General Television Thread

[Benji]

What the? Josh Homme appeared in Toast of London >_>

[thatshortguy]

Apparently Glee aired its final episode last night. Considering how big it started, I'm amazed that's the first I knew of it, even if it did get really really bad.

Ratings really started dropping even before Cory Monteith's death. There was the initial spike for the episode in tribute to him, but the show was on its last legs well before that. When plans for the last two seasons were announced, I believe Fox shuffled it off to Friday nights.

Hell, Short Girl was all about that Glee, but even she's put off watching the finale just because she doesn't interest her. This is a woman who will slog through a show just to finish it (the only exception being How I Met Your Mother, which she just gave up on halfway through).

[Benji]

I think I gave up part way through season four. I was blatantly hate watching it by the time I stopped.

[GoGo Yubari]

The second-to-last episode is fairly good. It's basically a version of the pilot focusing on the glee club members who aren't Will and (obviously) Finn, and it's especially worth it for Lea Michelle's impressive resurrection of Season 1 Rachel and the section narrated by Tina.

Everything else I basically watched parts of before skipping through, with most of what I saw basically boiling down to "KURT AND BLAINE ARE ENDGAME AND THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS ON THE SHOW, DON'T BELIEVE IT? WELL HERE'S LITERALLY HALF OF THE CAST SAYING THAT KURT AND BLAINE ARE ENDGAME AND THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS ON THE SHOW." The final number is neat in that it brings back almost literally everyone who was ever a member, but I couldn't be bothered to watch basically anything that came before it. It's impressive how completely and totally they tanked that show.

[Thrilla]

A few episodes into season three of Mad Men. Still enjoying it but it doesn't feel like amazing must watch TV or anything, its more just background stuff while I surf the web. Also, for a show that has a lot of sex in it, they never show any and I keep on expecting to see boobs. Also also, apparently there was no such thing as foreplay in the 60s.

[MDK]

What the hell is foreplay? Is it ordering the pizza?

[CobraKaiEnTai]

Its something to do with golf....I think?

[Benjamin]

Oh fuck the fireworks bit on Last Man on Earth was fucking amazing.

[Benji]

Watched Toast of London all the way through at the weekend. I keep wanting to answer my work phone with "yes, I can hear you Clem Fandango".

[Colly]

Someone I used to work with had it on his keyring.

[Noah]

For some reason I just binge read this thread from where I last read it in November(not like I needed sleep or anything ) Most notable thing I read was GoGo and the battle bots revival post. Though the article he linked to had some git in the comments section say that Robot Wars was terrible, so fuck that guy!

[RPS]

The second-to-last episode is fairly good. It's basically a version of the pilot focusing on the glee club members who aren't Will and (obviously) Finn, and it's especially worth it for Lea Michelle's impressive resurrection of Season 1 Rachel and the section narrated by Tina.

Everything else I basically watched parts of before skipping through, with most of what I saw basically boiling down to "KURT AND BLAINE ARE ENDGAME AND THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS ON THE SHOW, DON'T BELIEVE IT? WELL HERE'S LITERALLY HALF OF THE CAST SAYING THAT KURT AND BLAINE ARE ENDGAME AND THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS ON THE SHOW." The final number is neat in that it brings back almost literally everyone who was ever a member, but I couldn't be bothered to watch basically anything that came before it. It's impressive how completely and totally they tanked that show.

I think what happened is that it got too big for it's own good and spiraled out of control. I think had it stayed a modest success, the thing would have never went off the rails and once it did, it just kind of stayed on the crazy path. My niece gave up watching it after season 4 and she was a self professed "gleek". I think going off the rails is par for the course for a Ryan Murphy show, but I think the big success of Glee really enabled him to just take it in really dumb directions.

[apsham]

I watched the first two seasons on my girlfriend's push and I was alright with the first season, but after that and its instant success it went from 'self-aware parody' to 'you guys like this song this week, right?' and the sad, sad rip-off of Jonathan Coulton's version of Baby Got Back just put the nail in the coffin for me ever wanting to touch that again.

[MalaCloudy Black]

[Benjamin]

Look at Cloudy, fishing for likes.

[MalaCloudy Black]

While I'm out fishing, here's a pretty good piece on Uproxx about The US Office's "Diversity Day" episode.

[Benji]

I already posted in the anime thread, but I figured I'd post this in here, despite it technically being film and not TV, because more people will see it, and like me may want to watch them but don't venture into the anime thread very often.

Film4 is Showing (Nearly) Every Studio Ghibli Film
By Gerald Lynch [Gizmodo] on 23 Mar 2015 at 1:30PM

Didn't get the lavish Studio Ghibli Blu-ray box set for Christmas? It's OK, I feel your pain too -- £180 is a lot to drop. If you're pining for some Hayao Miyazaki magic though, Film4 has you covered. Kicking off at 1pm on March 28th with Spirited Away and running through until Sunday 12th April, the channel will be showing practically every feature film the masterful animation studio has produced.

So, with the exception of 2013's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and 2014's When Marnie Was There, you can see all that the boxset has to offer. Considering they're mostly kids films, some of the timings are a but weird (might have to set the Sky+ box to record for the 1.35am showing of Grave of the Fireflies), but the opportunity to see these beautiful films is one that shouldn't be missed.

Got any personal favourite Studio Ghibli films? I've always had a soft spot for the frankly-bizarre Porco Rosso, Hayao Miyazaki's sixth feature film, pictured above. A fighter-pilot pig -man taking on Fascists during the First World War? Yeah, lets see Disney ever make something like that, right?

For the full listings from Film4's Studio Ghibli season, including dates, times and re-runs, hit the source. [Film4]

[Colly]

I need to get on this. What are the must sees? And which ones should I not watch with a three year old or is that not an issue?

Edited March 24, 2015 by Ultra Rare Colly

[Benjamin]

Do not watch Grave of the Fireflies with a kid, unless you want them to see how horrific the world can be. It's probably the second best Ghibli film in my opinion, though.

My personal favorites are:

1. Princess Mononoke
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. Only Yesterday
4. Howl's Moving Castle
5. Spirited Away
6. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
7. Castle in the Sky

Also, it isn't officially a Ghibli film, but it was made by all the same people, so Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is also awesome. There's also the staple ones in My Neighbour Totoro and Porco Rosso that you should watch (I haven't watched Porco Rosso actually, but I have been told that I should ). Just don't watch Tales from Earthsea, the only Ghibli film I've disliked.

Larz and I are doing a watchthrough of it, pretty excited of going through the ones I haven't watched.

[Noah]

Look at Cloudy, fishing for likes.