[tv show] What TV shows are you watching

[Dos_Box]

Bad news: https://deadline.com/2022/07/night-sky-canceled-prime-video-one-season-1235058505/

 

Haven't started in on it yet. Still worth watching?

 

I know, it's sad news but yes, it's still worth watching just to see the wasted potential.

My big gripe was that, like several shows this past year, the characters don't ask the right questions, or simply don't ask them at all, and they are the questions the audience want either asking, or some answers too. They just left far too much hanging for the next season.

The writers never seem to get that it's fine to have mystery, but you do need to ask questions and sometimes demand answers.

I've no idea where this writing trend came from, but they do need to reel it in a bit.

[Rob_D]

I've no idea where this writing trend came from, but they do need to reel it in a bit.

Most commentators I've seen blame the success of Lost and Fringe for the "mysteries that just keep adding questions" trend, although they're both pretty old now.

[paulkerton]

Most commentators I've seen blame the success of Lost and Fringe for the "mysteries that just keep adding questions" trend, although they're both pretty old now.

[LeMarchand]

Most commentators I've seen blame the success of Lost and Fringe for the "mysteries that just keep adding questions" trend, although they're both pretty old now.

 

I'd agree about Lost, though I found the ending highly emotionally satisfying (Hayfever was even worse than the day I finished Hotel Del Luna*). It was pretty obvious that, without the finale being Dr Marvin Candle presenting slideshows to explain everything for 2 hours, not everything was going to be answered and it was best just to go along for the ride - and what a ride it was! Fringe, oth, did finish things properly (IIRC) though I'd agree that the answers were drip fed.

 

*Just did a YouTube Search for "Lost finale reunions" and just the thumbnails were bad enough!

[mavhc]

Problem is they think of one mystery and try to spread that out as long as possible.

 

Your 100 hour story needs multiple story arcs, multiple reveals, it's not a 2 hour movie. Answer them faster than we expect, not slower.

[Dos_Box]

Most commentators I've seen blame the success of Lost and Fringe for the "mysteries that just keep adding questions" trend, although they're both pretty old now.

 

I never watched Lost but loved every minute of Fringe. What they did in Fringe though was to give you answers, then more questions, which IMO is the way to do it.

And they gave all the answers by the end of the run!

it's like that Apple TV series Invasion. Lots of questions, zero answers and dialogue that has the story participants asking zero questions about the chaos all around them.

The writers clearly have zero experience of the real world or how people interact in critical situations.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Dos_Box

[mikeprice]

Just finished watching every episode of FarScape

 

It has always been something I have intended to watch but only catch random episode every now and again

 

SO I went through the whole lot - helped by the Telly being annexed by Mrs mikeprice during Wimbledon - who knew a bunch of furry critters picking up rubbish could be so interesting

 

Anyway - quite enjoyed it but the last bit was starting to feel a bit over stretched out

 

Still - not bad

 

Now - done BattleStar Gallactica, done Babylon5, done Firefly, done Farscape

 

any suggestion about the next one I should try???

 

As an extra - best so far was Firefly - first few series of B5 were great first time round - look dated now

 

TIA

[LeMarchand]

The Expanse?

 

 

First few eps are kinda slow, hence why it took me a few goes. Currently on S2 and loving it.

 

Apart from that, you seem to have covered most of the quality "space" SF that spring to mind unless you want to Start Trekking. I enjoy all 3 of the nu-Trek shows, but "Strange New Worlds" is probably most traditional. Many aren't keen on the other two.

 

I you want to stay in "genre" but don't mind other categories, "Penny Dreadful" is well worth a look. It's basically a less outré version of the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comics. Only three short seasons with a proper ending. Despite the creator's claim this was always the design, it really feels that towards the end of Season Three they had to drop everything else to fit in the planned ending so the final two eps feel like they should be the final two eps of the fourth season. Trailer probably NSFW.

 

 

If anything "genre" might be of interest there's loads I rate, but some of my favourites haven't ever caught on. If you don't mind moving outside "genre", there's more...

[ICTDirect_Dave]

+1 for The Expanse, a really decent adaptation of the books and really pretty to look at.

 

Not sure which Battlestar you watched. But if it was the original series, then you absolutely must watch the 2003 reimagining. It is quite magnificent!

 

And for something completely different, get on All4 and watch the West Wing.

[mavhc]

The Leftovers.

 

Station 11.

[FlatpackFuture]

I'd agree about Lost, though I found the ending highly emotionally satisfying (Hayfever was even worse than the day I finished Hotel Del Luna*). It was pretty obvious that, without the finale being Dr Marvin Candle presenting slideshows to explain everything for 2 hours, not everything was going to be answered and it was best just to go along for the ride - and what a ride it was! Fringe, oth, did finish things properly (IIRC) though I'd agree that the answers were drip fed.

