get invested in.

As a family we also watch this thing called Manifest. It is a bit like Lost where something supernatural is going on in the background but the big reveal is always just over the horizon. Not great, but entertaining.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I think you something up Star Wars in a nutshell, when it’s good it’s good, it is just very rarely good

[JonoBlade]

1 hour ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

I think you sum up Star Wars in a nutshell, when it’s good it’s good, it is just very rarely good

That is being generous. Most of it is, at best, barely watchable. But, I think, many of us grew up craving that something like what is now available would exist one day (high production values, visually stunning, plentiful sci-fi), so we watch it no matter the poor execution of the story.

While it has become technically feasible to make this stuff for television, the quality of writing has not evolved accordingly with the technical production capability. A movie about three men in a boat and a plastic shark still beats the shit out of the latest Star Wars spectacular. 

The technical staff must hold their collective heads in their collective hands and say "shit guys, we do our job, why can't you come up with a half decent/original plot!?"

Of course, the irony is that Star Wars has broadly sucked since Return of the Jedi. It just became this cultural phenomenon which took off despite shoddy writing. I guess with a history like that it is no surprise it continues to suck. But like a numpty I still watch it to derive some small level of enjoyment in a world now past salvation.

[RelentlessOblivion]

10 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

That is being generous. Most of it is, at best, barely watchable. But, I think, many of us grew up craving that something like what is now available would exist one day (high production values, visually stunning, plentiful sci-fi), so we watch it no matter the poor execution of the story.

While it has become technically feasible to make this stuff for television, the quality of writing has not evolved accordingly with the technical production capability. A movie about three men in a boat and a plastic shark still beats the shit out of the latest Star Wars spectacular. 

The technical staff must hold their collective heads in their collective hands and say "shit guys, we do our job, why can't you come up with a half decent/original plot!?"

Of course, the irony is that Star Wars has broadly sucked since Return of the Jedi. It just became this cultural phenomenon which took off despite shoddy writing. I guess with a history like that it is no surprise it continues to suck. But like a numpty I still watch it to derive some small level of enjoyment in a world now past salvation.I still maintain the best thing to come out of Star Wars was the books before Disney took over and decided nope you can’t have those any more.

 

[Dead1]

11 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

 

The technical staff must hold their collective heads in their collective hands and say "shit guys, we do our job, why can't you come up with a half decent/original plot!?"

The question is "why can't anyone in Hollywood come up with a half decent plot?"

Most movies and tv shows are sad tropes - in fact most movies now have generic "It's all good then the protagonist gets cocky and then must redeem themselves" plot.  And I am amazed at how often writing is disjointed or just terrible eg new Witcher.

 

I actually really liked Andor - it was about as realistic as Star Wars can be.  I really enjoyed the bad guy characters and also how the rebels aren't exactly all nice heroes but a collection of the misguided and the hypocritical.  There was a fair bit more depth than usual Star Wars.

 

 

Quote

The Mandalorian had a genius central premise of a babysitting bounty hunter

 

Actually it wasn't such an original premise.  Mandalorian was inspired by Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub manga and movie series from the 1970s.

 

Kind of like how the 1960s movie Magnificent Seven was basically a westernised Seven Samurai.

 

[JonoBlade]

8 hours ago, Dead1 said:

The question is "why can't anyone in Hollywood come up with a half decent plot?"

Most movies and tv shows are sad tropes - in fact most movies now have generic "It's all good then the protagonist gets cocky and then must redeem themselves" plot.  And I am amazed at how often writing is disjointed or just terrible eg new Witcher.

I actually really liked Andor - it was about as realistic as Star Wars can be.  I really enjoyed the bad guy characters and also how the rebels aren't exactly all nice heroes but a collection of the misguided and the hypocritical.  There was a fair bit more depth than usual Star Wars.

Actually it wasn't such an original premise.  Mandalorian was inspired by Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub manga and movie series from the 1970s.

Kind of like how the 1960s movie Magnificent Seven was basically a westernised Seven Samurai.

It sure is a head scratcher. Whether it is bad writers or suits playing it safe, most plots are highly recycled.

