What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Matt Smith looks like someone put a wig on The Observer from Fringe.

If I've learned anything from watching and reading about television, it's that capital-R "Reviews" of a show based on screeners of the first few episodes are about as useful as reviewing a book's dust jacket.

the_jake_1973 wrote: I like Matt Smith in theory, but his low-polygon face weirds me out.

Thou hast killed me

Ah, Matt Smith... ITS MORBIN' TIME!

ASOIAF is no closer to finishing now that it was on the first page of book 1.

I was largely disappointed. As Msample pointed out, the first 5 seasons of GoT were epic TV. And for a show to be that good for five seasons is a rare thing. Of course, the last three were disjointed, simplistic, and often boring. What rescued them were the interesting characters (Jaime, Tyrion, Arya, etc.) that were still around, most of whom had been introduced in episode 1. I counted one (1) even vaguely compelling character last night and that was Daemon (Smith), not because he was witty like Tyrion or menacing but intelligent like early Jaime or earnest and endearing like early Arya. But mostly because he had a personality, which almost all of the rest of them lacked entirely. Said personality is "arrogant dipshit", which isn't exactly a selling point, but there it is. Gary is right in that they've returned to the dialogue-driven political machination stuff, which is fine, but it's also quite tedious when you introduce the entire series with that, without compelling characters, and only interrupt it with the most overtly gratuitous blood and nudity that any show has displayed this side of Cinemax. It was borderline lowbrow. But possibly the most aggravating thing of all of this is that it's a rehashed story. GRRM produced a coffee table book about the history of Westeros, which covered this story in detail. Then he produced a "novel" (more like a documentary in prose form) called Fire and Blood, which told this story AGAIN. Having already read the coffee table book, I got about 35 pages into Fire and Blood and put it down because I was re-reading old material, just with greater detail. Now this same story is going to be a TV series for how many seasons? I'll try another episode or two, but if the writing doesn't ramp up quickly, my lack of interest will be more than I can stand.

I think when people realize JUST HOW MUCH incest is gonna be in this, they will check out. The King and Queen are first cousins. There is likely gonna be uncle/niece stuff (couple different iterations). If they roll it out another generation there are more brother/sister weddings coming. The story of how that black guy slid into those DMs has gotta be pretty epic, even for the richest guy in the realm

No matter how much dragon fighting there is, it's gonna get creepy on a level I don't think folks are down with these days.

Maybe they’ll cancel out the human incest with some dragon incest.

That's almost the exact story pitch for that Rick & Morty episode so many people were on the fence about.

I think it did a fine job of setting up the players and the coming conflicts, particularly the battle for the throne between niece and uncle. I agree there aren't any standout personalities yet, but I have hope they will emerge.

Comparing it to the first ep of GoT seems unfair for a number of reasons: one, that is such a high bar for a series opener, and two, they had to almost completely reshoot it because the first try was so awful. I think the prolonged success of GoT gave the Hot-D folks unearned confidence that they could do it right the first time.

I think a very underappreciated aspect to GoT (and those first few books) was GRRMs long experience as a TV show writer and his skill with writing cliffhangers/ending in "Oh Shit!"moments. The POV shifting nature of the books and the show fed this a lot.

These features are lost in the historic recounting nature of Fire and Ice, doubt HotD does it as much.

I'm not reading any newer Martin books until he at least finishes Winds of Winter. So I haven't read either of the books providing the source material for House of the Dragon. The first episode was okay, but the only character that stood out was the villainous uncle. We might get a three-way conflict for the throne involving him, his mother, and his boring niece. Since this is Westeros, the current Hand of the King is just as doomed as a drummer for Spinal Tap. I wonder if this show will move forward through time by leaps and bounds or if it will move at a more normal story-telling pace? That niece looks like she could easily age up with just a bit of makeup. Reminds me of a funny comment online about how Maisie Williams looks like a very young grandma.

I agree with the comment upthread about how the uncle looked like Elric with that dragon helm that he wore in the tourney. It's a shame that Elric keeps getting passed over for tv or movie treatment. If and when we ever get Elric onscreen, people will call him a Witcher ripoff, which is precisely wrong.

The two young female leads ( kings daughter and her BFF who gets turned out by her pimp dad the Hand of the King ) will be aged up/replaced by older actresses later on; not sure on the exact timing.

comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/house-of-dra...ained-timeline-jump/

I thought the child actress for Rhaenyra was pretty good.

I'm just not in the mood for HBO's gratuitous adultness.

That's a great way of putting it. Everything is gratuitous on HBO. Always has been. That was probably part of it's charm back in the day. Now it's essentially a TV studio that likes to add just a bit more of whatever it is they're serving than you need.