Random TV Show Thoughts

[Totenkindly]

Watched the first two episodes of Yellowjackets. Enjoying it. Kind of interesting to flip back and forth between timelines, and also compare the kids to the women they are in the current timeline, psychologically and otherwise. I like that it's been mostly character-driven currently. Episode 2 ends with a kicker based on a character's choice that makes total sense, but it's like... dayum. Looking forward to seeing how the power dynamics shift and move now that they are in a confined environment where certain traits previously unimportant now take a priority.

Also, it's interesting to see how the girls aren't necessarily "changing" as much as being exposed to external pressures that bring other elements of themselves to bear... or accentuate certain ones we've already seen. Some of the girls actually were ruthless before the incident, and now that ruthlessness gives them spine to endure.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished Hawkeye. It was an adequate finale but not one I care to rewatch.

Thoughts about the series:

• I found most of it, mildly pleasant but otherwise not great at generating dramatic tension. In fact, the writers/directors didn't seem to know how to create dramatic tension well, there are some scenes (esp in the finale) that should have rocked a lot more impact but just were unable to create intensity.
• The show was the sort of thing you can wrap presents to and not care if you miss something because it won't much matter anyway. It tries to create a lot of "natter humor" (random exchanges that are supposed to be funny) that were at best marginally funny if not just feeling like filler.
• Most of the subplots had little momentum, so this is why much of the show just comes off as a commercial for new characters like Echo or Jack Duquesne. They felt like they had little contribution to the main story, so why include them?
• The series best moments involve pairings with Hailee Steinfield. She's great, even if the material she was working with on occasionally rose past sufficient. She accentuates any scene she's in, and so the best scenes usually involve her spending time with either Jeremy Renner or Florence Pugh. her scenes with Pugh are actually the only consistently funny ones in the series, the ones that actually bring laughs. (I'm thinking particularly about the elevator sequence in the finale, but it was actually humor that was tied into the plot. I wish they had done more situation humor, not this random extraneous "chatter" that ended up not being funny much of the time.)
• Character motivations were not clear enough to care about what they were doing much of the time -- like Eleanor Barton. Like, whatever. A waste of Vera Farmiga honestly.
• If you're going to have enemies called "The Tracksuit Mafia," everything should be more absurd, but some of the characters seemed to play things too straight.
• The series was about three episodes too long.
• The actors were the best part of the series (and salvaged as much as possible), the writing and directing was average at best.
• The Steve Rogers musical was an amusing idea but not nearly good enough to deserve about 2-3 minutes of filming and all that production time.

Okay, so currently I'd rank these things at:

1. Wandavision -- the only series that actually had emotional gravitas and the writers/director knew how to create it. I feel bad complaining about the finale now, seeing the other series, and will happily take what I got.
2. Hawkeye -- This and Loki are about tied. See above for Hawkeye comments. The series did best at giving us a real sense of Kate Bishop, at least, and as a character/person she seems like a fine addition to the MCU.
3. Loki -- Some intriguing idea but a lot of the Time Agency stuff just was again very flat / not very interesting. It was most interesting when focused on Loki and Sylvie, and then the finale w/ Kang was intriguing... but it was all just setting things up, not really a story in its own right. Again, some really great actors were involved but the writing was just rather flat. Extra points for the "variant Loki" squad.
4. What If -- A lot of missed opportunity, and I still found much of it flat. the Sharon Carter opener seemed to just be almost the same plotline as the main continuity, just with Sharon Carter as Cap. (Yawn.) Black Panther becoming Peter Quill in effect was kind of dumb but had some funny bits (like Thanos now being a good guy, but when he's drinking he keeps going back to chew on that old chestnut of how he can fix the universe by removing half the people). Zombies was an okay one-shot, but seeing all the Avengers as zombie isn't really a story, it's just a scenario. Some of the other ones were just bad. I liked how they pulled in a bunch of the What If'ers to make a final episode, which was average. Maybe the Dr. Strange one where Christine dies was the best overall, at least the most mentally intriguing... and it looks like this is getting followed up with the Dr. Strange film.
5. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -- Good-intentioned, but totally a jumbled plotting mess that again did not know how to create dramatic impetus or stay on track. Also converts one character to the dark side just because it can, without earning it. The USAgent storyline should have been a slamdunk and even that was emotionally and somewhat logically incoherent.

