What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Sagrilarus wrote: Goaltender pads are the next topic, but this is a TV shows thread, not a hockey thread.

Ken Dryden (ex-goalie of the Montreal Canadiens) has written an interesting piece in the Atlantic on exactly this topic:

www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021...-too-big-now/618021/

Invincible is shaping up nicely. The teen drama has stabilized at a tolerable level and they dropped the more annoying aspects of it. I really really hope all the side angles come together. Seems like almost every character has some secret motivations and I can't tell yet if it is JJ Abrams style mystery box stuff with no pay off or it will all collapse together in a grand finale.

Latest episode, damn. The fight choreography and power depictions remain on point. MCU and DC need to be taking notes. The "almost a DC copy" nature of the show is getting fun. Having the not-brainiac robot character talk in autotune was a fantastic choice .

Truth Seekers ended strong. Hope there is a season 2.

jason10mm wrote: Latest episode, damn. The fight choreography and power depictions remain on point. MCU and DC need to be taking notes. The "almost a DC copy" nature of the show is getting fun. Having the not-brainiac robot character talk in autotune was a fantastic choice .

There does seem to be a bit of a black box at the moment. I don't think any of the end of episode mysteries has been addressed except why the robot prison broke the twins which was replaced with two more questions (why Rexplosion and for what purpose does he need a clone).

In the latest episode they have now doubled my main problem with DC's universe, Superman. The cat from the portal wiped the floor with the next seven most powerful supes (except for Omni) like it was nothing. Deus ex machina in reverse. Frankly all other heroes/villains are irrelevant in the face of Superman/Omniman/Battle Cat. Oh, and Battle Cat's motivation? "I just wanted to kill superheroes, but you guys sucks so I'm going to leave and ignore the purpose of being called to the fight in the first place." Blech!

I was enjoying the fifth episode of Invincible until it turned into another gorefest.

Yeah, seeing monster girl get the smack down was rough. I'm under the impression dupli-kates clones are ephemeral and transient since she sends them to their deaths (or to rex) quite casually. And was that her brother in the prison?

Battle Cat was an odd one. I get the feeling there is a galactic component to the show we are not seeing much.

At this point I prefer pink lanterns story, she seems to have actual human emotions.

I still can't quite work out rockman versus autotune. Did he just flip portal dude or was autotune a patsy all along and for what purpose?

My wife and I quite enjoyed Resident Alien. I likely would have not given it a chance if I hadn’t already been a fan of the comic. Basic premise is that an alien crashes on Earth with no obvious way to get home and has to blend in with humanity. He can somehow appear human to almost anyone, and ends up assuming the identity of a small town doctor. While the comic is more laid back, the show has the alien having violent impulses with the ultimate objective of exterminating humanity. There is an interesting conflict between his mission and his increasing enjoyment of acting human. Apparently it’s been renewed so it seems we weren’t the only viewers as I had figured.

Shellhead wrote: I was enjoying the fifth episode of Invincible until it turned into another gorefest.

My wife watched the first episode with me and was turned off by the final massacre. She then skipped the next few and watched Law and Order on her laptop. For some reason she watched episode five with me and I think she's done.

Not that I mind Law and Order, it just spins me up too much. We watch adult stuff after the kids go to bed and I don't need difficulty falling asleep. So I typically watch stuff like Last Week Tonight almost a week after it airs on a Friday night so I can sleep in the next morning.

I'm totally with you Jeb on F&WS. Every fight scene has been nonsensical, if not just plain nonsense. My brain told me to stop watching after the first episode, but like a dummy I kept on. I wouldn't say I'm "hate watching," but I do feel guilty about it. Even if the details make no sense, I do like where they're going with the new Cap.

Quick addition about the sports talk-- I've never understood why they don't just put a microchip tracker in each football (I know they swap them out multiple times during the game; that's trivial to accommodate). It's ridiculous that the ref can spot it within a two-foot margin. It's ridiculous that they have to go to 20 different camera angles to tell if the ball "broke the plane" of the endzone. It's the most ludicrous thing in the world when they trot out those chains and measure within an inch to see if they made the first down. Chip that shit. Use technology to pinpoint it exactly and get on with the game.

