Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

[Old_Hunter_77]

Caught up in Yellowjackets

Season 2 finishes on a weird note, with at least more character development in the last few episodes than anything beforehand. Still leaves the carrot dangling as to just wtf is going on, so I guess we’ll see what season 3 brings next year. Not holding my breath or anything though, as this was kind of a filler show.

I love Yellowjackets but I can't really argue with this, it was hitting the point where I'm not confident they know where they're going with it. And with so long in between seasons, my interest level dropping hard.
Appropriate that when the show started it was compared with Lost due to the premise, and now again I'm doing that as a show that started off awesome and then got... well, lost.

Season 3 should end the story, if not I dunno if I'll bother. And it's a shame because it's maybe my favorite cast of any recent show.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I love Yellowjackets but I can't really argue with this, it was hitting the point where I'm not confident they know where they're going with it. And with so long in between seasons, my interest level dropping hard.
Appropriate that when the show started it was compared with Lost due to the premise, and now again I'm doing that as a show that started off awesome and then got... well, lost.

Season 3 should end the story, if not I dunno if I'll bother. And it's a shame because it's maybe my favorite cast of any recent show.

The trivia section mentioned it started out as a film adaption based on the Lord of the Flies novel, but was later converted to a series. So maybe that had something to do with its meandering nature. Also interesting is a note from one of the show runners about how a quote by someone about The Lord of the Flies tragedy being something that “would never happen with women” (because they’re considered more socialized essentially) was a point of contention which sort of sparked the idea for Yellowjackets.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Uzumaki on Max. I've never seen the quality of a show plummet so dramatically from ep 1 to ep 2. It's COVID, and the studio blowing the budget out of the gates, and the show changing animation studios aways into production, and if you ask producer Jason De Marco it's actually "one or two people". All very sus.

Episode two looks like a mock-up of what you're shooting for. There are shots where the cross hatching, the furious pencilling that simulates shading, bleeds over lines like bad coloring. Design lines are also just left in instead of being erased or painted over. And this isn't an impressionistic effect that arcs over the aesthetic of the show or some such. I'm talking about lone isolated shots that every now and then betray the sloppiness and overall half-bakeness of the work.

I'm not even getting into how crudely the animation itself plays out. Anime is designed around taking crude shortcuts and playing them off as stylistic choices, sorry not sorry. But in contrast to the preceding 24 minutes, Uzumaki's second episode looks like the dog really ate the homework.

 

[BrawlMan]

Wholesome Dad Traumatized by Berserk
​

It's what you expect.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Disclaimer, ep 1&2, Apple TV+

A mini-series (I think it's going to be like 7 episodes?) directed by Alphonzo Cuaron who directed three movies I loved- Gravity, Roma, and Children of Men- and starring Cate Blanchett, with Sacha Baron Cohen in a supporting role. A melodrama about a respected important woman whose dark past is revealed by a scorn victim so the premise kind of reminded of Tar.

So it should be my kind of thing but it's all a bit... too much. Multiple narrators, one too many moments of TV logic and tropes, a bit too much of Look At This Character Archetype going on. It feels like it can't decide if it's a for-serious DRAMA or an unintentional satire. It sometimes feels like an SNL spook sketch of what they think a Serious Prestige Drama is.

Which does seem like a lot of these limited series offerings from HBO/Apple/Netflix- the seem interesting, but then kind of come and go and are forgotten about, like everything Nicole Kidman was doing. Unfortunately, the power of Blanchett and Cuaron were not enough to elevate this beyond the trappings of this format so I won't be continuing.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War

Narrated by Ed Harris, because why the fuck not? I learned something(s), and for that it was more engaging than the last couple times I’ve tried watching Deadwood, which is apparently really good but the first few episodes are so blowhardy about nothing. It just feels so excessive for the sake of itself. Like all that’s missing is some stagehand popping into the scene to scream, “THIS HERE IS HOW IT WAS IN THE OLD WILD FUCKIN WEST!!”