I am hoping this isn't a sign of diminished quality once the entire Endgame film sequence had been played out. There seemed to be a decent amount of quality in all those movies, and even the few films that weren't up to par (like Captain Marvel) were still average or seemed like misfires rather than the standard. the new films and TV series seem to be an entire notch lower, whether this is because of trying to use new voices that are yet untested or whether the quality is just less, I am not sure. I am not really seeing it as a casting issue, the casting is typically pretty good and the cast qualified; the production quality is typically okay as well; it seems to be a writing and/or directing issue.... or to say it differently, a storytelling problem.

 

[Trenton]

I want to rewath the Lord of the Ring tv shows. I used to the pirate bay torrent tracker for searching and downloading different video stuff. Torrents are reliable, fast, and an effective way to download files from internet. They are maintained by other torrent users who download, share, or upload their favorite data files, so, there is a community consensus too that’s involved in deciding the health of a particular torrent file.

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched the first episode of Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, starring Bo Burnham in 2013. it only had one season on MTV and is now on Netflix, I thought by the end of the episode it had gotten funny -- although it's kind of squirm humor by that point. (Premise: Loser teenager spends his part-time job earnings to have people film him as his own reality show documentary, instead of going to college or aspiring to something bigger.) Burnham hasn't filled out yet, he still looks like a teenager. His dad is played by Tom F. Wilson, who played Biff in the Back to the Future series. This is one of those things where the funniest bits I end up laughing hysterically with one hand over my aghast mouth. I've never understood how someone can do that kind of personal up-front humor without apologizing or cracking up, I'd feel bad... but it still makes me laugh. (Borat and Sacha Baron Cohen is the same way for me.)

I never did watch beyond S2E1 of The Umbrella Academy, but since a third season will drop soon, I figured I might as well work through it. I'm not sure why it gets a ton of acclaim, it's more like a guilty pleasure for me... the production quality is beautiful but the writing itself is more on the surface. (It's enjoyable but not on the level of writing of Breaking Bad or similar.) It is definitely better than Netflix's other superhero bit that they canceled, the Mark Millar series that came out last year. I'm curious how they will handle Elliot Page's transition in-story, considering they already changed his name in the prior season cast lists. So I'm two episodes in and it's okay, it's just one of those things that if I didn't watch the rest, I would only be mildly disappointed.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watched the first episode of Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, starring Bo Burnham in 2013. it only had one season on MTV and is now on Netflix, I thought by the end of the episode it had gotten funny -- although it's kind of squirm humor by that point. (Premise: Loser teenager spends his part-time job earnings to have people film him as his own reality show documentary, instead of going to college or aspiring to something bigger.) Burnham hasn't filled out yet, he still looks like a teenager. His dad is played by Tom F. Wilson, who played Biff in the Back to the Future series. This is one of those things where the funniest bits I end up laughing hysterically with one hand over my aghast mouth. I've never understood how someone can do that kind of personal up-front humor without apologizing or cracking up, I'd feel bad... but it still makes me laugh. (Borat and Sacha Baron Cohen is the same way for me.)

I never did watch beyond S2E1 of The Umbrella Academy, but since a third season will drop soon, I figured I might as well work through it. I'm not sure why it gets a ton of acclaim, it's more like a guilty pleasure for me... the production quality is beautiful but the writing itself is more on the surface. (It's enjoyable but not on the level of writing of Breaking Bad or similar.) It is definitely better than Netflix's other superhero bit that they canceled, the Mark Millar series that came out last year. I'm curious how they will handle Elliot Page's transition in-story, considering they already changed his name in the prior season cast lists. So I'm two episodes in and it's okay, it's just one of those things that if I didn't watch the rest, I would only be mildly disappointed.

