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[TV] REST OF THE SUMMER 2018 DISCUSSION


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I also don't the the UK Office holds up well at all. The main reason is that never explains why David Brent has his job. He's just completely terrible at it. And then his one moment of self-discovery at all comes in the final holiday party episode and it's like... oh, wow, you stood up to an obnoxious bit character and got a knowing wink from your rival. Michael Scott has a reason for existing throughout.

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13 hours ago, Greggulator said:

I also don't the the UK Office holds up well at all. The main reason is that never explains why David Brent has his job. He's just completely terrible at it. And then his one moment of self-discovery at all comes in the final holiday party episode and it's like... oh, wow, you stood up to an obnoxious bit character and got a knowing wink from your rival. Michael Scott has a reason for existing throughout.


Gervais did say the documentary crew cut it to intentionally make David look bad. That he was a good manager and in the first episode you do hear various accomplishments he had. Like reducing costs without laying anyone off. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Greggulator said:

The DInner Party episode from Season 4 is, IMO, one of the high water marks of American comedy. That episode really captured everything perfect about the show. Andy immediately going all in when Michael asks for investors into Jan's unique line of candles gets me every single time. 

I don't care for that episode even though I get why others like it. I had a time where I had to live the Pam/Jim role in that episode more than once. I think Jan messed up the chemistry of the show. There is something about that character that has an ugly meanness to it that never fit with Dunder Mifflin. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Greggulator said:

Another issue the show got crushed with was the writer's strike that year.

I do wonder what would have happened if the strike had not occurred.  I do think the writers rethought a lot of things. I feel like they were going to try to make Jan and Michael work as a couple. I also think Ryan was going to stick around as a recurring villain and not be ousted at the end of the year. 

One thing I noticed is the writers really wanted Dunder Mifflin to have a true authority figure directly above Michael. From Ryan to Charles to Gabe and Jo. Which never really worked. It is not what the fans wanted from the show. I think Jo had potential, but Cathy Bates got a show and was not available. 

But really, nobody wanted Michael reigned in or Jim called out on goofing off. 

 

13 hours ago, Greggulator said:

The worst plot-point for it was Ryan showing up in the first episode of the season after and then running off to Thailand. No way a workplace (even a dysfunctional company) lets a guy running a con like that keep his job. He was written off for a while anyway and didn't return until the Michael Scott Paper Company episodes. Just didn't make sense

I think Michael just asked the temp agency for Ryan. I don't think the higher ups would have noticed. 

I think the show could have worked fine with Andy as manager. Ed Helms is a talented actor and they all had good chemistry. But the writers took a risk and decided to go in a weird direction. It always amused me that with Andy doing this big play to get the company and he just wants to be regional manager. 

Was Ed Helms unavailable in the last season for a movie? Is that why he was missing? 

I do agree with your point about the writers not having a real job past a certain point hurting the show.  The episode with the vandalized mural points to that. In real life that would have been a shit storm. Val would have been fired and Darrel would have been in trouble too. The doc crew firing Brian for protecting Pam from a man wanting to beat her up is glossed over. I have to think there would have been a lawsuit at this point. 

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Castle Rock has really gotten good the last few episodes.  The one that dropped this week in particular was a fascinating study of an older parent with alzheimer's drifting in and out of what's real, in the past or a grey spot in between that hit way too close to home.  

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16 hours ago, Greggulator said:

CAN SOMEBODY ELSE PLEASE WATCH THE SINNER! The first season is on Netflix. It's haflway through the second season on USA. It's really good and creepy and haunting. It's a step or two away from being truly classic but it's definitely worth your time.

Maybe season 2 is better (and I can believe it with Carrie Coon involved), but season 1 felt over-explained (and therefore difficult to believe as an amnesia case) by the end. I'm not sure the supporting cast was really up to what Biel, Pullman, and Nadia Alexander (who played Phoebe) were doing.  And this is despite Jacob Pitts being one of my all-time favorite three-facial-expression creeps, from his time on Justified. 

