[chucker]

I get that COVID played into this, but the long breaks between the seasons are brutal. I remember so little about the minor characters of BCS.

[drewprops]

LOL

When I received a message from Netflix that BCS was coming back I headed over to start watching.

It was really foggy for a while.

Some of the things began to seem familiar.

I appreciated how they were bending over backwards to repeat some of the previous season so I could catch up.

It really helped.

A lot of parts began to really resonate.

Familiar.

SO familiar.

In fact, it was so familiar I finally yelled HEY WAIT A MINUTE and googled the show.

Netflix had tricked me!!!

The new season was on AMC.

I had been watching Season 5!!



...

[psmith2.0]

Dork!

I remember the first 3-4 seasons of BCS hitting roughly a year from each other. "Okay, fine...", but then there was one gap (4-5?) and it was about 18 or so months (instead of debuting in the spring, April or May) it was pushed to September or so. Those first three seasons hit during the time Bates Motel was on A&E and I was watching my honeybun in that. I remember being grateful to the TV gods that the only two shows I watched hit in the spring-y March-May timeframe, and kinda leapfrogged each other), and then I could be done with my "appointment" viewing for the rest of the year (I hate watching shows; I love the shows themselves, I just hate the ritual of watching them...knowing I have to be on the couch on a certain night/time, phone muted, etc. ). But, yeah...the gap between season 5 and this new one - COVID, Odenkirk's heart attack, etc. - felt like forever-and-a-half!

I completely lost interest/momentum and am just now, three episodes in, getting my give-a-damn back.

EDIT: Okay, I've done some Googling.

- Seasons 1-2 hit in February of 2015 and 2016 and ran for 10 episodes until April of each year
- Season 3 got pushed back a bit, running from April-June 2017 (10 episodes)
- Season 4 is when it started to push out a bit more, August-October in 2018 (again, 10 episodes)
- No BCS activity at all in 2019
- And then about a 16-month gap until season 5 (February-April 2020, 10 episodes)

And then it was indeed a solid two years (no BCS activity in 2021, no surprise) between the end of season 5 (April 20, 2020) and the premiere of season 6 three weeks ago (April 18, 2022). So I wasn't imagining it...it was two long years between seasons 5-6, during which I just kinda stopped thinking about it and didn't even know if it was coming back. I eventually stopped looking/Googling about it, and wasn't even thinking about it until the news of Bob Odenkirk's on-set heart attack hit last summer.

"Oh, I guess they're doing another season...hope he's okay!"

Here's an interesting thing I just learned via my Googling: this current, and final, season is actually 13 episodes (all five of the others were an even 10 each), and it's going to be broken into two chunks with a month-plus break in between.

Episodes 1-7: April 18 - May 23 (we still have four more to go on this segment/cluster)
*the rest of May, all of June and the first of July: mini-hiatus/break
Episodes 8-13: July 11 - August 15

I imagine those final six episodes starting in July are where we see some familiar faces from BB, and learn the ultimate fate of Kim Wexler.

Then again, this show pivots like crazy and often does the unexpected rug pull like few others, so we could see the above at any time. I hope Kim, at some point, sees the writing on the wall and just gets fed up with all the lies, scamming and uneasiness and leaves, moving far away to Vermont or somewhere (and that's why we never see/hear about her on Breaking Bad; she left that life, Jimmy, New Mexico, etc.). Because it'll be very sad/cruel if she's the one who ultimately pays the price for all of Jimmy's/Saul's shenanigans and associations.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by drewprops LOL When I received a message from Netflix that BCS was coming back I headed over to start watching. It was really foggy for a while. Some of the things began to seem familiar. I appreciated how they were bending over backwards to repeat some of the previous season so I could catch up. It really helped. A lot of parts began to really resonate. Familiar. SO familiar. In fact, it was so familiar I finally yelled HEY WAIT A MINUTE and googled the show. Netflix had tricked me!!! The new season was on AMC. I had been watching Season 5!! ...

Perfect. You should be a TV writer!

[Brad]

I… I think I'm kind of speechless.

I don't know if that was actually good or if it simply wasn't a dumpster fire and by contrast just seemed good compared to the terrible writing, contrivances, soap operatic drama, and forced angst that Disco and Picard have been doling out. I feel like I just got a phone call from an old friend after having been in an abusive relationship for several years.

