What TV SHOWS are you watching?

RobertB wrote:
You aren't lying about that mystery box horseshit. But to be fair to Amazon, I think they've resolved a good bit of that list. I think 1, 7, and 9 are still out there.

Fair enough. But did they really need to be mysteries in the first place? It's lazy writing taking the place of proper narrative and character agency.

"Elrond, swear on the life of all of you mothers to not reveal this secret!"

"I shall friend Durin."

"Great, your leader is totally sus. And BTW, here is a chunk of our magic metal, do with it as you will...."

WTF?

RobertB wrote: [
As for other, less-known series' being brought to the screen, there are some out there, but they don't have a billion-dollar budget. Producers can't resist the siren song of well-known IP; they're working on a Thundercats movie FFS. You can sell a show or movie based on the contents of Tolkien's trashcan easier than you can sell Glenn Cook's Black Company series.

I'd argue Amazon would have been better off with 3 quarter billion dollar shows than one RoP like this. Though I'm sure that budget includes building an entire studio in England and probably a mega yacht for Bezos.

jason10mm wrote:

RobertB wrote:
You aren't lying about that mystery box horseshit. But to be fair to Amazon, I think they've resolved a good bit of that list. I think 1, 7, and 9 are still out there.

Fair enough. But did they really need to be mysteries in the first place? It's lazy writing taking the place of proper narrative and character agency.

"Elrond, swear on the life of all of you mothers to not reveal this secret!"

"I shall friend Durin."

"Great, your leader is totally sus. And BTW, here is a chunk of our magic metal, do with it as you will...."

WTF?

RobertB wrote: [
As for other, less-known series' being brought to the screen, there are some out there, but they don't have a billion-dollar budget. Producers can't resist the siren song of well-known IP; they're working on a Thundercats movie FFS. You can sell a show or movie based on the contents of Tolkien's trashcan easier than you can sell Glenn Cook's Black Company series.

I'd argue Amazon would have been better off with 3 quarter billion dollar shows than one RoP like this. Though I'm sure that budget includes building an entire studio in England and probably a mega yacht for Bezos.

That was one of the most frustrating couple of scenes. He swears not to reveal the existence/presence of mithril and there is this long scene where he holds steadfast to his promise. He does so by insisting he took an oath not to tell (which is a type of confirmation, "I promised not to reveal the presence of six warships") in an incredibly drawn out stupid scene. Almost immediately we have him tell Celebrimbor about the mithril (breaking his promise) so that we can have the pretty graphic montage of why they need mithril or all the elves will die.

mtagge wrote: ]That was one of the most frustrating couple of scenes. He swears not to reveal the existence/presence of mithril and there is this long scene where he holds steadfast to his promise. He does so by insisting he took an oath not to tell (which is a type of confirmation, "I promised not to reveal the presence of six warships") in an incredibly drawn out stupid scene. Almost immediately we have him tell Celebrimbor about the mithril (breaking his promise) so that we can have the pretty graphic montage of why they need mithril or all the elves will die.

I could rant about RoP all day (and have, elsewhere), but just imagine how much BETTER it would have been had the dwarves discovered mithril, noted it's fine properties (it does get made into suits of armor after all), decided it was something they didn't want getting out, and these wasn't this ridiculous suspicious betwixt Elrond and Durin. Then Elrond shows Durin the leaf, says that his race is dying, and they just have a moment of actual compassion and shared grief. THEN Durin notices the proximity of mithril to the leaf cures the leaf, and then we could get entire scenes of characters being PROACTIVE and EXCITED as they try to sell this to Gil-Galad and Durin III (which isn't actually how the name Durin is passed, but whatevs) and THAT leads to any conflict. Hell, that's the perfect time for Annatar to show up and create strife between the elves, get them to make all the rings, etc.

No need for mystery boxes, the conflict arises naturally and comes from the characters, nothing is forced or railroaded. As it stands right now, it seems odd that the elves, facing DEATH, wouldn't be substantially more persuasive to the dwarves about mithril, at least debate taking it by force (hey, an chance for some highbrow philosophy!), or work to resolve the issue. Showing that the only reason dwarves won't go after it is because they seem incapable of reinforcing a tunnel is.....well, disappointing at the very least. As it is, I don't see how this show reconciles with the lore and the strange need to have these hobbit folk and a single numenorean lifetime causing the compression of all the elven stuff is frustrating.