 

*Just did a YouTube Search for "Lost finale reunions" and just the thumbnails were bad enough!

 

Glad to see someone else appreciate the emotionally cathartic ending of Lost. During the first year of my Lit degree I managed to put up a good argument against most of my class that the show was always a character and emotion driven one, it never really needed to answer everything!

[mavhc]

Glad to see someone else appreciate the emotionally cathartic ending of Lost. During the first year of my Lit degree I managed to put up a good argument against most of my class that the show was always a character and emotion driven one, it never really needed to answer everything!

 

Problem was they did say they'd explain everything, they said they had to lie to get it made.

 

Other problem was everyone guessed the ending so they had to fudge it, and it was too popular so the network didn't want it to end.

 

Still, easily top 10 show of its time

[FlatpackFuture]

Other problem was everyone guessed the ending so they had to fudge it, and it was too popular so the network didn't want it to end.

 

Reminds me of Supernatural in that regard. First 5 seasons were fantastic and the original creator ended it wonderfully, then the network decided to milk it for another decade

[6Foot2]

We are box setting Rig 45: Murder at Sea (Channel 4/All 4)

 

[Koldov]

I can't take Pegg seriously

FTFY!

 

Just finished watching The Boys S3, which is getting better as each season goes on.

 

Also currently watching The Orville: New Horizons, which has been really excellent this season. Really has matured as a product, and isn't just a pastiche of Star Trek TNG anymore, it's become its own thing whilst still being very much a love letter to Gene Roddenberry.

 

I'm also working through Halo, which I think is much better than some of the most vociferous fans of the games have been suggesting. I do love the games and their story, but this is clearly an alternative universe telling, and they're very much in the set up for the main story right now. Also Charlie Murphy is amazing in anything I've seen in her in and is again here.

 

Also, Star Trek : Strange New Worlds - which is again EXCELLENT. Seriously well made and acted.

Doing similar work to The Orville: New Horizons but from a very different angle. Really good cast, and it was an excellent decision to go back to more of a weekly story with season arc plot on top (more like Who) rather than Discovery or Picard doing its long narrative telling.

 

Agree with all of the above... shame my free month of Paramount will run out soon... but at least I finally got through Discovery! Also watching 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'... which is .... OK.

 

I've no idea where this writing trend came from, but they do need to reel it in a bit.

 

The writers clearly have zero experience of the real world or how people interact in critical situations.

 

I think some shows suffer from the 'are we going to get another season?' syndrome... It's got to be written in a way that leaves questions for the next season, trouble is a lot of shows then get cancelled. Big set up for a reveal in season 4 and get cancelled after 3, or just aren't written to be done in one season with a second already written but it never gets filmed.

 

Sometimes it suffers the other way round and the seasons are actually just made up as they go along, so you know there is no real long term story arc (the shows that suffered a while back from the writers strike made me realise that) or although there may be some overarching principles of what the characters should behave like and there may be an ending they are supposed to get to, it isn't like a book adaptation, so there is nobody making sense of how they get there and they have to write the next season saying.... "ok so how do we get character 'A' into situation 'B' with no need to mandate what will happen after because it isn't even written yet... But never mind, I mean it was all a dream... right?

 

I do agree quite strongly with the 'real world' situation comment... (although it has long been a tradition to shout at your telly when something so blatantly obvious is about to happen and everybody except the character can obviously tell). The well established trope 'you MUST trip over if you are being chased in the woods', or never go in a group or 4 or 5 teenagers to a remote house for the holidays etc... are so tired that it makes me mad when big shows use them. There have been so many occasions where pretty much the whole story would be undone if someone just said (or did) that one thing, which in reality most people would actually say (or do) given the situation... Then there is what I call forced jeopardy... such as when there is actually no need for a situation to have happened or for a character to be that situation but it has to (I mean seriously you would NOT go in there... NOBODY would go in there...), because without it the story would be wrapped up in 5 minutes.

 

Not sure I should admit it, but I have a pet hate at the moment where a lot of the shows I'm watching (Voyager, Orville etc.) have characters introduced, or long term characters put into situations, or even have episodes specifically written only to deal with the 'issue' of the day. Most of them appear to be social issues based around gender identity, race, sexual orientation etc.... and whilst I applaud the fact that popular TV should be dealing with such things, it just seems that the writers have been told that X character needs to be Y thing and there needs to be a situation developed in the next episode to address it and have it all wrapped up, explained (to those of us that need such things explaining) and concluded in a PC way showing we can all get along by the end of the show (or it isn't bad to be a certain way, or feel a certain way) all good, noble and laudable endeavours of course... But the characters themselves are often stereotypical and it's all a bit blatantly in your face and unnecessarily created exclusively to highlight the 'issue' and not an integral part of the character's development (imho), it's not what I want to watch escapist, fantasy sci-fi for... well, save that for Eastenders (so I can happily NOT watch it)...

