just seen 5th. episode of Westworld. this show is so deep on so many levels with so much symbolism it is scary. I don't even know where to start. amazing.

Really? Good! Glad to hear. I've been meaning to get to this, but I've been worried about having another Game of Thrones/Walking Dead blood-porn fuckaround on my hands. I swear, for everything GoT gets right from the endlessly entertaining (if imperfect and less literary than many think) books, there's a whole fuckton of awful shit that translates terribly onto the screen. I'm about damn sick of deliberately disturbing and infuriating shows driving people batshit for 9 episodes and then letting the world sit and stew for 9 months.

But I remember seeing the original movie, and it seems like there's much less opportunity for disgusting bullshit than on these other shows.

I have HBO for a reason, I suppose, even though I almost never watch it now that I've re-watched Eastbound & Down and soaked up VICE PRINCIPALS (good times... I like having fun watching tv), so I'll probably give this a look-see in the next couple days.

Also, I've gotten so used to the Netflix "watch at your own pace" style of releasing shows that I find 1 hour is just not enough goddamn television for me anymore, especially when there's a cliffhanger. I only have maybe 2 nights a week where I have time to watch ANYTHING so it's just kind of infuriating to come home from a long ass day at work and sit down to 60 minutes that ends with a big ??? and leaves me thinking, "Ok. Now what? That wasn't very relaxing."

So I've kinda been more inclined to let the episodes stack up a bit so I can at least watch 2 at a time.

Blah.

I've been blunting my IQ with CW superhero shows.

Don't judge me, assholes.

They're all SO stupid, but fun to varying degrees. The Flash, for instance, is downright ridiculous 50% of the time, but it seems to be aware of that ridiculousness so the fun moments aren't ruined. Sometimes it takes me back to watching Richard Donner's Superman when I was just a lad. That's a great feeling, definitely worth a bit of collateral retardation.

Arrow is just horrible. I can't think of a single unqualified positive thing to say about it. Unlike Flash, it takes itself ungodly seriously. In the comics, the Green Arrow stopped being such a painful Batman ripoff in the '70s, when he developed a sense of humor and became a hippie Errol Flynn kind of dude. In the show... Jesus... five seasons in and they're still trying to do Dark Knight on a high school musical budget with horrendous actors.

Actually, that's exactly what it's like. It's like a high school theater production of Batman: The Dark Version! only th director couldn't afford the real script so they're working with cheap knockoff characters and a bunch of sidekicks. Oh my god it's painful. But I still watch it.

Legends of Tomorrow is ... possibly the worst thing I've ever seen. I didn't think it was possible to bring complete and utter shame to both DC Comics AND Doctor Who (which the show endlessly apes) at the same time, but Time Master Rip Hunter and his band of merry misfits has managed to do just that.

Don't watch this show. Legends of Tomorrow. Well, maybe if you're with your nerdy friends and you have a bag of weed and need something to laugh at.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum Marvel has done some great things, not just on their R-rated Netflix sex n' blood romps, but on basic cable as well with Agents of SHIELD. Starts out shitty, but it's really grown into a hell of a good show. Just the right amount of dumbass hokey crap and seriousness, with special effects that aren't half bad compared to what Legends of Tomorrow shits out.

I'm also enjoying Gotham, flawed as it is. In the same way The Flash reminds me of Donner's Superman, Gotham takes me back to Tim Burton's Batman. Yes, of course, it's been done better in the interim years by Chris Nolan, but Gotham is a campy delight, pulled right from Burton's vision.

I don't watch much telly either actually and I am sure not into this new trend of endless tv soaps (only one I have ever watch, I mean like all seasons was Frasier, haha). I have never seen Game Of Thrones f. e., not even one episode and yeah it seems like endless entertainment. Westworld caught my attention while flickering through channels (I am not following it or anything). really good, but probably you need to be into SCI-FI to like it. is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. a lot of symbolism. i think main theme song is cover one of the Radiohead songs and it was nice to hear Nine Inch Nails cover of Something I Can Never Have in 5th episode in orgy scene.

by the way, speaking of tv soaps. I have seen one episode of High Maintenance (guy dealing grass in NY) and I would probably want to see some more in my free time and then I have seen three episodes of Mike Judge's show Sillicon Valley and would not mind to see more either.

bailing on Masters of Sex on season 3. Too much same same in the story line. Lost interest......next up Girls season 5.

Silicon Valley is excellent! Probably the funniest show out there. Great characters.

yeeeeeeeeessss. so good. gilfoyle is my favorite.



--

i just finished walking dead season 6-- disturbing ending. of course i had to google who died, because it's fucked to leave people hanging for a year like that.

overall it was very annoying. but i'm already hooked on the story, unfortunately.

Game 7 Of The World Series!

