General TV Thread

[dwarf]

@Ashley OK now we're cooking, that looks more up my street. Has Mackenzie Davis from that great episode of Black Mirror (San Junipero) I see.

[Ashley]

It does indeed.

Some argue you can skip the first season.  It is different from the rest (and the weakest) but I enjoyed it.  Tried a bit too hard to be Mad Men in that season though.  Without giving away too much each season does tend to hit the reset button in some way (not completely, but each season stands alone but obviously works as a bigger picture). 

It's on Amazon Prime Video though and I really recommend it.  From season two onwards it becomes such a strong character study and has sharp writing. Plus it shifts focus so the two female leads get more attention and it becomes this really interesting tale about two female game developers in the 80s (which used to be more common apparently, with the more male-shift happening in the late 80s).

 

[dan-likes-trees]

5 hours ago, dwarf said:

OK sheeple! I want to get into a new TV series, one with solid writing and direction. I don't want any of that House of Cards bullcrap because that's gotten ridiculous. No shitty 13 Reasons Why style recommendations either as that is PISS POOR. I want some fucking lit TV, OK?! Is that too much to ask? NO, NOT HANNIBAL, YOU TWAT. OR TRUE DETECTIVE FOR THAT MATTER.

Bear in mind my favourite TV series are these (approx in order):

The Wire

Mad Men

Breaking Bad

This is England (‘86, ‘88 & '90) 

The Singing Detective

Stranger Things

Band of Brothers

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is not the kind of thing I'm looking for, but fuck me it's entertaining af so that's why it's on the list. Hit me you fuckers.

I have been trying to get into Twin Peaks but I'll come back to that at some point.

OROITT MMAAYYTTTEEE

First, thanks for reminding me that This is England '90 is a thing that I missed and get to catch up on now. The lassie's away for the week so that's me sorted. '88 was pretty much flawless.

Your list is pretty lined up with mine for faves (asides from Singing Detective which I've not heard of. An.. interesting name..). Anyway from recent years I would thus recommend..

The Night Of which is a HBO miniseries from last year with Riz Ahmed and John Turturro that is excellent, the first episode in particular thoroughly grabbed me by the bollocks and didnt let go for the hour running time.

I THINK I remember you being a fan of Friday Night Lights(?) In which case I've been loving the Netflix doccy series Last Chance U, which is pretty much the former but in documentary format. The guidance counciller basically is Connie Britain in real-life-format. Pretty amazingly shot / directed too - looks even more cinematic than FNL!

Top of the Lake is defo worth a blast, with ourgirl Peggy Olsen as the lead and lots of beauty New Zealand swooping vistas. Haven't caught season 2 yet myself.

Would also recommend looking into Trapped, The Girlfriend Experience, Battlestar Galactica and the first series of Homeland although the latter two are pretty old news..

On a more general note, have we all seen the trailer for this?

 Looks great! Good old channel 4, losing Black Mirror to Netflix and then comissioning more or less the same thing..

[dwarf]

@dan-likes-trees

OK so there's a lot to unpack here.

You need to get on Singing Detective right now. Short and sweet, insane central performance by Michael Gambon, packed with 40s/50s oldies (you like Fallout so), plus you'll get that fuzzy feeling of recommending something obscure to other people after you've watched it. What's not to like?

Considering our alignment in TV taste it isn't surprising you have won the recommendation wars with The Night Of. Love Riz Ahmed as an actor and as a man, and I liked the tone of the trailer. So well done.

Re: Friday Night Lights - you have the wrong guy. Haven't seen it.

I have been tempted by Top of the Lake cause I've seen our Peggy in the thumbnail on iPlayer, but nobody seems to be talking about the show (in my life, don't know about you guys).

Trapped... also looks pretty good. Saw The Girlfriend Experience ranked highly in a listicle, might check out one or two episodes. Battlestar was one I never got round to and not sure if it's my bag. Can't be arsed with Homeland if it trails off.

Electric Dreams is promising. Thing is, Channel 4 fucked up a couple of shows like Utopia, which seemed to start well, and Misfits, which also gradually declined. Maybe shouldn't pin the blame on the broadcaster though.

