Topic: The TV Show Thread

So I finished watching season 1 of The Wire this week. The first episode felt very slow, but then it gradually became more interesting and the last couple of episodes were very engrossing. Although I do have to say that it was rather hard to follow the plot. It could be because English isn't my first language or because they talked in a way that made it hard to follow along. Also, the last episode didn't make any sense to me. I didn't really understand why everything turned out like that.

All in all, I like the show and it was fun watching something from the early 2000s. Although I think I'll be taking a break from it and picking it back up at a later time.

@JohnnyShoulder think I missed some notifications. Salem's Lot... hmm I have a very hate, hate, tolerate relationship with Stephen King and adaptions of his tbh, and the user rating for that is about a 5??? Some stuff is very good, maybe, but he is an absolute wind bag of a writer and I never got on with his books because of the tangents and ridiculous level of minor detail he bangs on about (oh, the irony 😅) and he is just too prolific for his own good.

And as for adaptions, I think they will pretty much adapt anything with his name on it and most of the time it is done in a "straight to video" way. As if to say... using absolutely sh*te actors 😅

I mean, The Shining is the very pinnacle in King adaptions, right? And that is mostly because of what Stanley Kubrick and Jack Nicholson brought to it, even though it basically skips out a chunk of actual Shining related stuff and does it's own thing, and that kind of feels weird when you watch it. Even to someone that hasn't read the book, it feel like it just veers off and forgets what was set up earlier.

For his TV adaptions I do remember quite liking The Outsider, and that's about all I can remember that are actually decent in that space 👀

Moving on from that. As I now know you are a resident LotR appreciator, what did you make of Rings of Power? I know there was a lot of mixed reactions when it debuted, but maybe the dust has settled and there is more of an acceptance of it now, or maybe not. There is one segment and a culminating scene in s2 that is basically better than any Shakespeare (exaggerated hot take) it certainly has a 'play within a show' feel with one pairing of characters.

@LtSarge it’s an incredible show and one which the missus and I watch through in its entirety every 5 years or so. The last episode… for me at least… might be the single greatest episode of tv ever made.

@Ravix Ah I've been found out as a filthy LOTR casual! 😬 I've not actually seen any of The Rings of Power. I was going to try and watch this winter, but Amazon introduced adverts into Prime and that has put me off using the service.

I've yet to finish a Stephen King book as I find they ramble on about nothing to much for my liking.

@colonelkilgore That's cool that you like it that much! Does the show get better over time?

@LtSarge tbh I thought it was the best show ever made even during season 1. As with anything though, enjoyment and appreciation will vary from person to person.

@colonelkilgore Sounds promising then! Looking forward to watching season 2, hopefully sooner than later.

@JohnnyShoulder uh oh, I assumed. That's my bad 😅 I would have thought someone that had ended up watching the trilogy every Christmas might actually be a mega fan, or something like that.

The adverts are no too bad. In something like a Clarkson show they will have, say, one advert in the middle. But I'm pretty sure RoP was sponsered by Warcraft so it just had that one advert at the very start, pre titles, and the rest was uninterrupted. I'm pretty sure that is right, anyway 😬

I think I only ended up watching the first season because I happened to have Prime at the time and I'll try out any fantasy tv show. Wasn't that into it, but it was alright enough to warrant a casual watch. But this year it has had me wanting to go back and watch some more LotR stuff that I probably didn't appreciate at the time, despite having seen the trilogy. Other than a general idea of who is in it and the story overall, it doesn't resonate with my memories enough to geek out about it in any way. I kind of regret passing on the Mordor games, but doubt I'll go back to them. And we all know what happened with the Gollum game 💩

@Ravix Oh I've not wathced the trilogy for ages as i gave most of my DVD's away when I got my PS4.

I did try out watching stuff on Prime, and some progammes and film have adverts a few times during the run time. They did start only at the start, but that soon changed. Unless it depends on what you are watching.

