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Continuing onwards with my ER and West Wing binge... ER - finished season 3. Very solid and not a bad ep in it. The writers have really got a hold of the cast and characters now, and the group of directors they have working on it keep a tighter rein on the shows, so they flow easily from action to slow-paced dialogue. Still not reaching the heights of later years but better than most shows since. West Wing - finished season 5, started 6. Heeded the warnings of people here and friends about season five, but despite a few dodgy moments in the first couple of episodes, the show finds its feet to a certain extent after that, and is still very watchable and enjoyable (mostly due to the cast and the situations the characters are thrown into). The writing style is obviously no longer Sorkiny, they tried to imitate it at the start but dropped that in favour of doing more serious political drama, which actually worked out quite nicely. Onto six. I'm not liking the sudden appearance of mood-music underscoring every DRAMATIC SCENE (to the point where dialogue is drowned out), also the director of the openers was a little gregarious. However, taking that in my stride, it seems to be getting good again by ep 3. Watching West Wing and ER side by side, it's amusing to spot the alumni from the first show moving onto the next (most of the cast and crew). Harmonica fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jan 15, 2010 |
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Jan 15, 2010 02:38
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I went through Kings a month ago and this show needs to be mentioned more. Yes, it ended with loose ends and was canceled, but holy gently caress the ambition and audacity, not to mention execution, of the story it tries to tell is remarkable. Probably a really minor opinion, but I'm kind of glad it got canceled because from the way things ended, I wouldn't have looked forward to a season 2 that has isolated stories of David, Michele, and possibly Jack away from each other and everyone else .
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Jan 15, 2010 03:05
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Cactus posted:Friday Night Lights keeps getting mentioned in a positive light. I'm willing to check it out, but will the fact I dislike and don't identify with football at all (especially American Football which is completely alien to me since I'm a Brit) detract from my enjoyment of this show? I know Leviathan said it would a little, but it really, really won't. The show is entirely about the characters, and the football scenes- while well-done- are underwritten to the point that you'll be able to understand just about everything. Plus this current season has had like 4 football game scenes and it might be the best season yet regardless.
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Jan 15, 2010 03:39
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Caught the flu last week and rampaged through the first two seasons of Deadwood. I've never been a fan of anything western, but I'm liking it a lot.
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Jan 15, 2010 03:55
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I'm chugging through Twin Peaks right now, just got into season 2. The music is a bit dated (not bad, though quite synthy) as are some characters, but I'm still really enjoying it. The quirkiness and storylines overwhelm the more glaring '80s elements.
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Jan 15, 2010 04:03
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Yer Burnt posted:I went through Kings a month ago and this show needs to be mentioned more. Yes, it ended with loose ends and was canceled, but holy gently caress the ambition and audacity, not to mention execution, of the story it tries to tell is remarkable. Probably a really minor opinion, but I'm kind of glad it got canceled because from the way things ended, I wouldn't have looked forward to a season 2 that has isolated stories of David, Michele, and possibly Jack away from each other and everyone else . That's true, but I still wish we would've gotten more of the show. Loved the story, and I feel like they could've pulled off a second season. Ian McShane is just so incredible as Silas that I could watch the show just about him. I heard he's even better in Deadwood, which I've been intending to watch too. EDIT: vv Seriously? poo poo, I gotta netflix that soon, cause I thought he was AMAZING as Silas. Count Choculitis fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Jan 15, 2010 |
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Jan 15, 2010 05:50
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His performance in Kings is dogshit compared to Deadwood.
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Jan 15, 2010 06:02
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He is amazing as Silas, it's just that in Deadwood they give him a lot of freedom and he lets loose.
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Jan 15, 2010 08:28
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Ratatozsk posted:I'm chugging through Twin Peaks right now, just got into season 2. The music is a bit dated (not bad, though quite synthy) as are some characters, but I'm still really enjoying it. The quirkiness and storylines overwhelm the more glaring '80s elements. Despite how much fun you're probably having now, don't be surprised if you all of a sudden feel the urge to stop watching the show in a few episodes. It starts getting horrible extremely quickly after a... certain point. The finale's cool though.
