TV Shows Thread

[Marlowe]

Homeland is pretty good, although...

Spoiler: show

like The Killing...the story doesn't wrap up at the end of season 1.

That might be a negative for some viewers.

[JeffHCross]

Homeland is pretty good, although...

Spoiler: show

like The Killing...the story doesn't wrap up at the end of season 1.

That might be a negative for some viewers.

... why would that be a problem?

[Marlowe]

it's not...some people are just impatient...bunch of viewers knocked the Killing for that reason.

[JeffHCross]

Sigh.

Spoiler: show

It's called a cliffhanger for a reason, people.

[SmoothPancakes]

Sigh.

Spoiler: show

It's called a cliffhanger for a reason, people.

Those people complaining about the cliffhangers must really hate TV. 24 was notorious for cliffhangers. Same with Dallas and Criminal Minds. CSI: Miami started becoming cliffhanger city from season 4 on, same with CSI and CSI: NY in the later seasons. Torchwood, Lost, NCIS, True Blood, The West Wing, the list goes on and on.

[IBI]

Homeland was incredible. Definitely one of my favorite shows, and if season 2 runs at the same time as Dexter again, that will give me reason enough to subscribe to Showtime for a couple of months.

Just watched what I think were episodes 2 thru 5 of 'Men at Work'. It was a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be. It might have to join my "just for me" shows alongside Burn Notice and Justified.

[IBI]

I'd be interested to hear what your complaints are. I have some of my own, but they are pretty minor outside of the fact that I don't think the creators of the show really know what they want to do with the aliens yet.

Spoiler: show

Falling Skies is too close to safe, network, fluff...at least it was in Season 1. Like I said in a previous post, I like the larger story, but I'm not pleased with all of the forced "touching", yet unbelievable moments that they try to feed us...much like network television does with nearly all of their dramas.

Another thing that bothered me was the idea that there would be any "civilians" left in this society, and the forced conflict between civilians and militarty (in Season 1). Season 2 has done a much better job of making most of these people useful, but the 2nd Mass started out with ~300 people and they only had a couple dozen people that were actually fighting or contributing. The rest of them were just bitching about not being treated well, and causing problems. There were several times in season 1 where a 30 or 40 something year old man was complaining about the fighters. WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A GUN? If you're not fighting, cooking, repairing stuff, etc., then you're just a waste of space, and you're not vital to the survival of the human race.

I think that my main issue is that I'm just too cynical for anything that looks like it's using a template from network television

[JeffHCross]

Good thoughts, IBI

Spoiler: show

though I think, in the event of such a catastrophic event, it would take people time to adjust to the "we're all fighters, now" mentality. I actually thought that was more realistic than the common portrayal. A lot of people would pick up a gun ... but not everyone.

[IBI]

Good thoughts, IBI

Spoiler: show

though I think, in the event of such a catastrophic event, it would take people time to adjust to the "we're all fighters, now" mentality. I actually thought that was more realistic than the common portrayal. A lot of people would pick up a gun ... but not everyone.

Thanks.

Spoiler: show

That's true. I really don't know what the timeline looks like. I know that there was an initial attack, then a second attack. I think that the second attack is what got everyone in the situation that they're in now, but I don't know how far apart they were, or how long it took for the 2nd mass to come together after the second attack. There were some comics on the TNT website, prior to season 1, that gave some of the backstory, but I only made it through 9 or 10 issues before I stopped checking for updates. Maybe there just weren't enough guns to go around. It just pissed me off that they had all these young kids fighting, but you'd have an able bodied man just sitting on the sideline.

I guess it could be similar to the remake of Battlestar Galactica (one of my all-time favorite shows), where they had all these civilians, and limited resources. They eventually trained some fighter pilots and other soldiers, but that show had a ton of issues between the civilians and the military.

[souljahbill]

Well, it's coming back for at least a second season. I was reading last night's rag, there was a small clip back in the entertainment section, Newsroom has been green lit for a second season, after only two episodes. They said despite mixed reviews, it had a healthy audience for it's premiere with over 2.1 million viewers.

Awesome! I'm all-in after 2 episodes. It's an incredibly smart show and everyone talks so fast so you have to stay on top of the dialogue or get lost in the hysteria.

[JeffHCross]

Thanks.

Spoiler: show

That's true. I really don't know what the timeline looks like. I know that there was an initial attack, then a second attack. I think that the second attack is what got everyone in the situation that they're in now, but I don't know how far apart they were, or how long it took for the 2nd mass to come together after the second attack. There were some comics on the TNT website, prior to season 1, that gave some of the backstory, but I only made it through 9 or 10 issues before I stopped checking for updates. Maybe there just weren't enough guns to go around. It just pissed me off that they had all these young kids fighting, but you'd have an able bodied man just sitting on the sideline.

I guess it could be similar to the remake of Battlestar Galactica (one of my all-time favorite shows), where they had all these civilians, and limited resources. They eventually trained some fighter pilots and other soldiers, but that show had a ton of issues between the civilians and the military.

True. I really dislike how little of the backstory they've fleshed out.

