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[Potato]

Yeah, the script is lame af

[simiansmarts]

The cyborg kids in Alien Earth are dumber and more childish than the actual children in IT Welcome to Derry lmao

[benji]

The more The Good Place goes on the less the coherence of the universe holds together. Especially right at the end, it really flubs the entire thing. The "system" the entire show is based around simply couldn't work that way. Nor is the "solution" plausible in the least. It falls apart the instant you think about it at all but the random Phoenician dude in The Good Place I think is a tell that even with supposed philosophical experts advising the show they had no clue at all at how to even begin constructing a coherent system. Sure, we're supposed to accept that his life was so non-complex that he easily got into heaven, but how? How could he have earned any good points? Especially if Doug can't earn enough to get in to somehow offset all the bad points he's apparently earning?

And sorry, I can't see how teaching everyone ethics can possibly teach them to follow the exact system when every ethics philosopher in history explicitly failed to understand the system. Doug was the only person to get even close and he abjectly failed. How could Chidi know and be able to teach everyone in history? Especially when all of it is wrong and doesn't apply to the value judgements of the system?

I can't comprehend why the show couldn't advocate that the system was fatally flawed or even come up with a way to explain who created it and why it was created. We have all these beings who existed since beginning of time and none of them had any insight into it, or why it even existed. It exists to judge humans who wouldn't exist for billions of years, so why would it exist before humans? So they must have been around when the system was created and surely there's people with insight into its creation? The Good Place beings aren't humans and clearly established following rules no matter what the results even though that couldn't be part of the system as intent has weight in the system.

They didn't need to do this to avoid saying which religion was right or that God created the system, they could have simply left it that the Good Place and Bad Place negotiated as to what other beings were allowed into them. But this doesn't work either because why do souls have to be allowed into either? Why no medium place for souls regardless? It's just endless weeds. Which is probably why the second half just doesn't work. It takes the flaws in the setup and rather than avoid discussing them makes them the focus of everything.

I also didn't care for the handwave about the memories being given back to everyone. Then this also being made a revelatory moment for one character while the others were completely unaffected by it. Nor does the Judges decisions seem to make much sense. Or why anybody listens to Michael at all about anything.

I guess my main point is that when tackling the meaning of the universe and the construction of the system that resembles Christian canon (but wink wink everyone else too) Michael Schur could have done with reading less Western academic Ethics and more Mike Carey's Lucifer.

[Snoopy]

I can't believe they made Betty fat. WTF. They've ruined Betty.

[boreform]

xenomorph doesn't seem so scary after seeing the bug things that drain your blood and the eyeball thing that takes over your body. 


this show is like if they took el chavo del ocho and introduced a xenomorph 

[boreform]

[Potato]

Finally started The Bear season 3.

The most anxiety inducing show on television. 

I can only watch 2-3 episodes before I need a break.

[Snoopy]

I’m convinced Everybody Loves Raymond caused the rise of mass shootings.

[Potato]

Four episodes in to The Bear S3.

I completely understand why people found this season disappointing, but I'm not one of them. For a show which is about pain, season 3 is a deeply intimate study of personal pain and how people deal with it, or not. 

Marcus's parts in particular have been phenomenal. They are brief and don't contain much in the way of dialogue, but damn if they aren't heartwrenching and emotional. 

Love this show.

[Potato]

The Bear S3 was great. Fuck the haters. 

Season 4 back to normal The Bear type programming seems a little dull in comparison.

[simiansmarts]

I watched the first couple eps of Pluribus, this is one of the most harrowing and nihilistic post-apocalypse premises in a while. I don't think this story can really be extended for multiple seasons like Vince's other shows, the premise seems more fit for a single season miniseries or a movie.  
 
It's the kind of show that makes you want to retreat into the woods. 

