Abhimanyu

Sons Of Anarchy tonight, how will Gemma save the day this time ?!

By whinging and crying and emotionally blackmailing someone, no doubt. And then pistol whipping them.

Agreed on Dexter - this was the first episode in who knows how long which didn't bore me silly at several points.

I've been feeling the opposite actually - Modern Family has (in my book) taken a dive this season. I still enjoy it but not as much as before. I consistently find Community far funnier.

I dropped Cougar Town after the first season...guess it's time to pick it back up for a bit?

Anyone seen The Walking Dead yet?

Thanks for the push on An Idiot Abroad, John. That India episode was absolutely classic. Hilarious from beginning to end. And goddamn, that American devotee was creepy.

I wonder how much of it is staged. I still can't figure out if Karl is a character or not. Can anyone be that clueless? I know Merchant and Gervais repeatedly deny that they created Karl but still...wow.

The latest Community Halloween/Zombie episode wasn't as great as it should have been. The only bit that made me really laugh was Abed saying to Troy "make me proud be the first black person to make it to the end". It was still good but this whole season so far is nowhere near as funny as the last.

Really? I'm sick to death of how zombies have become hip pop culture references but even I loved the hell out of this. Awesome stuff. I've really been enjoying the new season (with the sole exception of the space simulator ep which was a comparative dud).

Awesome. Thanks for bringing this up - I'd totally forgotten about it after reading an initial announcement that it would air. Will look up some episodes.

Am always jonesing for UK comedy stuff, really. Every time I find something new and excellent, it's over in a flash thanks to those six episode series lengths.

Looking forward to Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's new miniseries The Trip - also a 'travel documentary' from what I hear.

Is it any good, John?

The 'look how stupid Karl is' approach works well for a short podcast but not sure how effective it would be on a TV show where he's interacting with foreign cultures. Though, on the other hand, if done right it could be hilarious.

Worth tracking down?

Obtained the ebooks. Thanks for the rec, Sean. Will report back upon reading. Looks to be fun.

 

I'd be happy with a third film which steers clear of the really major Bat-villains, to be honest - there's room for a few lesser ones, but I'm interested in the idea of a Batman movie which breaks away from the "big-name villain turns up, enacts dastardly scheme, Batman defeats him and saves Gotham" template. Plenty of the best Batman stories in the comics have stepped away from that formula, and I suspect that Nolan would do a good job of it.

Agreed. Just not sure how happy the studios would be with that idea. But then again, if anyone has the clout to get them to do this, it would be Nolan.

I don't really mind the Riddler not being part of the movie. I've always found him to be a shit, annoying and ineffectual villain in the comics. He wouldn't fit in these films without a very major retooling.

I really, really like Terriers, but I can totally understand that the title is all wrong and that people expect more action from something "from the network that brought you The Shield". But I love it. and hey, if it fails at least it can't have a third season that fucks up nearly all the goodwill the first two got...

On the flip side, it won't get to have an incredibly awesome second season either :(

It's very good, isn't it?

According to the industry types, the title apparently has a lot to do with it. Not quite sure how. Also, FX didn't put as much marketing behind it as they usually do.

Some people are speculating that it's more of a character-centric show than an action-oriented one and that this is putting off a lot of the people who love FX shows for their ass-kicking quotient. Not sure what to think about that theory.

Either way, it'd be very sad if it gets cancelled since it's a lot better than most of what's on right now.

Silly title that.

Just finished the latest SOA and - panpipes aside - it wasn't bad compared to the rest of the season. It's not perfection or anything but at least stuff happens. Violence, amusing subplot with Tig and Lem, lots of drinking and a lot less crying and whinging than usual.

 

Which is not to say that there's a total absence of ridiculous plotting.

 

Really? I detested it. I thought it was lazy, it set up a bad, bad future plot (Jax and Trinity going the Luke and Leia route), there was seemingly no hurry to get Abel (with all of Jax's hysterics about going to get him in Charming, he was way too calm and collected in Belfast, there were two attempts on the Sons without them protesting at all at the Belfast dude's crappy explanations, too much Gemma (Gemma to the rescue! yet another ridiculous scene), etc etc. oh yeah, and all the bullshit with the pregnancies. sigh.

