Is Schitt's Creek any good? I'm always hearing about how epically wonderful it is. Any takers here?

nah. derivative and sucky. but give it a try if it's free.

Sherlock

I thought I'd seen all episodes but must have missed some

I've also heard that this show is fucking great.

Discuss.

Cause I got myself that Disney+ subscription last month. They hook you in with all the acquisitions they've made over the years. The mouse will get us all.

That said - pretty damn fine Mystery show that teeters somewhere between sitcom parody and lynchian horror that happens to star Marvel superheroes. Maybe all those years watching those movies have indoctrinated me, but color me impressed. It's really fucking good and I'm eager to find out where it goes.

Also watching this after years of having little interest in doing so - mostly because the imdb rating seemed comparatively low and because I didn't feel like I could get invested in those agent characters I've never heard of. I was pretty wrong. This is a damn fine show with quality writing and unique characters. Kind of mad it was under my radar for so long. Goes to show to never underestimate Joss Whedon, I guess.

I'm also still watching this, which is a quite annoying experience. It's broadcast on TV, but for some dumb reason they broadcast one season, an episode on Sunday late late night. Then after the season is over they will do that same season again on repeat!! And they've been doing that so far with each season. So whenever the new season is finally there, you've forgotten what happened in the previous season. We're now halfway down to season 5, and it took me a couple of episodes to figure out what the hell was happening. Probably by the time I've figured it out completely, the season will be over and they start it from scratch again. AAAAhhhhnnoooyyyiiiinnnnngggggg!!!!!
Anyway, I do like the main characters, but story wise it's sometimes annoying how far fetched the storylines go.












The ratings on IMDB are consistently very high, if that matters in any way. But the plusses for me are that it stars Martin Freeman as Dr Watson, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock is pretty good too. It's set in modern times (most episodes are anyway), but still keeps the original storylines as they were written ages ago. The length of the episodes are 90 minutes (instead of the regular 50-60), so it's almost like watching a movie.



Minussess: they could have left the whole character of Sherlock's brother out of it for me, it's too distracting from the original stories. But that's me who only started reading all the stories and kind of aborted it on ~a third, so perhaps the brother does get a large part in the stories that I haven't read. (Wikipedia says he only appears in a couple of stories)

i don't wanna argue with anyone or anything but i had the experience of loving this at the beginning and then quickly getting fed up from it. it just became fucking tiresome. i am sick of dumb "superpowers".

also to note that this might have been joss whedon's idea but it was i think his little brother who ran the show?

anyway for me some great characters were destroyed, some tropes were flogged to death, and the rambling story became ridonculous and tiresome.

maybe it's because this show was subsidiary to the superhero movies and couldn't define things in its own terms? i don't know. i just know that i started "wow, cool" and a couple of seasons later i went "aw, fuck this!"

dumb superpowers??? There's a guy in season five that can throw rocks!!!! That's farout man!

:D :D :D :D

I'm halfway through Season 3 and I'm still loving it. I actually thought it made some of the movies better by expanding on the universe. For instance, I really liked the setup of Winter Soldier, but (SPOILERS ahead) I was disappointed they resorted to "Oh, S.H.I.E.L.D is only corrupted, because some old super-bad Nazi organization took over. They can't act morally reprehensible on their own". But then I saw the show elaborate on the whole scenario and it seemed more nuanced. I like how it didn't just portray Hydra as simply that old super-bad Nazi-trope. They actually updated it into some sort of concept, almost an allegory, really. It's a mindset that preys on the desires of insecure reactionary types and offers them a narrative makes them feel like they have a purpose. And I thought it excellently portrayed how many S.H.I.E.L.D agents already had that sort of mindset and didn't need much convincing.



I also love how uneasy the relationships between the characters seem to be at any given point. There's a certain tense atmosphere that feels palpable. As for the far-fetched plots: Well, it's a superhero-show. By definition, it already has to be a good bit far-fetched. I still feel like up until now, they made everything seem natural to the world that has been established in that cinematic universe. All within the bounds of suspension of disbelief so far.


I understand getting frustrated with the constant back-and-forth though. Lots of double-,triple-,quadruple-crossing and plenty of fakeout double-crossing. It doesn't always take its time to breathe and may have a bit too many elements from time to time, which indeed can be exhausting. The bare plots, not considering the character dynamics, didn't exactly re-invent the wheel, that's true too. So yeah, that complaint I understand. It didn't ruin my experience though. I feel like my appreciation of the nuanced characters has carried me through this easily. But I see your point of critique and understand why people may not like it for that reason.





