The TV and Streaming Thread: Pilot Week

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, Gromnir said:

imagine somebody does a beowulf tv show which is extreme popular. next thing you know, there is a bunch o' knockoffs... is a siegfried, arthur, hercules and a gilgamesh tv show and a half dozen other similar offerings. source material predating or post dating beowulf would not convince you the other shows is any less knockoffs.

It can make me more interested to know that something began life as something other than something that came in the wake of something else.  Or at least less likely to dismiss it as 'just another clone'.  Clearly your mileage varies.

 

EDIT: In other news NBC picks up MAGNUM PI for 2 more seasons of 10 episodes each, with options for more seasons

[Gfted1]

13 minutes ago, Amentep said:

In other news NBC picks up MAGNUM PI for 2 more seasons of 10 episodes each, with options for more seasons

[Gromnir]

27 minutes ago, Amentep said:

It can make me more interested to know that something began life as something other than something that came in the wake of something else.  Or at least less likely to dismiss it as 'just another clone'.  Clearly your mileage varies.

 

 

if you can't explain why the mere knowledge that source material is wake or trailbreaker is significant, then perhaps it isn't. go ahead and tell us you like pie or perhaps prefer cake. relevance to paper girls show? no less than the predate observation. however, if there is something you know 'bout paper girls which you believe removes it from clone, then such has meaning. but mere fact of predate o' the source material? immaterial. 

converse, if you has recent enjoyed very much similar fare provided in much similar format is less likely you will have synapses fire in those novel ways which result in a sensation o' pleasure and appreciation. 

HA! Good Fun!

[kanisatha]

2 hours ago, Amentep said:

EDIT: In other news NBC picks up MAGNUM PI for 2 more seasons of 10 episodes each, with options for more seasons

Too bad they're not full seasons, but I'm really happy to get even a few more episodes.

[uuuhhii]

the orville s03 seems to have much less bgm than before and constant background noise on the ship

this make most scene feels more serious heavy and reserved than before

not sure if the length of the episode also helped

[Amentep]

5 hours ago, Gromnir said:

if you can't explain why the mere knowledge that source material is wake or trailbreaker is significant, then perhaps it isn't. go ahead and tell us you like pie or perhaps prefer cake. relevance to paper girls show? no less than the predate observation. however, if there is something you know 'bout paper girls which you believe removes it from clone, then such has meaning. but mere fact of predate o' the source material? immaterial. 

converse, if you has recent enjoyed very much similar fare provided in much similar format is less likely you will have synapses fire in those novel ways which result in a sensation o' pleasure and appreciation. 

HA! Good Fun!

I thought the information might be of interest.  

Similarly, I thought the story of the name change /rip-off accusation aspect of two similar shows, The Returned and Resurrection was also worth noting and mentioned it back at the time:

So if nothing else, I'm consistent.

[InsaneCommander]

17 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Strange New Worlds ep9.

You noticed even more similarities than I did.
 

Spoiler

So, are we in an alternate timeline where the Gorn become xenomorphs or do they become meek and slow after maturing, like that one Kirk fought in TOS?

Funny that the two redshirts that died wore blue and gold, while the one actually in red could not be considered a redshirt.

 

14 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

And Orville ep5- one of the better [currentyear] [currentissue] episodes I've seen, certainly handled better than the previous one did its issue..

I was thinking exactly the same thing about the repercussions.

Spoiler

At least the captain should have paid in some way. And if the Moclan found it even worse since it was done by a Kaylon, then they would have demanded something be done about Isaac too. Instead it seems it will all be forgotten in the next episode and only have some consequence whenever they address this plot again.

 

[Agiel]

Finished <<Stranger Things>> and the most immediate thing I can say is: "Man, Duffer Brothers...

...why did you have to take Eddie away from us? If it was Argyle maybe it would have taken a while but I could get over it eventually. Guy puts pineapple on pizza for god's sake."