 

I know the characters are supposed to be portraying believable (ish) 'real people' and 'real people' have those sorts of issues I guess, but it has been done (to death) before... Alien race 1 hates alien race 2 and has 'forever' because of what one did to the other, but to complete this mission we have to find common ground.... and they do... and they forget about all the war and hatred that's been festering for millennia (in 50 minutes), because they're not really all 'bad' guys and they didn't think of looking at it from the other's point of view etc...

[LeMarchand]

Not sure I should admit it, but I have a pet hate at the moment where a lot of the shows I'm watching (Voyager, Orville etc.) have characters introduced, or long term characters put into situations, or even have episodes specifically written only to deal with the 'issue' of the day. Most of them appear to be social issues based around gender identity, race, sexual orientation etc.... and whilst I applaud the fact that popular TV should be dealing with such things, it just seems that the writers have been told that X character needs to be Y thing and there needs to be a situation developed in the next episode to address it and have it all wrapped up, explained (to those of us that need such things explaining) and concluded in a PC way showing we can all get along by the end of the show (or it isn't bad to be a certain way, or feel a certain way) all good, noble and laudable endeavours of course... But the characters themselves are often stereotypical and it's all a bit blatantly in your face and unnecessarily created exclusively to highlight the 'issue' and not an integral part of the character's development (imho), it's not what I want to watch escapist, fantasy sci-fi for...

 

Don't go near other boards with that attitude! All Trek shows prior to DIS as well as "The Orville" are shining examples of how "real" SF should be and not "woke" rubbish. If they did feature some "lesson" it was done subtly.

 

 

It is known. Apparently.

[Koldov]

Yeah, I mean it's always been a thing...

 

Maybe I just watched too many one after the other!

[mavhc]

True, Star Trek is not well known for having a racially integrated cast, interracial kissing, anti war messages, gay and trans analogies, rejecting capitalism or any other of that woke stuff

[Koldov]

Bit disappointed in both the latest film (although it was OK for a basic Horror flick) and TV series of Resident Evil.

 

Maybe I'm just missing Milla Jovovich...

[LeMarchand]

Finished Ms. Marvel last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it; it was nice to see a "light and frothy" superhero. Disappointed there weren't more episodes and that Bruno was friend-zoned, but otherwise it was great. Not sure why the moaning about it in some quarters. Yes, it did skew a bit younger (but it was supposed to), could it be more that Ms. Marvel wasn't a WASP?

 

Also started The Umbrella Academy S3. They're going to have to go some to top the "fight" at the beginning.

[Koldov]

Enjoyed Umbrella Academy...

 

Didn't make it to the end of the first episode of Ms Marvel... nothing to do with race/religion/skin colour/gender... it's just I think I've reached a level of 'jaded' that means I can't really watch anything 'made for teens' (obviously I'm not the demographic they are looking to engage with, which is I think both good and bad in equal measure)...

 

Also the latest Spiderman film didn't really do it for me, I can just about deal with that level of trite nonsense when he cameos in the other movies, but a whole film of it wore thin real quick...

[mavhc]

Tuca and Bertie season 3

[LeMarchand]

Watched the time-travel ep of "The Orville" Season 3, which was surprisingly deep. Unfortunately they blew it by pressing the Big Red Reset Button at the end of the episode. Unless Seth has future plans and played his cards close to his chest, but the last I read the future of the show was up in the air for various reasons, and it doesn't seem a very "Orville" thing to do.

 

I am a little worried that Seth might be angling for making the mooted live action "Last Unicorn" as he's used "That's All I've Got to Say" from the animation twice now in "The Orville". The second use makes sense, and Scott Grimes probably does a better job with the song than Jeff Bridges did in the movie, and I can see why Seth might be interested as some of the odd humorous bits (the amorous tree) would be up his alley - but he's not really got a deft enough touch. Plus presumably he'd want to be Schmendrick, so Molly Grue couldn't possibly be someone who's past her prime. Or maybe he'd be Lir, which would mean he gets to get kissy with a beautiful young woman.

[Garacesh]

I watched the first episode of Resident Evil last night.

Not really enough to get a proper bead on it yet, but it looks promising. There's still plenty of ways they could muck it up, sure, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Rob_D]

We started watching From on Scifi last night (not sure how long it's been available, it just popped up in the Sky recommendations and I remember watching the first episode some time ago when AMC had it online for free to promote the show). I'm getting strong Silent Hill vibes, and some hints at an interesting mystery. (and apparently already renewed for a second series).

 

I thought the Orville's future was looking up as Disney+ bought the rights to show it. You've got to think if other Streamers are interested it improves it's chances of not being canned by the network (and there is talk of a succession plan if Seth wants to bail at some point).