One problem with the high production values of Rings of Power: we won't see a season two until late 2024 at the soonest.

This is a problem with lots of shows these days. Even with heavily abbreviated "seasons" a 2+ year gap is more and more common. The shows lose momentum, keeping cast has got to be tough, and while the production quality has generally risen, I'm not sure the overall writing has, those folks are just spread too thin these days. HBO is still the only place that I feel like delivers almost 100% of the time, even if the topic isn't of interest to me.

RoP though, I REALLY hope they have a change of showrunner (doesn't seem likely for S2 though) as I disagree with virtually every decision they have made. HotD will have a 2 year gap as well, I suspect, dem dragon fights take time. All the kids are gonna age naturally now, no more recasting

- Bosch
I love the character and the show. One of my all time favorite crime shows. I came for the music, stayed for the man.

- Bosch Legacy
Same as above, although this is a far cry from the original as far as how contrived the plot is. This one makes me wonder how Harry is just the unluckiest MF ever to walk fictional LA. How does all this complex plot stuff happen to him alone?

-LOTR Rings of Power
I feel like it’s great except for one thing: it’s as if they hired the writer for Lost to manage one subplot, and I will probably not know who Sauron is until next season. I hate cliffhangers. HATE.

- The Lincoln Lawyer
Quit after 2 episodes, horrid writing and the Latino dude isn’t Matt McC and the show needs that country fried shit. Little known fact: Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer are in the same fictional universe.

- Andor
Best thing Star Wars has done since Rogue One. I liked Obi Wan but damn was this well done.

- The Hulu Kennedy/Stephen King show
I think it’s like 11-something-63 but I can’t remember dates so the shows name escapes me. Has James Franco and a stunningly beautiful blonde lead whose name I can’t remember. Great show, worth the watch.

- The Old Man
Jeff Fucking Bridges and John Lithgow. Perhaps his most convincing role ever since TRON. Spy shit. 100% awesome.

As an aside, this is the most TV I’ve watched in 30 years.

Burned through all 6 episodes of The White Lotus on HBO. This is not great television, but it's funny and has good characters. I'll check out season 2, whenever that is.

I thought the individual performances were strong in White Lotus. Jennifer Coolidge is a scream. Season 2 is Oct. 30th, not sure which characters recur.

Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal

Should you be watching this? Oh, how very fuck-yes. The real question is "why am I not watching this already?"

What an amazing show! It really gets a fingernail under itchy scab of mediocrity and tears it away, letting the blood well up of the very kind that brought me to these forums years ago. The Conan influences are obvious and welcome, at least for me, though it neither descends from nor contributes to any Hyperborean narrative. I've not seen any of the creator's other animated series, so my approach is entirely from the outside. My relevant media tastes descend largely from from fantasy-tinged 20th century pulp in the vein of what might have once been found in circa-1980 Epic magazine and Heavy Metal. If this is meaningful to you, and if these suit you, pay attention. You're likely going to like Primal a lot.

I felt the need to post because this show is the kind that's going to get around by word of mouth, and right now it's not getting sufficient love and I want to see this show continue. 2 seasons have concluded and a 3rd seems likely, though I've not seen it confirmed. Micro-rant complete. So if you've not seen this, I urge you to take up the mantle of kleos and participate in giving Primal its immortal glory. If you like it, report back and spread the word.

And if you don't, well, we just aren't friends anymore.

Agreed, Primal is spectacular. It's sooooooo violent though, I can see why it has a limited audience.

It's a show that is exquisitely aware of when it needs to change up the situation, I remained in constant awe at how each episode revamps the story in some new direction, particularly season 2 which NO ONE would be able to predict the final episode of. Just a masterclass in non-verbal storytelling.

I'm not sure I want a season 3 TBH, it concluded in such a poetic way. I'd rather Geddy smoke some more shrooms and move to a new topic.