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20 hours ago, Greggulator said:

CAN SOMEBODY ELSE PLEASE WATCH THE SINNER! The first season is on Netflix. It's haflway through the second season on USA. It's really good and creepy and haunting. It's a step or two away from being truly classic but it's definitely worth your time.

I watched the first season a few weeks ago and liked it more than I thought I would.  The plot was something that could very easily of gone off the rails but they managed to keep it tight enough to be somewhat plausible. I'll wait until the second season is done before giving it a watch.

Over the past few weeks I've watched the first two seasons of both Justified and Bosch.  Cop shows aren't really my forte but I've heard enough good things about both to give them a try.  In both instances I've found the main characters interesting enough and well acted but haven't been able to get invested in either show long term.  I know a lot of other people here are big fans, so if these shows haven't really clicked with me by now, am I going to enjoy the rest or is it not just for me?

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Season 2 of JUSTIFIED is generally considered the best of the series and one of the best seasons of the Golden Age of TV, full stop.  If that didn’t hook you, you’re probably not going to like the rest of the series any better.

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40 minutes ago, EVA said:

Season 2 of JUSTIFIED is generally considered the best of the series and one of the best seasons of the Golden Age of TV, full stop.  If that didn’t hook you, you’re probably not going to like the rest of the series any better.

This is so true.  I didn't really dig seasons 1 or 2 but I kept watching it off and on for several seasons afterward.

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On 8/23/2018 at 7:06 PM, Greggulator said:

CAN SOMEBODY ELSE PLEASE WATCH THE SINNER! The first season is on Netflix. It's haflway through the second season on USA. It's really good and creepy and haunting. It's a step or two away from being truly classic but it's definitely worth your time.

I just binged season 1 on Netflix.  Thought it was terrible.  Great premise but with gratuitous nonsense thrown in that added nothing, took forever to go anywhere, and a conclusion that just pissed me off.  I felt like giving up after about episodes but decided I was committed and finished it.  

Not a fan.

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Season 2 of Justified is amazing simply because Ma Bennett was such a great villain. She was everything Boyd was trying to be in later seasons, the closest thing to a kingpin without getting involved with the Dixie Mafia end of things. Heck if they ever revidsited Justified they could do something with Doyle's kids having grown up coming after Raylan (I remember Doyle having kids... am I wrong?)

James

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On 8/20/2018 at 8:09 PM, supremebve said:

Bobby Bruce is pretty much in the same boat, he's may very well be too broken to ever really be fixed.  That segment with his mom crying about the time she spent in jail was heartwrenching because she understood that her incarceration did irreparable damage to her children.  

Bobby got arrested right after filming wrapped.  Helped rob a dude at gunpoint and is awaiting charges:

https://247sports.com/Article/Introducing-The-initial-Top100-for-the-class-of-2021-120997106

 

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Regarding Justified, I remember questioning why so many people loved it because it just felt like an early USA Network series. I was and am more into serialized dramas and the format for Justified in season 1 just didn't work for me.

Then came season 2. It's like night and day and now I look at season 1 as more of a thing to introduce you to everyone. And yeah, every season basically has a big bad and I'm not a particular fan of that layout, but it worked well enough.

Also, is season 2 really the best? Maybe I just don't think it's the best because I'm not a huge fan of Dickie or Dewey. I tend to like the final season the most.

"We dug coal together."

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As for worst, it's easily the Michael Rappaport season, which I think was 5, because Michael Rappaport fucking sucks. Man is he ever terrible. And a worst season of Justified is still better than most stuff out there.

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On 8/26/2018 at 10:26 PM, Craig H said:

Regarding Justified, I remember questioning why so many people loved it because it just felt like an early USA Network series. I was and am more into serialized dramas and the format for Justified in season 1 just didn't work for me.

Then came season 2. It's like night and day and now I look at season 1 as more of a thing to introduce you to everyone. And yeah, every season basically has a big bad and I'm not a particular fan of that layout, but it worked well enough.

