The TV Series discussion thread

[Dez]

Did anyone watch Designated Survivor? I like Kiefer Sutherland but so far it's been pretty bad - poor acting (or at least poor casting - his wife is particularly awful) and unbelievable character reaction to world events etc. I'm not sure how the president is getting away without being under pressure to call an election at some point, for example, although there's a very long list of problems like that. It feels like a missed opportunity, because the basic premise is actually fairly decent.

Well it seemed promissing, but after few episodes, I began noticing how rotten it was… Poor acting and unbelivable plot development have been mentioned here for a reason. There is no subtlety or nuance to be found here. Like for instance there are so many overdone cutesy daddy-loves-mommy and mommy-loves-daddy-and-her-little-girl scenes. There is no grayness in the characters either. There are just bad guys and good guys. If I wanted that, i'd rather rewatch Air Force one than endure this.

Designated survior is just so mind-numbingly unchallenging. I really struggle to find anything positive to say about this. The series surely opens with a bang, but goes away with a whimper.

I think the problem is that the show doesn't really know what it wants to be. Its all over the place. Part of it wants to be some kind of idealist west wing type political drama series while they are also writing some kind of 24h / homeland type spy series. However the writing is nowhere near West wing quality and it lacks nuance and depth to be taken a serious drama. Then again its not belivable or gripping enough to work as a homeland / 24h type series.

If you dig political drama, well I recommand House of Cards. Kevin spacey as crooked President Underwood is much more fun to watch than Kiefer Sutherland as the most noble President Kirkman.

 

[vurt]

1. It would. Wouldn't if they knew there is someone else in the trailer. Check with a RL policeman.

2. Actually in reality, lynch mobs are easy to organize, all you need is an ignorant audience. What logic exactly do you seek? Mass hysteria is not sci fi. For more details, check history examples. The case of Emmett Till, 1955., will suffice.

3. And again you're using Hollywood blueprints as a counterargument, not RL. And again I'm telling you the world simply doesn't work like Hollywood. I'm not suggesting you should join a gang for a year or two to experience stuff from inside. Policemen are not supermen, they're still humans. With weaknesses.

I agree on your last sentence. Don't continue. It's a product that doesn't meet your taste, and that's okay.

1) they knew someone was in the trailer, they just didn't know there were two. A meeting of two murderers? The risk is immense here She was also a key person to the investigation, it's vital for the police to keep her alive at all cost, trusting not one but two murderers? c'mon..

2) I find it very hard to believe that you can organize a group of killers within a few minutes time, just to save someones company, this is not the only solution to the problem here, the risk is immense.

I do agree that even Policemen makes faults, it's natural, but these mistakes are a bit over the top and too Hollywood for me. Mistakes is actually what drives a show like this, but they have to be at least somewhat believable. Anyways, it was a good suggestion, i do like the genre.

 

[joxer]

1. You have a convicted murderer who is obviously not responsible in the new case. You need a confession from a suspect. Best case scenario? Things didn't go exactly as planned? Yea… no backup plan for such case, say a prayer or something and hope it goes well. In a case someone gets hurt, you can always "kiss it better", noone will know.

2. No body, no murder weapon, no nothing = no risk. It's the only solution. At least in their ignorant heads.

I have to disagree, sorry. Yes, there are moments in series that are obviously taken from Hollywood, that's the reason this can't get 10/10 from me, but can't agree on those you listed.

 

[vurt]

That scenario would have been stopped the minute it does not go as planned, it's how the police works under normal circumstances, they don't risk lives to left and right When he walked into the trailer, the Police didnt stop it, when he made them unable to listen in, they didn't stop it.

Sorry but this was too stupid for me because it does not make the least sense. Believe it or not but the Police have huge responsibilities, they can't just do whatever they feel like. A stupid plan and an outcome like this, the officer in charge would have lost his job on the spot, possibly facing several very serious charges as well.

Knocking out a police officer instead of killing her, when doing a crime that would put everyone in this lynch mob in prison for MANY years? A dedicated lynch mob would never take a risk like that, someone in the group would have killed her, but instead everyone happened to be a complete moron, not very likely. This is where i turned off.

 

[wolfing]

Watching season 2 of Sense8 in Netflix. Just learned it was cancelled too. I like the premise of the show and will surely watch to the end, but for such an expensive show (it's basically 8 people that can show in 8 different parts of the world so lots of expenses), they shouldn't have gone so strongly with the LGBT message. Even I, who's as liberal as it can be, think it was too much in several episodes. The problem is that an expensive show can only be sustained when lots of people watch it, so you shouldn't alienate a big chunk of the viewership. Having gay and transexual characters is just fine, having 3 minute 'multi-sexual' orgy scenes in many episodes is not wise.