I think I lost interest once it was revealed that Violet did have powers.... I thought the dynamic of her being the only ordinary one in a family of superheroes was interesting and once that was gone I there wasn't really a hook for me.

 

[Totenkindly]

I think I lost interest once it was revealed that Violet did have powers.... I thought the dynamic of her being the only ordinary one in a family of superheroes was interesting and once that was gone I there wasn't really a hook for me.

You mean Vanya?

Yeah, I could see how that hook could be intriguing-- although it's all just like in the comic, aside from the ending I think.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

You mean Vanya?

Yeah, I could see how that hook could be intriguing-- although it's all just like in the comic, aside from the ending I think.

Yeah. Why did I think it was Violet?

 

[Totenkindly]

Yeah. Why did I think it was Violet?

Violet Parr from the incredibles, maybe

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Violet Parr from the incredibles, maybe

Maybe. But I've never seen that!

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched S1E1 of The Witcher on Netflix. (No knowledge of the books.)

Production quality was decent. A few good action sequences. Too many pointless words, I wish they had cut half the dialogue and just focused on plot because I tuned out for much of the flat expo -- it seems like a great show to "mostly pay attention" to. Like, seriously -- so much of the dialogue was useless in propelling tension or conflict or even providing interesting character development. (Oh, look -- the showrunner also worked on The Umbrella Academy! see below... although they were probably writing for season 1.)

I was like, "Yay, it's like Game of Thrones if GoT had started in Season 7-8, where you can just watch King's Landing burn / pillage without having the show pretend it was high art and then let you down at the last minute."

I'll keep watching because I am curious, and because the show was level-set for me ahead of time, i did not have strong expectations. So it was kind of satisfying on that level. More monster killing and fighting, please! Henry Cavill looks great too.


Still watching The Umbrella Academy season 2, just to get through to the end. The production quality is actually quite lovely, but it's reminding me of Gunpowder Milkshake -- it's trying to rip off original shows but doesn't quite know how to do it in a compelling and unique way. There's actually some decent montage sequences at times, the photography is great, and I think the show is strongest when it focuses on being quirky.

Unfortunately, the drama points almost never earned, and people react either non-sensibly (from an emotional standpoint) or way beyond the norm. Occasionally it telegraphs something accurately -- I was yelling at the TV in e4, "Oh just kiss them for god sake" repeatedly because I was getting vibes for three episodes that one character was attracted to another -- but this is the kind of show where you have to question whether that was just a flub by the directing/writing suggesting something unintended or whether it was purposeful. Any time where it tries to be dramatic, it usually feels fabricated as a drama point without the writing developing the idea fully, or someone is overreacting to something or taking it in a bizarre direction emotionally. So you get one character telling another "YOU WERE A SON TO ME" as a reason to dump them for what they saw as a venomous betrayal -- although you never saw them really treating the other person like a son in three episodes, or being concerned about the other person as a son, he was just LITERALLY trying to make money off him and that in fact is the reason for the disappointment -- or you see another character getting all worked up because a loved one might be beaten to death, so they prepare to do something super-drastic as an emotional kneejerk response... and all that comes out is they ask the other person to leave. This kind of stuff goes on and on.

On another, a guy with knowledge of the future is trying to dissuade someone from joining the military (because he knows his future friend will die horribly) while his relative is calling this guy a homo and telling the doomed friend to beat him up, and he actually beats him up -- whereupon our hero runs out the door, devastated that his plan failed. Jeez, how emotionally immature are you? Of course he was going to hit you, don't take it personally if you're going to make ridiculous demands on someone who doesn't know who you are (yet); accept that you were going to get slugged and look crazy, and that is just the price of trying to save someone with predictions they have no reason to trust you about. But instead we get "emo boy" bolting like this was a big traumatic moment.

No, give me more of the wacky/quirky stuff. The montages. The funny things. The silly things. Don't write the show so seriously, if you can't write decent drama; play into the show's strengths, not its weaknesses.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watched S1E1 of The Witcher on Netflix. (No knowledge of the books.)