[benji]

Presumably because I watched The Good Place kept getting recommended Mr. Mayor because it also stars Ted Danson. This originally started as a 30 Rock spin-off starring Jack as NYC Mayor, but when Baldwin turned it down and Danson took over it was shifted to LA because he wouldn't film elsewhere. It's okay, and sometimes there's decent funny, it has 30 Rock vibes for sure, but it really needed to still be Jack. Danson's character is a "businessman" and ostensibly "centrist" Democrat but it never works like it would with a Republican Jack. Like the very first thing Mayor Danson does is ban paper straws, yet he's supposed to be the semi-sane among all the California crazies? Holly Hunter's character is supposed to be this hippie progressive but Danson literally doesn't disagree with her on anything. They can't even really come up with any kind of true conflict because Danson's differences from anyone is just what should be prioritized. When he wants to build a space elevator with some billionaire it's not using real city resources but a bunch of found money. The occasional City Council characters who barely around are far bigger roadblocks to the endless progressive ideas.

A lot of it is just half-baked like this, where you can see how it could have worked with Jack at the center of everything but then they shifted the series without changing the intended dynamics. It's almost good anyway because of Bobby Moynihan's character and some of the guest stars.

This is about the only part with celebrities playing themselves on the entire thing though:

Spoiler: got recommended this because I searched for that (click to show)(click to hide)

[Snoopy]

Apart from Cheers Danson's best part is the sheriff in Fargo

[DavidCroquet]

I watched the first couple eps of Pluribus, this is one of the most harrowing and nihilistic post-apocalypse premises in a while. I don't think this story can really be extended for multiple seasons like Vince's other shows, the premise seems more fit for a single season miniseries or a movie.  
 
It's the kind of show that makes you want to retreat into the woods. 

I'd be living like that mauritanian dude, that's for sure.

When the aliems come to force me to join the LCL hivemind, NBD. Seems like they're all having a nice time.

[boreform]

[Snoopy]

I finished Mad Men. I wasn't too impressed at the end of season 1 but I warmed up to it. Obviously or I would've dumped it. I think it's one of those shows that needs to be seen twice. It's not as immediate as the other big shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. The biggest criticism I have is what they did with Betty. They really wasted that character. I thought she was going to have some really weird story lines, but in the end all they did was make her fat, give her bad hair, make her frumpy, then make her thin and blonde again. It was a shame. She could have been a lot more. The ending was smart. He was lost then he found himself and sold out the hippies to advertise Coke. Noice.

[Alpacx]

I finished Mad Men. I wasn't too impressed at the end of season 1 but I warmed up to it. Obviously or I would've dumped it. I think it's one of those shows that needs to be seen twice. It's not as immediate as the other big shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. The biggest criticism I have is what they did with Betty. They really wasted that character. I thought she was going to have some really weird story lines, but in the end all they did was make her fat, give her bad hair, make her frumpy, then make her thin and blonde again. It was a shame. She could have been a lot more. The ending was smart. He was lost then he found himself and sold out the hippies to advertise Coke. Noice.

Glad you stuck with it. The Suitcase is my favorite episode of television.

The reaction to the ending when it aired was not good. People thought it was cynical (duh that's who Don is) and then the showrunner insisted it wasn't cynical 

[Eric Cartman]

I finished Mad Men. I wasn't too impressed at the end of season 1 but I warmed up to it. Obviously or I would've dumped it. I think it's one of those shows that needs to be seen twice. It's not as immediate as the other big shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. The biggest criticism I have is what they did with Betty. They really wasted that character. I thought she was going to have some really weird story lines, but in the end all they did was make her fat, give her bad hair, make her frumpy, then make her thin and blonde again. It was a shame. She could have been a lot more. The ending was smart. He was lost then he found himself and sold out the hippies to advertise Coke. Noice.

Glad you stuck with it. The Suitcase is my favorite episode of television.

The reaction to the ending when it aired was not good. People thought it was cynical (duh that's who Don is) and then the showrunner insisted it wasn't cynical 

Its optimistic because - as we all know - nothing brings people together and cures societal ills better than a sweet sweet carbonated beverage.

