What is the latest series you've been binging through?

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > What is the latest series you've been binging through?

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

I've been bingeing through, god help me, CSI: Miami. I picked up the season 5 DVDs dirt cheap a couple of months ago just because I wanted something light and brainless that I could make fun of, and since then I've bought seasons 1-4 as well. (Also dirt cheap; I wouldn't pay anything approaching full price for them, I'm not that brain-addled.)

It's a terrible, awful, ridiculous show, but for some reason it's hooked me. No idea why; the only main character I even vaguely liked (Speedle) got killed off, and the other CSI shows don't appeal to me at all. Maybe it's purely for the comedy value of SuperHoratio and his Magical Power Posse breaking the laws of time and physics to crack every case in one working day.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2009 18:01

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:44

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

I'm currently having a Mission: Impossible-athon (the avatar might give it away...), having picked up the third season because... I'm not really sure why, to be honest, other than it was going fairly cheap and I wanted to watch something a bit different. Having burned through that pretty quickly I'm now on season 4.

It's a lot of fun. Some aspects are extremely dated (it's got that overlit, somewhat garish look common to a lot of late sixties US TV, the 'high tech' is endearingly quaint, and Jesus, everyone smokes like chimneys!) while others were way ahead of their time. Lots of hand-held camerawork, fast cuts and dialogue-free scenes telling the story entirely visually - and what's rare even today is that it hardly offers any explanations or recaps to the inattentive. If you're not watching closely the whole time, there's a good chance you won't have a clue what's going on. The near-total absence of characterisation is a hell of a thing as well: Phelps, Rollin, Cinnamon, Barney, Willy and Paris may get to play roles themselves within each mission, but about them as people there's basically nothing. It's so different from other shows of the time that it's a wonder it got made at all, never mind became a hit.

Also, the Jim Phelps of the show would never become a traitor and wind up crushed by a helicopter in the Channel Tunnel. gently caress you, Tom Cruise.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2009 20:26

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

I picked up the DVD boxset of the new Knight Rider on a whim because it was going cheap, and much to my surprise am genuinely enjoying it. It's rubbish, yes, but it's campily enjoyable rubbish that doesn't take itself remotely seriously, much like Charmed (another terrible show that I loved nevertheless).

What's funny is that the actual plots - Mike and KITT fighting terrorists, militiamen, spies, criminals, whoever - feel almost secondary to the far more fun and entertaining sitcom-style relationships between Mike and KITT, Mike and Sarah, Billy and Zoe. Terrorists are going to blow up Los Angeles! Who cares? Not the producers, apparently, as it'll be resolved in 30 seconds flat so we can get back to the two nerds and their sub-dom comedy flirtations in the KITT-cave.

I also like the utter shamelessness with which the writers get the leads out of their clothes. "How about... we cover KITT in super-napalm that heats up the inside of the car so Mike and Sarah have to strip to avoid being cooked?" "Genius, do it!" "How about... the bad guys are surfers, so our heroes have to wear speedos and bikinis to infiltrate the group?" "Awesome!" [high five]

# ¿ Sep 22, 2010 13:13

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Roshi posted:

Hoping the rest of the show is as good as it is right now.

Seasons 4 and 5 are the high point, unfortunately. After that, it's practically a bell curve in terms of overall quality.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2010 23:41

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Following on from my Knight Rider post upthread, I just finished watching the DVDs and I'm now genuinely a little gutted because that's it, there is no more. It still wasn't actually good even at the end, but it was a hell of a lot of goofy fun. I'm going to miss the adventures of BBC Formula 1 presenter Jake Humphrey, non-lopsided Shannen Doherty, Billy from Battlestar Galactica, Asian dominatrix Chloe O'Brien and their increasingly sarcastic and piss-taking Batman-voiced transforming supercar.

Hell, I even prefer Justin Bruening as Michael Knight to The Hoff. He may be far too affable to play the ex-Ranger badass he's supposed to be, but at least he doesn't strut around as if intoxicated by the scent of his own testosterone.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2010 22:10

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

The two shows I found myself getting surprise-hooked on in recent years were European: The Bridge (Danish/Swedish) and Miraculous (French). And they've both got more seasons confirmed, so :toot:

# ¿ Dec 26, 2016 21:15

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

I think I got to four episodes in with Mad Men and realised that I loathed every character, finding them a bunch of repellent, irredeemable shits; there wasn't a single one that I wanted to see succeed, or even spend another minute with. It was a real disappointment, because I loved the idea of the show. I guess I was hoping for more Roger O Thornhill than Don Draper.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2016 08:12

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Wheat Loaf posted:

I most recently binged through Department S, an old ITC adventure/mystery series from the late 1960s. Some real standout episodes (one with a young pre-fame Sir Anthony Hopkins was particularly good) but a lot of really by the numbers instalments that felt like rejected The Saint pitches. Peter Wyngarde was fun to watch but I would much rather watch The Avengers or Danger Man if I was going to watch another old ITC adventure/mystery series.

Ah! Another rare chance (after it popped up in the Prisoner thread) to plug my Department S site!

