teevee sucks

[Hazir]

Amazon Video or Netflix? Or both?

[littlelolligagged]

The new Gilmore Girls is great.

Watch it.

Watch it now.

[Aimless]

Amazon Video or Netflix? Or both?

Both. Netflix is limited in Europe.

[Hazir]

The new Gilmore Girls is great.

Watch it.

Watch it now.

I kind of liked it, I had done a bit of a binge-watch (to the chagrin of my husband) just before the re-boot. I did like the way Emily went, the other Gilmore Girls had a less convincing storyline. The end was a bit meh, would have been different 9 years ago I presume.

Oh, and I never understood why she didn't marry Logan, still don't.

[Hazir]

Both. Netflix is limited in Europe.

Yeah, I know, the whole VPN thing got messed up real bad over the last year.

I have Amazon Video for one month free, but can't say I'm quite convinced by what they offer (though I love Alpha House). Next month HBO will be integrated in my regular cable subscription (no longer costing €15 but €2 a month though I think that will be without the movies I have access to on the full HBO right now).

[wiggin]

Yeah, I know, the whole VPN thing got messed up real bad over the last year.

I have Amazon Video for one month free, but can't say I'm quite convinced by what they offer (though I love Alpha House). Next month HBO will be integrated in my regular cable subscription (no longer costing €15 but €2 a month though I think that will be without the movies I have access to on the full HBO right now).

Is Amazon Video bundled with Prime where you are? For us, we're buying Prime and Amazon Video is a nice but unnecessary extra. We like the interface of Netflix way better than Amazon but both have catalogs with serious deficiencies. There are a few Amazon originals that are decent, though.

[Hazir]

It's the same here at the moment, with the added benefit of all other Prime options being pretty much useless. So what you actually pay for is the video library. What I like about it is that you can actually download for off-line viewing. As far as movies are concerned, Amazon seems to be just a bit deeper into rubbish territory than Netflix. With series netflix clearly is much better though Amazon has some HBO stuff that Netflix probably never will have. I agree on the netflix interface; it's way better. Also it is available on both apple TV and my LG TV directly. Amazon I have to cast from my iPad to the apple TV in order to view it on my TV.

[wiggin]

My other half always liked New Girl and used to watch it, so I started to pick up on it too.

Definitely enjoyable, very likeable characters, real laugh out loud moments.

I'm surprised and pleased to learn that much of the show is made up of improv takes ... I think that shows through.
Also is rare for an American show in that it doesn't a) take itself too seriously or b) get preachy

Also surprised you hadn't really encountered much Zooey Deschanel before, but maybe her stuff is generally too fluffy for you.
Her character in New Girl is her through-and-through, she is the epitome of the kooky girl next door.

Yeah I don't really watch her stuff otherwise; maybe I'll give something else of hers a shot. I don't think she's actually the best comedic personality, though - she's just skating by on her (considerable) charm.



Hazir: we got Prime for the 2 day shipping (somewhat useful) and for much cheaper prices on e.g. diapers by subscription (somewhat less useful for you, I'd imagine). The video was just a nice addition. If you're spending about $100 just for the video, I doubt it's worth it.

[Hazir]

Yeah, I guess so, though it's $79 at the moment. That still seems too much for the video library they have on offer.

[GGT]

Yes, "teevee sucks", but only because people expect free tv. What tv are you willing to pay for? And how willing are you to pay for a platform that bundles news with entertainment? No wonder people can't discern between fact and fiction, when the medium itself conflates information with entertainment.

[Hazir]

Amazon Video or Netflix? Or both?

Seems like Netflix just solved the one disadvantage it had in the comparison. Downloading is allowed in the new version of the app it seems.

[wiggin]

I've been watching Seaquest because, well, I remember loving it as a kid and it's light watching when I'm doing chores. Boy, I didn't have great taste in television as a child. The writing goes from merely pedestrian to occasionally awful. Sometimes the episodes aren't even coherent; ex. William Shatner's guest-starring episode must only make sense on an acid trip. And a child prodigy character that would make Wesley Crusher blush.

Those criticisms aside, I really like the idea - Star Trek without needing to go too far into the future. And the CGI and animatronics were, for the time, quite impressive. Also, I didn't realize it at the time but Stacy Haiduk is smoking.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend it.