 

You know a show is in trouble when the best character in the episode is the toasty neo-nazi who doesn't want to be a lapdog.

Heh, agreed on all fronts, really. It's just that with the previous episodes, not only did I dislike them, I was bored absolutely shitless by them. This episode actually kept my attention half the time. Funnily enough, it was the Charming subplots that worked the best even after all that buildup to Belfast. I liked what they did with Darby there. So yeah, still some bad television there but IMO a little better than what's been thrown at us so far.

The last scene was ridiculous - the happy couple looks like the setup for yet another artificial obstacle in the game of 'pass the baby'. Also, it really didn't make sense to me that Jax would sit there quietly listening to Ashby essentially explain that, well, he's holding Abel hostage until Jax murders Jimmy O. The man with the keys to Abel -- effectively Abel's newest kidnapper, if not the original one -- is sitting right in front of him, demanding some kind of payment in return for Abel, and Jax just nods as if that's reasonable?

 

And how realistic is it that Hale (however dastardly) would team up with Salazar given that the man was connected to the death of his brother just a few weeks previous.

I'd looked forward to reading Pride of Baghdad for a good six months, given that it had showed up on practically every 'best of' article and comics creators' 'I loved reading this' blog post that year. I would've disliked that book even if I had gone in with low expectations.

Just finished the latest SOA and - panpipes aside - it wasn't bad compared to the rest of the season. It's not perfection or anything but at least stuff happens. Violence, amusing subplot with Tig and Lem, lots of drinking and a lot less crying and whinging than usual.

Which is not to say that there's a total absence of ridiculous plotting.

The one I found was pretty decent quality. I think someone must have gone back and done something to make it better (but I hate to speculate what and how). Am about to check it out. Pretty stoked because I was going to have to DVR the premiere Halloween night as I suddenly have plans I didn't expect. So, happy bonus time for ME!

 

I'm not sure whether DVR'ing counts ratings-wise but you should do that anyway. A lot hinges on the show's ratings for the first two episodes. Wouldn't want this being cancelled. It seems unlikely since everyone and their mom seems to love zombies these days but still.

 

Surely unless you're in one of the Neilsen households it won't make a difference?

Yeah, you're right. Forgot about how that idiotic Nielsen system works.

the panpipes remix of the Sons Of Anarchy tune that started this episode made me want to vomit. Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Then again, who the hell thought any of the season so far (besides the first episode) was a good idea?

 

EDIT: by the way, did you know it's dark at the same time in California as it is in Belfast?

I haven't seen the latest episode yet and now I'm even less inclined toward doing so!

The non-Dexter subplots on the show have rarely been anything more than garbage. Can't expect that to change at this point :(

Agreed on Dexter's father. It's an incredibly clunky and irritating device for the writers, spelling out every possible bit of subtext that they don't trust the audience to pick up on. Dexter's narration isn't much better.

That's what I mean. In the first couple of episodes, she was a "better person" (for lack of a better term). But as she pulls people into her orbit, they sort of deteriorate, too. Like her cancer is spreading to their personalities, unknowingly of course. I agree with your assessment of her character, my point is she has gotten worse as the series progresses, and subsequently, "rubs" off on other people adversely.

 

Elba is wasted in this show. It does nothing to showcase how talented he is.

I don't know...I haven't really noted any changes in her - from what I can tell, she's been the same way since her diagnosis. And it's not so much that people around her are being made worse, it's more like she's wearing them all down to the point that they're simply reacting to how awful she is. So her husband's becoming an alcoholic thanks to the way she treats him, her son's all over the place because she's such an inconsistent mother. That thing she did to her brother when they visited their dad was one of the most horrible things I can imagine doing to a family member.

