Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm currently catching up on Vampire Diaries (can't believe I never got into this show from the beginning although s3 isn't the best one). I'm almost caught up to the most currently aired episode.

and then I have Breaking In & Happy Endings on standby, but that is far from a priority.
Fringe is in the wings somewhere, along with all the episodes of West Wing I've sworn to myself I was gonna watch. But I think I can maybe move Curb up to next on the marathon list.

[Dasmos]

There's 8 seasons of Curb. It's one of my all-time favourites. They're all great, but Season 7 is special because it's about as close as we're ever going to get to a Seinfeld reunion.

[Lithium]

Gintama

Just watched the last ep. Pretty sad that the funniest anime I've seen in ages is finally ending, although This show has a penchant for trolling it's fans, they had a fake-out ending before the show was jumping the shark the last few months so I'm pretty sure the Author's thought so too. but 252 episodes is a good run.

[Plugabugz]

I finally watched the season (likely series?) finale of Alcatraz last night.

It took a long time - very nearly too long? - for it to find its feet. But it did in ep 13 where they threw out a bunch of interesting options for a potential season 2.

I have three problems though.

Sam Neill feels miscast as Hauser, or his character is deliberately stiff to the point of frustration.
Sarah Jones feels very miscast as Madsen, she feels so passive and nowhere nearly as badass as Hauser is.
Jorge Garcia feels incredibly miscast as Soto. His size basically limits his role to the "walk and talk" variety which is grating when you see how much the other two run around and shoot things.

[oohhboy]

Just finished SGU. What a touching last episode. It's a damn, damn shame it got killed by SG1/A fans. I just don't understand. I hated Enterprise, which was honestly a bad show, but I sure didn't go out of my way to try to kill it. A real case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. SGU is no Enterprise. If left alone, it could have been the greatest of the 3 SG series, maybe not quite reaching the astronomical highs of Babylon 5, but certainly give doctor Who a good whooping. While farewells have been said, it is still very, very open and unresolved. It struggled to find it's voice with a handful of terrible Lost type BS episodes and the very rough transition from season one to two, but when it finally had a fix, it became glorious.

Now for something different.

Homeland. A very clever show. If nothing else, the one thing that is always front and center to the show is the high level of paranoia it can induce on to the viewer. I never got into 24 due to it's highly unrealistic and absurd nature of the show that could be broken down to "Show me the bomb, WHERE IS IT!!! *Shoots wife*".

The show isn't about a bunch of characters, but a collection of people who met each other with differing agendas, histories, flaws, methods that make sense to their history. The casting has been phenomenal, and getting some primetime tits on screen doesn't hurt one bit. Claire Danes performance is well beyond what her history indicated she could do. Her instability is played with a very fine balancing act. While I can't personally appreciate Damian Lewis ass or sex face, it's an equal opportunity offender, so there is something for both sexes to enjoy.

I am only half way through, but I can't see them coming out with an ending that can satisfy the high expectations that it set itself. As much as the average viewer might want a happy ending, I much rather have a realistic ending that isn't neat, that is grey with all sorts of weird colours.

[broodwars]

Well, I've been putting this off long enough, so I'd better get on with it.  I've been watching a great deal of TV of late as I've been grinding in Tales of Graces F:

House M.D. - Well, I'm now caught up with the broadcast, and I have to say: this is possibly the most cowardly-written show I've ever seen.  The show is now in its 8th and final season, and it's essentially the same show it's been since episode 1.  Every time the writers threaten that a big event is coming that will change the show as we know it, the writers quickly undo that event to return things to the status quo as soon as possible.  There is no strength of conviction in this show's writing, and only the strength of House as a character keeps this show going (because none of the characters surrounding him are terribly interesting).  The show is merely average, which was very disappointing.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures - Now that it's back from mid-season hiatus, this is still seeming like a show in desperate need of something to kick the story into high gear.  The episodes have been consistently good, but they've lacked that certain "something" to make them great.  I think the main problem is how this show seems to have severe budget problems.  The human animation is weak, and the action scenes are merely "decent" without the energy or choreography of something like Avengers EMH or Young Justice.  Just about every new character introduced on the show seems to be a re-skin of one of the existing ones, and just about every villain introduced seems to be in a suit of armor (whether it makes sense or not, such as Magneto seemingly wearing armor and no cape).  It is nice to see some Marvel characters outside of the Iron Man universe, but it occurs too rarely.