I tried giving She-Hulk the benefit of the doubt because of all the Marvel dude bros pretending to hate it because it was violating canon because they're too stupid to look up the fact that the character was a thing in the 1970s, long before any of them probably picked up a comic. The problem is that I don't know where they were trying to go with this show. I can see that they were attempting parody of the whole "super-heroes in real society" thing, but to make parody work, you have to be funny and this show simply isn't funny. I tried for two-and-a-half episodes, waiting for it to get me to even crack a smile and there was nothing funny about that. But beyond that, it wasn't even clever. There was no real story there. It was just sitcom situations without the actual comedy. The lead actress is fine, but she spends half her time off-screen with really bad sound coordination between her and the green CGI creation that's supposed to be her alter ego. Whenever she was speaking, you could tell that the voice was dubbed in, as if she was narrating off-screen whenever she was in Hulk form, which is really jarring. But most of all it was simply the cringe-worthy moments where you see them trying to be funny or interesting and it just not coming off at all.

In total contrast, I just got done watching the first episode of Moon Knight with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. There are characters that seem like real people, rather than the memes of She-Hulk's cast, and it has an interesting story that was intriguing from the moment it started. I was a fan of the character when he was a villain in the old Werewolf By Night book (yes, I'm old) and loved when Doug Moench turned him into something much more interesting and not the typical superhero. Unfortunately, the book tuned into a really self-indulgent exercise for Moench and they also turned the art chores over to Bill Sinkiewicz whom, while I appreciate his off-beat approach to the format, I have never, ever been a fan of. (I didn't like it when he took over New Mutants, either.) But this seems like a much more interesting approach to the split personality concept that Moench didn't really delve into that deeply. Am about to watch episode 2.

Jackwraith wrote: I tried giving She-Hulk the benefit of the doubt because of all the Marvel dude bros pretending to hate it because it was violating canon because they're too stupid to look up the fact that the character was a thing in the 1970s, long before any of them probably picked up a comic. ..... But most of all it was simply the cringe-worthy moments where you see them trying to be funny or interesting and it just not coming off at all.

Soooooo, the dude-bros were right?

Jackwraith wrote: I was a fan of the character when he was a villain in the old Werewolf By Night book (yes, I'm old)

Anyone watch Werewolf by Night on D+? Fit for a 10 year old?

I've started The Midnight Club on Netflix. It's the annual(ish) Mike Flanagan joint for Netflix. I'm not sure yet if it is just a cobbled together mish-mash of his other shows (Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, etc) with a new wrapper but we'll see. If teens with cancer is your trigger though, give this a pass 'cause that seems to be the main focus.

I haven't seen season 2, but I hear that season 3 will look very different than the prior 2.

jason10mm wrote: Soooooo, the dude-bros were right?

For the complaints they were making (just a ripoff of Hulk, "woke" because it's about a woman, bad CGI to cover for their misogyny)? No. Not even close. The reason I don't find it to be good is because the writing is mundane, at best. I WANTED to watch it BECAUSE it was supposed to be an off-beat look at the Marvel U and because the superhero attorney-at-law is inherently a comedic situation. It just isn't funny, IMO.

jason10mm wrote: Anyone watch Werewolf by Night on D+? Fit for a 10 year old?

Largely, yeah. There's some violence and a couple moments where people get their throats slit, but there's not a lot of blood and they don't focus on those moment for more than a second or two. If you think that's OK, then you're good to go. Story-wise, it's kinda weird, but I appreciated their attempt to come in at a different angle (Jack Russell having an actual relationship with Man-Thing; calls him "Ted" because that's his name) on a lot of things. They also kept it black-and-white, in a nod towards the old school horror films.

Jackwraith wrote: For the complaints they were making (just a ripoff of Hulk, "woke" because it's about a woman, bad CGI to cover for their misogyny)? No. Not even close. The reason I don't find it to be good is because the writing is mundane, at best. I WANTED to watch it BECAUSE it was supposed to be an off-beat look at the Marvel U and because the superhero attorney-at-law is inherently a comedic situation. It just isn't funny, IMO.

I've found She Hulk good, not stunning. My wife and daughter however are very impressed with it. We may not be its primary audience.

Andor had an excellent ending. Best Star Wars stuff in a generation (not hyperbole.)

I'm rewatching Killing Eve with my daughter, which is head and shoulders better than anything in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe". Even on second viewing it's entertaining as hell, in spite of knowing all the surprises that come up. Talk about acting, I mean, damn.