What's on the idiot box?

[Amentep]

I can't say that I've ever been more excited about seeing a teaser that has almost no real information about the show!

 

[ShadySands]

First Images From DAREDEVIL Season Two Reveal 'Elektra,' 'The Punisher' And Man Without Fear

 

 

 

 

[Leferd]

I actually prefer the sweats and a ski mask look from last season.

[Raithe]

For another upcoming thing...

 

Apparently Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie are going to be sharing screen time on a 6 part mini-series adaption of The Night Manager in the new year.

Based on the book by John Le Carre (the man who gave us Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy among many others), so a post cold war espionage tale that gets described as more bromance than outright thriller..

[Oerwinde]

Binged Narcos over the holiday break. Was very good, and if its close to true its almost a shame that Escobar wasn't able to accomplish his political goals.

[Hurlshort]

Yeah Narcos was fantastic, I can't wait for season 2.  I've been watching Making a Murderer on Netflix and it is also great.  More of a documentary, but very well put together. 

[Fighter]

Ash vs. Evil Dead season finale. Damn they've stepped things up.

[Raithe]

The Sherlock Christmas special was an interesting twist of why they had a Victorian episode...

[Raithe]

On that general interest..
 
io9 - Joss Whedon explains how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more separate than you'd think
 

Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones have all proven themselves as worthy entries into Marvel’s pantheon of shared live-action properties. But in a new interview, Avengers and Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon says that the world of Marvel film and TV isn’t quite as connected as it is at first glance.
 
We covered Whedon’s comments during an Oxford Union Q&A about his departure from the Marvel movies this morning, but the full interview, which you can find embedded below is packed with interesting nuggets of information... information that paints a picture that the connective tissue between the Marvel movies and Marvel TV is a lot sparser than you’d imagined (or, frankly, Marvel would like you to think for the sake of its “all-connected” Cinematic Universe).
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnqzENRToA&

The interesting comments first appear around the 11-minute mark, when Whedon responds to criticism of comments he made during the press tour for Age of Ultron last year, where he unequivocally said that Phil Coulson—who perished at Loki’s hands in The Avengers, only to be resurrected as the star of Agents of SHIELD—was, in the realm of the movies, dead as a Clark-Gregg-shaped dodo:
 
Even if you didn’t appreciate the bluntness, Whedon is right—so far, much of the actual sharing between the two halves of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been elements from the films having an impact on TV, rather than the other way around.
 
You know who loved hearing that was Clark Gregg [audience laughter]. He was super thrilled. I do think that there is an element for somebody who consumes all the Marvel product that it might take the punch out, but generally I feel like the SHIELD audience and The Avengers audiences are not actually the same group, necessarily. No, I don’t regret bringing back Phil Coulson because he’s Clark Gregg, and he’s so bad ass.
That was an aspect of it that became a headline in the internet, because that’s what they do. It was sort of, ‘Oh, that’s the meanest thing he’s said, let’s use that.’ You have to go, ‘Well, okay, if you take it back in TV, does it take it back in film?’ That was the the thing, because it came from, ‘Why wasn’t he in the second film?’ I’m like, ‘Because I have time to explain that.’ It’s like, ‘In addition to introducing nineteen new characters, this guy’s alive again .’ I couldn’t do that, so… It’s an aspect of it, but it’s a small one. It’s not how I feel about it.

Later on in the Q&A, Whedon gets even less subtle, stating that the TV shows essentially get the scraps left over from the films, while revealing that at some point Agents of SHIELD planned on using Loki’s staff as a major plot point:

It’s the most tacit acknowledgement of the gap between Marvel film and TV we’ve had so far, but definitely not the first. After all, according to former Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight, the series planned to use the Linda Carter incarnation of the comic character Night Nurse, only to be told that she was off limits (most likely for use in Doctor Strange), leading to the use of Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple instead:

With a TV show, you just have to... you just have to be careful. Which, unfortunately just means the TV show gets, you know, leftovers. One of the first things they said was ‘We got a great idea! We’ll use Loki’s scepter!’ And I’m like ‘Yeah … um, hold that thought.’

The feature side had plans for her down the road so that was the only time we ran into a conflict. So we just used another name.

