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[TV] MARCH 2016 DISCUSSION THREAD


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I've been rewatching The Sopranos the last couple of weeks and I had forgotten just how amazing Nancy Marchand was. Just spellbinding.

 

Livia was one the greatest characters ever.

 

A show filled with murderers, corrupt officials, crooked cops, thieves and sociopaths. 

 

And this frail little old lady was still the scariest one of out everyone.  

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Yeah, but her dying did give us one of the greatest Sopranos moments ever when Carmella drank enough wine and got so worn out with the bullshit at the funeral that she snapped about Livia. Her dad piping up "we suffered for years under the yoke of that woman" still sticks with me. "From beyond the grave, even!" 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvqTX9KcCpc

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I always loved that little moment where Carmella reminds them all that the reason Livia didn't want a funeral was because she didn't think anyone would come.

 

The woman was a monster but, yes, deep down, even she was aware she'd fucked up bad.  

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Of course the only reason that people came out to Livia's funeral was because she was Tony's mother, which is just as good as no one she knew coming. I mean everyone in The Soprano crew gave Livia much respect but did so knowing that she was a giant pain in the ass and slippery as a greased hog and conniving beyond all comprehension. Given how the first few seasons The Sopranos are basically a Mafia version of I, Claudius, the name was no coincidence!

 

James

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I don't think Livia knew there was a problem at all. She was just a straight sociopath. She didn't write out her memories for the kids because she didn't care. Carmella saying that is her being ignorant, even though she had a greater grasp on everything going on than anyone. Then you can see her look around at different people with her remarks and realize how much she impacted all of them... it's like each of them getting hit with a hammer. 

 

Poor Artie.

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Are you guys watching The Last Man on Earth?! Because it's really good, tonight was the midseason return and felt like a total different episode/tonal shift. But it's still super awesome.

I love the show and I'm totally jazzed to watch the new ep on HULU tomorrow. I have some friends who can't watch based solely on them being uncomfortable watching Tandy constantly making the wrong decisions during season one.
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I don't get the love for Livia Soprano. I'd rank her as my least favorite character on the entire series. Here's an interesting "what if" though: how different would the series have gone in the 3rd season had she not passed away? The whole season was supposed to center around her possibly testifying against Tony.

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I don't *like* Livia. She's fucking awful, and you want to see her dead.

But Nancy Marchand was fucking perfect in the role, and it's not a coincidence the quality of the show dropped off pretty much immediately after Livia's funeral.

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I've been watching a lot of Department S, a 60s ITV show thats part X-Files, part IMF.

Funny thing about it know is that the star, peter wyngarde as novelist jason king, had his name and look lifted by claremont & byrne for the Hellfire Club era Mastermind in the X-Men. Wyngarde was the guest villain in the Hellfire Club of the steed/peel avengers story.

Not a bad show, with 60s pacing and action. Some of the plots are clever: a plane lands in london completely empty, a tanker truck is found with a room built inside the tank with a girl inside,...

On youtube for the curious.

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I don't think Livia knew there was a problem at all. She was just a straight sociopath. She didn't write out her memories for the kids because she didn't care. Carmella saying that is her being ignorant, even though she had a greater grasp on everything going on than anyone. Then you can see her look around at different people with her remarks and realize how much she impacted all of them... it's like each of them getting hit with a hammer. 

 

Poor Artie.

 

I think she knew. It makes the character a bit more tragic. Honestly, people like Livia just end up making themselves more miserable than anyone else. I thought that was the deal with her.

 

Interestingly, you do get the implication in later seasons Johnny was a shitty husband too. I mean, not even going to your wife's side when she's had a serious miscarriage and could die because you want to bang your girlfriend? Jesus. 

 

She was hideous, of course. But I doubt marrying into the Sopranos did her mental state any good either. There might have been more to it than her just being a straight-up monster.

 

The whole episode with the father's mistress seemed to be Tony struggling to accept that, after years of thinking of her as EVIL INCARNATE~!, it was his dad who ultimately tipped her over the edge. 

