Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen

[broodwars]

Ugh...way too much nitpicking Seinfeld conversation.  I couldn't stand that show when it aired.

[Ian Sane]

Just to add to the Seinfeld nitpicking there is an episode where Kramer is hosting "Jewish Singles Night" and George's father lets him host it as the Knight of Columbus hall.  The Knights of Columbus are a Catholic fraternity.  Combining that with Frank being Italian I figured that George would be Catholic, if of any religion at all.  His father seems to be anyway.

[TJ Spyke]

I think it's safe to say that George himself probably didn't practice any religion. Hell, he converted to Latvian Orthodox just to be with a woman.

[broodwars]

I've made it no secret over the past couple of years of my growing disdain for the Japanese animation industry's increasing dependency on the twisted Japanese otaku market, and as a result I've largely ignored anime (outside of Fullmetal Alchemist) for about 2 years now.  However, earlier this year Amazon practically had a fire sale on Funimation anime Blu-Ray sets, so I ended up purchasing quite a few sets I've had my eye on for a while now (most of which are upgrades).

The first of those to arrive was a very strange series called Heroic Age, ostensibly an epic fracking space opera.  Epic fracking space operas (preferably with epic fracking space battles) are my favorite kind of entertainment, so I popped it in and now that I've completed it...I'm very disappointed.  Vandread, this is not.  It's not that it's a bad show, just that it's an extremely unfocused one that can't make up its mind what it is and so pleases no one.  Frequently, the show will just crank up the epic orchestral music and bask in the glory of space travel and human interaction with other space-faring races, also known as the good parts.  However, to please the otaku culture's love for giant robots, we also have certain characters (who like to drone on about contracts and much ado about nothing for most of entire episodes) who can transform into essentially giant Evangelions with the power of Gods.  Then they proceed to fight each other for episode upon episode, and yet never seem to create an interesting fight because there's never any consequence.  These have to be the most mind-numbingly lame giant robot/beast fights I've ever seen, and they take up most of the running time and never move the plot forward.

The show also has a severe problem with technical jargon.  It's based on a series of light novels, and apparently the production company assumes we've read them because nothing about how this universe works is ever explained.  Then there are the characters, which there are too many of and there is too little character development.  You also could create a very dangerous drinking game around the number of times in every episode the lead character, the Princess, cries (though oddly enough, she's one of the stronger characters on the show).

So what saves the show?  Well, Japan really doesn't do epic space opera anymore (in favor of shows with fetishes that quite disgust me), so when this show does space opera it's quite good.  The animation is also pretty decent, which is kind of unusual for Xebec.  The music is awesome, and the show generally ends well.  Overall, if you like Star Trek you might like this series.  Just makes sure to get up and make a sandwich or something when the giant mecha beasts (called "Nodos") step on-screen.  I assure you that you can finish a 3-course meal by the time a given fight scene is over.

[Caliban]

Heroic Age was comparatively good to what is usually being produced these days. I can suggest Aquarion (Mechs), Eden of the East (Sci-Fi Conspiracy? lol), Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (Martial Arts), and Birdy The Mighty (Aliens) as good anime.

I've just been watching Dragon Ball lately. It's my favorite of the DB series, when Son Goku is still a kid and he just goes around exploring the world.

[NWR_insanolord]

Parks & Recreation came back as strong as ever. I strongly recommend everyone check it out. The first two seasons are on Netflix Instant Streaming; I recommend starting with the second season, as the first isn't that good and you'll get up to speed pretty quickly.

[broodwars]

Heroic Age was comparatively good to what is usually being produced these days. I can suggest Aquarion (Mechs), Eden of the East (Sci-Fi Conspiracy? lol), Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (Martial Arts), and Birdy The Mighty (Aliens) as good anime.

Funny you should mention Eden of the East, because it's also one of the Blu-Ray sets I have on backorder right now.  I ordered it at the beginning of the month, and Amazon's saying it should arrive by the beginning of the next.  Yeah, Amazon really thought ahead and made sure they had ample supply because they started that sale.  Incidentally, Tears to Tiara is the last "new" show scheduled to arrive sometime soon, and it should be here Monday or Tuesday because I ordered it from TSRI.

[UncleBob]

I've been catching up on my 'toons the last two weeks or so.  Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, the Simpsons.  Ordered several of the sets I was behind on picking up (only have four left, including the latest season of Futurama).  Still have 8 sets left to watch.  Should I watch Simpsons season 20, or wait it out for seasons 14-19 to be released?

Anywhoo - American Dad is the far superior series to Family Guy.  It's funny though, re-watching the American Dad pilot - it really started out as a pure Family Guy clone, with the non-nonsensical cut-scenes and such.