 

[killthenet]

Just finished watching the finale of 'Twin Peaks: The Return' and it's the most unsettling hour of television or film i've ever watched. I was hesitant about the prospects for the series when I heard they were going back after so many years, especially as David Lynch had been off the scene for a few years (his last directorial effort was 2006's 'Inland Empire') but he and Mark Frost have outdone themselves providing us with a completely original and enthralling 18-hours. It really does feel like Lynch's magnum opus and if it is to be his final project then it's a fitting end to his career. Anyone who is a fan of any of Lynch's films would do themselves a favour to experience it, for me it ranks right alongside the original series as one of my favourite ever.

@dwarf The first series of 'Top Of The Lake' from 2013 is fantastic. A really great detective drama with a lot of fantastic performances big names like Holly Hunter and Peter Mullan and I think Elizabeth Moss is actually better in this than she was as Peggy in 'Mad Men'. I have yet to watch the new series but all signs seem to be that it's as good as the first, but i'd recommend watching the first series ahead of it anyway. It's definitely on UK Netflix so is easy to find.

As dan says 'Homeland' is really good too, personally I don't think it has tailed off too much but you shouldn't worry about that anyway. If you just want to watch the first 2 or 3 series then thats okay, they all have their own self-contained narratives really so it's not like you're missing any big conclusions by dropping out after a couple of series.

And it goes without saying but if you've never seen any Twin Peaks then try watching that!

@dan-likes-trees I've not watched the trailer for Electric Dreams yet but i've been hotly anticipating the series. As a huge PKD fan I think it's the perfect way to adapt his works and look forward to seeing him done justice after the atrocious adaptation of 'The Man In The High Castle'.

Edited September 7, 2017 by killthenet

[dan-likes-trees]

On 06/09/2017 at 11:40 AM, dwarf said:

@dan-likes-trees

OK so there's a lot to unpack here.

You need to get on Singing Detective right now. Short and sweet, insane central performance by Michael Gambon, packed with 40s/50s oldies (you like Fallout so), plus you'll get that fuzzy feeling of recommending something obscure to other people after you've watched it. What's not to like?

Considering our alignment in TV taste it isn't surprising you have won the recommendation wars with The Night Of. Love Riz Ahmed as an actor and as a man, and I liked the tone of the trailer. So well done.

Re: Friday Night Lights - you have the wrong guy. Haven't seen it.

I have been tempted by Top of the Lake cause I've seen our Peggy in the thumbnail on iPlayer, but nobody seems to be talking about the show (in my life, don't know about you guys).

Trapped... also looks pretty good. Saw The Girlfriend Experience ranked highly in a listicle, might check out one or two episodes. Battlestar was one I never got round to and not sure if it's my bag. Can't be arsed with Homeland if it trails off.

Electric Dreams is promising. Thing is, Channel 4 fucked up a couple of shows like Utopia, which seemed to start well, and Misfits, which also gradually declined. Maybe shouldn't pin the blame on the broadcaster though.

 

Lovely stuff. I'll see it out on the dvds! Glad you've gone with The Night Of. A surefire winner.. I think. Let us know your thoughts! And try not to throw up during the gratuitous shots of John Turturro's manky feet. Definitely get on FNL if you haven't seen it - absolutely top tier stuff. About a US high school football team and the small town it's set in but.. better than that sounds. Definitely worth a look - Kyle Chandler is particularly excellent in it.

 

Pretty much agree with @Killthenet 's thoughts above. Homeland well worth it for the first two seasons - Just imagine that it stops there! Bit like ignoring the Star Wars prequels. And Top of the Lake is fine stuff, super atmospheric; I think it made more of a splash (excuse the pun) in the US than over here for whatever reason.

 

Hoping that as Electric Dreams will be an anthology of one-off episodes it'll avoid a decline in the vein of the shows you mention. But we'll see! Pretty beastly cast for a channel 4 show in any case

 

Glad to hear that strong praise of Twin Peaks Killthenet - have been slightly put off by people saying it's pretty hard work compared to the original series - sounds well worth it though. Gonna get on that

Edited September 9, 2017 by dan-likes-trees

[dwarf]

On 9/9/2017 at 2:23 PM, dan-likes-trees said:

Lovely stuff. I'll see it out on the dvds! Glad you've gone with The Night Of. A surefire winner.. I think. Let us know your thoughts! And try not to throw up during the gratuitous shots of John Turturro's manky feet. Definitely get on FNL if you haven't seen it - absolutely top tier stuff. About a US high school football team and the small town it's set in but.. better than that sounds. Definitely worth a look - Kyle Chandler is particularly excellent in it.

