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The TV thread

Started by rollntider, May 28, 2014, 01:06:50 AM

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Crewe

ok, so ive got two epsiodes left and this is just laughable. It's NCIS TV.
It's entertaining sure, but its void of any logic and the cheaters are as dumb as any you'll ever see. Think Gilligan dumb.

Forget it and dont waste your time.

Crewe

#316
Line of Duty
Seasons 1-4

Ive been blowing through this one lately. Police crime drama, which always worries me, but again, good ratings on RT, so I gave it a whirl.
It's 6 episodes a season revolving around AC12 which is essentially an internal affairs unit.
Our introduction to DS Arnott (Martin Compston) and Fleming (Vicky McClure) demonstrates how they came to be officers in this unit which then leads us to the exposition of the series.
Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) is the incorruptible an steadfast leader of the unit who delve in to questionable officers actions.
It's a cat and mouse game through and through and while the season stories are essentially the same, this series really ratchets up the tension with good character development and storytelling all while avoiding my NCIS tag. Keep in mind, there are some scenes where a Benson will come waltzing in with timely input to a case conversation, but it happens seldom enough to ruin the nature of the program.
The interrogations are the driving force of this show because that's where everyone is confronted and unlike other cop shows, it follows a rigid protocol of all involved and it's actually nice seeing rules adhered to, even by wrong or incorrectly charged.
As one who records depositions, I absolutely love the interrogations because it vividly demonstrates how a simple fact or small set of facts can be woven together to tell a negative story, despite being truthful at heart. Brief tangent; this is also why you never talk to the cops, period.
One sided questioning is a hallmark of cop shows and many give poor examples. The Line however, seems to reel itself in, based on a modicum of reality in fact.
What really grinds my gears is police officers on some shows, whose characters would certainly know better, end up talking without representation and dig deeper just like ordinary criminals. Not so much here. I mean, it happens yea, but they always have a solicitor (lawyer) and a formal setting. Ok, not always, that would be dull, but still, quite the anomoly for this type of genre.

While tearing through this, my mind constantly compared this show to 24 believe it or not. And obviously not in the terror or violent aspect, but in the series long meaningful story arcs and of course the gritty tension.
Kind of like a marriage between SVU an 24, but more believable in all aspects. And its British.

Id suggest giving this one a look. It can eat up some quarantine time but also not be to voluminous to plow through if you so choose.

TheNorm

Been meaning to check that...couple of questions, though:

What's your NCIS tag? And what's the Benson strolling through phrase mean? Lol
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Crewe

Quote from: TheNorm on April 18, 2020, 11:17:00 AM
Been meaning to check that...couple of questions, though:

What's your NCIS tag? And what's the Benson strolling through phrase mean? Lol

It's just my way of calling out the direction and writing standard for these shows that are just convenient if not lazy writing.
The Benson thing is just a reference to SVU when they are all in the bullpen talking about a case and the very second they touch on a certain topic, in strolls someone who just happened to have a relevant follow through or discovery.
Another example is cops ride over to location x and once out of the car they talk about the subject and its just...what? You wouldn't have said a word about this all the way over there?
Just my nitpicky stuff for hour long weekly shows.

I think you would enjoy this show, all my whiny standards aside lol


Crewe

Just finished season 5 norm, it may be the best of all.

Crewe

#320
Waco

I just watched this on Netflix and it's not a documentary but more a miniseries reenactment ala the OJ Simpson program a while bak.
First thins first, we all know there is dramatic license taken with efforts like this and that the higher end productions try to stay historically accurate.
Secondly, if you aren't familiar with this incident, it was a severe clusterfuck and there are gaps where we will never know what really happened.

