Current TV Boxset Addiction

[Professor Bear]

Pretty sure I'm on the record as a Stargate fan, and I even thought several Atlantis episodes were objectively great even if there wasn't half enough of Robert Picardo smoking cigars and being an asshole in that show for my liking.  Also kudos for their great Tealc/Ronan episode where people just act confused that the two identical characters don't get along, fully aware that they are living in fanfiction that for some reason the producers have chosen to film.

I suspect we'll simply have to agree to disagree on how much SGU sucked or not.

[pictsy]

Pretty sure I'm on the record as a Stargate fan...

My mistake then. 

I suspect we'll simply have to agree to disagree on how much SGU sucked or not.

Given our differing opinions on BSG and the remake it's hardly surprising to me that we differ in opinion about SGU.  At least we are being consistent

[Jim_Campbell]

Gonna have to side with the dog in a fez on this one: SG-U is objectively terrible. Or, at least, the first half of Season 1 is — I genuinely couldn't be arsed to pick up after the mid-season break, so piss-poor were the initial episodes. The previous SG series weren't great television, but at least they were engaging and fun. SG-U just sacrificed everything that was enjoyable about the previous contributions to the franchise on the altar of its utterly misguided attempt to reinvent itself as new-era BSG. Which, for the record, was also shit.

Cheers

Jim

[pictsy]

Well yes, I can understand animosity to the start of SGU if you can't get past the BSG remake comparison and hated the BSG remake anyway.

I wouldn't be able to agree that the first half of the first season of SG-U is 'objectively terrible'.  Subjectively, yeah, but objectively, no.  This just tempts a debate/argument of the Cartesian nature of quality.  I doubt anyone wants that.

Anyway, to be a SGU cheerleader a little more, for anyone who doesn't dislike the BSG remake and can get past similarities I would certainly recommend watching both series of SGU.  Also fans of Robert Carlyle - who does provides an excellent performance from the outset.

[Mardroid]

I'm recently picked up the first series of Ashes to Ashes on DVD and I'm working my way through that. Not as good as the later series, maybe, but still pretty good.

I also recently noticed that the third series of American Horror Story is on Netflix. I'm only a couple of episodes in so far but it's interesting, rather warped stuff.

[Theblazeuk]

SGU starts as a series with a good idea that clumsily muddles along the SG universe and is a bit dire overall, before turning into a more standalone affair that has some great moments and was well worth the watch. Mainly once they stop trying to juggle SG1 campness with some actual weird consequences.

[Tiplodocus]

I solved a mild conundrum last night.

About four or five years ago, a bloke at work recommended a little heard of TV show called Breaking Bad. I think it was on council telly at the time.  I tuned in to one episode and despite not knowing exactly what was going on, thought it was very good and resolved to watch more.

I tuned in the next week but it was no longer in the schedules. I cursed the schedulers (d their constant need to move programmes between timeslots in case anybody actually gets into the habit of watching a show!) and then forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2013 and everybody and their dog is talking about how brilliant it is and I feel left out.

Last night, I see Season 1 Episode 7 - it's the episode I saw all of those years ago.  And it's the end of season episode.  Which explains why I never found another episode to watch.

So I apologise to the schedulers that I cursed. (But you still shouldn't have sold it on to Sky or whoever).

[TordelBack]

The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.

[Hawkmumbler]

One of the few comedies that actualy got in in universe term jnto the Oxford Dictionary.

Oh, and obligatory Capaldi is shit hot as Tucker post.

[Goaty]

You finally met Malcolm Tucker!

[Dark Jimbo]

Currently watching an episode a night of Sapphire and Steel. So glad my mum was enlightened enough to show me the infamous 'railway station' story when I was just the right age (7 or 8, I think). I mean, obviously it shared the living sh*t out of me but stayed with me ever since, in a profound way that only stuff watched in those formative years can.

The programme may be older than I am but the effects work holds up remarkably well for the most part (excepting that not-too-great third story). The character interplay is great and Joanna Lumley is gorgeous, o'course. Must check out those audio adventures one of these days.

[Theblazeuk]

So I apologise to the schedulers that I cursed. (But you still shouldn't have sold it on to Sky or whoever).

Your beef is with AMC

[Proudhuff]

The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.

'In the Loop' takes the whole circus to Washington and has a wonderful Tucker rant that I won't spoil here.
I've mostly been watching House of Cards series II which ends well  and have started Penny Dreadful _ no Dredd yet and also a lot more grownup and thoughtful than I was lead to believe.

Also have True Detective lined up, that comes highly recommended so fingers crossed.

[Tiplodocus]

The Thick of It.  Only ever caught the odd episode, but last night just finished Season 2 on Netflix.  We were really enjoying the intense 20 minute chunks, and initially resented the shift to hour-long Christmas specials, but bloody hell by the end we were on the edge of our seats - fantastic telly, somehow convoluted in both plot and language, and yet deadly simple at the same time.  My poor wife, a communications type by trade, has identified herself completely with Joanna Scanlon's Terri and her 'oh god that's just my life' wails make the whole thing so much funnier.  For me.

It takes no prisoners between series either. It just jumps straight in and leaves you to join the dots.

[radiator]

Though I adore pretty much everything Armando Ianucci has done, I could never get into The Thick of It/In The Loop/Veep for the simple reason that I find the machinations of party politics incredibly dull as a subject matter. It's why I don't really like any kind of political satire, or even something like House of Cards - I just don't care about that world or the kind of people that populate it.

It just leaves me totally cold apart for the inventive Capaldi swearing.