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I don't get the love for Livia Soprano. I'd rank her as my least favorite character on the entire series. Here's an interesting "what if" though: how different would the series have gone in the 3rd season had she not passed away? The whole season was supposed to center around her possibly testifying against Tony.

We wouldn't have gotten that lame FBI bugging the house episode and the Bobby's a bad Santa episode. Maybe they hold off things like Tony and Gloria and Jackie Jr. until the next season.

Tony having to kiss Livia's ass and possibly moving her into his house would have been a great storyline.

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Livia could have possibly taken over the whole series for a bit if you think about it that way. 

 

I've never thought about Johnny's whole thing with the miscarriage and all, which I completely forgot about, so I'd have to rewatch some of those episodes.

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Are you guys watching The Last Man on Earth?! Because it's really good, tonight was the midseason return and felt like a total different episode/tonal shift. But it's still super awesome.

I love the show and I'm totally jazzed to watch the new ep on HULU tomorrow. I have some friends who can't watch based solely on them being uncomfortable watching Tandy constantly making the wrong decisions during season one.

 

I feel like it's a very British convention to have your lead in a comedy be kind of an asshole who does terrible things and not be the most likable guy (Fawlty Tower, The Office, Extras, Alan Partridge) and I love that LMOE made him such a dick at times (Like when he tries to shame Todd by having him take off his shirt) but he still came out as someone you were rooting for.  Then the second season makes Tandy more likable, while emphasizing that all these people are kinda assholes at times, as well.  But last night's was totally different.

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IMO, Livia was sick and obviously severely mentally ill, but it was Johnny and Junior's antics that sent her into full-blown psychotic mode. 

 

Someone with her problems should have never gotten involved with a mobster family. It was just asking for trouble. 

 

If she'd have married a plumber or someone normal...well, she'd have still been a miserable, spiteful cow. But it's not like she would have been arranging murders. 

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Here's the thing: Chris Tucker was never that funny in the first place. He's not too hard to replace.

 

It is, however, incredibly difficult to recast a bona-fide film legend like Jackie Chan.   

 

Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this one. 

 

"They killed my sister!" Really, we're going with that one?

 

That said, it still looks somewhat more interesting than generic CBS crime show #34.

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Are you guys watching The Last Man on Earth?! Because it's really good, tonight was the midseason return and felt like a total different episode/tonal shift. But it's still super awesome.

I love the show and I'm totally jazzed to watch the new ep on HULU tomorrow. I have some friends who can't watch based solely on them being uncomfortable watching Tandy constantly making the wrong decisions during season one.

I feel like it's a very British convention to have your lead in a comedy be kind of an asshole who does terrible things and not be the most likable guy (Fawlty Tower, The Office, Extras, Alan Partridge) and I love that LMOE made him such a dick at times (Like when he tries to shame Todd by having him take off his shirt) but he still came out as someone you were rooting for. Then the second season makes Tandy more likable, while emphasizing that all these people are kinda assholes at times, as well. But last night's was totally different.
Just watched it, and yeah, it was good stuff.
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Upon finishing the first season of Black Mirror: good god almighty, has there ever been any show which had such a VAST dropoff in quality from the pilot to the subsequent episodes? The first episode (yeah, the one about the pig) was some of the most brilliant, fearless, transgressive television I've ever seen. It took the most absurd situation imaginable, and made it completely realistic and let us utterly empathize with everyone involved. It was a masterpiece of storytelling, period. But what the FUCK happened with episodes 2 and 3?! Generic future-dystopian bullshit about the very worst kind of people, either the world's weakest and most passive victims or its loudest and most obnoxious assholes; and, spoiler, the assholes win. What a bunch of horrifically disappointing navel-gazing nonsense, it's like the dynamite first episode isn't even from the same show as the other two. Should I even bother watching the second season, or is it just more of the same?

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Okay, so I was wrong. The People v. OJ is now AWESOME because Courtney B. Vance is fucking destroying this.  He's been so good these last couple episodes and they've pretty much completely cut out all the Kardashian bullshit, etc..  

 

It's a really weird show because there's still some crap in it but the performances are so good. I'm conflicted.

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