What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Gary Sax wrote: I think a Willow show could work but it's a dice throw. At least it's a IP that hasn't been absolutely wrung dry for 30 years, those are so few and far between for sci-fi and fantasy viewers.

That's some high-quality trolling right there.

The Imperfects on netflix. Kind of an american cross of Misfits with a traditional ensemble CW-esque superhero show but in a good way (dare I say Buffy?......no, not there yet). This one stands out for some really creative gore and a sly wit, as well as a fresh cast that knows they are in a pretty stupid show but play it just right. There is a surprising amount of half decent science and internal consistency that is very refreshing. Give it an ep and the characters will really grow on you.

Kinda like the previous discussion, it is pretty graphic but not hyper-violent, but very chaste. Turn down the blood and this is a TV-14 show at best. But it will go to the dark places at times.

Anyway, really enjoying the first 4 eps or so, if it nosedives, like so many do, I'll report back.

I watched the first two episodes of Cyberpunk Edgerunners on Netflix, and I have to say, they nailed the attitude and look of Night City. It is definitely Cyberpunk and makes me want to fire up the game again to see how different it is now.

Jackwraith wrote: Par-MEE-see-un.

Rick & Morty is getting excessively meta at this point.

fightcitymayor wrote:

Jackwraith wrote: Par-MEE-see-un.

Rick & Morty is getting excessively meta at this point.

That's, uh, kind of the whole point/"inside joke" of the show...?

Jackwraith wrote:

fightcitymayor wrote:

Jackwraith wrote: Par-MEE-see-un.

Rick & Morty is getting excessively meta at this point.

That's, uh, kind of the whole point/"inside joke" of the show...?

Nah, dawg. R&M used to build entire episodes around bizarre cockeyed absurdist characters & the idea that they seem normal to someone. Shows that you could enjoy each on their own as a self-contained amusement. Now they're buried in time-travel nonsense, referencing other versions of themselves in an increasingly pointless spiral of "Rick Prime," "spare Morties," and "Space Beth." And then literally referencing Season 2, before ending with another word gag ("parmesan" almost custom-written to become a viral meme that everyone says at work the next day, if we still actually went to offices) just drags out the most annoyingly hacky bits of the writing.

IN CLOSING: Fun, standalone hijinks like Pickle Rick & Total Rickall = good. Repetitive self-referential obtuse too-clever-by-half time-wankery = bad.

Except that a lot of people watching it for years (not to mention the writers) enjoy the whole "building on other things that have been done" aspect of it. It's the same for every comedy series that hasn't been simply jerkoff sitcoms or constantly trying to one-up themselves like a bad train of SNL skits. It's still largely absurdist and you don't really need to know the whole picture to enjoy each episode. Just as a case example: my girlfriend only half pays attention to it when it's on, but she still thought the opener to this season was hilarious because of the couple things that she did pick up on. All those people on the subReddit with their 40 different Easter eggs to previous stuff in each episode? Whatevs. That's what they like and so the animators and directors drop that stuff in. Other than fleshing out that extended story that does tend to hook people even when episodes or seasons don't come off as funny as others, the show is pretty much the same as it ever was (aka one of the best things on TV.) I'm quite sure that one the things they're trying to do is both explore the different characters and realities they've created because that's entertaining to them, as well as the audience, and not do an Aqua Teen Hunger Force, where the determination to do every episode as a self-contained excursion into the bizarre eventually ran dry because they didn't bother to connect anything that happened. The two shows are also not direct comparisons of each other, since R&M has had an overarching story from the very beginning. If you're not into it anymore, fine. You're not. But that's you.

I vaguely remembered liking season three of Westworld, so I was interested when season four came out a while back. I watched the original movie (for the first time ever) and then re-watched the first three seasons to refresh my memory before starting season four. The movie was okay by '70s/pre-Star Wars standards but was primarily interesting for coming up with the basic concept of Westworld. The first two seasons of the show were uneven in quality, mostly a ponderous slog punctuated by occasional flashes of brilliance or brutality. There was an excellent episode in the second season that focused on the plight of a native american android that doesn't know that it is an android. But it wasn't starting to look like the old J.J. Abrams mystery box might be empty or full of shit, with too many plot holes and senseless twists.

