The TV Series discussion thread

[Beren]

The boat scene with Bobby and Tony is loaded with foreshadowing if that's the interpretation you take with the finale. Bobby saying "you probably don't even hear it" is also a nod to the scene in Goodfellas when Henry Hill gets arrested.

Another layer is that Tony gets utterly shattered when he sees what's become of Uncle Junior. And you have to think it on some level makes him give up. Even if he manages to avoid getting taken out, and avoid jail with the pending RICO prosecution, is ending up like his own Uncle any better?

The last scene in the diner drops subtle hints that Tony knew what the man in the Members Jacket was up to, but didn't even care anymore. Or at least that's one way of looking at it.

 

[JFarrell71]

Almost done with Peaky Blinders (unless and until the movie gets made). Season 5 is such a strange anomaly in an otherwise very good show. It's so trash that Paul Anderson even temporarily forgets how to act and Steven Knight forgets how to write. I saw one season ranking on Reddit that put S5 on top... that's mind-blowing to me.

A lot of people don't like S6 (usually because "nothing happens"), and it is a very different kind of season, but it's also a very pleasing return to form. In some ways, like in terms of Murphy's performance, it's the best season of all.

 

[Shagnak]

I saw one season ranking on Reddit that put S5 on top... that's mind-blowing to me.

Me too! I liked the season more than you (I enjoyed it a lot more than I would "trash" ), but it is disappointing on many levels, especially the way it ends.
I hope the concluding movie(s) get made.

 

[Carnifex]

I've started watching the second series of Feud, this one focused on the relationship between Capote and the women he eventually will wind up betraying. The first episode was decent, you do have to filter through the reality and what's been created for dramatic purposes, so there's that to contend with. The casting is rather good so far.

 

[Carnifex]

And lest I forget, this third series of Spooks.....wow. Just wow, simply how it starts with what happens with Tom, his life and career, and that's only the first two episodes! Great stuff.

 

[Redglyph]

And lest I forget, this third series of Spooks.....wow. Just wow, simply how it starts with what happens with Tom, his life and career, and that's only the first two episodes! Great stuff.

Tom's character is very well written and interpreted. I like them all, but it's my favourite by a long shot. And wait until you get to the end of the season!

 

[Redglyph]

I found two AMAs of Hugh Howey about the Silo series, and there was something interesting that relates to an early question about the differences between books and shows (AMA1, AMA2). Note that there are spoilers in there, read with caution.

Talking about spoilers: I'm only using spoiler tags here to avoid a huge wall text; there aren't any actual spoilers.

Firstly, he was involved in the writing process of the series, and he was even the on pushing for changes:

Spoiler: Author's involvement

Interesting to see how the storyline is starting to deviate between the series and the book (especially in episode 2!) Curious how you were involved in the TV adaptation and what you think of these changes to the plot. Does this new way of piecing the story together make you want to revisit some of the choices you made in the books?

I've been involved from the very beginning, sitting in the room with Graham and the other writers as we plotted out the beats for the pilot and each of the ten episodes. Usually, I was the one suggesting big changes and deviations, and Graham was like, "Let's stick to the book." It was a great dynamic, because I've always been open to adapting for the new medium.

WOOL is so internal in much of the mystery. Lots of characters' thoughts, reading messages, digging into things in a non-physical way. We had to change that to make for gripping TV. For me, a straight up recreation almost never works well (compare the WATCHMAN film to the WATCHMAN TV show. The latter is SO MUCH better!).

For ep 2, we were telling a story that doesn't take place in the books, really. It's just a line about an old case. So we had ultimate freedom.

He insisted that one of the main problems they had was to convey all the internal narrative (which is already mentioned above):

Spoiler: Narrative

How difficult was it to translate the huge amount of internal narrative that occurs throughout the books into story exposition for the screen? It wasn't until I started watching the show that I realised how much time you spend in the character's heads in the books. It must be a huge challenge.

It was SO difficult! Most of the changes we made were to solve that very thing. It's impressive that you picked up on this.

I think that's something often underestimate when we are surprised about the differences between the original book and the TV show inspired from it.

While I'm at it: There's still hope to see more books in the WOOL series (this AMA was in May 2023, so fairly recent):

Spoiler: More WOOL books

Congrats on the series! Watched the first two episodes today, what an amazing cast and adaption. Been a fan of your work since I first read Wool in 2013. Any update on any additional stories set in the Silo world?