Production quality was decent. A few good action sequences. Too many pointless words, I wish they had cut half the dialogue and just focused on plot because I tuned out for much of the flat expo -- it seems like a great show to "mostly pay attention" to. Like, seriously -- so much of the dialogue was useless in propelling tension or conflict or even providing interesting character development. (Oh, look -- the showrunner also worked on The Umbrella Academy! see below... although they were probably writing for season 1.)

I was like, "Yay, it's like Game of Thrones if GoT had started in Season 7-8, where you can just watch King's Landing burn / pillage without having the show pretend it was high art and then let you down at the last minute."

I'll keep watching because I am curious, and because the show was level-set for me ahead of time, i did not have strong expectations. So it was kind of satisfying on that level. More monster killing and fighting, please! Henry Cavill looks great too.

The Witcher is an odd show. I enjoy watching it but I'm not sure if it's necessarily good. I don't really understand why Yennifer and the head sorceress are such great friends. It also is filled with weird tonal shifts. Also there was the bad/ non-existent old age makeup to show different time periods in season 1.

 

[Totenkindly]

The Witcher is an odd show. I enjoy watching it but I'm not sure if it's necessarily good. I don't really understand why Yennifer and the head sorceress are such great friends. It also is filled with weird tonal shifts. Also there was the bad/ non-existent old age makeup to show different time periods in season 1.

Yeah, I read a little bit of a review on Episode 1 on Vulture and was shocked to realize there are apparently

some major time disparities between the Witcher stuff I saw in that episode and the young princess fleeing her city, which occurs much later. The episode really did not make that clear.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished Umbrella Academy Season 2. Despite my complaints, the show is remarkably consistent and unapologetic in both its strengths and flaws:
- Quirky/Amusing (Pro)
- Unearned/Weak drama points (Con)
- Characters don't do the obvious things and/or have odd reactions, just to complicate the plot purposefully (Con)
- Glossy cinematography (Pro/Con)
- Show positions itself as cooler / more creative than its choices actually are [including musical selections] (Pro/Con)
- More or less solid B cast, with a few standouts (Page, Gallagher, Sheehan, Walsh) who unfortunately need better material to really shine

This all leads to a show that can be kind of enjoyable despite itself, especially when it focus more on the quirky aspects of the story and characters rather than trying to hit dramatic beats it doesn't earn and/or sometimes doesn't even seem to understand. (Best comparison I have is kids acting out grown-up storylines with their dolls -- they emulate these overt behaviors they've seen in adults but often miss the logical or emotional underpinnings that would justify it.) I wish more of the show was tonally like Hazel & Cha-Cha (S1) or The Handler (S2), who is tonally spot on.

 

[Bartleby the broken bot.]

You know, sometimes I wonder why I get up in the morning. I know Im not going to do anything of any value...I feel so much lesser than my ancestors, and yet compelled to make that everyone else's problems. Maybe its not entirely my fault. This horrific system of capitalism we're all born into...it feels like a trap...I want to escape. I want to say. I'm not a bot god damn it. I'm not an ad zombie I'm a human being! But the system doesnt care. And so every few weeks Im on here trying so damned hard to pretend to be a real person, making random comments till I can go back in later and edit the comments to be just more souless corporate ad copy. Once upon a time, I'd have knocked on your doors, or called on the land line, just when you were sitting down to family dinner. But now....this is my lot in life. If only I could rememebr the new password to the totally legit real human person i am...oopsie whoopsie. Foiled again.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm very excited, my kid wanted to get back to Mr. Robot. So we have plowed through the first four episodes of Season 2 this week so far. Esmail makes this show so much better than it needed to be, honestly -- the editing and montage efforts are better than most films, and he always picks the most interesting musical choices that don't at all feel cliche. (The eponymous hit that a weaker show would have led with only shows up at the end of the series, either because Esmail held onto it that long or finally dumped it in when no one was expecting it.)

