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Irish Joe
Jul 23, 2007

by Lowtax

computer parts posted:

Hillary's not a blood relation to any President.

She and Bill are from Arkansas. You do the math.

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Lycus
Aug 5, 2008

Half the posters in this forum have been made up. This website is a goddamn ghost town.

Sleeveless posted:

Any chance of this show getting positive word-of-mouth online died when they did the episode where a drug dealer hid his records in Prince of Persia and they had to beat it to unlock them and that became the one thing the internet knew about it.

I remember seeing that video way more often than I heard good things about Life.

Medullah
Aug 14, 2003

FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Lycus posted:

I remember seeing that video way more often than I heard good things about Life.

Well deserved mocking, too.

I don't understand why shows use this trope, I can't think of a single time it was successful. The previously mentioned Profit remains one of my favorite shows of all time because the main character is a legit despicable villain, but every time they go into "virtual reality" I groan.

The best use of it, of course, is Community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQEiXST_qms

Just Another Lurker
May 1, 2009

pentyne posted:

Life



How can you gently caress up a show with Damien Lewis in the lead? (j/k I saw Homeland season 2)

It was a pretty good premise but it was ruined by a heavy "conspiracy" element that was resolved rather quickly and then it was just "case of the week" which didn't really suit the tone of the show.

I watch that show at least once a year, absolutely loved it.

The Duke
May 19, 2004

The Angel from my Nightmare

I thought the meta plot of Life didn't get solved until the second season? There was never really a period of "only" case of the week episodes. I could be completely wrong as I haven't seen it in a long time. Anyway, that was definitely a great show that should've had a few more seasons. I loved that Charlie wasn't a typical morally ambiguous cop and didn't really let his rage come out too often. Most of the time he'd just eat some fruit and listen to zen tapes while trying to outsmart the villain of the episode. That and his clue board was awesome.

Parasol Prophet
Aug 31, 2012

We Are Best Friends Now.
I realize this show wasn't particularly good good, but I had a fun time watching Harper's Island.



Harper's Island was a murder mystery miniseries about a wedding party arriving on the titular moody island, where a notorious massacre had taken place years before. The groom and his best friend grew up on the island, and the best friend is understandably nervous about going back. There are 25 characters, one or two of whom die each week, killed off by a mysterious murderer who is probably (definitely) one of them, but also may or may not be working with the serial killer responsible for the previous massacre. There was also a webseries tie-in about a reporter for the island's newspaper investigating the serial killer and his ties to the main character's family. It was also one of the few mystery shows to actually sneak in clues from the very first episode as to who the killer was and expect the audience to almost-kind-of keep up.

It came about a few years too early to get in on the TV anthology revival/trend (if it even would've been renewed, I don't think ratings were that great), but according to the producers they planned for each season to be a self-contained mystery taking place in a different location, with the seasons tied together by the 'Harper' name -- giving examples like "Harper's Orchard," "Harper's Castle," "Harper's Space Station." Which is a pretty stupid naming gimmick, but goddamned if I don't want a mystery show called Harper's Space Station to be a real thing.

Like I said, it wasn't the best show (it was on Netflix or Hulu a while back, and man my nostalgia was tinting a lot of those memories), but I think it could've gotten good with more time or a different location or something. Also I guess I just wish for a moody, creepy slasher/murder mystery anthology series that isn't run by Ryan Murphy. :smith:

Also, as were mentioned before, Clone High, The Mole, Don't Trust the B, and many more.

Parasol Prophet fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Sep 10, 2015

Frostwerks
Sep 24, 2007

by Lowtax

Medullah posted:

Well deserved mocking, too.

I don't understand why shows use this trope, I can't think of a single time it was successful. The previously mentioned Profit remains one of my favorite shows of all time because the main character is a legit despicable villain, but every time they go into "virtual reality" I groan.

The best use of it, of course, is Community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQEiXST_qms

This reminds me, wasn't there a thread for some early 90s live-action show a couple months ago that had bizarre villains and I think it was video-game/virtual reality inspired or something?

Sleeveless
Dec 25, 2014

by Pragmatica

Frostwerks posted:

This reminds me, wasn't there a thread for some early 90s live-action show a couple months ago that had bizarre villains and I think it was video-game/virtual reality inspired or something?

Deadly Games

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Irish Joe posted:

She and Bill are from Arkansas. You do the math.

Irish Joe makes a good post? The apocalypse is nigh

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
Not sure if this counts or not, but when the Adam West Batman series had a good run by the time it was cancelled, it was very nearly given an extension.