Gregarius wrote: Quick addition about the sports talk-- I've never understood why they don't just put a microchip tracker in each football (I know they swap them out multiple times during the game; that's trivial to accommodate). It's ridiculous that the ref can spot it within a two-foot margin. It's ridiculous that they have to go to 20 different camera angles to tell if the ball "broke the plane" of the endzone. It's the most ludicrous thing in the world when they trot out those chains and measure within an inch to see if they made the first down. Chip that shit. Use technology to pinpoint it exactly and get on with the game.

Euro football/soccer does this already with goal line technology, so they can tell when the ball has crossed the line, as it sometimes ends up in the goal but is kicked out faster than the ref can determine if it's an actual score. They just put a sensor in the balls and have sensors on the goalposts and if the ball crosses, the official's watch buzzes to let him know (That's why you'll occasionally see a flurry around one of the goals and then a whistle as the ref stops play and points to his watch.) It's in use in most of the top leagues in Europe (not La Liga (Spain) for some reason.) It ain't cheap, but it's well within the means of the NFL.

BillyBobThwarton wrote: My wife and I quite enjoyed Resident Alien. I likely would have not given it a chance if I hadn’t already been a fan of the comic.

I'll have to check it out when it becomes available on a streaming service I subscribe to. Syfy stuff usually ends up in Netflix I think.

I loves me some Alan tyduk and I imagine this lets him push it a bit. I imagine Fillion must pop up somehow since those 2 usually orbit each other.

Jackwraith wrote:

Gregarius wrote: Quick addition about the sports talk-- I've never understood why they don't just put a microchip tracker in each football (I know they swap them out multiple times during the game; that's trivial to accommodate). It's ridiculous that the ref can spot it within a two-foot margin. It's ridiculous that they have to go to 20 different camera angles to tell if the ball "broke the plane" of the endzone. It's the most ludicrous thing in the world when they trot out those chains and measure within an inch to see if they made the first down. Chip that shit. Use technology to pinpoint it exactly and get on with the game.

Euro football/soccer does this already with goal line technology, so they can tell when the ball has crossed the line, as it sometimes ends up in the goal but is kicked out faster than the ref can determine if it's an actual score. They just put a sensor in the balls and have sensors on the goalposts and if the ball crosses, the official's watch buzzes to let him know (That's why you'll occasionally see a flurry around one of the goals and then a whistle as the ref stops play and points to his watch.) It's in use in most of the top leagues in Europe (not La Liga (Spain) for some reason.) It ain't cheap, but it's well within the means of the NFL.

There are some additional complexities with NFL football, because each team uses its own balls on offense. There are dozens of balls on the field in most games, half being switched out every time possession changes. A mis-calibrated ball will favor one team more than the other for an entire game.

That said, hockey used to have glowing pucks on your TV screen because they emitted some sort of signal that the cameras picked up. I imagine you could find a way to do the same, even if you needed to do it for 24 footballs (hockey games assuredly go through more pucks). You'd just need to make sure the Patriots don't change theirs to read 18 inches farther down the field than they really are.

jason10mm wrote: I still can't quite work out rockman versus autotune. Did he just flip portal dude or was autotune a patsy all along and for what purpose?

I think that Rockman realized that his best way to get out from under autotune was to become the new crimeboss in town. He apparently offered portal dude a better deal and suckered Invincible into helping him. Which was pretty smart, because Invincible was nearly a perfect combination of naivety and great power.

Invincible has an amazing cast of voice actors. Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto, Mahershala Ali, Grey Griffin, Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown, Sandra Oh, Michael Dorn, and Seth Rogen. J.K. Simmons is perfect, because you can practically hear the mustache in his voice.

NFL and instant replay: the refs are scared to make close calls, so they use instant replay as a crutch. Which makes a slow game slower.

Just finished Gotham, season 2.



Overall, I like it, even through some of the questionable plots.

Watched the first episode of The Nevers. It was enjoyable in both setting and writing. I wouldn't mind a different setting away from Victorian London though.