What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Count Orlok wrote: I wish I could say the Deuce was as good, or even good, but it lost me an episode or two into the season. The double Franco really kills it for me, and it just didn't seem to balance the ensemble well, particularly after the time jump. Maybe I'll try again later, but it just didn't grab me.

Same. I watched the first season and then just said: "Meh." There were a few characters that were interesting, but I'm not a Franco fan and, overall, there was just nothing compelling about the story or anyone in it. Maggie Gyllenhall as a divorced mom prostitute becoming a director in the porn industry is more compelling to me as a true story/documentary than it is as a dramatic presentation, in which it seems far too staged to be believable.

BaronDonut wrote: While I'm wary of forcing a "canon" on others, I think the Wire should be a mandatory syllabus element of Living in America 101.

I wholeheartedly agree.

The Wire is the greatest show I have seen and only really stumbles during its final season (which in the scope of television, still merits it as being a great season of television).

The Wire gets more and more interesting if you are a political scientist, cranberries. The show is basically just about institutions and institutional design.

Bodyguard (Netflix) was outstanding although the end kind of became a hair farcical.

Haunting of Hill House has to be the best show in the horror genre. Even better than Stranger Things. My only bitch about it is that every haunted house seems to involve a house on hills, The Hill Family, etc

The Wire was one of the main things that shifted my political opinions from my white evangelical conservative upbringing to something far more liberal and compassionate. I don't think I had ever considered that people doing bad things might have something to do with their environments as much as their personal choices. The Wire did a great job of making sure people who do bad things aren't off the hook, but it made it clear they were also victims of the system they were in. A lot of those people didn't get much option to choose their environment either. It's a long way from my favorite show, but it's probably the only show I've seen that I can honestly say made me a more empathetic person.

Still watching lots of Doctor Who. I had to quit hanging out in forums that talk about the show, because people were being really negative about the new season. I still don't think there has been a real slam dunk masterpiece yet, but there's been a lot of pretty good, which is a solid batting average as well. I still am in love with the new cast, and I will gladly continue to watch them.

Re:Wire

They should've done a spinoff show featuring my man Bubbles.

You know what isn’t as good as The Wire (I presume, having not seen it)? Daredevil season three. It’s so frustrating. I love so much of the show. He’s my favorite comic character, the acting is solid to great, the production and cinematography and framing are far better than they need to be and the fight scenes.

The fight scenes. So good. Not just the action and technical work. That’s hard enough, but they do more. They tell a story. They tell a story. They even have their own style. They get exhausted, and Daredevil wins fights just by being the first to get back on his feet. This season he wins by kicking out the table a man was pulling himself up on.

But the writing. Cripes. I can only imagine they blew the rest of their budget on everything else and decided their honors English kid was good enough for the scripts. The dialogue is often predictable, and the plotting is just bizarre. Who thought Foggy’s write-in election campaign for district attorney was a good idea? But then there’s the prison escape and Dex’s surprisingly poignant backstory. Guess I’ll keep watching.

I am probably giving a pass on Daredevil s3. Season 2 was...not the best.

About two episodes from the end of s2, I thought, "I never thought I'd see a show that had too many ninjas."

Yeah, season two was easily the weakest. I liked Elektra more than most, but Karen’s journalism turn was abysmal and the enemies were faceless and uninteresting. Too much mystery and setup for Defenders, too little to get a grip on.

At least Jon Bernthal was a solid Punisher and his scenes were interesting.

Disclaimer: I've never been a comic book guy, but my partner is into it so I get pulled in on the wake. We've watched all I'd Daredevil.

To me, the thing with these series is that their very nature grounds them in a bit more reality. So things like Karen being a diner waitress/office manager who turns into a high profile crack investigative journo overnight, or Foggy running for DA, you wouldn't think too much about in comic book form, but stretch your credulity on the screen (which is kinda dumb given everything else that happens, but, it happens, and it feels stretched).

Also, Vincent D'Onofrio is a ham. Again, it's a comic, he's supposed to be OTT, and maybe it's my own prejudice because I've thought the same in pretty much everything I've seen him in, but he makes me laugh more than be convinced of his power/evil/soft side/whatever. All those little... pauses... like.... he's really... tortured....and just holding.... it all... together... ha!