[Aimless]

Just discovered the new Dirk Gently series on Netflix. I love the show almost as much as I loathe the idiot overplaying Dirk

[Hazir]

The Tyrant is starting to grow on me. Makes even more sense if you consider Barry 'the American' rather than the prodigal son.

[Loki]

Didn't realize Season 3 was out. Also didn't realize the show was cancelled.

[Hazir]

I'm watching season 2 on hulu at the moment.

[Loki]

A decent number of unrealistic moments, but I thought the quality of the show improved drastically between seasons 1 and 2.

[GGT]

IMO the thing that makes TV suck most are the paid commercials. I'm really tired of the pharmaceutical ads, it's become absurd. It was one thing when we had "free TV" and only a few shows, paid by a couple of sponsors (brought to you by.....)

My brother in law said he hadn't seen a commercial in years, because he's paid for Tivo. Bully for him, huh?

[EyeKhan]

Westworld - as sci-fi, not very good, IMHO. I could go on and on about all that I didn't like about it, and how it really failed to live up to the film from the '70s that inspired it. But it's not worth the time and none of you assholes would read it anyway. I did appreciate the continuous flow of naked people, though.

Dark Matter - good sci-fi, IMHO. Just started season 2 on Netflix last night.

[GGT]

Westworld - as sci-fi, not very good, IMHO. I could go on and on about all that I didn't like about it, and how it really failed to live up to the film from the '70s that inspired it. But it's not worth the time and none of you assholes would read it anyway. I did appreciate the continuous flow of naked people, though.

I liked it! I saw the '70s film too, but didn't have high expectations, any more than I'd expect a re-make of Planet of the Apes or Stepford Wives would be better than the original, either....especially if they were making it into a series.

I was bothered by the massive amounts of killing, even though they were designated robotic hosts, and their nudity was part of the human brain fake. So your appreciation of naked people is moot.

[Hazir]

IMO the thing that makes TV suck most are the paid commercials. I'm really tired of the pharmaceutical ads, it's become absurd. It was one thing when we had "free TV" and only a few shows, paid by a couple of sponsors (brought to you by.....)

My brother in law said he hadn't seen a commercial in years, because he's paid for Tivo. Bully for him, huh?

It the choice you make by insisting on the notion of 'free' TV. Cancelling cable and forking out $30 a month on any combination of 2 streaming services gives you pretty much the same without the nuisance of ever lasting ads for adult diapers and the likes.

Seems like they've got a pretty good idea of who's still cabled up.

[GGT]

It the choice you make by insisting on the notion of 'free' TV. Cancelling cable and forking out $30 a month on any combination of 2 streaming services gives you pretty much the same without the nuisance of ever lasting ads for adult diapers and the likes.

Seems like they've got a pretty good idea of who's still cabled up.

So......are the pharmaceutical companies wasting billions of dollars marketing in the TV space.....or are millions of consumers being duped by their marketing campaigns?

PS, I cancelled my cable TV because $100/month wasn't just too expensive, it wasn't even worth it. But I still pay $80 per month for an internet email account.

what do you pay?

[Hazir]

I don't know the exact amount but I think it's €90 a month for cable, Internet plus Netflix and Huluplus

In case it's a different question you're asking : I pay for what I want.

[wiggin]

Dark Matter - good sci-fi, IMHO. Just started season 2 on Netflix last night.

I'm of two minds about shows like Dark Matter. There's the inner 8 year old who is completely wowed that television shows can actually have decent production values in futuristic settings. And the show is reasonably put-together and entertaining. My issue is that the 30-something me recognizes the real reason I have been attracted to SF (and why I am frequently less interested in fantasy settings): SF writers try to use a futuristic setting to explore moral, ethical, or philosophical questions. The use of new settings - say, a posited game-changing technology, or fundamentally alien worlds/species/etc., or whatever - allow writers to explore these issues in ways that are not as easily accessible to a writer of traditional fiction. And the best SF TV/film does the same thing.

The issue with a lot of the SF nowadays is that it has a substantially higher fluff-to-substance ratio. It's aimed at broader audiences who want to see more fighting/explosions/babes and are less interested in an extended metaphor for the human condition or whatever. Dark Matter is not that bad on this metric - they do have the central question of "if I no longer remember my previous actions, am I responsible for them? What makes me 'me' - my accumulated memories or something more intangible?" - but that's about it. The rest is a fairly pedestrian 'EEEEVIL corporations want to take over the galaxy', which has become a very common trope in SF nowadays, and not a particularly interesting one (cf Continuum). Anti-corporate sentiment can very quickly make for cartoonishly evil villains, which does not make for convincing or impressive television.