And more recently, the Russo brothers discussed the difficult logistics that might leave the Netflix heroes—Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, collectively known as the Defenders—out of a possible cameo in the Avengers: Infinity War duology:

When we start to serialize the telling of stories it’s difficult. You have to have a lot of control and focus on the course of history. The films are controlled by a group led by Kevin Feige, so they function as a unit. Other products, even if they are from Marvel, are controlled by others.

But Whedon has definitely been the most open when it comes to the acknowledgement so far—and outside of official word straight from Marvel, it seems like this will be the most we get on the matter. It’s a shame that it has to be like this, but it ultimately makes sense; to Marvel, it’s the films that are the driving force of their successes. The TV ventures are simply a happy bonus, as much as they might try to (and, in terms of quality, have the right to) position themselves on an equal level.

[Oerwinde]

He's right about the audience not being the same. While I watch everything Marvel produces, as does my dad, most people I know watch the movies but would rather watch food network or crime procedurals than the quality scripted stuff Marvel produces.

[Hurlshort]

Yeah, but the food network is awesome.  I get a lot of meal ideas from that stuff.

[Oerwinde]

Good Eats was the best show they had, now the reanimated corpse of Alton Brown is just a gameshow host.

[Leferd]

The Food Network is now garbage. They're like MTV and VH-1 once they stopped playing music videos. Where the cooking shows at?

[Hurlshort]

Actually I'm not even sure what networks I'm watching anymore.  I watch Bizarre Foods, Top Chef, anything with Anthony Bourdain, and some other random stuff.  Now that I think on it, Travel Channel is probably the network I watch the most.

 

edit:  Back to the original point with Oerwinde, I watch those over an hour long drama because they are easy to walk away from.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Hurlshot

[Raithe]

The first two episodes of the new season of Galavant.

 

Cheerfully amusing , overblown, and somewhat like watching your very drunk friends singing at the karaoke bar. It's not going to win any awards, but they sell the performance so damn well.

 

Getting trapped in "The Enchanted Forest" : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBN7FB7PsGE&

 

[Oerwinde]

The first two episodes of the new season of Galavant.

 

Cheerfully amusing , overblown, and somewhat like watching your very drunk friends singing at the karaoke bar. It's not going to win any awards, but they sell the performance so damn well.

 

Getting trapped in "The Enchanted Forest" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBN7FB7PsGE&

Isabella's mom saying Galavant was a permanent part of her spank bank slayed me. Also Uncle Keith's Destiny

[ShadySands]

[Hurlshort]

Just finished Making a Murderer

 

 

 

Holy moly.  The Steven Avery conviction troubles me less than the Brendan Dassey one.  There seem to be a lot of problems with the trial, but he is still a very likely suspect.  But Brenden Dassey was a 16 year old kid with limited cognitive ability.  Putting him behind bars for life when there is no actual hard evidence is a huge injustice.

 

 

[Oerwinde]

Adult Swim Canada is advertising the Canadian premiere of Rick and Morty pretty hard. Too bad season 2 is finished in the US and most people who were interested in the show have already watched it. Its like these people forget that the internet exists.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Oerwinde

[Zoraptor]

Watched the first couple of Shannara episodes, pretty good overall. Can't comment on how well the books are followed as I've never read them but it was enjoyable, not atrociously acted (well, mostly) and the CGI was... better than you'd see on some full network shows.

[Gfted1]

^Ive started recording those but haven't watched any yet. I never read the books either but Im glad to see positive reviews.

[Raithe]

I think the description I heard was "It's like someone shot Lord of the Rings with the cast from one of the CW's high school dramas.. and it somehow works regardless."

[Gorgon]

The Expanse is getting good I think. 

[Oerwinde]

Seems like the netflix Iron Fist series is in some sort of progressive paradox. Main character was a white guy raised in a mystic asian city to be a martial arts hero, so the progressives want him changed to asian to avoid the white saviour trope, but then that makes him an asian martial arts hero which the progressives also don't want because it feeds traditional asian film stereotypes. They can't make him black because then the dynamic between him and Luke Cage in which a poor black guy from harlem schools the rich white guy on the streets is ruined.

[ShadySands]

I heard a rumor that they may can the Iron Fist series or give it just a few episodes to set him up and have the character be like the Hulk of the Defenders, no movies or continuing series of his own but appearing in the shared universe.