Also, is season 2 really the best? Maybe I just don't think it's the best because I'm not a huge fan of Dickie or Dewey. I tend to like the final season the most.

"We dug coal together."

I really dug 3 cause I thought Robert Quarles was an awesome villain. Was 4 the one with Mike O'Malley? I remember that season having some great episodes and O'Malley was surprisingly really good as a Detroit mafia enforcer.

I agree that the only season I don't like is the one with Michael Rapaport. Even 1 picks up in the last few episodes and the pilot is terrific.

I'd probably go 2, 3, 6, 4, 1, 5 but I really need to rewatch the show.

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5 hours ago, HumanChessgame said:

I watched Sharp Objects this weekend.  It was basically the second season of True Detective we never got.

My wife and I watched it as it aired and we watched the finale on Sunday. I liked it, but it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting. There wasn't nearly enough focus on who the killer was as there was more focus on how fucked up everyone was. I wish there was more of an even split.

My wife also felt the book ending was better. I didn't read the book so I can't comment.

Like I said, it was good, but many notches below Big Little Lies or the Night Of. 

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So, Who is America finished, and there was no Sarah Palin scene. Did they cut it, or did she just meet a real life disabled war veteran and then libel him as being Sasha Baron Cohen in a disguise because she didn't like him.

Overall, it was pretty hit and miss, and more miss than hit if I'm being honest. And let down by the fact that Sasha Baron Cohen still, in his mid-40s, still refuses to mature out of his infantile scatology phase.  Bloody 'Tee Hee, Poo poo Wee wee Cock in bumholes tee hee I'm so outrageous'. There's a reason why Ali G was funny on the 11 0'clock show and shite on the Ali G show. It's because the character only works for 5 minutes at a time.

It's no wonder he got booted off the Freddie Mercury deal, he'd have just wanted to have dwarves with trays of cocaine balanced on their head in every scene.

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On 8/28/2018 at 2:42 PM, Betsy Zeidler said:

It's a canny move, like when WWE partnered with the MLB service for video streaming.  Take the time to build your own backend while still gauging interest in stuffing instead of potatoes.

I guess what I'm really wondering is: how much is Vrv paying these other companies to pile them onto the service?  Crunchyroll is $7, Vrv is $10, and the FUNimation Vrv channel is just "dubs of the shows we previously sub-licensed to Crunchyroll plus a few Sunrise shows" so presumably their business partnership has this factored in.  But Mubi, Rooster Teeth and Shudder would normally be $5/mo, NickSplat is $6, etc etc.  So I want to know whether these other providers are getting a cut of subscriptions, a per-view payment, a flat fee or what that makes it worth being part of a bundle run by a company that started with the premise of "you're buying our anime service? Cool, pay $3 a month extra and you don't have to waste money on XYZ" and why they decided that was the better financial option.  (Incidentally, this is the same question I used to regularly ponder in the days when Playstation Plus would give you a hyped indie game every month on launch day, rather than focusing on year-old AA and AAA games.)

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On 8/28/2018 at 10:37 PM, AxB said:

So, Who is America finished, and there was no Sarah Palin scene. Did they cut it, or did she just meet a real life disabled war veteran and then libel him as being Sasha Baron Cohen in a disguise because she didn't like him.

Overall, it was pretty hit and miss, and more miss than hit if I'm being honest. And let down by the fact that Sasha Baron Cohen still, in his mid-40s, still refuses to mature out of his infantile scatology phase.  Bloody 'Tee Hee, Poo poo Wee wee Cock in bumholes tee hee I'm so outrageous'. There's a reason why Ali G was funny on the 11 0'clock show and shite on the Ali G show. It's because the character only works for 5 minutes at a time.

It's no wonder he got booted off the Freddie Mercury deal, he'd have just wanted to have dwarves with trays of cocaine balanced on their head in every scene.

They gave her a credit for promotional services (unintentional) on the last episode. I think her interview either wasn't funny enough or they decided to troll her hard.

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