The TV and Streaming Thread: Summer Re-reruns (it's always summer somewhere)

[LadyCrimson]

Amazon Prime decided to remove the "Edit: Continue Watching" ability from even the web browser, thus you only have two options if you want to get rid of the long conga line of "Continue Watching" from the Home screen:  Make it Hidden (don't want that as it no longer will appear unless you Search for it specifically) or clear out your Watch History either wholesale or one by one. The latter is also not ideal but better than nothing.

Guess they want to make sure it's overly annoying to remove too much collectable habits/tastes data!

EDIT: oh, I tried watching two episodes of The Winchesters. It's terrible, from actors to camera direction to dialogue to the action to ... well, it's just bad. Is it the worst ever - no. But it's bad.

Edited April 12, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Lexx]

Supernatural was good until the season 5 finale, where it was officially supposed to end. Everything after that just went downhill. By some miracle I was able to slowly grind up to season 11, but then just stopped in the middle and never bothered again. Not surprised the new show might not be much better.

/Edit: Just watched the trailer. Looks terrible. Also really, really odd that they didn't involve the Sam-actor, what's his name.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Lexx

[Amentep]

22 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I think we all know that Amazon is planning on combining Rings of Power with Wheel of Time for the greatest tv crossover event of all time.

Rings are like mini-wheels and Time is the great leveler, so could be seen as the greatest power.  They should call it Wheels of Rings of the Power of Time

As an aside, officially Rings of Power was renewed for 8 episodes for Season 2.  It should be noted that Season 2 was ordered before season 1 ever aired, so the idea that Amazon would lower the episode count due to how S1 performed is silly, given that they were filming S2 while S1 was airing, IIRC.

[Leferd]

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/game-of-thrones-prequel-series-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-hbo-1235578466/

GRRM's Dunk and Egg greenlit. This is the ASOIAF prequel series I really want to see.

[Lexx]

Since House of the Dragon s1 was not the disaster that I feared it would be, I'm now not repulsed by another GoT spin-off anymore.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Lexx

[Leferd]

The closer they hew (within reason) to GRRM's source material, the better the outcome.

[Zoraptor]

4 hours ago, Amentep said:

As an aside, officially Rings of Power was renewed for 8 episodes for Season 2.  It should be noted that Season 2 was ordered before season 1 ever aired, so the idea that Amazon would lower the episode count due to how S1 performed is silly, given that they were filming S2 while S1 was airing, IIRC.

There are a few ways the 4 episode rumour could be right. They could have lowered the episode count by making the episodes longer; 4x2 hour 'movies' for a LotR series would make a lot of sense in some ways (and not much in others, the RoP episodes were already long, after all). Or they could have split the season into two four episode halves (ie S2A/ S2B) to have something to show annually, if it were taking longer to film than expected. I very much doubt that is what has actually happened though and yeah, actually reducing the minutes shot seems... unlikely.

They do likely have a lot less of a blank cheque now though. A lot of their money was spent very badly in S1.

[LadyCrimson]

15 hours ago, Lexx said:

Supernatural was good until the season 5 finale, where it was officially supposed to end. Everything after that just went downhill. By some miracle I was able to slowly grind up to season 11, but then just stopped in the middle and never bothered again.

I think I stopped a few/several episodes into ssn10 (demon-Dean). I have watched the lone episode occasionally (ScoobyDoo, very Final episode) but that's about it.  I thought season 3-5 were best, but season 6-9 had moments. It became like TWD tho, where you'd watch hoping for those several good episodes per season. You ended up watching largely for the chemistry/humor moments between the Winchesters and other regular cast and just rolled eyes at everything else.

Edit: oh, and re: Jared not being in The Winchesters - I think he has his own (unrelated) show, no clue if it still exist now. Jensen isn't really in The Winchesters - he narrates a bit occasionally but that's about it.

Edited April 12, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Zoraptor]

Jared is the lead in the CW 'Walker' series. I presume The Winchesters shoots in Vancouver as Supernatural did and Walker in Texas so there would be some logistical and scheduling issues with him appearing on both even on a very limited basis.

[InsaneCommander]

Picard 3.9

The Federation gazes into the abyss and gets what it deserves. And we see a ship that is not dark for the first time in nuTrek. What a contrast!

Never thought I would envy (big spoiler below)

Spoiler

the people that were assimilated by the Borg. Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes.

 

[majestic]

11 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Picard 3.9

The Federation gazes into the abyss and gets what it deserves. And we see a ship that is not dark for the first time in nuTrek. What a contrast!

Never thought I would envy (big spoiler below)

  Reveal hidden contents

the people that were assimilated by the Borg. Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes.

 

Every like five to ten minutes I need to take a break because I just can't. It's... painful. Still not done, 20 minutes into the episode, and I started watching a day ago.

