TV news and views

[Potato]

Still got all my DVDs

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Anybody watching The Pitt?

It's like ER never ended.

Love it.


oh it is. Lol

https://www.thewrap.com/wbd-michael-crichton-estate-the-pitt-lawsuit-dismissal-denied/

[Eric Cartman]

Cobra Kai managed to mostly stick the landing in its finale - couldn't be more obvious the final season was chopped into two just to stretch out subs though.

I liked:

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

• The shows finale returning to where it began; the show is about Miguel and Johnny from the very start, bringing it all back to that is pretty satisfying.
  
• They still lean into fucking hilarious goofy shit; VR karate training, Kreese and Silver still being fucking comic book villains to the literal very end, the board of a supposed professional karate organisation resolving disputes by kicking the other dude in the fucking head, the 'definitely not making shit up as we go along' tournament rules so in the event of a tie the fucking teachers enter the competition, etc
  
• A lot of nice payoffs and callbacks to the whole series (and even to the original film), and some pretty solid use of flashbacks - sure its as corny a montage of happy endings as you can imagine, but its a tv show based on an 80s kids movie, of fucking course it gets a happy ending montage
  
• A lot of the 'legacy' actors are really not very good, but its nice they tried to give characters like Kreese and Johnny some emotional beats and opportunities to try their best acting chops, lmao
  
• Daniels motivational speech as sensei to get through to Johnny is pretty fucking great
  

I hated:

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

• Digitally necromancing Pat Morita; it looked shitty in execution, and I just fucking hate this trend in general. Just feels scummy.
  
• The Kreese vs Silver payoff had some fucking cheap ass looking VFX, holy shit
  

So, nice satisfying conclusion right in time for the upcoming (another) soft reboot movie

[Potato]

Good to hear. I just started the final season so I'm not looking at spoilers yet.

[Potato]

First of all who?
Second, Disney sure do look like they're intentionally trying to kill Star Wars for good.

[Polident]

Gonna try wrapping up Cobra Kai tonight. But the 13th episode ending, as telegraphed as it was, still hit.

They’re really good at delivering fan service without it feeling cloying or over the top. It’s right at the edge of natural storytelling.

[Alpacx]

First of all who?
Second, Disney sure do look like they're intentionally trying to kill Star Wars for good.

One of the best characters from the old Expanded Universe books.

I just don't expect anything out of Disney Star Wars to be good. Heard so many good things about Andor but after the first two Sequel movies and Luke getting shoehorned into The Mandalorian I just have no interest.

But maybe I'm just too old for the franchise and young boys still love it. That worked for the prequels and Clone Wars.

[killamajig]

There used to be a time if you asked me if I was a star Wars fan I would say yes but.......

All the Star Wars shows I'ved watched per...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars#Films

A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back   
Return of the Jedi
 then......

Prequel Trilogy   

Sequel Trilogy

Rogue One

Solo


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars#Television
The Mandalorian
The Book of Boba Fett

How can I honestly call myself a Star Wars fan now? It's all shit. They can't even make a decent popcorn flick these days.

[Potato]

Watch Andor guys. 

I can't stress how much I am in lockstep with you on Star Wars and I loved the shit out of that show. 

Best compliment I can give it is that I would recommend it even if it wasn't Star Wars.

[killamajig]

I will have to check out Andor. I see it is available on one of those "free" streaming sites I use, so I suppose I have no excuse.

[Polident]

Cobra Kai ended well. Not much to add.

There’s a post credits scene of sorts. Not really about Cobra Kai. I’ll spoiler tag it anyway. I don’t know if it’s some inside joke or whatever.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Guys at a bar, presumably the two guys who created Cobra Kai, are talking about a Back to the Future project. Set in an alternate 1985 with Billy Zane and Biff Tannen returning.

As shite as every proposed BTTF project has been, I have some faith in these guys after Cobra Kai. 

[Potato]

Just watched episode 11. Holy shit, how this show manages to be so ridiculous, yet so watchable at the same time. Idiotically stupid, but compelling and fun so you can forgive the stupidity.

[Eric Cartman]

Apple Cider Vinegar is a based on a true story (or as the show likes to say, a true story based on a lie) dramatisation of some stuff that I must have missed when it originally happened - not being australian or into instagram drama - and is pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Lots of very timely themes covered; influencer / grifter lifestyles and social medias shallow surface level examinations of things where how something appears is the whole of the truth, parasocial relationships and specfically female frenemy rivalries, the erosion in trust in the MSM and journalism being something they are complicit in through op-eds and puff pieces, the capacity for otherwise intelligent and capable people to live in denial and self delusion... lots of stuff to unpack.

Good acting all round, compelling story, and avoids easy answers or dumbing things down and lots of unreliable characters and narration to make you think for yourself about how you feel about things rather than telling you how you should. Is she a monster or a victim? Yes.


and remember:

[Potato]

She's a cunt. Still hasn't faced up to any real consequences. People's lives and health were ruined by her yet cuntishness.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Why do I love everything Dexter?