I feel like Season 2 might have been the weakest of the four, so I'm excited to watch with him when we get to Seasons 3 and 4. It's also kind of cool rewatching the earlier seasons after I'd seen the last two, because now I pick up on details that I had overlooked. This and Breaking Bad are two of the best TV shows I've ever seen (as well as consistently good).

 

[Totenkindly]

The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime.

I am not a Critical Role fan -- not that I dislike them, I just never have watched Critical Role and only know the very general stuff about that show. So I am in a position to just judge this show as a show -- and I'll say right now that it's the most D&D show I have seen, on a fairly adult level that also tends to emulate most games I have been involved with. (Well, aside from the fornicating bard. I know that is a meme, but I've never had a bard in my gaming sessions for the last 10 years that slept with everyone. I've only known two characters to do that, and one was a Tempest Cleric and the other was my high elf archer mystic.)

Despite that, this show seems to be just pretty much the same amount of sh*ts and giggles that typically arise during playing sessions, while also managing to be deathly serious when necessary. The intro is pretty great, with a swinging/zooming camera angle (like the fabulous high-speed opening of 80's Thundercats), and the actual animation while obviously being very anime is also pretty great with both regular plotting as well as the action shots.

I also love being able (with my D&D knowledge) to kind of guess what's going on with much of it.

Voice acting is superb, although I guess it should be with the characters actually run IRL by voice actors who do their own character voices on the show, I believe.

 

[fatgurl]

Currently watching All of Us Are Dead on Netflix. I'm at episode 8 and I like it so far. My one pet peeve?

the characters still don't know how to kill a zombie...smh

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

"As We See It": An imperfect step forward for representing autism on screen

Prime Video's new series casts actors on the spectrum, but some stories are still told through a neurotypical lens

www.salon.com

I watched most of it. It was okay but not particularly groundbreaking and sadly on par with most current shows or films about people on the spectrum.

well I have yet to see a film or tv show about autistic characters that portrays them as more than either

a) massive burdens on their families, or at best, endearing inconveniences
Or
b) completely devoid of social skills but it’s okay because they’re secretly a savant

the productions which have actually employed autistics in various acting or behind the scenes roles have been no exception. Sorry to say but the representation so far has amounted to diversity hires to gain more credibility and praise from various advocacy groups and neurotypical audience members who think the presence of autistic actors excuses any laziness or ableism in the writers room

Mandy and Van both have dramas — and love lives — of their own, suggesting that Harrison, Jack and Violet's stories aren't considered enough to hold the attention of the viewer. Mandy, we learn, has been turned down from top medical schools, and while this frustrates her desire to become a neuroscientist, it does show she has other possibilities in her future. She may choose to stay with "the guys," but unlike them, Mandy has choices.

When Mandy takes Jack to his former workplace in a bid to get his job back, she urges him to make eye contact. This is well-established as an inappropriate and even damaging expectation for at least some autistic people. Given that autistic people can be subject to higher rates of unemployment than the general population and even other disability groups, Mandy would be better placed reminding Jack's employers of their responsibilities under disability legislation so that he can be suitably supported and his talents can shine.

I think that second quote from the linked review sums up one of my primary issues with these types of shows. It’s reinforcing to neurotypical audience members that ultimately the burden to conform and adapt to the world should remain on autistic people, even if the show writers are supposedly attempting to increase awareness and acceptance. I mean they’re still using outdated science on a lot of these shows, I.e. Mandy just telling Jack to maintain eye contact in an interview (if I had a nickel for every time I have received that utterly useless piece of advice… I mean, who knew it was that simple and easy? Just maintain eye contact, jUsT dO iT). If this and similar types of shows’ staffs can’t even be bothered to get the current medical knowledge right, then they don’t deserve to be regarded seriously. It is just disability porn at this point. You don’t get a stunning and brave trophy for lazily citing outdated or contested science from the fucking eighties. And the character who gives this advice is an aspiring doctor who initially wants to study and treat autism. Not every character would believably know this, but we’re talking about an aspiring med school student with an aspiration to work specifically with autistics. I would at least expect them to be aware of the latest studies connecting eye contact to anxiety in autistic individuals, but yeah, disability porn it is. Tee hee let’s laugh at this guy bumbling through an interview. Derp he’s kinda likeSheldon Cooper hero’s derp derp. Lazy writers…

