What TV SHOWS are you watching?

I'm actually not going to watch TD season 2, I think. I don't even really want to give it a shot. Part of what made the first season so great was that it was so unexpected. They really should have just made it a BBC-style limited series and tied it off. Then do another show with the same showrunners, whatever, JUST IN CASE it disappointed everyone...which it seems to be doing. Now it's "Hey, that first season of TD- WOW. But man, it took a nosedive".

My wife is about done with Mad Men. Man, this final season is TERRIBLE. I'm sorry, I don't see how anyone could retain interest in the show at this stage. It is literally as trash as a daytime soap. Is there ANYONE in this whole fucking show that hasn't had an affair? Or MULTIPLE affairs? It's almost preposterous. I feel like the writers completely lost their handle on the program and on the Don Draper character. That whole business with the waitress just kind of turns my stomach for some reason. Then there was this absolutely ridiculous business where one of Sally's friends tried to seduce her mom...so fucking dumb. It wasn't interesting or thematic or compelling at all, it was like "hey, more sex stuff!"

It was kind of cool that Joan hooked up with Captain Pike (Abrams Trek version). Maybe she ought to play Yeoman Rand or something.

There was one really nice beat at the end of the last one we saw where Don went back to his apartment after Megan's mom (who had a fling out of nowhere for no apparent reason with Roger Sterling...in Don's apartment...see, trashy) took all the furniture...he just stands there at the door and you get this sense that he's pretty much losing everything.

Going to watch the SW Rebels premiere tonight. James Earl Jones is in it...if that tells you anything. Show is SO FREAKING GOOD. Watch it.

The first episode of Season 2 had nothing that made the first episode of Season 1 great.
1. Small cast (2 leads) of interesting characters at odds with one another.
2. Simple (in the beginning) case you can get behind. Find a dead girl's murderer.
3. A depressing location with history and mystery.

I am having trouble getting invested in the characters from Season 2. They seem more contrived than last season. I mean, a sheriff with an internet porn star sister and a hippy guru dad who may have had a hand in her mothers death. Whaaa?

I'm going to go listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers and try to understand it all.

Caught up to Wayward Pines. Wow, didn't quite see that (I thought something else was going on). This show is like entirely mythology/plot and only a bit of character development. Like Lost without the flashbacks. I dig it as I always enjoy a good mystery with a slight sci-fi slant.

The amount of questions they raised and then partially answered in the first five episodes could have been stretched out for an entire season. I'm kind of wondering where this goes.

Just finished both seasons of Twin Peaks after a friend recommended it. I had no idea what to expect from the show beyond Lynchian weirdness, but I became completely engrossed by the first season and the first third of the second season, when they discover who murdered Laura Palmer. After that the show truly flew off the fucking rails, I almost stopped watching in the middle of the second season. Luckily my friend told me to stick it out until the introduction of Windham Earle and the Black Lodge, and the end of season 2 was pretty cool. For anyone who's seen it, is the movie worth watching?

I watched episode 1 of True Detective season 2. I liked it enough to watch the next episode, and I have a general dislike for Colin Farrell. Performances were good, but so far this would be better served as its own thing, not looming in the shadow of the first season.

scrumpyjack wrote: Just finished both seasons of Twin Peaks after a friend recommended it. I had no idea what to expect from the show beyond Lynchian weirdness, but I became completely engrossed by the first season and the first third of the second season, when they discover who murdered Laura Palmer. After that the show truly flew off the fucking rails, I almost stopped watching in the middle of the second season. Luckily my friend told me to stick it out until the introduction of Windham Earle and the Black Lodge, and the end of season 2 was pretty cool. For anyone who's seen it, is the movie worth watching?

The movie's closer to Lost Highway Lynch than Twin Peaks Lynch, so go in with those expectations. I thought it was very creepy and worth a watch.

hotseatgames wrote: I watched episode 1 of True Detective season 2. I liked it enough to watch the next episode, and I have a general dislike for Colin Farrell. Performances were good, but so far this would be better served as its own thing, not looming in the shadow of the first season.

That's kind of where I'm at with it too. I thought the premiere was fine, but it felt a little too familiar. There's nothing here we haven't seen in a million other cop shows. Season 1 felt unique because of the two leads, the setting, and the weird, mystical stuff.

I've been watching season 1 of Penny Dreadful, and enjoying it quite a bit. Eva Green is incredible.

Star Wars Rebels season 2 is off to a great start. It was refreshing to see Vader get to be a badass for once.

I actually think Fire Walk With Me holds up better than the series does...if you haven't seen the show, it's a bunch of bewildering horseshit. If you have seen the show, it's just nonsensical jibber-jabber. There are some really, really cool (and prime Lynch) parts in it. Also, David Bowie.

I love Penny Dreadful...it hits a couple of false notes, but by and large it is a great gothic horror monster-mash. I love that it looks all highbrow cable TV and so forth but it is prime...well, penny dreadful material. Once the witches and the Nightcomers and all get into it, it starts to get really fun. The episode with the Cut-Wife was where I went from "this is pretty good" to "I love this show". It really is the heir of the Hammer Horror idea, and there are elements that would have been right in line with some of the early to mid 70s fare from that studio. This is the kind of show that expects you to still be shocked when (dramatic pause) "it is the deveel". And they really mean it.

Eva Green is really outstanding in it...her role could have been high camp, but she handles it with high class.

My favorite moment is probably still when Frankenstein's second monster is, um, introduced to the first. That actually kind of did shock me.

Also, Billie Piper's character takes a really unexpected turn...no spoiler...

Twin Peaks is one of my two favorite all-time series - possibly #1 - and Mulholland Dr is one of my three favorite all-time films - possibly #1 - and the best thing I can say about Fire Walk With Me is that it is skippable.

Finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. That was fantastic, and it's been a while since I've seen a show that good. I hope there is more to come.

So we finally finished Mad Men...not sure what to make of that finale. I guess it's supposed to indicate that Don had his 1970s awakening of feelings and went back to McCann, making one of the most iconic television commercials of all time ("I'd like to buy the world a Coke"- historically, McCann really did that campaign). But that just didn't feel very authentic to me...which may have been the point. It was pretty ambiguous.

Joan's exit was the one that stuck with me the most. She was such a strong, assertive character and seeing her stick up for herself at the end was great...but I also liked how realistic for the time it was, because she basically had to surrender, hitting that glass ceiling. But she started her own company, so there's that.

Pete can fuck off, I hated everything about him. Trudy should have told him to take a hike. He was one of the kinds of people that screwed up everything in the 80s. Which was, again, kind of the point I guess.

All in all, there were some amazing moments in the show, some great characters, but there again it keeps coming back to being one of those shows about adults standing around talking (as my kids say). Which bored me. And all of the soap stuff was borderline repellent. I think there was a great three hour There Will Be Blood style epic about Don Draper in there somewhere.

And I still think he would have been the perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne.

hotseatgames wrote: Finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. That was fantastic, and it's been a while since I've seen a show that good. I hope there is more to come.

My wife is a big fan of the novel. Where can we watch this?

It's a BBC show.

But don't go googling "my wife wants a bbc".

I am into season three of Mad Men. It's pretty good, but Don is a bit ridiculous. I am saving season four to watch on the 24 hour trip from Qatar to Utah, at which point I may stop watching because I hear it goes downhill after that. I had to hurriedly scroll past the above comments about the show. There's no way to avoid spoilers at this point, really. I just looked at the IMDB page and noticed that several characters only have half as many episodes as others. Hmm...