 

Pretty much agree with @Killthenet 's thoughts above. Homeland well worth it for the first two seasons - Just imagine that it stops there! Bit like ignoring the Star Wars prequels. And Top of the Lake is fine stuff, super atmospheric; I think it made more of a splash (excuse the pun) in the US than over here for whatever reason.

 

Hoping that as Electric Dreams will be an anthology of one-off episodes it'll avoid a decline in the vein of the shows you mention. But we'll see! Pretty beastly cast for a channel 4 show in any case

 

Glad to hear that strong praise of Twin Peaks Killthenet - have been slightly put off by people saying it's pretty hard work compared to the original series - sounds well worth it though. Gonna get on that

Embarrassingly I watched the whole series of The Night Of in one day, because I have too much free time. You're right, the first episode is killer, but the series drops the ball a bit after that and becomes too silly for its own good (the disregard for evidence/ the investigation process was overly crude, the black lawyer Chandra makes some out-of-character unprofessional howlers, the open violence and complete lack of order in the prison was ridiculous, and despite every character appearing to be a wisecrack the show felt somewhat humourless). 

The ending managed a neat balance in that it tied everything up without giving you everything,  and it was good fun overall, I just expected to find the characters more engaging than I did given the promise of the first episode.

[dan-likes-trees]

On 11/09/2017 at 0:38 PM, dwarf said:

Embarrassingly I watched the whole series of The Night Of in one day, because I have too much free time. You're right, the first episode is killer, but the series drops the ball a bit after that and becomes too silly for its own good (the disregard for evidence/ the investigation process was overly crude, the black lawyer Chandra makes some out-of-character unprofessional howlers, the open violence and complete lack of order in the prison was ridiculous, and despite every character appearing to be a wisecrack the show felt somewhat humourless). 

The ending managed a neat balance in that it tied everything up without giving you everything,  and it was good fun overall, I just expected to find the characters more engaging than I did given the promise of the first episode.

Hah!! Ah well, you must've liked it some to binge to that extent at least. Can see your issues with the show, though for me the pretty shoddy writing of Chandra's character toward the end was the only one that really offended me. I actually didn't find the plot in general to be totally ludicrous; even if it's exageratted I feel like it does draw on the genuine injustices in the legal system; it's telling that British original was written by a criminal lawyer. Same way the Wire had a couple of outlandish plot points that were carried off through the quality of the rest of the show. 

 

Aanyway. Do check out some of the rest of that list! @killthenet - I've caught the first couple eps of Top of the Lake 2 - pretty good stuff so far! Very different tone to the first season, but the setup is pretty strong, especially the relationship between Elizabeth Moss's character and her daughter. Get on it - drops off iplayer in a couple weeks!

[bob]

Watched them first half of The Tick on Amazon Prime. It's pretty good so far. Peter Serafinovic is nailing it.

Have to wait for the second half of the season to be added though. Feels so annoying in the age of Netflix to have to wait for the conclusion of shows. What is it, the early 00's?!

[MindFreak]

Oh, The Tick is out? Cool... now for it to come to Netflix or some other place where I can watch it.

[Sméagol]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

Oh, The Tick is out? Cool... now for it to come to Netflix or some other place where I can watch it.

It's not coming to Netflix.

[MindFreak]

2 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

It's not coming to Netflix.

Then some other place... or well, I'll just not watch it. I hate that you need to subscribe to so many streaming services to watch what you want to see.

[Sméagol]

9 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Then some other place... or well, I'll just not watch it. I hate that you need to subscribe to so many streaming services to watch what you want to see.

Wait for Amazon to release the rest, start a free trial, and cancel it after your done. That's what I did with The man in the high castle. 

[bob]

Or, wait until I've seen it, then I'll describe it to you, scene by scene.

[Sméagol]

3 hours ago, bob said:

Or, wait until I've seen it, then I'll describe it to you, scene by scene.

Sounds good, let me know when you're done.

 

 

I'm being serious.