Partial Terms of Endearment - it was an okay episode of Family Guy.  Not worth full price.  Glad I got it cheap.

Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy - Paid $2 for it.  Paid $3 too much.  It pretty much consists of Family Guy-esque cut-scenes.  Some are funny.  Most aren't.

[TJ Spyke]

Don't bother with the season 20 set, it was nothing but a cheap cash-in. The set is literally nothing but the episodes, no extras (except a trailer for the fan special they aired last year). Eventually they will release the real season set.

I agree with American Dad! being superior to Family Guy. The Cleveland Show is also superior to FG. I have "Partial Terms of Endearment" on my Netflix que list, I have no intention of buying it.

I just bought Futurama season 5 on Blu-ray Disc, although I don't think there are any extras on it compared to the DVD version (at least based on the boxes). I saw all the episodes on TV, so I already know what to expect from the episodes themselves.

[bustin98]

I watched the Witchblade anime on Netflix, and while I enjoyed it, it had a bit of that weirdness to it. I miss shows like Robotech and Cowboy Beebop. Less silly crap and more action. Seems you can't get too far from the silly **** though. I like Full Metal, but I can do without the exagerated mouth drops and crosses on foreheads. Beebop did a little of it, but not much. I tried Aquarion, but couldn't get into it. I'll have to see what I can find on Eden of the East, too.

[UncleBob]

Don't bother with the season 20 set, it was nothing but a cheap cash-in. The set is literally nothing but the episodes, no extras (except a trailer for the fan special they aired last year). Eventually they will release the real season set.

Well, I already bought it.
The only extras I've ever gotten into with any of the sets is the commentary on Simpsons DVDs... which, sadly, this set is missing.   Lucky, I only paid about $10 for it.

I agree with American Dad! being superior to Family Guy. The Cleveland Show is also superior to FG. I have "Partial Terms of Endearment" on my Netflix que list, I have no intention of buying it.

I do like the Cleveland Show - I ordered season 1 from Amazon for $13.99 - can't wait for it to arrive.  As for PTE - they should have just thrown it on Volume 9 and called it a day.

[TJ Spyke]

You will like the season 1 set, the first episode even has Mike Henry doing a audio commentary in character as Cleveland. They also have a table reading of the episode featuring Kanye West (with West attending, which is rare for a guest star to attend table readings).

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm 4 episodes into The Wire, and so far it completely lives up to the massive amount of hype it gets. This show is amazing.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If you are liking the first 4, it only gets better as you get more invested.

I would have to say that s3 on the docks was the weak point, but even at it's weakest point it is still far better than most shows at their peaks.

The only show I've watched that I think was on the same level of development of character was The Shield which I actually liked better because it had more action. So after you watch The Wire, watch The Shield and you would have watched 2 of the best shows on television in as long as I can remember.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena

I think this episode has hit the record for Full Frontal in a single hour of scripted US television. But the show itself (a prequel to the 1st season) starts off very strong. If you were into the 1st season at all, then the second season opener does not disappoint.

[MaryJane]

Totally agreed about Spartacus: GoA, it's Spartacus without Spartacus, and still good which is great for some of the characters. I was a little upset Lucy Lawless' character died, as I don't imagine she gets many offers for roles. Long live Xena!! I also hope the guy who played Spartacus makes a full recovery from his cancer, just like Dexter's actor did.

A couple other "premium" shows:
Shamless: I'm not sure I like this show, but it is horribly interesting. The reason I'm not sure I like it is because I don't really like any of the characters; I just don't get them. Having said that, I still badly want to see what happens. A character I especially don't like is the gay son, not because he's gay, but because he's the second gay (underage) son on Showtime to be having relations with an older man. I'm all for gay characters (Modern Family) but it really doesn't help the LGBT community to show older gay men as pedophiles.

Big Love: It's the final season, which I am disappointed about, but the complex dynamic that made the show great is still there, even if the first episode was a bit of a sleeper. It was just too obvious, which I may not have cared about, but this is the final season, and they only had a few things in there we couldn't have guessed would have happened.

The Onion News Network: Hilarious! If you've ever seen the movie, this is the same premise but with current issues and in half an hour form. From the way IFC promotes it, I guess they've done more than the movie, but it's all I've ever seen of them.


The Ricky Gervais Show: I almost don't like this show because I'm usually laughing so hard that I have to rewind to catch everything. Ricky Gervais can be sometime annoying, but the other two guys, especially the round headed guy make up for that. The round head guy is actually the star of the show, it is really fantastic.