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Jan 15, 2010 10:06
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I've had a political Christmas, I'm on to the last season of The West Wing and its been a fairly enjoyable show, the tone did change when Sorkin left but I've really been enjoying the campaign trail stuff at the end of 6 and the start of 7. Will Bailey still annoys the crap outta me. As far as a political Christmas goes, I've been watching The Thick Of It whenever TWW got a bit too saccharine. Seeing Malcolm Tucker rip somebody a new arsehole can make TWW look a bit silly when the music swells and Rob Lowe or Martin Sheen deliver a rousing monologue, it contrasts quite nicely to Tucker claiming that a minister is "about as much use as a marzipan dildo". Gotta recommend The Thick Of It and movie In The Loop to everyone, I can't remember the last time I saw something so funny.
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Jan 15, 2010 10:14
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spe posted:I've had a political Christmas, I'm on to the last season of The West Wing and its been a fairly enjoyable show, the tone did change when Sorkin left but I've really been enjoying the campaign trail stuff at the end of 6 and the start of 7. Will Bailey still annoys the crap outta me. He gets much less annoying in season 7, as does Kate. From about Impact Winter until the end of the series is pretty much as good as the non-elite Sorkin stuff (except for the Cuba episode which sucks in unimaginable ways).
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Jan 15, 2010 19:54
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jeffersonlives posted:He gets much less annoying in season 7, as does Kate. From about Impact Winter until the end of the series is pretty much as good as the non-elite Sorkin stuff (except for the Cuba episode which sucks in unimaginable ways). Agreeing with this. Will was insufferable in Season 6 (and an inconsistent character), but he became tolerable again in Season 7.
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Jan 15, 2010 21:02
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Ratatozsk posted:Agreeing with this. Will was insufferable in Season 6 (and an inconsistent character), but he became tolerable again in Season 7. I never figured out how he was simultaneously on the campaign trail with Bingo Bob and a White House senior staffer. They were also pretty heavily teasing a Will/Donna thing as her replacement Josh for a couple episodes and that never went anywhere either. They really hosed up the timing on that season in a lot ways, we never saw quite a lot of the primary season and every time we went back to the White House for the Adventures of the Mysterious Kate Harper and Friends I wanted to wring John Wells's neck because the election stuff was so great. God I miss The West Wing, I was reshuffling my DVD collection yesterday and that almost triggered another rewatch.
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Jan 15, 2010 21:33
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When I watch season 6 or 7 I skip any episode that is White House focused. You can sort of tell they wanted to make a different show but were hindered by writing for an established series. The new cast was pretty great as long as you thought of it as a different show. I also skip the entirety of season 5. If you watch it like me then you don't have to deal with the stupid as gently caress space military thing and can pretend it never happened. Mu Zeta fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jan 15, 2010 |
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Jan 15, 2010 21:42
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Cactus posted:
I'm hardly the biggest football fan in the world (though I do follow some college ball) but Friday Night Lights is great even if you don't like football. Amazing acting, great characters, pretty much one of the best shows currently on TV.
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Jan 15, 2010 21:46
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Mu Zeta posted:When I watch season 6 or 7 I skip any episode that is White House focused. You can sort of tell they wanted to make a different show but were hindered by writing for an established series. The new cast was pretty great as long as you thought of it as a different show. The beginning of Season 5 is the nadir of the series. Despite this, The Supremes is one of my favorite episodes of the any season.
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Jan 15, 2010 21:49
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Season 5 gets a lot better once you get past Josh screaming at the Capitol from a taxi. There's some decent stuff once they recovered creatively from untangling the Zoey arc.
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Jan 15, 2010 22:43
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Dark Weasel posted:I know Leviathan said it would a little, but it really, really won't. The show is entirely about the characters, and the football scenes- while well-done- are underwritten to the point that you'll be able to understand just about everything. FNL has more do with football (and the culture of football) than just the scenes that actually feature the game being played. But yes, it's still worth a watch even if you don't know about/don't like the sport. Leviathan fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jan 15, 2010 |
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Jan 15, 2010 22:45
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Leviathan posted:FNL has more do with football than just the scenes that actually feature the game being played. Sure but as long as you understand "football is really loving important in Dillon!" and "Coach is the guy in charge" that's enough, the show doesn't require any specific knowledge about the game itself per se.