Anyways, I was really getting irked at how much bs the cowboys - Ike Clanton in particular - got away with, and I really can’t blame Earp for his behavior ultimately. Both Ike and that pos sheriff Behan deserve to have their graves pissed on IMHO. Casting did a great job where even the smug look on their faces spoke volumes as to their character.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Watching The Perfect Couple on Netflix.

To quote Burn After Reading: "They, uh, all seem to be sleeping with each other".

It's a destination wedding whodunit where the bridesmaid's found dead in water the night of the rehearsal. The show wants you to suspect pretty much every character at some point and everyone's hiding something irregardless so you might as well sit back and pretend to be shocked when the first three or four suspects turn out to be red herrings.

The cliffhangers are all telenovela material. Pregnancies are revealed, arrests are made, cheaters are caught in the act. All very tacky. These eat the rich farces are a dime a dozen these days and are all predicated on rich people being too unhappy to enjoy themselves and too dumb to get away with anything. I dunno.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Watching The Perfect Couple on Netflix.

To quote Burn After Reading: "They, uh, all seem to be sleeping with each other".

It's a destination wedding whodunit where the bridesmaid's found dead in water the night of the rehearsal. The show wants you to suspect pretty much every character at some point and everyone's hiding something irregardless so you might as well sit back and pretend to be shocked when the first three or four suspects turn out to be red herrings.

The cliffhangers are all telenovela material. Pregnancies are revealed, arrests are made, cheaters are caught in the act. All very tacky. These eat the rich farces are a dime a dozen these days and are all predicated on rich people being too unhappy to enjoy themselves and too dumb to get away with anything. I dunno.

I guess the intent is it makes poor people feel better about themselves for a couple hours.

 

[Kyrian007]

I've been watching Grotesqurie on FX. Mostly for my job (someone here has to be able to talk about it on-air.) And it... it isn't as good as any of the shows that are its obvious influences. It isn't Twin Peaks, it isn't completely full-on Stephen King style horror, it isn't realism splatterpunk like Hap & Leonard... but it is trying to be all those things. And somehow in all that, it isn't bad. Maybe 6.5 or 7 out of 10.

But the elephant in its room, the stunt casting of Travis Kelce in an attempt to hook some Swifties. There's no question, that is why he was cast. And yet... he's good. It works. They gave him a sort of "confident meathead" role, and he's got that.

I've got some beef with the most recent episode I've seen, ep 7. It is (or seems to be, they cliff-hangered it and I'll find out today) a dream sequence. Interesting stuff, but the problem with it is the same thing with ALL "dream sequence episodes." It didn't happen, it doesn't matter. Neat, the main character is ruining her relationships with her family... Neat, they are switching characters roles' around so the killer is a doctor now and the nun is a police chief now... but who cares. None of this will matter when the main character wakes up or whatever. It was fun, but still a waste of an episode.

 

[Chimpzy]

I guess the intent is it makes poor people feel better about themselves for a couple hours.

"They're flawed and shitty, just like us!"

Which is obviously not true.

The wealthy are significantly lesser.

 

[Kyrian007]

Well, did manage over the weekend to catch back up on FX's Grotesqurie. And uh...

Hmm.

Well, first off (and much easier to talk about without spoiling) what is up with the episode drop on Hulu? Eps 1 and 2. Week later 3 and 4. Then 5 and 6. So you'd think ok, here comes 7 and 8... nope. Just 7. Ok, so we're switching to one a week then? NOPE here comes 8 and 9. And the disjointed storyline cliffhanger between 7 and 8 really makes you think maybe they skipped an episode or 2. And without spoiling I was wrong with a previous prediction, so it managed to surprise me. In about the most awkward and disappointing way they could have... and somehow still, it is pretty good. At first I was kind of pissed. It forces you to recontextualize the entire story up until that episode. Which works fine story and plot wise, and they even managed to really bring things back around in time to really do a good cliffhanger for ep 10. BUT, good cliffhangers don't work well with a story that is best watched binge-style (because of that awkward 7th episode)

I'm just really glad this is a miniseries and not an attempted backdoor pilot for a full series. As a mini it is better than average. Pretty good. This as a weekly series, would struggle. I guess that means unless the end is terrible, this gets a recommendation from me. But I'll say this, binge it. Don't go whole weeks between episodes, that isn't the ideal way to watch this show.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Watching The Franchise.