We start with the ATF at Ruby Ridge which was straight up murder btw and the series doesn't show it as black and white but certainly taints the ATF's actions heading to Waco.
Taylor Kitsch is an amazing doppelgänger for David Koresh and was really well researched and acted. He had to walk a narrow line of sanity in order to achieve the sort of neutral portrait the show runners were apparently after here. I say neutral and that's probably not the right word, but maybe chaotic good?
The show focuses on both the Davidians and the law enforcement agencies, meaning the ATF and FBI.
Our look inside the compound is pretty calm and not church revival evangelical esque if you will and the flock are seemingly normal except when they calmly discuss David marrying 14 year old girls and having children with them.
After the ATF bungles the initial raid, the FBI takes over and we focus on Michael Shannon, the main negotiator, who is in a constant battle with Glen Fleshler who is overseeing the entire operation. On his right hand is Shea Wigham as Decker who plays the strategist, i.e. stormtrooper, played with surprising stoic restraint much of the time. John Leguizamo as Jacob Vazquez plays a small, but important part in this story from the FBI perspective.
Within the ranks of Koresh we have Paul Sparks who gives a great performance as Steve Schneider, the primary go between the two sides when Koresh is in a huff and not talking to Shannon.
Filling out the compound are some great characters played by Julia Garner (Ozark) the young wife of Koresh. Rory Culkin did an amazing job as David Thibodeau who
Spoiler
not only survived but was an advisor on this production

We spend seemingly equal amounts of time on each side of the standoff which hits high points instead of painstakingly going through all 51 days in this six episode presentation.
Surprisingly this series does ask some questions that really need to be asked when talking about Waco, such as, was all of this necessary to serve a warrant? Just how many illegal guns did they have and what were they doing with them?
The creators bridged the sexual abuse questions by using real footage of newscasters and talking heads discussing such allegations as well as the cult aura which lent itself to Koresh being psychotic.
Most importantly, who fired first?

The Waco siege is submerged in ambiguity which this series acknowledges. The wrongdoings by the Davidians is subtly addressed as noted above, with passing nods to sexual abuse and they do delve in to Koresh's marriage and kids by both sides, but depending on your personal view of the real life situation is how you are going to interpret this I think.
All in all, I definitely suggest watching this show. It's a brief six parter that allows plenty of depth to be investigated and presented.
It's high end production and uses real life news footage to piee together storylines, oh and I should note as it tells in the opening credits, it's based on books by the negotiator and a survivor, so its not completely out of the realm of reality, not that you would think that anyway.


Now, Ill offer my personal view.
I remember talking to friends back in the late 80's early 90's (Waco in 93, Ruby Ridge in 92) about how the police were transitioning in to something more akin to the military. We discussed actions by police locally (again no internet) where citizens were killed in questionable circumstances, no knock raids and the like.
Gone were the police officers with the neatly pressed uniform and polished shoes. Now were are seeing them in combat boots, tactical gear and becoming more and more aggressive and belligerent.
And when these events transpired, it was like, well, duh.
Keeping in mind, I was of the opinion at the time that they should have come out because it's obvious this was not going to end well.
We can discuss citizens rights and the actions of the gestapo afterwards, but for now, do what they say.
It's just interesting to me, to see things evolve, especially those things you were tuned in to as your younger self but this was one that isn't for the better and its obviously extremely prevalent today and worsens by the minute.
There's not a Serpico among you.

Focker out.




Crewe

Somebody give me something good to watch...

TheNorm

Quote from: Crewe on May 08, 2020, 12:12:47 AM
Somebody give me something good to watch...

Just added something called "Taco Chronicles" to my Netflix queue that'll be getting watched shortly, so there's that. Watched the first episode of #blackAF and I thought it was enjoyable, just need to find some time to watch the rest of the season. Also need to get back to High Fidelity on Hulu, really liked the first episode. Same with Jack Ryan on Prime, only seen the first episode of Season Two so far. Upload on Prime also looks promising, and added to my queue.

That's what's on my immediate radar anyway.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

BojackHorsefella

I bought Dog Day Afternoon today. Always worth a watch.

I think Upgrade is free on HBO Now. Fun little sci-fi movie from the director of the first Saw movie and The Guest.


