Same with Pinkman originally being planned to die in season 1, they just liked the performance and chemistry (no pun intended) too much to get rid of him.

Feb 26, 2018 23:12:41 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Feb 26, 2018 23:05:45 GMT mikec said:

Probably finished watching ER now. I might go back from time to time, but I hit most the highlights like major characters being introduced or leaving. The pilot was a bit of a surprise as one I’d never seen just for how different Benton was.

I revisited the pilot for ER not too long ago.  In it, Carol, who wasn't billed as a main character at that time, had a drug overdose.  According to the book, The Platnum Age of Television, the original script called for Carol to die of the overdose.  But when the show was picked up for the season, they changed it to her surviving it, because they liked Juliana Marguiles' portrayal of her, and they wanted her to continue it.

Yeah the pilot seems fairly clear that Carol doesn’t look good to survive and that she did a good job trying to kill herself with the right pills. Good choice to let her survive, she wound up being the strongest of the lady characters. Well her or Weaver.

And Mike from Breaking Bad only exists because Bob Odenkirk was booked to do How I Met Your Mother so they made up a fixed character for him.

I don't know where else to put this. I thought we were finally free of American Idol, they had that big send-off. Why have they brought it back not that much later

I love my medical dramas. Sadly I don't think The Resident will last long.

Feb 27, 2018 0:50:06 GMT RagnarokMike said:

Same with Pinkman originally being planned to die in season 1, they just liked the performance and chemistry (no pun intended) too much to get rid of him.

That is most shocking of all.  Sure the show was about Walter's journey but Jessie was such an important part of that journey.  Can't picture the show working without Jessie.

I was really taken a back by the first two episodes of Twin Peaks. Of course when the show premiered, there were four episodes and I binge watched them all, but it was so far removed from Twin Peaks. If I hadn't have seen Fire Walk With Me the night before the premiere, I would have been completely lost. Since the original series seemed to focus so much on the town, it was so odd to find myself in all these different places and barely visit any of the locales. And whenever we did go back, we seemed to find ourselves in those irritating Lynch moments, like with Lucy and the insurance representative and this seemingly nothing scene of Sarah watching lions maul a helpless animal.

Keep me posted on your progress with the show vendrell. As somebody who followed it all as it happened, it will be interesting to see what you make of it being able to watch it at your own leisure. Week to week, some episodes definitely felt better than others, but it seems like the show was intended to be an 18 hour movie, as opposed to a traditional television show.

Finished up on Godless, very good show, excellent performances, maybe a bit slow at times, but satisfying build ending in a fitting conclusion. Only two small things I was disappointed with:

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Whitey Winn going down without a fight, they had done some building on his skill with a gun, could have let him take out a few guys in the big gun fight.

2. No actual closure on brother, never know if he finds him, if he's alive, or even what the job he just couldn't mention in the letter was. The final scene was pretty, but we could have at least gotten one of those silent scenes with the two people reuniting.

About 3 weeks ago I scored a DVD box set of X-Files seasons 5 through 8 at Wal Mart so my binge through the series has continued. I had X-Files fatigue after thoroughly combing through the first 4 seasons this winter, which was like 100 episodes. After a brief break I got back into it with this set. I'm down to the last disc of season 6 now. My last watchthrough of the show I brushed off season 6 and decided that season 5 was the last good season, deciding that they really should have just went all out with the theatrical movie that came out after season 5 and let that be the end of the show. I originally felt like season 6 was too goofy and the show had changed so much in tone from what it started out as that it almost wasn't even the same thing. But the last time I watched through season 6 I wasn't watching as thoroughly as I am on this watch through, I was only cherry picking through certain episodes back then.

I'm honestly really enjoying this season on this go around. The 2 part "Two Fathers/One Son" is dope as hell, major turning point for the main storyline arc with so much crazy shit going down. Show was definitely still running on all cylinders in season 6, I'm actually enjoying it more than season 4 or 5, even the weaker monster of the week episodes are really good and keep me glued to the TV.

I've got the first 4 episodes of Marvels Runaways sitting in my DVR. I'm just if it's any good and I should bother putting the time in. Was/is the comic decent?