And I'm convinced that they're trying to show her as an ultimately good person who has lost her way due to her illness (no doubt, she will find her way again before the end). Everything in the tone, writing and themes of the show seems to indicate that we're supposed to feel bad for her mostly. Shake our heads at her (oh so human) folly but still eventually sympathize with her. It's a really familiar model/character type from the major label indies that this show has so clearly patterned itself on. The supporting cast does their best but the characters are such types and so injected with that particularly annoying brand of quirky that it's a tossup between Linney's character and them for the reason I stopped watching the show. The brother's so cartoonish that every single scene with him is jarring. He doesn't even work as comic foil most of the time. Oh well.

Entirely agreed on Elba. He's getting some better material on Luther though.

Really? You hated it that much? I like most of the main characters less with each episode, but I think that's part of the producer's plan. That's why I'm hooked, I want to see how far this family will fuck itself beyond repair.

I don't think it's the plan to make the characters unlikeable. If it was, that would undermine the very premise of the show. I think we're supposed to see Linney's character as a damaged but ultimately good person trying to make the most of her plight and Learning Important Lessons over the course of her Final Journey. As it stands, she's a loathsome and selfish character who seems to be raining down punishment on her family for no reason whatsoever. I still cannot figure out why she's separated from her husband. She's a terrible mother, she's an enormous hypocrite and pretty much everything about her is awful. But the whole thing is played as this tragicomic self-consciously IndieQuirky farce. The quirk overload is just intensely annoying. Aside from a good cast trying to make the best of this awful material, I can't really find anything redeeming in the show. The tragedy isn't tragic if you loathe the characters and want them to die faster, the 'comedy' is flat, cliche and pulled from a million major league Oscar=bait family dysfunction 'indies' of the past decade. I gave it more of a chance than it deserved because I generally like Linney and Elba.

Locke and Key is so so good.

And have to wait 2 more years for new Breaking Bad, ... and soon, Venture Bros.

Whoa. What? Two years?

Actually it's one year. Less now. Next season is scheduled to air July 2011.

And Party Down has long been cancelled, dude. We're lucky it even got a second season.

The shows I'm watching now:

Boardwalk Empire

Dexter

Sons of Anarchy (mostly out of habit)

Terriers

The Office

Community

30 Rock

The Big Bang Theory

Modern Family

Watched The Big C and found it absolutely awful (good performances aside).

Also watching two British TV shows - Luther and Whites - but given the six episode length of these (and apparently most) British TV series, that won't last much longer.

I think it shows how totally off the rails this show has gone that they would take Tig (the most interesting of a colourful supporting cast) out of the Belfast running and include Gemma instead. This is ridiculous within the show's fictional reality (take an older woman with a heart condition along instead of a hardass sociopath?!) and it's safe to say that few audience members would want to see less of Tig at Gemma's expense during a Northern Ireland smash-and-grab arc.

Sean, you and I seem to be the only ones really into Terriers! Catch the last episode? Great stuff. I don't usually like when professional storylines run as a metaphor/parallel for the characters' personal subplots because it's inevitably as subtle as a sledgehammer. But these guys really pulled it off. I'm nervous we won't get another season. Ratings have not been good.

 

Gemma has become such a sanctimonious pain in the arse that near every scene with her is unbearable, it doesn't help that just as it looked like we might be getting a much needed break from her character we're now actually being treated to "The Further Adventures Of Poochie....In Northern Ireland". Yay.

 

Oh and having her say "secret babies are a bad idea" on camera doesn't make that story suck any less either.

Agreed times about a million.

And that line was ludicrous to the extent that I actually laughed out loud at it. Not in a good way.

James - absolutely preaching to the converted. The actual storylines - good as they are - just slip into the background while I enjoy the incredible dialogue/writing. Great show.

The one I found was pretty decent quality. I think someone must have gone back and done something to make it better (but I hate to speculate what and how). Am about to check it out. Pretty stoked because I was going to have to DVR the premiere Halloween night as I suddenly have plans I didn't expect. So, happy bonus time for ME!

I'm not sure whether DVR'ing counts ratings-wise but you should do that anyway. A lot hinges on the show's ratings for the first two episodes. Wouldn't want this being cancelled. It seems unlikely since everyone and their mom seems to love zombies these days but still.