Random TV Show Thoughts

[SensEye]

Well, that's not the same as saying both sides are terrible. I don't think that's true, or at least, I don't think they're equally terrible.

Finally got around to watching the Jon Stewart monolog that has the left so fired up. He nailed, and the truth hurts I guess. And that's why all the hue and cry.

I note that I said both sides are incompetent and unfit to lead, one can infer I am saying their both terrible, but it's not quite the same. Trump is actually evil/dangerous, Biden is just useless. There is a difference, and I would agree another Biden term will be more of an embarrassment for the US than dangerous. Although, four more years of a void of decisive leadership will have negative consequences, but Biden (or more accurately whomever makes policy for him) will not burn the world down. It's just they are unlikely to put out any fires.

None of that is an excuse though. If Trump is the monster he is made out to be (and probably is), the Democratic party has a responsibility to insure he is defeated. Biden is a poor candidate for that task. Ideally, enough criticism will be launched that they figure it out. November is a long ways away, Biden should simply withdraw his candidacy. He won't, so he should be shown the door. Stewart is basically pointing that out, and I could not agree more.

 

[The Cat]

What amazingly fun commercials....And now back to our shows...

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I just discovered Kevin Can F--K Himself and I love the way the show (so far) seems to show what it's like living in an abusive relationship with a narcissist.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I've been wondering, why did 90s sitcom say, *insert celebrity name" as "character name" completely randomly? I'd get it if it was the main character, but like I was watching Blossom and they say, "Ted Wass" as Nick Russo when the dad was the least interesting character on the show. I wondered if Wass was some big star back then, but I did a little research and he hasn't had many roles. The same happened with Michelle on Full House when the Olsens were becoming popular, but yeah, putting her at the end of the theme song in the last season after all the newer characters and having that "as Michelle" just felt so odd to me. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but yeah.

He was probably seen as potential up-and-coming star at the time and was able to have his agent negotiate his name to be featured prominently in any promotional/advertisement material.

In any case, I don't remember him being a big name star, but that was probably his hope at the time, lest he simply be remembered as random 90s sitcom dad (which is probably how he's largely remembered now )

Sitcom/TV politics are a funny thing. It's even possible the show was originally written to be more dad-focused, but maybe test audiences really loved Blossom so the show was shifted to make her the focus. Something similar happened with Family Matters and Reginald Veljohnson. He was originally intended to be that show's star and it would be a working class African American version of Full House, but that was changed very early on and now he is mostly remembered as that guy from Die Hard that always plays cops and the dad from the show starring Urkel.

I mean it almost happened with Seinfeld, but the other characters were funny and well-written enough to prevent it from morphing into the Kramer show. But it easily could've gone that direction had there been a weaker cast

 

[The Cat]

It was very much a business of who you know.

 

[Totenkindly]

There are contractual obligations in films too, with "as [so and so]," but you usually see it with big-name stars whose agents have insisted their name take on prominence outside of the regular cast list. (My understanding is for films they can dicker as far as the point size of how their name is displayed and how long, in their contracts.) Usually it's more substantiated for films, i.e., they are actual well-known actors; when it happens on TV, not so much sometimes. Plus, as noted, shows are ongoing and their direction(s) can change over time in terms of which characters are prominent based on viewer response; films are just one-shot, it's put out and that's that.

 

[Totenkindly]

So I have watched two episodes of One Day on Netflix now.

I haven't read the book, but I did see the film and know the basic story setup. I think the constraints of a film format made it difficult to connect with the characters as well, although I very much enjoy Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess (he's kind of a guy I would fall for, I just was swept away by him in Cloud Atlas too) and wish it had been more effective.

The show takes more of a chance, I'm not really familiar with either lead, but their character portrayals in term seem very distinct and not quite things I've seen before and they are growing on me. Their portrayals also feel more distinct than the film.

I got kind of teary at the end of e2 and i'm not sure why. Neither character shared a scene with the other, it was tracking their lives in parallel and I guess the similarity is both are searching and doing things that align with who they are, yet both seem unhappy on some fundamental level. The one lifeline they seem to have is each other, we see that despite not being a couple, they are very fond of each other and are "intimate" in a non-physical way. I could call it a growing love of some kind.