Season three took the show into a realistic cyberpunk future that looked fully compatible with the Blade Runner movies. It was bristling with fresh ideas like a phone app that offers criminal temp jobs or a drug that makes you experience reality through a film genre filter. The plot seemed more focused and purposeful, instead of just putting random main characters together as allies or enemies, and the season ended with a scene that would have made for an okay finish to the series. So I had high hopes for season four.

Season four returned to the more ponderous pace of the early seasons, along with similar story problems. I'm not positive, but I believe that is possible that every single named character has now been revealed as an android, which really undercuts the story and the themes. I got partway through the final episode of this season but had to stop out of boredom. I might as well finish it, but I don't think that I will bother with the fifth and final season when it comes along. I assume that season three and four were more influenced by the Futureworld sequel to the original Westworld movie, but the only viewing option that I found was to rent it via Amazon Prime, and I suspect that Futureworld wasn't very good.

There was one scene in season four that made me laugh out loud. There is a new version of Westworld that is based on Prohibition Era Chicago, complete with direct copies of various canned adventures and hosts seen in the early episodes of season one. There is a federal agent trying to recruit people for a posse. There is an innocent and attractive young woman who drops something on the ground, inviting a romantic guest to pick it up and approach her for conversation. And there is a gang that shows up to rob the brothel and get into a shootout with the police in the street. All of the hosts look like inferior versions of the originals. Less attractive or less physically imposing, worse delivery of lines, etc. The former brothel owner host from Westworld (played brilliantly by Thandie Newton) bitches about these weak imitations and even cuts off and corrects her '20s equivalent. And at that moment, it suddenly caused me to think of both House of the Dragon and Rings of Power and how those two shows compare to Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Rick and Morty is that every episode references other things, but you don’t need to get the references to enjoy the episodes.

WESTWORLD has def slipped into "too clever for itself" JJ Abrams territory....to the point where after each episode I have to read recaps from reviewers to catch all the things I missed. That said, I still watch it for the amazing cast and production quality.

This season , esp the finale, felt like it was set up to serve as a series finale if need be. The accountants at HBO/Warner/whatever the fuck it is have been on an expense cutting spree as of late. This has to be one of the most expensive HBO shows other than the new AGOT and perhaps SUCCESSION. The latter has a much higher profile and racks up tons of awards consideration and the former carries the impossible task of rekindling the magic the early years of AGOT had.

WESTWORLD is both expensive and lacks the buzz of the other two. Season 4 was shot before all the upheaval at HBO. I am not optimistic we'll see S5.

The other thing that holds/held this show back IMO is the long lapse between seasons; its like 2 years or more between each season. Hard to retain momentum.

The Discovery+ takeover where Discovery got/won the executive positions has apparently been gutting HBO+ of a ton of stuff that everybody likes about the service. It doens't look great for the future.

Gary Sax wrote: The Discovery+ takeover where Discovery got won the executive positions has apparently been gutting HBO+ of a ton of stuff that everybody likes about the service. It doens't look great for the future.

The Discovery CEO seems like a clueless skinflint. This merger isn't going to create increased demand for his cheap, tepid reality tv fare. It's all boring consumerist crap like house shopping and house flipping and house decorating. I watch two or three hours of it every year, but only because my dentist has a tv screen mounted on the ceiling over the dental chair. I have a slight preference for reality tv over dwelling upon my mouth being stuffed with hands and instruments, but I otherwise have zero tolerance for these shows.

I don't understand how someone from Discovery got into the position of calling the shots; wouldn't HBO be the bigger/more powerful of the two entities ?

Even prior to this HBO seemed to be moving away from big budget series as AGOT was winding down; I am surprised WESTWORLD has even gotten this far.

n815e wrote: One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Rick and Morty is that every episode references other things, but you don’t need to get the references to enjoy the episodes.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about Archer is that every episode references other episodes, but you don't need to get the references to enjoy the show. Adam Reed is a master of the running joke.

Msample wrote: I don't understand how someone from Discovery got into the position of calling the shots; wouldn't HBO be the bigger/more powerful of the two entities ?

Even prior to this HBO seemed to be moving away from big budget series as AGOT was winding down; I am surprised WESTWORLD has even gotten this far.

That was my gut reaction, but apparently Discovery is more profitable than HBO because Discovery shows are really cheap to produce, while HBO shows tend to be much more expensive.