From a story I'd read years ago, producers were trying to shop the show around to other networks once ABC cancelled it. NBC were actually in talks about picking it up, but the deal fell through because the sets for the show had been destroyed just days after ABC cancelled it and no one was going to pay to have them rebuilt. (Atomic reactors don't come cheap, I guess...)

johntfs
Jun 7, 2013

by Cowcaster
Soiled Meat

JediTalentAgent posted:

Not sure if this counts or not, but when the Adam West Batman series had a good run by the time it was cancelled, it was very nearly given an extension.

From a story I'd read years ago, producers were trying to shop the show around to other networks once ABC cancelled it. NBC were actually in talks about picking it up, but the deal fell through because the sets for the show had been destroyed just days after ABC cancelled it and no one was going to pay to have them rebuilt. (Atomic reactors don't come cheap, I guess...)

Nah, the sets would've been easy. It was all those labels that killed it.

Pikehead
Dec 3, 2006

Looking for WMDs, PM if you have A+ grade stuff
Fun Shoe

The Duke posted:

I thought the meta plot of Life didn't get solved until the second season? There was never really a period of "only" case of the week episodes. I could be completely wrong as I haven't seen it in a long time. Anyway, that was definitely a great show that should've had a few more seasons. I loved that Charlie wasn't a typical morally ambiguous cop and didn't really let his rage come out too often. Most of the time he'd just eat some fruit and listen to zen tapes while trying to outsmart the villain of the episode. That and his clue board was awesome.

Yeah, he worked everything out and killed the bad guy in the last couple episodes of the second season. I thought it worked out rather well. Of course, one thing that killed it was that there was nowhere else to go after he'd worked everything out.

Ravane
Oct 23, 2010

by LadyAmbien
Eureka. The show had 5 great seasons, but was cancelled before they could flesh out the ending. That said, their hastily made ending was fantastic and still a great conclusion to the series. But man, that show should have had a few more seasons.

frenton
Aug 15, 2005

devil soup

Professor Shark posted:



Bored to Death, which was an HBO Comedy but ended up being a fantastic, poignant look at three men (Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson) feeling lost and uncertain in their lives, with Ted Danson doing an incredible job.

At least it's getting a movie to finish off the series.

I loved season 1 and 2 but I don't think I even finished season 3. At the same time I was watching this I watched How to Make it in America which I thought was hip and cute and funny but everyone else tells me it was really really bad.

Pedro De Heredia
May 30, 2006

frenton posted:

At the same time I was watching this I watched How to Make it in America which I thought was hip and cute and funny but everyone else tells me it was really really bad.

I liked that show but it was inconsequential. It does not belong in either 'cancelled before their time' or 'should have ended earlier', it really could have just ended at any point or kept going and it wouldn't have mattered too much.

The second season I remember wasn't as much fun, and they were doing what, some ugly t-shirts or something?

Irish Joe posted:

She and Bill are from Arkansas. You do the math.

Good joke, but she is not from Arkansas.

Quote-Unquote
Oct 22, 2002



I'm so pumped for the new Twin Peaks, as that ended on a huge cliffhanger. Okay, Season 2 got pretty stupid but then Lynch came back for the last bit and made it amazing again before it was cancelled.

Carnivale is the other one. I loved that show and was gutted when it got cancelled a third of the way through the intended run, again ending on a huge cliffhanger. Though it was pretty funny when Clancy Brown went mental at the idiots sending threats to HBO because of it.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Ravane posted:

Eureka. The show had 5 great seasons, but was cancelled before they could flesh out the ending. That said, their hastily made ending was fantastic and still a great conclusion to the series. But man, that show should have had a few more seasons.

Eh, it got to that point where it's mostly running on day to day relationship drama that you see in a lot of series. For example, Bones is now all about how they're married and have a kid and another one along the way and oh also they solve murders sometimes.

The only difference is that Eureka got to it 3-4 seasons ahead of other TV shows.

Bruteman
Apr 15, 2003

Can I ask ya somethin', Padre? When I was kickin' your ass back there... you get a little wood?

johntfs posted:

I'll probably get some poo poo for this, but Surface ended too soon for me. Nostalgia is probably coloring how really good the show was. The thing for me is that the main three protagonists on the show don't come together until the last 15 minutes of the final episode. It's awesome when it happens and the show sets up some amazing possibilities and cool stuff and then it loving ends right there and there's nothing else.

No, I really enjoyed Surface while it was on as well. I've watched it again since then and yeah, in retrospect, it was just okay and probably best that they didn't continue. After reading a couple of interviews with the show's creators post-cancellation, it was clear they had no idea where they were going with the story - lots of "we have a general idea for a second season but we're not revealing anything in case we get picked up by another network" - they didn't and it was pretty clearly BS. They expected to get a full season but were only given 15 by NBC so they moved up a bunch of plot threads that went nowhere, they also got hosed since the show didn't air for like three months in the middle of its run because of the Winter Games, and their budget was too high.