I don't really identify with either of them as personality types -- Emma is standoff-ish, a bit shy, more opinionated or at least having preferences, she has a stronger feel for what she wants in life and is able to say no, while Dex is more extroverted and easy-going, elusive, dabbling, but despite his playboyish veneer and seeming like everything is always right with the world, he's kind of elusive and fragile (like how he dances around questions from his mother, and when he tangentially starts to open up, she ridicules him in good humor, and he immediately pulls back, he's so good at pretending to be his veneer that no one really knows who he actually is) -- but the thing is I identify with them both as human beings and empathize with them both. They feel very real to me.

I am interested in seeing if the show can keep this going and paint them in even more realistic hues and shades.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The one that always makes me cringe is when any show or movie is advertised as being "from the minds that brought you....". It just seems kind of pretentious and presumptuous and it's no guarantee the new thing is going to be as good.

Like everyone's raving that Fallout is from the creator of the Westworld show, which I turned off halfway through the first season. Still want to see Fallout but I actually don't care who is making it and I'm a little nervous it's from the creator of a show that was a turnoff for me. But I'll give it a go because maybe that was just a fluke and I'll love their work on this one.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

What if movie studios and streaming services ran ads against competing studios' movies and shows, in the same vein as political attack ads. "Blumhouse says they support the slasher genre, but Halloween Ends paints a different portrait." "This director is up for an oscar, but did you know he was seen working with Pauly Shore? He was even quoted as saying Pauly Shore was the greatest comedic mind of the nineties. Is this really the person you want directing the films your children are exposed to? Can we really trust him?'

 

[Totenkindly]

Like everyone's raving that Fallout is from the creator of the Westworld show, which I turned off halfway through the first season. Still want to see Fallout but I actually don't care who is making it and I'm a little nervous it's from the creator of a show that was a turnoff for me. But I'll give it a go because maybe that was just a fluke and I'll love their work on this one.

Yeah, I mean I happen to think Season 1 of Westworld was sublime and it was downhill from there (to the degree I no longer really trust Lisa Joy for sure -- her film Reminiscence sucked too -- and Jonathan Nolan in part by connection, which is a shame because stuff he wrote for Chris is in my "best films ever" pile), but I know what you mean by being leery of products from people you've had a bad experience with in the past.

Still, yeah, it sounds like a very different property and what didn't work for Westworld might work for Fallout. I don't like Red vs Blue from Rooster Teeth, for example, but some of the same folks and that group went on to make RWBY, which I adore.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The one that always makes me cringe is when any show or movie is advertised as being "from the minds that brought you....". It just seems kind of pretentious and presumptuous and it's no guarantee the new thing is going to be as good.

Like everyone's raving that Fallout is from the creator of the Westworld show, which I turned off halfway through the first season. Still want to see Fallout but I actually don't care who is making it and I'm a little nervous it's from the creator of a show that was a turnoff for me. But I'll give it a go because maybe that was just a fluke and I'll love their work on this one.

I agree with you about the main point, even if I liked Westworld overall.

I have not seen the fourth season and have no interest in jumping the hoops required to do so at this particular moment (Thank you, Zazlav).

I enjoyed about half of the third season. Anything having to do with Dolores Prime or Caleb worked for me. I also liked the overarching theme of these sinister tech billionaires subtly controlling everyone via AI for the good of humanity. (This hits harder now than it did when it aired; I think this part is astonishingly possible, but that's another topic) Everything else? Not so much.

Westworld also had a killer soundtrack consisting of popular music remixed into a more orchestral "classical" format. I love it when people do this kind of thing; when they a well-known song and then rework it into another genre altogether.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

 

[The Cat]

When Londo is first faced with the personal consequences of his deal with the shadows. Peter Jurasik really nails the horror in the revelation.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

@Saturnal Snowqueen

apparently ted wass quit acting and transitioned into being a TV director after blossom ended. He was also the protagonist in the 1984 George Burns film Oh God, You Devil. Saw his name because I was reading a wikipedia article about Burns (don't ask me why), remembered seeing your post

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

@Saturnal Snowqueen

apparently ted wass quit acting and transitioned into being a TV director after blossom ended. He was also the protagonist in the 1984 George Burns film Oh God, You Devil. Saw his name because I was reading a wikipedia article about Burns (don't ask me why), remembered seeing your post

Burns was also in Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is probably the worst movie musical of all time.