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Jan 15, 2010 22:47
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Dark Weasel posted:I know Leviathan said it would a little, but it really, really won't. The show is entirely about the characters, and the football scenes- while well-done- are underwritten to the point that you'll be able to understand just about everything. Chamberk posted:I'm hardly the biggest football fan in the world (though I do follow some college ball) but Friday Night Lights is great even if you don't like football. Amazing acting, great characters, pretty much one of the best shows currently on TV. This is pretty much what I wanted to hear, and what I suspected to be the case, so thanks. I'll definitely start binging this series soon.
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Jan 16, 2010 01:52
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Mu Zeta posted:I also skip the entirety of season 5. If you watch it like me then you don't have to deal with the stupid as gently caress space military thing and can pretend it never happened. It's really not that bad at all. Just watched it and I had to think for a while to remember what you're talking about. Is that Josh getting 'grounded' and put in the doghouse for seemingly no reason? They lost a little bit of a grip on some of the characters but it's still watchable and enjoyable and better than 90% of TV. Didn't think there was an outright bad episode. The main problem I'm suffering with Season 6 is the overloaded background musak, overly DRAMATIC moments, and Will being a oval office, but apart from that, the writing is improving again. Harmonica fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Jan 16, 2010 |
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Jan 16, 2010 18:23
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There's some epically bad storylines in West Wing season 5. The biggest issue is that everyone starts hating each other for no particular reason, e.g. Jed vs. Abbey, Jed vs. Leo, Leo vs. Josh, Toby vs. Will. Basically what happened was John Wells took over as showrunner from Sorkin and tried to make it a John Wells show. So you get more character conflict story arcs and ER-style production, which didn't work at all and eventually simmers down over the course of the second half of season 5 and the first half of season 6. Some of the election arc is among the best stuff of the series IMO, but it's really a spinoff show by that point.
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Jan 16, 2010 20:50
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I just powered through Scrubs season 5. Now I would ask this in the Scrubs thread, but the show is at Season 9, and I don't want to read any spoilers. But I hear the show is also best avoided at some point. I'm just wondering where the shark jumped. That is, how many season should I get the box sets for? I read that in Season 9 there's practically no one left from the cast for main characters, but I'm sure it shits the bed sometime before that.
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Jan 17, 2010 02:15
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Recently marathoned Dexter seasons 3 and 4 after taking so long to get back into it and having a major part of the last season spoiled for me. That's my fault I guess, but it was still entertaining to watch. Also just got through Glee season 1 (Or half of it, I guess), and have Sons Of Anarchy season 1 lined up too.
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Jan 17, 2010 02:55
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Harmonica posted:It's really not that bad at all. Just watched it and I had to think for a while to remember what you're talking about. Is that Josh getting 'grounded' and put in the doghouse for seemingly no reason? They lost a little bit of a grip on some of the characters but it's still watchable and enjoyable and better than 90% of TV. Oh, the thing I'm talking about happens in season 6. It's so stupid that they refrain from directly referencing it in season 7.
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Jan 17, 2010 02:58
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Finished first season of Damages a while ago. Piece of tripe that uses cheap narrative; you know it's terribly written when the second season also explains/reveals parts of the first season. Glenn Close is a terrific actress, though her character is messily written, and Rose Byrne is purdy, but skip it. EDIT: Actually, this applies to the show in general: great cast, but their characters aren't well-written. Ted Danson's character, Frobisher, is not too bad, now that I think about it, but it doesn't redeem the show. ufarn fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jan 17, 2010 |
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Jan 17, 2010 03:11
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IUG posted:I just powered through Scrubs season 5. Now I would ask this in the Scrubs thread, but the show is at Season 9, and I don't want to read any spoilers. But I hear the show is also best avoided at some point. I'm just wondering where the shark jumped. That is, how many season should I get the box sets for? I read that in Season 9 there's practically no one left from the cast for main characters, but I'm sure it shits the bed sometime before that. Which, luckily, happened in the form of season 8. The move to abc did wonders, and everything was toned down to the way it used to be for the most part and it concluded the main story with dignity. I'd easily rank it up there with season 1-4. Then AfterSCRUBS (season 9) happened, which is just an awful waste of time and makes seasons 6-7 look good. The new characters are awful and things are back to the overly-wackiness found in seasons 6-7. I hope it gets canceled and can be forgotten about. The show had its true end in season 8.