 

[NewDArt]

Band of Brothers 8.5/10

Another thing I've been putting off forever, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. Excellent in pretty much every way.

Except, and I'm not sure this was on purpose or not - I didn't really like too many of the characters. In fact, I found the majority of them unpleasant or annoying.

Also, I can't help feel a couple of them were a bit over-glorified through tall tales of old comrades in arms. Reversely for the couple of really nasty characters. But who knows.

They seemed within the realm of the plausible all the same - so I can't really complain.

Another thing I missed was a bit more from the perspective of the Germans. There were hints here and there - but such a long show could have been better served by a more multi-faceted approach, but I guess the whole concept was about this particular Band. But I think there were enough battle scenes to cut some of the US stuff and let us have a look at the German side.

Beyond that, it was everything I wanted it to be in terms of the nature of war and how I imagine it must be to be a part of it. A 10 hour long version of Saving Private Ryan - which is more or less what I expected.

I also especially enjoyed the aftermath episodes where the focus shifted from battle to what happens to soldiers when there's no war going on. The setting of Southern Germany and Austria served as a magnificant contrast that suited the psychological issues perfectly. All that beauty surrounding you is much worse when what's inside of you is nothing but dark and horrific.

Highly recommended - though I guess pretty much everyone except me has already seen this one.

 

[joxer]

A fantasy timewaster aimed at low IQ audience, Beyond has one redeeming feature.

First to say, you've all seen Jennifer Lawrence performances when she's in the mood. Or didn't? Okay, then you've seen Melissa Leo performances, I mean cmon she steals the show with her performance in Frozen River masterpiece and Wayward Pines without her would be plain rubbish.

What "superstars of acting" do is adding a small move, a small gesture to enrich every scene where possible. Even if a movie/series suck, just those scenes make spending your time not feeling as wasted.

Back to talking about trash series Beyond, where you won't see any name with skills among cast.
You'll find everything you can expect in this show inspired by the worst titles from cw, cliche after cliche, bad acting, cheap effects and silly moments even chaos theory wouldn't be able to explain.
Although you'll see a mention of onscreen main pair chemistry in imdb user reviews, honestly there is no such thing. It's all junk worth watching only with friends over beer where it doesn't matter what's on the screen as you're discussing completely different stuff.

And then, here and there, rarely as it's a support role, protagonists's brother enters the screen and does exactly what I was talking about. Having fun with a stare, a smile, a touch, an earmove… Okay not that, but I hope you got my point.
I've never seen this guy before, his name is Jonathan Whitesell. Don't know where he was hiding all this time, never saw him anywhere else, but I know why he was casted for not much minutes in a show.

It's bloody modern Hollywood. This guy is IMO borderline ugly plus he's not a gym addict, who cares about his skills!
It makes me sad that because of his nonplasticsurgery looks he won't get a major role in anything ever. Unless something finally changes.

So here is my thanks to this anonymous yet skilled guy for making a bullshit TV series watchable.
As about the show I can't recommend it except when surrounded by people who didn't gather to watch something anyway but need a TV turned on for some reason.
2/10

EDIT:
Wait a minute, now I see he appeared in X files?! WTF, I mean, how come I didn't spot this guy already there?

 

[Carnifex]

The Leftovers will finish tonight, and I for one will miss this show when it's gone. We've had three seasons of mostly excellent episodes and some superb acting, and I will truly mourn after tonight, when it all comes to an end.


With that said, I'm hoping for an ending about ten times more vague than the Lost one. This show has never been about answers, because when you actually get one it comes along with at least a dozen more queries. In my perfect finale, Nora steps through the portal, gets vaporized, winds up in Kevin's assassin world and kills everyone in sight. Twice.

 

[joxer]

Brit crime series cannot fail.
Not true, sadly.

Glue is a meh experience and a stain to british production.
It's a whudunnit show with twists so what could possibly go wrong?

First, it's basically a dragged TV movie material. The whole thing would work better if condensed.
To drag it, showmakers inserted a vast amount of filler sidestories so shallow even the worst Hollywood action B movies would make more engaging. When the filler soapy crap wasn't enough, the watcher is faced with butts&boobs for absolutely no reason except to show it on screen and get a few more minutes of drag. On top of everything, the main cast is a bunch of teenagers trying to persuade the audience they're older than actually are (a 15 year old girl is performing operation on a horse, another 15 year old has a child plus works for police).