To me, the main characters and their interpersonal dynamics are the absolute key here. They may be agents of this super-clandestine organization working with/for/against powered individuals and folks with Alien-DNA, but a lot of their struggles with each other - or themselves - is very relatable. And hell, the emergence of all the fear-mongering and manipulative groups in this show - be they Hydra, or later on The Watchdogs or whatnot - just seems a bit too relevant in the times we're living in right now. This, much more so than the basic plots or storylines (big evil - we must fight it - but oh, no, they have a secret ace and oh no, someone we took for a friend is actually a foe. or is s/he?), is what really fascinates me about it and makes me want to see more.

it wasn't the back and forth per se that bothered me--i just thought the back and forth was maybe an explanation for why they would totally shred characters, develop arbitrary storylines, etc.

really was shaping up great and then it became a cheap refry of buffy/angel/dollhouse themes, except badly thrown together--for me anyway.

i don't wanna spoil it, but maybe when you're finally sick of it we can commiserate together :D

btw ive just started 3rd season of buffy. been rewatching the whole thing and damn, season 2 really picks up steam, season 3 is gonna go to that finish full steam ahead... i fucking love that show, even with the occasional bad acting and now terrible-looking effects :D classic tv though.

I never watched the last season of this show. Just stopped entirely. Or maybe I watched a few episodes and then stopped? Either way I genuinely don’t remember

I never watched the last season of this show. Just stopped entirely. Or maybe I watched a few episodes and then stopped? Don’t remember. Either way, it must have grown boring for me as well.

yup, i remember me calling it agents of s.h.i.t. and you saying "no, it's great!"

but yeah the wheels fell off that cart.

like early on for me... SPOILERS SPOILERS...

SPOILER: badass paranoid computer hacker turns into useless sound explosion person?! looks to me more like superstupid flaw...

END SPOILERS

there is much more i'll gladly discuss but just wanna make sure i dont ruin it for others. ward... don't get me started on ward...

Someone just brought this show up to me, and I think I will go back and finish. It was like reboot Doctor Who at times, but it has peaks and valleys. I like the peaks, the valleys are bleh-city.

Some of the best episodes are really great though, so maybe final season will redeem itself but my mind is blank about what was even happening near the end there haha

it's a real pity you never got into buffy because that was the mother lode

Broken Arrows: The Lost Bombs of the Cold War
I watched the second episode of this documentary, on TV, missed the first episode unfortunately. Perhaps I'll still watch it. Pretty shocking, "sorry Spain, we've dropped some bombs on your grounds, good luck!". A large portion of land is still sectioned

Funny those reviews on Amazon claiming it as Russian propaganda :rolleyes:

Speaking of Buffy, Joss Wheadon has been in some hot water on social media for accused actress treatment from the show.


https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/stat...37746843365381

oh lol poor cordy

i mean poor charisma...

but hell, she's cordy for life. i see her going to comicons etc with tara.

anyway, yeah, the director who made her famous was also an asshole. and he fucked up her angel storyline for sure.

but he didn't roofie and rape her. what he did is not a crime, to be an asshole under pressure. the world is full of assholes, especially when under pressure. who here hasn't?

anyway, i'll judge the artist by their art, and the hr department can judge them by their behavior in the workplace. of course twitter loves to do this stuff.

anyway, this one for severian:


here's hoping he eventually bites haa haaa haaaa

but... give it time! season one takes time to get going. only by season 2 the formula starts to levitate. season 3... is peak whedon.

I’ll definitely revisit at some point

Watching Modern Family — for some reason I thought it was an hour-long show? Anyway, it’s a super basic single-camera sitcom. The Office but with… a family.

Still better than Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Office with cops only waaaaay dumber), which has never made even me crack a smile.

I've been turned off B99 due to a multitude of things - partially being an anarkiddie ACAB zoomer, mostly because everyone my age seems to think it's God's gift to humour.

Modern Family is good from what I remember of it (was a regular on TV here about eight years ago). Would be interesting to rewatch, especially given I could judge how it stands as gay rep.

Brooklyn 99 is tediously unfunny. It’s like a regression from that dude’s other shows like The Office and Parks & Rec, neither of which were perfect, but at least they were good for a genuine laugh now and then.
But B99 feels like it should have a laugh track. It feels dinosauric and completely devoid of actual humor. It’s the kind of show where you can guess people’s lines because nothing about it is not predictable or cliché.

If people your age think this show is God’s gift to humor, they must transcend the physical plane when they see Silicon Valley.

Grumble.

haha guilfoyle. love guilfoyle.

i found modern family pretty fucking mainstream and a bit tedious, except for the glory that is sofía vergara.

i'm glad they had a gay couple, but they were super conventional. of the two i only liked the fat guy who had true comedic chops.

the phil dunphy guy or whatever was insufferable lololol. hated his uptight wife too (yoga ass from weeds).

al bundy was ok i guess.

but eventually even the glory that is sofía vergara could not keep me watching. glad for her success though.

brooklyn 9-9 once past the initial aversion i found at times chuckleworthy but ultimately fairly forgettable. i was out of tv i think i borrowed from the library.

comedy: father ted. now that i can watch endlessly on repeat.

As we've established earlier, you're better at separating the art from the artist than I am - I could never watch Father Ted considering the dark and deeply personally impactful rabbithole Glinner's pissed his life down.