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

[Besticus Maximus]

I finished Mad Men. I wasn't too impressed at the end of season 1 but I warmed up to it. Obviously or I would've dumped it. I think it's one of those shows that needs to be seen twice. It's not as immediate as the other big shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. The biggest criticism I have is what they did with Betty. They really wasted that character. I thought she was going to have some really weird story lines, but in the end all they did was make her fat, give her bad hair, make her frumpy, then make her thin and blonde again. It was a shame. She could have been a lot more. The ending was smart. He was lost then he found himself and sold out the hippies to advertise Coke. Noice.

They were spinning wheels a bit by the end but I love this show second only to the sopranos. Betty is a fascinating character and January Jones in mad men is the hottest woman I've ever seen tbf. Don never topped her.

[benji]

Leverage is pretty dope. You mostly just have to ignore that they're all superhumans.  Similar to Person of Interest in that regard and also the setup, only it doesn't have the overarching plot or the supercomputer thing. But otherwise it's helping people whose "number has come up" more or less with similar roles split among the characters. Or maybe more like Burn Notice's "someone needs your help Michael" random case of the week. More comedic and winking about tropes than PoI, also making references to movies and stuff deliberately, one episode does The Office, etc.

Initially it tries to be a little more realistic in explaining their superhuman capabilities but sort of just leans into that and stops explaining it and more of a "you just didn't see all the work" thing. Then leans into it even more by making the absurdity of what they're pulling off lampshaded with non-sensical explanations and characters getting bored with the extended explanations.

One complaint I could see it does take a bit before the show gets around to figuring out explaining and does what I think is a more decent job than most shows of explaining how they could anticipate what everyone does: the plans hinge on what the most expected reaction would be and narrowing paths to force this as much as possible. And some of the episodes become about the person doing something random or even getting suspicious about what's going on. So it is far less something like Sherlock where a supergenius just knows everything and more about "if this is how things are setup and this happens then based on what we know about them they will most likely do this" without it ever seeming too contrived. The plans are far closer to White Collar or Burn Notice in not being overly complex with all kinds of random but somehow expected twists than Sherlock. One of the episodes even gets into having a plan that's far too complex and elaborate so keeps running into problems.

Probably the biggest issue is that because of them having superhuman capabilities it's kind of all over the place about how much they actually need the others and the individual roles of each versus one of them or at most two of them just being able to do everything themselves. One issue with the Rashomon episode is that it shows them all basically being successful by themselves at what's supposed to be an impossible heist. This may have been a power creep issue as it's later in the show but supposed to depict events before the show started and they sort of forgot that the characters weren't this good before the team. Also the fact that none of the characters had ever been caught before while working alone seems too much of a stretch. I'm kind of reaching for criticism because I'm enjoying it far more than I expected to.

Easily the worst part is the musical cues that try to beat you over the head about what emotions you're going to want to feel for what's going to happen next. It's one thing to have the overwrought music come in about the homeless kidnapped gay kid having cancer too as it's revealed and another to start it as the conversation begins.

Best characters are Parker and Eilot. Then Sterling.

edit: Forgot to mention some of the funniest CGI ever: https://youtu.be/Pe8ueO4Ay0U?t=132 (can't find a clip of this on YouTube but can find the full episodes to timestamp )

edit2: I looked into that channel and it's actually the producers of the show uploading their own shows to YouTube: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Entertainment

[Polident]

First two episodes of Stranger Things 5.

The “kids” look ridiculously old now. Somehow older than the older teen/20s characters.

[benji]

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

@jakep1979
3 months ago
George: "We werent nice?!"
Newman: "No you werent, a most sickening display. You hang around Seinfeld all day & talk about nothing"

[boreform]

First two episodes of Stranger Things 5.

The “kids” look ridiculously old now. Somehow older than the older teen/20s characters.

finished ep 4 last night. this shid sucks tbh 

[Polident]

First two episodes of Stranger Things 5.

The “kids” look ridiculously old now. Somehow older than the older teen/20s characters.

finished ep 4 last night. this shid sucks tbh 

It’s (and I recognize I’m saying this about a show that’s a pastiche of popular 1980s media) really leaned into the fan service side.

