What TV SHOWS are you watching?

I'm starting to really dislike the actor they chose for Vicious and his portrayal. He easily feels like the worst part of the show to me.

Hellbound on netflix. Good grief what the hell (bah dum dum!) is this show? Between this and Squid Games I'm starting to worry about the Korean psyche (which must be how ya'll furriners feel about 'murcans with their guns

Only a few eps in but wow is this a premise! An "angel" face appears in front of you and gives you an exact countdown till you death, ending with "and you are bound for hell!". Then three hulk-like things show up at the appointed time and beat the ever living shit out of you for a while until you get incinerated! Are the executed folks bad? Being punished? Is it God's wrath?

Needless to say I think the show is primarily about social media, cancel culture, etc, but the visceral impact of the demons is impressive and while there isn't quite the global "WTF IS GOING ON?!?!" aspect that a Roland Emmerich style theatrical take might have, it is still very gripping. Asian shows have a way of depicting personal grief and mass panic scenarios in a gut wrenching way compared to western media. Layer on the cultural disconnect (wow, I guess no one has access to guns and explosives to deal with these things like here in the US) and it is working quite well.

Caution though, it is VERY graphic in highly concentrated doses.

ChristopherMD wrote: Foundation is very pretty but hollow inside. So much of it ends up being a stupid and slow waste of time.

Agreed. Foundation is the epitome of a modern prestige drama -- beautifully acted, incredible production values ... and absolutely nothing interesting happens. I call this the "Mad Men Effect." All these streaming services are throwing millions of dollars at actors and special effects, but nobody can write plot anymore.

Considering the three emperors are supposed to be the rulers of a vast interstellar empire comprising trillions of people, they sure do spend a lot of time goofing around, wandering through gardens, looking at their big fancy mural, and eating dinner. You'd think they would be busier.

It's honestly not even worth making fun of. It's just such a stupid, boring show. I can't believe I actually slogged my way through the whole season. I kept thinking, "Maybe something will happen this week!" Alas ... nothing ever happened.

Ok, ok. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time defending Foundation, but I think you two are mischaracterizing it a little bit. The first four episodes were completely hollow (but everyone agrees gorgeous) because they were spent almost entirely in world building. The pacing is. . .not great. But I disagree with painting the whole season as soulless and hollow. By the end of the first season we have:



Now I dislike the space magic aspect of the show and think the magic could have been explained away by more clever writing. The f'ing null field was garbage, unneeded and could have been a vault in town and spent that time on cutting a full episode. It should have been removed in it's entirety and it's inclusion required midiclorian levels of nonsense to explain (I guess Hari could have coded it to Gaal's DNA hence AI Hari's comments that Gaal was necessary to solve the first crisis but really it's just space magic). However to say the show is vapid because the level of introspection needed to follow the subtleties is too high for most people is a bit hollow.

So, I tried watching The Great because of what was said here... Yeah, I just can't. The writing is sophomoric. The acting is mostly at high school drama class-level. And, worst of all for a dramedy, it's not funny. I made it through the first episode, wondering at what point I was going to even chuckle for a second. Didn't happen. Clearly, I am missing something, since Metacritic says it's "generally favorable", but the Mean Girls-style story was never something I was a fan of, if Jake is right in that assessment, so it's clearly not for me.

I've now watched 5 episodes of live action Cowboy Bebop. I've warmed up to it, but it is still a shadow of its inspiration.

The worst offender is the portrayal of Vicious. He is awful, and somehow more anime than the actual anime. This Vicious and the original have a name and a hair color in common. That's it.

Another thing this show does that is perplexing is make references to other works, like they are trying to do an homage but it's always done in some overt way and they linger on it too long. Silence of the Lambs, Doc Holiday, etc.

The third episode of Dexter: New Blood has a huge plot hole in it. I really don't understand why they would revisit this character after 10 years if they didn't want to hire writers who could do it justice.

I’m three episodes into Cowboy Bebop and thoroughly enjoying it. Granted, I haven’t seen the original in 20 years and was only a casual fan, so maybe I’d be more upset if I had emotional attachment to the franchise.

I watched the first episode of Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO. It is essentially a modern and younger version of Sex in the City. It was okay and I will probably watch the second episode. However, there was one scene that I loved. One of the four stars of the show is trying out for the women's soccer team, and the soundtrack for the scene is an excellent song by Big Gigantic. The human mind has a tendency to try to synch visuals up with music (c.f. The Wizard of Oz and The Dark Side of the Moon), but the editing in this scene tracks very nicely with the music.

Working my way through the new Cowboy Bebop and it’s good. Not stunning, but entertaining. I’ve been pleased that their battles have become more artistic and less loud, and I think all the characters work. Some of the dialogue is really well done.

I think I have three episodes left.

hotseatgames wrote: The third episode of Dexter: New Blood has a huge plot hole in it. I really don't understand why they would revisit this character after 10 years if they didn't want to hire writers who could do it justice.

What exactly are you referring to? Apparently I wasn't paying too close attention.

Midway through season three of Community, and I am still enjoying this sitcom. The writing is bold and strange and consistently stays ahead of the audience, or at least me. Years ago, I was amazed to hear that the Russo Brothers went straight from a sitcom to doing some of the best MCU movies, but now that I've seen their sitcom, it all makes sense. The normal episodes are high quality ensemble sitcom work, but there are occasional episodes that transcend the genre, especially the paintball episodes. I'm also a sucker for alternate title sequences, and Community sometimes has fun with those. I still dislike musicals, but Community made those episodes tolerable by having the characters express disdain for the glee club even when they filled in for them under duress.

@hotseatgames Ah. Yeah, we definitely called that out. At least this episode had very little Deb in it. Who would have thought she would be even more annoying dead.

I was not entirely sure about Bebop for the first few episodes. I was looking forward to it and wanted to like it, but it’s an odd show. I’m on episode 8 now and have really warmed to it.

Disgustipater wrote: @hotseatgames Ah. Yeah, we definitely called that out. At least this episode had very little Deb in it. Who would have thought she would be even more annoying dead.

YES! She is way too obnoxious. And that Fargo bit? Please. I miss Harry.