teevee sucks

I started to watch a Danish show called "Follow the money".
Might be a bit hard to get hold of but I recommend it. :)

My review of the MacGyver reboot: a constipated Lucas Till (Mac) uses a chemical reaction to create smoke as a distraction. The smoke is labeled "smoke distraction" in a techy font to help the viewer understand that it is smoke and that it's a distraction. Good job #MacGyver :up:

No really this guy is a butthead and the people running the show are 80% butts and 20% heads.

Recently watched a show on Netflix called Insatiable that is hard to describe but I would recommend. My wife watched it, then struggled to describe it but recommended we watched it together and I thought it was great.

A black comedy, it is ostensibly about a teenage girl formerly fatty Patty who suddenly finds herself attractive and gets thrust into the world of beauty pageants while seeking revenge on those who wronged her in the past.

I wouldn't though say it was either a typical 'teen drama' or a 'beauty pageant' show, its hard to describe other than black comedy but I'd recommend giving it a go.

I'm enjoying an Amazon Prime series that I'd never heard of until after its final episode aired in May: Sneaky Pete.

Bryan Cranston was a co-creator and actor, but it was killed after 3 seasons. Just as well, since I usually lose interest when serials go on and on, for years and years, like a fucking TV soap opera. Limited series are easier to binge-watch. ;)

I'm enjoying The Boys on Amazon Prime. About as subtle as a two by four to the face but highly enjoyable. What if 'super heroes' were a bunch of absolute assholes?

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Originally Posted by Wraith

Amazon. I paid the $20 for the season. Season 3 will show up on Hulu eventually if you don't want to pay the impatience tax. The first two seasons are already there - it looks like they lag by about 9 months.

There's a flying mecha-narwhal. I don't regret my purchase.

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I just finished Season 2. This show is fantastic. I'm paying the impatience tax for sure.

Suffered through Another Life recently so you don't have to. Fast Forwarded through quite a bit of it.

Spoiler:

Why is it that they're creating human drama completely needlessly? It just makes everyone unlikeable, look stupid and generally loathe the writers for being lazy. And then there's the stupid science on top. One of either I can tolerate. If both are idiotic not so much.
Example: The clash between the captain and the 2nd in command. Originally the 2nd was the captain of the ship but they made her captain again because, and I quote: "He's a hothead and not suited for such a mission." Why was he even a captain in the first place then? And why demote him but leave him on the ship? He promptly mutinied, nearly destroyed the ship after doing that. And the captain decides to let him live AND gives him the run of the ship. No, not even confined to quarters.
Example: Said mutineer then promptly tries to kill the captain while they're both down in engineering alone. Goes after her with a knife, she kills him. And even then part of the crew is like: "Why did you kill him?" The captain doesn't even mention the knife like it doesn't matter.
Example: They land on a rogue planet. Said planet somehow has a breathable atmosphere. What do they do? Open their helmets. Repeat on a 2nd planet.
Example: Said planet then results in a ship-wide infection with a "Boron based virus" - silicium would have made more sense. It leads to a shitty re-enactment of the famous Spaghetti scene from Alien.
Example: They're using an Alcubierre drive and someone paid attention because they're building the energy buildup in front of the shell as a weapon. However, they can also see where they're going. They can also change direction without dropping out of warp. And someone also heard about the slingshot maneuver - which they for some reason have to do to build up speed to go to warp? But later episodes see them going to warp nilly-willy? Also: Completely looping around a stellar object is not a slingshot maneuver. Especially doing a complete loop twice.
Example: The aliens also have Death Star capabilities. I'm not sure why the crew when confronted with that fact still seems to think they have a chance (after all, Earth doesn't even have a single coloy. Despite having FTL and cryosleep capabilities). Please remember - the aliens already know where Earth is.
Example: The Aliens want to enslave humans (sneakily through an implant) only to later cause a mass extinction event (evidenced by another planet the crew visits).

And so on and so forth. Plotholes you could fly the Death Star through. Idiotic characters. Good grief.

I'm almost done watching Merlin. I really don't see how this show lasted 5 years. The character development is horrible, the writing is bad and forces the characters into decisions that make no sense or requires them to forget any lesson they learned previously. The acting to stress the difference between good and bad is so far over the top its comical.

The alien episode must have been when the writers knew they weren't getting renewed and just said fuck it.

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Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

I'm almost done watching Merlin. I really don't see how this show lasted 5 years. The character development is horrible, the writing is bad and forces the characters into decisions that make no sense or requires them to forget any lesson they learned previously. The acting to stress the difference between good and bad is so far over the top its comical.

The alien episode must have been when the writers knew they weren't getting renewed and just said fuck it.

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And yet you've watched 5 seasons, and intend to finish it? :weird:

Gambler's Fallacy

I have a soft spot for Camelot fantasy stories. Its not like I'm binge watching it, some of the episodes take days to get through. Once I gave it two seasons to see if it would get better I figured I was invested enough to see how it ends.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

Amazon. I paid the $20 for the season. Season 3 will show up on Hulu eventually if you don't want to pay the impatience tax. The first two seasons are already there - it looks like they lag by about 9 months.