Spoiler: show

For example, both Season 1 and Season 2 opened with a kid talking about where he was when the aliens came. Why the hell haven't we seen that day? I was expecting it at some point in Season 1, for goodness sake.

And any comparison to BSG is a good frakkin' one to me

Awesome! I'm all-in after 2 episodes. It's an incredibly smart show and everyone talks so fast so you have to stay on top of the dialogue or get lost in the hysteria.

True of any Aaron Sorkin show. If not for closed captioning, I would never have kept up with half of The West Wing.

[morsdraconis]

Jesus christ. So much to reply to, but here goes!

it's not...some people are just impatient...bunch of viewers knocked the Killing for that reason.

And those viewers were idiots for knocking The Killing and are even dumber for knocking Homeland for it. Most of the vitriol toward the Killing is, unlike British and other European television shows, US television usually tries to milk the hell out of a property, especially if it's popular, thus, the hate toward The Killing because it's based off a Norwegian television show (same basic premise and type of cast from what I understand) but it was all wrapped up in one season and was good to go, unlike The Killing which squeezed two amazing seasons out of the case and looks to be going for a season 3 based on another case (no real information to back this up, just basing it on how US television executives work most of the time).

Homeland was incredible. Definitely one of my favorite shows, and if season 2 runs at the same time as Dexter again, that will give me reason enough to subscribe to Showtime for a couple of months.

Homeland is AMAZING. I'm TOTALLY blown away by how good it is. I can't wait for it to come back. I'm anxiously awaiting it's return.

I've been wanting to check out Homeland for a while. Damn not having HBO and Showtime. Miss out on all the good shows and have to hope they show up on Netflix or something or get a chance to preview them before putting the money down for the Blu-ray or DVD sets.

That's why pirating stuff is good. I just don't care anymore. I don't have the time to keep track of when the hell this shit comes on TV anymore and I definitely don't have the cash to spend on getting HBO and Showtime to watch these shows, thus, I pirate the hell out of them.

That said, there are ways to watch these shows streaming online (like, this website). Not sure if it has everything you're looking for, but it certainly does a pretty good job covering most things that I would watch if I wasn't just straight up pirating them.

Spoiler: show

Falling Skies is too close to safe, network, fluff...at least it was in Season 1. Like I said in a previous post, I like the larger story, but I'm not pleased with all of the forced "touching", yet unbelievable moments that they try to feed us...much like network television does with nearly all of their dramas.

Another thing that bothered me was the idea that there would be any "civilians" left in this society, and the forced conflict between civilians and militarty (in Season 1). Season 2 has done a much better job of making most of these people useful, but the 2nd Mass started out with ~300 people and they only had a couple dozen people that were actually fighting or contributing. The rest of them were just bitching about not being treated well, and causing problems. There were several times in season 1 where a 30 or 40 something year old man was complaining about the fighters. WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A GUN? If you're not fighting, cooking, repairing stuff, etc., then you're just a waste of space, and you're not vital to the survival of the human race.

I think that my main issue is that I'm just too cynical for anything that looks like it's using a template from network television

Good thoughts, IBI

Spoiler: show

though I think, in the event of such a catastrophic event, it would take people time to adjust to the "we're all fighters, now" mentality. I actually thought that was more realistic than the common portrayal. A lot of people would pick up a gun ... but not everyone.

Thanks.

Spoiler: show

That's true. I really don't know what the timeline looks like. I know that there was an initial attack, then a second attack. I think that the second attack is what got everyone in the situation that they're in now, but I don't know how far apart they were, or how long it took for the 2nd mass to come together after the second attack. There were some comics on the TNT website, prior to season 1, that gave some of the backstory, but I only made it through 9 or 10 issues before I stopped checking for updates. Maybe there just weren't enough guns to go around. It just pissed me off that they had all these young kids fighting, but you'd have an able bodied man just sitting on the sideline.

I guess it could be similar to the remake of Battlestar Galactica (one of my all-time favorite shows), where they had all these civilians, and limited resources. They eventually trained some fighter pilots and other soldiers, but that show had a ton of issues between the civilians and the military.

True. I really dislike how little of the backstory they've fleshed out.

Spoiler: show

For example, both Season 1 and Season 2 opened with a kid talking about where he was when the aliens came. Why the hell haven't we seen that day? I was expecting it at some point in Season 1, for goodness sake.

And any comparison to BSG is a good frakkin' one to me

Spoiler: show

Ah, ok. I agree. There are definitely some problems and it definitely seems like a safe network show, but, unfortunately, that's TNT programming for you. Pretty much everything on TNT and safe television. That said, it's probably one of the best science fiction based television shows on TV at the moment and I have to support it in hopes that something else better will come along all the while hoping that the writers have grown a set and actually do something ballsy with the show this season, otherwise, I'll probably give up at the end of this season.

Awesome! I'm all-in after 2 episodes. It's an incredibly smart show and everyone talks so fast so you have to stay on top of the dialogue or get lost in the hysteria.

True of any Aaron Sorkin show. If not for closed captioning, I would never have kept up with half of The West Wing.