A lot of “people liked this from last season, let’s just do it again but more to be cloying”. And it’s been spinning its wheels. Each season felt fairly unique. This is the last season…again.

I don’t know if Netflix is stretching this to two or three parts. At least this first part has been lame.

[simiansmarts]

 
 
dayum veccy...

[Potato]

Will always was, and continues to be, the worst character on television. They clearly never had a plan for him after season 1 and he had very little chemistry with the other actors given he wasn't really involved with them in season 1.

[TylenolJones]

[benji]

Dead Like Me is alright. Maybe just people I know overpraised it though versus it being more generally so. You can kind of tell when Bryan Fuller quit because a bunch of plot threads just vanish never to be mentioned again. My major complaint would be that most of Rube's "wisdom" is meaningless and George is pretty right for dismissing it although the show mostly just frames it as her character rather than that Rube should be challenged on anything. Also I get the deliberate pacing of the show but the characters actually whiplash all over while not changing all that much, which makes sense for George but she actually does this the least and clearly matures over just a couple years. We're supposed to believe that the others haven't over decades? They never even bother with Roxy, which is misogynoir. Sounds about white. 

Actually the most irritating thing about the show is its inconsistency in whether other people can hear them talking to the souls or not. I really think the writers never seemed to conceive of the idea that all the stuff with souls could operate on a separate plane even though this would be fix some nonsensical dilemmas they raise that Rube can't explain while fitting entirely into it being how the souls operate already. The Reapers touching the person opens up the ability for the souls to move into a transition plane and then from there to Heaven. WHICH IS ANOTHER THING. Everybody in the show goes to Heaven or it's simply not addressed like with the serial killer. I get why they didn't want to demonstrate otherwise but what if George reaped some old dude and it turns out he was a Nazi who ran concentration camps or serial killer or something, that would really fuck her up! But they never have this dilemma at all because everyone seems to be rewarded. In fact, a large crux of why the Reapers seem to accept the job is because it gets people to their reward.

Also I thought this would be hard to find a clip of but apparently lots of other people noticed it in modern times.  

[boreform]

[DavidCroquet]

Dead Like Me is alright. Maybe just people I know overpraised it though versus it being more generally so. You can kind of tell when Bryan Fuller quit because a bunch of plot threads just vanish never to be mentioned again. My major complaint would be that most of Rube's "wisdom" is meaningless and George is pretty right for dismissing it although the show mostly just frames it as her character rather than that Rube should be challenged on anything. Also I get the deliberate pacing of the show but the characters actually whiplash all over while not changing all that much, which makes sense for George but she actually does this the least and clearly matures over just a couple years. We're supposed to believe that the others haven't over decades? They never even bother with Roxy, which is misogynoir. Sounds about white. 

Actually the most irritating thing about the show is its inconsistency in whether other people can hear them talking to the souls or not. I really think the writers never seemed to conceive of the idea that all the stuff with souls could operate on a separate plane even though this would be fix some nonsensical dilemmas they raise that Rube can't explain while fitting entirely into it being how the souls operate already. The Reapers touching the person opens up the ability for the souls to move into a transition plane and then from there to Heaven. WHICH IS ANOTHER THING. Everybody in the show goes to Heaven or it's simply not addressed like with the serial killer. I get why they didn't want to demonstrate otherwise but what if George reaped some old dude and it turns out he was a Nazi who ran concentration camps or serial killer or something, that would really fuck her up! But they never have this dilemma at all because everyone seems to be rewarded. In fact, a large crux of why the Reapers seem to accept the job is because it gets people to their reward.

I have nothing to say to the besides a question: is it just me, or do lead women in modern media stories have an insanely disproportionate liklihood of going by traditionally male names? 

George here. Max is also insanely frequent. Sam and Alex are borderline, but also I've noted the frequency there too. Dead Like Me ain't even new, and I remember noticing this trend even back then.

What's that about?