TV Casualty

[Dr. Kobb]

Thanks.  I've seen it in Barnes & Noble, but haven't bothered to drop the bucks on it.  Perhaps because you may be right about some things being best left to the sands of time. 

[Deeky]

Been watching the new Netflix series Stand Up and Away! with Brian Regan. The veteran comic mixes stand up and skits to generally good effect.

[Deeky]

Just finished the latest season of Schitt's Creek. The show has definitely matured, and this season has been really great.

[Deeky]

Finally got all caught up on Brooklyn 99.

[Marxo Grouch]

True Detective's third season was good, very good when you consider the acting. It was weird, after tanking with the LA noir grab bag of season 2, which many people loathed but I actually rather liked despite all of its many forms of heavy-handedness, creator Nic Pizzolatto seemed to be going back to the same well as season 1, like, the exact same well in many ways. But it was ultimately its own story, and a late direct reference to season 1 made it both more understandable and also kind of like a wink from the author at the audience that he's aware of it as well.

I love Brooklyn-9-9 for assorted reasons, one of which, admittedly, is the unabashedly progressive nature of much of its worldview. Well, fuck, it is set in Brooklyn.

Really looking forward to season 2 of Barry. Season 1 was really, really great, better than I had ever anticipated. I like much of Bill Hader's comic work, but his acting is at another level here. I'm sorry one of the two Chechen mobsters got iced in the finale, because they were hilarious.

[Choconado]

Been watching, through my usual hives of scum and villainy, the R-rated superhero shows DC has decided to make for their subscription network.

Firstly, Titans is okay, it's about on par with what little I've seen of the CW stuff they do, only without as much romance drama that is that network's trademark. There's cool bits, and there's stupid bits. They spend plenty of time building on the idea that yes, this is the DC world with capes running around lots of places. At the same time they pussyfoot with it, doing things like taking after the Marvel movies and eschewing the superhero identities; or like how Batman is a kinda important part of the show (Dick "Robin" Grayson is arguably the lead character of the show) but we never see his face or hear his voice despite his looming presence. And like, it's not til the second to last episode of the season that they finally tell us the backstories for Raven and Starfire, which feels like too much holding back considering the format means there are very few watching who didn't know from the start.

Which brings me to show #2, Doom Patrol. I've only watched the first two episodes of the four so far, but oh my gosh has this show beaten the crap out of my expectations. Doom Patrol is a very important book to me, and one that I could easily see hollywood screwing up completely. Even in the silver age of comics, DP was more about the characters being handicapped than it was about them being heroes. And handicapped in the realistic, frustrating, difficult ways more often than the "inspiration porn" ways. The other major element of the book has always been that they were the weirdoes of the superhero community, fighting abstract villains like brains in jars with talking gorilla helpers, or strange creatures of the id speaking in Burroughsian cut up language eliminating reality piece by piece, stuff like that. That delicate blend of two unique flavors is what made Doom Patrol shine brightest, and were both things that seemed unlikely to be captured by film styles. But in this case, it's kept true to the spirit of what makes the Patrol. Much is changed from how things were in the books in a lot of ways, especially with certain characters, but again, the SPIRIT of the books is true. These people are 100% living up to the disabled characterization first and hero second, and oh boy is there lots of weirdness right out the gate. Last but not least I should mention that the cast is fantastic. The real stars being the ones whose faces we hardly see--Brendan Frasier totally nails Cliff "Robotman" Steele's baffled, resolute loser tone. And the antagonist thus far, Mr. Nobody, played by Alan Tudyk as both a villain and our rather disgusted narrator is just brilliant. It really is so far a must see if you're a fan of superhero stuff.

[Deeky]

Just finished up all eight episodes of Netflix's Russian Doll. An amazing show, I thought. It reached such a satisfying conclusion, I don't see how they can do another two seasons. (Honestly, I don't feel it needs them at all.)

[Marxo Grouch]

I'm even more happy that there's finally going to be a Deadwood movie on HBO (pity it isn't a full season) since I re-watched the entire series and was reminded of what a down-fucking-note it was forced to end on because HBO decided not to pay for it any more.

