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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.
What show, current or cancelled, do you think has the best cinematography? I haven't jumped into anything new since Better Call Saul ended, but I'm looking for another "every frame a painting" masterclass. Story doesn't matter, reviews are no concern--what made you say "Damn, that was well-shot" out loud?
I’ve been rewatching Mr. Robot for the first time since it aired with my SO, and just about every episode I keep getting wrapped up in the cinematography. Tons of well-framed bits of symbolism and foreshadowing in the early seasons that only become evident once you know the ending.
The Kubrick influence is really heavy, presuming that’s what you’re into.
Mr. Robot made the cinematography list linked by @cloud_loud and I'm adding it to the watch list. 100% in the dark on spoilers, and Kubrick mimicry speaks to some level of confidence behind the camera. It clearly worked to get that many nominations.
+1 for Mr. Robot. Every episode had at least one "wow" shot. And then there's that crazy episode in season three which is one of the only non-episodic TV show episodes that I'll go back and watch without a full series/season rewatch.
Is it worth revisiting? I completely lost interest during season 2 because it became...I don't know confusing and all over the place.
I don't know about better since that can be pretty subjective, but the British show Utopia is quite stunning.
I also really like the cinematography in HBO's Sucession, AFAIK it is one of the few shows today still shooting largely with actual film stock. The first episode in particular caused me a great impression. After that, it gets a bit less unique, and the director starts abusing the zoom more frequently. But it is still very good.
The Sopranos is beautifully shot, a lot of grain and underexposition, which makes total sense given the subject matter. It's as if the film was impregnated with the grease of that gritty muddy universe.
The Office has arguably superb cinematography in a style that is not usually regarded as worthy of mention.
The Good Wife is surprisingly sophisticated for a legal drama, and quite often dazzled me with their use of sophisticated camera work usually associated to arthouse drama, such as ultra-long takes and the use of "straight" (non-angled) medium shots and medium close-ups in dialogue (those are shots with no reference to the person that is not speaking), and creative alternatives to the classic (and boring) "shot/counter-shot" dialogue technique (I don't know exactly how to say this in English, maybe someone else can help translate what I'm trying to say). To a certain extent, the spin-off The Good Fight inherits much of the same taste for unique camera work.
I'm going to give Utopia a chance based on the overall praise surrounding the visuals. It helps that it won't take long to watch from start to finish. Succession and The Good Wife are on the maybe list unless they grab me in the first few episodes (7 seasons is a commitment). I re-watched The Sopranos twice over the pandemic, and that's exactly the sort of "lightning in a bottle" I'm searching for right now.
Here’s a list of what other cinematographers have deemed as really good and another one for limited series.
I will say that Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a beautiful looking show, it’s probably the best looking comedy show I’ve ever seen.
Your comment makes for a convenient bookmark. I'm going to add Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to the watch pile, and noticed that The Good Wife made the cinematography list a few times. I have find out what's going on there. A procedural getting visual awards that deep into seasons--seems rare to me.
I have seen maybe 85% of the cinematographers list you linked, but less than 5% of the limited series list. A glaring number of things to catch up on... I have no idea why I'm so oblivious to the category.
Aside from BCS and Mr. Robot, Euphoria is one that comes to mind. It's much more of a mood than the other shows, but overall it's really well done.
Current show has to be Rings of Power. It is so incredibly gorgeous
I haven’t been watching anything of note. I’m just here to note that Bee and Puppycat has dropped on Netflix today.
Bloods is a short, funny, UK show about paramedics. Lucy Punch plays an almost unbearable character - "Jo" - but manages to bring a bit of humanity to the character. (But blimey the show makes you work for it.) Julian Barratt is great as Lawrence. But Jane Horrocks and Samson Kayo are the stars and they're brilliant. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11898696/
I tried to watch She-Hulk Attorney at Law and I just don't get it. I don't think I've enjoyed any Marvel film or tv show, and this is just incomprehensible nonsense. Like, the first episode is her saying "I don't have much in the way of an origin story", which is fine, but don't spend the whole episode on this non-story origin. The only good thing about it is that it's annoying all the right people. But for me, I don't know anything about the universe, or the characters, or the lore, and I simply could not care less about any of them.
