series What series are you watching?
- Thread starter sfoster
- Start date
Finished the 7th and final season.
Glad the ending wasn't stereotypical.
@Nate North thanks for the recommendation. Good stuff.
I like how the camera style is similar to 24. Even the opening credits have a little shake to them.
I finished Three Body Problem... I've gotten into the alien thing since I saw a UFO two summers back.
My opinion on this series? Nonsensical.
Alien species "incapable of lying"... consistently lies about it's appearance everytime we see it. Supposedly lying is so foreign to them they struggle at first to understand the concept... yet they are constantly lying about their looks? What the fuck. PICK A LANE. You can't have it both ways.
Last edited:
We watched the first episode because a friend is an extra in it.
You're not inspiring me to continue
I might end up being wrong about this, hard to tell at this point, but I'll mount a defense for the 3 Body Problem.
Here's why I think there's a chance that this could turn out to be a great show.
For those who don't know, this is the follow-up project to Game of Thrones. Same showrunners.
Game of Thrones is famous for a lot of things, but to me, there is a main thing about it that most people don't reference.
It was a breakthrough in a sorely needed area, "Long Attention Span Television". When the two showrunners initially pitched GOT to HBO, they asked for an unprecedented deal. A deal that went down in network history. They asked for a guaranteed 2 seasons, regardless of ratings. It was a bold move, for anyone in their position, since it doubles the normal risk that a network takes on a new show, making it twice as likely that HBO would reject their offer.
Why did they do that? It was because they wanted to create a fiction on television with a story arc more akin to what we find in written works that span thousands of pages. They knew before the first episode that GOT would not really be interesting enough to retain viewers until this larger format plot structure had time to get on it's feet. They knew that the show would likely be cancelled before it actually got interesting.
Somewhere along the way, they managed to convince HBO of their logic, which entailed HBO coughing up literally hundreds of millions of dollars before ever seeing a response that could justify it.
When GOT completed it's 8 year run, despite some major issues at the end caused by one single person who couldn't write two books in 7 years. (Steven King and Dean Koontz write two books before breakfast each morning), it set a precedent for complex, long forum fiction on television. It set a precedent for deviation from the "Hook em in the pilot or you're fired" mentality that had always crippled tv plotlines.
I watched GOT season one a few years after release, and honestly, I was bored. Another generic fantasy, so what. Why were all these people that had watched 4 seasons of it telling me that it was the greatest show of all time? And this move near the end of the first season where you had me all invested in a main character and then I suddenly lost all that investment? Stupid, this show is wasting my time.
In hindsight, a decade later, GOT is considered one of the landmark achievements in television history. It swapped out fast, catchy first episode hooks and cheap cliffhangers for a shot at something far more substantive, and mostly succeeded.
Now the people responsible for this are taking a second shot at creating something big. Maybe it won't work, pioneering projects fail more often than those that play it safe. Nasa still looses a rocket here and there, and they've had more than one prior chance to make it work, unlike these showrunners.
I'm not saying I was blown away by the first season of 3BP, but what I am saying is that I felt almost the same way about the first season of GOT, and I feel like I have a rational reason to at least follow through with them for a few years and see what they have in mind. People really had to convince me to watch the first 3 years of GOT, but I'm glad I did.
Here's why I think there's a chance that this could turn out to be a great show.
For those who don't know, this is the follow-up project to Game of Thrones. Same showrunners.
Game of Thrones is famous for a lot of things, but to me, there is a main thing about it that most people don't reference.
It was a breakthrough in a sorely needed area, "Long Attention Span Television". When the two showrunners initially pitched GOT to HBO, they asked for an unprecedented deal. A deal that went down in network history. They asked for a guaranteed 2 seasons, regardless of ratings. It was a bold move, for anyone in their position, since it doubles the normal risk that a network takes on a new show, making it twice as likely that HBO would reject their offer.
Why did they do that? It was because they wanted to create a fiction on television with a story arc more akin to what we find in written works that span thousands of pages. They knew before the first episode that GOT would not really be interesting enough to retain viewers until this larger format plot structure had time to get on it's feet. They knew that the show would likely be cancelled before it actually got interesting.
Somewhere along the way, they managed to convince HBO of their logic, which entailed HBO coughing up literally hundreds of millions of dollars before ever seeing a response that could justify it.
