The TV and Streaming Thread: Pilot Week

[LadyCrimson]

I discovered Discovery+ (available going thru Prime, my preference), which bundles a whole lot of channel programming into one monthly fee. A lot of the lifestyle reality stuff I watched when I wanted to turn off my brain (or background/fall asleep stuff), when we had cable - HGTV, Science, TLC, Trvl,  Foodnetwork, ID (real crime), etc. Ad and ad-free subs. So I don't have to have a sub to all those separately anymore like a long time ago, which I refused to do.

Perfect when it's too hot to do anything but slouch, brain-dead, on a couch/bed all day with A/C on. Score!

[Hiro Protagonist]

Someone needs to do a fan edit of Obi-Wan Kenobi and cut out all the superfluous material and make it coherent. Make it in a 2hr movie instead. There's probably enough material to do it imo.

Thought this was funny.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Dark, season 1. Not entirely sure what happened at the end there, but it sure was provocative.

[Raithe]

 

[InsaneCommander]

Another great episode of The Orville.

Can't wait to read what @majesticthought about Strange New Worlds 8.

[majestic]

14 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Another great episode of The Orville.

Can't wait to read what @majesticthought about Strange New Worlds 8.

Dammit, I had a feeling I forgot something. >.<

Ten minutes in this looks like it is going to be "If Wishes Were Horses" on crack (literally). Great, just... great.

Edited June 23, 2022 by majestic

[majestic]

43 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Can't wait to read what @majesticthought about Strange New Worlds 8.

The ending saved the episode. It wasn't as fun as the Discovery mirror universe episodes, but it wasn't as bad as it looked to be before the intro sequence rolled.

[Sarex]

Umbrella Academy s3, better than s2 so far.

[InsaneCommander]

45 minutes ago, majestic said:

The ending saved the episode. It wasn't as fun as the Discovery mirror universe episodes, but it wasn't as bad as it looked to be before the intro sequence rolled.

Spoiler

Eight episodes in and they already solved the problem with the Dr. Mbenga's daughter. I guess it is better than overextending it, but it did seem too easy.

 

[rjshae]

Dark Winds has been decent thus far. It's still early, but I've enjoyed the pacing and the characters.

[Sarex]

Finished S3 of Umbrella Academy. I like it much better than s2, the overall plot and what not. Still skipped through some character drivel.

[InsaneCommander]

The Boys 3.6: Herogasm

Holy ****. What an episode!

I couldn't stop laughing at several scenes like Hughie reacting to Soldier Boy's comment about Bill Cosby making strong drinks or, well, everything involving Mother's Milk in the party.

Spoiler

And good riddance to you Blue Hawk, nobody will miss you.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

37 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Finished S3 of Umbrella Academy. I like it much better than s2, the overall plot and what not. Still skipped through some character drivel.

That's good to hear, s2 was definitely a let down after s1.

20 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

The Boys 3.6: Herogasm

Holy ****. What an episode!

I couldn't stop laughing at several scenes like Hughie reacting to Soldier Boy's comment about Bill Cosby making strong drinks or, well, everything involving Mother's Milk in the party.

  Reveal hidden contents

And good riddance to you Blue Hawk, nobody will miss you.

 

Going to watch right now, wish me luck.

[InsaneCommander]

Btw, Soldier Boy's reactions to what he saw on tv reminded me of this:

 

[ShadySands]

On 6/23/2022 at 4:44 PM, rjshae said:

Dark Winds has been decent thus far. It's still early, but I've enjoyed the pacing and the characters.

Is it based on the movie? It looks almost identical

[Amentep]

40 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Is it based on the movie? It looks almost identical

It's based on Tony Hillerman's novels.

[ShadySands]

I might have to check it out then. I didn't like The Dark Wind all that much but I really dug Skinwalkers. I need to check out the other PBS movies as well.

[Zoraptor]

Orville Ep4

I can't help but feel that they're trolling me with all the plot contrivances. 2/4 of the episodes would have been far better if they'd worked a bit more on making the set up not require acts of monumental stupidity.

Spoiler

Who goes to sign a controversial treaty during the middle of an election? Well OK, that happens in the real world, but... in the real world that happens for two reasons. (1) they're actual idiots who think it isn't blatant interference and can't understand why anyone would think it is and why it may actually get people to vote against what you want, or (2) they know it's interference and don't care as they think it will gain their side votes (or will poison the well if the wrong side does win). This was not the most subtle of episodes- to whit; the extremely obvious fake news/ Trump comparisons that were there just to make the comparison- and there's no indications the notFed aren't as nice as portrayed, so we can pretty much discount (2). Really though, it's like the previous issue I had: wear space suits on the weird abandoned station- as you should if you had 2 brain cells to rub together- and you don't get the plot happening. Don't go to sign a treaty in the middle of the election this episode and you don't get the plot happening. Plot mandated stupidity is the one thing that drove me mental with nuTrek, I rather hoped Orville would avoid it. Just make it an actual coup and bring in the fake news stuff more and the problems go away.

On the more positive side, the meat of the episode was absolutely fine and the plot apart from the set up was pretty interesting- and I do get a chuckle out of some of the stunt casting. Also, no one got given the conn this week.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The Boys s3 ep 6 HEROGASM

....

....

....

HOLY ****ING **** WHAT THE **** WAS THAT? No idea how this got made in the first place but **** is it fun. I've got to sleep on it, but this show is much better than it has any right to be.

5 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Btw, Soldier Boy's reactions to what he saw on tv reminded me of this:

 

I was expecting that tbh.