I've been getting somewhere from my family's Netflix - I haven't watched anything myself but I've occasionally seen what my siblings are checking out. One younger brother has a taste for documentaries, so I've seen a bunch of nature ones and two others I liked called The Toys That Made Us (interviewing with the designers and marketers for things like GI Joe, Power Rangers, etc.) and We are the Champions (chili eating, cheese rolling, frog jumping). The other one's been watching The End of the F***ing World, which is black humour about a teenage psychopath and (mostly) the girl who runs off with him - soundtracked by Graham Coxon, too, which is cool.

father ted died of a heart attack the day after the show ended or something. dougal still lives, i saw him on some silly show, but he'll never match that role.

the thing with me is i know a bunch of artist and writers and can attest--everyone is fucked up. anybody hoping for some saint in their artists is delusional. actually even the saints are fucked up folk. hero worship is idiotic and all human shit stinks.

so i can condemn a behavior without damning a person (but let's face it, most artists are damned).

i can condemn a person too--but it takes a lot.

i don't care so much who makes what, but the skewering that the irish church gets on father ted is incomparable, and that's what makes the show so good, and as an ex-catholic it makes me laugh hard.

i don't know who made the egyptian pyramids or the gothic cathedrals or what the three stoges did in their spare time. im sure it was all a bloody mess.

i mean if 40 years from now i condemn you because you said you wish my country was destroyed... lmao. nope. i'm not that silly. people say shit.

i really want you to do well in life. and i forgive your future fuckups. which will inevitably occur if you're alive. ego te absolvo :D

Oh man, Julie Bowman WAS yoga-wife-pedo from Weeds!
She was also Carol Vessey from the short-lived NBC dramedy “Ed,” which aired in the beforetime, in the long-long-ago (like 2000).

Yeah, Modern Family is conventional as hell, but it’s better and funnier than Brooklyn 99 when it comes to the mockucumentary-type shows that came in the wake of the Office.

It’s enjoyable enough for a time-killed, plus there’s like 11 seasons, so yay.

But yeah, very basic.

ok, i went and googled "glinner" and found the guy wrote 2 other shows i love: black books and the it guys. damn! he was good.

then i read abour his antitrans controversies here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham...ender_activism

and oof! i get now where you're coming from.

he sounds, to me, like a dinosaur. a well-intentioned dinosaur prerhaps, but still, a dinosaur. which, as an irish ex-catholic, he might very well be. but looking further at his bio, he's also for reproductive rights and a defender of the british nhs. people are fucking complicated.

as for the tavistock business, i am not an expert, i don't mean to butt in, but in all situations there are unexpected consequences, and i *just* read something about the negative consequences of puberty blockers for children and keira bell?... and im not an expert, im just an empiricist who claims agnosticism on matters unknown. of course everything is experimental.

so, i really don't know shit about this, but i can understand how some people might believe they do, and take up ideological positions.

too many people having "beliefs" of one kind or another, including atheist ex-catholics with a history of writing some funny jokes. and nothing like hanging on to beliefs for an ex-catholist atheist: nature abhors a vacuum.

so yeah, im in it only for the jokes not for the person. but i understand your anger also.

every once in a while i watch one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qDy4OMAkgY

Anybody here care for Vera?

uhm, now I have pink floyd in my head. Guess you didn't mean this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl20jlVnvYs


;)

Vera, the tv series, now in it's 11th year of 4x90min shows per year. I hear good things.

Vera is shot on location where I live. I've never been able to finish an episode due to the main characters' false and patronising geordie accent. Well, that reason and the melodramatic overacting local yokels.

Maybe...possibly...actually finish a season of Black Sails?


For as much as I romanticize and love traditional pirates, I have never finished 1 season, let alone 4 yet. And I want to, It legit feels like a good solid decently-accurate show. I just haven't yet. Perhaps this time around.

Lilyhammer

It's very cool, and funny albeit sometimes in a too stupid way.
Started watching this series a while ago, but aborted it after a couple of episodes. Today I resumed.

After that, Fargo season 4. The Belgians are broadcasting it since last week. So I'm saving the episodes for later to binge 'm all at once since it's not on Netflix (yet?)

update on this: Linehan has apparently joined a lesbian dating app, claiming to have she/her pronouns and be 29 years old. this is part of...some absurd protest, i guess?

ah goddamn. you made me look:

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/02/2...obia-backlash/

isn't that harassment?

i hope you get to run into him and punch him in the throat.

(reminds me of bernard in black books who's a real asshole. funny but a real asshole.)

^^^^
I think I watched the first episode of that, and even though I thought it was funny, horror is just not my thing. So I aborted, and don't think I'll rewatch any time soon. But have fun :)





Started watching the Travelers yesterday. Didn't expect too much of it, given that it stars the Will from Grace. But it's really good actually.
It's a good story, and he doesn't really look like Will, and most importantly it lacks at least so far dialogues such as these :D