It says a lot about the quality of the writing and acting of The Bear that I can go from absolutely hating Richie to loving him over the course of at least season 1, which I've finished recently. So many times characters are shitty people, and revel in that and double down on it infinitely.
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The All-New TT: Television Time Mini Reviews
- Thread starter Rascally Badger
- Start date
I don't know if I should talk about it here or in the football thread, but Netflix's Receiver is just propaganda for the NFL, but I find it just as entertaining as last year's quarterback. I like how it lets you get to know (carefully presented) the players. Davante Adams seems like good dude. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Justin Jefferson were pretty compelling as young guys figuring it out. And St. Brown's dad is just a wild card. I'm about to start the last episode and I remain convinced that George Kittle is a child living out a Big scenario. Maybe I just like football.
I also started watching A Gentleman in Moscow. Ewan McGregor is really good. He's playing a Russian noble who was allowed to live after the Bolshevik revolution, but placed under permanent house arrest in a big hotel. It is going some interesting places to start.
I also started watching A Gentleman in Moscow. Ewan McGregor is really good. He's playing a Russian noble who was allowed to live after the Bolshevik revolution, but placed under permanent house arrest in a big hotel. It is going some interesting places to start.
I know next to nothing about the NFL or its players, but that is a fascinating name.
He has brothers: Osiris St. Brown and Equanimeous St. Brown. His dad is a former Mr. Universe who, according to an interview on the show, got really into Egyptian mythology after taking a trip there.
It LOOKED so good
I also had a spoiler on the ending cos I happened to be camping in the precise spot where they were doing pick up shots for it. They told me a very carefully deployed cover story, lol.
Four episodes in to House of the Dragon and it continues to be pretty dang good. About the same as the first season: not as good as GoT's best, but far better than its worst.
At the very least, HotD is better than anything from Game of Thrones that was made without a published novel to guide the writers.
Absolutely. The dropoff after season 5 Is where I divide "good Game of Thrones" from "who the hell wrote this." HotD is much better than any of that later stuff.
I watched the first season of House of the Dragon and mostly enjoyed myself, though I do have my problems with it. In particular I started to get annoyed with all the timeskips after nearly every episode. It happened so frequently that it started to feel like the writers realized they didn't have enough material to fill a season of television, and I was just watching a highlight reel. Two characters would have an interesting argument, or whatever, and I'd think "well, it should be fun to see the fallout from this"
SIX YEARS LATER
"oh"
"I guess nothing interesting happened for six years"
It's hard to get emotionally invested in the individual moments of these characters' lives when it seems like the show itself is getting bored with its own narrative, but I assume this happens less in season 2.
That said, I liked a lot of it, and particularly enjoyed that the war kicks off because of a mutual misunderstanding, which can now never be cleared up because one of the parties to that misunderstanding is dead. I feel like it's a rarity in fiction for characters to mishear or misunderstand each other (at least when it's not played for comedy), but in reality people so often just hear what they want to hear.
SIX YEARS LATER
"oh"
"I guess nothing interesting happened for six years"
It's hard to get emotionally invested in the individual moments of these characters' lives when it seems like the show itself is getting bored with its own narrative, but I assume this happens less in season 2.
That said, I liked a lot of it, and particularly enjoyed that the war kicks off because of a mutual misunderstanding, which can now never be cleared up because one of the parties to that misunderstanding is dead. I feel like it's a rarity in fiction for characters to mishear or misunderstand each other (at least when it's not played for comedy), but in reality people so often just hear what they want to hear.
It's part of the original story that the seeds for the war were planted over the course of many years, and it was always going to be a problem for season 1 of the show that I think they mitigated as best they could by making each of the individual episodes strong. Now that the war has started, the time skips are no longer an issue in season 2.
Speaking of House of the Dragon, I watched up until episode 9. There are a lot of things I like about it, it’s most comparable to Rings of Power for me. The CGI isn’t as good, but I love the character dynamics here- you can see very well the divisions between Alicent and Rhaneyris form early on.