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Insomnia fueled binge of Stranger Things s4 part 2 - 4 hours of 11 and a guy in a monster suit doing psychic stuff. You know, I see no reason why this wasn't released all at once. One cliffhanger was replaced with another and more of the stuff like @Bartimaeus hates and I am coming to dislike.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Insomnia fueled binge of Stranger Things s4 part 2 - 4 hours of 11 and a guy in a monster suit doing psychic stuff. You know, I see no reason why this wasn't released all at once. One cliffhanger was replaced with another and more of the stuff like @Bartimaeus hates and I am coming to dislike.

Yeah, I watched it, it was pretty whatever, I didn't pay attention to anything that wasn't the main group (i.e. Steve, Nancy, Dustin et al.). Stranger Things started out as such a good blend of tension, intrigue, characters with actual development and arcs, fun and smooth dialogue/action, and some heartfelt resolutions...and what is the show now? It has lost all of that except for the "fun and smooth dialogue/action" because the show clearly had zero idea on what to do with its characters and became much more pre-occupied with the TV equivalent of wheel-spinning (i.e. staying in the same place doing the same thing over and over again). I guess it's what most people expect and want, but it all feels kind of rather hollow and pathetic to me. Lot of different paths they could've gone down with this show, but they chose this one.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I watched it, it was pretty whatever, I didn't pay attention to anything that wasn't the main group (i.e. Steve, Nancy, Dustin et al.). Stranger Things started out as such a good blend of tension, intrigue, characters with actual development and arcs, fun and smooth dialogue/action, and some heartfelt resolutions...and what is the show now? It has lost all of that except for the "fun and smooth dialogue/action" because the show clearly had zero idea on what to do with its characters and became much more pre-occupied with the TV equivalent of wheel-spinning (i.e. staying in the same place doing the same thing over and over again). I guess it's what most people expect and want, but it all feels kind of rather hollow and pathetic to me. Lot of different paths they could've gone down with this show, but they chose this one.

I think that with many shows there just isn't a coherent plan in place from the get go and it shows in how things get stretched to wheel-spinning. Given how TV works that makes sense, but the end result is still not pleasant.

Anyways, The Boys s3 ep7. Not Herogasm, but a fun episode.

The Deep's wife leaves him after he tries to get her into a threesome with an octopus.

[Raithe]

Charlie Rose - Hour long with George Lucas

It's from a few years ago, but it's still kind of interesting.

[InsaneCommander]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:27 AM, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Umbrella Academy s3. Much better than s2 in most ways, nice to see more of Reginald and get an idea of why he adopted the kids in the first place.

True. I liked this season much more.
 

Spoiler

Specially Reggie interacting with everyone.

Diego: "What about us?"

Reggie: "Nobody wants to listen to your endless bickering."

But my favorite scene was Ben slowly sitting down while he grabbed some popcorn to watch Allison and Viktor argue.

 

[Lexx]

Just finished Stranger Things 4. All in all I liked it, but

 

they should have killed Max instead of Eddie. I feel like Max's story was done anyways.. now it's just cliche and bleh. Especially since I'm wondering if it was really, really necessary for him to die the way he did. Did it actually help when he lured those flying ****s away some more? Didn't really felt like that to me. They probably just didn't know how to get him out of the satanic murder stuff, and thus he had to go. Lame.

My guess is that the twist on season 5 will be that now they aren't "defending" anymore, but actively attacking. Maybe they throw in some Jurassic Park 2, with military hunting parties and stuff like that.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Lexx

[Bartimaeus]

Dark, the end. If you didn't like season 2, I don't recommend coming back for season 3 because it's just more of the same. It's a neat and unique narrative, but the amount of times where our main characters are basically told "[person] was wrong/lying, now listen to me and you'll finally get out of this mess..." just for them to do the same exact thing with the next person they see was pretty ridiculous - it was like they would always do whatever the last person they talked to told them to do, no matter how insane it was. I think I tend to like the first seasons of dark serialized dramas more than the ensuing ones because the first ones are simpler and have more time for the character stuff, while later seasons are all about moving the increasingly complex narrative forward. It's more admirable than wheel-spinning (see: Stranger Things), but it's still not exactly my cup of tea when it goes on for too long, and this one did feel like it was for a bit too long. I guess I should be thankful there wasn't also a fourth or fifth season as well...

@Lexx Definitely thought it should've been the other way around as well re: Max and Eddie. Whatever, .