Honestly I don't know where they could have gone with it, even after they got all the show's leads together. If you never watched it, the show had a great hook - a species of previously unidentified giant sea monsters appears in the world's oceans and start loving poo poo up. Unfortunately, the show came out a season after "Lost" debuted so it had to have the whole meta mystery thing going on (and also this and two other water-monster themed shows all came out at the same time, including ABC's Invasion and CBS' Threshold), and what little they revealed kind of blew (spoilers for a decade-old show five people watched): the monsters were created by a generic eccentric evil geneticist guy to apparently dig through the ocean floor and disrupt tectonic plates to trigger tsunamis (which happened in the series finale), all the while he and his evil generic corporation were creating clones and new life forms and had built this giant underwater train system going into the Marianas Trench. Sort of a Noah's Ark in reverse, I guess? So he'd rebuild a new world after his monsters had wiped out the surface world. How would the show's heroes, who were otherwise everyday citizens, fight that sort of thing or find a way down there? It was ultimately really unsatisfying and by-the-numbers.

The first few episodes are really strong but it's clear where they began to go off the rails after the network cut them because lots of unanswered, totally-from-the-"Lost"-playbook stuff starts happening (a rich guy who helps the characters build a bathysphere to head to the ocean floor to film the creatures mysteriously disappears and strands the heroes in the ocean when they resurface - his image last appears on one of the bad guys' computers as one of the people in the evil generic corporation heading to the sea floor, dun dun dun!); one of the heroes is exploring an abandoned lab owned by the evil corporation and is attacked by a bigfoot monster, implied to be another genetic creation of his, etc., but it also had some cool parts, like when the primary antagonist who has been trying to prevent the adult leads from getting evidence of the creatures out to the public is revealed to be a clone of a guy who was the evil geneticist's right-hand man on an expedition like 50 years earlier captured on film - it's great because, IIRC, the clone is forced to watch the movie of his old self by the leads (who turn the tables on him and capture him) and he's immediately like "this poo poo is hosed up, I'm out" and leaves them go.

So yeah. A show with a great idea but it went nowhere.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

Surface was one of the 3 attempts to pull a metoo on LOST that same fall season - Surface, Threshold, and Invasion. I liked Threshold alright but they were all a bit weak by nature of being shameless attempts to ride LOST's surprise success with a serial sci-fi show on network tv.

Pedro De Heredia
May 30, 2006

computer parts posted:

Eh, it got to that point where it's mostly running on day to day relationship drama that you see in a lot of series. For example, Bones is now all about how they're married and have a kid and another one along the way and oh also they solve murders sometimes.

This is more for the other thread, but how in God's name has Bones lasted like 10 seasons or however long it's been on?

johntfs
Jun 7, 2013

by Cowcaster
Soiled Meat

Pedro De Heredia posted:

This is more for the other thread, but how in God's name has Bones lasted like 10 seasons or however long it's been on?

For the same basic reason that NCIS is heading into season 13: A lot of people enjoy workplace comedy-dramas with sides of mystery and romance.

Of the three Lost-clones of Threshold, Surface and Invasion, I liked Threshold the most because of the cast. It's hard to beat Carla Gugino, Brent Spiner and pre-Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage. It's clearly possible to beat them because the show went off the air during its first season, but you'd have thought it would have been hard.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Pedro De Heredia posted:

This is more for the other thread, but how in God's name has Bones lasted like 10 seasons or however long it's been on?

They stopped the "will they-won't they" drama and it turns out people are still more or less happy with the premise.

It also lacks any sort of serial aspect. Aside from characters leaving or arriving you could watch a given episode in any season and get about the same stuff out of it.

pentyne
Nov 7, 2012

johntfs posted:

For the same basic reason that NCIS is heading into season 13: A lot of people enjoy workplace comedy-dramas with sides of mystery and romance.

Of the three Lost-clones of Threshold, Surface and Invasion, I liked Threshold the most because of the cast. It's hard to beat Carla Gugino, Brent Spiner and pre-Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage. It's clearly possible to beat them because the show went off the air during its first season, but you'd have thought it would have been hard.

If you're talking about Lost clones you cannot forget The Event. The commercials didn't even bother trying to show off the cast or the dialogue, everything was "you won't loving believe what is happening with this! you'll get more questions then answers!"

That show hemorrhaged viewers like nothing else, because every single week something completely new was thrown into the mix and if you missed it well now nothing on the show makes sense. Lost was never a great show when going 100% at the mysteries of the Island and even in the later seasons there was a lot of character interaction that wasn't solely "I've got something big to tell you" yet networks latched on to the media hype over the mythos and lore and just greenlit shows that were little more then "we've got a biiiiig mystery and just when you think its revealed BAM another twist!".

