[murbot]

Man, Breaking Bad had a great season 3, but the last few episodes of this season have been awesome.

As for cable... we just moved into a new place and finally got with the times and bought some big LCD TV's for the family rooms up and down. Shaw just changed their channel lineup big time too, and of course they fucking took 4 or 5 channels we do watch and stuck each of them in a separate $10 fucking package. Bastards.

If it was up to me I'd say screw it and drop cable all together. It's easy enough to pop a thumb drive into the back of each one to watch shows that a magic fairy puts on there for me. (OK, OK, or watch DVDs and Blu-ray) My wife and kids would murder me though. *sigh*

BTW, I get laughed at for saying this, but flat screens are really nice. Talk about being late to the party.

[Yontsey]

I've never seen Hell's Kitchen but that's mainly because I never watch shows that typically are once a week type deals. I watch old episodes of 2.5 Men. I don't know why, but I find them entertaining, even though it's the same episode each time with different characters, more or less.

[709]

I'm thoroughly entranced by BBC shows nowadays. I mean, it would stand to reason that a company like that should be putting out wishy-washy feel-good shows ala America's networks, right? But no, they put out consistently good viewing. Do the Brits not have an "Angry Uptight Parents for Bland TeeVee™" equivalent like we have here in the US? I wonder about that. My only beef is that the seasons are much shorter, but holy hell, they make up for it in substance.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by 709 It's not great, but I'll give it a chance. If they can stop leaning on the "family" angle a bit it might be OK. To be honest it's the first time I've watched FOX in about 6 months, so there's something there that would get viewers like me to turn the channel their way. I bet it did pretty well in the ratings (or maybe not, I'm not really the guy that's a barometer for "hit" shows).

You know, I really loath the "bratty teenage boy hooks up with awesome multicultural posse featuring hot love interest to act as rebellious surrogate for our CW demographic" pandering shit. Just gives me a headache, it's so stupidly obvious and lame. Kind of puts me off the whole thing, since it immediately tips the producer's hands that they're more interested in some kind of ratings machine than making something genuinely creative or interesting.

What made Lost so good was the writing, the offbeat casting, and the creation of memorable, quirky characters. Here we get generic tough but tender Dad, sexy but caring Mom, hard as nails boss man, cute kid, sweet adolescent girl and cranky older teen boy who resents his dad. And when the head of the rebel forces proved to be a bad ass black lady I kind of gave up.

Seems like all these big concept SciFi shows think that the mythology will keep things interesting and the characters can just do low grade soap opera in between and all will be well. Flash Forward was so terribly written I couldn't watch it, no matter how much I wanted to see what they did with the idea. Hire better writers. When the network guys tell you you need more relatable characters for the 15-34 demo and that you shouldn't introduce too many confusing things because everyone is a moron, just walk out of the room. Make a deal with basic cable. If the thing's watered down to the point that it lacks all distinction, it's going to get cancelled after a few shows anyway, so what's the point?

And the thing is, what they don't seem to grasp, is that we live in a golden age of TV. There is more high quality stuff on right now than there has ever been. We like it. And it makes by the numbers stuff look all the worse. And network TV wonders why it's losing viewership.

[709]

But it hits all the checkboxes for wayward LOST viewers! All we need now is a crazy dude that we won't meet until Ep. 4 that knows everything ala Linus and oh my god it's the son and why does everything have to be rehashed and are there no original ideas anywhere in the land of the who and the home of the what and

Regardless, DINOSAURS EATING PEOPLE.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by 709 But it hits all the checkboxes for wayward LOST viewers! All we need now is a crazy dude that we won't meet until Ep. 4 that knows everything ala Linus and oh my god it's the son and why does everything have to be rehashed and are there no original ideas anywhere in the land of the who and the home of the what and Regardless, DINOSAURS EATING PEOPLE.

It's true. I'll watch again. I was cheered by the somewhat grisly depiction of one of those slash tail guys chomping away on a kid's foot. If they can up the dino carnage I'll ignore the writing. Also some hot babes that aren't 16. Also would it kill them to do something with the whole alternate time stream thing? They just flat out said it-- the probe they sent back was around in modern times (which is stupid but that's the premise) so the time portal whatever must be opening onto an alt past (has there ever been a big SciFi setup so casually tossed out?) Which means nothing has to be like "our" historical ideas about the period. There could be aliens. Ancient civilizations. Freaky beasts what we have never seen. Alt cosmology.

I fear that the only reason it was even mentioned is to keep nerds from wondering about butterfly effect shit, and it'll never come up again. Dino chomping and babes notwithstanding, they'd best show me something strange or unexpected or big mystery-ish pretty soon (and crazy son scribbling on rocks isn't going to cut it) or I'm out. How about some colonists that overshot badly and showed up quite a while back, who have had some number of years to build their civilization?

[709]

Originally Posted by addabox How about some colonists that overshot badly and showed up quite a while back, who have had some number of years to build their civilization?

Ooooh. I like that. As it was I think that the rogues were a part of Team 4, so that would be cool if Teams 1-3 were test warps, as it were. Even if it were as minuscule as 10K years overshoot, that could make for some really interesting city dynamics. Or finding million year old ruins and inscriptions from people they knew in the "present" Earth. OOOOH. I like it!