Edited July 3, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

It really sucks, because his end was so unsatisfying. It's just such a waste.

[Bartimaeus]

4 hours ago, Lexx said:

It really sucks, because his end was so unsatisfying. It's just such a waste.

 

Spoiler

The first episode of this season felt a lot more fresh and promising to me primarily because of both Eddie and Krissy, so it's fitting that that first episode was then capped off with her death and now the season as a whole with Eddie's. Killing new and interesting characters too soon while having other characters that were "finished" a season or two ago who now serve little to no purpose but continue to suck up valuable run-time seems less than ideal to me. Eddie in particular felt very unused for how strong and wacky of a personality he was due to him staying in hiding half the season as a direct result of the Krissy death. Bleh.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Sarex]

Seems netflix bought the rights for The Long Road to War. Pretty interesting documentary around the start of WW1.

[InsaneCommander]

The Orville 3.6

Another good episode. This season is going well, why does the show have to end?

Spoiler

Say whatever you want about superposition of timelines, if they had that historical record of Gordon Malloy, then his presence in the past either was always part of history or it didn't cause any serious changes. RIP son and baby.

 

Strange New Worlds 10

Is the season over? Not bad. Especially for a nu trek show.

Spoiler

Again a sci-fi story with time traveling causing things to be worse no matter what. You'd think Pike could simply save everyone and then resign as Enterprise's captain, but future Pike said everything caused Spock's death. Reminds me of Voyager's Year of Hell, but in this one the guy changing the timeline was being a perfectionist and wouldn't accept the improvements he achieved unless everything was fixed (or something about his wife I think).

 

[majestic]

Oh, right, look what I did not watch last week and didn't miss at all (how confusing). Guess I'll get a double whammy of Strange New Worlds tomorrow, or maybe over the weekend.

[Zoraptor]

SNW ep 10

At this point I can't help but feel that they're running through a checklist of episode types. Last week was a 'Monster of the Week' episode, before that was the 'holodeck malfunction' one (sans actual holodeck) this week it's 'knowledge of future --> unintended consequences'. Might be a bit of a worry for the future, but pales into insignificance compared to the worries I had 3 months ago.

Spoiler

Have to agree with InsaneCommander, this feels a bit contrived in terms of there being multiple alternatives that ought to work to 'fix' the situation. If it were something intrinsic to saving the two cadets that caused the issues, fine, then it has to happen; but it's Pike being captain instead and there are a lot of ways to avoid those circumstances. Apart from that it's a well worked episode, jarringly bad CGI of [cadet's father] getting blown up notwithstanding and maybe some complaints about the science (is the comet close enough to that star to ablate its tail... did it matter at all? is this what you earthlings call reaching for criticism? May well be...) Kind of forget that people didn't even know what Romulans looked like at this point after all the Trek there's been, the sublieutenant being an ass and the grizzled vet not was kind of obvious and tropey too, but I guess tropes are tropes for a reason and Romulans gotta Romulan.

I also get the feeling that this episode may have been reworked somewhat- the initial dialogue on the bridge after the time skip was actually not far off what you'd expect in terms of formality with no attempts to Whedon it up and suggested they were already in a more serious situation somehow. Lots of sirs etc and generally stating the facts as facts rather than giving tortured metaphors about dating. OK, potentially very serious situation but that hadn't stopped the banter before.

From a season 2 pov they've lost (or 'lost') two cast members. Given La'an's appearance in this ep was perfunctory and her actor is British (if someone hadn't told me it was her in Line of Duty I would never have picked it) I'd think she may be gone permanently, but I presume they're going to find a way to bring Una back. Even if that is, technically, jimmying with the timeline again...

Overall, best first season of Trek I've seen. Which is nearly the definition of damning with faint praise considering how badly most Trek S1's were received (and disclaimer, I've only ever seen TOS out of order and long ago, so I don't even know which episodes are S1 so it is excluded). Very far from perfect, not exactly the redemption arc for nuTrek that people hoped for but no one expected but a combination of decent Trek and decent TV. The negative is no real classics not anything really approaching one, the positive is only one genuinely bad episode- and even the best seasons of Trek had at least one of those.

