TV shows are awesome

A general discussion forum, plus hauls and silly games.
User avatar
andersonh1
Moderator
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by andersonh1 »

I enjoyed the episode, though they're doing the same thing to Banner/Hulk that they've done to Thor, in that they've turned a dramatic character into a comedy character. I'm not sure I like that. Compare both Thor and Hulk in the first Avengers movie to their most recent outings, for example. I do like Jennifer and the emphasis on how she's different from her cousin Bruce due to all sorts of factors. Nice to see the family relationship between the two. And we get some fourth-wall breaking by the character, which as I understand it, is similar to the comics. I can't say I've ever read a She-Hulk series, though I've run across the character elsewhere. Fun episode, I'll likely watch more.
User avatar
andersonh1
Moderator
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by andersonh1 »

The Rings of Power episode 1 - I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail, except to say that this isn't really an adaptation of Tolkien's writing. The writers have borrowed some names and some places and have written their own story, much of which actually contradicts what Tolkien wrote. I'd say it was a massive disappointment, except that a lot of this was what I expected from bits and pieces that had come out leading up to the show's premier. I've been a fan of Tolkien since I was a kid and one of the local radio stations aired those old Mind's Eye dramatizations of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, which made me seek out the books, and then everything else Tolkien had written. So I'm nearly a lifelong fan of his writing, and I do not feel that the Rings of Power even got close to capturing his characters and his themes. Parts of the episode are slow and dull, and some of the dialogue is very bad, and many of the actors seem miscast to me, in the sense that I cannot picture them as the characters they are playing. I doubt I'll watch any more of this. I don't quite understand why they didn't buy the rights to the Silmarillion and adapt some of the stories there. Give us a good First Age tv series based on an era where there's more of Tolkien's writing to adapt, given how scarce 2nd Age material is. But given what I saw on screen, perhaps I'd better be glad they didn't.
User avatar
andersonh1
Moderator
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by andersonh1 »

Rings of Power gets worse and worse. Whoever thought it was a good idea to write Galadriel as some angry, petulant teenager should have been fired a long time ago. At least the various reviewers on YouTube mocking the episodes are providing some entertainment. The episodes themselves are almost embarrassing to watch, because the actors are taking a terrible script dead seriously and I just can't. Harrison Ford's comment from the original Star Wars that Lucas could write that stuff but he sure couldn't say it comes to mind. Here's a hint: it's not adapting a book when they write their own story and call it an adaption. And these people absolutely cannot write dialogue that sounds even remotely like Tolkien. They can't even write functional dialogue.

And the men of Numenor are holding a rally to protest Elves coming to the island to take their jobs? Seriously?
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by JediTricks »

She-Hulk has been the worst thing I've watched in ages, it's not a good MCU show, it's not a funny sitcom, it feels like someone wanted to write like a comic book with really broad pastiches letting the reader fill in the blanks between panels and didn't understand that TV is an entirely different medium that engages the audience an entirely different way, so all the characters come off shallow and ridiculously stereotypical. The legal writing is also super dumb, like even Night Court would be ashamed of how little research these writers did in the law. The supposedly feminist angle is embarrassing, my girlfriend is downright angry at how badly it's written trying to reach people like her. For some reason, we're hate-watching it.

We couldn't get 20 minutes into The Rings of Power, it's missing any sense of magic or fantasy or wonder, the casting all feels like bad cosplay. I'm not remotely a fan of the books, I liked the PJ LOTR movies and kinda shrugged at the PJ Hobbit movies, but I can't imagine a show less interesting than this. If you're a LOTR book fan, this blows; if you're a LOTR movie fan, this blows, who is this for? I keep telling myself I'll give it another chance and then never do. Galadriel is not at all otherworldly or mysterious or anything that made the character interesting, she's just... some blonde lady, I doubt I could pick the actress out of a crowd. We got to Elrond and the actor just another one of those "just some guy" castings, that's when I gave up. Nothing feels remotely like anything. It's astonishing that Amazon gave a billion dollar show and their entire reputation to two screenwriters whose work has never once actually made it to the screen.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Sparky Prime
Supreme-Class
Posts: 5225
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:12 am

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by Sparky Prime »

She-Hulk Attorney at Law

The finale was disappointing to me...
Spoiler
She-Hulk ends up actually leaving her show and entering a behind the scenes show via the Disney+ menu for a talk to a writers room and "Kevin" (which turns out to be an AI that plans out all the MCU plots, rather than Feige). The climax basically happens off screen, Jennifer telling Kevin how she wants it to end rather than getting to see what happened. While I thought this was sequence was hilarious, it made a mess of the overall story, and wasn't a satisfying way to wrap anything up.

Jennifer axes the blood sample story arc that allows Phelps to transform himself into a Hulk. So... if he didn't use the blood sample to turn into a Hulk, then what was the point? Or alternatively, if they never tried to steal a sample in the first place, that changes a lot more of the story than simply Phelps doesn't become a Hulk... And while I can imagine Phelps (because he's inexplicably super rich) could hire some scientists to engineer She-Hulk's blood into a Hulk-serum, not just any common scientist would be able to create something like that. Not to mention, Bruce explained to Jennifer that they both have a gene that allows their bodies to process gamma radiation which would kill anyone else...