An aside: SyFy (still hate that name!) was showing a full day of time travel shows before the premier of their latest made-for-SyFy schlock "Morlocks" - in which I caught "Sound of Thunder." I remembered seeing it in the theatre with my fresh, new gf (and we're still together, even after that). It is wonderful. If you love time-travel campy butterfly-effect holy shit, this is your movie.

[ezkcdude]

One of the biggest questions I have about Terra Nova is how do they know that the portal worked? They said the beacon wasn't recovered, so they conclude that it was sent back to an alternate timeline. That's quite a leap! How do they know it wasn't sent into a black hole at the center of the galaxy? Or to some hostile alien world? They made it pretty clear that you can't go back once you crossed through the portal. So how do they know it's safe?

Did I miss the explanation?

[billybobsky]

I think therein lies the rub, ezkcdude

[709]

Wait what? I must've gotten up for a beer and missed that bit. What was the thing they had all propped up and cemented in? I thought that was the initial probe...

[addabox]

Yep, but there it sits in the distant past, and they never found it in the "present" of polluted death earth. Which, as has already been mentioned, means they're just throwing people and material into a hole that they have no idea where it goes, and they decided that because they couldn't find a 100 million year old six foot in diameter metal sphere. So I'm guessing the writers aren't really worrying too much about all that science shit, which is why I think it's unlikely they'll do anything with the "alternate timestream" thing. Because I doubt it's even occurred to them.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by 709 Wait what? I must've gotten up for a beer and missed that bit. What was the thing they had all propped up and cemented in? I thought that was the initial probe...

Better not to think about it.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by addabox Yep, but there it sits in the distant past, and they never found it in the "present" of polluted death earth. Which, as has already been mentioned, means they're just throwing people and material into a hole that they have no idea where it goes, and they decided that because they couldn't find a 100 million year old six foot in diameter metal sphere. So I'm guessing the writers aren't really worrying too much about all that science shit, which is why I think it's unlikely they'll do anything with the "alternate timestream" thing. Because I doubt it's even occurred to them.

I don't know, haven't seen the show, Spielberg aint a dummy and he's got some creative input.

[addabox]

Well he may not be a dummy but I don't think his ideas generally run to temporal paradox or elaborate mythology, "Minority Report" notwithstanding. He likes family dynamics set against travails. This looks to be "Jurassic Park" inverted, with the park being for the humans and the world at large for the dinos. Then they live and love and fight, with the odd intrigue and secret reveal along the way for spice.

[kieran]

I meant to watch Terra Nova, but missed out on it.

Did I miss anything big? Should I sit down and watch it? Sounds interesting from what I've read here so far.

[ezkcdude]

I agree with one reviewer who said there might have been a good show in there somewhere if they stayed in 2149.

[Robo]

Dear everyone who spent hundreds of dollars amassing complete collections of Star Trek series in fancy-packaged DVD sets:

I'm sorry.

IT BEGINS

[Ryan]

So, who else is watching the Doctor Who finale? I’m only at the opening theme and I’m already blown away.

[ezkcdude]

Holy cow...

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Th...?trkid=2361637

[chucker]

No mention of Homeland? I thought this is how I found out about it.

[Windswept]

Is anyone watching the current Wallander episodes on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery on Sunday nights?

The presenter of the program mentioned how gloomy, crusty and pale Wallander is, and wondered aloud just what it is that attracts so many people to watch this show. I can't help wondering that myself, and even though I was tempted *not* to tune in, I find myself a viewer after all. It stars Kenneth Branagh, who's perfect for the part.

I guess part of the appeal is that the storylines are good. I wonder if it's actually filmed in Sweden. Does anyone know? I remember episodes from last year that I found quite depressing, and though last Sunday's was certainly serious, I didn't come away depressed.

Well, I just wondered if anyone else is watching, and how you might be reacting to the show.

[709]

I frigging love Wallander. He's just so broken and sometimes pathetic...but entirely awesome. I truly think it's Branagh's masterwork. He's genius in it.

For those just getting into it - you must watch Series 1. It'll help you get a sense of who he is, and just how desperate his mind is. Such a great show.

[murbot]

Hmm. I'm out of shows to try, I'll give it a look.

Anyone here watch Shameless? I just power watched season 1 in a week. LOVE IT.

[709]

Did you watch the UK or US version? Both are pretty great, but Emmy's tits.... holy cow.

[murbot]

US version. I saw a few minutes of the UK one yesterday on YouTube (after finishing the first whole season) and man, it was unwatchable. It felt like something some fans got together and shot. ??

And yeah, I hear ya. Rowr.

[709]

Yeah, the UK series is pretty gritty... and uncomfortable at times. But that's just how they roll. Have you seen the original "The Office"? It's squirm-inducing.

[709]

Another great BBC show is Luther. You'd love that. So fucking good.

[Yontsey]

I've been wanting to get into that show recently.

[709]

Luther? Holy shit is it a great show. You won't be disappointed.

[murbot]

Awesome. I'm starting a list. Once I cruise through season 2 here I'll be looking for something new.

This Breaking Bad break is killing me.