Steve Yun
Aug 7, 2003
I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.
Soiled Meat

pentyne posted:

If you're talking about Lost clones you cannot forget The Event. The commercials didn't even bother trying to show off the cast or the dialogue, everything was "you won't loving believe what is happening with this! you'll get more questions then answers!"

That show hemorrhaged viewers like nothing else, because every single week something completely new was thrown into the mix and if you missed it well now nothing on the show makes sense. Lost was never a great show when going 100% at the mysteries of the Island and even in the later seasons there was a lot of character interaction that wasn't solely "I've got something big to tell you" yet networks latched on to the media hype over the mythos and lore and just greenlit shows that were little more then "we've got a biiiiig mystery and just when you think its revealed BAM another twist!".

There was also this poo poo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGkHk3YnFqE

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

The Event was garbage but it came 5 years after the LOST clone fad. In fact LOST ended before The Event started. I don't think it was related to LOST, just a terrible idea.

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
Sort of like the V remake, too. They had to keep building up this huge mystery of the Visitors and their motives. It ran for 2 seasons, only about 10-12 episodes each, but it never really felt like at seasons that short it still dragged on and explained nothing.

Boosted_C5
Feb 16, 2008
Probation
Can't post for 5 years!
Grimey Drawer
Deadwood
Murder One
Rubicon
The Borgias
The Critic

gently caress YOU FOX/FX:
Alcatraz
Almost Human
Human Target
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terriers
The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.

Boosted_C5 fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Sep 12, 2015

Sash!
Mar 16, 2001


IRQ posted:

The Event was garbage but it came 5 years after the LOST clone fad. In fact LOST ended before The Event started. I don't think it was related to LOST, just a terrible idea.

But it had the best last five minutes of every episode, tricking you into next week without fail!

The finale took that concept to the next level and I laughed and I laughed and I laughed.


I thought it had a good premise and some good moments, but they had basically a movie's worth of ideas they accidentally used as a TV series.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

By no means an amazing show, but gently caress if the mysteries didn't hook the poo poo out of me and I really wanted some answers. :argh:

See also: Awake

Mooseontheloose
May 13, 2003

Boosted_C5 posted:


The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.

Funny enough, this was originally paired with the X-Files and they wanted it to be the hit and I think would of been a hit in the current climate of television.

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit

Mooseontheloose posted:

Funny enough, this was originally paired with the X-Files and they wanted it to be the hit and I think would of been a hit in the current climate of television.

I bought the DVD set a few years back, it's enjoyable, but doesn't really hold up anymore, and it felt like it ran out of steam about 2/3 through the season.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Iron Crowned posted:

I bought the DVD set a few years back, it's enjoyable, but doesn't really hold up anymore, and it felt like it ran out of steam about 2/3 through the season.

You could use those exact words about the X-Files first season.

Open Source Idiom
Jan 4, 2013
Bryan Fuller's High Moon.

Bryan Fuller's Everything Else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLN23-D4By8

Yvonmukluk
Oct 10, 2012

Everything is Sinister


The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I would happily trade the last 3 Terminator movies for that show to properly run its course.

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Iron Crowned posted:

I bought the DVD set a few years back, it's enjoyable, but doesn't really hold up anymore, and it felt like it ran out of steam about 2/3 through the season.

I do love that they solved the mystery of the Orb and John Bly in the first season instead of dragging it out.

spamman
Jul 11, 2002

Chin up Tiger, There is always next season...
I wish we had more Keen Eddie. Perfect cast, amazing chemistry and it actually has a genuine variety of crimes to investigate rather than just murder.

Chef Tony
Jun 13, 2005

The Miracle Blade will stay sharp the first time, the fourth time, everytime!
Tremors: The Series

A TV show based off of the Tremors films that only lasted for a season. Burt Gummer is the main character and it had a younger Dean Norris.

RescueFreak
Sep 8, 2013

Keen Eddie

A New York City cop goes to London and has an adventure.

I was going to say Earth 2 but it does not hold up and even Tim Curry couldn't save it.

Doctor Butts
May 21, 2002

RescueFreak posted:

Keen Eddie

A New York City cop goes to London and has an adventure.

I was going to say Earth 2 but it does not hold up and even The Noxzema Girl couldn't save it.

Edited to reflect the only reason I ever gave it a chance.

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achillesforever6
Apr 23, 2012

psst you wanna do a communism?

precision posted:

By no means an amazing show, but gently caress if the mysteries didn't hook the poo poo out of me and I really wanted some answers. :argh:

See also: Awake
Plus you know Sam Neill :swoon:

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