pentyne posted:

.
Patriot is absolutely incredible.

LionArcher posted:

If you're a boomer sure, but what if I've watched all of them and would only put the Wire in that list for myself? Taste is subjective and all that. I'd honestly take the Good Wife over the Soprano's. I mean poo poo, I would argue there's limited tv show runs (The haunting of Hill house, Watchman, Queen's Gambit) that should be on the top 20 list because they are very, very good at what they are, and do it more efficiently than a lot of the older shows that have more "prestige". I haven't even gotten to Halt and Catch Fire, and am still behind on seasons of the American's, two other shows everyone say land well.

LionArcher posted:

Again, opinions. I think Queen's Gambit was a very good character study of a fantasy style character, and did several things with relationships/friendships very, very well. The music was fantastic as well. The Sopranos is great if you're a boomer who likes character study's of gangster poo poo, and has very weak female characters. But again, that's my opinion. And Watchman sure as hell stuck the landing.

Inspector 34 posted:

Wu Wednesday continues to deliver. This show doesn't get much attention but it's awesome if you ever gave a poo poo about 90s hip hop. I just wonder where they're going with everything since I've never really heard about any drama within the group after they made it big so I'm wondering where the conflict/drama will come from. To be clear, I'm not saying there never was any drama or whatever within them, just that I've never heard about it.

I'd still be down to watch these guys just carry on even if there's no specific dramatic event. Some of them are still pretty background compared to the main characters so there's room for growth there. Or there's just the jump from being an underground movement to mainstream headliner that's bound to create some conflict between different people.

Whatever the case, the series has been great so far even if S1 was kind of a slower burn.

dorium posted:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/why-was-y-the-last-man-canceled-1235033351/

Just a whole bunch of horrible things coming up one after another killed the show. crazy.

dorium posted:

https://www.gq.com/story/inside-amazons-wheel-of-time

DYING.

11,000 thousand notes just on the pilot.

theflyingexecutive posted:

Tommy's 100% right in that most people firing these guns are stunties or specialty bg (I worked on a few jobs where the fire team supervisor and all his people are all ex cop/military, which is great), but you definitely have to worry about random dayplayer #7 who has been riding a desk for the whole season but now has to wield an automatic weapon. Props/armor often have way too many people to wrangle for how potentially deadly blank guns are. For how miserable Punisher was to shoot, the stunts/ADs were very good about firearm and general stunt safety.

Toxic Fart Syndrome posted:

It’s definitely had to spin it’s wheels a lot more to keep Uhtred around (dude would have reformed the Roman Empire from Britain, if he’d gone unchecked in the show), but its adherence to ~realism~ has always been a bigger draw then Vikings’ flirtations with fantasy...

Hughmoris posted:

Trailer for new season of The Witcher is out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJFVV2L8GKs

As someone who never read the books or played the game, please tell a coherent story. poo poo was all over the place in Season 1. A, very high production value, storytelling mess.

LionArcher posted:

At that point she wasn’t that bad. If anything she thought she could make a positive change. A lot of Clinton hate is straight up sexism.

(Later on she’d end up sucking)

Open Source Idiom posted:

There is no way Deb isn't turning up as a ghost, at the very least. Decent money is on the kid turning up too, and I dunno, Ella or Angel if they want to put someone in danger randomly for pathos.

DaveKap posted:

I had to look it up... this is hilarious. Dude never ran any shows before or after those 3, just producer and writing roles on very few others. I was going to comment on how television poison lasts that long but he's had so few gigs, I almost feel sorry for the guy.

He really needs to find a different job.

Open Source Idiom posted:

He also worked on Rome and Six Feet Under, and wrote stand out episodes of the latter. I've no idea what happened to the man, but at some point he stopped writing very well at all.

While this is all true, Netflix, Amazon (other than in its early period when it was trying to be HBO), etc. never managed to do the kind of thing Apple is doing now, and I don't think that's just down to money or data. I suspect Apple's made some very good investments higher up in the production chain, and people there are actually invested in developing strong original content for thirty and forty somethings, as opposed to clout chasing (Amazon), brand consolidation(HBO Max) or being the Direct-To-Video of the Steaming Age (Netflix).

Also Apple's had a few significant whiffs this year as well -- Invasion isn't great, and The Mosquito Coast was just bad. Invasion, in particular, is something you'd think was way more data driven in the vein of a Netflix show, but ended up being just loving weird and bad in its own specific ways.

HBO Max has had a pretty good year too though -- Raised By Wolves, Search Party, the Aquaman cartoon (no, seriously), Infinity Train, Summer Camp Island, Hacks, Doom Patrol, Genera+ion, The Other Two, the Adventure Time specials, plus they've had access to Succession, It's A Sin and Betty.

Escobarbarian posted:

lol the live-action Bebop, Wheel of Time, and the first three eps of The Great s2 all drop on the same day (the 19th). Do these companies not want me to sleep?

Cream-of-Plenty posted:

As I burn the sage and fill the haunted house with sacred smoke, I chant "ego te obsolvo, no homo, no homo..."

bull3964 posted:

Hit Monkey is basically Jason Sudeikis vamping for 25 minutes while a monkey does over the top cartoon violence.