We've also been watching Sabrina, haven't quite settled in to its tone yet so I don't know what to think of it. I feel like it could do with some more black humour. Like the best but so far has been Zelda's treatment of Hilda.

Watched the first episode of Norsemen on Netflix. It's a campy comedy about Vikings, of course. It's ridiculous in a good way. I'll probably watch more at some point.

Speaking of comic book tv shows, I finished season one of Riverdale, and am part way through season two. Riverdale is based on the Archie comics, with a dark twist. Instead of a straight take on Archie like the Saturday morning cartoon show of '68 - '69, this show starts out like a cross between Veronica Mars and the O.C., only in a seemingly pleasant small town that is possibly in Vermont. The school age characters consist of a very impressive ensemble cast of mostly new actors, and the kid playing Archie only needed a red dye job to achieve an uncanny resemblance to the comic character. The adult characters are loaded with well-known folks including Luke Perry, Molly Ringwold, Robin Givens, Skeet Ulrich, and Mark Consuelos, so they also deliver the goods with panache. The characters are all taken directly from the Archie comics, which have been in print for longer than anybody here has been alive, so the town feels almost as fleshed out as Springfield from the Simpsons. I have heard comparisons with Twin Peaks, but that is serious stretch based merely on the fact that there is a murder and one of the characters is played by a Twin Peaks alumni.

The story takes plenty of interesting turns, making for fairly compelling viewing if you can accept the teen drama aspect. There is action, suspense, intrigue, romance, and humor. The main characters are surprisingly complex, and the actors have the chops to pull it all off. There are only two distinct flaws to the show. First, Jughead on the show is a very different character from the one in the comics. Comic book Jughead is weird and foolish, a source of pure comic relief in an already light-hearted comic. TV Jughead is usually serious to the point of being almost grim, and also shown as one of the smartest characters on the show, serving as the narrator for the opening and/or closing of each episode.

The other downfall of the show is the music. I have come to expect at least occasionally good music of recent vintage in modern teen dramas, but Archie usually disappoints. Archie himself is an aspiring singer-songwriter on the show, but his music tends to be a weak, watered-down singer-songwriter pap. More often, the music is performed by Josie & the Pussycats (another spin-off comic and cartoon from the Archie-verse), which was originally top 40 style pop but here comes across more like a second-rate Destiny's Child group. Maybe once every few episodes, there will be a pretty good cover song, like the time when Archie teamed up with the Pussycats to cover Kim Wilde's Kids in America (from 1981).

Season two is even darker so far, and likely to get darker still. If you're an Archie purist, this show will probably outrage and offend you. But if you like a murder mystery, and especially if you liked Veronica Mars, this show delivers some decent entertainment value. It's too bad that the Satanists are suing the producers of the Sabrina show, because that is another Archie spin-off character and they could do one hell of a crossover story between these two shows.

I know nothing about the Archie comics but Riverdale sounds very interesting so will give it a view!

I finally got around to watching the Halloween special from Inside no.9. It probably would have made more sense when it was actually broadcast live and been a little spookier too, but watching it in retrospect it came across as a little corny and they relied too much on jump scares which seemed a little cheap for a show that is usually quite sublime. Maybe it's just that the standard of writing is usually so high that this came across as a weak entry by comparison. It did however encourage me to rewatch the previous shows and I realised that there were a couple I had missed so was very happy for that.

Riverdale is good in a 90210/Melrose Place way. Total camp, but I think having a little background in the Archie comics makes it a little more interesting. I'm not sure I would have been drawn to watch it if I wasn't familiar with Archie already.

We are still watching Sabrina, but I'm not sure how long it will hold my interest. The Queen of the Feast concept was interesting. The whole replacing "god' with 'Satan' in commonly used declarations is wearing thin. Sabrina's family is part of the Church of Night, which apparently only covers their little town. They make mention of a Church of Shadows as a different branch. I want to know if each branch needs a different name. How many variations of black,night,shadow,darkness, etc. can there be? How silly are the names of the last churches to be founded?

hotseatgames wrote: Watched the first episode of Norsemen on Netflix. It's a campy comedy about Vikings, of course. It's ridiculous in a good way. I'll probably watch more at some point.

That show is one worth watching. I'm not sure if a third season has been confirmed or not.