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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.
Watched the first 3 episodes of For All Mankind. The premise (what if the Soviets had reached the Moon before America) seemed interesting since I'm a space nut and have a massive appetite for any content (factual or fictitious) related to space. There's some good character development, and the drama is interesting. Waiting for the next few episodes.
This is free talk right?
My wife watches Dancing with the Stars, and so I guess therefore I somewhat do as well. I have been fascinated by Sean Spicer remaining in the competition despite his grossly incompetent dancing ability. I started googling around and apparently people have turned it into a political thing, that a vote for Spicey is a vote for... Conservatism? People who don't even watch the show are voting for him.
This is so weird on so many levels. First, how is voting for him "sticking it to the libs?" Second, even Trump says to vote for him and he fired the guy. Third, it's really interesting that the producers aren't overriding this vote for a shitty dancer.
Here's a really weird article from the Faux News perspective: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/sean-spicers-dancing-with-the-stars-performance-outrages-liberals-as-trump-encourages-support
He's literally one of the worst dancers they've had on the show, and they're making it about liberals being outraged!
Here's an article from Esquire about it:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a29623105/why-is-sean-spicer-still-on-dancing-with-the-stars-dwts/
Anyway thought I'd just bring everyone down this rabbit hole with me. Interested to see if anyone else has been observing this phenomenon.
Edit: Fox News references this article too, which is amazing: No, Sean Spicer Really Can’t Dance https://nyti.ms/32czcRn
Overall, these sorts of shows keep on people who are good for ratings. I can't speak specifically to DWS, but most reality shows have a disclaimer at the end of the credits noting that the network can override judge's decisions.
There have been people on Top Chef or Project Runway that should have been cut, but they were good for the story-side of the show... so they stuck around a few rounds longer than they should have.
It's a shame that the media is trying to politicize it, when really its just the network cashing on Spicer. I don't watch the show, but as much of a fan I am of James Van Der Beek (I truly am), there aren't any other big names on the show that can compare.
This was my suspicion too, but I wonder if the network truly benefits? If Spicey was removed by the producers, it might backfire on them with controversy. It's also not big enough of a deal to generate more people watching the show - honestly it's painful to watch him dance, it's not fun or ironically enjoyable.
It's funny -- I'm not sure the audience really cares who is winning or not. I don't doubt that everybody is cheering for their favorite, but it looks like the numbers have the same fluctuations during the season.
That being said, look at all of the crazy, free press they get out of this? You've got Trump tweeting, all of these articles out, most of the 'comedy' news shows are using clips and making fun of it.
Prior to Spicer, I had completely forgotten about Dancing with the Stars. Will I watch? No. But it looks like they're holding their own in their timeslot.
A bunch of data in tables
Last Season
Current Season
Compared to other shows on the same night
Good points and interesting to see the data, thanks for posting that. Overall viewership actually appears slightly lower than last year, but you're right, lots of free press at least gets people talking about it.
Oh, how was the first episode of His Dark Materials? Have you read the book(s), or is the show your introduction to it?
The Americans is pretty great, eh. It's one of my favorite series. If you haven't already, you might also like Rubicon from AMC.
It's pretty much wrapped up -- just feels a little rushed, especially for a series that was willing to take its time with everything else.
The special episodes of Mr Robot have been stellar. Going pretty much dialog free for this last episode made for such an unbelievable tension --- and I think dialog would have done nothing but hold it back.
Watchmen is getting going, which is good. Nice to see Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre. It's nice to see a fresh story that builds off of the original material instead of just reshooting it or trying to be that previous property.
Anyone else watching Godfather of Harlem? It's pretty decent, but it feels like its running a cycle... I'm hoping it picks up the pace within the next two episodes. Forest Whitaker as Bumpy Johnson is way better than I expected. He's got such a natural, cool, authoritative calm about him -- even when he's angry.
Wellington Paranormal is another gem that I'm trying to get everybody into. If you like What We Do in the Shadows, Flight of the Conchords, etc -- its the same sort of humor mixed with the X-Files.
The Morning Show is out. I wasn't going to watch it right away, but @DanBC made a post asking about it -- so I decided to dive in. Great call on Apple's part to release three episodes at once. You get the characters, world-building, etc, which is an excellent primer for the remaining eight or so episodes. There's a lot of Newsroom / Sorkin influence here, in a good way.
The Kominsky Method --- its a fun show. Definitely not a must-watch, but it's really enjoyable and heartwarming.
I'm still into my LOST rewatch. I've done this a few times (normally and chronologically) -- I love LOST. I'm also going through the commentary tracks for the first time, which is a bit of a joy. I'm a sucker for a good commentary track. Not a lot of crazy insight or anything, but the tracks do give some fun tidbits, production details, etc.
Out this week:
Finally got around to starting the final season of Bojack. Bojack's life appears to be on an upward trajectory but the season begins with a horribly depressing look back at the roots of Bojack's alcoholism. I've personally seen family, friends, and even myself struggle with alcohol so seeing it portrayed on screen always hits close to home. I'm going to miss this show but I'm also glad that Bojack's story is coming to a close.