The first volume is awesome. Of course they've changed things a little bit (same premise, but motivations are different) so even if you go ahead and read it the show will still be a new experience. The show covers the first half I think.

What the hell was SNL was SNL thinking getting Charles Barkley? The man can barely talk like a regular person in normal situations, asking him to act was ill advised.

Atlanta's back! All the stuff at Uncle Willie's house was hilarious but I think my favourite moment was everyone's reaction to Ern pulling out the gun back at Alfred's place. "That shit GOLD." :lol:

Also Percy Watson cameo!

The "Florida Man" shit had me cracking up, like it's some hick super villain running around causing all the trouble.

Feb 27, 2018 13:44:49 GMT Big Pete said:

I was really taken a back by the first two episodes of Twin Peaks. Of course when the show premiered, there were four episodes and I binge watched them all, but it was so far removed from Twin Peaks. If I hadn't have seen Fire Walk With Me the night before the premiere, I would have been completely lost. Since the original series seemed to focus so much on the town, it was so odd to find myself in all these different places and barely visit any of the locales. And whenever we did go back, we seemed to find ourselves in those irritating Lynch moments, like with Lucy and the insurance representative and this seemingly nothing scene of Sarah watching lions maul a helpless animal.

Keep me posted on your progress with the show vendrell. As somebody who followed it all as it happened, it will be interesting to see what you make of it being able to watch it at your own leisure. Week to week, some episodes definitely felt better than others, but it seems like the show was intended to be an 18 hour movie, as opposed to a traditional television show.

I'm currently 5 eps in and it doesn't feel like Twin Peaks of old.  With that said, it's not exactly a bad thing. I thought some of the S2 soapy stuff really slowed the show down.  Thus far though, there has been a lot to like. It's funnier than I was expecting it to be.  I know the original run had comedy as well but Dale in this weird almost new born baby like trance or whatever he's in has provided some good laughs for me.  It is something though that after multiple eps of it, it needs to wrap up and just give me good ol Dale back.  Lynch definitely didn't make this new viewer friendly though.  If a person was just diving in from the reboot, they would probably think it's the worst and most confusing show ever.  It is feeling like one long movie though.  I mean it feels like lynch left nothing on the cutting room floor, this is just all there which is good and bad.  It is nice to see that Showtime just totally gave him the freedom to do what he wanted with the series and not butt in.

Jessica Jones season 1 was my 3rd or 4th favorite of the line, Jessica Jones season 2 might be my least favorite of all of them. Season 1 almost played out like a crime/thriller, season 2 was neither of those things, or much of anything, just a show without much identity. The main arc wasn't all that compelling, subplots weren't either, really wasn't even any memorable scenes, lame ending. Just...eh.

Mar 12, 2018 22:31:22 GMT RagnarokMike said:

Jessica Jones season 1 was my 3rd or 4th favorite of the line, Jessica Jones season 2 might be my least favorite of all of them. Season 1 almost played out like a crime/thriller, season 2 was neither of those things, or much of anything, just a show without much identity. The main arc wasn't all that compelling, subplots weren't either, really wasn't even any memorable scenes, lame ending. Just...eh.

So not worth watching at all, then?

I personally won't ever watch it again (not a single episode sticks out to me as "I gotta re-watch that one."), I'd say take however you felt about the first, and cut it in half at the very least, I'd recommend not going in with higher expectations than that. Don't think I'd call it terrible (some terribleness), but just wholly unremarkable in basically every way I can think of (solid acting), very little stuck with me aside from a couple key plot points. Never know if you're gonna feel the same (even people with similar opinions diverge from time to time), but that's my two cents.

I've tried getting into that show about Biggie and 2pacs murder but to me it's just not clicking. I had to bail on it.

Mar 13, 2018 2:26:02 GMT RagnarokMike said:

I personally won't ever watch it again (not a single episode sticks out to me as "I gotta re-watch that one."), I'd say take however you felt about the first, and cut it in half at the very least, I'd recommend not going in with higher expectations than that. Don't think I'd call it terrible (some terribleness), but just wholly unremarkable in basically every way I can think of (solid acting), very little stuck with me aside from a couple key plot points. Never know if you're gonna feel the same (even people with similar opinions diverge from time to time), but that's my two cents.