Anyone been watching Uzumaki by any chance? It is genuinely one of the most bat---- crazy shows I have ever has the fortune(?) of watching. I can't say it's good in the slightest. The pacing is absolutely horrible, the plotting is all over the place, the story is mostly nonsensical and doesn't seem to be going anywhere and the characters are rather undeveloped caricatures. That said, it manages to be highly entertaining in spite of all of that simply by how it's throwing so much crazy stuff in your face. It just... never stops escalating. When you think you've seen it all after you saw snail people snuggling up together, you see some weird lovestruck tornado the next episode. By all accounts the manga is great, but then this anime must be a genuinely terrible adaptation of it. The only value this has is that it enters "so bad it's good"-territory, as well as some great sense of style with its artwork. And so, if you'd enjoy watching something that is just incomprehensible in its constant need for upping the ante (badly), do give it a try.

@LtSarge
The Wire is often difficult to follow for most people even if English is your first language. The dialogue uses a lot of street slang and vernacular that's both common in urban African American circles as well as the Baltimore area in general and the show doesn't hold your hand or explain any of this to you. This is one of the reasons why fans of the show lament that it's so hard for newcomer fans to get into it.

The Penguin is just getting better and better with each episode, this weeks episode was phenomenal for me and I appreciate the total change in character focus.
@Tjuz
I watched the first episode of Uzumaki and it was pretty nutty. Usually I like weird Japanese s--t but this was just...off putting. The pacing was disjointed, the writing was nonsensical and every character's behavior has just been so uncomfortable to watch. Cool black and white art style but boy does that art style deserve a better show.

@PegasusActual93 Yep, it is getting better and better! I really hope they do not ruin it somehow

Cobblepot is so despicable and likable He ruined that kid from the inside ... corruption on another level and it is somehow fun to watch!

Also, Mark Strong was not a bad Falcone in this episode

@PegasusActual93 Yeah, completely agree. I imagine the main problem here is that for some reason they only have four episodes to adapt the story in. Maybe with a longer episode count they'd have had more time to flesh out each supernatural occurrence instead of just shoving five ones in an episode in the most over the top way possble to get the point across as quickly as they can. I don't know if that would've helped the writing much since it's already such a lot to begin with, but it definitely could've made the pacing a lot easier to digest. I'd love to see more animation in this type of art style with a better... everything else to support it.

@Zuljaras @PegssusActual93 The comments on here and elsewhere (specifically the "Sopranos" comparisons) have me sorely tempted to give "Penguin" a try - my problem is that I really loathed the Matt Reeves "Batman" movie. Is that going to make it a waste of time to even start the show?
PS "The Wire" is also my pick for greatest TV show ever made.

@LN78 Going only by the first episode, aside from a small bit of exposition regarding the end of Reeves' Batman it feels like a standalone thing. The problem I'm having is well, I didn't enjoy the Batman movie either so it's hard to feel invested when I'm not sure it's as disconnected as it may seem. How can it be?

Also, imo, the Sopranos comparisons seems only accurate in regards to the Penguin's behavior imo. Like, the guy isn't exactly trying to raise a family in New Jersey whilst balancing his underworld dealings. Cobblepot is simply an Italianish-coded, impulsive, and manipulative guy with mommy issues, that's pretty much it.

Don't get me wrong though, first episode was fine but by the end I couldn't be bothered to care where it was all going because isn't it all leading to the guy in the cape anyway?

@LN78 For me "The Batman" was ok. Not spectacular but ok.

In The Penguin they just mention the Bat at the start just to tie in the story and that is it. It is all about the rise of Penguin to one of Gotham's crime bosses

@LN78
Other than like 2 minutes of exposition at the beginning of the first episode it's pretty disconnected from the movie. I'm sure there's references and character setups and stuff for the next movie that people more knowledgeable about Batman lore than myself will pick up on but the two are pretty different in terms of story and pacing as Reeves didn't seem to have very much involvement in this one and it looks like he didn't even direct any of the episodes. If you like crime dramas I would say it's a high recommendation. Colin Farrell and Christin Milioti are absolutely killing their roles and I imagine some Emmy nominations for them are in the near future.
@Tjuz
I am curious to check out the manga just to see how it compares. I am pretty sure I remember seeing that they have all the volumes at my nearest library.

@PegasusActual93 @Zuljaras Thanks for the replies! I'll wait for all the episodes to be released then give it a try.

Started re-watching Fallout tonight. I think when the nights get darker earlier then tv shows and movies just become so much more appealing. And this is definitely something that feels like it can be watched multiple times