Couch Chat: If you didn't want it canceled, you should have been more people.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Couch Chat: If you didn't want it canceled, you should have been more people.

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Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Surprised the alt title to last year's thread lasted to the end.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2015 04:32

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 15:18

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Mu Zeta posted:

I watched the first couple minutes of Billions. It's a huge mistake and I will never see another Paul Giamatti show/movie.

What is the show even about except possibly about white people being rich or making money?

# ¿ Jan 1, 2016 20:53

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DivisionPost posted:

From the 20-odd minutes I've seen? I'm thinking it has a lot to do with the ways masculinity is tied up in money and the harm we do to ourselves and others to protect it. This was a healthy part of Breaking Bad's subtext to be sure, but Billions is positioning itself to dig in a little deeper.

That said, Dan Fienberg's review (don't have a link handy right now, sorry) doesn't seem to think there's much to it overall, and he's seen six episodes.

I don't want to be too presumptuous about it but I feel like those themes would be better served it if was about either about either a blue collar family that became noveau riche or something rather than what I can only assume is a bunch of white investment bankers doing Wall Street things. It just seems very passe to me.

less laughter posted:

That doesn't automatically make a show bad though

No, but I think Mad Men even on its surface/pilot episode was more than just a show about the business of making money. It took place in an era where advertising was not just a moneymaker but also an art form, and the people behind it were in some fashion part of a particular culture and were crafting it. At least in the popular sense of how we conceive of the halycon era of America. Maybe if Billions were a period piece it might be more enticing.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2016 23:00

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DivisionPost posted:

Funny you should say that because that's something they're explicitly playing with. Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) came from a blue collar background to build his fortune with his own hands and still has blue collar tastes, loyalties, and attitudes. On the other hand, Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), the US Attorney, comes from old money. He only starts to take a serious interest in Axelrod after he hears Axelrod wants to buy a mansion in the same neighborhood as Rhoades' father.

I mean look, I don't think you're gonna do a full 180 on the show if you see it for yourself, but there's a lot more going on here than "rich people have problems, are still better than you."

Honestly I didn't search too hard to wonder what the show was about except the very broad, broad, broad premise of it being about the power and politics of high finance with two rich people butting heads. The cast is impressive on its own I will admit, but it does no favours not getting that particular part of the show out there, at least that I could find anyway.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2016 23:47

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

When they take 2 or 3 years to film 3 90-minute episodes I feel like they should just let them all be a lot more standalone.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2016 00:04

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Gonna go for the combo breaker but:

CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK posted:

Farscape was pretty poo poo outside of the season finales and premieres.

Maybe if you didn't watch the 3rd season onwards that'd be true.

Well I guess a good chunk of Farscape isn't really that great but the good stuff in the second half of the series is as good as the stuff we get today.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2016 06:26

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Mu Zeta posted:

I don't remember anything about Jessica Jones. It came and went really quickly.

Felt that for Daredevil rather than JJ, really. But oh well, 409+ shows aired that year, can't make everyone happy.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 03:48

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlZIeCjIL40

gently caress everything else, watch it.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 10:42

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

GreenNight posted:

As a reminder, Shannara premiers tonight so we'll see if it's more or less cheesy than Legend of the Seeker.

Wait, I won't catch it until I get home, but is Shannara a GOT style book adaptation or a Legend of the Seeker style adaptation? I thought it was the former.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2016 13:58

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

thrawn527 posted:

It's partly the former, partly the latter. If no one else wants to, I'll make a thread for it later today. But it's part dark fantasy show about Elves and Demons, and part teen drama on MTV about Elves and non-elves.

Hmmm, that sounds odd so I'll have to see for myself. Mostly cause I get the impression it would (should?) be more of a straight adaptation because I really doubt MTV is gonna give the show 22 episodes a season to faff about like we got with Legend of the Seeker.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2016 17:34

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Mu Zeta posted:

How come cop shows never have the woman be the wacky/eccentric genius character. Limitless, Sleepy Hollow, The Mentalist, Elementary, Castle, etc. The male/female dynamic is exactly the same in all these shows.

