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JANUARY 2017 TV DISCUSSION THREAD


RIPPA

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My sister has been obsessed with Hunter ever since it was first aired so she was super happy that she found reruns on some random channel.

I get there for Christmas and walked her over to the shelf where all the Hunter DVDs were that I bought her years ago where.

I honestly shouldn't bother buying my family gifts.

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I accidentally got a free month's trial of Amazon Prime. I also got a free month of Netflix by stealing the promo code from an unbought copy of the Radio Times, so I've been watching Vikings and Daredevil (and my son's been watching the Grand Tour). Netflix is definitely better. Partly because I can watch it on my Virgin box, whilst I have to use the PS3 to watch Amazon, but mostly because if Netflix says you can watch a movie, you can actually watch it. Whereas if Amazon Prime says you can watch a movie, it generally wants you to pay extra for it.

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As much love as Lucy in the chocolate factory gets, Fred and Ricky tending to the housework really is the far funnier part of that episode.

I got Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz's new book for Christmas. Gives me a decent guide of things I should watch from one critic I trust and one who writes like kind of a snob (good luck figuring out which is which). 

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7 hours ago, AxB said:

I accidentally got a free month's trial of Amazon Prime. I also got a free month of Netflix by stealing the promo code from an unbought copy of the Radio Times, so I've been watching Vikings and Daredevil (and my son's been watching the Grand Tour). Netflix is definitely better. Partly because I can watch it on my Virgin box, whilst I have to use the PS3 to watch Amazon, but mostly because if Netflix says you can watch a movie, you can actually watch it. Whereas if Amazon Prime says you can watch a movie, it generally wants you to pay extra for it.

That's one of the reasons I rarely use the Amazon Prime app myself.  I hate, hate, hate that the pay stuff is mixed in with the free stuff.  That and their interface is somehow worse than Netflix - and Netflix's is terrible.

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So I recently finished binge-watching all four seasons of Banshee.  If you haven't seen it, Banshee tells the story of an unknown stranger who comes into town to meet up with a woman from his past life.  He's just gotten out of prison after 15 years.  While sitting in a bar, the new sheriff of Banshee, Lucas Hood, walks in.  Before long, Hood gets into a shootout with some thugs and all end up dead.  The stranger takes over Hood's identity and becomes sheriff of Banshee. He pulls this off thanks to a hacker friend who is able to make him "become" Hood.  Hood then seeks revenge on the guy who sent him to prison as well as trying to take down the local former-Amish-turned-mob-boss thug.  The premise is ridiculous but they sell it well and it somehow works.

What Banshee has, besides a crazy premise, is TONS of fantastic, gory violence.  There's a sadistic edge to it and it's easily the most-violent TV show I've ever seen.  The violence often comes as part of FANTASTIC fight scenes.  There's at least one great fight in every episode.  Often they are man vs woman and the women are treated as absolutely equals - highly skilled, tough characters meant to be taken seriously.  One drawback is that EVERYONE in the show is some kind of super ninja, so that's a bit ridiculous but a minor quibble.

Along with the tons of violence, there's also lots of nudity.  The women are all gorgeous (Lili Simmons!) and on full display here.  

All in all, a fun show that is really good through 3 seasons and pretty good in the 4th.  I highly recommend checking it out.

And here's a fight scene from s3e03 that's easily my favorite fight ever:

 

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4 hours ago, RIPPA said:

So why am I supposed to know this Kaitlin Olson person? And why should I care that The Mick is debuting tonight?

 

She plays Sweet Dee on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Can't speak to the second question though.

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I'm cheating a little here because officially I'm still back in season 3.  But this Encore Action marathon has allowed me a sneak peak at some later season 4-5 A-TEAMS.

Now I know that season 4 is where the ratings slid and by season 5 they were desperately re-tooling and then canceling the show....a rapid decline for the greatest t.v. show in the history of the world.  But I don't get it. From what I'm seeing season 4 is where it's really hitting its stride. I'd like to send out a big "BUT WHY, BRO?" to 1985-86 America for turning its back on a show that was just beginning to explore its full potential. BUT WHY, BRO?????

As far as I can tell:

1) We're getting bigger name (relative to my scale I guess) guest stars
2) The show is way more self-aware about its formula and cartoonishness
3) It's a lot funnier

I just watched an episode where George Peppard was auditioning to play a bear in a children's show and the whole thing was like a rib on Peppard's notorious ego about his acting.  And it featured a "gearing up" scene where they built an entire armory out of a bunch of 80s children's toys.  It was hilarious!

And then...the very next episode opens up with Murdock being on WHEEL OF FORTUNE.  It was so great because he's insane and living out this fantasy of being like the people he sees on WHEEL OF FORTUNE because that's what he does, he gets obsessed with personality types...and we know that and Pat Sajak doesn't, so it points out the insane subculture of people who get really into shows like that.  He plays the part to the hilt complete with how he over-enunciates the puzzle words and asks for his last $50 on a gift certificate.  The sweaty upper lip. The whole damn package.