When GOT completed it's 8 year run, despite some major issues at the end caused by one single person who couldn't write two books in 7 years. (Steven King and Dean Koontz write two books before breakfast each morning), it set a precedent for complex, long forum fiction on television. It set a precedent for deviation from the "Hook em in the pilot or you're fired" mentality that had always crippled tv plotlines.
I watched GOT season one a few years after release, and honestly, I was bored. Another generic fantasy, so what. Why were all these people that had watched 4 seasons of it telling me that it was the greatest show of all time? And this move near the end of the first season where you had me all invested in a main character and then I suddenly lost all that investment? Stupid, this show is wasting my time.
In hindsight, a decade later, GOT is considered one of the landmark achievements in television history. It swapped out fast, catchy first episode hooks and cheap cliffhangers for a shot at something far more substantive, and mostly succeeded.
Now the people responsible for this are taking a second shot at creating something big. Maybe it won't work, pioneering projects fail more often than those that play it safe. Nasa still looses a rocket here and there, and they've had more than one prior chance to make it work, unlike these showrunners.
I'm not saying I was blown away by the first season of 3BP, but what I am saying is that I felt almost the same way about the first season of GOT, and I feel like I have a rational reason to at least follow through with them for a few years and see what they have in mind. People really had to convince me to watch the first 3 years of GOT, but I'm glad I did.
We watched the first episode because a friend is an extra in it.
You're not inspiring me to continue
To be fair to the series, there was some cool stuff in it too, and I did finish it.
I'd probably check out s2.
I've started watching Fallout on prime and it's got a strong variety of characters, really enjoyiing it so far.
Definitely the better of these two shows. For context - I didn't play the fallout video games.
Last edited:
I would say that the original Fallout game was at the very core of my creative inspiration, that and Homeworld. Video games were kind of the opposite of Hollywood in terms of cliques. Hollywood gated out people who weren't good looking or wealthy for the most part, and the gaming industry, at that time at least, had little use for anyone who couldn't code, organize, and create on a budget... so, highly intelligent people only.
While both groups were visual storytellers, the fictions they spun used to be quite different. Today the two industries are much more similar, with corporations homogenizing the games industry into a patchwork of user feedback pandering. In the pioneering days of the interactive screen however, you really got a unique breed of filmmaker, low on money, high on brains, and typically quite fun loving and imaginative.
Here are a few clips from those days or in some cases newer work that's similarly inventive, illustrating the other side of electronic entertainment, now 3x the size of Hollywood. I grew up on Fallout, and still play it to this day, when I have spare time, which is almost never, lol. There's a lot more filmmaking talent in the games industry than most people would imagine, and it's also interesting to just see kind of a parallel dimension version of cinema evolving separately and driven by different origins, goals, and constraints. Fallout is an incredible fiction world, and I doubt it would have ever existed if Hollywood was the sole decider for what entertainment was produced.
If you haven't seen Sweet tooth on Netflix now is a good time to get started.
It has 2 completed seasons, and the 3rd final season is coming in two weeks.
It's a post-apoctalyptic fantasy show about this deer boy with really cute ears that move around
Kid is a great actor and the show is family friendly but still really engaging.
I finished Boardwalk Empire for the first time
What a crazy time to live, no computers anywhere.
I'm still enjoying Delicious Dungeon, its on episode 21 now, this is the first new anime i've watched in a decade.
It has 2 completed seasons, and the 3rd final season is coming in two weeks.
It's a post-apoctalyptic fantasy show about this deer boy with really cute ears that move around
Kid is a great actor and the show is family friendly but still really engaging.
I finished Boardwalk Empire for the first time
What a crazy time to live, no computers anywhere.
I'm still enjoying Delicious Dungeon, its on episode 21 now, this is the first new anime i've watched in a decade.
Sweet Tooth isn't a bad show. I didn't have a lot of expectations, but much like One Piece, it was better than expected. Some anime writing isn't bad, depends on the writer. You add in a 12 mil per episode budget, and sometimes it's good.
Boardwalk Empire is one of the greatest tv shows ever made. You have to be in the right mood, but it's a well executed serial epic that understands drama and managing scope. Buschimi is one of those actors that often got relegated to secondary roles, but delivers a very strong performance in the lead role. Casting across the board is good, and pacing is hit and miss. A parade of well defined characters with intertwined plots across a faithfully recreated era.