 

[Totenkindly]

Burns was also in Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is probably the worst movie musical of all time.

worse than Spice World?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

worse than Spice World?

I've seen parts of Spice World, and it seemed to hit what it was aiming at it. I think the goofiness in that movie was intentional. In Sgt. Peppers, one of the villains is Mr. Mustard. Because Star Wars came out the year before, he has a retinue of bewigged C-3PO-like robot henchmen called "the Computerettes." The Get Back sequence is also stunning. Musically, it's probably the best thing in the whole movie, which is fitting since it's sung by Billy Preston who actually worked with the Beatles.

You also get the visual of Billy Preston jumping out of the Sgt. Pepper weather vane and swinging around on wires, zapping magic lasers. A laser brings Strawberry Fields back to life. Also, all the bad guys (which include punk rockers, I guess) are turned into priests and nuns via magic laser, which I guess is supposed to mean that they're good guys now . The burger Mr. Mustard placed on the town gazebo (don't ask, the only thing I can figure out is a connection with mustard) is thankfully removed.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

So I have watched two episodes of One Day on Netflix now.

I haven't read the book, but I did see the film and know the basic story setup. I think the constraints of a film format made it difficult to connect with the characters as well, although I very much enjoy Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess (he's kind of a guy I would fall for, I just was swept away by him in Cloud Atlas too) and wish it had been more effective...

So I've finished 8 episodes (of the 14) and I think this is just a stellar written and acted series, with cast members I've never really heard of.

I really can't recall the film version that well, I think it was too much crammed into too short a run time... and despite my liking Sturgess in general, I think he wasn't necessarily a good cast for the part of Dex, he doesn't feel like that bundle of contradictions, maybe even too nice. I don't recall how I felt seeing Hathaway as Emma, aside from her accent issues. I don't feel like the film ever allowed me to really connect well with the characters.

It's pretty different with this version. One is the time factor, you've got somewhere in the ballpark of 7 hours to cover the book content (instead of 2); and the other is simply performances by Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall that (1) seem as best as I can tell to reflect more of the book personalities and (2) are just stellar performances, with solid writing underneath, that are fascinating even not knowing the book. It all feels very real, they both feel like actual people, and their interactions reflect the actual mess of real life.

It is also a classic introvert vs extrovert kind of approach as per the show, with Emma really pulled back and internalized, cautious, considering her next moves, commenting sardonically; where Dexter feels more emotional and living vicariously, diving into things headfirst. Both of their excesses threaten to derail their life success, which kind of explains why they are attracted to each other on some level and yet sometimes the sparks of conflict really fly. (Note they are not really together as a couple for much of this story.)

AS I mentioned before, I think their main similarity is that both actually have a fragility of sorts -- I find Dexter's easier to recognize because he is so overt sometimes, when his life goes to shit it's obvious to everyone, while Emma protects her carefully. But they kind of recognize it in each other, and thus find a safe space (some of the time) in each other as well.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Kevin Can Fuck Himself needed a third, possibly a fourth season.

Although they did a decent job of wrapping it up in 2 seasons, I feel I barely got time to learn about some of these characters. I also hoped for more flashbacks to Allison's life, in particular her mother and early part of her marriage to Kevin. I also wanted to see more of other characters transitioning from "sitcom" world to "drama" world. We see that shift with Patty and later Neil. Might have been nice to see more of that with Kevin's dad and others who were part of Kevin's sitcom moments.

finally seeing Kevin enter "the drama world" in the finale was great and we'd been building to that moment the entire series, but then it's over after a brief exchange. It was nice to see Kevin as Allison sees him--no lovable doofus, just as a manipulative abuser. Eric Peterson did great, he looks like a sitcom husband, and yet there's also an unsettling quality there.

Would have liked another season of this show, with the boundary between the sitcom and dramatic worlds toyed with and broken down even more in a third season. Oh well

One thing this show had going for it was a solid cast that all did a great job juggling between comedy and drama. True, a lot of it came down to editing, lighting and camera work, but still..