Spoiler: show

It's one of the things I have a problem with in The Newsroom. It makes sense for the characters in The West Wing to talk fast and be able to talk themselves out of situations; they do it for a living. The characters in The Newsroom shouldn't be able to do it as well as they do. Everything is so fast paced it feels like there isn't time to breathe sometimes. I get part of it is portraying how it can be in a newsroom sometimes, but it's all hyper-real to the point that it feels forced sometimes.

That said, after episode 2, I'm enjoying the hell out of the show still, but I hear that episode 4 is a real stinker but, we'll see.


Speaking of The West Wing, I started watching it after The Newsroom just completely blew me away and, needless to say, I have a new 7 season show to watch now and it's blowing me away just as The Newsroom did.

[SmoothPancakes]

Speaking of The West Wing, I started watching it after The Newsroom just completely blew me away and, needless to say, I have a new 7 season show to watch now and it's blowing me away just as The Newsroom did.

Yep, I love The West Wing. I watched most of it on TV when each new episode came out, my parents got me hooked on it, and watched it all the way through. The latter years get a little "meh", not as great of quality as the first 4 or 5 seasons, with the Bartlet administration winding down and the new election and the whole new administration coming in, old administration going out transfer process, but overall it was still an outstanding series.

[JeffHCross]

Speaking of The West Wing, I started watching it after The Newsroom just completely blew me away and, needless to say, I have a new 7 season show to watch now and it's blowing me away just as The Newsroom did.

You know, our discussion about Claudia Black in the I'd Hit It thread caused me to restart the entire Farscape series. I swear, if you get me to restart the entire West Wing series (again), I might have to kill you.

That said, it is, by far, some of the greatest TV ever.

the whole new administration coming in

Spoiler: show

Seriously, this is a spoiler, if you're in the middle of watching West Wing (mors), don't read this:

Spoiler: show

Until Obama was elected and, y'know, suddenly the show looking freaking prescient. Oh, and Jimmy Smits's "live" campaign commercial was one of the greatest moments of the show.

[SmoothPancakes]

You know, our discussion about Claudia Black in the I'd Hit It thread caused me to restart the entire Farscape series. I swear, if you get me to restart the entire West Wing series (again), I might have to kill you.

That said, it is, by far, some of the greatest TV ever.

Spoiler: show

Seriously, this is a spoiler, if you're in the middle of watching West Wing (mors), don't read this:

Spoiler: show

Until Obama was elected and, y'know, suddenly the show looking freaking prescient. Oh, and Jimmy Smits's "live" campaign commercial was one of the greatest moments of the show.

Spoiler: show

Yeah, it definitely did then when Obama was elected. And I agree completely, that "live" commercial was definitely in the top 5 greatest moments throughout the entire length of the show for me. Granted, it sort of plateaued for many when Aaron Sorkin left after the fourth season, which the show did change, especially with the contracts of many of the regulars running out in the couple of seasons after. I still enjoyed the later seasons between watching the Santos campaign and because I've always enjoyed watching Alan Alda ever since M*A*S*H, so between Jimmy Smits and the Santos campaign, and Alan Alda in there as Arnold Vinick, I still enjoyed those later seasons.

[morsdraconis]

You know, our discussion about Claudia Black in the I'd Hit It thread caused me to restart the entire Farscape series. I swear, if you get me to restart the entire West Wing series (again), I might have to kill you.

You're welcome.

I've been SO tempted SEVERAL times to go back and watch it again, but I just recently did so about 6 or 7 months ago so it's a bit too early to do so again. That said, if it wasn't for new TV (and The West Wing), I'd probably go back and watch Stargate: SG1 and Atlantis again as it's been several years since I last watched them all.


Also, I REALLY hate that I ended up reading that spoiler anyway because I quoted your post.

[JeffHCross]

Also, I REALLY hate that I ended up reading that spoiler anyway because I quoted your post.

You'll live. It's pretty obvious over the course of the season anyway. The writers claimed it wasn't, but .... I still don't believe them.

[souljahbill]

I watched 4 episodes of HBO's show Veep this evening (HBO Go on the Xbox is pretty damn sweet). The show has some genuine LOL moments.

Quick premise: The chick from Seinfield is the VP of the US. Every episode, either she or someone on her staff fucks up (sometimes both), and they spend the rest of the show fixing it.

[JBHuskers]

I watched 4 episodes of HBO's show Veep this evening (HBO Go on the Xbox is pretty damn sweet). The show has some genuine LOL moments.

Quick premise: The chick from Seinfield is the VP of the US. Every episode, either she or someone on her staff fucks up (sometimes both), and they spend the rest of the show fixing it.

I downloaded a couple episodes of Veep, mainly cuz I have the hots for Anna Chlumsky haven't checked it out yet though.

[souljahbill]

I watched 4 episodes of HBO's show Veep this evening (HBO Go on the Xbox is pretty damn sweet). The show has some genuine LOL moments.

Quick premise: The chick from Seinfield is the VP of the US. Every episode, either she or someone on her staff fucks up (sometimes both), and they spend the rest of the show fixing it.

Watching episode 7 (of 8) now. This shit is legitimately funny.