Young Justice - Like Iron Man AA, the show is consistently good without being "great".  I think the main problem with this show is that it's unable to pay off on emotional moments.  The action is good and the storytelling is decent (when every episode isn't ending on an ominous "everything went according to plan" dialogue scene with the villains), but I still don't feel anything for these characters.  It is very nice, though, to see a mostly serialized story as well as characters that really didn't show up much (if at all) in previous DC animated series, like Sportsmaster; Captain Marvel; Zatanna; etc.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Season 2 has now finally begun, and I'm happy to say that the show is still great.  The animation is good with especially good timing, the writing is solid, the voice acting is consistently great, and The Hulk STILL has the best lines and moments in the series.  I never would have thought he'd be my favorite character on the show, but he is.

To be Continued...

[broodwars]

Ultimate Spider-Man - Alright, let me get this out of the way: I was a big fan of the previous Spectacular Spider-Man and the Ultimate Spider-Man comic series.  Despite its name and its production pedigree, this show deserves neither its name nor its place as the show that killed Spectacular Spider-Man because it's nothing like either of them.  This is Cartoon Network's Teen Titans re-skinned with Spider-Man and some assorted relatively-obscure Marvel heroes (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, etc.) and a small dash of elements from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.

I loved Cartoon Network's Teen Titans series.  I loved its humor and the way it could easily transition between being very serious and extremely goofy.  But while I feel the comedy is really good and wacky in Ultimate Spider-Man (such as Parker's fondness for freezing time so he can turn to the audience and make a random aside or monologue), this just isn't the Spider-Man series I want.  I think this direction works better for me with Spider-Man than it did for Batman in The Brave & the Bold, but it just disappoints me that this is the end product.  How is the extremely flawed 90s Spidey series still the only one to last long enough to actually tell its stories?

But beyond the fact that the show is neither narrative-ly nor tone-ally similar to the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, I just get this constant feeling watching the show that it's talking down to its audience.  Young Justice and Iron Man AA feel like they're written for a wide audience, but Ultimate Spider-Man feels like it's written for young children.  It's a series that acts like it still wants to do some classic Spider-Man storytelling, but it doesn't yet feel like a series that can function when the focus isn't on comedy.  It's a series that I enjoy on some level, but it really could have been so much more.

Game of Thrones (Season 1) - Hey!  It's The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim - THE TV SHOW.   ;)   (seriously, the first thing that came to mind while watching the 1st episode was Skyrim).  I just started watching this last night against my better judgement, given how badly other widely-acclaimed series like House; Lost; and Battlestar have disappointed me.  I'm a couple of episodes in, though, and so far I really like the series.  The sets and costumes are amazingly detailed, the world feels very fleshed-out and intriguing (helped greatly by being based on an ongoing series of novels), the characters are interesting, and the fantasy elements and political intrigue are engaging.

I realize that this probably makes me seem a prude with some of you, though, but my main problem with the show is the nudity and sex.  I don't have a problem with nudity being in a show, but here it doesn't feel integrated with any kind of artistry or class, so when it shows up it just feels very distracting and makes me wonder whether it's there for any other reason than to scream "hey!  It's an HBO show!  Boobs!".  It just feels there to be there, and I could really do without it.  I like the show overall so far, though.

[oohhboy]

I assume there is some bare male ass strutting around to balance things out. Something for the whole family!

Go watch Homeland if you want to see Morena Baccarin's goods.

[Plugabugz]

Just finished SGU. What a touching last episode. It's a damn, damn shame it got killed by SG1/A fans. I just don't understand. I hated Enterprise, which was honestly a bad show, but I sure didn't go out of my way to try to kill it. A real case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. SGU is no Enterprise. If left alone, it could have been the greatest of the 3 SG series, maybe not quite reaching the astronomical highs of Babylon 5, but certainly give doctor Who a good whooping. While farewells have been said, it is still very, very open and unresolved. It struggled to find it's voice with a handful of terrible Lost type BS episodes and the very rough transition from season one to two, but when it finally had a fix, it became glorious.

Twin Destinies - The episode with the two destinies caused by them trying to dial back to earth (which itself is the catalyst for human descendants out there, which is how Destiny was going to be saved in the S3 premiere!) is a brilliant episode and a great example of what SGU can do when its premise is mined properly.

[UncleBob]

Logan's Run - 'meh/10.

I *LOVE* the movie (one of these days, I need to read the books).  It's just perfect cheesy 70's sci-fi.