That's fair to say - I just have so much in the backlog to read/watch that I don't know if I want to waste a bunch of hours watching a show that's averagely average.

I'm a week behind now but Atlanta episode two was hilarious. The piss take of the hipster millennial office was amazing (Ern and Al have the best polar opposite tolerance to white people), and I died at the call back to the puppy investment.

Here and Now

Alan Ball's latest TV show which apparently a lot of critics hate. I really enjoyed Six Feet Under and didn't mind the first couple of seasons of True Blood despite it not being my genre, so I thought I would see for myself.

It's an ensemble piece about this big family who were all adopted by these two ultra-progressives and went onto lead successful lives. However, they're facing the impossibility of keeping this facade, to show people that the experiment was a success when really there's repercussions. We're 5 hours in and that's really all we've got. There's also something weird going on with one of the children who keeps having hallucinations that seem to be tied to his psychiatrist, but otherwise it's just a diverse cast of characters with little direction.

If the critics have their way, it won't last longer than a season. I'm hoping it pulls a Six Feet Under and gets better as it goes on, but it's taking a long time and the characters are doing little to endear themselves. If Holly Hunter wasn't on the show, I probably would have given up on it long ago.

You think Six Feet Under improved as it went along? I thought the first two seasons were considerably better than the rest, with the first few episodes the peak (well those and the last two of season two. Or maybe the Xmas episode in season 2)

I haven't gone back to watch it, but what made Six Feet Under is how all the characters developed. At the start of the show, I found myself enjoying Nathaniel's story the most, but over time you really his arc has been stunted while the rest continue to grow and find themselves. That really doesn't happen until Season 3, which also had the best season arc and watching Nathaniel and the family deal with grief was handled so well. I much preferred Ruth, David, Claire and the side characters from Season 3 on, at times the first two seasons could be real slogs.

Mar 16, 2018 18:15:22 GMT Big Pete said:

I haven't gone back to watch it, but what made Six Feet Under is how all the characters developed. At the start of the show, I found myself enjoying Nathaniel's story the most, but over time you really his arc has been stunted while the rest continue to grow and find themselves. That really doesn't happen until Season 3, which also had the best season arc and watching Nathaniel and the family deal with grief was handled so well. I much preferred Ruth, David, Claire and the side characters from Season 3 on, at times the first two seasons could be real slogs.

And I didn’t think any of Season three with Nate in a joyless marriage, Keith and David having the same fight on repeat, and recovered Brenda coming back was enjoyable. I was a bit of a fanatic for the show, but even then I thought I was watching something inferior.

Oh well different strokes and such.

I agree it started off slow, but the way the season panned out was more enjoyable than the overall arcs of those earlier seasons. That was usually how the show worked, the middle episodes would be just sort of there, building up to the final few episodes which would have nice pay-offs. The earlier seasons felt like standard fare, with Billy going out of control and Brenda ruining her relationship with Nathaniel. Season 3 turned things on it's head by making the audience regret the way they thought of Lisa. We all wanted Nathaniel to get out of that relationship pronto and had litle regard for her when it all went down. Then later on when we feel like we're going to finally get some closure, the show pulls the rug out from under us. Normally this would be called poor writing, but it actually added to Nathaniel's characterization.

I felt like it was true of the series overall, with the show finishing on a real high note.

Mar 16, 2018 18:03:09 GMT mikec said:

You think Six Feet Under improved as it went along? I thought the first two seasons were considerably better than the rest, with the first few episodes the peak (well those and the last two of season two. Or maybe the Xmas episode in season 2)

