General Television Thread

[MalaCloudy Black]

It's by the guy who co-wrote Chronicle (and created Wrestling Isn't Wrestling) and being co-executive produced by one of the producers who did a lot of work on the Stargate franchise. Joint thing with BBC America and Netflix. The other BBCA originals (Copper, Almost Royal) are fairly good so I'm hoping this will be as well.

[Benjamin]

Son of Zorn isn't the greatest, but it's still a ton of fun so far.

Out of all the returning shows this fall so far, I think Last Man on Earth has been the best so far, though. The writing, the characters, the detail to design and callbacks, it's been amazing so far. And so different from the cringe-inducing show of the first season. I love it.

Also been enjoying No Tomorrow, though it gets a little too CW-y at times.

[GoGo Yubari]

Can already tell that the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend season 2 theme is going to be a massive earworm for me. I'll miss the set-up jokes for the season 1 theme, though.

[Benji]

Does Black-ish get any better? I've watched the first four episodes and whilst it wasn't bad, I don't really feel it's got enough variance to keep my interest. If every other episode is just going to reduce any stories down to "Dre worries his kids aren't black enough" I'll just watch that Fresh Prince episode where Charlton gets accused of being a sell out on repeat.

 

[Benjamin]

I think it gets better based on reviews, but I can't say personally as I tapped out after a few episodes.

The Halloween episode of this season's B99 was fantastic. Jeffords was awesome.

[Benji]

Watching the pilot episode of Westworld at the moment.

Spoiler

Just finished the "Paint It Black" sequence and all I can think is how much it feels "all style and no substance". Really hope it picks up and puts in some actual stakes before the end of the episode because I dunno if I can be bothered with robot murder porn every week.

Also watched the first episode of The Exorcist earlier. Did a pretty good job of setting tone and stage.

[Josh]

2 hours ago, Benji said:

Watching the pilot episode of Westworld at the moment.

  Reveal hidden contents

Just finished the "Paint It Black" sequence and all I can think is how much it feels "all style and no substance". Really hope it picks up and puts in some actual stakes before the end of the episode because I dunno if I can be bothered with robot murder porn every week.

Also watched the first episode of The Exorcist earlier. Did a pretty good job of setting tone and stage.

RE: Westworld

Spoiler

For me, it's a wonderful marriage of both style and substance. Plenty of exploration of existential themes. Plus some one-step-at-a-time plot development, slowly building what the hell this world really is. That said, I can see why you'd have that criticism from just the first episode.

 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Re: Black-ish, the first season starts out kind of "alright" and gets better. I haven't seen any of season 2 or 3 yet but 2 got a lot of good reviews and seems to have, at least, dealt with the issues that the AVClub reviewer had with it.

[Jimmy]

13 hours ago, fhqwhjosh said:

RE: Westworld

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For me, it's a wonderful marriage of both style and substance. Plenty of exploration of existential themes. Plus some one-step-at-a-time plot development, slowly building what the hell this world really is. That said, I can see why you'd have that criticism from just the first episode.

 

It's such a lavish show, and so far for me, is backing it up with substance. As you said, they're drip-feeding you information and that's drawing me in, especially as they continue to explore the depth of the world. I think it's really strong so far, especially considering how long it can take certain shows to warm up, I'm very much invested in the world and what's going on. Doesn't hurt they've populated it with some excellent actors. 

[MDK]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

It's such a lavish show, and so far for me, is backing it up with substance. As you said, they're drip-feeding you information and that's drawing me in, especially as they continue to explore the depth of the world. I think it's really strong so far, especially considering how long it can take certain shows to warm up, I'm very much invested in the world and what's going on. Doesn't hurt they've populated it with some excellent actors. 

Especially Ed Harris. I love that guy, I buy into every role I've seen him in.

[Josh]

Thandie Newton, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and especially Jimmi Simpson have turned in some truly great moments so far as well.

All of the cast has, but I was very pleasantly surprised by those four.

[MalaCloudy Black]

The 2011-2013 Scooby Doo series that aired on Cartoon Network is a mindfuck. First off, it's serialized, second, it's got a lot of tongue-in-cheek gags and references to the old cartoons, and third - Harlan Ellison makes guest appearances in it. You know, the guy who wrote "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" and a ton of other sci-fi novels and short stories.

And lastly,
 

Spoiler

The series ends with the gang unleashing something called the "Evil Entity" upon the world, and the Entity wants to murder Scooby-Doo so he can be reborn as a vessel for him. :|

And it also heavily references things like the Nibiru cataclysm.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Soooo, only 2 more episodes of Vice Principals left and it's alright, won't mind watching another season. I just really like Walton Goggins. He saved it for me. 

[Jimmy]

I really, really enjoyed it. I thought McBride and Goggins had great chemistry and it genuine made me laugh a lot, as well as have me strangely invested in the narrative stuff. It ends on a real high, too. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

I will hopefully find out this weekend! Also:

Why did I just found out that James Franco will be starring in a new tv show?

 

[MDK]

21 hours ago, fhqwhjosh said:

Thandie Newton, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and especially Jimmi Simpson have turned in some truly great moments so far as well.

All of the cast has, but I was very pleasantly surprised by those four.

I can't really think of a bad performance from any major character.

[Josh]

To update my view since seeing last night's episode, I feel very strongly that Westworld will prove to be better than Game of Thrones as an overall series. That's if they can keep up this trajectory, but I feel they can.

[Benji]

10 hours ago, Jimmy said:

I really, really enjoyed it. I thought McBride and Goggins had great chemistry and it genuine made me laugh a lot, as well as have me strangely invested in the narrative stuff. It ends on a real high, too. 

Yeah, it starts slow, gets good, but that finale managed to push it into a genuinely great season for me. Looking forward to seeing the concluding season next year.

[MDK]

"Waiting for God" is such a good Red Dwarf episode. The whole of season one is just brilliant. ALIENS!

[MDK]

The kid in The Strain has become my most hated character ever.