What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Shellhead wrote:

RobertB wrote: @Shellhead - If you're talking about Gods of the Arena, I read that it was put together on relatively short notice to give the actor who played Spartacus some time to deal with cancer. Unfortunately, he passed away.

No, in my head canon, Gods of the Arena is Season 0 because it takes place before Season 1. Season 2 (Vengeance) is after the gladiators escape and start a rebellion. Gods of the Arena was fine, but the show moved away from what I enjoyed during season 2.

I loved Spartacus! It started as a guilty pleasure that I came to feel less and less guilty about.

I agree with Shellhead that the (historically necessary) turn it took in Seasons 2 & 3 made it a different show and somewhat less enjoyable, but overall I still thought it was great. In fact, I've been contemplating rewatching the whole thing, even though there are still a ton of shows out there that I've yet to watch.

The best part about Gods of the Arena is that you get Gannicus, my favorite character on the show.

I saw all seasons of Spartacus at Goodwill.

And while I have Netflix and can watch it anytime I like, I bought the first season and left everything else on the shelf.

To me, after watching the entire series years ago, the only bit you need is season 1. Everything else, by comparison, is not worth the time.

Also, I finished the first season of Dragon Prince on Netflix.

This is a pretty good show. Some of the characters are cookie cutter, but it satisfies the itch I have to see a magical fantasy show.

The spells being cast are creative and give you a sense that effort was put into it rather than just ripping off D&D wizard spells for material.

I hate how each episode is 20+ mins and you only get 9 episodes for first season.

Colorcrayons wrote: Also, I finished the first season of Dragon Prince on Netflix.

This is a pretty good show. Some of the characters are cookie cutter, but it satisfies the itch I have to see a magical fantasy show.

The spells being cast are creative and give you a sense that effort was put into it rather than just ripping off D&D wizard spells for material.

I hate how each episode is 20+ mins and you only get 9 episodes for first season.

I enjoyed it, too. I can’t really explain why when I talk to people about it. I just did.

I just re-watched all five seasons of Chuck. Sure, it can be goofy and dumb. And yes, you can see where the show hits some rough patches because it was on the bubble, so you see these amazing finales smack dab in the middle of seasons three and four. But there were moments when I laughed out loud, audibly cheered, or even briefly ugly cried. So there's that. It also has a lot of fan service, but incredibly satisfying fan service.

And this image, which I missed the first time around. The burned out employee Jeff who has been sleeping in his van with the engine running, turns off his van at night on doctor's orders and is transformed into an intelligent, ethical person, who is seen here reading Flowers for Algernon.

Chuck was a huge favorite for our family. Probably wouldn’t hold up that well now, but at some point I’ll probably give it a spin again.

I wanted to add something to my earlier comment about the Better Call Saul montages, to say that I love many of them... the one the other day showing Kim and Jimmy’s split-screen life was absolutely brilliant. It’s more that they can sometimes feel like a crutch, or belabor an episode. For example, some of the ones with Mike, where they might take 10 minutes to show him taking a car apart. Yes, it’s meditative and shows you his meticulous nature, but still a bit much. And I think the last episode had something like three musical montages. Sure, show don’t tell... but for TV, sometimes also tell.

Terrific depth on some of these characters, though. And when it’s done, watching Breaking Bad again seems like a must.

Gregarius wrote:

ChristopherMD wrote: For live tv I bought one of these and get all the basic channels. Paid for itself years ago.

www.amazon.com/Mohu-Paper-thin-Reversibl...pop_d_yo_pop_d_pd_t2

Yep, that's what I use.

Just ordered one of these pups from Amazon. I got the opportunity to try out a cheap antenna at the house and pulled in 48 channels. So this should sweep up everything in the area, and fit flat against the wall behind the TV. Thanks for the tip gents!

Started watching American Vandal on Netflix this afternoon and just kept watching. WOW. If you’re like me, 5 minutes in you’ll be like har har, okay, whatever, and be tempted to bail... But don’t. By the end you may be doing a standing ovation in your living room.

Broad strokes are that it’s a true crime mockumentary, a la Serial, Making a Murderer, etc., about who spray-painted dicks on the teachers’ cars in a high school parking lot. But it always takes itself seriously, and even with its absurd premise and perfect satire, it ends up being an excellent and pretty authentic feeling chronicle of high school culture. And unlike actual true crime documentaries, where you often forgive some narrative blather and fluff because you’re fascinated by the thing actually having happened, in this case, knowing it’s fake, the story needs to be crafted in a way that you are genuinely compelled to know its resolution. And it succeeds, big time. I’d even call it powerful in the way it comes together and concludes.

Season 2 released recently with a different story, so I’ll be on that soon to see if it compares. But Season 1 is a definite winner.

