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TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
I'd also like to mention Our Flag Means Death, a pirate-themed sitcom from Taiki Waititi. Starring Rhys Darby because it'll illegal to make TV in or near New Zealand without putting Rhys Darby in it. But he's good in this!
Also featuring Hodor, that Other Guy from Game of Thrones, That Dude From That Thing, Rory freakin' Kinnear and a bunch of other people you've seen in all sorts of things. And Claudia O'Doherty (Love, Squinters, Bluey) who just needs to be in more things because I have such a crush on her and she's so damn funny.
It's a comedy from Waititi. That should tell you everything you need to know. Just like the excellent Wellington Paranormal it is much more clever than it first appears and in places it's disarmingly touching and sweet and while the jokes aren't always laugh out loud funny, sometimes they really, really are and often for unexpected reasons. I don't think I've seen anything Taiki Waititi has been involved with that hasn't been excellent.
And for those who have seen it
Isn't Ed and Stede's relationship just adorable! He really does wear fine things well.I haven't heard anything either way about a season two but where they ended it would be OK to end there.
Ewen Bremner was probably my favorite performance in "Our Flag Means Death." He was an over the top character that was extremely well utilized.
I wound up reading the story of Stede and Blackbeard after the first two episodes and was happy they made all of the decisions they went with on the show, it makes it interesting, both in how they follow the arc of the real story, and how they decided to just break away.
I need to finally watch Wellington Paranormal.
Hello! Just to clarify that it's from David Jenkins and not Taika Waititi, though he is very much involved and fans should check it out regardless of the names credited. Taika directed the first episode but is only an actor for the rest, and the show's comedic genius and canonically queer heart, while very similar to other Taika-originated shows such as WWDITS, are entirely owed to Jenkins and his writing team (which includes qpoc).
Edit: I should probably add on my own thoughts because this show has legitimately changed my life, to see queer representation done this way. Without any hint of queerbaiting, btw, I know, very very hard to believe but this is actually the real deal and that's why fandom internet circles are exploding over this show.
It's comedy with heart, it's tightly-written but doesn't take itself too seriously except where it counts the most (characters and relationships). It's on the opposite end of the spectrum as Black Sails in tone and genre but shares a lot of themes with it. It is Ted Lasso but with pirates and a fair bit more violence. It's a pirate romcom (David Jenkins' words, not mine) but it's also about toxic masculinity and love and guilt and all these amazing themes you can read more deeply into it. But even at the surface level, this show is a joy (but also, there is some angst, to be fair).
And this matters to very few here except me but it has the fastest growing fandom I've ever seen, going from less than 10 fanfics in the first few weeks to 1500+ fanfics and countless pieces of incredible fanart and other fan creations, which I think has been a very pleasant surprise for the cast and crew and fans too. This labour of love with its unabashed and casually revolutionary queer rep, has drawn so many people, including myself, out of their shells into the community and I just need people to know this is history in the making, for us, anyway.
Side note, OFMD has yet to be officially renewed for S2 but from how the cast and crew have been tweeting, it's probably just stuck in contract negotiations. It's hard to see them not renewing when it's HBO's number one show atm, having overtaken both Euphoria and Boba Fett in demand.
With no F1 or UFC this weekend, I decided to watch Severance -- I'm five episodes in and its a fucking trip.
Oddly enough, the thing that really sold me on it was Ben Stiller's involvement. He's good at capturing the perfect tone for each of his works.
Related news: ‘Severance’ Renewed for Season 2 at Apple TV+
I wish they'd announce this stuff after the season is over. We can assume certain things about the plot now. It isn't major, but its like telling someone that the twist in a movie is amazing.
Oh, shit. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to spoil anything for you. :(
haha nah, I saw it earlier. They should have a one day gap if they end on a cliffhanger so everybody freak out and riot in the streets.
I am most curious about the wife and wtf is going on there.
Abbott Elementary is about the only TV show I'm watching. I don't know why I've fallen so far behind in TV. I just don't want to watch anything. I'm just waiting to watch Only Murders in the Building season 2.
It's interesting though because we are in what is the end of the "year" award season for TV. What November and December are to the Oscar's, April and May are to the Emmy's. So we usually get a lot of prestige stuff coming out around this time. Atlanta is premiering, Barry is coming out shortly, the second half of Ozark's final season is coming out. The Flight Attendant's second season, Russian Doll's long-delayed second season (which according to early social media reaction from critics is very good), and (presumably) Hacks second season is also expected to come out in the coming weeks.
Edit: oh yeah forgot that I’m watching Moon Knight. I was looking forward to it as I generally like the MCU. I’m not super feeling this though. It looks cheap. And it’s kind of boring. I’ll probably still watch it because I’m a Marvel fanboy, but I’m getting Falcon and the Winter Soldier vibes.
I just finished watching Bel-Air, the reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I heard people would use the word "gritty" to describe it, but I think that perhaps misses the point. It's not played for laughs like the original often was, but I don't think it's grit for the sake of grittiness. It's just telling that story in a contemporary way. There aren't gags (non-spoiler spoiler alert: Uncle Phil doesn't throw anyone out of any doors). There are nods to the original in the early episodes but to be honest they feel a bit like they're trying too hard and they stop it fairly quickly, with nothing lost. It's well cast, well acted, well shot and well written. It's a good, solid ten episodes of TV, and the deal was for two seasons so hopefully there will be more along relatively soon.
Also holy crap that house. I can't believe people actually live in places like that.