Mr. Superabilities and Detective Ladyskeptic is the easiest setup and literally sells internationally very well which is why few shows deviate from that very basic formula.

I think the only two shows that aren't that is very clearly Blindspot and maybe Supergirl to some extent.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2016 18:25

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

hyperbowl posted:

iZombie.

gently caress now I feel bad about forgetting about iZombie.

20 lashes.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2016 19:35

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Hilariously Heroes Reborn only had like 3 episodes before it went on break.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 06:19

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DrVenkman posted:

I didn't think PERSON OF INTEREST was doing that bad ratings wise, so why is it getting hosed around so much?

Abrams confirmed it's likely to get cancelled after the this season, but said that it's a shame because the story they had planned for after that sounded amazing. For a show that I barely watched when it started (As in I cared little for it) it got drat good. It'll be a shame to see it go.

CBS doesn't own the show so they don't feel like doubling down on it is they don't have to, even if it gave them 4 good seasons.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2016 23:32

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

https://twitter.com/MichaelAusiello/status/687045971637743616

I'm okay with this. Considering Shameless is the longest running Showtime show that hasn't poo poo the bed yet. Penny Dreadful probably the only close second.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2016 01:10

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

blue squares posted:

Slavery is bad, truly a timely message. Again, I loving loved Spartacus, but it's entirely forgettable when talking about truly good television

IN MY OPINION

Pretty sure slavery isn't 1:1 slavery (besides chattel slavery that Americans know best isn't the same as Roman slavery), it's more about power dynamics between different classes of people and how they clash, issues of self-determination and freedom against traditional values and conservatism. If that isn't human condition enough for you then I dunno.

A show doesn't have to have social commentary precisely aimed for it's period of creation ala The Wire to be 'good' television. Otherwise there wouldn't be much good television going by that definition.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2016 07:32

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

The problem Heroes: Reborn had is that it came back as the same show that it was when it was cancelled and not a show that had all those years to learn from other superhero properties or hell, even other dramas or action shows.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2016 02:06

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Rocksicles posted:

Alan Rickman died, just announced...

Snape, we hardly knew ye R.I.P

2016 is ruined, just stop it and start over from the top, please.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2016 17:56

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

hcreight posted:

So have you ever wondered to yourself, "What would it be like if Heroes did a rehash episode of Company Man, but this time there's a rape baby involved?"

Well wonder no longer.

I thought it was just the title they were trying to be cloying about but hahahaha holy loving poo poo? Can't wait to see this disaster.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2016 05:47

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DivisionPost posted:

I liked it a lot, actually. At heart it's a well-acted soap opera revolving around rich white guys, but there's a tiny, tiny chance it has something interesting to say, and I'm game to see if it does.

I really really doubt it but if it's fun to watch because it's just rich white guys being top-tier rich white guys it should be more than enough. Right?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2016 10:32

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Mu Zeta posted:

I thought you never even finished Life.

I think we all have to die to say we finished life.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2016 17:47

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Norwegian Rudo posted:

In potentially awesome news, Nahnatchka Khan is trying to do a Don't Trust The B Christmas special:

http://www.themarysue.com/krysten-ritter-apt-23-xmas-party/

I'm not a religious man but if there is a god I will pray to you if this gets made.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 21:26

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DivisionPost posted:

Happy late Tuesday night, boys and girls. I'm only a few minutes into this week's Limitless and tonight they're chasing the sort of depraved serial killer that's profiled on Criminal Minds all the time. Except as soon as Brian starts hearing the gory details of the crime, we immediately jump inside his head and meet the host of his favorite TV show, which lays down some rules for his subconscious: so far, it's "replace all the scary words with fun words" and "refer to any serial killer as 'Mister' followed by an ice cream flavor."

So this week, the team is chasing down Mister Pralines and Cream, who played Cowboys and Indians with his victim, tickled her 40 times, and cuddled her with her own unicorn and I'm masking that because you motherfuckers should REALLY be watching Limitless. The rest of this episode could be a stone dud and I'd still respect the attempt.