The FALL, season 3.

odd repeats of DS9

Yeah, I am NOT watching that.

I remember seeing some shots from the episode featuring that guy who played the Comedian in Watchmen as Keegan, swinging a barbed wire covered bat around and doing some real mustache-twirling cartoon villain bullshit.

Then he breaks skulls, if they follow the comic. And proceeds to break more and twirl more 'stache.

Ugh. No thank you. Sounds horrible. That guy's face creeps me out. Like an evil roided out Robert Downey Jr. with face puffiness. Gross. Needless to say it was an absolute pleasure watching him get hucked out a window in Watchmen. Maybe the only worthwhile part of the film.

What's the deal with this show? Worth watching?

i've been watching braindead with my mom (yes because of mary elizabeth winstead). it's funny, ridiculous, and good. one episode left! i don't think they are going to tie it up. will there be a second season? who knows these days.

My wife got me on it. It is a very misunderstood show. While it is on surface about a British Inspector tracking down a sociopathic serial killer in Belfast, what it really is about is the ways that amoral sociopaths affect everyone and everything around them, as they are capable of believable lies at any time because they do not feel any human emotions that would give away their lies, leaving everyone wrecked because of it. The third season really focuses on the continuing aftermath of it all.

quite deep psychological stuff.

the waitress?or did i mix up names?

charlie, is that you?


that sounds great actually (i mean great tv). thanks for that, will check it out.

waitress? as in from always sunny? no MEW did 10 cloverfield lane, scott pilgrim, death proof, the 2011 the thing prequel, final destination 3, and some others

Westworld. well.... Ed Harris as a bad guy, Thandie Newton wasted as eye candy. Gratuitous violence against unimportant characters. Some compare it to GOT, but in that is at least plot and character development before wastage....

AAAAH. 2 mary elizabeths. ellis. winstead. gets confusing! mastrantonio isn't.

anyway ok i've seen her somewhere. thaNKs for sorting it.

Hey Slambang, I'm 2 episodes into Buffy and holy cow is it dated looking. Really, it could easily pass for mid '90s. But I can see sparks of coolness here and there, and there are some snappy moments in the writing that feel very "Whedon."

Anyway.. doin' that now

EDIT: Oh... it IS from the '90s! That explains so so so much. Netflix has 2002 listed as the year and I was like whaaaaaa?

I love Buffy. On season 3 rewatch now.

yes it started airing in the spring of 97 lololol. so, first shot in 96.

enjoy

holy shit, there are SIXTEEEN volumes of monty python on DVD, and i got the first one yesterday

i've seen bits of it over the years like everyone else, and know some of the most famous jokes, plus have seen the movies, and youtube is youtube, but this shit is INSANE

what drugs were they on? i want to know and take some

fucking brilliant. this shit is from 1969 and brilliant. yes it has aged in that the format of the programs they parodied has mostly vanished from tv but one still "gets it" and in a way contemporary media is still much of the same shit-- a person standing on a corner with a microphone reporting on some fucking goings on

it's too good and i might die from laughter.

When you're done and feel like listening to some music, you might want to check out the Beatles. They have some catchy songs. If you want to read instead, Shakespeare can be interesting. Also, did you know sex feels pleasurable?

i hear smugness gives you a rush as well

is it true? do tell

overrated

Hey, I was tempted to merely write "No shit," but I thought you deserved better.

I often--maybe every three days or so--recall some Monty Python bit or line or song and I smile. Sometimes I even laugh out loud. They make life worth living.

Warning: some of the later episodes are deadly dull.

i don't know where you got your bootlegs or when, but this is the first time i've been able to access the complete thing. not "here's that bit about spam" or "dead parrot sketch" or "nobody expects the spanish inquisition" or "one hour of john cleese's favorite stuff" but just one-whole-full-episode-after-another, warts and all, the 2nd and 3rd rate material preserved uncut.

at 3 episodes per disc on the first volume, looks like i'm about to tackle about 48 whole unbroken episodes, which is fucking massive.

i mean especially massive considering the densely packed absurdity of each one-- it's not like 2 seasons of mainstream american tv where they take 5 minutes of dull dialogue to explain some basic shit and play music while they make faces (i say this after my 5th season or so of the walking dead).

even really funny american shows like sunny or louie (i've lost track of louie lately) have a lot of dead space in it. this is machine guns. especially in this format.

ETA: anyway sorry for the aggro before, your recommendation/endorsement read like a putdown

Louie has not been "funny" for two seasons now.