Funny or Die Presents:

Absolute garbage, or just another show (like Always Sunny) that I just don't get.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm not sure if you know this, but Shameless is based off a UK show that has already entered it's 8th season. I don't know how closelythey follow the story lines, but if you really wanna see where it might be going, you can check out the original.

[gbuell]

The Ricky Gervais Show: I almost don't like this show because I'm usually laughing so hard that I have to rewind to catch everything. Ricky Gervais can be sometime annoying, but the other two guys, especially the round headed guy make up for that. The round head guy is actually the star of the show, it is really fantastic.

Karl is a god. http://www.pilkipedia.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

[MaryJane]

I didn't know the details about Shameless, but I knew there was an original because IFC airs it. Now that I've started the new series I would hate to cheat on it with the original lol.

[broodwars]

Another of my long-backordered anime Blu-Rays arrived today, and man you couldn't ask for a more different show than Heroic Age.  I'm 4 or so episodes into Tears to Tiara, and so far I really like this series.  I'm a big fan of the Fate/Stay Night anime series from a few years back, and this series shares a similar origin: an anime based on a censored Playstation 3 RPG remake of a PC erotica game.  Fate/Stay Night hid its origins fairly well, focusing on the Highlander-esque storyline with a slightly harem twist...and a terribly-animated CG sex dragon.  And no, I'm not going to give you the context for that (not that it would help, anyway).  Tears to Tiara cleans up well from its sordid origins, though not as well as Fate did, leaving a surprisingly straight-forward fantasy series loosly based on a combination of Greek, Celtic, Welsh, and Arthurian lore.  And oddly enough, both series involve (King) Arthur.  It's no Record of Lodoss War, but it's probably as close as you can ask for in this era of anime.  The story moves at a decent pace, and the characters are fun to watch.  This series knows what is is, and it's just going with it.

There are a couple of interesting things about the Blu-Ray: first off, this has to be the laziest Blu-Ray I've seen in anime yet (and the first I've seen from the recently-resurrected and renamed ADV Films-successor Sentai Filmworks).  The main menu just features a chapter listing with a single piece of artwork and no music.  As for the transfer, maybe Heroic Age; Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood; and Full Metal Panic - The Second Raid spoiled me, but this transfer looks very soft and probably not that much of a step up over a DVD transfer.  This is probably an upconvert.  The big notable feature of this Blu-Ray is that it features an English dub.  Apparently, the subtitle-only DVDs sold well enough to justify one, and wow does this dub make me feel nostalgic: it's definitely an ADV Films dub, with all the familiar voice actors playing very familiar roles and the dub in general being kind of gimmicky.  What makes the dub unique, though, is that the ADR director decided the best way to suit a world composed of heavily Celtic overtones...is to have most of the actors perform using hilariously Irish accents that I'm sure would offend actual Irish.  It's especially hilarious hearing Tiffany Grant try to do an Irish Accent, considering her stock and trade is German accents in other anime, and the cast in general sometimes forgets they're supposed to have Irish accents.  Still, for some bizarre reason, this dub works and it breaths a little unique life into a series that could be very dry and dull with the wrong execution.

Anime has a tradition of continual failure IMO when it comes to telling a consistent story and then wrapping it up with a fitting ending (with notable exceptions), so we'll see how I feel about it towards the end, but so far I rather enjoy the series and recommend it to those looking for relatively-serious fantasy anime.

[broodwars]

Aw...it's almost adorable how much Sentai Filmworks wants to believe that this is a boy in the English dub of Tears to Tiara, and so cast Greg Ayers to voice her.  Granted, this isn't the best picture of her, but I guarantee you that a few minutes of googling would have cleared up the gender issue very quickly.  Or if you just could not find the time, you could perhaps...use your eyes.  Ayers' performance is fine, but he is hilariously miscast.

[oohhboy]

Speaking of Anime, just finished watching Gundam 00(Season 1 & 2) and have to report it's a lot of good looking wankery.

It's stuff like this that dissuade people from watching anime or put off fans. It contains a massive cast of characters that exist to be killed off, yet you just don't care as the show tries to develop them all with a terrible script which contains dialogue that doubles as comedy and torture. The protagonists are all cyphers with exactly one major flaw that is expected to be resolved in due time, with the grace of a sledgehammer and predicable enough to convince the audience think that they are clairvoyant. The villains are one dimensional psychopathic cut outs that love repeating themselves with motivations befitting cartoons like Elmer Fudd. Major political powers are not exempted from being given a cartoon once over.

Their idea of character development is to make everybody experience some "Tragedy", then proceed to have then do a 180 then resolve it through deus machina or in a lot of cases, in universe "Magical non-science". Plot lines tangle not unlike a smashed spiders web then straighten to form something linear.