[Zoraptor]

7 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

The Orville 3.6

Another good episode. This season is going well, why does the show have to end?

  Hide contents

Say whatever you want about superposition of timelines, if they had that historical record of Gordon Malloy, then his presence in the past either was always part of history or it didn't cause any serious changes. RIP son and baby.

Orville 3.6

Good episode that, with one complaint. Though it was just good, not great.

I think they addressed that spoiler comment...
 

Spoiler

So long as they intended to undo it and didn't 'cement' the timeline changes their timeline had to exist alongside any changes from the time travel, the changes would only 'set' once they'd failed to fix it. In the final timeline the only deviation was Gordon living in a hut for a few months and killing some animals (plus presumably avoiding butterflies; and, uh, some notdilithium being missing from under a random house ten years later) so no significant divergence.

The problem is of course that they eventually just went back the extra ten years to short circuit the drama, which made it feel a bit cheaper than it should have. If they were really worried about causality etc this is what they should have done from the beginning- or perhaps more fairly, should have planned to have done that if possible which it was, as it turned out. Still, it's one of the better handlings of such a dilemma...

I have to admit, I was rather reminded of Tuvix and how much hate Janeway got for unmaking him, and that actually brought back two people as well.

I kind of hope we're going to get some pay off with the random Kalon fights we've got every second episode. They have more point (well, presumably) than the random fights nuTrek seems to throw in only to give excitement whether they make sense or not, but at some point that elephant in the room will need to be dealt with. Nice CGI though, and Orville fights tend to look better and make more sense than their Trek equivalents.

 

[BruceVC]

Im watching loads of entertaining series that include

• Season 4 of Mayans : This is a gritty and violent spinoff of Sons of Anarchy and in this latest season the Mayans end up going to war with the Sons. Its great and you will recognize some of the previous actors from the original Sons of Anarchy
• Hightown season 2 : A crime drama about police battling in drugs in Provincetown : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hightown_(TV_series) 
• Law and Order season 21 and Law and Order: SUV
• We Own This City: From the producers of The Wire and its brilliant and its all about police success and corruption in Baltimore : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Own_This_City 
• Desert Rose : A South African drama about a dysfunctional family living in a drought stricken town, its got some hotties in it  which is always a good thing   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Rose_(TV_series)
• Billy the Kid : It seems  to be a revisionist  story of the famous outlaw where he is good guy and misunderstood. Still fun https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14586544/

 

[InsaneCommander]

14 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

I think they addressed that spoiler comment...

Except that

Spoiler

they showed those historical records of Gordon becoming a famous pilot, having died and left some descendants. So they were already seeing some pretty serious consequences.

 

[Zoraptor]

Yes, but what I think was meant to address it was..
 

Spoiler

..it's basically the sandwich metaphor they used, ie, what happens if you send a sandwich to the past from the future, then decided not to send it back once it arrived but, say, ate it instead. It never got sent back to the past yet there it is, so --> paradox and time shenanigans/ splitting of parallel universes. In between the sandwich being sent back to the past and it reaching the point it's sent back from there's a period where both possibilities exist and which one happens is determined by the actions of those involved. Sort of a temporal Schrodinger's Sandwich: the sandwich both exists and doesn't exist to be sent back at the same time, one state is only confirmed when it either does, or does not, get sent back (cf opening the box to see if the cat is alive or dead, that's when the decision is made in Schrodinger's metaphor).

By sitting in a nebula and always intending to go back effectively the two Gordons existed as valid possibilities at the same time in the same way the sandwich may or may not have been sent back- and they were making an active decision to, er, not eat the sandwich by checking on anything but the immediate effects of Gordon being there. That meant they could check his history without it actually having any effect on them, because so long as they intended (and were able to) to change it back to what it 'should' have been the changes were not set. Which one ended up existing depended on whether they got him back. If they did it was a closed loop and their history would continue; if they didn't then you get the potential changes flowing on to the Orville as well.

I certainly won't say it doesn't have some problems with it even if you go with that explanation, but it is more or less consistent with the rules as they set them out. That's time travel for you though, it always has logic problems because you can't really have it without playing fast and loose with causality in some way.