Reed Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I vaguely recall reading Flowers in the Attic years ago. Ultra-condensed: Rich people are crazy and will never do anything logical. Like the grandmother who is terrified that the brother and sister will commit incest and promptly proceeds to, you know, lock them up in a room with nothing but each other for company for years and years, guaranteeing they will inevitably develop romantic feelings for one another. I guess "keeping them apart and sending them to different boarding schools" was just too radical a plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 No opinion on the ending of the 1st episode? What a fantastic pilot. I was still in the middle of the first episode when I wrote that. That said, I have seen three episodes now and here's my reaction: For the love of God, someone PLEASE tell me this show gets better. I thought the ending to the pilot - while shocking - was ridiculous. Where do I start? The acting is bad. Chiklis just kind of stomps around. The dialogue isn't great. The production quality is bad. The whole thing feels choppy. The plotlines are more than a little farfetched/stupid. And the protagonist is completely repugnant but we're supposed to root for him. Awesome. Yeah if I was coming to this show as it aired, I'm not sure I'd have even lasted the three episodes I've seen so far. With so many people saying it's great, I'll give it more of a try but...uh...yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Kid Rock is awful, but Bawitdaba was the most perfect choice for the montage at the end. I do agree with that. The music was perfect there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 It gets better. I liked the first season and agree with the consensus opinion that the pilot is one of the best ever, but it's extremely rough around the edges that first year as they search for what the show is going to be, and often they go for a lot of "shocking" material that probably WAS shocking when it aired but is practically blasé by today's standards, which hurts it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 That's good to hear. To give you an idea of where I'm at, while I found the ending of the pilot "shocking", it was so poorly done that I thought it was a dream sequence and was sure episode #2 would expose just that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I'm a little surprised by your reaction in that you're the only person I've seen react to it like that. Something about that first season that I forgot about is how deep they go with Julian's storyline. He's the worst actor by far on that show, but the storyline is so entertaining that it elevates that actor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I'm convinced if Judd Apatow had centered the show around Haverchuck, Freaks and Geeks would still be on the air.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I think Arrested Development had the best pilot ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Comedian Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I think Yu Yu Hakusho had the best pilot ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 ENLIGHTENED season 2 is pretty amazing so far. Pretty really amazing. Laura Dern is such an incredibly under-appreciated actress, and Amy Jellicoe is probably the most psychologically complex female character on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrag Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Should have started with The Wire first! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 It amazes me that despite Friends pushing the envelope for comedies in the 90s, considering all the unplanned pregnencies on the show, NONE of the characters ever once suggest "taking care" of it. Also, maybe it came across as sweet at the time, but Joey crushing on preggo Rachel always struck me as really creepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Friends reminded me of a pro wrestling locker room, where every guy in the group will probably eventually fuck the girl that you're fucking right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Pretty sure everyone here wouldn't mind being a stop on the Jennifer Aniston train. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I liked the girl with the annoying laugh that they all hated. She seemed pretty cool and was pretty hot and they were so mean to her. Like they're all so much more inspired and deep? Fuck them, man. I enjoyed when she showed up on Seinfeld and George recognized what a catch she was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I believe she was originally casted as Monica, until Courtney showed up and that was that. But seriously. It's one thing to be into a girl that's been passed around. It's a completely different thing to have feelings for said female whose pregnant with your best friends child. Especially for a character like Joey, who never had any problems getting females. Its believable for a Raj or Wolowitz-type character, but not for a regular Casanova. Terrible terrible writing for a show that when done right, is a poor man's Seinfeld. And I mean that as a compliment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigertooth Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I disagree. I can buy that Joey got a little older and saw that Rachel needed somebody, and he wanted to be the person that she needed. At some point he must have realized that he wasn't going very far as an actor, so he could have felt that he could be more vital as a father to the kid (and partner to Rachel) than anything else. Plus, part of the whole reason he fell for Rachel was seemingly that she was one of the few women that he couldn't get. It's not terribly surprising that he'd get fixated on the forbidden fruit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Yeah, but this is the same character who had the huge hissy fit when Chandler kissed 1 of his 2 girlfriends because it wasn't what a good friend would do, and then he gets tangled up with his other best friends babys momma. It's inconsistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Everyone on Friends but Chandler was awful. He was the great character trying to break out of a mediocre sitcom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 They were all awful, and so was the show. Usually I don't like to interject just to shit on something, but Friends is an exception. No better than crap like Suddenly Susan or Big Bang Theory, somehow built up a head of steam, to the point the audience whooped and hollered at anything - hey look, Chandler entered the room and scrunched up his stupid face, best comedy ever. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzalez Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 So this happened last night... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Friends is the Lex Luger of shows to me. They did too many things I liked for me to ever call it bad. I wasn't a huge fan of the show 10 years ago, but having watched alot of reruns, there is some legitimately funny, and even some heart warming stuff in there. Yes, there is alot of stupid shit too, but even shows I love have alot of stupid shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 The first season is pretty brutal, but you can see flashes of what the show would become. It really hit its prime between seasons 3 and 7. The stuff after Rachel has the baby, at least regarding her and Ross (which let's face it, was ALWAYS the main focus of the show) felt so fake. It's as if after Chandler and Monica got married and Rachel gets pregnant, the writers just couldn't have her and Ross get together. It wouldn't be "edgy" enough or whatever. They kept coming up with stupid shit to keep them apart, like the Joey crush, or Ross dating a girl from the maternity store, or Rachel giving her number to a guy at the bar. And considering they (SPOILERZ) end up together in the finale anyway, the baby momma bullshit comes across as that much more contrived. At least during these episodes, the Chandler/Monica marriage is entertaining enough to merit some value. I guess my issue with the Ross/Rachel/baby shit is that there was no real reason for them NOT to get married once Rachel was pregnant. And obviously I'm not saying that pregnancy needs automatically led to nuptials. But when the mother/father is someone you see every day, have the same group of friends with, are still on friendly terms, but decide that marriage is out of the cards because you don't know if you're supposed to end up together, but are willing to have a child with one another, comes across as really fucking stupid. Basically their issue was marriage is too permanent, but a child isn't. Just awful storytelling, clearly the writers were simply trying to stretch out the drama way too long. I will say that out of all the shows I like, Phoebe is probably my most disliked after Skylar from BB. Apparently when the show was first pitched to NBC, her and Joey were merely auxiliary characters, and it's easy to say that the series wouldn't have been hurt at all with them two absent. My feeling is that the suits thought having it just the Gellars/Chandler/Rachel would have the show come off as too Seinfeldly, and thus upped the ante. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I admit I've probably watched a total of about 6 episodes of Friends, randomly. But I hated every single one of them, and I really fucking hate every single character on the show. Just such fucking unlikable douchebaggy assholes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 But aren't you a Seinfeld/Curb fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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