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What was the last TV show you watched?

Ernest P Shackleton

One Too Many
Messages
1,255
Location
Midwest
Poldark. Has anyone read any of the novels? Are they really this simplistic? Or have they adapted them for TV in a way that unwittingly resembles Delicious Dish (Ana Gasteyer/Molly Shannon)? The story and language are so very austere. It's sort of creeping me out at this point.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
Poldark. Has anyone read any of the novels? Are they really this simplistic? Or have they adapted them for TV in a way that unwittingly resembles Delicious Dish (Ana Gasteyer/Molly Shannon)? The story and language are so very austere. It's sort of creeping me out at this point.

I haven't read the novels, but have heard very, very good things about them - they flesh out the story quite a bit more. I also know that some of the dialogue is taken directly from the book, verbatim.

I don't quite understand the "austere language" comment. Could you give me an example?
 
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Stand By

One Too Many
Messages
1,741
Location
Canada
"Derek" starring, written by and directed by Ricky Gervais, on Netflix.
FANTASTIC. Just finished Season 1 and began Season 2 last night. What a total and surprising delight it is. People could learn so much from watching it. Can't wait to see another episode tonight ...
 

rknight

New in Town
Messages
28
Location
Portland, OR
I enjoyed all of those with the exception of the musical episode. All the songs seemed alike, except the one Xander did. I'm used to musicals with tunes that send you out humming, e.g., "Guys and Dolls."

I'm of the opinion that the *essential* episodes of Season Two -- the ones that contributed to the season-long story arc -- made up a body of work rarely topped on regular TV. The creation of Spike alone would deserve laurels; and then Joss & Co. had the sense to not kill the character off, but to let him continue and (later) evolve.

"If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock. . . . I was at Woodstock; fed off a flower person. Spent the next six hours watching my hand move."
( -- Spike, "School Hard")

"You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver -- but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
( -- Spike, to Buffy and Angel, "Lovers Walk"; the kind of speech an actor dreams of getting to deliver)

Oh I agree that the musical numbers aren't stellar, but if you consider that Joss Whedon wrote them and that it was his first attempt at that sort of thing, they're pretty solid. The real gold in the episode is how the songs are used in the episode. They both reveal a great deal about character relationships that would be awkward to otherwise reveal, and make for great humor as the characters know they are revealing things that they do not want to be revealed. Also the action is used as a fantastic foil for the lyrics, like when Spike follows Buffy around in order to finish his song demanded that she go away and let him "rest in peace".

In my opinion Willow is the best character in the show, if the whole arc of the show is considered. But I wouldn't argue with a claim that Spike is the best at all.
 

Feraud

Bartender
Messages
17,188
Location
Hardlucksville, NY
"Derek" starring, written by and directed by Ricky Gervais, on Netflix.
FANTASTIC. Just finished Season 1 and began Season 2 last night. What a total and surprising delight it is. People could learn so much from watching it. Can't wait to see another episode tonight ...
Agreed. Derek really is a wonderful program. I am glad to read someone else is watching it.
 
Messages
13,676
Location
down south
Been glued to the local news. A guy who lived across the street from me and hung out with my circle of friends vanished without a trace 20 years ago and today the police here finally caught his killers. Crazy. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
 
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Messages
12,736
Location
Northern California
The finale of Wayward Pines. I can't believe this series was based on published novels! A great setup, a "high concept," as Hollywood has it. But there are large gaps in the background we're being asked to believe. I'd best say no more in case any of you are watching it . . . but I was disappointed.

I was very disappointed with the last fifteen minutes. A season two is a possibility, but now, I don't know. It reminded me of Twin Peaks meets the X-Files meets something else, but now it appears it is becoming more Hunger : not good.
:D
:D
 
Messages
12,736
Location
Northern California
Been glued to the local news. A guy who lived across the street from me and hung out with my circle of friends vanished without a trace 20 years ago and today the police here finally caught his killers. Crazy. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

That is crazy. At first, I anticipated that you were going to say they found him alive, sadly, you did not. It sounds like a Dateline/48 Hours/20/20 episode in the making. :D
 

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,125
Location
Tennessee
Been glued to the local news. A guy who lived across the street from me and hung out with my circle of friends vanished without a trace 20 years ago and today the police here finally caught his killers. Crazy. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
Sorry to hear about the guy, but glad they caught the killers!

First episode of Police Story, geez what a snoozer.
Maybe the series gets better after this episode, I hope so.
At least the wife only bought one season.
 

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,815
Location
The Swamp
I was very disappointed with the last fifteen minutes [of Wayward Pines]. A season two is a possibility, but now, I don't know. It reminded me of Twin Peaks meets the X-Files meets something else, but now it appears it is becoming more Hunger : not good.
:D
:D
Yes; they set things up for a main character to die heroically -- and then that heroic action is shown to have been utterly pointless. Is this the kind of thing people want in their entertainments these days?
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
Enjoyed watching something good for a change ! :)
episode 3

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Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,815
Location
The Swamp
Not me. In my world, the good guy should always win.
:D
Well, I like that too. Sometimes, though (see For Whom the Bell Tolls), it's even better when the heroic gesture doesn't allow him to get away clean. But it should have some point to it. If all the characters, Maria and the guerrilla chief and his wife, were all killed along with Robert Jordan, and then we find out it was all pointless because a peace treaty had been signed the day before . . . gahhhh.

I've done it in a story, had the main character sacrifice himself to save his friends. And they are saved, as he has bought them enough time for their plan (to stop the villain) to work. If they'd all died too, and then the plan failed and the villain strolled away smirking -- what would be the point of writing it, or of reading it?
 

Ernest P Shackleton

One Too Many
Messages
1,255
Location
Midwest
I don't quite understand the "austere language" comment. Could you give me an example?
The whole thing is written in the most simplistic way. I don't think there has been an interesting conversation yet. They barely have conversations. If you think about it, the characters don't really interact that much. If we could read a script, not a single interaction is probably longer than a half page, and you know how scripts aren't formatted for efficiency. I understand that we're talking about a simpler time and between the illiterate and/or working class a fair percentage of the time. I get the setting in all its period limitations, but at the same time, language was also rich and potentially, greatly profound in that same period. To go back to my drinking game about Ross and his horse, the show spends as much time on scenic views and the grandiose visual as it does dialog. I like the scenic views, and I also understand how important they are to the cadence and vibe of the show. It's not an either/or. Half-way or greater through the season, I'd like some meat in which to chew. Give me some greater substance. For instance, they've established that Ross is an empathetic, good, and true steward, but because they spend so little time on character interaction, I don't feel they did the work to establish his relationship with the prison boy (forgetting his name now). All of a sudden, without a lot of set-up, he and the doctor are breaking several laws to go see him, and then remove him? It's all quite romantic, but it didn't necessarily make a lot of sense from any perspective other than the humane one. To further that, the drinking binge? Why did it affect Ross so deeply? The entire program is playing out like a budget romance novel, not a good piece of literature. Maybe I'm dense for needing a handful of episodes to realize it, but to be honest, I didn't. I like the show, but I'm liking it less now that I feel it has established itself as what it is: a basic story with basic characters with basic language. Take away the beautiful technical side, and I think you'd be left with a program that could play at 1PM weekdays, and it wouldn't be one of the top ones at that.

*to put it more succinctly, this show is entirely trite.
 
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