There's a flying mecha-narwhal. I don't regret my purchase.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

So I'm still totally in love with Legion's insanity.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

I just finished Season 2. This show is fantastic. I'm paying the impatience tax for sure.

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Ok, I bit and I bought. S1 for £12.99 on Amazon Prime.

Just watched Ep 1 and this looks like goddamn promising TV

The sort of stuff I like. Unsettling, uncomfortable, a feeling that you aren't quite sure what's going on, comical and zany musical interludes, hideous and unexpected violence ...

Hope it continues in the same vein.

Spoiler:

ETA: Noted the reference in the name of Dave's split-personality; Sydney (Syd) Barrett. Syd Barrett was one of the founder-members of Pink Floyd, who become notorious for being erratic on stage, with mental health problems and with taking far too many psychedelic drugs both before and during live performances in the late 60s. He was eventually replaced by Dave Gilmour in 1969 after Syd became too erratic. It was speculated that his mental health issues included schizophrenia.

Would seem a fitting name of the protagonist's split-personality character in Legion

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Originally Posted by Timbuk2

Ok, I bit and I bought. S1 for £12.99 on Amazon Prime.

Just watched Ep 1 and this looks like goddamn promising TV

The sort of stuff I like. Unsettling, uncomfortable, a feeling that you aren't quite sure what's going on, comical and zany musical interludes, hideous and unexpected violence ...

Hope it continues in the same vein.

Spoiler:

ETA: Noted the reference in the name of Dave's split-personality; Sydney (Syd) Barrett. Syd Barrett was one of the founder-members of Pink Floyd, who become notorious for being erratic on stage, with mental health problems and with taking far too many psychedelic drugs both before and during live performances in the late 60s. He was eventually replaced by Dave Gilmour in 1969 after Syd became too erratic. It was speculated that his mental health issues included schizophrenia.

Would seem a fitting name of the protagonist's split-personality character in Legion

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Season 1 is the sanest and easiest to follow season. Season 2 turned some people off because they dialed up the crazy and made the audience have to work to follow what was really happening. It also had a slower pacing, owing partially to the show blowing its budget by recasting Farouk halfway through the season, but the actor they got is so damn good that it's understandable to me. Season 3 had a weak second episode, but other than that has been fantastic. This is the last season, and it looks like it's going out with a bang.

I'm glad you're both enjoying it; It's probably going to hang on to the top spot in my list of favorite shows ever for a while. It makes me sad that so few people have seen this, but at least FX did the very un-Foxish thing of keeping it going in spite of the abysmal viewership numbers.

American Gods. A Starz production available on Amazon Prime. Binge-watched several episodes with my son. It's a bit bloodier/gorier than I normally like, but it had the dark humor and puzzling/mystery effect, with the ethical challenges that I do like. Weird, but in a good way. :up:

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Originally Posted by Wraith

Season 1 is the sanest and easiest to follow season. Season 2 turned some people off because they dialed up the crazy and made the audience have to work to follow what was really happening. It also had a slower pacing, owing partially to the show blowing its budget by recasting Farouk halfway through the season, but the actor they got is so damn good that it's understandable to me. Season 3 had a weak second episode, but other than that has been fantastic. This is the last season, and it looks like it's going out with a bang.

I'm glad you're both enjoying it; It's probably going to hang on to the top spot in my list of favorite shows ever for a while. It makes me sad that so few people have seen this, but at least FX did the very un-Foxish thing of keeping it going in spite of the abysmal viewership numbers.

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Season 2 was terrific, IMHO. Better than 1 and (so far) 3.

I'm binge watching Undercover on Netflix. First time ever that I watch a dutch language crime series and can't get enough of it. The story is about a dutch police woman and a belgian police man going under cover at the low countries version of a RV park.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Season 2 was terrific, IMHO. Better than 1 and (so far) 3.

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So... Legion Season 3 is over, along with the series. Huh.

Spoiler:

I thought Season 3 was weak, at best, and the conclusion not particularly brilliant or satisfying. It effectively was something like the "this was all a dream" trope all too commonly used by shitty writers. "Now that we've all had a good cry, forgiven each other and become friendly, let's start again from the beginning, wiping away all the tragedy of the entire story." I also didn't care for the "me too" component of Cyd suddenly murderously hating David because of his actions at the end of Season 2 - it didn't ring true.

The Pink Floyd song was okay.... but nothing like the Who's Behind Blue Eyes at the end of Season 2. I loved that. And the rap battle was sort of forced - not like the dance-off in Season 2, which worked wonderfully, IMO.

I'll miss the series, but wasn't disappointed with the ending. Still a few gripes, though.