Original sin was such a great fan show. 

I have a theory that my girl hates, that Deb’s friend ends up being Doakes and that’s why Doakes hates him.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Cobra Kai final is great. The later seasons were hit or miss for me but the last 2 episodes nailed it.

We all know who the real winner is.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Potato]

Haven't finished it yet, so I haven't looked at the spoilers, but man one character has been the MVP this season. 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Chozen. Hope he holds up with Cobra Kai woman permanently

[Eric Cartman]

She's a cunt. Still hasn't faced up to any real consequences. People's lives and health were ruined by her yet cuntishness.

Theres a lot of dancing around the fact shes not quite right; whether shes a pathological liar, delusional, has munchausens or is 'just' a sociopath, the brazeness is just fascinating. Also a big part of the show is how many other people are complicit in letting those lies be perpetuated.

I watched the interview they dramatise with her after the show and it is hilarious


best part:
"Your own brother has stopped talking to you because of your claims that hes autistic"
"yes, sadly there is still a social stigma about autism"
"no, hes angry at you because you keep calling him autistic when hes not"

[Potato]

Yeah, couldn't watch that shit when it was live and still can't watch it in full. 

When this shit was going on I was working in social media for a public health organisation so this kind of health fraud was really commonplace. 

David Wolfe with his deranged bullshit, paleo diets, children being fed bone broth rather than milk and getting malnourished. Anti-science bullshit around fluoride in the drinking water. Claims that sunscreen gives you cancer. Black fucking salve being promoted as curing cancer.

That shit had real consequences for people who were facing serious health issues and led to actual painful deaths and unnecessary suffering. None of them cared and they keep pocketing the cash. Worst of all is the tech companies like Apple and Facebook promoting this shit and allowing actual harmful information to be published without any sort of oversight at all.

Those same cunts are starting to pop up again now with the crazies like Kennedy in charge in the US.

[Potato]

Gonna try wrapping up Cobra Kai tonight. But the 13th episode ending, as telegraphed as it was, still hit.

They’re really good at delivering fan service without it feeling cloying or over the top. It’s right at the edge of natural storytelling.

Just got through ep13. Totally predictable. Totally awesome. Just keeps delivering the goods in a way that it has no right to do.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Finish it.  

[Potato]

Finish it.  

It's not my fault. Someone keeps falling asleep and then threatens to murder me in mine if I keep going. I'm only 50% sure she's joking, soooo....

[Potato]

Finished it. Fucking great finale. 

One disappointment though: 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Needed a crane kick

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Finished it. Fucking great finale. 

One disappointment though: 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Needed a crane kick

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Johnny needed to sweep the leg for a poetic ending.

[Eric Cartman]

Finished it. Fucking great finale. 

One disappointment though: 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Needed a crane kick

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Johnny needed to sweep the leg for a poetic ending.

yeah, it was a good payoff this way.
I can't believe nobody even commented on the things I really hated, let alone join me in my hate

[Potato]

I agree with both your "hates".

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Bringing Pat Morita back was in poor taste and executed badly. 

The Kreese/Silver ending, however, was so much fun and so hilarious that only some over the top bad CGI explosion could do justice to it. It had to be intentional and it also left no doubt that both are now dead.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Cobra Kai

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Agreed on the CGI, but also had a problem with that mini arc all together. They were creating drama to pad out episodes and I could feel it. But the payoff at the end made me shrug off the issues of the first half.

Kreese can't be dead because Cobra Kai never dies. 

[Polident]

Invincible has weirdly slow pacing and I don’t get why. It’s relatively faithful to the comic but everything drags on longer than it should. There’s no energy to it. The old superhero cartoons like Batman and Justice League managed to do it all in 23 minutes. Invincible episodes often push past 40 minutes and there’s less happening.

Think part of it is trying to have “natural” dialogue. Reading the comic, a dialogue heavy scene is a page of speech bubbles. You can read through it in seconds. The show adapts it as a five to ten minute scene of slow talking with pauses. Holding on blank expressions of cartoon characters.

Cobra Kai

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Agreed on the CGI, but also had a problem with that mini arc all together. They were creating drama to pad out episodes and I could feel it. But the payoff at the end made me shrug off the issues of the first half.

Kreese can't be dead because Cobra Kai never dies. 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

saw a headline that Kreese’s actor filmed a scene where he lived and is shown reading a magazine about the victory.  

Think they even saw it as too ridiculous.

[DavidCroquet]

I'm on the last episode of Twin Peaks: The Return, and I gotta agree with the haters...the OG series is better. Nothing in The Return touches "How's Annie!?" or Major Briggs' father-son speech to Bobby. 

I "get" David Lynch, but there's a whole oeuvre of his that looks and feels like The Return. There was no need to do that kind of thing again here. It feels like The Return is an exercise in metacommentary, which I can respect on one hand, but also...



The Dougie plotline is good though. I love it.

[Besticus Maximus]

my favourite bit of the return was when michael cera turned up on a motorcycle

The zenith of melodrama