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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.
The Day of the Jackal - 7/10
Family drama with Bianca kind of bad. Nuria parts not bad, MI6 parts not bad, but nothing was as good as the Jackal parts which, if that was the only aspect of the show, it would have been a lot more solid. That Alvaro sidequest was annoying though and felt like they were just padding the show to get to 10 episodes. Anyway there were also some really intense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat and my heart racing! Those really do a lot. Looking very much forward to season 2 and will watch the 1970's movie soon to see how it compares - gonna be interesting.
Black Doves - 7-8/10
Quite comparable to the above I feel. Different elements of course, but still about assassins/hitmen and secret agents. This show did not come near the highs of the scenes with Eddie Redmayne, but in that show, the lows were a lot lower than this one. So unlike that, this was a lot more consistent as nothing was boring or annoying - everything was compelling and intriguing! Although for both shows, you do have to suspend disbelief an equal amount as some things are a bit out there.
I have been dipping my toes into the (can we even call them Antihero?) Antihero TV shows: AP Bio, LouderMilk, and (less recently) Psych, which have been exceedingly funny to watch. I highly recommend AP Bio.
If there is such thing as "Anti-Hype" this is the feeling that I have for the new medical series The Pitt, because I feel it's going to be a ripoff of ER (Variety article on that here). As a self-labeled "Michael Crichton fanboy" through-and-through, I will refuse to watch it, even if everyone around me is ecstatic.
I'm also following DanDaDan, the anime, as it releases new episodes, all of which are funny and entertaining even to someone not well-immersed in the genre. There are some scenes that are a soft NSFW, so that should be taken into consideration if anyone wants to watch this particular series.
I really liked AP Bio. They did such a good job creating distinct students with their own lived-in personas. The legendary Paula Pell was such a good get, too -- but its NBC, so it isn't a stretch for her to be involved. She's amazing.
Wow, I genuinely would have never known how prolific she was (both as a writer and a performer) if you hadn't have said anything. I wish writers received more credit than they do (and if they do receive plenty of credit I wish I had been paying attention all this time).
What shows are you enjoying at the moment?
its really amazing, right? She was one of those names I heard a lot and then I saw her on the show and was like 'her?' -- so talented.
Not a lot right now. I'm in this really slow Buffy / Angel watch, which is fun. Pretty much only What If... (Marvel animated thing), The Agency (Fassbender as a spy -- its okay but not great)... slow time of year. I'm slowly rewatching STRIKE BACK when I'm not sure what else to watch. STRIKE BACK is the last true Cinemax show in that every other episode has some pointless sex scene, they blow up every building, and the plot is absolutely an afterthought. Fun series.
I've been watching Skeleton Crew, which is a Star Wars series. It just isn't going anywhere, but the sets are nice. I might drop it.
Did you catch Day of the Jackal? That was the last great show. I didn't care about two of the storylines, but I never care about a show that gets into family drama or anything to do with kids. Just kill them off or whatever like they did with Homeland and move on.
I have not yet watched it, but after looking it up, I've added it to my list. It looks thrilling.
I have never heard of Strike Back until now, and I'll add that to my watch list as well. I absolutely love swinging back around for shows and movies that were "the talk" of the world (like Lost, which I'm also watching) years and years ago. I get to enjoy the show, but I generally don't have to worry about spoilers or the more negative aspects of being caught up in the zeitgeist.
At one point I felt like I could trust any Fassbender film to be good, just like any Bill Paxton or Keanu Reeves film. But after watching some of the more recent stuff he stars in, I don't think this personal metric holds true anymore.
Thanks for the recommendations!
ok, with STRIKE BACK, the first season was more serious, but the lead went off to do The Walking Dead. The show was going to be axed, but Cinemax picked it up and ran it for another six or so seasons. Each storyline is about four episodes and there's a cast shift after four or so seasons.
Overall the show is everything you want it to be. The storylines are decent, they blow up absolutely everything, and... its just fun.
Now, if you're really into LOST, there's the LOST Circle fan edit that puts the whole series in chronological order... and its great. The LOST discord has a bunch of people who take fandom to a whole new level. They know everything there is to know about the series. But yeah, chronological is super fun. I just did a LOST rewatch a few months ago.
Last thing, if you like Fassbender -- check out The Killer. It should have had better ratings, but I don't think a lot of people understood what it was doing.
I have not watched The Agency, but I did watch the original French show, Les Bureau des Legendes and it was really, really good, so I just wanted to chime in to recommend it! Just going by imdb score, it has a whopping 1.4 higher rating than The Agency - 7.3/10 compared to the original's 8.7/10. I feel such a big gap is very telling of the difference in quality of the two shows, and those scores can be trusted.
cc @queresote
I hate when shows bring a kid into the story for easy drama. Were you also surprised by how great Gere looks?
I don't remember either of this?
check him out -- good looking man who has aged well with a little work.
In the show, I hate everything with Fassbender's daughter, Poppy. Just kill her off or whatever and get it over with. :)
Ohh you're talking about the American version, I thought I forgot stuff from the original French show.
haha nah, typical American show; adding a useless daughter.
Gotcha, yeah I don't disagree. The Day of the Jackal did the same thing - or was it a son? Like I wrote above, the family drama was so weak on that show. Only the Redmayne scenes made up for it.
I hadn't thanked you yet for recommending it by the way. So.. thank you!
oh god. her stupid husband and his ex-wife —- as if she’s never worked on a bigger case before. His own family was also terrible. they should have just stuck to the book.
Homeland did this and they listened to the fans and dropped those people and changed everything. it’s such a lazy trope that damages otherwise great shows.
Yeah, that stuff only exists as filler to pad out time for however many episodes were ordered. It's a shame because a lot of shows would be near greatness if they tightened them up like it sounds like Homeland did. Maybe I should give that one a shot too but there's a lot of episodes - and I heard it gets bad in later seasons?
Homeland is great. It never gets bad -- but they definitely course-correct when they've gone in one direction too far. It really felt like they listened to the fans... if she was a little too crazy, they dialed it back. Too much daughter? dial it back! want more action? no problem.
Pretty great series, overall.
Chime heard, and Les Bureau des Legendes added to the list. Hopefully there is an English sub available, as my French is in a state of disrepair.
Killer was a great movie. I could immediately tell that the protagonist was not normal with how low-cut his socks were. There were beyond 'no show'.
have you seen Le Samouraï? If not, it might be up your alley.
I have not yet, but I will now!
its pretty good -- one of many standards. Unrelated, but you might as well watch Rififi if you haven't already :)