General Television Thread

[Horus]

Anyone else catch Bates Motel? It seems kind of promising so far, mind you its only two episodes in. Outside of the outstanding directing and of course, Anthony Perkins, I was never a huge fan of Psycho, Norman always came off as too much of a wimp to be considered a serious villain for me, but maybe this show will change that.

[Lint]

So anyone else been watching Vikings on the History Channel? Show is pretty good so far. Was surprised when they showed the Vikings brutally slaughtering and looting an English monastery. Considering these are the guys your supposed to like, to show them attacking unarmed religious figures and villagers was incredible. Plus the action scenes are really well done

[LL!]

What else are they going to show Vikings doing?

[MalaCloudy Black]

Picking flowers.

[Summers]

[Jimmy]

Still need to see the last two house of cards, but I loved it. If I wasn't watching it with my friends I'd have finished it ages ago, because two of us loved binging on it, and another didn't. I'll go into more detail once I've finished.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh Christ, House of Cards. It's just not a show that works.

I don't think I'm going to bother with the last two episodes. It's a dead zone.

[LittleDaniel]

I started watching Californication yesterday. Such adolescent male wish fulfillment, but some of the characters are interesting enough to keep me going so far. Plus, David Duchovny is always wonderful always.

[Josh]

Oh Christ, House of Cards. It's just not a show that works.

I don't think I'm going to bother with the last two episodes. It's a dead zone.

You're a dead zone.

[LittleDaniel]

No you!

[Josh]

But I didn't say anything about you!

[GoGo Yubari]

Sorry, Josh. There are good Shakespeare parallels, but Shakespeare has compelling characters and House of Cards just has people who do things and occasionally it's interesting but usually not really.

[Lineker]

Revolution premieres over here tomorrow night. Worth watching?

[GoGo Yubari]

Not really.

[Your Mom]

I like Revolution. Not sure I get a lot of the dislike for it. I like pretty much everything in that type of genre though so I may not be the best to ask

[Baddar]

Grimm's first episode back was decent, if predictable.

[Cymbols]

I'm looking forward to Revolution. In sad news though, Richard Griffiths (uncle Vernon in Harry Potter) has died

[GoGo Yubari]

Revolution's not a bad show, but I think it's only infrequently actually good and it's been saddled with some awful central characters. That being said, on Monday they...

... killed off Danny, which was very effective and just generally smart because his character was irritating as fuck.

As for House of Cards, I'm reading Todd Vanderwerff's review and he nails why I threw my hands in the air and went "oh, fuck it" at the end of "Chapter Eleven." Quote, and major series spoiler, behind the cut.

"The reason Frank kills Peter isn’t because he needs Peter out of the way or because he’s no longer useful to him or even because he’s tired of people who aren’t as nakedly ambitious as he is, all possibilities the series suggests. No, the reason Frank kills Peter is because this is just something he’s supposed to do as the antihero at the center of a dark drama. This is the thing the Tony Soprano or the Walter White or the Al Swearengen does in the penultimate or antepenultimate episode of the season, the moment of no return that will ultimately undo the character when it’s discovered. The problem here is that when those three characters killed someone, their reasoning was always crystal clear, and we in the audience at once rooted for them to be dastardly, while still hoping they might turn from a dark path. (Only Al really did, but that’s how these shows work.) The episode gives Frank plenty of motivation to kill Peter, but only in the moment. Building up to this moment, there’s been no indication that Frank is as sociopathic as to kill somebody, no matter how deep his thirst for power. The moment doesn’t ruin the character or anything, so much as suggest that all involved didn’t really understand the character to begin with.

It doesn’t help that Russo is by far the most interesting person in this thing. As played by Corey Stoll, he’s another familiar figure from the serialized drama—the man who wants to be good but is done in by his own weaknesses—but Stoll finds the soul and passion in this person. He travels back to his Philadelphia-based Congressional district, and you understand all at once why he went into politics. He spends time with his kids, and you understand all at once both how much he longs to be a good father and how lousy he is at it. And he spends time with his secretary and lover Christina (Kristen Connolly), and you understand that there’s something inside of him that could be great if he’d get out of his own way. Russo’s death could have been a powerful moment from both men, a moment when two ambitions collide and one cancels the other out. Instead, I was left mainly wondering why Frank had killed the best character on the show when he didn’t have a terribly good reason to."

[Your Mom]

Totally agree with both those spoilers. Especially House of Cards

[Benjamin]

Nick Offerman popping and locking on Jimmy Fallon was the greatest thing ever.