Watchable telly

[Carl Sagan]

3 hours ago, Bob The Badger said:

We watched the final episode of Vigil last night.

Episode 1 - David Nish/10

Episodes 2 - 4 - Ron Webster/10

Episode 5 - Derek Hales/10

Episode 6 - Derek Hales mum/10

I'd like to have a word with the people plying the scriptwriters with drink.

Soooo many plot flaws and soooo much nonsense starting about half way into the 5th episode.

...

This has massive promise and ended up like something FOX TV would have made with some swearing.

What did you think @Carl Sagan?

 

You did better than me. I confess I stopped watching towards the end of ep3 and haven't gone back to it. I go to a lot of previews and it's a common theme that episode 1 seems great and then a show tails off. Partly the initial enthusiasm is likely the emotion of being there watching with cast, crew and writers, but it's also that I know how much work goes into writing a pilot episode, which is honed and honed and honed again to within an inch of its life to get the show away, but then after maybe years of waiting, you have to write the rest of a series super quickly. It's a bit like second album syndrome for a band, when you've had your whole life to write the first one, and then you have to do the second in three months in the middle of touring the first!

I saw a lot of people with doubts about Vigil as it went along and I'm sorry I recommended it and put a few people through it. I worry Foundation is going to go the same way.

[JoetheRam]

1 hour ago, Carl Sagan said:

You did better than me. I confess I stopped watching towards the end of ep3 and haven't gone back to it. I go to a lot of previews and it's a common theme that episode 1 seems great and then a show tails off. Partly the initial enthusiasm is likely the emotion of being there watching with cast, crew and writers, but it's also that I know how much work goes into writing a pilot episode, which is honed and honed and honed again to within an inch of its life to get the show away, but then after maybe years of waiting, you have to write the rest of a series super quickly. It's a bit like second album syndrome for a band, when you've had your whole life to write the first one, and then you have to do the second in three months in the middle of touring the first!

I saw a lot of people with doubts about Vigil as it went along and I'm sorry I recommended it and put a few people through it. I worry Foundation is going to go the same way.

There's the bones of a good show in there with the potential scope of it and the different impacts on different institutions and how that all ties together.  And I thought the acting was generally good.

But as said, there was so many WTF moments in the writing that didn't really make any sense that killed the believability of the whole thing. 

Felt like a show put together by a committee. Like the director was making a different show to scriptwriter A who was writing a different show to scriptwriter B.

First 3 episodes it sort of holds up as you can suspend belief a bit because you don't know the full facts about each character, but then you see a doctor kiss a guy who she knows has inhaled sarin even though she doesn't love him and it starts to unravel.

[Gaspode]

They wasted at least an episode's worth with the Lesbian storyline - added absolutely nothing to the main story. That might have allowed them to do a better job of the last couple of episodes - though once they got halfway through and decided to suspend any sense of reality, it was pretty much doomed....

Edited September 30, 2021 by Gaspode

[Bob The Badger]

3 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

You did better than me. I confess I stopped watching towards the end of ep3 and haven't gone back to it. I go to a lot of previews and it's a common theme that episode 1 seems great and then a show tails off. Partly the initial enthusiasm is likely the emotion of being there watching with cast, crew and writers, but it's also that I know how much work goes into writing a pilot episode, which is honed and honed and honed again to within an inch of its life to get the show away, but then after maybe years of waiting, you have to write the rest of a series super quickly. It's a bit like second album syndrome for a band, when you've had your whole life to write the first one, and then you have to do the second in three months in the middle of touring the first!

I saw a lot of people with doubts about Vigil as it went along and I'm sorry I recommended it and put a few people through it. I worry Foundation is going to go the same way.

No problem mate, I'd have recommended it after the first couple.

It's weird because some of my favourites like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Gomorrah, and lately, Bosch, I wasn't that keen on to begin with.

I guess mini-series are somewhat different as they can't afford a slow burn.

I find that with music. If I immediately love something more often than not it has no staying power with me.

[Bob The Badger]

11 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

They wasted at least an episode's worth with the Lesbian storyline - added absolutely nothing to the main story. That might have allowed them to do a better job of the last couple of episodes - though once they got halfway through and decided to suspend any sense of reality, it was pretty much doomed....

Yep, it added zero to the main plot. In fact it detracted from it and broke the tension when they started doing silly dreamy flashbacks.  

[Chester40]

On 29/09/2021 at 09:18, TimRam said:

Squid Game (netflix)- Finished and worth watching. Plays out like a big 'Black Mirror' episode.

Very Battle Royale. Slightly Running Man-ish.

Starts out slowly but really improves and keeps you incredibly hooked on a storyline that is weird and far fetched but grounded and realistic at the same time.

[Bob The Badger]

Finally got around to watching Manhunt from a couple of years ago with Martin Clunes.

I think the BBC kick ITVs ass when it comes to drama's but I thought this was really good.

Clunes was great, very understated and he surprised me a bit like Sean Bean did in Time, in terms of he's a much better actor than I realised.

In fact the acting was all very good, the script paced nicely (if this had been America they'd have dragged 10 episodes out of it) and a solid 7.5/10.

In fact, we decided to roll straight into season 2 that has just come out and the first one of that is good too.

I did some reading on Levi Bellfield after. Jeez what a POS he is and they now think he may have committed his forst murder when he was 13 or 14. 

