General Television Thread 2024

[GhostMachine]

We've started watching Love Is Blind UK:

Spoiler

Sam is an asshole!

 

[Benji]

On 15/08/2024 at 19:37, K said:

Just finished ghosts (UK) and I'm pretty disappointed with the finale. Shame because the show was a banger.

Yeah, the fact they tried to have their cake and eat it too by doing both concepts of the finale (staying in the series finale and leaving in the actual final episode special) was a bit lame too. Didn't help that the final episode was somewhat dire compared to the rest of it.

[K]

18 hours ago, Benji said:

Yeah, the fact they tried to have their cake and eat it too by doing both concepts of the finale (staying in the series finale and leaving in the actual final episode special) was a bit lame too. Didn't help that the final episode was somewhat dire compared to the rest of it.

Selling out to a golf course as well. Really disappointing. I would have had fuckin Time Team turn up with Tony Robinson, discover something mad about the house, have it turned into a national trust site who run the place while the family live on site in an annexe. Throw in some Christmas stuff, done.

[GhostMachine]

Estate of Survival. Short (6 episodes) reality competition show on Prime. Found out about it from a commercial while watching something else a couple of days ago. I do recommend checking out the trailer. But there's more to it than what's shown in the trailer. 

[RPS]

Interview with the Vampire. 

If anyone is on the fence. Get off it and watch the show. 

It's amazing to see a show swing for the fences in every way and knock it out. 

The story is incredible. Just fantastic, layered, complicated. 

The acting is on another level. The five main leads are perfect. Lestat and Louie especially so. Santiago is also eating up the god damn scenery. 

The characters are tremendous. We clearly have a great base with Anne Rice's novel. But wow. I think the categories of villain, hero, protagonist, antagonist, anti hero, etc. is limiting. That's what happens when people live hundreds of years, filled with trauma and death, living on a life of either imposed or created conditions. Huge events cannot be boiled down to "he was wrong". The characters got angles. 

The cinematography is great but so amazing in the second season. 

Costumes are amazing. 

Not a single flaw with the show. 

[Hobo]

9 minutes ago, RPS said:

Interview with the Vampire. 

If anyone is on the fence. Get off it and watch the show. 

It's amazing to see a show swing for the fences in every way and knock it out. 

The story is incredible. Just fantastic, layered, complicated. 

The acting is on another level. The five main leads are perfect. Lestat and Louie especially so. Santiago is also eating up the god damn scenery. 

The characters are tremendous. We clearly have a great base with Anne Rice's novel. But wow. I think the categories of villain, hero, protagonist, antagonist, anti hero, etc. is limiting. That's what happens when people live hundreds of years, filled with trauma and death, living on a life of either imposed or created conditions. Huge events cannot be boiled down to "he was wrong". The characters got angles. 

The cinematography is great but so amazing in the second season. 

Costumes are amazing. 

Not a single flaw with the show. 

We've been watching it and are just on the start of Season 2.

I only really knew the movie going in. I don't really have any strong feelings about it but I can see that it's a good show.

[Colly]

We had a series link set up for it but only finally got round to the first episode at the weekend, it was brilliant. It's a while since I've watched the film but the move to New Orleans and a black Louis felt very natural and interesting, and to not shy away from the gay relationship with Lestat (which I hadn't realised was in the book, Tom Cruise is a coward...) was refreshing. The only thing that I found odd was why anyone around a century old would want to hang around in Dubai rather than somewhere nice, but I expect that'll be expanded on going forward.

Definitely sticking with it.

[RPS]

14 minutes ago, Hobo said:

I don't really have any strong feelings about it but I can see that it's a good show.

I had stronger feelings by the end of the second season. Great stuff. 

9 minutes ago, Colly said:

The only thing that I found odd was why anyone around a century old would want to hang around in Dubai rather than somewhere nice, but I expect that'll be expanded on going forward.

I'm excited for you to piece it together. I think it's a great touch. 

[Benji]

1 hour ago, Colly said:

The only thing that I found odd was why anyone around a century old would want to hang around in Dubai rather than somewhere nice, but I expect that'll be expanded on going forward.

I'd imagine the lack of crosses is appealing.

[Colly]

At the risk of getting spoilers I wonder if it's crosses or religious iconography of any kind that bothers a vampire...

[RPS]

Keep watching... 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

3 hours ago, RPS said:

Interview with the Vampire. 

If anyone is on the fence. Get off it and watch the show. 

It's amazing to see a show swing for the fences in every way and knock it out. 

The story is incredible. Just fantastic, layered, complicated. 

The acting is on another level. The five main leads are perfect. Lestat and Louie especially so. Santiago is also eating up the god damn scenery. 

The characters are tremendous. We clearly have a great base with Anne Rice's novel. But wow. I think the categories of villain, hero, protagonist, antagonist, anti hero, etc. is limiting. That's what happens when people live hundreds of years, filled with trauma and death, living on a life of either imposed or created conditions. Huge events cannot be boiled down to "he was wrong". The characters got angles. 

The cinematography is great but so amazing in the second season. 

Costumes are amazing. 

Not a single flaw with the show. 

Can't endorse this post enough.

Interview is so good and I am hoping more people will check it out now that it got added to Netflix today in the States. 