I am not a fan of sketch comedy. get fed up. Monty Python's jokes were always too "Brit" for my sense of humor. never got it, and when I got old enough to "get it" I found the jokes stupid and obvious.

last louie i watched was when he buys a motorcycle haaa haaa haa. but then lost track.

and yeah, that monty python style is not for everyone, but i enjoy the way they commit themselves to absurdity.

i think in american tv there aren't a lot of "cultural" shows like those parodied here outside of pbs, but in latin america and europe there's always these interviews with some erudite shit...

i guess the last one of those is charlie rose if he's still on (i used to watch it religiously) but not quite the same. in the US you get the talk show in the johnny carson model where celebrities come peddle their stuff. there's jokes, there's a jazz band, celebrity comes in ad pushes their product briefly, a comedian does standup, etc

but in more government-oriented tv it's like, you get 1/2 hour of more of "heavy culture" that you sit through with these professorial types. buckley was like that for politics, with his little mouth, rambling about shit.



what's the equivalent for art, books, opera, etc? was there ever a show like that here? charlie rose is close but no cigar-- rose seems to be more about "success".

no show like that in USA. Charlie Rose is close, and in politics you had the McLaughlin Group, which I always found entertaining, but it has been a while since advertisers felt like shilling their shit to the massses on a show where two people just sit and talk intelligently.

As far as the arts go, Ernie Manouse, who works for Houston Public Media Channel 8 PBS, does a one-on-one interview show called INNERviews that is fucking GREAT. He asks great questions, understands their answers and is able to communicate with creative types in a way that is not condescending, pandering or insulting. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/s...ernie-manouse/

YEEEEES. THAT'S THE STUFF. i should check it out.

thing is many of those programs are usual condescending/insulting, with the host usually being a snot, and the interview being some sort of cock contest, superheavy and serious. (in the case of charlie rose, he always wants to talk over the guest and show off how much he knows, and my wife and i would be yelling "shut up charlie!")

on the 1st episode of monty python i saw yesterday there's a composer with the nickname "two sheds" and he wants to talk about his new piece of music but the host makes it all about he nickname, and how many sheds he has and did he write his music in the shed, and the composer wants to change subject and they do but they keep putting pictures of sheds in the background, and the composer loses his shit, etc etc ha ha ha ha ha ha

i know it sounds stupid. i liked it though.

im gonna rewatch it with some coffee

Fry and Laurie--not too shabby with sketch comedy in their own right--have a good bit about such shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFD01r6ersw


Rob, not a MR SHOW fan?

One of my best friends was a HUGE Mr. Show fanatic. HUGE> I never got into it more than a skit or two. same with portlandia. I can appreciate what they do and what Python did and the State and Kids in The Hall etc. but it just doesn't hold my interest.

rob you said once you watch trailer park boys, right? i've never seen it or know a thing about it except that it's canadian. what's that about?

Hah! Well put. ;)

Never seen this either, but every time I encounter someone who has, they have a fit and scream at me about how hilarious it is and how I need to watch it. I'm open to that, but I need to know more about it and get a more coherent breakdown about why it's good before diving into something that looks so depressing.

hey. fuck you too.

Neglected to answer: FLYING CIRCUS has been on DVD for quite a while. A decade? Before that, VHS copies had been available. Before that, I was lucky to have a cousin who had a bunch taped from somewhere. Episodes aren't obscure and I'm simply surprised that someone who would enjoy them has yet to see them. That's all.

Neg repped and blocked.

it is a "mockumentary" show about the residents of a low-budget tailer park in bumfuck Nova Scotia. The main characters are recidivist criminal lowlife who did not graduate high school and who have to constantly scheme to make money. The first 6 seasons or so are fucking genius shit, very well done, filmed in a very improvisational manner, where the actors flesh out their characters as they see fit. After season 7 they stopped filming on a location and bought out a trailer park to film in so the "look" of it changed a bit. If you have ever known or lived or been a poor person among a lot of other poor people it will hit home like a motherfucker. while it is very funny it is also extremely insightful as it shows the way that the lower-class canadians live.

so much drinking......

it LOOKS depressing and at times is, but it is always in service of the story, and the story for the most part stays very true to the characters.

They also made several full length films with the same cast. The guy who plays the part of Mr. Lahey (Trailer Park supervisor and the single most amazingly drunken character I have ever ever encountered outside of real life) is a fucking acting GENIUS

^ what he said minus the neg repping and blocking stuff

I just thought the same thing evillove did. Monty Python = Beatles of comedy.. Shakespeare of comedy. I pretty much just go through life assuming that the only people who don't love MP are the people who hate MP for one reason or another. And a lot of their classic stuff was born on Flying Circus.

I don't personally have the series on DVD or anything either though. No disrespect intended.

Edit: EL's comment also reminded me of that scene in High Fidelity when Rob lists "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of his favorite track 1, side 1 songs of all time. And then Barry says something like "How about the Beatles? Or fucking Beethoven?!"

Hah.