What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Shellhead wrote:

Sagrilarus wrote: Giant blue dicks attract viewers. The choice is obvious.

In the big picture Game of Thrones isn't a one-off. HBO does them one after another, just in different genres. "Another Game of Thrones" is the last thing anyone wants right now

Though she was dissatisfied with the final season, my girlfriend is looking for something like Another Game of Thrones to watch. So I am trying to persuade her to watch The Wire.

Tommy Carcetti is only slightly less sleazy than Littlefinger.

I binged the 5 episodes that have aired so far for the final season of Mr. Robot. The first episode is a banger, but it heads downhill from there. You get the normal obtuse plot with some interesting side stuff going on.

I'll see it through... I suppose?

I love Mr. Robot, obtuse plot and all.

That last episode featuring a 20 minute break-in followed by foot chase was phenomenal.

Shellhead wrote: The star is a plucky young girl like Arya who scrambles around on rooftops like her brother Bran once did. And lots of people have warg-like abilities.

FYI, the characters in His Dark Materials aren't "wargs" in the sense of humans who can talk to animals. All those cute little talking animals running around are the physical embodiment of each person's soul. The concept comes off better in the books, where the author can spend some time showing how profound the relationship is between a human and his "daemon" (as it's called). The daemons themselves are fascinating characters in their own right. But yeah, in the show ... they're just cute talking animals.

A couple of points of order on His Dark Materials if I may.

Northern Lights (Golden Compass) was published before both Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, although they were close together so all being written at pretty much the same time.

The TV show is also using some elements from the recent prequel novels and bringing some reveals forward. This is a good thing in my opinion as the first book is notoriously ponderous in its setup.

It’s not quite an HBO show - it’s a BBC show made with HBO money so the target audience they need to reach is going to make it very different from usual HBO fare.

Watchmen last night got to the crab traps thing...and it was a really cool scene. I had seen photos of the catapults too and had no idea what was up with them.

Liked it a little better than last week’s although it’s more Lindelof characters talking about things that haven’t been “revealed” to the audience yet. So annoying.

Lady Trieu is interesting, I’m starting to think maybe she has Veidt- it was pretty heavily signaled but you know how it goes...

I find myself questioning whether this show needs Watchmen even though the causal viewer without knowledge of the book isn’t going to follow this mess at all.

Oh wait hold on! Here’s a weird oil dude out of nowhere! Find out who he is next week!

My favorite part of Lube Man was the sheer goofy surprise of his exit. When he was running away and squirting himself with that liquid, I thought for sure it was lighter fluid and he was going to disappear in a ball of flame. Couldna been more wrong there!

Heh, yeah, it was just so left field. I was waiting for the fire too. Pretty sure that is Petey, tbh.

Thing is, some of the hero stuff, aside from Sister Night and Looking Glass, feels a little too Mystery Men.

Wasn't that the whole point of MYSTERY MEN? That running around in a rubber suit fighting crime is a crazy way to spend your day? The premise is ridiculous, and when you see it in the light of day, like with oily guy there, it's just so WTF that you can hardly make sense of it. The idea of cops hiding their faces to protect their families in Tulsa is interesting, but having a utility belt or grappling hook is some weird shit. That's why Blake is so pissed off all the time. She felt like Veidt, Manhattan, even Owlman were doing some serious shit. But maybe it was ridiculous. Why do you need to wear a bag on your head to pound an armed robber's head in?*

Instababies and Veidt's little baby lake seem to indicate some overlap with Trieu, to me. Maybe she teamed up with Manhattan to stash him on Mars.

I hope Lindelhof doesn't smoke monster and fuck this thing up. Learn how to finish, Damon, please, once.

*the inherent violence of vigilantism is captured pretty well in that Hooded Justice scene. Batman is out there paralyzing folks on the nightly. Some of these attacks are brutal.

mezike wrote: A couple of points of order on His Dark Materials if I may.

Northern Lights (Golden Compass) was published before both Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, although they were close together so all being written at pretty much the same time.

I'm not saying that His Dark Materials was imitating either Game of Thrones or Harry Potter, just that certain similarities helped get the show greenlit for production.

GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.

It’s a reality show where everyone is super positive and supportive even though of course they want to win. And they make fun foods. I assume, like all “reality” shows, that it is mostly fake, but given the current state of the world, I will take fake heartwarming over fake edgy any time.

Michael Barnes wrote: I find myself questioning whether this show needs Watchmen even though the causal viewer without knowledge of the book isn’t going to follow this mess at all.

I think that's right. My son and I are watching it together, and we both HAVE read the book, and we're still barely following this mess! There are usually one or two good laugh-out-loud-at-how-ridiculous-this-show-is moments each episode, which is fun. This week was the crab traps and Lube Man.

But despite all that, I'm still interested to see where it goes (if anywhere). With Lindelof in charge, I have low expectations. I swear, if there's a magic glowy cave at the end of all this ....

Even if Watchmen goes south, I demand a series dedicated to Lube Man.

The Mandalorian is GREAT. At least the first episode. It really paid off to put Dave Filoni as the writer, it has the extremely high quality, thoughtfulness, and measured reverence that The Clone Wars has. It felt very much like a live action Clone Wars episode which is definitely a good thing.

It’s also TOTALLY a Western. Like, 100 percent. More so than Firefly. You could replace every story element and narrative beat with 1864 America stuff and it would be the exact same show.

Seeing an IG droid fight was like a thousand times cooler than seeing Yoda fight. And then they rolled out the E-Web...loved it!

Love that they are digging into the Mandalorian lore from Clone Wars- it was a highlight of the show. But it’s at an accessible level, no previous viewing required.

The bit at the end was a stunner!

Oh and Werner fucking Herzog...I’m not sure he wasn’t just playing himself. Loved it.

Wow! I just watched it (Mandalorian) over my lunch hour. I loved it!

Great action, tight storytelling & direction, and tons of detail & references. The art design was amazing. This felt like the most Star Wars-y thing I've seen since, seriously, ESB.