[LadyCrimson]

Half way through "The Glory" (kdrama, via Netflix). Bullied girl grows up and starts a long-game vengeance plan. Heard/saw parts of reviews, I guess it was fairly popular for a Netflix show. The bullying scenes are extreme. The bullies are cartoonishly evil (even as adults) in that k-drama way. The plan is elaborate but entertaining, atmosphere grey and grim. I suppose it's pretty good for what it is and I'm enjoying the main acting performances. For the dark/semi-horror/thriller kdrama I probably prefer something like Squid Game.

Edited April 14, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[majestic]

Well, Star Trek: Picard went from copying Mass Effect plot points to copying plot points from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica while taking ludicrous dialogue from Pacific Rim. Ah, somehow, as this show stood on the precipice that Mike and Rich mentioned, I hoped that it will not plunge off in a way that rivals the other two seasons, but lo, it did. It did so spectacularily.

Spoiler

The changelings help the Borg assimilate everyone by reprogramming transporters to include Borg DNA in Starfleet personell that is then assimilated by a remote signal, but only the young ones are affected because the transportation DNA change does not work on people older than 25. No, I am not making this up. Meanwhile all of Starfleet's ships have been added to the Colonial defense system and the Cylons took it out in one go. I mean, the Borg used it to take control of all of the ships.

Except the Enterprise D, because she's still analog. You know, like that Jaeger was in Pacific Rim. Immune to the EMP Kaiju because it was, ah, analog, not digital. Also, the literally ten thousand ships in the standoff at the end of the first season somehow turned into a hundred ships as "all of Starfleet" needed to fit into close Earth orbit for this nonsense plot to even be viable.

Somewhere along the line the Borg also turned into Space Nazis only wanting to assimilate the strong. The weak and willful will be purged.

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Half way through "The Glory" (kdrama, via Netflix). Bullied girl grows up and starts a long-game vengeance plan. Heard/saw parts of reviews, I guess it was fairly popular for a Netflix show. The bullying scenes are extreme. The bullies are cartoonishly evil (even as adults) in that k-drama way. The plan is elaborate but entertaining, atmosphere grey and grim. I suppose it's pretty good for what it is and I'm enjoying the main acting performances. For the dark/semi-horror/thriller kdrama I probably prefer something like Squid Game.

I missed the "grows up" part when I initially read this, so I was really excited to see a 8-16 year old girl getting revenge, but I read the full premise on Wikipedia and it still sounds sort of interesting. My only issue is that I largely can't watch Korean TV/movies due to the painful over-acting, Squid Game coincidentally being a prime example. Sigh, the trailer is also trying to do everything it possibly can to make me not give it a try.

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Somewhere along the line the Borg also turned into Space Nazis only wanting to assimilate the strong. The weak and willful will be purged.

The weak...and willful? Oh, these are probably two separate groups, not one group of people who are both weak and willful. Right...although, you'd think "the willful" would be considered among the strong. Maybe it's a classic tale of The Borg and The Three Meatbags? This meatbag is too weak, and this meatbag is too willful...but this meatbag, this meatbag is just right.

[InsaneCommander]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Well, Star Trek: Picard went from copying Mass Effect plot points to copying plot points from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica while taking ludicrous dialogue from Pacific Rim. Ah, somehow, as this show stood on the precipice that Mike and Rich mentioned, I hoped that it will not plunge off in a way that rivals the other two seasons, but lo, it did. It did so spectacularily.

  Reveal hidden contents

The changelings help the Borg assimilate everyone by reprogramming transporters to include Borg DNA in Starfleet personell that is then assimilated by a remote signal, but only the young ones are affected because the transportation DNA change does not work on people older than 25. No, I am not making this up. Meanwhile all of Starfleet's ships have been added to the Colonial defense system and the Cylons took it out in one go. I mean, the Borg used it to take control of all of the ships.

Except the Enterprise D, because she's still analog. You know, like that Jaeger was in Pacific Rim. Immune to the EMP Kaiju because it was, ah, analog, not digital. Also, the literally ten thousand ships in the standoff at the end of the first season somehow turned into a hundred ships as "all of Starfleet" needed to fit into close Earth orbit for this nonsense plot to even be viable.

Somewhere along the line the Borg also turned into Space Nazis only wanting to assimilate the strong. The weak and willful will be purged.

 

The worst part was Picard saying that something in the major event at the end of the previous season was not seen in decades.

Edited April 15, 2023 by InsaneCommander

[LadyCrimson]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Squid Game

I actually never watched the entire Squid Game. I absolutely loved the first couple episodes, but at some point the actual conspiracy stuff became too absurd and I started skipping a lot - the best thing about it was the drama during the actual puzzles/games.

I haven't finished The Glory yet but the revenge isn't about bloody/fighting mayhem. So anyone wanting that type of revenge, it's not that. Just saying. The lead adult chr is not the stage or over acting sort of role - she's purposefully very flat, which I like. Well, at least so far/what I've seen. It's mostly the "bullies" in full-on makjang acting mode.