Legion Ending Spoilers:

My main problem was with the heel-face-turn of Farouk. Okay, so he didn't really do anything evil this season, but he was still exploding people last season. And there's no way what he did to David's sister could be counted as not evil. His time in David supposedly changed him, but it took a year outside of him before he decided to stop being evil? It would have been an easier sell if they'd worked his time in Oliver into the explanation. Actually, looking back at it now, that makes a lot of sense and would explain Oliver's "1+1=1" plan to destroy Farouk.

Syd's motivations were much more believable when I thought Farouk was mind-fucking her and the rest of D3. Even without that, I don't think it was too unbelievable - Syd had her own mental issues, even if they weren't as bad as David's. She did steal her mother's body to fuck her stepdad once, and got herself committed all on her own.

Also agreed that S2 was the best, but that seems to be a controversial opinion.

Legion Ending Spoilers:

I agree about Farouk's flip-flop. It occurred to me that his reversal was exactly in line with getting back into his body. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the show afaik, but it could be that as a disembodied mind he had no empathy, but once whole again, he was no longer murderous. Hence the future Syd's motivation to get David to help Farouk find his body, because once that happened, Farouk was no longer a problem, but an asset.

But yeah, the sister thing (and her husband got dusted too), and all the mass murder of Div 3 troopers.... I don't see how that just gets forgotten. At the end of Season 2, I was assuming Farouk was mind-controlling everyone at Div 3, explaining how they suddenly saw David as a villain, and I was disappointed right out of the gate that was not at least part of the plot in Season 3. Or at least some kind of better explanation. The way they all suddenly turned on David so completely just doesn't make sense.

As for Syd, the show doesn't even remotely give a nod to the idea her turning against David had anything to do with her madness, or was unjustified at all. I guess.... well, it did make a thing out of how she killed him a few times, and that being a bad thing. But it *seemed* to present the justification for her anger at him as self-evident, along with everyone else turning on him, as though David was clearly a bad guy. None of it sat well with me. And the show is so surreal and strange through and through, that I don't honestly know if the whole thing was just bad plotting, or if it was *intended* to not make a hell of a lot of sense, or what.

Another question, *was* David crazy all along, or not? It sort of suggests he was, but doesn't say it explicitly, and it's kind of important because that was a big point in Season 1.

Just some filler text for the preview.

If my fist clenches, crack it open:

Yeah, agreed on the explanation for the S2 ending. Everyone turned on David so fast I just assumed it was Farouk's doing, but they never really addressed it. There were hints and mistrust before that point, but there really didn't seem to be enough there to justify how they treated him and just forgave Farouk.

David was crazy, just not as crazy as everyone thought in S1E1.

Been watching The Boys on Amazon. It basically takes the DC Comics super heroes, gives them alternate names and looks, and gives them character traits like the various celebrities and politicians we know and love in RL today. In other words it's dark and cynical and I like it.

Just finished watching the three seasons of Deadwood and then the follow-up movie. All I can say is its a damn shame the series got killed just as it hit its prime. Damn shame. The movie won some praise in reviews, but I wasn't all that impressed.

Also... I watched Season 3 of The Good Place. It was pretty good.

Still loving Legion. Halfway thru S2 now.

Spoiler:

It seemed, on first appearances, that some of the episodes, while sumptuous and interesting, do little to progress the story trajectory. Such as the latest episode I saw last night which consisted entirely of alternate Davids in alternate universes, branches from branches from branches, where he's a homeless bum, a billionnaire, a drugged up barely-conscious automaton, a slightly maniacal and hyper dude in a cafe, etc etc, all inter-mingled with the David in the universe we know, whom his sister took to the asylum for supposed schizophrenia which takes us back to where Legion starts at the beginning of S1.

Not much in terms of actual story development then ... But, as the episode builds towards its climax, you realise that a consistency in most of the alternates is his sister, and it hits home just what it means that the return of the physical form of Lenny resulted in the demise of David's sister, as Farouk took her body for Lenny's reincarnation.

The episode ended up being one of the most evocative thus far. Incredible.

I'm with you, Season 2 of Legion is terrific.

I watched episode 1 of Mind Hunters, season 2, the Netflix series. I loved season 1 and so far so good for 2.

Yep we've started MindHunters. Despite the cheap sci-fi sounding name, it isn't sci-fi and is really rather good.

Slow-paced and intelligent.

The FBI characters and their interactions are fictional, but all of the killers and the crimes are based pretty closely on reality. The actor playing Ed Kempler does an impressively accurate impression of the real guy. Season 2 is a bit infuriating knowing that it's basically a dramatization of real events.

I like Mind Hunters and the Boys. I was livid when Deadwood was canceled. But haven't found the time yet for the movie.

The Walking Dead S9 is absolutely painful. At least episode 1 was. For that matter, so was S8. I'm only watching because it's been so long and want to know what happens.... momentum? Force of habit? Self loathing?

Our Boys. :up: :sad:

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

The Walking Dead S9 is absolutely painful. At least episode 1 was. For that matter, so was S8. I'm only watching because it's been so long and want to know what happens.... momentum? Force of habit? Self loathing?

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I've given up on it. Such a letdown, a series should end on a high note, not a whimper.