Haven't watched DD, though I've heard of it's fame spreading. Takes a lot to get me to watch a new anime show.
I did watch, and really liked "Scavengers Reign" which is sort of my style, american sci fi animation. It's a bit slow and dry for my taste, but has a lot of art and imagination.
Boardwalk Empire is one of the greatest tv shows ever made. You have to be in the right mood, but it's a well executed serial epic that understands drama and managing scope. Buschimi is one of those actors that often got relegated to secondary roles, but delivers a very strong performance in the lead role. Casting across the board is good, and pacing is hit and miss. A parade of well defined characters with intertwined plots across a faithfully recreated era.
Haven't watched DD, though I've heard of it's fame spreading. Takes a lot to get me to watch a new anime show.
I did watch, and really liked "Scavengers Reign" which is sort of my style, american sci fi animation. It's a bit slow and dry for my taste, but has a lot of art and imagination.
I'm watching The Sympathizer on Max/HBO. I find it fascinating, although it may resonate most with people who remember the end of the war in Vietnam. I'm also a big fan of both Robert Downey Jr and Sandra Oh, both of whom have fairly large supporting roles. And from a filmmaker's perspective, I loved ep 4 "Give Us Some Good Lines," in which the main character, played by the Hoa Xuande, serves as a consulting expert on a movie about the war.
Haven't seen it yet but it's on my list. Sounds interesting, and I like that it's not a cookie cutter premise.
I'm watching The Sympathizer on Max/HBO. I find it fascinating, although it may resonate most with people who remember the end of the war in Vietnam. I'm also a big fan of both Robert Downey Jr and Sandra Oh, both of whom have fairly large supporting roles. And from a filmmaker's perspective, I loved ep 4 "Give Us Some Good Lines," in which the main character, played by the Hoa Xuande, serves as a consulting expert on a movie about the war.
I thought Boardwalk empire was very average, never really hoooked me, but never bored me until the last season.
All the flashbacks of young Buscemi not only bored me, but also immediately revealed the ending, as soon as they started those flashbacks I knew exactly how the show was going to end. Pretty stupid to give away the ending just for the sake of boring scenes..
The did the EXACT same thing with Jimmy Darmody.. invest time in childhood flashbacks, then kill the character, it was an obvious repeat m.o. of the storytellers that was awful in pretty much every aspect IMO
Edit: Oh yeah and the dumbest line of the whole series goes to Jeffery Wright.
He's supposed to be this really educated smart guy, but he says 'a thing mixed is a thing weakened' like its some deep intelligent insight, but it's actually dumb as hell. Like has this dude never heard of **STEEL** before?? Mixing iron and carbon doesn't make it weakened, what a dumbass line
Last edited:
Watched ROME (2005) series on hbo, it was cancelled after two seasons due to it's enormous budget (100 mil for season 1)
It does wrap up a little bit fast, since I was expected 12 episodes season 2 and it only gave us 10, but I'm glad I watched both seasons.
This fight scene is one of the best 'unbalanced fights' I've seen, grown man vs a boy, really got my blood pumping.
Too bad this youtube rip of it is so low quality and kinda dark
It does wrap up a little bit fast, since I was expected 12 episodes season 2 and it only gave us 10, but I'm glad I watched both seasons.
This fight scene is one of the best 'unbalanced fights' I've seen, grown man vs a boy, really got my blood pumping.
Too bad this youtube rip of it is so low quality and kinda dark
Final/Season 3 of Sweet Tooth was bad 
Kinda slow, villian not as good as the first two seasons, and worst of all the messaging kept hitting me over the head with a brick.
The kid is awesome though, they should do a remake of home alone with him.
Sucesssion
I finally checked out this show, since I've basically been working my way through the HBO back catalogue.
I watched the first 3 seasons... it's like a game of musical chairs for foul mouthed sociopathic capitalists.
It's not a homerun for me, I don't know if I'll watch season 4
Kinda slow, villian not as good as the first two seasons, and worst of all the messaging kept hitting me over the head with a brick.
The kid is awesome though, they should do a remake of home alone with him.
Sucesssion
I finally checked out this show, since I've basically been working my way through the HBO back catalogue.
I watched the first 3 seasons... it's like a game of musical chairs for foul mouthed sociopathic capitalists.
