General Television Thread

[Benjamin]

I actually like Stephen Amell. I agree that he doesn't nail the charming playboy stuff but I think it's believable that he doesn't.

And man, The Shield is quite good. Someday I'm going to rewatch it. I think it'll probably end up being one of the more underrated '00s dramas because it doesn't have the Instant Classic status (rightfully) bestowed upon the likes of The Sopranos, The Wire, and Mad Men.

It fucking should. There's no better cop drama than The Shield.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Except The Wire.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, sorry. The Wire beats the shit out of The Shield.

[Summers]

Spartacus talk..

The end shot, end of the credits, was right. Andy Whitfield. The finale was.. brutal. This whole season has been brutal, the things we saw the Romans do - for the first time in the entire series, maybe ever for a TV show, really shocked me. And made me uncomfortable. It's horrible, really. From the start, we knew how this story ended.. but you want something different. You want to see Spartacus win. You don't want to see those evil Roman bastards win after everything they did. But you knew that's what happened.. always knew. Gannicus' ending was gutwrenching for me particularly. I was looking forward to the show ending, in a way. I don't feel the show ever really kept it's quality without Whitfield. McIntyre tried, and I grew to him in the role eventually, but it wasn't the same. Now though, I'm a little sad it's gone. A large part of that is just the manner of the ending, though.

[livid]

True that. It gets better. Still not on par with my hopes for a Green Arrow TV show, but it's getting there.

I just can't help but think "Why didn't you cast Justin Hartley instead of this plank of wood with abs, though?".

As much as I liked Hartley in the role, I'm glad they just didn't retread what Smallville already did. Like GoGo said, him not being the millionaire playboy works for their version of the character and Amell is good at playing this character. That said, we're supposed to be getting a glimpse of Oliver pre-Island so I imagine that will probably check the boxes you're looking for.

Stick with the series though because it gets a lot better. But again, they tweak the mythology to suit their version of the show so don't freak out the first time something isn't like it was in the comics, etc.

Also, Netflix =/= Amazon so Zombieland's shitty budget has no relation to Arrested Devleopment.

[TKz]

Eh, I haven't read the comics (I seriously can't get into DC outside of the Batfamily, no matter how fucking hard I try), so my comparison is more with Smallville's version, which was just way more fun. I dunno, maybe he's much better later on, but the glimpses of him pre-Island all seem a bit forced. I guess my big problem is that not a single thing grabbed me in the pilot. The little twist at the end seemed convoluted, Amell didn't really impress me, the character seemed a lot less fun than his Smallville reincarnation, which is what I was hoping for. I wanted fun, the gritty approach didn't really allow itself to have any. I mean it's better than The Cape, but that's a pretty hollow compliment.

[Lint]

Would it help if you heard Amell does most of his own stunts?

[apsham]

Couldn't get into The Wire for the life of me and was kind of put off the idea of keeping with it since a friend at school told me that - for him - it started out good and fast paced but then kind of dropped off in later seasons. The Shield on the other hand, always had something going on and was just fuckin' awesome.

[Josh]

Your friend at school was wrong.

[GoGo Yubari]

I don't know if I've ever seen someone say that The Wire "starts fast paced."

[GoGo Yubari]

Hannibal is so fucking good. It breaks my heart that it's on NBC. It should be on HBO or Showtime.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Yeah, I just watched the newest episode this morning. Love it. It's a brilliant show. Also, re: The Wire, your friend has it backwards and is wrong. It starts off a bit slow in the first season, picks up steam at the end, and then from seasons 2-5 there's rarely a lull. It's got its weaker seasons (if you ask me, season 3 as a whole is the weakest) but it's easily one of the best shows of the past 10 years.

[Benji]

Does anyone know where I can view the full Netflix UK catalogue without signing up to the bastarding service?

[Ant]

http://netflixukcompletelist.blogspot.co.uk/

http://uk.istreamguide.com/

Bates Motel is awesome. I dunno if i should but i feel sorry for Norman.

[GoGo Yubari]

Watching Robot Combat League, four episodes in. Episode four is probably one of my favorite hours of TV this year thusfar. Perfectly edited, great fight.

[Josh]

Well, Jesus, that's high praise.

[GoGo Yubari]

I mean, it's not good in the same way that Mad Men is good, obviously. But it's a show that knows exactly what it is and delivered absolutely huge on that promise.

[Your Mom]

RCL is amazing! I say it is Mad Men good.

[Benjamin]

Eh, I got bored after the second episode.

[buck...]

http://youtu.be/v_7Zc7PuAVU

With lower production quality than most porn, this is bound to be a hit.

That is one of like eight pilots. One of which that has John Goodman in it.