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Popping in to say that I'm starting to enjoy how this annual tradition is making me "responsible" in my TV-watching. I gotta make time to binge a few shows I'm interested in before I can finalize my list before deadline. And then I make a resolution to start/catch-up on a longer running show early in the new year.
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Dec 16, 2016 20:42
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achillesforever6 posted:5. Luke Cage Season I: Yes the 1st half of the season was probably better and had much more believable/compelling characters, but goddamn it I know I'm the only one but I love the 2nd half for Diamondback being this batshit insane motherfucker. There is a lot of dumb poo poo (getting the protesters to side with the police to have better guns was pretty galling/tone deaf), but the score alone for this show puts it in my top 5.
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Dec 20, 2016 02:48
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We live in a world where people don't need to rank their top tens and Trump is president, so... Welcome to Whose Line Is It Anyway where the points don't matter...
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Dec 23, 2016 07:16
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Shows that I enjoyed in 2016 (highlights in parentheses): American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson, Better Call Saul (Kim's development), Broad City, DC's Arrowverse shows (Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl - congrats to them on mostly pulling off their crossover), Fresh Off The Boat, Horace and Pete (Laurie Metcalf), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs), The Middle, Orphan Black (Tatiana Maslany on this show is forever a highlight), Saturday Night Live, Silicon Valley, The Simpsons (There Will Be Buds), Stranger Things Special mention to Big Brother Canada 4 which had one of the best BB seasons (character-wise) marred by the worst Final 2. These were in contention for the #10 spot: Atlanta, Better Things, The 100 10. Luke Cage (Netflix)  I had fun. Different kind of story-telling for a comic book show. Great music. Having Claire around probably helped it avoid some dull parts. 9. Survivor (CBS)  Memorable exciting new types of people and gameplay really freshened the franchise. 8. American Crime (ABC)  I recall some TVIV-ers watching Season 1 last year, and then not much chatter about this second season. It was the same kind of high quality issue-infused character drama, acting, writing, cinematography, skillful long takes, everything... but BETTER. 7. American Dad (TBS)  It's still making awesome and hilarious episodes. There was the 200th apocalyptic episode, Steve singing/parodying "Trapped in the Closet", Roger giving birth to Jeff. Synopsis of the best B-plot ever: "Meanwhile, Roger is upset when a waiter compliments Hayley's order at a restaurant and not his." 6. Black Mirror (Netflix)  The best Black Mirror episodes make us examine a dark side of ourselves and question where our society is headed. This season's batch of episodes stretched the limits of what this show can be, and that experiment in itself is worthy of some praise. Also this show is fun to watch with friends because you can text each other the Trollface, "0 stars", or "#DeathTo____". 5. OJ: Made in America (ESPN)  This is a really well-made documentary that spans 4 decades and is the story of America as much as it is the story of OJ Simpson. 4. Humans (Channel 4, UK)  The second season just finished in the UK; it will air on AMC in February. WATCH IT. This is an exciting, fascinating, well-made show about robots in society. The show simultaneously juggles so many plots and characters and moves them forward pretty quickly. Through the newly awakened robots, the show explores so many deep existential issues that questions many facets of what it is to be human. For example, one small plot involves a teenage girl who self-identifies as a robot. This is hilarious at first because of course that would happen lol millennials transgender parallelism. However, it gets real sad when we learn that she comes from a broken home and her motivation to live as a robot is to stop herself from feeling emotions. At times I wanted to cry for these robots who were able to identify the feeling of sadness but physiologically unable to cry. The actors pull this challenge off so well. My main complaint from the first season was the sometimes-annoying main human family. They're still there, but this issue has been fixed. I'm making this show sound like a drama, but there's a lot of action as well. The season ends on a note that made me go "AW poo poo'S GONNA GET EVEN MORE REAL NEXT SEASON."  3. Veep (HBO)  This season was not supposed to be good because of the showrunner change, but WOW did it become one of its best seasons. 2. Skam (NRK, Norway)  *** WARNING: This show's primary target audience is 16 year old girls. *** If you've ever watched a teen show in your life, you owe it to yourself to watch this one. I could argue that this show transcends the teen show genre, but that would betray its #1 strength: that it is a teen show. Everything just matters more and you feel all the feelings when you're in that time of your life, ok? This Norwegian show is about a group of teens in a high school. The format is that the viewer follows one of the characters in the group per season. A different girl in each of the first two seasons, a guy in the third season. They go through life things, primarily relationships... but also way more than that. There is fantastic realism with actual teenage actors, amazing writing/acting/cinematography, A+++ music selection, awesome characters to love and root for. Imagine watching a TV show with teens and none of them are annoying and sure, sometimes someone says something bitchy or acts like an rear end in a top hat but their friends call them on it and they listen and apologize and grow as human beings. It's amazing. The show has touched on a number of issues including coming out, eating disorders, mental illness, islamophobia, nude pics, and slut shaming. It is apparently viewed by a lot of people in Norway and has captured a chunk of its general population. It has recently gained worldwide popularity due to the internet, the latest season featuring 2 cute gays, and dedicated fans adding English subtitles. There are a lot of potential turn-offs to this show and the internet has a lot of tumblrs dedicated to it, but it actually is a really good show and the latest season was really strong. The show delivers powerful messages such as:  There is an entire other reason why Skam is so innovative, and the US adaptation rights have been bought mostly for that reason. The US version is doomed to fail because this kind of lightning cannot be captured twice, but if for some miracle it succeeds, this could take rabid fan obsession to the next level. While the season airs, the show really tries to give the fans an immersive experience. The actors keep a low/no social media profile. Instead, the characters have Instagram accounts where they post stupid/funny pics/vids of them and their friends doing normal things like playing Settlers. Also, the show's website releases content throughout the week as the events "happen." If texts are exchanged on Sunday night, we all get to see them on Sunday night. These texts add to the story but sometimes they slip in stuff like "hey did you catch the Westworld finale? Crazy!" and then you have to remind yourself that these are fictional characters. If something important happens at school on Monday afternoon, a video clip gets posted at that time. The actual show puts the week's clips together + what happens on Friday night when it airs. It's one thing to watch an episode where the main couple is separated until the last few minutes. It's a whole other experience when you're "living" out the story along day by day and it's Wednesday and WHY HASN'T THE OTHER GUY TEXTED BACK ALREADY!!! ANSWER YOUR PHONE! WE ARE ALL WAITING! This results in a lot of  . The show keeps fans constantly guessing - episode lengths are variable (20-40 min) and you can't even trust the Norwegian TV guide to be accurate. I could see this concept being adapted to other genres.1. Kingdom (Audience/DirecTV)  Good character dramas get better the longer they go because they let the characters show us more depth and have more development/history to play off of. This is a show set in the world of MMA fighters and it is amazing. In its 3rd season (ok, Season 2B), it manages to find impressive new ways of shooting the fight scenes. Jonathan Tucker continues to be the best actor ever. The season finale packed a whole lot of emotion. Kiele Sanchez had one of the most difficult jobs when she came back and acted out her character's miscarriage soon after her own real-life experience. Show I'm gonna marathon next: The Americans Yer Burnt fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Dec 27, 2016 |
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Dec 27, 2016 04:46
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