I think I've gotten jaded - I have spent so much time consuming futuristic fiction that I can instantly identify most of the common tropes in use. If they aren't packaged in a new or clever manner, I'm likely to lose interest quickly. I have watched both seasons of Dark Matter, and I'll probably continue to give it the benefit of the doubt (for those of you following this thread, you know I do a lot of 'fluff' watching since my 'serious' watching time is sharply curtailed). But I have largely lost my appetite for derivative (albeit slickly done) work.

[Hazir]

I'm of two minds about shows like Dark Matter. There's the inner 8 year old who is completely wowed that television shows can actually have decent production values in futuristic settings. And the show is reasonably put-together and entertaining. My issue is that the 30-something me recognizes the real reason I have been attracted to SF (and why I am frequently less interested in fantasy settings): SF writers try to use a futuristic setting to explore moral, ethical, or philosophical questions. The use of new settings - say, a posited game-changing technology, or fundamentally alien worlds/species/etc., or whatever - allow writers to explore these issues in ways that are not as easily accessible to a writer of traditional fiction. And the best SF TV/film does the same thing.

The issue with a lot of the SF nowadays is that it has a substantially higher fluff-to-substance ratio. It's aimed at broader audiences who want to see more fighting/explosions/babes and are less interested in an extended metaphor for the human condition or whatever. Dark Matter is not that bad on this metric - they do have the central question of "if I no longer remember my previous actions, am I responsible for them? What makes me 'me' - my accumulated memories or something more intangible?" - but that's about it. The rest is a fairly pedestrian 'EEEEVIL corporations want to take over the galaxy', which has become a very common trope in SF nowadays, and not a particularly interesting one (cf Continuum). Anti-corporate sentiment can very quickly make for cartoonishly evil villains, which does not make for convincing or impressive television.

I think I've gotten jaded - I have spent so much time consuming futuristic fiction that I can instantly identify most of the common tropes in use. If they aren't packaged in a new or clever manner, I'm likely to lose interest quickly. I have watched both seasons of Dark Matter, and I'll probably continue to give it the benefit of the doubt (for those of you following this thread, you know I do a lot of 'fluff' watching since my 'serious' watching time is sharply curtailed). But I have largely lost my appetite for derivative (albeit slickly done) work.

I noticed that where I used to like SF, once I started to realise it's mostly metaphores for the american way, I sort of lost interest. Often get annoyed at the blatant similarities. Like in BSG the whole human political debate about the need to continue a fully working state with a balance of power and elections. The idiocy of that in a society counting less people than in a decent sized polis was too much. Appearantly for Americans the only alternative to concieve of is a military dictatorship.

[Aimless]

You guys have got to check out Travelers on Netflix. Solid concept, intriguing story, excellent characterization, competent portrayals and good production values. Not at all as depressing and claustrophobic as I'd feared. For once, I like all the main characters. Parts of the story may seem a little derivative but it's all executed with care and style. Reminds me a little of Connie Willis's books

[Hazir]

I binged on it over the weekend. Also quite liked it.

[EyeKhan]

I'm of two minds about shows like Dark Matter. There's the inner 8 year old who is completely wowed that television shows can actually have decent production values in futuristic settings. And the show is reasonably put-together and entertaining. My issue is that the 30-something me recognizes the real reason I have been attracted to SF (and why I am frequently less interested in fantasy settings): SF writers try to use a futuristic setting to explore moral, ethical, or philosophical questions. The use of new settings - say, a posited game-changing technology, or fundamentally alien worlds/species/etc., or whatever - allow writers to explore these issues in ways that are not as easily accessible to a writer of traditional fiction. And the best SF TV/film does the same thing.

The issue with a lot of the SF nowadays is that it has a substantially higher fluff-to-substance ratio. It's aimed at broader audiences who want to see more fighting/explosions/babes and are less interested in an extended metaphor for the human condition or whatever. Dark Matter is not that bad on this metric - they do have the central question of "if I no longer remember my previous actions, am I responsible for them? What makes me 'me' - my accumulated memories or something more intangible?" - but that's about it. The rest is a fairly pedestrian 'EEEEVIL corporations want to take over the galaxy', which has become a very common trope in SF nowadays, and not a particularly interesting one (cf Continuum). Anti-corporate sentiment can very quickly make for cartoonishly evil villains, which does not make for convincing or impressive television.