Edited April 15, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[majestic]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

The weak...and willful? Oh, these are probably two separate groups, not one group of people who are both weak and willful. Right...although, you'd think "the willful" would be considered among the strong. Maybe it's a classic tale of The Borg and The Three Meatbags? This meatbag is too weak, and this meatbag is too willful...but this meatbag, this meatbag is just right.

Well, the weak are rabble, and the willful are just uppity and will resist, so both must go. I mean, that is what I guess it means, it just makes no sense either way. Well, but a dying captain also hands the conn to his second in command with his dying breath, basically, it really is whatever at this point. So, whatever.

4 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

The worst part was Picard saying that something in the major event at the end of the previous season was not seen in decades.

"No one has seen or heard of the Borg in over ten years."
  -- Picard, two months after more or less creating a new Borg Queen.

Spoiler

The series will end when Riker orders the saucer section of the Enterprise-D to create a diversion so that a strike team can capture Jean-Luc Picard Jack Crusher from the Borg cube and use him to revert all the new Bio-Borg to their prior states. Then they bring in Dr. Pulaski to revert the changes with the transporter.

 

[Bartimaeus]

9 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I haven't finished The Glory yet but the revenge isn't about bloody/fighting mayhem. So anyone wanting that type of revenge, it's not that. Just saying.

If anything, I was thinking the opposite...like Gilmore Girls, but twisted and cruel. I think that could be a lot fun. Unfortunately, I should've realized that it would be a needlessly dark and serious drama through and through instead, as that seems to be the only kind of remotely thoughtful television being made anymore. But this is the trailer that I watched (...not sure if it really has spoilers or not?):

An actor can definitely over-do "flat" to the point of them no longer seeming like they're an actual human being, and this trailer just screams typical Korean ridiculous over-acting to me. Maybe this trailer is just a bad look, though...trailers usually are.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

13 hours ago, majestic said:

"No one has seen or heard of the Borg in over ten years."
  -- Picard, two months after more or less creating a new Borg Queen.

  Hide contents

The series will end when Riker orders the saucer section of the Enterprise-D to create a diversion so that a strike team can capture Jean-Luc Picard Jack Crusher from the Borg cube and use him to revert all the new Bio-Borg to their prior states. Then they bring in Dr. Pulaski to revert the changes with the transporter.

 

The writers literally didn't check the last episode previous to what they were writing. Imagine the older series.

As for Pulaski, is she even still around? Wasn't there a ship named after her in this episode?

[LadyCrimson]

Finished "The Glory."

The 2nd half had a faster, slightly more rushed feeling pacing. The revenge was all a little bit too easily achieved/perfectly falling into place, but that's OTP soap tropes for you. Overall I still rather enjoyed it, although they included a (very) minor/understated romance aspect that was unnecessary and boring. That male lead's role could've been written out of the series, with his tasks or motivations given to other chrs, and you'd never notice. The ... third? fourth? male lead chr was much more compelling (in an ethical/moral foil to main chr. sort of way) and I would have been more keen on more screen/plot/arc time using him, instead.

At any rate...for melodrama, maybe a 7.5/10 overall, with the minor romance stuff 4/10. Minor nod to a truck o' doom appearance, 10/10.

[Amentep]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:34 AM, majestic said:

"No one has seen or heard of the Borg in over ten years."
  -- Picard, two months after more or less creating a new Borg Queen.

 

My understanding is that the new Borg Queen was for an alternative future, not the TNG present (haven't watched Picard S.2 or S.3) due to the time travel shenanigans of S.2

[kanisatha]

1 hour ago, Amentep said:

My understanding is that the new Borg Queen was for an alternative future, not the TNG present (haven't watched Picard S.2 or S.3) due to the time travel shenanigans of S.2

The whole 'alternative timelines/universes' B.S. is what made me walk away from Star Trek. Whenever a TV show (or movie) starts talking about alternative time in any form, it's a sure sign its writers don't have any creativity and have run out of ideas for their show.

[majestic]

The Mandalorian, season three finale: Well, at least that's over and done with, until the next season. In hindsight, this season makes the first one look like great entertainment. Man, what a collection of stinker episodes.

[Amentep]

 

[LadyCrimson]

First it was HBO. Then it was HBOMax. Now it's gonna be...MAX. Because they want to make it a singular "everything" streaming network and think "HBO" scares off newer customers who think HBO sounds too uppity? So does that mean HBO (as a brand name) is gone? Bizarre.

At any rate, I guess they're also planning on tons of original series/programming, ala Disney/Amazon or whatever. DC series, Harry Potter series, Conjuring universe series, animated Gremlins series, more GoT spinoffs etc. I wonder if the quality of MAX series will maintain the rep. of HBO series. Maybe it's time to cancel.