I forgot about Witcher. I did see the first few episodes of the 3rd season but that was months ago. I wasn't angry at it. I literally just forgot to watch again because it was so disposable.

You are right about Andor, maybe I should even watch it again. The characters had more shades of grey. I do remember thinking it was better towards the end, but quite slow moving and the political intrigue was not that interesting. 

Few premises are original, or even make much logical sense. Firefly, the greatest of all sci-fi television shows, was a pretty silly concept but the characters made it awesome. Most episodes were based on well tested plotlines - train heists, rescuing colleagues, another heist. Another heist. If you have a great cast and half decent script/character interaction you can make anything work. And then the suits will mangle the release schedule and cancel it.

Many have hoped for a Firefly reboot, but Joss Whedon has pretty much detonated his legacy, so not sure what the chances are for that.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

Star Wars and anything even tangentially related has been a corpse for a long time. Fuck, you can't even buy the originals without that awful CG. That Jedi Rocks shit is a fucking war-crime. The criticism of Jedi is usually some assertion that it's a muppet movie and not "real" Star Wars.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I was excited for the new Doctor Who special, especially with David Tennant, returning to the show, then I remembered I need to reactivate my Disney+ subscription to be able to watch it, and I really don’t think there’s anything else on that platform that interests me

[MacabreEternal]

11 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

I was excited for the new Doctor Who special, especially with David Tennant, returning to the show, then I remembered I need to reactivate my Disney+ subscription to be able to watch it, and I really don’t think there’s anything else on that platform that interests me

I watched it.  Very disappointed.  I hadn't watched most of the previous iteration with Jody Whittaker as the Doctor because I felt she was a terrible actor who over-hammed it far too much.  Had hoped for some sense to return with Tennant nut unfortunately, although he does bring some stability back to the role, they have also brought back Donna Noble as a character.  Portrayed once again by Catherine Tate who I simply cannot stand, the show is on to a loser.  Still very youth orientated in the themes (which I get, it's a family show after all) but this nonsensical "gender-crisis" apparently inherent in youth nowadays is bleeding into the storyline already and I have little patience for this "gender-neutrality" construct.  Could be I am getting too old for the show but I doubt I will hurry to watch it.

[AlSymerz]

I thought Jody did alright as the Doctor.  I haven't seen all of the latest Dr Who season but I think she did okay is what was an unsurprising choice by the producers. She was certainly more enjoyable to watch than Jack Whitehall would have been had he been chosen for the role like many were claiming. Recently watched Jody play an Aussie in One Night which was completely different and a bit heavier than Dr. Who could ever be and she did well in that too.

Not a fan of Tate, although I can tolerate her in Dr. Who. Not sure I'm that keen to watch the new guy either.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Jodie is certainly a talented actress, I did enjoy her version of the doctor, though I feel she was let down by Chris Chipnel’s less than Stella writing. 

[AlSymerz]

I think one of the biggest problems with the Doctor is that it's gone on so long nothing is really new and presenting all the old villains in new ways is getting harder. There has been some new things over the years and there has obviously been new locations to set those stories in but there is quite a same same feel to many of the episodes.

[RelentlessOblivion]

2 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

I think one of the biggest problems with the Doctor is that it's gone on so long nothing is really new and presenting all the old villains in new ways is getting harder. There has been some new things over the years and there has obviously been new locations to set those stories in but there is quite a same same feel to many of the episodes.

This, I agree with, and even the interesting concepts introduced during the new run of Who like the weeping angels have been overused. The thing about Doctor Who, I find most frustrating is they keep reusing the same villains, Dales, Cybermen, the Master etc. there is so much history for them to draw on just once I’d like to see one of the Showrunners, actually use it. 

[JonoBlade]

On 9/8/2023 at 10:30 AM, Sheol said:

Yeha the beach landing in Saving private ryan is very gory, but the whole movie is pretty disturbing emotionally with the US soldier sparing the life of the german only to slowly be murdered by him etc. If she's fine with that it's a good movie, despite Tom Hanks.