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It's actually one of the funniest parodies of anything because it's not exaggerated at all...but the audience knows that the guy they are watching is utterly detached from the reality around him and so it's like we're in on a private joke.  Dwight Schultz is an unsung hero of comedy.  For some reason I watched part of ACE VENTURA the other day and watching Jim Carrey in that was like a long-form version of Murdock.


And the casting! Never mind even that the Bear episode has Arte Johnson:
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But it also has a villain who is a great AW SHIT ITS THAT GUY!!!!

I know the name Art Metrano doesn't jump out at you until I show him to you

Spoiler

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AAAWWW SHIT ITS CAPTAIN MOWSER FROM POLICE ACADEMIES 2 through 3: THEIR FIRST ASSIGNMENT TRHOUGH BACK IN TRAINING!!!!!

Not to be confused with Lieutenant Harris from POLICE ACADEMIES 1, 4-7: CITIZENS ON PATROL, ASSIGNMENT MIAMI BEACH, CITY UNDER SIEGE, MISSION TO MOSCOW INCLUSIVE

1225-2.jpg NOT THIS GUY!!!!

 

 

Did you know that Art Metrano was also a comedy magician:

 

In 1989 Art fell off a ladder at home and was paralyzed from the neck down.  So, of course, he did a one man show about it:

 

Today he has the use of his arms and can walk with crutches.  
ART METRANO!!!!!

And then...if that's not enough...the NEXT episode...the WHEEL OF FORTUNE ONE pops up with...now all in one episode...

Lydia Cornell...
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DAMMN THE HOT BLONDE DAUGHTER FROM TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT..


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COSMIC COW AWAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!

Did you know she is the great-granddaughter of Harriet Beecher Stowe.  They both contributed roughly a lot but while the end of slavery was preeeeetty good, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT did get six seasons.

Not enough?  Well here's Judd OMEN! Also known as

Spoiler

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HOLY SHIT THAT DUDE FORM PEE WEE'S biG ADVENTURE

AKA:
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DAMN THE CONFLICTED CUBAN BAD GUY FROM RED DAWN!!!!

Still not enough?

How about these two twins from SPACEBALLS?

 

Okay that last one is a little far down the chain of awesome...and still no genuine AW SHIT, right?

WRONG!!!

Spoiler

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AW SHIT IT"S PRESIDENT LOGAN FORM 24!!!!

 

Like I said....IT WAS JUST HITTING ITS STRIDE!!! OH GOD WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN!!!

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When i think of Art Metrano, i think curly hair.

imdb reminds me he was a regular on Joanie Loves Chachi, which is prob where i remember him best. 

He also did 12 episodes of VO on Fred and Barney meet the Thing.

and was in a movie called Linda Lovelace for President. 

Also in an episode of Kolchak. The headless biker one!

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Homeland's S6 premiere is OnDemand super early. It doesn't actually air until 1/15. I watched it, and.... I need to go watch the S5 finale, because I've got no idea what's going on. Besides them having a Donald Trump-like character.

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A NEW YEAR and some OLD OLD ASS references form Johnny Carson to provide a little history for those of you not old enough to assume Shawn Mendes is "probably a baseball player." ...WAY BACK to January 1, 1975

 

- A reference to Catfish Hunter.  All through the late 70s Catfish Hunter was the code word for "rich athletes" all because of something that happened just before this episode aired.  Yes, it's January 1, 1975, about two years before the final death of the pernicious "reserve clause" that essentially forced major league baseball players to work only for the club that drafted them unless traded, an indentured servitude guaranteed legal only by exemptions granted to Baseball as an industry.  But before that would happen, due to shoddy accounting and nonchalant arrogance, the greatest pitcher of the moment, Catfish Hunter, who had led the cheap-ass Oakland As to three consecutive world championships on a salary of $100,000/year was suddenly declared a free agent by an arbiter.  You see half his salary was supposed to be paid by the club and the other half sent to a North Carolina bank where Hunter lived.  The annuity checks were always late and when Hunter complained the club ignored him.  That violated the contract and suddenly he was one of the first ever actual free agents, and the first to be so valuable....Every single team made a bid and he eventually signed with the New York Yankees for five years and a TOTAL of $3.75 million.  
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Today Johnny Gomes will probably make that much next year playing in Japan somewhere.

But it was astounding in 1975 and no one could shut up about it and your grandpa probably still thinks he's overpaid.


- A reference to Marlon Brando giving land to native Americans.  This is a tiny footnote in a series of larger ongoing story in the early 70s.  The larger story was a strong and militant native rights movement including a series of tense standoffs in the early 1970s.  These included the so-called "Wounded Knee Incident" an occupation of the town of Wonded Knee, South Dakota by native activists protesting the actions of the president of the tribal president.
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 It also included an incident in Tacoma, WA where native fisherman fired warning shots at state police attempting to stop them from fishing in waters guaranteed them by treaty.  
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  The next layer down in importance is the ongoing attention paid to Marlon Brando's interest in the movement.  He showed up at Wounded Knee
  764eba539b809cd26b2c48bc7228ccd5.jpgDon't worry, he'll grow into the coat.


  and, in the midst of that protest, sent native activist Sacheen Littlefeather to accept his Oscar for best actor for THE GODFATHER.  
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Thanks, but no thanks, Roger Moore. I've been offered shiny trinkets by douchey travelling brits before. If you have any stolen land though!
 
