Television Discussion Thread

Michael K. wrote:

WP64 wrote:I've heard Chernobyl is amazing. Is anyone here watching it?

Just finished it. Entirely worth the 5-6 hrs it takes to watch the whole thing, and - even though no stone goes unturned - I wish it ran longer. IMO, not a single misplaced note in the thing. Enthralling drama, engrossing history lesson, and a sobering reminder of the captivating power of lies.

I'm now listening to the podcast w/ the host of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" - he's less douchey than I thought - and the showrunner, Craig Mazin. It's good too. Even though they go ep-by-ep with the podcast, I'd wait until I finished the miniseries to dig in. Obviously, this isn't the sort of thing that's too vulnerable to a spoiler alert, but they get into some structural narrative stuff that I was happy to experience with fresh eyes.  

I thought this was excellent as well from start to finish. Superb cast and the ability to capture the horror of the entire tragedy was impressive. The use of the radiation detectors as the soundtrack during the initial episodes created this tension that I could feel my heart start racing whenever that kicked in.

If anyone else has felt empty & unimpressed by television since Twin Peaks: The Return ended, I recommend watching Too Old To Die Young on Amazon.

reuben wrote:It all went downhill when River Song became the focus

Can’t totally disagree with this statement, but Matt Smith is wonderful.
Currently watching “The Day of the Doctor” special with John Hurt (!) and it is tons of fun.

Tennant is probably my fave at this point. He’s somehow the most human doctor and the most doctor doctor () imho. His empathy does it for me more than Smith’s whimsy, but I dig the latter too.

Nick wrote:If anyone else has felt empty & unimpressed by television since Twin Peaks: The Return ended, I recommend watching Too Old To Die Young on Amazon.

I have exactly this problem, so this is intriguing.

reuben wrote:Russell T. Davies and Capaldi would have been amazing.

I’m only two episodes into the Capaldi run and I already know I’m super down with this hot take.

The Robin Hood episode is the goofiest bullshit I’ve ever seen. It’s far too damn silly, but I still enjoyed it and laughed a lot. “If we work together, to shoot this golden arrow... into the... spaceship bullseye (?), the gold it contains will... be enough to... power the... gold-powered engine... fully, into, space?”
Well alright then.

Robin Hood’s speech at the end of the episode was legit good though. Perfectly sums up why I’m hooked on this show.

I’m just gonna keep posting stray Doctor Who thoughts till I’ve finished my month long binge, so apologies.

Unpopular (I assume) opinion: season 8 finale, death in heaven, is a top five all time caliber episode. By no means perfect from start to finish, but hoo boy the highs were the highest.

And Danny Pink going from also ran, pretty cool love interest dude to OMG hero tears all day.
And then the way the Doctor and Clara part at the end of the episode is heartbreaking and wonderful. Each telling happy lies to the other to protect their best friend while dying inside, and the Doctor delivering a staggering one-liner. Many thumbs up.

So, Capaldi might be the best Doctor:

I have never watched this and I never will

but this is everything wrong with television in 2019

If I had any principles I would cancel my YouTube subscription just for getting that in my email

Made it 1.5 episodes through Good Omens.

This show... did not appeal to me at all!

i started watching chernobyl this shit is so stupid

i started watching classic Doctor Who about 5 years ago, i'm only halfway through the Tom Baker serials so far (because dvds from netflix).
Maybe when i'm 50 i'll be caught up to current Doctor Who.

Maybe when I’m 50 I’ll be caught up with the classics. Was too daunting a task, so I just went with the new series. I have been replaying this scene in my head for like two weeks straight:
.
That and the Heaven Sent episode are among the best things I’ve ever seen. Thinking about this stuff dragged me out of a couple depressive funks lately.

I’m only three episodes into this new Stranger Things so jury is still out. That said, the reintroduction of Mr. Clark the teacher to Weird Al’s “My Bologna” is one of the most perfect choices for musical accompaniment that I have ever seen ever.

undo wrote:I have never watched this and I never will

but this is everything wrong with television in 2019

Good reference.

Score, Twin Peaks marathon on Decades.

My grandmother's still alive and kicking, and she's spent the last couple of years being molded in large part by Fox News & Co. into something which no longer much resembles the generally, if not uniformly, progressive lady who helped to raise me.  It's been pretty sickening!  I believe the time has come for me to implement the parental controls on her cable box and tell her that her package has simply changed "for the worse," as it often does.  Anybody have any thoughts or even advice about how best/else to handle this kind of thing?

To be clear, when I say "how else," I don't mean what to do instead of blocking the lunatic "news" channels.  I'm doing that shit.  MSNBC, too. And that psychotic Fox Business channel or whatever it's called.  Not just for my and my mother's sanity, either--the old girl is shaving years off her life on account of the panic, terror, and exasperation with which she regularly allows these shits to fill her.  What I mean is how else to explain away the channels' disappearances, etc..  More than open to suggestions, here, regardless of whether (unlikely, I know) or not y'all've dealt with something along these lines.  And no, she won't be able to crack the code.  I'm lucky enough to have her account in my name, and my mother is the emergency back-up or whatever they call it.  We got shit locked the fuck down on that end.

Barry is so fucking good.

LOL that was helpful.

But yeah, I don’t really know what to do about that. Sounds like an awful and I can only imagine super common situation. If I ever get old enough where my mind starts to go, I hope I can remember to stay the fuck away from all media and just look at nature and shit, assuming there is still any of it left.

One of the worst things, actually, is that her mind ain't going.  (Of course, that's also a great thing!) She's just not (nor ever has she been) a smart person, and that's the real problem...it's also putting it charitably.  She's simply dumb as shit and hopelessly vulnerable to the power of suggestion.

You mix a few drops of standard senior citizen staggering media illiteracy to that cocktail and it's suddenly potent enough to burn a fucking hole through Superman's stomach.

Like one of these, basically.

Not sure if any of you folks are down, but Archer? They way the writers manage to keep this shit fresh despite it being the same old shit is uniquely wonderful imo. All ridiculous gimmicks, but ridiculous gimmicks that never fail to slay me.

Anyone watching HBOs The Watchmen? I did not read the comics nor did I see the movie so I’m basing my opinion on just the show, which is really good. One of my favorite parts so far is the soundtrack done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It’s a mixture of dark 80s synth pop and dark ambient. Fans of NIN will enjoy. The show is pretty allegorical to our times but has a sci fi edge that makes it feel real and odd at the same time. Not a super hero show.

One episode in and Travels with my Father seems to be a thing of interest.