The TV and Streaming Thread: US Writers/Actors Strike Edition

[Raithe]

I struggled with Witcher S3. I'm caught at the halfway point.  The actors are good, the characters are handled pretty well, but something about the story is just not catching my attention and none of the episodes have really pulled me in.

 

Did spend an evening binging through Citadel on Prime. I was kind of curious, and hell, Stanley Tucci is pretty much a good reason to try watching anything. Much more of a smaller role than I thought once past the first two episodes. I know they're trying for that pulp cinematic spy story, but while it's somewhat entertaining, it's also somewhat silly, and entirely a mix of pulled together elements. As some review said, the main character is a mild turn on a knock-off Jason Bourne, while Tucci is playing a version of Mark Strong's Merlin from Kingsman. And all of those character and plot twists required in a spy genre are pretty much highlighted in advance, there's nothing that subtle about them, which is a bit of a failing in a spy type show. 

[Zoraptor]

I did finish WItcher S3 this afternoon. Pretty much exactly the same thoughts as for the first half after the second: it's not really that it's bad, it's just a really frustrating watch. It's not badly scripted- ie the dialogue itself is fine both in writing and delivery- the acting very seldom dips below good and is usually better than good, and the story is fine. Scenery, SFX etc, maybe some niggles but no real complaints. It's the way the story unfolds that is the problem. And it's a very major problem. The pacing is simply awful and they don't appear to have learnt anything over the three seasons despite all the criticism it got for it in S1 (albeit, the time jumps added confusion there too). You think back and pretty much everything of significance happened in one episode, and the rest... maybe a couple of things of significance but a whole lot that should have been condensed.

100% if it was a choice between Cavill and the showrunners the showrunners should have gone. They probably should go even if Cavill was staying.

[Sarex]

Twisted Metal, I couldn't get past the windshield wiper commercial/product placement, which is in the first 10 minutes.

[Raithe]

Hm. just saw the news that there's an FX reboot of Shogun coming.

An FX reboot of the successful 1980 mini-series Shōgun is arriving in 2024. The new 10-episode Shōgun, will be based on James Clavell’s best-selling novel of the same name. Hiroyuki Sanada will play Lord Yoshi Toranaga(originally played by Toshiro Mifune) and Cosmo Jarvis wiill play John Blackthorne (originally played by Richard Chamberlain)! Anna Sawai takes on the role of Lady Mariko (originally portrayed by the late Yoko Shimada)

[uuuhhii]

1 hour ago, Raithe said:

Hm. just saw the news that there's an FX reboot of Shogun coming.

 

 

is there a demand for that

wouldn't taiga show with higher budget be better for anyone want to watch that setting

[Zoraptor]

Finished up Strange New Worlds S2 yesterday. Overall a good season with no stinkers at all and indeed none even close to being bad. OTOH, not really any standouts either for me. There was some potential for them but... generally I felt that the ideas had been done before and better in previous Trek. Or other series, I guess, for the musical episode and the rather obvious plethora of Alien(s) homages in the last episode (done with a certain amount of tongue in cheek). If the season was graded it'd be a B average, highest mark B+, lowest mark B-, so very consistent. Even having two gimmick episodes close together worked OK. And it is... fun for want of a better word, and despite it at times actually being pretty dark in its subject matter.

Season MVP same as last season, Anson Mount's magnificent hair.
 

Spoiler

Already said it previous, but the court one could have been a contender, but needed too much contrivance and obviously wasn't going to have its logical consequences play out. It also had the problem that it was up against The Drumhead as closest comparison in TNG and that's an episode I like a lot. The Lower Decks cross over was good as someone who hasn't seen that series, but dragged down a bit by being another time travel episode. They also had a bit of the Stargates with a time travel episode and a colony that just so happened to have chosen a North American 21st century town aesthetic- but it was probably worth it on balance assuming they saved a bit of money for the pretty extensive and very good sfx. Contrivance was also a problem with other episodes, especially the last. Thank goodness Nurse Chapel was the only survivor (that we knew of, bit of a shame if she wasn't the only one in actuality, eh guys?), thank goodness she and Spock weren't burning up in the atmosphere like the saucer section they'd just left from, thank goodness gravity/ momentum only effected the saucer section and not them, thank goodness the Gorn are too dumb to work out that that saucer section just might hit their Crucial Infrastructure (but simultaneously smart enough to jam scanners and transporters in the first place, plus build space ships etc; ho hum)...

Still, more than enough good will earnt that I'm willing enough to handwave those complaints and leave out a fair few others as just being nitpicking.

 

[Raithe]

https://www.cbr.com/tmnt-mutant-mayhem-team-made-sure-animators-werent-overworked/#:~:text=Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe,and staff were not overworked

[ShadySands]

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Secret Invasion. I liked Guardians quite a bit but they are definitely in the better tier of Marvel movies. Secret Invasion I quit after 2 episodes because it didn't pull me in and I just didn't care about any of it.

