Topic: The TV Show Thread

I watched a few episodes at my friends place, and while the its not as bad as the score on Metacritic suggest, I did find the fight choreography to be a bit underwhelming and not realistic enough. I don't like the opening CGI either, looks like they tried to copy the "liquid trailing effects" from Street Fighter 4 and 5 but didn't do a good job on it. So far I give it a 5/10.

The actress who plays Colleen Wing is really pretty though. <3

Yeah, the CGI hasn't been great so far. It's enjoyable enough, but hardly top tier television.

@euant Have you finish watching the series? I might go over to my friend's place to watch it again this weekend.

@WanderingBullet Not yet, I'm up to Episode 4 (just watched 3) now. Bit of a slow burn, it hasn't managed to grab me as well as either Jessica Jones or Daredevil did. Been watching them one per night rather than binging through them.

@euant Cool. My friend's on episode 9 now and he told me it's been below average so far.

@KratosMD Just watched it this morning. You might enjoy it but I thought it was awful to be honest. I adore the early seasons of Prison Break but even though 3 and 4 were bad, this is a new low point for the show.

It's frustrating because the show had so much potential. The characters, cast and setting were all on point when it started but it quickly got dragged down by being on Fox and the whole conspiracy plot was (imo) completely unnecessary and ruined what was so good about the program.

I always felt they should've just rebooted the whole show after season 2, with a new cast, new story and new perspective on an actual "prison break".

I recently got rid of my cable and have been using Netflix and Hulu. I've been watching the new season of Salem, 13 Reasons Why and some random show called Bordertown. Has anyone seen any of these?

@VRex7 I've seen a few episodes of 13 Reasons Why with my wife. I thought it was just some cheesy-teenager show but it's actually very good. The story is really intriguing. I'm going to have to watch the full series sometime. Currently I'm catching up with season 4 of The Americans.

Mad Men is top 5 TV dramas ALL-TIME, sorry its too 'slow' for you. Its Never going to be forgotten

Watched quite a bit since my last post.

Medici: Masters of Florence (Netflix Original) - Series focusing on the political dealings & back stabbings of medieval Florence, from the perspective of the Medici banking family. Naturally not as action heavy as your typical sword & sandal fare, but I actually quite liked it.

Marvel's the Iron Fist (Netflix Original) - The newest of the Marvel series. It was pretty decent, I suppose.

Samurai Gourmet (Netflix Original) - Humorous Japanese produced series about a 60 year old retiree, who indulges in his wildest culinary fantasies, after being emboldened by visions of a wandering Samurai. I liked it a lot.

Five Came Back (Netflix Original) - 3 part miniseries documentary about 5 directors who's contributions defined movie making (such as John Ford & Frank Capra), and how their respective experiences in WWII shaped their artistic vision. It's told by 5 legendary directors of today (such as Steven Spielberg & Guillermo Del Toro), and I found it quite fascinating.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 (Netflix) - Apparently Netflix has a new deal with the CW where they get the newest seasons of their shows a week after they end, instead of until after the next season starts, so this arrived sooner than expected. Just like the first season, I loved it. It's campy, but fun and I love time travel stuff, lol. The new seasons of Supergirl & Flash (and I assume Arrow, though it wasn't mentioned) arrive in May, so I can't wait.

@RR529 You could just get the free CW app.and watch those shows now.

I just finished watching Thirteen Reasons Why, it's very powerful, very emotional and deals with some heavy issues. It's also pretty intriguing and is very much a 'just one more episode' show. Loved it, would highly recommend but with the warning of the serious issues within

@Tasuki, I'll definitely look into it next season, but since Netflix is only a couple of weeks away from getting the last seasons, I'll watch those there.

@KratosMD Is it true that the British version of Flash Forward lasted several seasons? That show was brilliant and I was so ticked off when the American version of the show was cancelled after a single season...

@KratosMD I agree Riverdale is probably my favorite show this season. I don't know what I am going to do this summer without Riverdale.

@Reanfan7 Flash Forward was only one season in the UK too. As someone from the UK, I really find the TV networks of America very frustrating. Often we get shows a few months after they have broadcast in the US and a fair few of been cancelled before the season has really got going or started in some cases. You would think that US networks would be a bit more patient, wait to see how popular something is on a more global scale and can make up some of the costs by selling broadcast rights to other countries. It could be just 'timing', putting something on at the wrong time to compete against the wrong shows. I often hear that shows on a 'Friday' (I believe) at a certain time is a death sentence regardless of how good a show is.

@BAMozzy I feel the same - shows get killed too quickly.

If the show has a very strong narrative thread (rather than crime/monster of the week episodes) I often wait at least 1 if not 2 seasons before jumping in to guage whether it has a future. Nothing is certain but you can at least tell if there is a stable weekly viewership..

@Rudy_Manchego It doesn't seem to matter in some cases as to whether a show has a strong narrative thread or not, whether it has potential to be big or repeat the same 'joke' or theme every (or at least every other) episode. There really doesn't appear to be rhyme nor reason. Obviously viewing figures matter - much more than anything else but it seems the timing - ie when it goes out in the US and what it could be up against matters the most. I am sure I read that more shows have been cancelled that go out on a Friday night, than any other time. I don't know if they are trying to compete with a very popular and regular thing (NFL?) or just that most Americans that are the 'target audience' (the 18-35's) are opting to go out when these shows air. Its also difficult for networks to get an accurate viewership reading. Maybe some watch the first episode or two and then wait for the box-set to arrive on-demand. Not sure our DVR works and whether that has an impact on viewing figures. I series plan all my shows and watch as and when. I never watch live - especially not shows/channels with adverts unless I am at the point of just watching almost anything just to switch off for the night. The only thing I actively watch 'live' is sports.

Just look at some of the shows that are cancelled or risk being cancelled if they haven't been renewed and some of the ones that have been. A lot of the 'crime' shows tend to have a similar story most weeks and often the same out-come too. Certain genres often don't succeed - like fantasy (although Game of Thrones has), Sci-fi etc and yet at the moment, super-hero shows are all the rage. Not complaining but Agent Carter was strong on characters and narrative yet still got cancelled.

@BAMozzy Sorry, misunderstanding. I am more happy to take a risk on a show which is largely monster of the week because the overall narrative isn't a problem and you can still enjoy each episode for what it is. If you have a show like flashforward, which has an overall story arc, if cancelled early then you are more often than not left without a resolution to the overall narrative which, to me, is very frustrating.

@Rudy_Manchego A lot of shows nowadays have that 'monster of the week' kind of approach but then also have a much longer story arc in the background - sometimes these can be a whole season. The Marvel TV shows are often like this where a 'main' villain can be a season long regular but individual episodes may come up against a specific enemy. Arrow, for example, usually has the 'flashbacks' relating to a specific point in time as well as a single main enemy for the season, a main theme for the characters story arcs but can also have individual 'enemy' of the week. The latest season of Agents of Shield is split into 3 sections with the first section featuring Ghost Rider. Most of these though are resolved by the final episode and may or may not end with the 'main' character in a 'good' place but the overall story arc can be resolved.

I quite like a mix of both. I enjoy Elementary for example (a modern day Sherlock) where each episode is a new case but often there has been a recurring story arc over multiple episodes. I prefer this type of format. I do like episodes to reach a natural conclusion but I also like to see a longer story arc over a season. I admit I am not fond of seasons being left on a cliff-hanger unless its guaranteed to be coming back AND be broadcast on UK TV. I am still waiting for Season 3 of Gotham!!!