It's not a bad way to spend 25 minutes.

False posted:

Random quarantine TV thoughts:

I'm happy that people are enjoying it but I feel like I'm in bizarro world reading praise for Wheel of Time. Just incredibly generic, boring "people in old-timey robes talking in a dark forest because we blew our budget on mediocre fast-cut special effects" tv. I couldn't get into See or Witcher, but at least they had some sense of a unique world, or identifiable characters. Also, they made some effort to help the audience suspend disbelief - the YA casting and feel has everyone looking like an LA model, just back from getting a facial-scrub and a new haircut.

Cowboy-Bebop is OK. Every time the actors exchange more than a word or two I feel like I'm watching a hoky stage-play intercut with with good special effects, but its colorful and fun enough to have on in the background.

Is Dave popular / doing well? Saw it mentioned once or twice here but haven't seen much discussion. I feel like its always teetering on the border of greatness - some amazing moments and great character insights but its a show with too many low-hanging gags and outs for the writers to be able to keep their hands off them.

Foundation: the above user said is completely right.

Invasion: What an odd show. I can't think of any other show thats spent so much money on very, very good production values in order to go nowhere and accomplish nothing. The idea is pretty cool but they do nothing with it.

HOLY gently caress posted:

Just caught up with Killing Eve and now I’m eagerly awaiting the fourth season. I love shows with weird, intense relationships

zoux posted:

Ah, thank god. See I read that Peter Jackson had to fight D+ to include the Beatles cussing on that new doc he did, and the streaming services self-censoring to be more family friendly (which is essentially what basic cable does now) would loving ruin TV again. Stellan Skarsgard also said some poo poo like that is already going on in an interview the other day.

https://twitter.com/matthew_lucas/status/1464020218842386439

Laterite posted:

I adore the man but, bless his heart, he should never try it again.

Mu Zeta posted:

I've watched 3 episodes and I quit. It's just boring and I still don't know what the stakes are. I also quit Arcane and Cowbow Bebop halfway through them so maybe I'm a curmudgeon.

zoux posted:

It's Arcane. I think arcane is very, very good. But it's developing a performatively competitive fandom like it's a Kpop group ft. Beyonce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jllmfRcol0c

LionArcher posted:

No. I like a ton of popular things. But my issue is when things are hyped up to a degree by a group of people that have an underlying vibe of "we know best". In this case, with Succession, it's the twitter creative community. Something awful has it's issues, but one of the things I like about this place is that it's geeky as hell and never (or at least not now,) no longer cool.

My issue with Succession is it's take on capitalism, and how it feels very centrist libs adore it.

I vastly prefer Billions which has the writing style of playwrights on cocaine (not saying it's better than the other, but in my mind it's more fun) and more importantly, it's less mean, while doing a better job of criticizing capitalism without coming off like it's idolizing it to a degree.

nate fisher posted:

True but I guess goes back to a discussion we had earlier about how they are no dramas airing currently that are truly at that top level of prestige TV (or are we just to spoiled by the golden age of HBO/AMC that it is harder for a show to reach that level?). I would argue possibly The Crown comes close, and the other show I would guess that is close is Better Call Saul (which I haven't watch at all, but I plan to before the final season) from what I heard.

Looten Plunder posted:

I can't tell if this is a joke or not.

It's not hard to empathise with the characters in Succession. Walking the tight rope between "these people are monsters but I empathise with them" is the fundamental thing that makes the show a success.

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1468686858469134339

Say, you think the people of Africa are interested in shows made up of 10 minute episodes...

Blue Labrador posted:

Oh yeah, it's definitely not a plot show, and the protagonist being an undiagnosed wreck, and how that interacts with and feeds into common, sexist rom-com tropes is one of the primary points of the piece, but this is solid input that I'm looking for. I'm an ex-theatre kid, and while I legitimately believe the songs convey some of the best character work on television, I don't know how to sell that concept.

Escobarbarian posted:

DogsInSpace! posted:

That last bit is what I read before starting the show and it makes his scenes even more funny and tragic. I mean, I still hate the Roys but sometimes I just feel like “Jesus stop torturing the guy and just shoot him in the head.” He’s a perfect fit for Kendall Roy.

Season 1 was great and loved the “twist” as I was about to bitch about Ken getting away with it all. Up to season 2 episode 8 now. Show got me that hard. To any curious like I was: show is really good. Acting is top notch and a treat to watch, the dialogue is strong and the plot has been engaging. I’m nothing like these guys but I can’t stop watching and every time I hear that theme I’m like “sweet.” They ARE awful people. Truly horrible people but I’m still sucked in. Weirdly this show hasn’t triggered me like White Lotus did. Can’t even really think of a reason why. Good recommendation TVIV and Creamerie is next. You saying about Mad Men made me think there is a similar “something” they have common. Can’t place what exactly but something. Highly recommend and can’t wait till Season 3. Thanks Goons

Edit: JUST finished season 2. All I can say is fffffuuuuuuccccckkkkk!

LionArcher posted:

gently caress off.