[Ashley]

Someone in the office did this after each Game of Thrones episode.  It was hell.

[Sméagol]

17 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Someone in the office did this after each Game of Thrones episode.  It was hell.

That sounds appropriate for a Game of Thrones episode.

[Ashley]

Shows are slowly starting to come back thankfully.

The Mindy Project has been interesting so far.  It's the last season and it looks like in a way its coming full circle by addressing her obsession with romcoms by pointing out their flaws and fallacies.

The first episode (or joint two episodes) of The Good Place also surprised me.  Without going into details, it is not what I expected and now I'm curious what they're going to do going forward.  For anyone that might be curious about it, the first season is on Netflix and it seems they're adding season 2 episodes each Friday.  Worth a shot, it seemed to be just a general "this is okay" kind of sitcom but it surprised me as the (intentionally short) first season went on.  Plus it puts these two back together again:

[Dog-amoto]

Has anyone seen The Deuce? Watched the first episode the other day and enjoyed it. About the rise of the porn industry in the 1970s. Made by the same people who did The Wire and Treme. Man, I should really finish Treme one day. 

Edited September 30, 2017 by Dog-amoto

[Ashley]

4 hours ago, Dog-amoto said:

Has anyone seen The Deuce? Watched the first episode the other day and enjoyed it. About the rise of the porn industry in the 1970s. Made by the same people who did The Wire and Treme. Man, I should really finish Treme one day. 

It's something I will eventually watch at some point, but not watched as of yet.

Watched through The Night Of recently and enjoyed it. Riz Ahmed's physical transformation was quite something (apparently it was filmed over 8 months so I guess that's how they did that), particularly when they included flashbacks towards the end to the first episode and it really stood out.  It hit a bit too close to home sometimes for various reasons, but a really interesting drama.  

[Dog-amoto]

Also, just finished The Handmaid's Tale. Was rather good, many echoes of Man in the High Castle but without all the weird sci-fi shit. Had issues with its pacing, especially in the middle few episodes, but looking forward to s2. 

Well worth watching. 

[Ashley]

Ten years ago today the first episode of Pushing Daisies aired in America.  I really miss the show.  The set design, colour, dialogue, soundtrack and pets (a pig and a dog!) were all great and in spite of an underlying bleakness (it is about death and an unfulfilled life after all) it had such a damn huge heart.

I want to post all sorts about it, but instead I'll just post this clip which includes some of my favourite dialogue and then a pretty easy but still amusing joke:

 

[Cube]

The first episode of The Gifted was promising. Amy Acker is great as always. 

[killthenet]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

Ten years ago today the first episode of Pushing Daisies aired in America.  I really miss the show.  The set design, colour, dialogue, soundtrack and pets (a pig and a dog!) were all great and in spite of an underlying bleakness (it is about death and an unfulfilled life after all) it had such a damn huge heart.

I want to post all sorts about it, but instead I'll just post this clip which includes some of my favourite dialogue and then a pretty easy but still amusing joke:

 

God, didn't occur to me it was 10 years old. It was a real shame when it was cancelled, I thought it wore it's influences on it's sleeve initially but grew to really like it and it had the most brilliant solution to keeping URST going. I think i'll have to give it a re-watch soon, I only watched it when it was first on. 

[Ashley]

I know nobody else is watching so I shall keep this relatively brief, but the last episodes of Halt and Catch Fire were on yesterday (available on Amazon Prime tomorrow) and it was such a beautiful finale, which is not a description I've used before for a TV finale but that's the best way to describe it.

The way the show went from a me-too attempt at Mad Men to something so unique, so dense in character by the time it finished four seasons later is outstanding.  The decision to shift focus to Bishé and Davies' characters in season 2 worked really well, and I'm glad that the majority of the finale was actually focused on that. 

Someone else go watch all 40 hours of it so I can talk to someone about it.

Actually I've come back because I've had more thoughts.

I guess in many ways it is one of the most personal shows I've watched.  It is ultimately about creating.  About the difficulties you face in that, about having to balance that with other commitments and desires, about the need to collaborate and connect and how that can come at the expense of your own self and your work.  It's a show that uses technology to explore humanity in such a wonderful way.  I've not seen anything else approach the creative process in such a profound and accurate manner.