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Current TV Boxset Addiction

Started by radiator, 20 November, 2012, 02:23:29 PM

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I, Cosh

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 01:52:43 PM
Just finished a leisurely, indulgent rewatch of Firefly capped off with Serenity.  Truly remarkable, one of the most finely-crafted genre TV shows ever produced. 
... [lots of stuff about how great Firefly is] ...
Conversely, this means that if you don't fall for the characters and their witty banter littered with makey-uppy language, you may well be disappointed.
I'm afraid this is me. I detest the theme tune and physically cringe every time someone mentions "the 'Verse." I don't dislike the series but I'm firmly with Pictsy block in terms of reputation vastly overshadowing actual impact. Personally, I think the cast is just a little too big so that giving everyone on the ship a little time to shine ends up meaning there is no core to focus on which didn't work for me. I also think the lack of a real bad egg in the basket hamstrings it in a way. I realise Jayne is supposed to fill that role but he ends up just being a lovable buffoon rather than Avon. Or more Andrew than Warren if you prefer.

Quote from: TordelBack on 15 November, 2014, 11:26:57 AM...What I almost couldn't believe is the absence of Reavers from the TV series - in my memory they had been a regular presence, but in reality its just a single brief chase, a booby-trap and one disturbed survivor of an attack, all the rest is purely from characters' conversation.  Amazing. ...
There's pleasure tinged with sadness round my way as I only have two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer left to watch. I had seen most of the final series before but, rather like these Reavers, I  had remembered Captain Reynolds' Caleb as being a constant presence whereas, in real life, he's only in the last few episodes. Then again, I'd also remembered it as being Jonathan who ends up joining the gang when it's actually Andrew.

Again, this has been a series where a long time is spent picking over the fallout from the previous before concentrating on the new. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

There have been a couple of very good episodes. The Willow/Warren bodyswap, for example, manages to have decent laughs, character development and a real edge about the horrendous, self-imposed guilt of moving on from loss. Some interesting redefining of the roles and relationships between the characters too: Giles in particular. However, an awful lot of time is spent with Buffy going on about getting ready for  the war that's coming and very little time actually showing this. With the caveats that average Buffy is still better than most things and I'm looking forward to the big finale but it seems like it's going out on maybe its weakest year.
We never really die.

pictsy

Quote from: The Cosh on 20 November, 2014, 10:26:19 PM
I'm firmly with Pictsy block

I love the idea of having a block named after me in MC1.  Would be so awesome :D

BtvS is a show I find something extra to appreciate every time I watch it.  I've only watched it in it's entirety twice and saw a good number of the original showings with some impressively well defined characters.... including the women.  Caleb was certainly a highlight and definitely more memorable than Captain Reynolds.  Not necessarily a fair comparison as Caleb was so good at being villainous and Nathan Fillion is so convincing in the role.

TordelBack

Our own Buffy/Angel combo re-watch has stalled at the end of the excellent Season 6, as we try to get through Angel Season 3 to catch up and get back in sync.  Not that there's anything wrong with Angel, we just keep getting distracted into watching other things, and time is limited.

I, Cosh

Nobody can be bothered with Conner.
We never really die.

TordelBack

#784
Quote from: The Cosh on 21 November, 2014, 08:58:17 AM
Nobody can be bothered with Conner.

I have attention-span problems with the whole Pylea-Fredcentric-Conner period.  There's a lot of good stuff in there, but so far the pre-Pylea parts of Season 2 overshadow what we seem to have been watching for months now. Having finally established Angel as an interesting character in his own right (not an easy task), he seems to move into a background role for too long.  Billy, the The Shining episode, with its leaden 'all men harbour a primordial misogyny' thesis sitting uncomfortably with Fred's nominative-deterministic Scooby Doo antics, nearly made me give up entirely. Hence the Firefly and Thick of It diversions.

It's still perfectly good telly, but not uncoincidentally, this is where I stopped watching regularly when it was broadcast. 

Theblazeuk

Worth everything to get through to the last season. I hated Conner and the Beast bit, though there are a couple of episodes in there. Wesley's transition to the guy he was pretending to be in his first appearance on Angel is the highlight.

TordelBack

#786
Just finished The Detectorists, by and starring a loveable McKenzie Crook.  Okay, so I'm squarely in the target audience, but I thought this was a charmingly gentle sitcom of a type you don't really see any more, well researched and pleasingly complete.  I like that it highlighted the intellectual lives of men in 'menial' jobs, something I see all the time on construction sites, where you're just as likely to have a grand chat about the War of the Spanish Succession or Stegosauruses with the guy who keeps the tarmac warm as you are with supposed educated bastions of culture like architects and planners.  Not a drop of nastiness in it either. Possibly some of the supporting cast were too broadly stereotyped, and maybe him off Horrible Histories took me out of it rather too often as I was expecting to see him in a toga in the next scene, but the core five or six characters were great. With a bit of trimming of subplots it'd make a brilliant stage play.

ming

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
Just finished The Detectorists...

I knew you'd like this.  I loved it to bits - apparently M. Crook is a real-life detectorist and used his own kit during filming, which he had to turn off to prevent him getting distracted and eager to dig about all the time.  Anyway, for me, that one of the best comedies for quite some time; nicely understated and the lack of a bloody laughter track was very welcome.  Looking forward to more!