Edit: Norm beat my reply by THAT much

BojackHorsefella

Quote from: TheNorm on May 08, 2020, 12:35:14 AM
Quote from: Crewe on May 08, 2020, 12:12:47 AM
Somebody give me something good to watch...

Just added something called "Taco Chronicles" to my Netflix queue that'll be getting watched shortly, so there's that. Watched the first episode of #blackAF and I thought it was enjoyable, just need to find some time to watch the rest of the season. Also need to get back to High Fidelity on Hulu, really liked the first episode. Same with Jack Ryan on Prime, only seen the first episode of Season Two so far. Upload on Prime also looks promising, and added to my queue.

That's what's on my immediate radar anyway.


I really liked the High Fidelity series, and I love the movie. I liked a lot of the changes they made, I felt it still stayed true to the themes of the film.

Crewe

Quote from: TheNorm on May 08, 2020, 12:35:14 AM
Quote from: Crewe on May 08, 2020, 12:12:47 AM
Somebody give me something good to watch...

Just added something called "Taco Chronicles" to my Netflix queue that'll be getting watched shortly, so there's that. Watched the first episode of #blackAF and I thought it was enjoyable, just need to find some time to watch the rest of the season. Also need to get back to High Fidelity on Hulu, really liked the first episode. Same with Jack Ryan on Prime, only seen the first episode of Season Two so far. Upload on Prime also looks promising, and added to my queue.

That's what's on my immediate radar anyway.

Never heard of taco chronicles and no idea what #blackAF is either.
Im really skeptical of High Fidelity because Im such a fan of Cusack's version but you guys seem to like it so maybe Ill give it a look.
Jack Ryan is pretty good actually. The character is not an action hero and is more believable to me

Crewe

Dead to Me Season 2
Cristina Applegate and Lisa Cardinelli

I did a Season 1 thing on this show and S2 is worse.
You may like it, but it's a far reaching comedy that tries to be an amp up drama with forced and unbelievable arcs.
While I love Applegate personally and professionally, Cardinelli constantly steals the show as the empath, Judy Hale.
Cristina is not really outshone, it's just that her character is so easily hatable, and I dont mean with redeeming qualities ala Tony Soprano (vile comparison I know) even when they loft her character softening up story lines, I still wished ill upon her.
The directing feels like it tries to be too cute too often, trying to have the two mains play off of each other in every interaction involving a third person, the quick, say the opposite thing then try to cover each other trope works, but only if you are a talent, like say, Abbott and Costello. Not here.
I didnt hate it mind you, but I was just tired of it by the time the ten episode season was done.
If you are up to date in your queue or just want something light hearted to balance out a heavily involved viewing schedule, this would work.


3/5

Crewe

Going through Deadwood again.
I know it has a huge fanbase, but I feel like it doesn't get the rep it deserves. It is one of my top three without question, bookended by Sopranos and the Wire.

BojackHorsefella

High Fidelity cancelled after just the one season. On the one hand, we got a great companion to the film, that's able to go more in-depth, expand it's view, tackle some modern subjects and arrives at a different conclusion that really stands on its own. On the other, I would've liked to have seen where they went with it from here.

Crewe

thats why I dont get involved in series until they have legs. Thats not an always kinda thing but more often than not.
Speaking of not...

Hannah (TV series)
Never saw the movie.
It's two seasons (7-8 EP's) with a third ordered.
Its a great idea for a story.
In a nutshell, the govt buys unborn babies from mothers without means and trains them to become assassins.
They know nothing of the real world except when they are shown in their very limited education.
Hannah was rescued by the guy that recruited while still a newborn.
Raises her in the woods with her never seeing another living soul until she's abut 16/17 when the series starts.

The editing and directing in these types of series really aggravate me. Even for a series, everything is condensed except what shouldn't be.
Throw in some tired old cliches and you have a really ho hum first season.
the second season was exponentially better than the first. As for the third season, whenever its due...I probably won't be watching.
id pass on this if I were you.