In any event, I'm disappointed it ended up being Phelps behind this plot. He's a creepy, misogynistic, a-hole that runs a website that hates She-Hulk. He's an internet troll, not a super villain. Frankly, I don't think they executed the storyline very well and I feel it was a mistake to make internet trolls the big bad at the end of this season rather than an actual villain.

It almost seemed to me like they were setting up to reintroduce the Leader, but cut him out for whatever reason. (edit: the head writer for the series has confirmed in interviews the original plan did include The Leader in the story) I mean, he's probably the only guy besides Bruce that has experimented with Hulk blood samples, and has the knowledge to make another Hulk, having created Abomination, and was transformed himself. Speaking of which, I don't understand how Blonsky and Phelps knew each other for Abomination to be the host of the Intelligencia meeting. But had Phelps hired Leader to make him the Hulk-serum, that would have given them something in common.

Bruce returning to Earth with Skaar felt tacked on. Obviously setting things up for future events, but why introduce Skaar here to do absolutely nothing with him?

Interesting that Wong breaks Blonsky out of jail... But I find myself again asking what's the purpose of this if they aren't going to do anything with it in this show?

Loved seeing Charlie Cox back in costume as Daredevil. Although I kinda feel like the design of the suit could have been better.
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by JediTricks »

She-Hulk was a massive let down, and the finale was a massive let down even for a massive let down of a series.

Werewolf by Night was enjoyable, although it could have used more actual horror elements throughout.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
andersonh1
Moderator
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by andersonh1 »

Gunsmoke - an oldie but goodie, which surprisingly I'd rarely ever seen. I might have seen half a dozen episodes in my life up to this point, but I've been binging some over the last week and enjoying them a lot. A number of seasons are available on various free streaming channels, so I've been watching season 7 lately, and it's a good drama, surprisingly dark sometimes for the time period in which it was made. The main characters often seem to be the only decent people in Dodge City, and a lot of episodes revolve around guest characters and their trouble, with the main four (Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc and Ms Kitty) weaving in and out of the story as needed. This show ran for 20 years, so there's quite a bit to watch. May have to find the DVDs of the early seasons and start at the beginning.
User avatar
Sparky Prime
Supreme-Class
Posts: 5225
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:12 am

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by Sparky Prime »

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Essentially Drax and Mantis go to Earth to get Peter a Christmas present because they think Yondu ruined Christmas for him, and Mantis thinks it'll make telling Peter a secret she's been keeping a little easier, and they think it may cheer him up with Gamora gone. But of course, none of the alien characters understand what Christmas is exactly, so hijinks ensues. There have been some obvious developments since we last saw the Guardians, although this special works well as a stand alone story. Overall, this was a fun little story.
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by JediTricks »

Willow - imagine generic fantasy but on The CW and totally incompetent at organic storytelling, and to get there they had to retcon the broader wins in the film, and also Willow doesn't show up until the last minute. That's the first episode of this show and the last one I have bothered with.

Wednesday - imagine generic Wednesday Addams but as a late teen on The CW and for no reason she's been carted off to Hogwarts against her will but it's super budgety and kinda Percy Jackson movie-esque and there's a murder mystery and townies and teen drama and yet Wednesday somehow is barely a character. This still works somehow better than Willow.

Murder, She Wrote - imagine gener- wait, that bit is played out. We watched the pilot, where Jessica Fletcher is a widow who gets thrust into the limelight due to a murder novel she wrote, and ends up being of some use to solving a real crime in the big city. It's a well-done episode but doesn't really give you an idea of what the show proper is like since the show retcons how long she's been a novelist and removes the fish-out-of-water angle, but it's from the creators of Columbo so it has some of that same character work. It's a solid show but how did they start in the first Reagan administration and run to the end of the first Clinton one?
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
andersonh1
Moderator
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: TV shows are awesome

Post by andersonh1 »

JediTricks wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 9:08 amMurder, She Wrote - imagine gener- wait, that bit is played out. We watched the pilot, where Jessica Fletcher is a widow who gets thrust into the limelight due to a murder novel she wrote, and ends up being of some use to solving a real crime in the big city. It's a well-done episode but doesn't really give you an idea of what the show proper is like since the show retcons how long she's been a novelist and removes the fish-out-of-water angle, but it's from the creators of Columbo so it has some of that same character work. It's a solid show but how did they start in the first Reagan administration and run to the end of the first Clinton one?
My mom's favorite genre is murder mysteries, so this show is right up her alley. I've never seen much of it, but isn't William Windom in it fairly regularly? He's just turned up in Gunsmoke as an abusive husband who married his wife because her father has money and resents that he won't share it with them. I've seen all sorts of familiar faces turn up in the episodes I've watched so far: Leonard Nimoy, Frank Sutton, Joanne Linville, Buddy Ebsen, Glenn Strange, Paul Carr, and other familiar faces. I guess when you watch enough 50s and 60s television, a lot of these actors were making the rounds on various shows at the time.
Post Reply