Potential mild spoilers ahead
I want more of Ashleigh, who barely gets any screen time and has a potentially interesting plotline about sexuality which is barely developed at all. There's a lot of coming-of-age stuff which could be done with her character. She seemed smart and interesting and I am Old so I don't know what the kids are doing or worrying about, so it would be nice to see.MORE GEOFFREY. It's hinted that he's an ex-Yardie (Jamaican gangster) and he clearly has a great deal of connections to the criminal world. Why did he leave London? How did he end up working for the Banks? He obviously has a more complex relationship than just employee to Phil and I'd love to know more about their history together.
Carlton was great. When the show started there was quite a lot of fuss made about how he did drugs and wasn't an over-the-top nerd like the original character, but I really came to.. well, not exactly like him, but appreciate his character and there is a lot they could do developing his relationship with Will over further seasons.
The whole storyline with Lou was a bit predictable. I'm not entirely clear why Will was so angry with him being as he hadn't been in his life for 13 years. I don't have that sort of experience but I have friends whose parent (usually father) walked out and they just don't care about them. They're someone they don't even know. But everyone is different I suppose.
I'm not a week to week show watcher usually but I'm keeping up with Moon Knight because my girlfriend is an Oscar Isaac simp (and if I'm being totally honest I'm an Ethan Hawke one). I was a serial MCU follower but have mostly tapered off to just the stuff that looks interesting, and so far this has been completely disconnected as far as I can tell, which has been nice. The pacing of the first 2 episodes feels really quick with quite a bit of didactic exposition dumping, but it's really enjoyable as an Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke acting showcase. Both of them are just infectiously fun to watch.
I mostly posted this comment to express some appreciation for some of the editing in episode 2. Joan Sobel was the credited editor this episode, and is very clearly doing her best with the overall structural editing given the breakneck pace, but when the show does slow down a bit there's some very fun little touches happening that reminded me of a Soderbergh or a 90s Schoonmaker edit.
Very slight spoilers
There's a point where Steven, one of Oscar Isaac's characters, gets scared by a creature appearing right before him, and it's a bizarre freeze frame of yelling that cuts into a wide of him running. It reminded me of something out of a Raimi film or a more hyperactively edited Scorsese like Casino.
There's also a moment where Isaac is playing double roles with his reflection as his two personalities argue back and forth. The speed of the cuts escalate into super chopped up cutting back and forth as the argument heats up and near the end there's a few tiny little overlapped edits and minute continuity errors that enhance the emotion and sense of fracturing personas in the scene.
As someone who despises the "good editing is invisible" mantra, it was cool to see an MCU thing use a couple fun edits for the first time ever as far as I remember.
Started watching the 15th season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but it's just not that funny. Looks like covid restrictions hit them hard creatively. They also seem to be going for a more down-to-earth vibe. The main creative trio really emphasize that on their podcast, they're always trying to keep the cartoonish toned down. Looks like they achieved that goal, but was that a good idea in the first place?
A bit off-topic, but I finally bit the bullet and installed Plex and boy am I excited! I have access to 5 different streaming services, some of which are shared, others I pay for myself, and there's still a bunch of stuff I can't find in them. The upscale on my 55" LG TV is looking kinda magical, I'm watching a lot of 1080p content and honestly, I can't find any flaw. 720p is looking great too.
One thing that is lacking in all the major services is movie classics. HBO seems to be the best of the bunch, but it's still a very slim library for my taste. I love film noir, so I'm downloading from this list which I generated with IMDB advanced search to fill some glaring gaps in my knowledge.
I also got non-remastered Star Trek, and will be doing some comparisons next week.
Mostly, it's so great to feel once again free from whatever the content owners think I wanna watch.
Yeah, unfortunately classic movies are a lot harder to find on streaming services, especially outside the US and Canada. But archive.org actually has a bunch of free to watch/download public domain films (including a large Noir collection) that you might enjoy. It's kind of a PITA to navigate their library though.
That's great. I believe all of those films are on torrent though, which I find more convenient at a glance.
The list includes Double Indemnity, widely considered one of the pinnacles of the genre. I kinda doubt that it's in the public domain, but if it is, why is it seemingly not in any non-US commercial streaming services? If it's out for grabs, why not just pick everything?
A bit off-topic, every list of film noir includes a bunch of Hitchcock. Seemingly a lot of his films can be classified as noir, and Hitchcock himself identified as a noir director, but his films are so particular, to me, that they transcend the genre, Hitchcock is a genre in itself, I'd say. So I tend to skip him when I'm looking for some "true noir".
Double Indemnity is totally public domain. Archive.org has some 720p rips. I'd still download them -- especially if you're into the commentary tracks, which are usually pretty good.
That list is pretty good. Also dig into Japanese noir from around then. There are some real gems like Stray Dog, High and Low, Branded to Kill, etc -- its easy to find a good list to start from.
I think the lack of the classics on streaming services comes down to the good quality transfers being owned by Criterion and other groups. I'm not totally sure how that works, though. This is my favorite era for film.
I was thinking of doing an experiment: getting the top 10 movies of a year and watch them all, to get a sense of what a filmgoer might feel getting to know them for the first time. Like, how good where the top 10 films of 1950 in America? What can I learn from them?
I mean, with ten, you can't go wrong. Have you gone through The Story of Film: An Odyssey?
I have not. Is this like the one by Martin Scorsese?
nah, it’s from this irish guy who knows everything. it’s an unbelievable work.
I see, I was asking if this is similar. The Scorsese doc is pretty great.
derp. So basically, it starts at the beginning and follows the influences, waves, etc -- its almost clinical at times, but its really good. Its less romantic and more of a 'welcome to cinema -- here's how we got here'