Season 1 of American Vandal is a triumph. So I was naturally excited about season 2. I turned it off after 2 minutes. Soooo gross. I don’t need that.

hotseatgames wrote: Season 1 of American Vandal is a triumph. So I was naturally excited about season 2. I turned it off after 2 minutes. Soooo gross. I don’t need that.

Yeah, I watched the intro to season 2 before writing my post last night and had a similar feeling.

But...

Isn’t it the same essential thing as people’s reaction to season 1’s intro? I know some people who turned it off after five minutes like I almost did, because it seemed so juvenile, and you thought you had seen all that it was in those few minutes. So this is an even bigger challenge. And yet, now I have some confidence in the creators (and some review blurbs of season 2, saying it’s better than 1) to push me forward. And yeah, I have serious doubts that it could be even half as good. But man, if they can pull an amazing series off again out of that premise?? That would be something. I’ll let you know in a couple days.

Dragon Prince

Created by Aaron Ehasz, a writer for Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Justin Richmond, the director from the Uncharted 3 video game.

Like Avatar, this show is aimed squarely at kids in the 11 to 15 age bracket and must be approached with that in mind. There are burp jokes and fart jokes and a cute dog like creature as a sidekick. The dialog sounds like kids of the present day sound even though this is in some mystical realm. And naturally, the job of saving the world falls upon the shoulders of these young people.

That being said, the story takes many unexpected paths and the characters are surprisingly deep with relatable motives that are sometimes more mature than the target audience.

I love the Warrior Aunt who is mute and possibly deaf and talks in sign language. She is fierce and intimidating and no nonsense. When she finds Rayla, the elf assassin, who she sees as an enemy, she just kicks the shit out of her. As it should be but in other shows the young hero might have defeated or come close to defeating her in a fight. That the writers went the correct but harder way was really cool.

I love Claudia, the young sorceress who is completely lacking in social skills. It's great to see how her brain operates on a different level than everyone else. I still can't figure out if she is more good than evil. Or evil at all.

I loved the Monster Hunter in the village. A nothing character who really comes to life even though he is only briefly in one episode.

Not all the humor is bathroom humor and while I didn't derive any belly laughs I was amused by the banter back and forth between the characters. They are all likeable and unique except for the sickly sweet youngest member of the team, who, much like Ang in Airbender, is very saccharine and innocent and then in inexplicable wise.

If I have a gripe, it's that the animation is sometimes very cheap and seeing that one of the creators is from the video game industry I am not surprised. Much of the animation has that "cut scene" vibe. I suppose they've got a budget to consider so I understand it.

Overall, I liked it a great deal. I recommend it. And I look forward to season 2

The children of the vizier, Claudia and... Umm I forgot... The son who trains the main protagonist, are interesting.

On the one hand, I see them as imbecilic followers of their fathers orders, as when commander gren was imprisoned immediately after the mute aunt leaves.

They don't seem to question any of the moral turpitude that their father shows by promising one thing then breaking that promise a mere moment later.

But then when the father explains the mission to each child separately, you see their own moral crossroads in following their father's gaslighting orders.

So it is very uncertain what alignment these kids are. Which makes sense since kids are fluid as they grow, but there are somethings like the above that really strain my willingness to suspend my disbelief.

Speaking of warrior aunt, I like how they use legit sign language. I believe it is American Sign Language they are using, as I recognize several signs from my time as a habilitation aide for developmentally disabled adults.

What is frustrating, however, is their lack of translating such into subtitles. Outside of commander gren translating for us, we only have context and other body language to rely on. Given that she is so stoic, they do a good job at portraying the subtle variations in her emotions. But the few brief scenes where sign language is predominant on the screen is difficult to translate.

I really like the show, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

They set the tone themselves for high expectations, and they need to fulfill them.

Regardless, I am eagerly awaiting season 2.

So that scene is from American Vandals, huh... A co-worker tried to pass that off as authentic and the little I saw was enough to piss me off as a. it clearly was not and b. not having any context and being a parent I have a hard time finding a reason for that being created...

Only prep I got was “you gotta see this”. Nope, I don’t...

BillyBobThwarton wrote: So that scene is from American Vandals, huh... A co-worker tried to pass that off as authentic and the little I saw was enough to piss me off as a. it clearly was not and b. not having any context and being a parent I have a hard time finding a reason for that being created...

Only prep I got was “you gotta see this”. Nope, I don’t...

Fine, don’t. And I might have thought the same. But, having seen it... a) It’s obviously satire. Very well done satire, to the extent of feeling real, or at least as real as most true crime docs. But still very clearly satire. And b) It’s actually about something. Even something substantial. To tie into a discussion on the Root review, spray-painted dicks is the setting, but not the theme.