The family watched Saving Private Ryan on Saturday night. No nightmares for my 13 year old, so that was a good result.

The German soldier which was spared earlier in the film was the one which shot Tom Hanks (spoiler alert) at the end, and was not in the slow stabbing scene. That was the only part of the film we all hid under a blanket for.

Funny how we misremember things. For example, the scene where the medic gets shot and asks for morphine, I could have sworn went on for longer and he had someone fishing around in his leg for a severed artery. That must have been another film where the medic gets shot. Anyone remember it?

Also, I completely forgot the gist of the final set piece, where Tom Hanks and crew A-Team their way through defending a bridge. It was a bit contrived, but Spielberg I guess can't help himself when making a Hollywood blockbuster.

We watched Gary Oldman Churchill his way through "Darkest Hour" on Sunday. It was fine. 

My take home point was the Tories have always been spineless shitheads. Churchill only got the job (according to the film) because he was the only one the opposition would accept as leader of a coalition government.

I don't know how anyone could function drinking with every meal and smoking like a train, but the guy made it to 91!

[AlSymerz]

Speaking of David Tennant...well kind of.

I'm liking Good Omens 2.

[Sheol]

On 11/27/2023 at 12:20 PM, JonoBlade said:

The family watched Saving Private Ryan on Saturday night. No nightmares for my 13 year old, so that was a good result.

The German soldier which was spared earlier in the film was the one which shot Tom Hanks (spoiler alert) at the end, and was not in the slow stabbing scene. That was the only part of the film we all hid under a blanket for.

Funny how we misremember things. For example, the scene where the medic gets shot and asks for morphine, I could have sworn went on for longer and he had someone fishing around in his leg for a severed artery. That must have been another film where the medic gets shot. Anyone remember it?

Also, I completely forgot the gist of the final set piece, where Tom Hanks and crew A-Team their way through defending a bridge. It was a bit contrived, but Spielberg I guess can't help himself when making a Hollywood blockbuster.

We watched Gary Oldman Churchill his way through "Darkest Hour" on Sunday. It was fine. 

My take home point was the Tories have always been spineless shitheads. Churchill only got the job (according to the film) because he was the only one the opposition would accept as leader of a coalition government.

I don't know how anyone could function drinking with every meal and smoking like a train, but the guy made it to 91!

I think except for the brutality of the landing scene, Saving Private Ryan was boring as fuck. Felt kind of shallow and the plot was... there but I remember nothing from it. I hate Tom Hanks so that probably factors in.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

On 11/27/2023 at 5:20 AM, JonoBlade said:

 

Funny how we misremember things. For example, the scene where the medic gets shot and asks for morphine, I could have sworn went on for longer and he had someone fishing around in his leg for a severed artery. That must have been another film where the medic gets shot. Anyone remember it?

 

Black Hawk Down had that scene where they get hold of the artery, but just can't quite clamp it. Otherwise I don't know.

[JonoBlade]

21 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Black Hawk Down had that scene where they get hold of the artery, but just can't quite clamp it. Otherwise I don't know.

Oh yeah, that must be it. I've only seen that film once, when it came out at the cinema. It was a memorable scene so I have imported it into my recollection of every war movie where a medic gets shot.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Wednesday is the most recent series I’ve watched, for something touted as a more adult interpretation of the Addams family. It sure was juvenile and contrived. One of these days, I’ll find a Netflix show besides stranger things that I actually enjoy watching…

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Juvenile and contrived are always popular. Which is one reason why I don't watch that much TV. That said, there have been some fantastic shows on Netflix over the years. Just haven't found any new ones lately. Not that I've really been hunting for one.

[AlSymerz]

We are finally getting free to air Jeopardy episodes without Alex this week. It's only been about two years since the old fella died.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Juvenile and contrived are always popular. Which is one reason why I don't watch that much TV. That said, there have been some fantastic shows on Netflix over the years. Just haven't found any new ones lately. Not that I've really been hunting for one.

I’ve not had the time to keep up-to-date with Netflix, either for obvious reasons, trying to catch up on shows friends have recommended both their and on other streaming platforms has been slow going.