[Raithe]

https://movieweb.com/babylon-5-the-road-home-review/

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/babylon-5-the-road-home-ending-reboot-timeline

[LadyCrimson]

Cocaine Bear via "included w/Prime" - tried to watch it because I heard it was stupid, but stupid-funny.

I got the stupid, but not the funny, and turned it off half way through.

[uuuhhii]

that depp heard netflix documentary are so terrible

what is netflix thinking

[Lexx]

It was already terrible in real life, why would anyone want to watch a documentation about it.

[Amentep]

Old 'un

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

what is netflix thinking

They aren't, the Algorithm is.

[majestic]

Watched the second season of Good Omens. Certainly hope they'll get to make the third season, because if not that is going to be the worst ending to a series since Eli was left all alone on the Destiny.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Watched the second season of Good Omens. Certainly hope they'll get to make the third season, because if not that is going to be the worst ending to a series since Eli was left all alone on the Destiny.

They sure took their sweet time in making a second season. I watched the first season, but it was a "I kind of enjoy it but I also kind of hate it" thing.

[Lexx]

Only thing I'm a bit uhh, about with Good Omens s2 is the ending, which I had not seen coming in that way.

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

They sure took their sweet time in making a second season. I watched the first season, but it was a "I kind of enjoy it but I also kind of hate it" thing.

The narrative in season two is a bit of a mess, but it is made up by Michael Sheen's and David Tennant's shenanigans. I just read that the season is supposed to lay the groundwork for an actual sequel to the story that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman laid out in '89 before the book was published, so I suppose that explains a few things - the episodes are just there to explain how the characters ended up being where they are in a third season that might never get made.

Ending spoilers:

Spoiler

It ends with Crowely kissing Aziraphale, Aziraphale then rejecting Crowely and ascending back to heaven to become the new supreme commander of Heaven... because the Archangel Gabriel absconded with Lord Beelzebub after they fell in love during the negotations to cancel the apocylpse.

 

[bugarup]

On 8/19/2023 at 4:20 PM, majestic said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It ends with Crowely kissing Aziraphale, Aziraphale then rejecting Crowely and ascending back to heaven to become the new supreme commander of Heaven... because the Archangel Gabriel absconded with Lord Beelzebub after they fell in love during the negotations to cancel the apocylpse.

 

Jeezus loving Christ.  I am so, so not a fan of  current trend in mainstream media, when things somehow are at the same time puritanical and oversexualized. Just let friends be friends ffs.  Or enemies be enemies.

[Lexx]

I thought the same, but apparently this is based on the books (never read them). Personally I would have preferred them to be just bros as well.

[bugarup]

And 'tube just offered me this 

 

[Gfted1]

 

[ShadySands]

HN Aliens has at least one new episode so I'm going to watch that tonight.

[Keyrock]

I watched AEW All In 2023 from Wembley Stadium in London, England. The term "historic" gets used far too often, but in this case it fits. At 81,035 this was the largest paid attendance in rasslin' history, topping the previous record of 80,706 set by WWE's Wrestlemania 32 in Arlington, Texas in 2016. It's not the largest attendance ever, that honor belongs to NJPW & WCW Collision in Korea night 2 in 1995 in Pyongyang, North Korea at 165,000, but attendance was government mandated for that show. 

Anyway, it was a fantastic show with a MASSIVE and very loud crowd. If one of the goals of the show was to make AEW look major league, and I'm sure it was, then mission successful. The $10 million+ gate doesn't hurt either. 4 years ago, before AEW was formed, anyone other than Vince McMahon putting 80K butts in seats for a rasslin' event was INCONCEIVABLE. NJPW's annual Wrestle Kingdom event once hit a high of 43K, which is nothing to sneeze at, but a far cry from 80K. Nobody else has been able to do even 10K since WCW folded over 20 years ago.

I firmly believe we are currently in a Rasslin' Golden Age. WWE is the hottest it's been in AT LEAST a decade, with the best angle (Bloodline) and the best heel (Dirty Dom) going. NJPW, while not at the peak form they were in in 2018 has bounced back from the pandemic which hurt them a lot and is coming off a terrific G1 Climax tournament, and AEW just set a new standard for a giant event. This harkens back to 1998 when WWF, WCW, and ECW were all hot simultaneous, even if ECW wasn't ever profitable.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Keyrock

[Amentep]

I think that its always been that an alternative to WWE has to exist when looking at national wrestling promotions.  WWE / Vince by itself will just get lazy and regurgitative.  Just being able to have an alternative to move to / from rejuvenates storylines and matches.

I'm not convinced today is better than when we were in classic eras with the territories (although some things are better now than the territory days and to be fair, the territories are never coming back), but I think its clear AEW has helped the sport(s entertainment) get out of the funk it had been in.