It's not a homerun for me, I don't know if I'll watch season 4
I actually have a recommendation for once. For the last year I keep hearing this name "Glen Powell", and I have no idea who he is. I thought maybe it was made up. The context is weird, because people are saying "top actors like Tom Holland and Glen Powell are doing great this year" or "Jay Z and Glen Powell are topping the Charts this week" or "John Carmack and Glen Powell just revolutionized Visual C++". And I have no idea who this person is. Why is everyone talking about this person I've never heard of?
So the other day I'm just doing my due diligence on zeitgeist tracking, and I watch, as always, the top few releases for that day, knowing nothing about them.
Hmmmm, "Hit Man". Sounds Generic, but it's number 3 worldwide today, so I'll give it a shot. I can always turn it off if I see Eric Roberts in a wig, or the characters start trying to recruit retired criminals for a once in a lifetime heist.
Starts off pretty average, but it's headed in an unusual direction, so I keep watching. Who's this unknown actor in the lead role. That's not a good sign.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, this interchangable CW grade actor just explodes with talent and charisma. The writing is pretty good, and this rando is kind of knocking it out of the park.
I watch to the end credits and find out that that was Glen Powell.
Hit Man, a 2.5 star movie made on a 1 star budget. It's not Casino, but it's worth the 90 minutes.
So the other day I'm just doing my due diligence on zeitgeist tracking, and I watch, as always, the top few releases for that day, knowing nothing about them.
Hmmmm, "Hit Man". Sounds Generic, but it's number 3 worldwide today, so I'll give it a shot. I can always turn it off if I see Eric Roberts in a wig, or the characters start trying to recruit retired criminals for a once in a lifetime heist.
Starts off pretty average, but it's headed in an unusual direction, so I keep watching. Who's this unknown actor in the lead role. That's not a good sign.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, this interchangable CW grade actor just explodes with talent and charisma. The writing is pretty good, and this rando is kind of knocking it out of the park.
I watch to the end credits and find out that that was Glen Powell.
Hit Man, a 2.5 star movie made on a 1 star budget. It's not Casino, but it's worth the 90 minutes.
How can you watch 3/4 of Succession and stop? I kind of feel like you're past the point of no return. Will David Schwimmer ever inherit his angry father's empire? Will cousin Greg suffer a severe head trauma that lowers his IQ to "Candidate Range" and then inherit the family fortune, putting him in line to be the next president of the United States? Will Brian Cox attack an intern on set and get replaced by a lookalike for the final episode?Final/Season 3 of Sweet Tooth was bad
Kinda slow, villian not as good as the first two seasons, and worst of all the messaging kept hitting me over the head with a brick.
The kid is awesome though, they should do a remake of home alone with him.
Sucesssion
I finally checked out this show, since I've basically been working my way through the HBO back catalogue.
I watched the first 3 seasons... it's like a game of musical chairs for foul mouthed sociopathic capitalists.
It's not a homerun for me, I don't know if I'll watch season 4
There's just a lot of questions up in the air when you finish season 3. Sure, the show has communicated it's core wisdom early on "All rich people are horrific and useless human beings that feed on the suffering of others", but I feel like it's deeper than that as well, as it goes on to explore how the wealthy are also shallow, dim, and derivative, beneath a thin film of civility cobbled together from trust funds and ideologies.
In essence, it was a good show that reinforced the many lessons I'd learned throughout life.
It's well made and well written, I liked the first season, then i felt like it was just kinda going in circles and stirring the pot like a CW show
I'm personally convinced that when Rupert Murdock dies and goes to hell, he will awaken to find himself in a tiny room with no doors and a huge television playing "Green Arrow" on auto repeat until the end of time.
I agree with @Nate North 's assessment of Hit Man and Glen Powell
But my fav movie that he's in (and I guess this should be in the "movies" thread rather than "series" but I'm not moving now! ) is
Anyone But You
The (major) caveat is that it's only good if you like rom coms (I do).
But I think it's delightful. It's loosely based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and some of the lines (and blocking) are taken directly from that play, as are the character names (Beatrice and Benedrick are changed to Bea and Ben).
But my fav movie that he's in (and I guess this should be in the "movies" thread rather than "series" but I'm not moving now! ) is
Anyone But You
The (major) caveat is that it's only good if you like rom coms (I do).
But I think it's delightful. It's loosely based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and some of the lines (and blocking) are taken directly from that play, as are the character names (Beatrice and Benedrick are changed to Bea and Ben).