It's a satyrical take on capeshit from Armando Ianucci (In the Loop, Veep, Death of Stalin), who would know about satire, and Sam Mendes, who would know about servicing IP.

Each episode zeroes in on a day in the shooting schedule of some second-tier capeshit called Tecto: Eye of the Storm. It's an ensemble but it's more or less headed - or at least anchored - by the 1st AD, played by Himesh Patel.

It's entertaining and at 30 minutes of endless sarcastic yammering an episode it zooms past you before you know it. As far as commentary goes though, it's kind of a dud. Yes, sets are chaotic. Yes, actors are clueless divas. Yes, everyone looks ridiculous in costume. Yes, studio reps are the worst. And so on.

By the fourth episode the whole thing has devolved into National Lampoon's Vacation level of spoof. You have the tortured European artiste, a caricature from 1940s Hollywood who would never in a million years be found in a Marvel set, stealing a studio lot car and crash into a neighboring production in a fit of jealous rage.

Give me a break.

 

[Ezekiel]

Was midway through Seinfeld season 7 on DVD again. Yesterday, the UHD was announced with a late December release, 250 dollar MSRP. It will be in the original aspect ratio of 4:3. I was so sure that it would be cropped to widescreen like the streams, a no buy even at 20 bucks for me.

Placed my order. Hope it drops to at least 200 dollars before the release (with Amazon's lowest price guarantee for pre-orders). Because it's Sony, I'm not taking any chances on the meaning of "limited edition." You'd think Ghostbusters is big enough that they'd leave the Dolby Vision with legacy 5.1 surround edition in print, but it was a limited run, like a number of others.

Many people are mad that the Blu-ray box that's also coming will be in the incorrect 1.78:1 ratio. I figure Sony understands that the vast majority want their screen filled or don't care if it's the OAR or not and that the UHD consumers are the most particular of the particular. (I've seen at least one person decline the UHD because it's not widescreen.) They had like eight years to upgrade. Might be nice to have the OAR without HDR, though. I don't know if the brightness of the streams is harsh or if the discs will even be the exact same.

Lack of stereo is a little concerning. My setup is in storage, so I can't check if the 5.1 on streaming is fine or not.

Also happy that the seasons have individual cases and are not all in a book of sleeves like my DVDs. Hope they'll spend the extra money on flipper trays and not stack two in each tray. Sony did that with a few of their movies.

 

[Ezekiel]

In "Last Salute to the Commodore," the season 5 finale of Columbo, in which Robert Vaughn plays the antagonist again, the show for once did not show the murder and had the viewers guessing who did it, like a classic mystery. But the mystery was weak, the other suspects mostly underdeveloped (too many characters), and Columbo's trap again was unbelievable, hardly proof.

Miami Vice detective Crocket met a celebrity singer while on a job a few episodes back in this fourth season. Episode was called "Like a Hurricane" or something like that, and fast as a hurricane they fell in love and got married in the one episode. He uses his cover identity in their marriage. Writers didn't think this through. Would be so easy for tabloids to blow his cover and jeopardize his work/personal life. Convicts would see him in the papers and on TV and inform the media.

 

[Kyrian007]

Welp, finished Grotesqurie. (4/10)

I'm just really glad this is a miniseries and not an attempted backdoor pilot for a full series. As a mini it is better than average. Pretty good. This as a weekly series, would struggle. I guess that means unless the end is terrible, this gets a recommendation from me. But I'll say this, binge it. Don't go whole weeks between episodes, that isn't the ideal way to watch this show.