[Juniper]

I'll go into a little more depth on the Buffy and Angel watch here. I am one of the 15 people with nice things to say about Riley. I think once they got a handle on writing Dawn they did a lot of interesting things with her (tho not as much as they could've.) I have never seen a promising season of TV shoot its own dick off with such extreme prejudice like S6 of Buffy does. S2  of Angel might be one of my favorite seasons of any TV show full stop. I haven't seen Firefly, I have no interest in seeing Firefly, in part because I suspect it will confirm my suspicion Firefly was most definitely not worth the dip in quality Buffy and Angel took when Whedon's attention was focused elsewhere. Amber Benson has a face made for being carved into a cameo brooch, and Kennedy is as if an overused in trailers indie rock song gained sentience. It's been a wild journey.

And for recent(ish) things, MST3K: The Gauntlet was a hoot and a half. Felicia Day is MVP of the new series. And speaking of Buffy she popped up as one of the potentials in S7. And it's hard not to think knowing everything she went on to do that they should have made her the new love interest for Willow. Instead of the bitchy Old Navy mannequin who Alyson Hannigan, god bless her, is trying to but understandably can't have any spark of chemistry with.

[Deeky]

I spent the last couple of months churning through all nine seasons of The Office. I've mixed feelings about it, but overall it was good.

[Lemmy Caution]

So how's about that HBO series with the nekkid people and the dragons?

I have actually never seen more than 5 minutes of it at a time, and rarely on purpose.

If any of y'all are in the know: worth watching sometime on DVD or Blu-Ray?

Edit: Of course, nekkid people are worth watching...but does this one have a plot, or is it just gonzo-reptile-pr0n?

[Marxo Grouch]

I have HBO and I haven't seen a single second of Game of Thrones. Not for the purpose of being contrary, it just didn't hold any interest for me right now.

Barry, on the other hand, is fucking awesome.

[El Santo]

May 20, 2019 20:32:29 GMT -5 Lemmy Caution said:

So how's about that HBO series with the nekkid people and the dragons?

I have actually never seen more than 5 minutes of it at a time, and rarely on purpose.

If any of y'all are in the know: worth watching sometime on DVD or Blu-Ray?

Edit: Of course, nekkid people are worth watching...but does this one have a plot, or is it just gonzo-reptile-pr0n?

I think I'm about to find out, since the entire internet getting pissed off at the finale has made me very curious.  What I can tell you based on my several unsuccessful attempts to get into the show previously is that individual episodes from any of the seasons somewhere in the middle are nigh-unwatchable due to their soap-opera construction.  That is, each of the approximately 46,000 major characters gets one line of dialogue, in one 90-second-ish scene, per episode, and then the show cuts to the next group of two or three characters so that each of them can get their one line in.  There's simply no way even to guess what's going on in any given mid-range episode unless you've already watched everything leading up to it.  I suspect that the first couple seasons (when only 350 or so of those 46,000 major characters had yet been introduced) and the last couple seasons (by which point only 500 or so of them are left standing) may not have that problem.

[Choconado]

Doom Patrol ended its season this week. It's a fantastic show and unfortunate that its home is a streaming service that's barely even advertising. Next week starts Swamp Thing in that time slot, which was shortened mid production, so it's a bad sign for DC Universe's time and projects. :(

[Marxo Grouch]

I would like to re-recommend Brockmire on IFC. In particular, Kobb, you need to watch the recently completed Season 3. Actually, you should start at the beginning so you can really get the main character, but you should watch Season 3 in particular, because, well, I have to set up the basic premise, which is that Hank Azaria plays a notoriously fucked up baseball announcer who tries to come back after hitting the skids. Anyway, Season 3 finds him trying to maintain sobriety and having taken a job in Florida, and lemme tell ya, the writers do not miss a single opportunity to stomp Florida's balls. I am not a huge fan of aggressively offensive comedy, or rather, I'm all in favor of it, but it has to be fucking good. Brockmire goes to dark places, but it repeatedly proves its chops in doing so.

[Deeky]

Halfway through Love on Netflix. Enjoying it despite it being entirely about heterosexuals.

[Mayzshon]

I'm really enjoying Good Omens. David Tennant and Michael Sheen are perfectly cast. It deviated from the book by showing us a history of Crowley and Aziraphale's friendship. Basically two guys with a long history of putting one over on the respective head offices.
Also John Hamm's "I wish to buy some pornography!" scene.

[Deeky]

The new episode of Archer surprised me by being decent. The last few seasons have been terrible, to be quite honest. The whole coma/fantasyland thing of the last few seasons has been nearly unwatchable.

[Deeky]

Finished up the first season of Pose, which everyone raved about but I honestly did not think was very good.

[Deeky]

Started up The Terror. Not at all what I was expecting, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.