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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 wrapped up the latest season of the new Twilight Zone and I think I like it better than the first season. It wasn't nearly as heavy handed in its take on social issues (which it mostly avoided this season around), but it was still lacking in some grander moral takeaway at the end of a few episodes. Not that the original Twilight Zone always had a deeper meaning behind each episode, but an episode from this latest season ended with Jordan Peele effectively saying "pretty crazy, right?" which I think diminishes the significance of the preceding events.
That being said, my favorite episode starred Topher Grace (who also had a great episode in Black Mirror) and its plot can best be described as
SPOILER
Groundhog Day from the perspective of the love interest.
I thought it was an interesting take on dating when paired with Netflix's Dating Around. That is, with modern dating making acquiring dates relatively easy (at least pre-coronavirus) it ends up becoming a numbers game. Perhaps it's just my own experience, but I ended up consciously trying to optimize a first date experience over time, which inevitably led me to write a song Dating Appathy (the two p's are deliberate) where I took a more cynical view that everyone is merely going through the motions without going through any emotions or real connection. This Twilight Zone episode doesn't necessarily resolve the dilemma of modern dating, but I enjoyed getting an alternate reality experience to something I had already put some thought to.
I love Twilight Zone. I think a short duration is essential for the concept—the original show had 24 minutes runtimes. It featured short stories with a surprising twist at the end, and it’s hard to do that with 45 minutes+ episodes. This is something even Black Mirror struggles with.
Tales from the Crypt had the same duration.
I watched a few episodes of the new version and felt they stretched themselves thin. I intend to give it another shot when I get my computer back since there’s no CBS streaming here.
I'm in complete alignment with you. While I think this latest season was an improvement over the first, it still hasn't found a way to be concise enough. It meanders on the same theme a little too long just to get the initial point across.
The original Twilight Zone episodes were able to tie an entire plot line in 20-some minutes of what could have been entire feature films in their own right. Meanwhile the modern series double the runtime, but seems to cover even less plot. It always feels like it has the start to a cool sci-fi idea, but then never knows how to stick the landing, so it dwells on the idea itself without trying to provide a satisfying conclusion.
Black Mirror has some well executed ideas in a handful of episodes, but there's definitely been others in the more recent seasons that have a similar "limbo" state to Peele's Twilight Zone.
It’s unfortunate that in 2020 the half hour format is considered adequate only for comedy and animation. Like the short story in literature, the “mini TV drama” is an awesome space for experimentation, specially speculative fiction.
I needed a break from Deep Space Nine. Something fun and unique. So I started watching Archer on Netflix. It's a parody of espionage fiction. I really like it. The style reminds me of 80s and 90s cartoons, and even the clumsiness and limitations of the animation technique are charming and nostalgic to me. It's pretty funny too, with many layers of self-referential humor. It reminds me of Arrested Development in that regard. And the voice acting is superb.
It takes some getting used to, but once you get in the flow Archer is a great show to follow
I've recently started watching Midnight Diner on Netflix and after the consecutive marathon runs during quarantine, this was a refreshing slice-of-life set in Japan. There's just something about it that makes me so happy.
It is basically the comings and goings of customers in an old 12-seater diner that only operates from 12 midnight to 7am. The owner and chef, "Master", has no menu but will cook anything the customers want as long as he has ingredients for it.
Each episode focuses on a specific customer and the circumstances behind both the food they order and why they came across the diner in the first place.
I appreciate the slow-burn drama of it, drama that was earned and doesn't take itself too seriously. Most of all, I like that I can curl up after dinner with a good drink and watch one or two episodes then call it done and go to sleep. There's no artificial cliff hangers or a pressure to finish the whole thing in one sitting. Master closes up at 7am and so does the storylines of each character, although many recurring ones do have multi-episode arcs.
It's been a long COVID while since I've gone out to eat or gone to relax at the pub, so that might contribute to my love for it. It also reminds me of a sidewalk vendor me and my co-workers would frequent where he knew all of our orders beforehand and would always sneak us extras.
I really loved Midnight Diner, it was such a quaint show!
If you haven't watched Samurai Gourmet, I would suggest you give it a try as well!
Ah, that's the word I was looking for. Quaint. It really is, and cozy!
Checked out Samurai Gourmet and it looks good. It also makes me incredibly hungry. Thanks for the suggestion, will give it a try once I've eaten today.
Someone had made a post recommending Dark. I finished the first two episodes yesterday. And yeah, it's good, I see why it's hyped.
I saw the first episode of this with my SO and was left extremely frustrated!
I know the show is called Unsolved Mysteries, but yet I was unreasonably angry and frustrated at it. I am ok with open ended storylines but this just left me sour, it's probably everything happening in the world and I probably hit some internal limit on crap that life can dole out, I don't know!
I stopped watching it after the first episode but my SO did finish the entire series and said she found it enjoyable.
How is it on the woo-woo scale? I have a vague recollection of a previous show of the same title on syndicated TV in the 90s, and its solution to everything was along the lines of "was it aliens/angels/ghosts?"
Thanks! Only 1 episode about UFOs. That sounds like an improvement! (And to be fair, maybe they end up concluding it was likely something more earthly in the end? I guess I'll have to watch to know for sure.)