I'm talking about the pilot episode of the latest Star Trek spinoff Strange New Worlds. Now I'm sitting here trying to think through what I've experienced upon first viewing...

For the most part, at least the first episode of this new Trek show ticks pretty much all of the criteria for an enjoyable production that Disco and Picard far too often failed to meet:

- characters seem competent
- characters are acting like professional adults
- sets aren't cloaked in shadows
- wardrobe is well-tailored
- story pacing feels steady
- the plot is a rudimentary morality play but it isn't beating me over the head saying "THING BAD"
- the core problem isn't resolved by a nauseating CGI firefight or a magical MacGuffin
- it doesn't completely discard/rewrite/reimagine established canon at every opportunity
- no humanity/civilization/galaxy/universe-ending threat
- no season-long "mystery box" arc setup

Wait. Wait. What is this feeling?

Is that… is that… optimism? In live-action Star Trek in the 2020s??

It feels like a breath of fresh air so far. I hope I'm not just suffering from whiplash and that this still stands up on subsequent viewings. I had practically given up hope on seeing any worthwhile live-action Star Trek in the next decade, half expecting Trek would need to be "forgotten" and rebooted again some time later for a fresh start. Perhaps the Kurtzman curse of dark broody moody Trek is finally coming to an end. It's been a long road getting from there to here.

It ain't perfect, but I feel cautiously optimistic about Trek for the first in a long time.

[drewprops]

You aren't dreaming Brad.

Strange New Worlds was AWESOME!!

I love all of your bullet points.

If I didn't have to wake up early to go to the renfest I would try to add some more.

...

[psmith2.0]

This is the one with younger Spock and Uhura, right? Sorry, I can’t keep the 117 Star Trek shows straight. It looked neat, the promo I saw. Even I was like “that looks very Star Trek-y!” (In a good way)

Is this kinda Trek’s The Mandalorian to Picard’s The Last Jedi, where it seems to “get it” (the original, classic source material/vibe a little more than the other entries). That was the impression I’ve gotten from a few enthusiastic write-ups.

[Capella]

Strange New Worlds is everything I've wanted from televised sci-fi ever since Voyager went off the air. I like Discovery; I don't really like Picard; Strange new Worlds blew my goddamn mind and sent me over the moon.

[chucker]

I definitely dig it so far, quite unlike DIS and PIC. It’s definitely possible to do a good serialized sci-fi story; look at Orphan Black S1, Severance, For All Mankind. DIS and PIC IMHO never quite figured it out.

[drewprops]

DISCO has frustrated me SO much. The trans conversation seem bungled; the Trill connection squandered.

Picard was another squandered opportunity. Making something "clever" is tricky. Sometimes you get so caught up in trying to make the mechanics of a story work out that you lose sight of creating a "genuine" experience.

...

[BlueRabbit]

Originally Posted by drewprops Picard was another squandered opportunity. Making something "clever" is tricky. Sometimes you get so caught up in trying to make the mechanics of a story work out that you lose sight of creating a "genuine" experience.

The pacing of the season was way off. The first, second, and last episodes were pretty rushed, while episodes 3-9 spent a lot of time spinning their wheels and going nowhere. There's a good story in there somewhere but unfortunately we didn't get to see it. It sounds like there will be a lot of cast turnover for season 3, so hopefully that will help the writers to focus a bit more.

[Brad]

Strange New Worlds episode two… continues to be… good?!

I don't mean to intend to give an episode-by-episode progress report like this, but the quality of this production is such a pleasantly surprising change next to Picard and Discovery that I can't help but mention it.

[drewprops]

It was SO COMPETENT!!

Golly I'm glad.

Keep making these posts please.


...

[709]

There was an article at Ars last week and now I feel compelled to bring it up since all your gushing seems to be spot on:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is either good or it’s just so comforting that I don’t care

I loved this bit:

After four years of the hyper-serialized apocalypse-a-minute melodrama of Discovery, something about Trek’s return to episodic storytelling just feels right. Its rhythms are recognizable and comforting. This one’s an Uhura episode. This one is Spock-heavy. Here’s an alien species with a civilization ordered around a specific prophecy that I will never need to remember or think about ever again. And no matter how bad things get, I know the tension will be resolved in time for the captain and his Number One to discuss everything they learned at the end of the episode.