Also, I haven’t watched a single episode of Game of Thrones and know basically nothing about it, so it proves that chronological watch order can work. I’ve heard that HOTD is less gory, but more sexual than GOT. Otherwise, I love basically every character in the show. I don’t know the actual spelling, I’m just guessing.
Viseris is my favorite easily, he’s a dying king who’s trying to keep the realm together, but failing. The final scene of him walking to the throne is just excellent.
Rhaneyra and Alicent are great; they slowly drift apart from each other, and you dan very clearly see why each faction has a claim to the throne.
Christian Cole is more funny than anything, although his kill count is crazy
Connis and Rhanis are also a great couple, I love their schemes, but also their devotion to each other.
Daemon is obviously cool, even if he’s the villain at the start, there are greater threats that pop out later on, like Otto and the cane guy.
The amount of incest that happens is crazy, but I suppose it was expected for a family with such a strong emphasis on blood.
Also, I haven’t watched a single episode of Game of Thrones and know basically nothing about it, so it proves that chronological watch order can work. I’ve heard that HOTD is less gory, but more sexual than GOT. Otherwise, I love basically every character in the show. I don’t know the actual spelling, I’m just guessing.
Viseris is my favorite easily, he’s a dying king who’s trying to keep the realm together, but failing. The final scene of him walking to the throne is just excellent.
Rhaneyra and Alicent are great; they slowly drift apart from each other, and you dan very clearly see why each faction has a claim to the throne.
Christian Cole is more funny than anything, although his kill count is crazy
Connis and Rhanis are also a great couple, I love their schemes, but also their devotion to each other.
Daemon is obviously cool, even if he’s the villain at the start, there are greater threats that pop out later on, like Otto and the cane guy.
The amount of incest that happens is crazy, but I suppose it was expected for a family with such a strong emphasis on blood.
FWIW I would say that HotD is both less gory and only less explicitly sexual than GoT, not more. Equally sexual at most, I suppose, but it was only a recent season 2 episode that would propel it to that level, I think.
Also, glad to hear that the series stands on its own! It makes sense, as a prequel it doesn't have anything that could be more than a sidelong historical reference from GOT. I honestly don't know if GOT even reveals who wins the conflict, so it doesn't even spoil the ending! (Please don't correct me if I'm wrong, I like not knowing.)
Also, glad to hear that the series stands on its own! It makes sense, as a prequel it doesn't have anything that could be more than a sidelong historical reference from GOT. I honestly don't know if GOT even reveals who wins the conflict, so it doesn't even spoil the ending! (Please don't correct me if I'm wrong, I like not knowing.)
Was pleasantly surprised to find Supermarket Sweep showing up on game show network on my local cable.
90s fashion + filling shopping carts with 25lb hams is combination that always works for me!
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For what its worth I find GoT to be more explicitly sexual than HoD.
HoD does have some sexual moments including foot fetishes!
I like HoD, but I like GoT better. I think the sprawling cast of charters in GoT is very fun; and I miss it in HoD. HoD is much more focused relative to GoT.
90s fashion + filling shopping carts with 25lb hams is combination that always works for me!
***
For what its worth I find GoT to be more explicitly sexual than HoD.
HoD does have some sexual moments including foot fetishes!
I like HoD, but I like GoT better. I think the sprawling cast of charters in GoT is very fun; and I miss it in HoD. HoD is much more focused relative to GoT.
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Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
That is very sweet.
One of the things I love about Supermarket Sweep is how low stakes it is. A sweep wins you between $1,000 and $800. If you win the prize at the end its $5,000; but most teams don't get the $5,000.
So between $1,000 and $800 split two ways is what the winners get.
I think most people are in it for the love of the game!
One of the things I love about Supermarket Sweep is how low stakes it is. A sweep wins you between $1,000 and $800. If you win the prize at the end its $5,000; but most teams don't get the $5,000.
So between $1,000 and $800 split two ways is what the winners get.
I think most people are in it for the love of the game!
So was "business partners" the gay men's version of "gal pals"?
House of the Dragon ended well, I think, even if it leaves off on a chessboard cliffhanger. But I'm definitely interested in season 3. If I had one complaint it's that Aemond doesn't get particularly well developed, he's just sort of presented as this mad monster. Which...I guess is a kind of development in itself, but it feels a little shallow.