And yes, you're pretty much right about the show. I enjoyed it, but it could have been so much more if they'd actually stuck to the premise of "detectives with very different approaches solve crimes too bizarre for regular cops" (ie, The X Files, 25 years early), rather than "I've got some rejected scripts for The Saint and The Baron in a drawer; time to Tippex out the character names and pitch them again!"

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 22:46

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Senerio's avatar reminded me that the combination of temporarily living in a different country (Spain) and having a young child has meant the only show I've even had the chance to binge on lately has been Miraculous on Disney Channel, which has an English language option. So it's a good thing that while it's as goofy as hell, I really enjoy it. For a kids' TV show the character animation and CGI is really well done (especially the action sequences), and the two leads are genuinely endearing in their lovestruck dorkiness towards each other's alter ego.

Plus the supervillains have included a mime, a chef, a paparazzo, a guy who can command pigeons, a five-year-old girl (who was actually one of the most threatening enemies because, well, she's a child with super powers, and if you don't know why that's scary you've never had kids) and AN EVIL SANTA CLAUS. And my toddler now goes "Aaaahhhh!" imitating the main villain every time he appears, which is the cutest thing ever.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2017 22:07

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Wheat Loaf posted:

I binged through the first two seasons of The 100 and thought they were really good. I've decided to take a break and watch something else before I go back to season three of that, though, so I'm watching the old ITC series Jason King, a spin-off from Department S, itself one of the innumerable Lew Grade adventure shows from the late 60s and early 70s.

It's more pedestrian than its parent show, but in a way it's more consistent. The problem Department S often had was that the titular Department was meant to be responsible for investigating cases too sensitive, too weird and too inexplicable for the regular authorities, but a lot of the writers weren't creative enough to come up with suitable mysteries for them to solve. I think Jason King has the advantage of being a much more straightforward adventure/mystery show and benefits from not having to reach to try and make it odd.

Peter Wyngarde is the reason to watch it, of course. Very charismatic gent.

Yeah, Wyngarde is great, but he's really all the show's got going for it. It's far inferior to Department S, and not just because the stories are more mundane. It's on 16mm film rather than 35mm so looks cheap even by ITC standards, and the amount of Seventies casual, unthinking sexism (and often racism) is off the scale. Jason's dress sense has to be seen to believed as well - you couldn't caricature it, because no outfit you could come up with today would be more grotesque than what he actually wore.

The writers really struggled to get Jason involved in the plots, since he's no longer working in law enforcement. His being blackmailed, kidnapped, impersonated or mistaken for someone else starts off at least half the episodes.

Fun fact: the series only existed because Lew Grade's wife fancied Peter Wyngarde, and after Department S ended she pestered him into giving him a second series. (Grade reportedly didn't like Wyngarde at all!)

Small Strange Bird fucked around with this message at 08:08 on May 3, 2017

# ¿ May 3, 2017 08:06

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Wheat Loaf posted:

It struggles for not having a recurring supporting cast other than his editor and Ryland, neither of whom are in it very much;

I'm still unreasonably amused that the actor who played Ryland (and a very camp minor villain in Department S) was also the melting Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

# ¿ May 3, 2017 20:21

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Wheat Loaf posted:

I wish to make my way through some of those eventually as well - I enjoy a lot of the ITC adventure shows, but they're things I tend to have seen episodes of rather than programmes I've properly sat down and watched. I'd like to get to the original Mission: Impossible series at some stage as well.

I mostly enjoyed Department S when I watched it - there's some quite weakish episodes but there is at least one ("A Small War of Nerves") that's absolutely fantastic, in which Peter Wyngarde faces off against a young Anthony Hopkins. I sort of liked Jason King as well even though it's a) much more contrived; and b) much sillier. Mainly because Wyngarde is charismatic in both.

I worked through Mission: Impossible a few years ago. The first few seasons are great (it really hits its stride once Peter Graves joins), but the last few were pretty mediocre simply because they'd burned through every good idea they had and were just repeating themselves in increasingly implausible ways. Basically, once "the Syndicate" becomes the main target and they stop going abroad (or after Nimoy leaves), you've seen all you need to.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 17:22

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Solice Kirsk posted:

Mad Men and The Americans are two shows I've tried watching 2 or 3 times each, and I just can't do it.

I tried with Mad Men. I really tried. Everything about it should have been right up my street, but... I hated every single main loving character. Jesus Christ, show, give me at least one person to root for.

Although I dunno, maybe that was the point?

# ¿ Nov 26, 2017 00:00

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

I got that Peggy was meant to be the empathy hook, but after however many episodes in I got (6, 7, 8, something like that) she came across as just as big a repellent, callous, backstabbing poo poo as the rest, so I bailed. I was gutted, because I genuinely thought I was going to love the show. Just goes to prove that expectations and tastes don't always match.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2017 00:13

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:44

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Firstborn posted:

The Kodak Carousel scene is masterful, though. For some people, it's the women in the workplace stuff or the lothario & mystery aspect of Don, but for me the advertising stuff is just so drat watchable. Whenever Draper is pitching something I perk up

That part I actually enjoyed. If it had just been "guys in cool suits brainstorm product pitches" I would have stuck with it. (The only other non-documentary show I can think of about the ad trade is terrible BBC sitcom Watch This Space.)

# ¿ Nov 26, 2017 15:37

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