General Television Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

Schneider was there, but yeah, he wasn't on stage. Possibly because he hasn't covered himself in glory in the news lately.

[HC]

Oh man Cameron Monaghan is the Joker on Gotham? I think it's dumb they introduced the character so quickly, but damn that is some great casting.

Granted I haven't watched the show, but it seems like they've blown their wad on villains in the first season. Like who the fuck is season 2 gonna have? Clock Master? Then there's the issue of all these villains being old as shit by the time Batman actually grows up. I feel like their concept would've worked better as just Gotham without Batman period. Not sure what having 11 year old Bruce Wayne running about adds to it.

[Whisper]

Well the villains aren't exactly villains yet for the most part (Penguin aside), nor are they particularly old. Edward Nigma and Penguin are early 20s, Poison Ivy is a kid. I haven't seen the Joker yet as I'm only half way through the season, but I don't think the age of the villains is an issue. Why they've decided to introduce them all this early though I don't know.

It's a shame Gotham hasn't been great so far as I really like Gordon and Bullock. It's by no means as bad as some have made out though, so I'll likely stick with it through to the end of the season.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Whisper in the Wind

[Jimmy]

Got addicted and marathoned Happy Valley. Totally lived up to all of the hype, an excellent TV show which makes the (somewhat) police drama extremely interesting and relevant again. This show deserves to be watched.

[apsham]

Oh man Cameron Monaghan is the Joker on Gotham? I think it's dumb they introduced the character so quickly, but damn that is some great casting.

Granted I haven't watched the show, but it seems like they've blown their wad on villains in the first season. Like who the fuck is season 2 gonna have? Clock Master? Then there's the issue of all these villains being old as shit by the time Batman actually grows up. I feel like their concept would've worked better as just Gotham without Batman period. Not sure what having 11 year old Bruce Wayne running about adds to it.

It really feels like them throwing everything at the screen is an effort to even MAKE it to a second season.

It's just a damn shame. In the comic book thread I found an excited post from YEEEEEEEEEARS ago when this was first rumored and just.. nothing has come of it. I can't even be bothered to watch any more episodes in it.

[Benjamin]

They've already been renewed for a second season.

I've heard that post mid-season break it has increased in quality, but I remember watching the first episode when it came back and it was just cringe-worthy. For the 2 or 3 likable characters, there are about 3 times more characters that are horrible. Same for any elements of the show.

Oh my god, there is an episode coming up called "Red Hood". I guess that's where the Joker is coming in?

[Lineker]

HBO have renewed Last Week Tonight for another two seasons.

[JasonM]

My problem with Gotham is just like everyone else's. They have shot their load on big name characters too quickly, and it has only hurt the progression of the show going into the future, because they will have to tip-toe around the fact they can't just get rid of the established names because fans expect, no they demand that those names are in the series and aren't just killed off...

They would've benefited a lot more in terms of story telling if they had decided on creating a lot more original characters (like Fish) to act as foil to Gordon and the rest of the protagonists.

The best way the show would work is to make it AU where you can diverge from the path. Who knows, maybe this is a universe where Wayne never become The Batman. I mean I don't feel any connection to the Wayne character in Gotham, and the only thing I look forward to is Sean Pertwee's awesome Alfred character.

The problems reared their ugly head with the big ''Gordon killed Penguin'' arc. They wrote themselves into a corner with Major Crimes going after Gordon and arresting him, before giving the big shocker of "Penguin is still alive''. And from then on it just became one huge clusterfuck of suspect writing that made no sense.

Oh Penguin is actually undercover for Falcone, and Penguin knew for a certain that Gordon would not have killed him... Wut? And doesn't news spread fast in the most corrupt PD ever, wouldn't Maroni find out that Penguin is somehow linked with Gordon, who among the bad guys is a Falcone guy...

Oh, and we can't kill Penguin because he's a major plot character, so we're just gonna act like nothing happened and this whole fucking plot about ''Gordon trying to keep him being alive a secret'' useless.

Let's also forget the whole arc where Falcone sics Zsasz after Gordon and shoots up the entire GCPD...

It's writing like that that really turned me off a lot and put the show on a backburner for me rather than a must watch.

The producers have written themselves into such huge corners for the majority of the characters, there is little way for them to go other than ''bad guy of the week'' plots... Or of course they debut another major plot character to make it even harder to write a thrilling plot that doesn't go from cop-out to cop-out...

If they had done it smarter, they'd have started the series with only a handful of ''names'' like Falcone, Gordon, and perhaps Cobblepot thrown in there. And the rest would have to wait for future seasons. The holes you fill up with original characters which give writers a lot of leeway in characterisation and also plot development. And slowly but surely you add in a few names every once in a while.

But eh, their fixation to rather throw in every big name of the Batman franchise will be their undoing in the end. Because they will reach a point (if they haven't reached it already) where they have so many established names they won't be able to write any coherent plot without having to cop-out everytime.

[Berober]

Amazon Orders Full Season Of ‘The Man In The High Castle’, four other shows

Glad to hear that they're making more Man in the High Castle, I really enjoyed the pilot and I'm looking forward to more.

[Colly]

I don't recognise anyone these days, but it's worth it for Paul Robinson.

[Lineker]

Lol soaps aside, the Live week of Eastenders has actually been really well acted.

[Colly]

For anyone who cares enough to watch bit didn't care enough to torrent it years ago, Shameless season 4 starts on More4 on Monday. At 1am. Seriously.

[Avenged Probably]

Thanks to Netflix I'm watching Community for the first time and it's quickly becoming my favourite funny program.

[Benjamin]

I'm about four episodes into the Wire. When does this become so amazingly good you can't stop watching? So far it's only in the "pretty good" territory.

[Benji]

I'd give it til the scene with "come at the King". I finished season one the other week and whilst I still don't think it's amazing, that scene was what turned it from "okay" to "this could be really good".

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

It's right around 4 or 5. The Bunk/McNulty "fuck" is what does it for a lot of people.

[Benjamin]

Modern Family has to be the most uneven comedy on TV right now. One week it'll be tremendous, the next it'll be the utter drizzling shit of shits (like this week).

[GhostMachine]

We've stopped watching Sleepy Hollow. Had the last several episodes DVR'd but never got around to watching them, and we decided to just delete them and stop recording it.

Of the other shows we both watch, Heidi has pretty much given up on Elementary, but I still watch it. She'll go read a book while its on, and only start paying attention if something interesting happens.

[Lint]

Only ever caught a few episodes of Elementary, but what I did see I liked

I know a bunch of people who are into Sleepy Hollow. I dunno...it never caught on with me for some reason. I gave 1/2 of the first season a chance but it struck me as rather blah...

[MalaCloudy Black]

Elementary has fallen into the trap of "murder a week" procedural, but Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller are still fantastic. And despite the murder of the week format there's still some pretty decent character development plots/subplots.