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Jan 17, 2010 05:35
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jeffersonlives posted:There's some epically bad storylines in West Wing season 5. The biggest issue is that everyone starts hating each other for no particular reason Yeah, I definitely noticed all that, it was clumsy and annoying. But I must quite like John Wells' ilk, because I have been (re) enjoying the ER I've watched, and didn't grow to dislike West Wing s5. Not a particularly big US politics aficionado (being a Brit), so probably some of the silly plotlines went over my head. Or that the effect of binging through the series is just that basically you only remember the beginning and end and have a very vague idea of what else happened  Mu Zeta posted:Oh, the thing I'm talking about happens in season 6. It's so stupid that they refrain from directly referencing it in season 7. Something to look forward to then 
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Jan 17, 2010 15:07
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I like John Wells quite a bit. I mean, the West Wing would not exist without him. Sorkin pitched the show to him and he is the one that made it happen. It's just that his gritty style doesn't fit the show. ER, Third Watch, Southland, etc are good shows and his style suits the world of cops, paramedics, and firemen, but not in the White House where things don't normally explode.
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Jan 17, 2010 15:18
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I know they're completely different, but what's better to watch first: Life or Big Bang Theory?
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Jan 19, 2010 05:17
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I recently just plowed through all 4 seasons of Dexter. I am also just now getting into Arrested Development, and I am actually shocked and kind of sad I never had a chance to pick it up when it was new.
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Jan 19, 2010 06:38
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Good Lord how did I not know about "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" until a few weeks ago?! Currently waiting on seasons 3 and 4 to be shipped to Australia, already.
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Jan 19, 2010 09:58
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The Prince of Persia 'get the powerup and see the drug money spreadsheet' scene in Life 1x07 is literally the worst goddamn video game scene in the history of moving pictures.
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Jan 19, 2010 20:27
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After watching up to around season 2 when it was on TV way back when, I have recently re-kindled my interest in the Lost series. I got netflix recently for my Ps3 and have been loving it. (Should check it out PS3 owners) and it has all 5 seasons of Lost, streaming and in HD for me. Man, when I was in college I was so much better at these binges, now with work and other bullshit I can hardly find time to string 3 episodes back to back..
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Jan 19, 2010 22:49
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Just finished Mad Men season 2, now time to catch up on Season 3. Frigging great show.
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Jan 20, 2010 17:16
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KeroKeroCola posted:Just finished Mad Men season 2, now time to catch up on Season 3. Frigging great show.
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Jan 20, 2010 17:35
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just started season 3 of  . I watched the first 2 seasons in the past 2 days after I watched the Caprica pilot that got me interested in all this. All I can say is gently caress this show for being so good.
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Jan 20, 2010 20:17
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I have been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately. I have seen all of the new stuff, and some of the old stuff over the years, but now I am watching all of the classic stuff.
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Jan 20, 2010 22:40
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FERN GULLY FAN posted:just started season 3 of You should watch Season 3 episode 4 about five times in a row. It's the peak of the series and should be cherished as long as possible.
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Jan 21, 2010 00:33
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Johnny B. Goode posted:You should watch Season 3 episode 4 about five times in a row. It's the peak of the series and should be cherished as long as possible. After watching it originally when everything came out. I watched it through again a few weeks ago. I will have to say that the last season was actually a lot better than I remember it being. Everything really did fit in with what was put in the previous seasons. It must have been the hiatus that through it off with the original viewing.
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