[Gabriel]

I was way off of the fence, but it's cool you're all really enjoying it.

I was excited when it was announced, but after the first season, speaking to a close friend who knows how much the novel means to me and shares my tastes in cinema, I was essentially told that it would be an aggravating watch for me personally.

The novel means A LOT to me. No art has ever touched my soul like that book did. So, to anyone who has the same reverence for the original novel (not just the film)... how's the series?

[RPS]

51 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

So, to anyone who has the same reverence for the original novel (not just the film)... how's the series?

My oldest friend read everything Anne Rice wrote. He wasn't as enthused as I was but said it was very good and he enjoyed it. He was able to separate his expectations and see it as it's own property. May be disappointed if you expect it to be faithful to the books. 

[Gabriel]

1 minute ago, RPS said:

My oldest friend read everything Anne Rice wrote. He wasn't as enthused as I was but said it was very good and he enjoyed it. He was able to separate his expectations and see it as it's own property. May be disappointed if you expect it to be faithful to the books. 

Thanks for that.

I'll likely add this to our list, though it may fall into the territory of being something we try out when we've run through the other stuff we are more excited about.

[Your Mom]

If you're the kind of "grown up" man baby that caused this show to get cancelled I hate you

[Colly]

Well that's achieved the exact thing Disney don't want with me, I'll now move to not bothering to watch anything unless I know another season (at least) is confirmed. Stupidly though that doesn't actually make any difference given I'm already paying for Disney+, what exactly is the measure for continuing a show or not? I enjoyed the Acolyte, and was certainly looking forward to it continuing.

[Benji]

48 minutes ago, Colly said:

Well that's achieved the exact thing Disney don't want with me, I'll now move to not bothering to watch anything unless I know another season (at least) is confirmed. Stupidly though that doesn't actually make any difference given I'm already paying for Disney+, what exactly is the measure for continuing a show or not? I enjoyed the Acolyte, and was certainly looking forward to it continuing.

This is basically why I've stopped watching new streaming shows on any service unless it's a massive tentpole project that they're clearly behind. Even the franchise stuff isn't safe. They've all created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Jimmy]

17 minutes ago, Benji said:

This is basically why I've stopped watching new streaming shows on any service unless it's a massive tentpole project that they're clearly behind. Even the franchise stuff isn't safe. They've all created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is generally why, out of all the streamers, I've been really warming to Apple TV. They'll do 2-4 seasons of a show no one is watching. That said, I saw they were going to start scaling back which is a shame. 

I'm currently watching Presumed Innocent, which hasn't been the most amazing thing I've ever watched, but having not watched a crime drama in a while it's scratching an itch. Great ensemble too. 

Recently I've been trying to catch up on some of the prestige TV I was looking forward to but then seemed to get little hype. 

I thought Expats was wonderful. It's Lulu Wang's follow-up to The Farewell and it's one of those shows that feels wholly cinematic. I thought it was empathetic, heartfelt and always asking difficult questions. 

I also thought Mr and Mrs Smith was a riot. Again, really loved the way it looked and felt. Amazon really do throw all this money behind their big, cinematic projects (Underground Railroad, Expats, I Am A Virgo) and then don't know what to do with them. It's frustrating, but thankfully most of these are mini-series, so the looming cancellation of anything that's not a megahit isn't an issue. It sounds like Mr and Mrs Smith will be back for another season, which is good news. 

In between all of this, I am slowly watching 30 Rock for the first time. Now into season 3 and it feels like it's finally hitting it's stride.

Oh, I also watched Blue Eyed Samurai and was completely blown away. What an incredible ride. 

[K]

9 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

This is generally why, out of all the streamers, I've been really warming to Apple TV. They'll do 2-4 seasons of a show no one is watching. That said, I saw they were going to start scaling back which is a shame. 

I'm currently watching Presumed Innocent, which hasn't been the most amazing thing I've ever watched, but having not watched a crime drama in a while it's scratching an itch. Great ensemble too. 

Recently I've been trying to catch up on some of the prestige TV I was looking forward to but then seemed to get little hype. 

I thought Expats was wonderful. It's Lulu Wang's follow-up to The Farewell and it's one of those shows that feels wholly cinematic. I thought it was empathetic, heartfelt and always asking difficult questions. 

I also thought Mr and Mrs Smith was a riot. Again, really loved the way it looked and felt. Amazon really do throw all this money behind their big, cinematic projects (Underground Railroad, Expats, I Am A Virgo) and then don't know what to do with them. It's frustrating, but thankfully most of these are mini-series, so the looming cancellation of anything that's not a megahit isn't an issue. It sounds like Mr and Mrs Smith will be back for another season, which is good news. 

In between all of this, I am slowly watching 30 Rock for the first time. Now into season 3 and it feels like it's finally hitting it's stride.

Oh, I also watched Blue Eyed Samurai and was completely blown away. What an incredible ride. 

30 Rock is probably my favourite show of all time. Love it.

 

I've basically stopped watching anything that could conceivably be cancelled on a cliff hanger. I just can't be arsed with it. I'm now just watching old stuff, or stuff that is self-contained seasons.

Like Bad Sisters, I know it's been renewed for a second, but season one was a perfect single arc. Loved it.