If there were no nice landscape scenes, it would have a zero value. You'll have more fun staring at the wall if your choice is doing either that or watching this show. Avoid at all costs.
1/10

 

[vurt]

Not sure about the Leftovers, i watched the first season, it seemed like an interesting concept. The premise is that it's supposed to be about the leftovers themselves and how they would react and live their lives in this situation. So it means you should be a bit forgiving about not getting answers, because it wasn't the point. But to be honest very little is about the leftovers, at least S1 was more about mysteric events and figures (with no answers) so it in that regard it goes against its own premise i thought.

I also read somewhere that S3 (interview with the producer) about promises of answers in the last season, and it was kind of the whole idea with S3 since fans was not too happy with S1-S2 in that regard. From what i've read there is absolutely no answers in the last ep.

 

[Carnifex]

I'm quite happy with the way Leftovers ended. I predicted no answers and even more questions, and it exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to see a murderous Nora cut loose, sadly that didn't occur, but everything else I found deeply satisfying. I believe that in the future, when people watch the entire series over a span of a month or so, the genius of it all will be readily apparent.

 

[NewDArt]

A bit of Fry and Laurie 9/10

Huuuuge fan of this show

 

[Carnifex]

I'm hoping that the poster from several of the current Twin Peaks episodes turns out to be important tomorrow. Of course, knowing Lynch, it could all just be a huge trick. I do have a theory about it all......

 

[JDR13]

I'm up to the 16th episode of Twin Peaks season 2 now. I can see why the ratings took a dive towards the end of that season. Some of the episodes are really boring.

 

[Carnifex]

Sure, but compared to the tv shows of its time, even the second series wasn't completely useless. If you stack it up against great shows of today, such as the Wire, the Last Kingdom, Deadwood, etc, that second series looks rather weak, save for the episodes that Lynch helmed personally.

 

[Carnifex]

Last night I think I watched an ode to 2001: A Space Odyssey from Lynch and Frost. They might have set a new standard for a trippy hour of television. Taken as an origin story for Twin Peaks, I think it really shook the entire series to its core.

 

[joxer]

I just watched the first season of "The Man in the High Castle" which I enjoyed quite a bit. Second releases on Dec. 16th. Can't wait!

I'm a bit late. Season one, done. Season two will be later, here's hope they didn't ruin it.
A mustwatch sci-fi for anyone older than 21, youngsters should not watch this as they won't be able to understand enough of what's inside.

10/10.

 

[NewDArt]

I found High Castle to be really, really boring. I watched the entire first season, IIRC - and almost nothing happened. Zzzzz.

I'm struggling to find a great series these days. I tried watching Fargo for the third time - and I hated it even more this time.

Any good crime oriented or sci-fi oriented series?

 

[joxer]

I found High Castle to be really, really boring. I watched the entire first season, IIRC - and almost nothing happened. Zzzzz.

But it did. Everything happened.
Yea… No Elizabeth character, the most helpful person guilty for basically nothing gets arrested in the end and one of baddies gets the ultimate portals power.
Sorry but this masterpiece's scenario wasn't written by Levine.

I'm struggling to find a great series these days. I tried watching Fargo for the third time - and I hated it even more this time.

I've watched only first two seasons, the third is still not available where I am (I think, should check).
Both seasons are masterpieces, dunno about the third yet. Guess again, scenario is not by Levine.

Any good crime oriented or sci-fi oriented series?

Based what I believe is your taste… For crime I suggest you to stick with Castle, Bones and whichever CSI, SVU, NCIS and similar stuff. Sci fi for you, I think the next season of Killjoys is just about to start on Syfy, and there is some new sci fi Blood Drive there I refused to even try. Also, there is some one season show from cw called Tomorrow People, you'll adore it, I couldn't continue past first few episodes.
Speaking about CW, there is always Supergirl series there, I have a feeling they shot it especially for you. That scenario was written by Levine, or his copycat.

Oh, and don't forget Once Upon a Time. And it's spinoff, whatever it's called, was it Alice?
Then there is The Last Ship. The Magicians too. On Syfy, perhaps not currently, but they do reair it. I could continue spamming all titles fit for you till tomorrow.

 

[NewDArt]

But it did. Yea… No Elizabeth character, the most helpful person guilty for basically nothing gets arrested in the end and one of baddies gets the ultimate portals power.
Sorry but this masterpiece's scenario wasn't written by Levine.

I've watched only first two seasons, the third is still not available where I am (I think, should check).
Both seasons are masterpieces, dunno about the third yet. Guess again, scenario is not by Levine.

Wow, you really have a problem with Levine and the fact that I loved the story in Bioshock Infinite? Grow up and get over it already

It's cool that you like the latest hipster shows, though - but try not to take other opinions so personally.

If you have any serious suggestions, please let me know - as I could use a good show or two!