I think I've gotten jaded - I have spent so much time consuming futuristic fiction that I can instantly identify most of the common tropes in use. If they aren't packaged in a new or clever manner, I'm likely to lose interest quickly. I have watched both seasons of Dark Matter, and I'll probably continue to give it the benefit of the doubt (for those of you following this thread, you know I do a lot of 'fluff' watching since my 'serious' watching time is sharply curtailed). But I have largely lost my appetite for derivative (albeit slickly done) work.

There isn't much out there you can't dice up into tried and true tropes. I think it's really just another way to say its not easy to have an original idea.

I've got four episodes left of season 2, and I've given some thought to the sci-fi aspect of it and why I like it. One major pitfall in sci-fi can be an over-simplified fictional universe, and I think the Dark Matter writers do a good job of avoiding that. (George Lucas completely flubbed that, apparently intentionally so, in his Star Wars prequels). I also like how dark the show is, the main characters doing bad things in a universe where bad things are common, though I wouldn't go so far as to call them anti-heroes (these days, a way-overused, though admittedly delicious, trope in every genre). I think my biggest criticism is the unreasonably bad nature of the pre-amnesia crew. I personally don't believe that memory loss of one's past events alone would change one's fundamental character, or that recovery of those memories would change it back. That and the scientist that created Portia/Rebecca/ 2 is definitely a cartoon character. Not sure why the writers didn't do more with him. And IMHO, a space elevator used for a single access point to the lab space station was just flat out stupid. No excuse for that.

But I don't share your view of the corporate bad-guy aspect of the show (yet). There are definitely mega-corporations with the power of nation states which vie for power, but there are also more traditional nation states too, and organizations like the GA, which seem to be independent of individual worlds and corporations. I like that complex mix of power brokers. Maybe events in the next 4 episodes boil it down some and chip away at that complexity... we'll see.

[EyeKhan]

Like in BSG the whole human political debate about the need to continue a fully working state with a balance of power and elections. The idiocy of that in a society counting less people than in a decent sized polis was too much.

I agree with you here. And they carried it right through the whole show, like the labor unrest on that shitty world they tried to colonize. Completely implausible. Now, that said, I don't doubt for a moment there would be wrangling for power, but it would not involve elections or the luxury of social structures like labor unions. That survivor fleet would be a fierce military dictatorship, because it would HAVE to be with extinction around every corner. And the survivors would welcome it, because they'd be terrified and traumatized out of their minds of the Cylons 100% of the time and reeling from the death of most everyone they knew and loved and their near complete removal from all the aspects of civilization they knew - like jobs, homes, schools, cities, history, nature, culture, on and on. Nobody would be pissed off because Admiral Adama didn't let them vote about how water or medicine was distributed around the fleet. Probably the biggest problem that fleet would have is avoiding mass suicide and complete despair - and elections wouldn't do that. But then, a true portrayal of the apocalypse in space was not what the show was conceived to be, entirely, about, so, yeah.

[Wraith]

My winter viewing roundup:

The Colony was actually pretty good; hopefully it doesn't go to shit like Falling Skies did. It's an interesting scenario, what do you do when you're being occupied by a force that has you so severely outclassed that there's virtually no hope of successful rebellion. It was also handled believably, as almost everything the resistance did just made things worse. This was probably my favorite show that I watched in the last month, but then again, nothing I saw really stood out as phenomenal.

I liked Twelve Monkeys, though I've only seen the first season so far. It's not the greatest series, but it's good enough. It's probably a bit easier to follow than the movie was.

On Hulu series, Shut Eye is alright, but I just couldn't get into Chance.

On Netflix time travel movies, which there seem to suddenly be a bunch of, I enjoyed Arc, but Synchronicity was both predictable and bad.

I watched a bunch of David Attenborough narrated things. Those were interesting.

Designated Survivor is still a pretty good show, though it's not holding as strong as it started.

This year looks like it's going to be a big year for Netflix, with them now going full tilt into the movie business in addition to their successes in small screen things. They're set to release so much stuff that I'm starting to wonder how the hell they're paying for it all. Highlight for me is Defenders, and possibly Punisher if that comes out this year. It also sounds like their Will Smith vehicle could be interesting, but there's not much detail about that out yet.