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: ming on 10 December, 2014, 01:38:55 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 10 December, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
Just finished The Detectorists...

I knew you'd like this... that was one of the best comedies for quite some time; nicely understated and the lack of a bloody laughter track was very welcome.  Looking forward to more!

It really was superb. After episode 1 I thought 'That was a good bit of fun. I'll try to remember to catch the next one.' By episode 6 I'd come to enjoy the little world so much I actually had a lump in my throat when it ended. A nice gentle comedy that didn't see 'gentle' as a dirty word but something to be embraced.
@jamesfeistdraws

TordelBack

And how great was that final shot! Pure class.

Dark Jimbo

Been confirmed for a second series next year, too (although that could have been a perfect place to end it!)
@jamesfeistdraws

CrazyFoxMachine

Missed out on Detectorists but I'm sure I'll catch it at some point as I've heard it's grand. Subject matter wise it's one of those things that's so close to home it doesn't really provoke interest. As much as I'd love to spend my evening thinking about my day job...

Gentle comedywise I can't recommend Puppy Love on BBC4 any higher - from Joanna Scanlan & Vicky Pepperdine wot did the gloriously deadpan 'Getting On' (some episodes of which were directed by Capaldi!) it's a a great bit of seriously addictive character comedy and has had me hooting.

Just finished Dagvaktin ('Day Shift') as well - a very brilliant, very brutal and dry comedy drama from Iceland that revolves around a tremendously well-observed odious prick called Georg played by Reykjavik's former mayor (!) and perennial god Jon Gnarr.



If you're looking for some great telly and want something very different I can't recommend it higher but it's not easy to come by. They screened the first series called 'Naeturvaktin' (Night Shift) on the BBC a few years ago and so you can sometimes find it - but it's an arse to find subtitled so I just bought the Icelandic DVD (as they are also Region 2) which has bumpy but solid English subs.

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 11 December, 2014, 07:30:47 PM
Just finished Dagvaktin ('Day Shift') as well - a very brilliant, very brutal and dry comedy drama from Iceland that revolves around a tremendously well-observed odious prick called Georg played by Reykjavik's former mayor (!) and perennial god Jon Gnarr.



If you're looking for some great telly and want something very different I can't recommend it higher but it's not easy to come by. They screened the first series called 'Naeturvaktin' (Night Shift) on the BBC a few years ago and so you can sometimes find it - but it's an arse to find subtitled so I just bought the Icelandic DVD (as they are also Region 2) which has bumpy but solid English subs.

Was it you that I chatted about the Night Shift with at Inverness airport while we waited for the bus to Hi-Ex a few years back? You remain to this day the only other person I know who's seen it. Having spent more years than I'd have liked working in a petrol station at that point I did more than once expierience the same sort of thing as you mentioned with Detectorists.

Always meant to seek out the rest of the series but last time I looked there wasn't a region 2 DVD - and I just looked it up on Amazon! Christ! £35! No thanks. Where did you find the Icelandic one, O...?
@jamesfeistdraws

CrazyFoxMachine

A lot of patience and eBay - but yes you'll not find them for cheaper than £20 a series - It's hugely worth it though!

Blimey I was just thinking about Inverness the other day - seems like forever ago!

Professor Bear

Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman season 2.

Both better and worse than I remember, it's pretty darn nineties all up in here in terms of clothes and hairstyles, but for some reason it really, really reminds me of Gotham, with dudes in period suits, unconvincing sets, dated characters and scenarios... I could absolutely see these shows being set in the same fictional universe, and given that Man of Steel is a cinema franchise and Gotham is a tv franchise and never the twain shall meet (there's some creative and marketing synergy for you), there's no real reason to assume otherwise.
It's all good clean fun, but the biggest problem - like the previous season - is that Lois is just such an asshole I cannot for the life of me see what the attraction is, certainly not when there are smarter, kinder and warmer women who share the screen with Clark and if anything only serve to highlight what a charmless shrew Lois really is.  I could understand if Clark thought she was work but eventually found her assholery to be some sort of defensive mechanism that hid a much better person, but that's not the case - he's in love with her from the start, and she constantly betrays that she's small-minded, jealous, greedy, selfish and hateful at her core, so their relationship is ultimately baffling.
I love how Superman - rather than some awe-inspiring demigod - is seen by the citizens of Metropolis as just some dude they see around town who's vaguely famous, like that man in New York who plays guitar in his underpants.  There's a bit where some guy slips in the snow and Superman flies down from the sky and helps him stand up and they guy is like "Oh, Superman.  (pause)  Thanks." and then they chat about Christmas.  I like this idea that Superman isn't terrifying, that his name isn't an imperialist statement of intent and just a goofy affectation, that he wears tights and underpants and a Dracula cape and that people are a hair's breath away from calling him out on it and telling him he looks stupid, and then some guy does that anyway and Superman rebuts with "my mom made this costume for me" and the guy just looks like a dick for saying it.
The scripts are all over the place and the production budget sometimes struggles with the odd bit of overambition - like Superman chasing a runaway fuel truck - but it works in the same way that the virtual reality of a professional wrestling storyline works, in that it quickly establishes the immediacy of any given scenario of panto suspense and rolls with it, adhering to its own internal logic and playing things out without breaking your concentration, and for a superhero tv show with a low budget I don't think you can really ask for much more.  Shakespeare it is not, but it has considerable charm that is magnified by how dated it occasionally looks.