I got up to the Rainn Wilson episode in Discovery, and was never interested in Picard, but I grew up on TOS so you all have made me very curious. 🖖

[psmith2.0]

Every article or review I’ve read about this show has been along these lines, which is why I asked what I asked upthread (is this show looking back to the original source material, keeping things tight and punchy.

Now that it’s mentioned, most shows these days - networks, cable, streaming - are sprawling and serialized, to where if you miss an episode or two you’re up a creek.

As someone who grew up on Starsky & Hutch and the like, I do appreciate that episodic, in-and-out approach.

Things I’ve gotten into in recent years - Bates Motel, Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead, etc. - have indeed felt like slogs or chores because I’m always having to remember shit said and done 2-4 years earlier. I never really thought of it that way, but maybe I just don’t have the attention-span (or brainpower) required for years-long, serialized fare. Maybe I’m just more wired for stuff being presented, addressed and solved in 60 minutes.

There’s going to be carryover, but I do like how some shows allow me to just pop in and enjoy an episode.

It’s, then, no mystery/surprise that I always - always - enjoyed the standalone installments of The X Files (“The Host”, “Clyde Bruckmans’s Final Repose”, “Home”, “Die Hand Die Verletzt”, etc.) over the ones focusing on the dense, sprawling mythology and “backbone” of the series with all the government stuff, Mulder’s dad and sister, the smoking a-hole, etc.).

Entertain me for an hour, and then leave me alone. I don’t need homework or pop quizzes on my TV viewing.

[Ryan]

You should definitely never watch Doctor Who.

[psmith2.0]

It would kill me to death, from what I gather.

[Ryan]

Anyone watching the Bosch spinoff, Bosch Legacy?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by 709 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is either good or it’s just so comforting that I don’t care

Oh yes. That review nails it.

I also loved this part:

Both shows [Discovery and Picard] repeatedly fail my imagined, Trek-specific version of the Bechdel test—two characters have a conversation, it isn't about a reality-destroying super-threat, and it's not because they both believe they are about to be killed in their quest to stop the reality-destroying super-threat.

Originally Posted by 709 but I grew up on TOS so you all have made me very curious. 🖖

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Every article or review I’ve read about this show has been along these lines, which is why I asked what I asked upthread (is this show looking back to the original source material, keeping things tight and punchy.

Unlike Discovery, Strange New Worlds (so far) seems to be an honest, decent effort at a modern prequel to the original Star Trek.

It's an immediate prequel to TOS, too. It's literally Kirk's USS Enterprise, but it's about five or six years before Kirk took the center seat (following the old "five year mission" line). Several classic Trek characters that everyone knows are there including Spock and Uhura, but there are plenty of new faces to keep it from being a simple rehash.

They're not taking the typical Abrams+Kurtzman approach of completely reimagining and reinventing everything, though. It's modernized and maybe an extra 10-20% different in some places to keep it feeling fresh, but that's all. It feels like someone just answered the question "what if TOS was filmed in the 2020s instead of the 1960s?"

It seems to be doing a good job of borrowing from the source material while expanding with new episodic scenarios that feel a lot like good TOS and TNG material. Like most classic Trek, they seem to be following the formula of:

1. Go to some new planet.
2. Observe a mystery or moral dilemma.
3. Perform a sci-fi investigation or debate or some light action. Probably some combination of the three.
4. Sprinkle in a little bit of character development for the main crew.
5. Wrap up the dilemma and fly off for a brand new adventure next week.

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Now that it’s mentioned, most shows these days - networks, cable, streaming - are sprawling and serialized, to where if you miss an episode or two you’re up a creek. … Entertain me for an hour, and then leave me alone. I don’t need homework or pop quizzes on my TV viewing.

Yuuup. Among other problems, I suspect the highly serialized nature of Discovery and Picard have ruined their re-watch value, too. You can't just pick up in the middle of the arc (though Discovery and Picard make heavy use of five minute "previously on" recaps each week), and once the MacGuffin mystery box problem is solved at the end, there's little point in going back because there's no other fun to enjoy.