I watch Limitless before The Flash honestly. Such a better show.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 09:51

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

X-O posted:

The third season of Happy Endings was such a step down from season two that I wasn't that torn up about it when it was cancelled. And in season two it was my favorite comedy on the air.

I mean season 3 was still really good all in all but season 2 is like an entire other level.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 23:08

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Cardboard Box A posted:

Like back when everyone was making new Sherlock TV shows, who knew that it would be the American one set in New York that turned it into a standard American Crime Procedural with 22 episodes a year that would be the good one, and not the BBC one with real British actors that only did 3 episodes a year?

To be fair at the time we didn't know Steven Moffat was gonna perpetually drop the ball on all the stuff he was writing. But that became pretty evident whereas Elementary is almost entirely consistent as gently caress in the best ways possible.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2016 06:39

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Sleeveless posted:

Yeah, the latter half just has everybody acting stupider in the name of keeping the show going and then the end is an wet fart that doesn't really resolve anything. And Tennant goes to poo poo too because they overexplain and overexpose his character so he loses all his menace even as he's supposed to be getting more powerful.

That's kind of the point though.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2016 02:18

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Holyshoot posted:

Lucifer EP is Jerry Bruckheimer. Isn't he the EP for all of the CSI shows? If that's the case good luck thinking it will be anything but a cop procedural with Lucifer helping out.

Unless anyone tells me otherwise it looks like Tom Kapinos is probably the showrunner. 95% of the time the person who has 'created by/developed for television by' credits and EP credits (and has a hand in writing the pilot) will be the traditional day-to-day showrunner and leads the writers room.

Everyone else is probably getting EP credits for working on the pilot by directing or producing it and will collect cheques even if they never touch it again. EP also goes to people in charge of the budget of the show, so it's all just up in the air. Bruckheimer is there cause it looks like the show is under WB/Vertigo and his production company so it doesn't matter since he probably just signs a few papers and collects credits and cheques til the end of the show and then some. Even a quick google check confirms Bruckheimer himself never really even did anything in the production of CSI besides maybe having it done under his production company.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2016 07:44

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

raditts posted:

It's having a lot of Arrow Season 3 type issues, where they didn't really seem to plan ahead for storylines past season 1 so instead of the plot being fast-moving () and engaging, it just kinda drags and is boring. At this point I barely care what happens anymore.

Haven't watched tonight's episode yet but yikes. But also at the same time they spent like quite a few episodes playing Legends of Tomorrow setup on both Flash and Arrow and apparently the LoT pilot still drags?

At least Arrow season 2 was pretty drat good.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2016 17:49

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

EL BROMANCE posted:

I haven't had chance to watch X-Files yet, but does it *look* like the old show at all? The trailer just made it look like generic 2010s drama #371 starring people from X-Files. The original has an aesthetic (probably to cloak the fact I'm sure it didn't have the highest budget) where you could see a frame that didn't include Mulder/Scully but you still knew what show it was.

If I was in charge, I would've just made a bunch of episodes that would just sit standalone and slot in anywhere around the first 3 seasons or so. Isn't that what everyone wants, really?

It's 2016 though, if you have stand-alone episodes I've heard that your show must suck. This is entirely wrong of course but then again we are living in an age where people grew up or started on fairly serialized television and on streaming service original series and where people are told that, "oh, it's actually a 5/6/10/13-hour movie" and don't know better.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2016 05:30

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

I mean yeah there is a purgatory aspect to it if you count that the flash sideways was basically an extremely elaborate waiting room where they were waiting for (some) of the Oceanic 815 survivors and friends to go to non-denominational heaven together all at the same time. But yeah all the poo poo on the island happened for real.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2016 06:28

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Different conversation, but how does everyone in here feel about buying seasons/boxsets? And what format do people prefer for TV shows because I've been thinking of sort of expanding my physical collection which started on DVD, but more stuff is either coming out on BRD (or if the option is there). So not sure exactly where I want to go with that.