Nevermind the thumbs up. Don't bother with this show. The final episode is a vanity piece for one of the executive producers that also had a (up until ep 10) very minor part in the series. It also doesn't wrap up this oddball story and DOES set this up as a backdoor pilot for a full series. Don't bother with it and maybe FX or someone else won't bother and we can just let this one die quickly before it dies slightly less quickly on some cable network or b-tier streaming service. The "ending" is garbage. 3/4 of the episode is spent trying to make a character who the audience never cared about the whole focus of the episode, while completely cutting away from any of the actual main characters of the series. Then in the final 2 or 3 minutes cutting back to the main characters and resetting the story to square 1. None of the prior events mattered in the slightest, the ending robs all meaning from all previous 9 episodes.

I guess I'm not saying someone couldn't make a good series out of this garbage miniseries. The acting talent is pretty good, and the theme and overall mood works well. But the writing and decision making behind the series is a complete letdown. Fire all the current writers, get rid of 2/3 of the listed nearly 2 dozen executive producers, and write the final 3 episodes out of the canon as "just a dream" or whatever and this could be... OK? Probably isn't worth the bother.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Mick: S1:Ep1-17: Good / Great

Micky, a lowbrow schemer, visits her sister and wealthy husband in an attempt to get some cash out of them. Turns out, her sister and husband's fortune isn't on the up and up, and they're forced to flee the country suddenly leaving Micky in the guardianship of their three entitled children whilst living in their mansion.

Basically, this feels like a spinoff of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia where Sweet Dee is placed as the caregiver for three rich children. I'm loving it so far. Looks like it only had a 2 season run, so I'm halfway done, but glad I finally gave it a shot. Kaitlin Olsen is underrated as a comedic actress. Tale is she was initially supposed to be the straight person bouncing off the inane antics of her three male costars in IASIP, but asked to be written into the humor in her own degenerate way, and it just works. She's genuinely funny to the point you almost don't recognize her for the rarity she is, i.e.: a female comedian who doesn't just stoop to crudeness and raunchiness to come off as "one of the guys."

 

[gorfias]

Disclaimer Episodes 1 and 2 on Apple +

Cate Blanchet and Kevin Kline in series based upon a novel in which a 25 year old sexual transgression, with a likely fatal outcome, comes crashing back into their lives.

1st episode took some warming to get into but now I'm hooked. I'm starting to get who the players are in what non-linear time frames.

EDIT: I am an old man. Even I got titillated by the following episodes. Phew. And the story is really developing into something terrific. A-

I did caution the missus: we are watching the story as we are told it was. We don't know that things really went down this way. But absent of other explanations, we are left with what we are told.

 

[Gordon_4]

I binge watched all nine seasons of Endeavour; the prequel series to the legendary Inspector Morse television show that starred the late John Thaw.

Now, as a show, Endeavour is pretty good. Good actors, including an utterly scene stealing Roger Allam as Morse's boss, Fred Thursday, excellent period dress and sets and background details. However, as a prequel to Inspector Morse, it does provide a few....incongruities. The first of which is that I would think uncovering the kind of conspiracies Morse and Thursday find themselves in would warrant a little local infamy in Oxford. And you'd think at one point Morse would casually point out that he nearly got mauled by a tiger one time.

But other than that, fairly solid British period murder mystery show.

9/10, but its easy to see why Morse is such an arrogant shitheel in the original show.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Watched the first 3-episode chunk of Season 2 of Arcane, and it was decent enough I guess. Of all the arcs (3-episode chunks) in this series, this one was the weakest. It did one thing very well, but what this was is simply not doing what the end of Season 1 highly telegraphed was going to happen to a specific character. So kudos for keeping that tension intact. Other than that the story and the characters feel a little wobbly, specifically Vi and Cait. These two's character arc and relationship doesn't just speedrun, it seemingly scene-skips. There's also this very cheap attempt at a character redemption with Jinx, by throwing a scruffy homeless kid into the mix. I mean, how fucking basic can you get?

 

[Ezekiel]

Was fashion ever worse than in the 1970s? A collar that big (which is awful by itself) under a suit, just yuck.