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
The final season of The Umbrella Academy is chock full of baffling choices. Really not sure what happened here, was there some sort of production issue where they suddenly had to cut down on the total number of episodes?
The Boys season 4 is...more of the same, but perhaps less good? A couple of the character arcs (especially Frenchie's) feel really forced. The political commentary got REALLY on the nose and felt forced at times too, but a) the show's always had that element and b) I guess the creators got sick of people missing the point so they felt they had to amp it up to really drive it home. Ehh. The final resolution with Butcher's super-cancer and killing That Character was...weird, and felt a bit perfunctory. Neuman's arc felt a bit rushed too. Oh and the farm episode was horrible, it felt like fanfiction. But at least they figured out yet another way to raise the stakes, and left off on a cliffhanger for even higher stakes.
Been watching Three-Body Problem. Hadn't read the book, it's pretty intriguing. A bit over-gory for our tastes from time to time, but the worst of it is confined to the introduction and... that one bit in the middle that you know if you've seen it. Only one episode to go now and I'm wondering how much resolution we'll actually get versus what has to wait for the sequels/later seasons... I understand it's based on a trilogy so, hopefully the rest all gets produced.
I went down a wiki hole one day and read all the synopsises for those books.
As a result I have negative interest in ever watching that show.
Very interesting scifi but it really sounds like not a thing for me. And also, you can really tell the author’s worldview is very heavily informed by growing up/living in an autocratic dystopia.
As a result I have negative interest in ever watching that show.
Very interesting scifi but it really sounds like not a thing for me. And also, you can really tell the author’s worldview is very heavily informed by growing up/living in an autocratic dystopia.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I've heard it's very different from the book and the trailer already gives away what was a major spoiler in the book so there must be some significant difference.
I loved the first book, one of my top books of all time for sure. The other two were baffling and I lost interest.
I loved the first book, one of my top books of all time for sure. The other two were baffling and I lost interest.
I wasn't a big fan of the first book at all, so I didn't even get to the later books (which many people have warned me get worse). But I was vaguely interested in the series, just because I was interested in how they'd adapt what struck me as a pretty unadaptable book.
zonetrope
(he/him)
I personally thought the series got better as it went along, and I particularly loved the sheer temporal and cosmological scope of the third one. But I'm not too interested in watching the show because it strikes me like the kind of series where the concepts and locales are best left to the imagination.
On the other side of that coin, I've been enjoying HBO's My Brilliant Friend series, which is a pretty note-for-note adaptation of the novels. As someone who has never been to Italy, actually getting to visualize all of the locations in Naples really adds a lot to the experience for me.
On the other side of that coin, I've been enjoying HBO's My Brilliant Friend series, which is a pretty note-for-note adaptation of the novels. As someone who has never been to Italy, actually getting to visualize all of the locations in Naples really adds a lot to the experience for me.
So we finished off the season of 3 Body and after poking Wikipedia a little it looks like it actually finished off most of the first book in the previous episode, and the finale started in on the second, presumably to give a little more closure and a stronger sequel hook... for which it looks like two more seasons have been green-lit, so we'll be getting the rest eventually.
Book #2 of this series is called “The Dark Forest” — so if you know anything about The Fermi Paradox, and that one of the potential solutions to that paradox was named after this book, then you kind of already know how these books are going to play out.
Rings of Power Season 2 is happening right now. Episode 6 aired a few days ago and man. I just really like this show a lot. The first season was a little slow, but it having taken its time in S1 to very firmly establish the setting and characters has really paid off dividends for S2. A lot of what they're doing in Khazad-dûm or the other locations and characters, means so much more and are pretty fun/impactful specifically because of the setup from S1.
And man. The way they're portraying Sauron's rise to power here in the 2nd Age is just... *chef's kiss* it's awesome. And again, only works this well because of S1's setup. I love this show.
And man. The way they're portraying Sauron's rise to power here in the 2nd Age is just... *chef's kiss* it's awesome. And again, only works this well because of S1's setup. I love this show.