So far, Strange New Worlds has side-stepped that trap. There is a distinct character development thread that will likely evolve through the season, but that's hardly a B story (more like a C story), compared to the entirely episodic adventure-of-the-week A stories.

[drewprops]

I am glad that Doctor Who is advancing exploration of gender and race. I am sorry that the style of storytelling became so formulaic and overdramatized.

The sonic screwdriver is an evil crutch that should have been destroyed a decade ago.

...


...

[drewprops]

Atlanta (the Donald Glover show) has been turning into an anthology series this season. The first half of the show was shot in Europe, with the second half being shot here (a friend has been on the project since the beginning).

The anthology episodes are unrelated to the main characters, and take place in various cities, not just Atlanta.

They are thought provoking and unexpected. The most recent episode was the weakest for me, but it still extended the conversation.

...

[709]

Lotsa fun stuff coming up in the next month or so. Love, Death & Robots v3 this weekend, Obi-Wan the following weekend, The Boys S3 the weekend after (3 June), For All Mankind S3 the week after that (10 June) and The Umbrella Academy S3 on the 22nd. I'm so far behind on a lot of series but I'm all caught up for these, at least.

[psmith2.0]

I'm so lost on Better Call Saul. But, then, I missed the first episode and last week's as well, so...what do I expect?

I enjoy it, but it's not a "casual viewing" type of show at all. But it seems like things are building to...something.

[chucker]

I'm still annoyed Paramount decided to launch SNW without international distribution on day one. Instead, that's coming… end of year, or something.

[psmith2.0]

Just saw this:

Harrison Ford to star in his first TV series (along with Helen Mirren) in another(?) Yellowstone prequel on Paramount+.

I assume there will be a lot of mumbling and angry pointing?

"Get off my land!"

"Get off my horse!"

"Get off my wife!"

...and so forth.

Pretty big deal. Lots of big stars are coming to play in the TV sandbox. That was a no-no with many for years and years, but not anymore. It's where a lot of good roles, writing and stories are.

[kscherer]

Yellowstone lost me in the first episode, but 1883 was excellent. It's sad as hell, but damn well written, directed, and acted.

I suspect there will be 4,197 spin-offs from Yellowstone, because reasons.

But, I'm pretty much done with Harrison Ford. The man is too old for anything action-y, and the old west is nothing but action-y. Sam Elliot was almost too old for 1883, but they didn't try to make him superman. Harrison Ford always wants to be superman, even now that he runs like a toddler.

[psmith2.0]

Well, it's going to be Yellowstone 1932, so it may not be a straight, horses-only Western. A mix of 1883 and the modern-day, Costner-starring one? But I suppose there will be horses, gunplay and stuff in such a story. So an early-20th century western, vs. "old west" as we normally picture.

Yes, Ford is well past the point of believability in the action/active stuff. He comes across better playing roles like Branch Rickey in 42 or his character in The Age of Adaline. Just regular guy stuff. Don't we have Ryan Reynolds, Robert Pattinson, Chris Evans and others for all the "jumping around, fighting-nine-people-at-once and shooting stuff" fare, two decades into the 21st century?

Nobody's buying that shit from Harrison Ford at this point...the man's going to turn 80 in less than two months. It's asking a lot of audiences.

[kscherer]

He should just play grandpa sitting in a chair on the porch, yelling those things you said at wayward children.

[psmith2.0]

It's funny because Clint Eastwood is now like 176, and he's still doing some roles where he occasionally has to punch someone out. Him carrying that big wrench in his belt in Gran Torino was the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Somehow I can buy him still beating the hell out of someone at his age more than I do/can Ford. Go figure.

<--Clint face/scowl

PS - AMC(?) showed For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars this past Saturday. My butt was planted to the couch the entire time. I love those 60's Sergio Leone westerns he made. They're pretty much all the same, but nobody does that role/character better. He says about 11 words the entire movie, shoots the hell out of everyone who has it coming and then just rides away at the end. What's not to like?

[Ryan]

Eastwood has moved into roles that compliment his advanced age. Harrison Ford is still in denial.