Totally disagree.  I loved 1,2,3,and 5.  4 while certainly not bad was easily the weakest link of the series.  I have a soft spot for the depressing season 3 because i could connect more with Nate's struggle of trying to be this thing that he wasn't and kind of just feeling trapped in that relationship with Lisa. I had been through similar feelings in a relationship I had so it just hit me a bit harder.  I remember fucking crying at some scenes of S3 because of that.  One was when Nate and Lisa were driving back from that camping trip with friends and Lisa is talking about how Nate always found his was back to her without really realizing that in those stories she was always Nate's second choice and how it was playing out again with Brenda.  Fuck me, that was rough. HAHA.  Then again during a funeral where a young lady had been killed by a car when she turned around kind of afraid at some boys who were cat calling her or whatever, anyways it turned out it was just her pals teasing her.  Anyways at the funeral they were saying something about how they were just trying to be something they weren't and Nates facial expression of relating to that, fuck that hit me hard.  Anyways i'm rambling about being an emotional basket case.  For me the seasons enjoyment went S3,S5,S2,S1,S4. There is a lot to love in all of them though.  I really want to rewatch this series again now. 

Still plowing through the Twin Peaks reboot and the more and more they go on with this Dougie storyline the more I like it. I wouldn't mind a whole series just devoted to Dougie. Also absolutely love Naomia Watts as Dougies wife. I will say though, the episode "gotta light" was HORRIBLE. This was one that was obviously heavily Lynch inspired and sometimes that can be great and sometimes you just get a bunch of confusing bullshit that makes no sense and this was one of those times where it just didn't make sense to me. seems like this was conceived while Lynch was on a coke binge. It started out ok but then went down the shitter real quick. Easily the worst episode of the twin peaks reboot and maybe just in general of the series.

Mar 19, 2018 23:24:45 GMT vendrell said:

Still plowing through the Twin Peaks reboot and the more and more they go on with this Dougie storyline the more I like it. I wouldn't mind a whole series just devoted to Dougie. Also absolutely love Naomia Watts as Dougies wife. I will say though, the episode "gotta light" was HORRIBLE. This was one that was obviously heavily Lynch inspired and sometimes that can be great and sometimes you just get a bunch of confusing bullshit that makes no sense and this was one of those times where it just didn't make sense to me. seems like this was conceived while Lynch was on a coke binge. It started out ok but then went down the shitter real quick. Easily the worst episode of the twin peaks reboot and maybe just in general of the series.

I'm surprised by just about everything in this post. :lol:

Given your initial reaction, I thought you would hate the Dougie stuff. It clashes with the rest of the show and I could excuse anybody disliking the 'Weekend At Bernies' esque stuff. I originally had the same reservations, but the supporting characters were so good in their roles and kept getting better that it won me over.

Episode 8 is universally loved by the fanbase. It's unlike anything you'll ever see on TV and has an origin story that feels true of the series. However, I get where you're coming from and actually dislike the direction where they went in. Laura worked better when she was just a victim, instead of now being this jesus-like figure. I also thought the 'spirits' worked better as the manifestations of mental disorders, not these creatures that were spawned from a bunch of bomb tests.

Others enjoyed getting answers and I liked that it was presented in the fashion it was, it just took some of the intrigue out of it.

I’m a little surprised at how much I wound up liking “Everything Sucks” on Netflix. It’s a short, easy watch especially after you get through the first episodes almost hacky use of 90’s references. I was blown away that the lead actress was 14 with how good she wind she up being over the entire show.

Ten less than half-hour episodes they are funny and touching and really good.

Watched the trailer for End of the Fucking World after, that one is next.

One of my morning routines for a long time was having Married With Children on while I'm getting ready to go out the door for work. They air the show early on TBS but I cancelled my cable a while back. I got to missing the show so I picked up the full series DVD box set a few weeks ago. This is nice because it seemed like TBS would keep looping the same 20 episodes over and over again. 

I've been watching through the show every morning starting in the beginning and working my way forward. I'm up to the third season now, this is for sure the best sitcom ever made. I'm surprised at how well the earlier seasons hold up. These first few batches were aired in 1987-1989 and are still pretty hilarious. One of the episodes in season 3 I think was the breakout episode for Christina Applegate, Kelly Bundy, who wasn't really a stand out character earlier on in the show. I think the dance episode really made her a star, the girl was hot as a firecracker.



Also Bud's mullet in season 3 is absolutely fucking glorious. GOAT sitcom ever.