 

[Comrade 86]

On 30/09/2021 at 22:12, Chester40 said:

Very Battle Royale. Slightly Running Man-ish.

Starts out slowly but really improves and keeps you incredibly hooked on a storyline that is weird and far fetched but grounded and realistic at the same time.

Too long. It was interesting without really breaking any new ground, but plenty could and should have been left on the cutting room floor. 

On a separate note, tried Vigil. Only got to episode 3 where the plot appeared to make a sharp U-turn and disappeared right up its own backside. Shame really as the beginning was very promising.

[Eddie]

Thoroughly enjoying the latest Nordic Noir to hit Netflix - "The Chestnut Man".

[TimRam]

ITV 4 showing The Big Match Revisited. Derby do pop up now and again. Catch up here:-

https://www.itv.com/hub/the-big-match-revisited/1a6464

[Mostyn6]

Watching latest episodes of Billions and think they’ve dragged it out too long now. 

[Mostyn6]

 Finale of Season 2 of Ted Lasso is coming on Friday. Have to admit, I’ve loved it. Even though a lot of it is baalocks, it’s charming, amusing and addictive. I draw some parallels to Derek. 

[BaaLocks]

On 30/09/2021 at 16:45, Bob The Badger said:

No problem mate, I'd have recommended it after the first couple.

It's weird because some of my favourites like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Gomorrah, and lately, Bosch, I wasn't that keen on to begin with.

I guess mini-series are somewhat different as they can't afford a slow burn.

I find that with music. If I immediately love something more often than not it has no staying power with me.

You were warned, it was advertised as being 'from the makers of Line Of Duty'. From that point on you are flying without a parachute I am afraid.

[Stive Pesley]

On 14/09/2021 at 10:53, TimRam said:

Up to date on Money Heist. 5 seasons and another final set of episodes is planned for release in December. Good stuff. Decent acting and some fine action sequences.

I wasn't so convinced when season 3 started with a fairly tenuous ploy to carry out another heist, but blimey it doesn't half get tense by season 5 - can't wait for the next batch of episodes in December now

But on this point - I've had a few people mention to me that the acting is bad, which baffled me - then it transpired that they are watching the dubbed American version. WTF is wrong with people?? We watched 5 minutes of the dubbed version out of interest and it was awful

Do yourself a favour and watch it in Spanish you puta locas!

Edited October 5, 2021 by Stive Pesley

[TimRam]

9 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

I wasn't so convinced when season 3 started with a fairly tenuous ploy to carry out another heist, but blimey it doesn't half get tense by season 5 - can't wait for the next batch of episodes in December now

But on this point - I've had a few people mention to me that the acting is bad, which baffled me - then it transpired that they are watching the dubbed American version. WTF is wrong with people?? We watched 5 minutes of the dubbed version out of interest and it was awful

Do yourself a favour and watch it in Spanish you puta locas!

A number of the main cast do speak English. Interesting interviews on youtube (might have 'spoilers').

[Jubbs]

9 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

But on this point - I've had a few people mention to me that the acting is bad, which baffled me - then it transpired that they are watching the dubbed American version. WTF is wrong with people?? We watched 5 minutes of the dubbed version out of interest and it was awful

Do yourself a favour and watch it in Spanish you puta locas!

I'm up to date on Money Heist and I've just finished Squid Game.

I don't understand how people can watch dubbed versions of movies/tv shows, they sound completely awful and ruins the experience.

On Squid Game, thought it was fantastic. 9/10

[Stive Pesley]

13 hours ago, Jubbs said:

I don't understand how people can watch dubbed versions of movies/tv shows, they sound completely awful and ruins the experience.

In the case of the friends I mentioned - they had no idea they could swap to the original language with subtitles, as Netflix defaulted them straight to the dubbed version

We're heading onto Squid Game next...

[Chester40]

5 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

In the case of the friends I mentioned - they had no idea they could swap to the original language with subtitles, as Netflix defaulted them straight to the dubbed version

We're heading onto Squid Game next...

That's what happened to me in this instance.  Shocking dubbing was putting off before I realised it had chosen that option.

Trying Alice in Borderlands now,  decent so far but preferred Squid Game. 

[BucksRam]

51 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

That's what happened to me in this instance.  Shocking dubbing was putting off before I realised it had chosen that option.

Trying Alice in Borderlands now,  decent so far but preferred Squid Game. 

Interested to hear how you get on with Alice in Borderlands - it's on my list but not watched it yet.

[BucksRam]

Squid Game - SPOILERS

 

Finished Squid Game a couple of weeks ago which overall, I enjoyed although I confess there were some bits which I thought we either pointless or over-done.  I didn't really get the cop involvement - it kind of fizzled out and he didn't really seem to do much before having the "set to" with his (surprise surprise) brother.  Maybe S2 will follow it up somehow but for me it was a pointless thread.  The VIPs too, were annoying. Maybe it was the dubbing but they seemed to have a lot of screen attention, whilst doing very little and saying even less - how they managed to eat / drink with those masks on is anyone's guess.   I found the twist at the end disappointing too, not least when the lead seemingly abandoned his daughter (again) but maybe that's just me. But, that said, overall it was very well done, with genuine tension (think the Honeycomb game) and genuine emotion (think the Marbles game).