I have a second trilogy planned. It's been planned and outlined for a very long time, but I want to give enough space between the stories that I'm saying something new. Not sure if this makes sense, but I want to write them as a different person, because they are going to be very different stories.

That said, I have written the first few chapters of the next book, and I like the pages so much that I doubt they'll change at all.

(from someone else)
You've mentioned you've started on book 4 of the Silo Series. Without spoiling the story that will be told, when do you think it will be released?

And will you self-publish that one, or will it be released through a conventional publisher?

I'm going to wait until the show is wrapped with its last season before I release more books in this world. The plan is to have more than one ready to go by then. I don't want to race ahead of the series while it's filming.

Likely self-publish, unless a publisher makes an offer I can't refuse. Very few make the time-limited deals that I require. I'm happy either way.

Gotta write a few other books first! Finish the SAND series, for instance.

So in 3 years or so.

 

[Carnifex]

I'm glad Amazon Prime reminds me of when shows that I've been watching have new episodes, as I was able to catch up with Invincible over the weekend. I'm not the biggest cartoon fan yet the way the show stays faithful to the comic series keeps me coming back for more.

 

[txa1265]

I'm glad Amazon Prime reminds me of when shows that I've been watching have new episodes, as I was able to catch up with Invincible over the weekend. I'm not the biggest cartoon fan yet the way the show stays faithful to the comic series keeps me coming back for more.

There is an app/site called 'Reelgood' that will track tons of shows across dozens of services. We definitely rely on that to keep up with stuff!

 

[Carnifex]

Yeah, even though I don't think I watch a lot of telly, the long waits between seasons has caused me to forget shows more than once.

 

[JDR13]

Nowadays, I usually ignore shows that are released weekly until the season is finished and then binge it. My schedule is too inconsistent to watch something on a weekly basis.

 

[Carnifex]

Weekly is how I've always watched telly and for decades it's worked well. Back twenty years or so I noticed that if I sat down and viewed like three or more hours of a show at one my retention seemed to be way down versus watching an hour and then pondering it for days afterwards. Even now if I rewatch something via dvds or tapes I impose a limit of two episodes a day, max. It's like a treat at the end of the day, an hour of telly!

 

[Redglyph]

I don't always have the patience. For Shogun, I'm patiently waiting each episode...

 

[Carnifex]

Last night I caught the first episode of the new X-men animated series, a direct continuation from the one in the nineties, and it was good. It looks like their mining Claremont's best hits, now if they'd only ditch a few annoying characters and add Piotyr and maybe his sister it would be perfect!

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Finally! it's in romanian, but I'll translate. Or as can probably be understood, they're dropping the HBO brand in my country as well. Fucking christ, how stupid can they be.
On the other hand, I will now be able to enjoy great entertainment like Honeybooboo, 90 day fiancee, my 700 pound life or the 1000 pound sisters. Score!
This is definitely the downfall of hbo. No way the cheap entertainment, that Discovery has been doing for years, won't have a regressive effect on financing anything expensive.

 

[JDR13]

Is it HBO pulling out of your area, or is it your local provider deciding not to carry it?

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Is it HBO pulling out of your area, or is it your local provider deciding not to carry it?

No, they're not leaving. They're just finally making the second step of their HBO to HBO Max to Max transformation.
And I'm expecting worse news in the not too distant future. I do not believe that them seeing how much money they can make with cheap entertainment like reality shows will not influence what they decide to finance in the future.
Why finance something that could gain a lot of eyes on screens, but that's expensive and the profit margin not that large, when you could finance cheap reality shit where the profit margins are huge.
I believe all of this is because HBO merged with Discovery, iirc.

 

[Carnifex]

Yeah, I think that's pretty much the normal process now for HBO, everything's converted to Max.

 

[Redglyph]

Here it's still the stone age. A couple of TV networks have an exclusivity with HBO, but they're not ideal and I'm not going to switch for that (or pay a VPN, if that even works).

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Here it's still the stone age. A couple of TV networks have an exclusivity with HBO, but they're not ideal and I'm not going to switch for that (or pay a VPN, if that even works).

I wouldn't say Romania is much better, but I'm getting HBO by subscribing to them directly, on the web. Not via a cable provider. I haven't had cable for the last 10+ years.