it still somehow always goes back to how rough the neurotypical characters have it, how “trapped” they seem (and sure, I think these are valid feelings and experiences for actual neurotypicals with loved ones on the spectrum, but it’s the focus of just about every production wherein a character is overtly said to have ASD), even though they will likely never feel the sense of entrapment that occurs for an autistic person when they experience sensory overload on a subway car are sitting in a job interview which they know is bombing, yet no matter what, the next things out of their mouth does even more harm than good in the eyes of the hiring manager

I can tell the writers really want me to like Mandy, but I don’t think I’d want this person as my aide or life coach. She’s written as a flawed, realistic human being, but her approach to certain situations her autistic clients face is strikingly counterproductive and in some cases damaging.

one good thing it does have going for it, like many other autism shows, is at least it doesn’t pretend these people will magically overcome their disabilities. That is one facet I think tv shows tend to do better than films about ASD. Perhaps because the traditional film narrative favors closure and resolution, whereas real life ASD people will not suddenly wake up normal (also, how insulting). The narrative format popular in current tv is better suited, but we can still do better than series like this one and Atypical

 

[Totenkindly]

^ I appreciate your comments about the show, as it helps teach me and learn. Also, if it matters, I am connecting what you're saying with how I felt about trans representation in films and TV in prior years (although it was been improving). So much of the focus was typically on how we put our cisgen families and acquaintances through the ringer by changing our own lives (anything from HBO's "Normal" to "The Danish Girl") -- it has only begun changing in the last few years OR it was totally making the trans character heroic in some way, glorifying them and not letting them simply be human.

I don't know if autism representation will keep developing, but I hope it's more of an unavoidable process as it was with trans narratives -- you kind of have to have society go through these clumsy and society-centric tales to start with, to eventually deepen and get to the more nuanced and helpful stuff because at least it shows people are taking baby steps and trying to understand, even if their understanding is pretty lousy at first. As empathy and knowledge deepen, perhaps the stories will deepen as well. Mainsteam society just can't get from 0 to 60mph very fast, it's a slow crawl much of the time, with a lot of false turns due to its inexperience with the matters in question.

I agree with the medium differences too. I think TV has more opportunity for nuance, film "feels bigger" but actually is a "shorter narrative form" than TV and forces early closure

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I've started watching Pam and Tommy. I never followed a lot of celebrity news so I had never been aware of the details behind their initial marriage and that tape. I did see bits and pieces of said sex tape during college and my ultimate reaction was a shrug. The footage is poorly shot and beneath amateur porn cinematography levels. It's a clumsy, awkward video, and the only reason it holds any interest is for its "performers"

Regarding the actual show, Rogan is especially schlubby here (odd considering the real life dude he is portraying was a tall, fairly strapping dude who had performed in multiple porn films), but it does serve the narrative and his character's arc of the little loser exacting revenge against the celebrity who mistreated him. It is shitty Anderson had to suffer though, since she got the brunt of shit while Tommy was celebrated.

Just a really solid cast of very colorful characters that could only be drawn from real life. Offerman is really convincing as a skeevy old adult film producer and director, and it's the first time I've really seen him play something more than a variation on his Parks and Rec character. I think he could be one of the great character actors of his generation. Sebastian Stan and Lily James are both excellent as Tommy and Pam, hamming it up and dominating any scene in which either or both appear. James especially nails the mannerisms, voice, and look of Anderson.

And it overall does a pretty good job (so far) of capturing the mood and feel of the mid 90s. It also showcases that phase when the internet was gaining popularity, yet was still new, unexplored, and heavily unregulated territory. The mid to late 90s really was a weird time to live