Brando gave her a 15 page speech to read during the ceremony but she was told that she would be physically removed if she attempted to give it.  
 
  And then finally the actual reference was to one little moment in that Brando part of that other thing: Two days before Catfish Hunter got rich, Marlon Brando caused a stir on Dec. 30, 1974 by calling a press conference so that he could hand over the deed to his family's land in Agura, CA to the Survival of American Indians Association.
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The press conference was carefully handled by Brando himself and was mostly viewed by the press with a certain amount of dismissive ridicule, especially when it was revealed five days later that the land had a mortgage lien on it and what he really handed this group was a $320,000 debt that they couldn't pay.

 

- A reference to Marty the marijuana Mouse: Boy this is deep, It doesn't even have a wikipedia page...unless you're a pot-head because then it's canon.  You can still find plenty of sites about marty the Mouse, though, because weed guys can't shut up about everything weed related...I"M LOOKING AT YOU DOUG BENSON JUST MENTIONING GETTING HIGH IS NOT A JOKE ABOUT GETTING HIHG!!!!...Ahem...

Marty the Marijuana Mouse was the closest thing to what we would call a "viral sensation" in 1974.  The story began in San Jose when police found a mouse living in their evidence locker apparently mostly eating grass that was being stored there.
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Beaver County!!! I think I've seen that movie on a grainy VHS tape I found in the woods!!! CALLBACK!!!!

When they attempted to trap him they found that he would not respond to cheese or peanut butter or anything, and they couldn't catch him at all until they used some marijuana seeds.  Luckily they didn't just kill him and the story got out that they were shipping him to UCLA to study the effects of a marijuana diet on a mouse.

after a few months there he was sent back and became something of a mascot. It was pretty great except that, of course, he WOULDN"T SHUT UP ABOUT HOW MUCH HE LIKES TO GET HIGH AND MADE THE SAME STUPID 420 AND MUNCHIE JOKES EVERY 20 SECONDS FUCKYOUDOUGBENSON!!!!!

A reference to C. Everett Koop's surgeries. This one, like Marty the Marijuana Mouse, was new to me...and is kind of the opposite of Marty the Marijuana Mouse because I always just knew C. Everett Koop as the goofy-ass ship captain who showed up on t.v. looking like a doofnut telling me not to do drugs:
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I guess he wears that becuse technically he's an officer in the U.S. health service corps.  But even when he wasn't wearing that he still looked like someone who should be writing letters to complain about sentences ending with prepositions in the NEW YORKER and how standards have fallen since the golden age of William Shawn.
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But apparently, in 1974/75 Koop was known for a series of ground-breaking pediatric surgeries separating conjoined twins.  He was the leader as early as 1957 of the surgical team that separated twins joined at the pelvis, and then again in 1974 for separating twins who were born joined across ther chests, including circulatory systems that crossed bodies and sharing major organs.
Spoiler warning for large image and three adorable faces:

Spoiler

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Okay...so now what you two? Separate rooms? But NO TELEPATHY!!!

He was eventually famous for being Ronald Reagan's Surgeon General, including for the Koop report, which he apparently fought against behind the scenes because Reagan was seeking to prove that abortion was detrimental to a woman's health and Koop would not sign off on that.  He was anti-abortion but claimed that it was "a moral issue and not a health issue." The report was subpoenaed and eventually released under his name anyway.

He is also infamous for being the face of Reagan's refusal to recognize, study, or do much of anything to help stem the AIDS epidemic. It seems this was also something he was unhappy about but he didn't resign over it either. Meanwhile I had no idea he was involved in any of this because he looked like a dork and MOONLIGHTING was on!!!

 

 

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Koop's face is on the house medical book over here that's been floating around forever. To me he looks more like a Civil War general. How Reagan stood for the mutton chops + goatee look is beyond me. Must've figured those medical guys are all kooks anyway, right Nancy?

The Marty article being right next to a Watergate article is further proof that nothing ever changes in this country. 

 

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4 hours ago, Kuetsar said:

Anyone else catch Sherlock last night on Masterpiece? I thought it was pretty good, then again I would be down for Benedict and Martin reading the phone book. . . .

My brother and myself caught it as well and enjoyed it immensely.

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12 hours ago, Kuetsar said:

Anyone else catch Sherlock last night on Masterpiece? I thought it was pretty good, then again I would be down for Benedict and Martin reading the phone book. . . .

It was pretty awesome. 

It is nice to see the series return to its mystery and detective story roots, but the whole fight in the pool thing still shows me that Moffat still has this thing with having Sherlock out 007 a certain agent from MI6 and that is somewhat annoying.

As much as Sherlock's arrogance taxes my patience, it does provide him with a believable weakness his enemies can exploit to keep the stories on an even keel, so you don't have Holmes pulling solutions out of thin air and foiling crimes before they happen.

Sherlock's need to not only defeat his foes but humiliate them and suffering the consequences of his pride, continues to be the show's best angle.  Sherlock is much of his own mortal enemy as Moriarty is / was.

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