The TV show?  It's very hit-or-miss.  Mostly miss.  A couple of stand-out episodes (Man Out of Time is the best out of the series - pretty Twilight Zone-esque ending), pretty poor acting (although Donald Moffat's performance as REM is pretty awesome).

If you're a fan of sci-fi from the period or of the movie, you *might* consider watching the show... otherwise, you'll probably be like my wife, wondering if it's over after every episode.

PS: The Theme Song?  If there's an award for worst television theme of all time, then Logan's Run gets it twice.

[oohhboy]

I suspect the Logan's Run opening is what a Romulan mind probe would feel like.

Finished a marathon of Star Trek DS9. Season one was pretty terrible overall. If it came out in today's environment, I doubt it would have survived to the end of the season. Season 2 started to equal TNG's average. From there the DS9 universe just keeps building up it's background, but the big arcs don't factor in to the show until the 4/5 season. All the character build up start paying off as they are tested again and again. Season 6 is DS9's magnum opus. I can't think of one bad episode in that season. Season 7 is one very long goodbye and brings the adorable Ezri Dax.

DS9's strengths was it's arcs when it finally got them and the break away from technobabble. Solutions to problems weren't of a technological nature, but of moral ones with lasting consequences. The Federation idealism is still there. but it's tempered by a measure of realism.

[NWR_insanolord]

I've described DS9 to people as like what you'd get if you had AMC do a Star Trek series today. It's not surprising at all that one of the main guys behind it would go on to make Battlestar Galactica.

[NWR_insanolord]

After one episode, Veep is already one of my favorite comedies on television. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has widened her already huge lead as the most successful post-Seinfeld career, and has a great cast around her.

[nickmitch]

You mean other than Seinfeld himself? Because he's still one of the highest paid comedians out there.

[NWR_insanolord]

He's doing what he's always done, and a lot of the reason he brings in the money he does is the popularity of the show. He hasn't really branched out from that, while she has. If you define success in terms of money he wins, but creatively she's far and away the winner.

[gbuell]

I wish Jason Alexander would do more :( I guess he's doing some voice work in the new Kingdom Hearts for 3DS, reprising his Hunchback character.

[Plugabugz]

Fringe has evolved from being a stone average sci-fi procedural to probably one of the best sci-fi shows in years. It's probably second to DS9 at this point.

John Noble can act circles around EVERYONE.

[gbuell]

Interesting you say that, I'd heard other people say it's gone way downhill. I still haven't seen it at all, but I want to.

[Oblivion]

Interesting you say that, I'd heard other people say it's gone way downhill. I still haven't seen it at all, but I want to.

They don't know what they're talking about. The latest episode took a risk that not many shows these days take. Heck, not even LOST took the risks that Fringe has taken. I seriously hope that the show gets renewed so we can see where they take the new characters and storyline.


And Plugabugz is so right. John Noble is an amazing actor.

[Shaymin]

Jason Alexander needs to bring back Duckman. That was an amazing show.

[TJ Spyke]

Well, he couldn't bring it back since he was only a voice actor on the show He has no control or ownership of it. CBS owns it.

Maybe Alexander is afraid that if he starred in another show, it would bomb like his last two shows did (Bob Patterson and Listen Up).

[NWR_insanolord]

Seriously, though, go watch Veep. It's like a cross between The West Wing and Arrested Development.

[oohhboy]

Comparing Fringe to LOST is an insult to Fringe. Fringe at least has the decency to make sense within it's own universe while LOST is a collection random ideas that a 8 year old would come up with. John Noble single handedly keeps the show going, he is insane. The man should ride a cow into work. Fringe now is better than it started, but it must at all cost not go into LOST territory, it must maintain that air of plausibility that makes the show.

Seinfeld is still a thing? As far as I am concerneed he might a well be dead as he has absolutely no presence outside of what I assume North America. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had a continued presence in one show or another. I don't really watch any of her shows, but she is there and somewhat funny. Although it really helps that she is really bangable. I will give VEEP a shot if it shows up here.

[Halbred]

I assume there is some bare male ass strutting around to balance things out. Something for the whole family!

Go watch Homeland if you want to see Morena Baccarin's goods.

Lake Bell too, if I'm not mistaken, or is that a different show?

[oohhboy]

Different show. Homeland doesn't show up on her IMDB.

Damian Lewis has some seriously funny sex faces in a first couple episodes.