The protagonists Gundams are so overpowered, it requires absolutely massive amount of plot wrangling to even present an illusion of tension. Sumeragi Lee Noriega (An export from Gundam Seed, Marrue Ramius who also has her counter part imported too) is an Operation Strategist who doesn't do her job very often and while elements of her plans are sort of clever, but at the end of the day it just comes down to the Gundams overpowering the opposing force. The writers then notice that they are overpowered, so they present a much stronger opposition to balance it out only to go too far only to re-compensate by making the protagonists even more powerful than ever, rinse and repeat until everything becomes arbitrary.

There are a lot of themes like war and peace. The nature of existence, vengeance and the like. It's handled clumsly and gets brushed aside whenever it is convenient for the action. The themes are distilled and reduced to mere slogans the characters shout like catch phrases. This insanity drives the characters to kill each other as they literally live these slogans without thought. God is tossed in and gets dropped halfway through, then picked back up as villains start proclaiming themsleves God.

Whoever wrote the dialogue, loves people's full names. Characters tell everybody else's full names like they are reading name tags regardless of how relevant or familiar they are. If you stacked all the full names end on end you could burn a full 60 Minutes out of the total 600 minutes running time of both seasons. Slogans abound and calling your attacks are back with a vengeance with a twist! They call half their attacks after they have attacked.

They also import Lacus Clyne in the name of Marina Ismail, the Princess "Elected Queen" of what is modern day Iran who's entire existence is utterly pointless unlike her original. She "sings" like Lacus, but it's entirely pointless like everything this character does and is so overpowered by the children singing with her, you could remove her voice and not notice. The opening and closing songs are justas bad as Marina Ismail, flat, uninspired, auto-tuned and equally pointless.

As the first Gundam series to be done in HD, it looks sharp. But the extra pixels are wasted. The only things that really benefit from this are the computer display text and the particles. Oh the particles, everything that moves spew particles. It a cheap effect to use now that everything mechanical is animated by computer, so is spammed relentlessly. While I don't like any of the designs of the Mobile suits, they are rendered well and animated with great precise fluidity only a computer can offer. Due to the lowered costs, there is very little recycling going on and battles are vast without losing much detail.

The incidental music is quite good, but lacking quantity. You hear the same loop from the beginning of the series to the final episode. While this normally wouldn't be too much a problem for a much shorter series, there is just too much repetition. Sounds effects are pretty standard, but lacking depth.

The director manages to pull out of all this some cool action scenes like the destruction of a space elevator and the resulting aftermath, but he is crippled by the vast collective weight of retardation over everything he has to work with.

This show is a gold plated poisonous turd attached to a jackhammer, just as aggravating and destructive. Watch at your own risk.

[broodwars]

Yeah, I've only seen the first half of Gundam 00 (I have the other half, but haven't gotten around to it yet), but that was roughly my opinion of the show as well.  It's a Gundam Seed-ized Gundam Wing, with just as much self-righteousness; just as much pretentiousness; and just as much poor writing.  I've had a bit of a falling out with Gundam since the mediocre-to-abysmal Seed Destiny, and this certainly didn't help matters.  Aside from the superb Gundam 8th MS Team; the second half of Gundam Seed; and some of the goofier bits of G Gundam, I can't say I really care for the franchise much anymore.
 
And what is up with all the pink explosions, anyway?      I've never understood that addition to Gundam that's stuck around since Seed.

[oohhboy]

They are purple in Gundam 00, but yeah, no bloody idea. I actually like the pink explosions over the purple ones. The purple is too dark, lacking in energy.

Gundam Seed is an excellent retelling of a classic story with the only flaw being the director's blatant abuse of flashbacks that becomes a systemic cancer with Destiny. While Destiny is heavily flawed, it's quite watchable and enjoyable compared to 00 or Wing(dings) or Victory Gundam which is another terrible Gundam that goes on for 51 episodes!.

Are you as confused aboutTieria Erde as I am? Well atleast I got a good laugh out of that character and some very messed up Bridget level of confusion.

[broodwars]

Are you as confused aboutTieria Erde as I am? Well atleast I got a good laugh out of that character and some very messed up Bridget level of confusion.

Sorry, I haven't seen the first half of Gundam 00 in probably about a year or so, so I have no idea who you're talking about.
 
Edit: *runs a Google Search*  Oh yeah...that prick.  He's...unlikeable, and it really shows how memorable that cast is if that's all I can think of to say about him.  I don't know about him being "confusing" since I haven't seen all of 00, though.