Especially since Blu-Ray versions are usually a bit more expensive and don't go on sale as frequently as the DVD versions (e.g. I can grab the first 2 seasons of The Americans for like 30 bucks but one BRD season is like 35$), so I'm not sure if I want to just go future-proof entirely or just apply more scrutiny to what I want for BRD instead. I'm not a huge stickler about visual quality but just knowing DVD quality is really just 720*480 vs 1920*1080 on BRD is kinda really lovely and annoys the gently caress out of me.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2016 20:24

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Snak posted:

my dvd box set of Mr. Bean is a disgrace, though, because it contains the shorter, edited versions of the episodes.

Is this the one that came out recently? "The Whole Bean"? I saw it the other day, was intrigued (and surprised there were really only 15 episodes).

# ¿ Jan 28, 2016 20:43

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

muscles like this? posted:

Second Chance is pretty much dead as Fox moved the timeslot with no notice to Friday nights.

Is it cause of Idol or whatever? I see that seems to still be on the schedule.

Either way they had an early warning their episode order was reduced anyway so I'm sure they know the worst is about to happen.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2016 02:43

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Rocksicles posted:

There better be a Colony thread going soon, poo poo's getting intense. Your man hasn't aged a day since Freckles.

I'm a sucker for a show like this.

There isn't a thread? Okay I will put one up by tonight when I get home from work. I'm behind on the episodes myself but I liked the pilot quite a bit.

Sober fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Jan 29, 2016

# ¿ Jan 29, 2016 22:47

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

STAC Goat posted:

The morality of Once Upon a Time is so roundly hosed that I can't imagine how anyone could possibly watch that show if they weren't able to turn that part of their brain off. Like... Regina's a loving mass murderer terrorist evil motherfucking psycho and she's nothing compared to Rumple. And they're just like "well, you did something good and you're family and its not like there's any actual authority or government or rule of law in our magical town so whatever the gently caress."

I actually think part of the fun of the show is when a new character shows up and they're like "HOLY gently caress, ITS THE EVIL QUEEN! SHE MURDERED MY ENTIRE FAMILY!" and the Charmings just go "No, its ok. She adopted a kid and her heart grew three sizes so now its all cool." Its just so hosed up you have to laugh.

Yeah I still watch and love OUAT and I still have to basically overlook that part of the show. I've had friends drop it for that or similar reasons and I completely understand how stupid that is and how irrational I am for liking the show regardless of it.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2016 21:28

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

raditts posted:

OUAT is remarkable because as the lovely child actor got older and uglier, his acting managed to actually get worse.

It's probably just generally lovely direction or something? Cause he did fine when he was basically Peter Pan Possessed Henry.

I mean he's tolerable. I wouldn't want an episode with just him or anything, and I mean, generally episodes without him are usually more enjoyable. But yeah.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 02:26

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

As requested, a thread for Colony. I still need to catch up.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 07:05

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

blue squares posted:

My younger self was really sexist when it came to judging female-centric television

Count yourself lucky enough to be self-aware, most manchildren never grow out of it and stay manchildren.

Mu Zeta posted:

The creator of Gilmore Girls also made Bunheads afterwards. Paris and Emily among others are on it. Very similar show but replace Hep Alien with ballet dancing.

Man I feel like I need to rewatch Bunheads cause I do not remember Liza Weil in it at all. Even though IMDB and everything says so too.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2016 05:36

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

less laughter posted:

Orange is the New Black was just renewed for seasons 5, 6 and 7

Well with this news and how they are just gonna shoot the moon with House of Cards I do genuinely believe Netflix is run by pretty stupid people or they have so much hubris that they will refuse to cancel their higher-profile original shows. If probably only because renewing/reviving shows always makes you look like the good guy and canceling shows makes you look evil. Can't look evil I guess.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2016 07:08

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 15:18

Sober: Nov 19, 2011; First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Josh Lyman posted:

Lol if you expected an different from a CW show.

The 100 tho

iZombie tho

Jane the Virgin tho

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tho

(yeah I'm just listing off good CW shows. hell I might even say Reign)

# ¿ Feb 7, 2016 08:46

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Couch Chat: If you didn't want it canceled, you should have been more people.

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