[Guard Dog]

I watched the last three episodes of Obi Wan last night. I thought the whole thing pretty decent. It wasn't perfect but it was very entertaining and did good service to all the characters. I don't get all the flack the actress who played Reva caught. I thought she did a great job with the character even if her story arc didn't completely make sense. Switching between sadistic badass to broken child and making it look genuine couldn't have been easy. The kid that played Princess Leia absolutely stole the show. Cool cameo at the end. No complaints from me.

So that's why I'm hoping this is a one off. They did a good job of it but a season 2 is an opportunity to make a hot mess of it all. Never forget this is still the people who made "The Rise of Skywalker" which stank worse than a burning dumpster full of soiled diapers. 

[InsaneCommander]

9 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Orville Ep4

I can't help but feel that they're trolling me with all the plot contrivances. 2/4 of the episodes would have been far better if they'd worked a bit more on making the set up not require acts of monumental stupidity.

  Hide contents

Who goes to sign a controversial treaty during the middle of an election? Well OK, that happens in the real world, but... in the real world that happens for two reasons. (1) they're actual idiots who think it isn't blatant interference and can't understand why anyone would think it is and why it may actually get people to vote against what you want, or (2) they know it's interference and don't care as they think it will gain their side votes (or will poison the well if the wrong side does win). This was not the most subtle of episodes- to whit; the extremely obvious fake news/ Trump comparisons that were there just to make the comparison- and there's no indications the notFed aren't as nice as portrayed, so we can pretty much discount (2). Really though, it's like the previous issue I had: wear space suits on the weird abandoned station- as you should if you had 2 brain cells to rub together- and you don't get the plot happening. Don't go to sign a treaty in the middle of the election this episode and you don't get the plot happening. Plot mandated stupidity is the one thing that drove me mental with nuTrek, I rather hoped Orville would avoid it. Just make it an actual coup and bring in the fake news stuff more and the problems go away.

On the more positive side, the meat of the episode was absolutely fine and the plot apart from the set up was pretty interesting- and I do get a chuckle out of some of the stunt casting. Also, no one got given the conn this week.

 

That was really stupid. Normally I'd try to justify it with the way people behaved during the pandemic, just like zombie apocalypse tv stories became more plausible once we saw people can act like idiots in real life. But in The Orville they are supposed to be an evolved society, not to mention that the people who made that decision were literally at the top of their society.

I still loved the episode, though.

[ShadySands]

I didn't mind the Skywalker movie as much as most people seem to because while it's pretty terrible, the previous movie and the discussion around it, killed all the remaining magic Star Wars held for me. Now it's just memberberry space magic show, nothing special. I liked Obi Wan well enough. I thought it did disillusioned Jedi much better and more in character than the Last Jedi. It certainly did have a lot of issues though I found myself not really caring.

Though watching it made me curious, when and how does Vader know Luke is his son? I'm pretty sure it wasn't shown in the OT. I'm guessing I either just missed it in the OT or it's in some random side product somewhere.

E: looked it up and it was explained in a comic book just a few years ago.

Edited June 26, 2022 by ShadySands

[Hiro Protagonist]

3 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Though watching it made me curious, when and how does Vader know Luke is his son? I'm pretty sure it wasn't shown in the OT. I'm guessing I either just missed it in the OT or it's in some random side product somewhere.

E: looked it up and it was explained in a comic book just a few years ago.

Empire Strikes back. It's mentioned twice. The first was when the probe droid was destroyed and he mentions to an Admiral (regards to the Hoth System) that Skywalker is there (he felt a disturbance in the force and he knows it's his son - confirmed later in the movie). The second time is when he is talking to the Emperor and he admits that he has felt a disturbance in the force and knows who it is. The Emperor mentions Luke's name and the Son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi and Vader wants to turn him (instead of killing his son).

[Zoraptor]

Wouldn't think it would need that much explaining. The guy who blew up the Death Star is going to be pretty famous, and Vader knows 'the force is strong in this one' in Star Wars itself. Not a huge leap to work out that the Tatooine native Luke Skywalker who lived with Shmi Skywalker's relatives and blew up the Death Star plus rescued Princess Leia (while accompanied by Obi Wan Kenobi) is the son of Anakin Skywalker.

Legend of the Seeker Strange New Worlds S1Ep8
 

Spoiler

(mostly) Unironic take: a better fantasy episode than Wheel of Time with a more coherent plot, and looked higher budget with better costuming. Not that that is saying much.

These type of episodes almost always live or die by how much fun the cast seems to be having and whether they get the balance of serious/ silly right. In this case the cast seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, and it had a pretty good balance of silly and serious too. Not anywhere close to a classic, but the sort of episode you might think back on with some mild fondness when reminded of it in a year's time. Which is still far better than most nuTrek (and the last episode of SNW).

It does make me wonder if we're going to get a cosmic entity Deus ex Machina solution at some time down the road though.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Dark, up to episode 4 of season 2. I feel like this season isn't working quite as well as the previous. We went from season 1 which was primarily about characters whose motivations and goals we mostly understood even if the viewer didn't always necessarily agree with how they went about it (generally relationship issues, looking for loved ones, and trying to glean what little they can of what happened while dealing with their lives) to instead focusing on more mercurial and nebulous characters where it is not quite so clear and I'm pretty frequently asking myself questions such as "what exactly is this person trying to accomplish by doing this", "how do they know this information", and "why are they hiding or not doing anything with what they do know". Not only that, but the show feels a lot more hyper-focused on the "big story" stuff, which is not my preference; I value understanding my characters more than understanding the story.

Still four episodes left to change my mind, but so far, it's definitely not as enjoyable to me as the first. Though it's not "I wouldn't want to watch the third season" bad...yet, .

Edited June 26, 2022 by Bartimaeus