New Amsterdam was enjoyable nonsense for the first season, but it's been pretty terrible ever since. Season 4 is just chaos. It's all over the place, almost incoherent. And they send some characters to the UK which could have been great but they fluffed it. There's a scene in a cancer clinic where Max whips up the patients into calling for the US system. This doesn't work for two reasons: 1) Lots of people in the UK know there are problems with the NHS, but the one thing everyone agrees on is that we don't want to follow the fucking American system. But also, 2) the show has spent the past 3 seasons telling us how broken the US system is so it just feels weird and out of place to suddenly have people chanting for it. (Especially because all the things they're asking for are things you get in the English NHS system).
I love the UK series "Ghosts". It's funny, but also poignant. There's a US version, and it's not terrible. They make some changes, and the changes mostly work. It's worth watching.
I started House of the Dragon, and I don't know if I can be bothered to watch any more. Milly Alcock is very good. She was outstanding in Upright (with Tim Minchin) and I'd prefer to be watching shows like that.
I’m not gonna make a new post. But the Emmy’s are on Monday.
Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary
Comedy Actress: Jean Smart - Hacks
Comedy Actor: Bill Hader - Barry
Comedy Supporting Actress: Janelle James - Abbott Elementary
Comedy Supporting Actor: Brett Goldstein - Ted Lasso
Comedy Directing: Barry
Comedy Writing: Abbott Elementary
Drama Series: Succession
Drama Actress: Zendaya - Euphoria
Drama Actor: Lee Jung-jae - Squid Games
Drama Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin - Succession
Drama Supporting Actress: Jung Ho-yeon - Squid Games
Drama Directing: Succession - All The Bells Say
Drama Writing: Succession - All The Bells Say
Limited Series: The White Lotus
Limited Actress: Amanda Seyfreid - The Dropout
Limited Actor: Michael Keaton - Dopesick
Limited Supporting Actress: Jennifer Coolidge - The White Lotus
Limited Supporting Actor: Murray Bartlett - The White Lotus
Limited Directing: The White Lotus
Limited Writing: The White Lotus
Competition: Ru Paul
Talk Series: Last Week Tonight
Sketch Series: A Black Lady Sketch Show
Special Writing: Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel
So I’ve been watching She-Hulk, that’s about the only show I have been watching. It’s... not... good. I wouldn’t say it’s the worst Marvel show since at least it’s not boring like Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But it’s definitely bottom tier. It’s like it was written by a bunch of twitter addicts, and the VFX is really fucking bad.
I feel bad for Tatiana Maslany. Even though I’ve only seen her in Stronger, she’s clearly a very talented actor. Even in this show, with this weak material, she shows off really good comedic timing. It’s just a shame that this is the show that was built around her.
It also sucks that this has been sucked into some sort of culture war. It reminds me of A Wrinkle in Time or Ghostbuster, where the culture war made liberal twitter people defend stuff that just wasn’t very good.
I’ve only seen the first episode and while I wouldn’t call it great I am finding it to be a breath of fresh air when it comes to these marvel TV shows. They have become so hammy and contrived that I found She-Hulk’s relative lightheartedness to be very welcome.
I welcome the light-hearted tone and the comedy tone. It’s an interesting thing where this and Thor: Love and Thunder got backlash from certain people for being too overtly comedic. That’s not my problem with either of these things though. It’s just that they’re poorly written with lame character exploration/motivation.
She-Hulk is gonna be in the avengers according to Kevin Feige, so hopefully eventually we get some depth to her because this show clearly isn’t gonna provide that. It also doesn’t use it’s 4th wall breaks super well. This last episode was a lot better, but a lot of the times it’s just voice over. And it’s not like Deadpool where it’s constantly doing it and constantly pouring jokes that way, it’s intermittently which feels a bit awkward.