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Post by Upfrontvb on Oct 9, 2014 23:38:53 GMT -5
I've seen the first season of The Americans. One of my favorite TV shows of all time -- well, Top 10 at least. Really enjoy The Americans...I'm a sucker for a lot of things with spies and people undercover. I have to agree. Reminds me when I was younger and the Reagan Era of the Cold War. It won't be on on again until Feb. 2015
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 23, 2014 15:48:21 GMT -5
.... Season 6 has many issues. I'm about 5 or 6 episodes into Season 6. I didn't like the way Buffy returned from the dead -- mostly because it was another powerful spell cast by Willow. (What a hypocrite she is. First, refusing to revive Buffy's mom and second, doing a 180 degree on Buffy.) However, I really really love the fact that she's unhappy to be back. Just before Buffy revealed to Spike that she was in heaven (or something that seemed like heaven), I told my wife, "You know, I can see why Buffy is unhappy or seems disoriented. If I were in college and suddenly, I got zapped back to high school, I'd be really really pissed. It's not that I hated high school, it's that I'm now in college and I like it here and I don't want to go back. Buffy was probably accepting of the next phase in her life, whether that's heaven or some sort of alternate plane of reality. To be zapped back to life on earth in her old body in her old hometown surrounded by her old friends has to be downright depressing." Then, when Buffy told her friends, "Thanks for bringing me back. I was in hell," (I paraphrase) I was very disappointed in the writers because it didn't make sense with her behavior and my own philosophical understanding of the next phase of our lives (whether that's heaven or hell or some other ethereal plane. A couple minutes later, she confesses to Spike that she loved where she was in the afterlife and hated coming back. THAT made sense to me. And now I have renewed faith in the series. I hate the three new villains, the boy "geniuses" (i.e., Jonathan and co.). I can't believe they're so smart and creative that they're able to invent all sorts of dazzling technology that is light years ahead of their time. It's just stupid and incredible (that is, NOT believable.) Let's see where this is headed. I'm beginning to hate Willow more and more. Anya is as ditsy as ever. Construction utilizes her skillset the best. Too bad the job was sabotaged by bad choices by the writers.
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Post by mikegarrison on Oct 23, 2014 22:34:29 GMT -5
.... Season 6 has many issues. I'm about 5 or 6 episodes into Season 6. I didn't like the way Buffy returned from the dead -- mostly because it was another powerful spell cast by Willow. (What a hypocrite she is. First, refusing to revive Buffy's mom and second, doing a 180 degree on Buffy.) However, I really really love the fact that she's unhappy to be back. Just before Buffy revealed to Spike that she was in heaven (or something that seemed like heaven), I told my wife, "You know, I can see why Buffy is unhappy or seems disoriented. If I were in college and suddenly, I got zapped back to high school, I'd be really really pissed. It's not that I hated high school, it's that I'm now in college and I like it here and I don't want to go back. Buffy was probably accepting of the next phase in her life, whether that's heaven or some sort of alternate plane of reality. To be zapped back to life on earth in her old body in her old hometown surrounded by her old friends has to be downright depressing." Then, when Buffy told her friends, "Thanks for bringing me back. I was in hell," (I paraphrase) I was very disappointed in the writers because it didn't make sense with her behavior and my own philosophical understanding of the next phase of our lives (whether that's heaven or hell or some other ethereal plane. A couple minutes later, she confesses to Spike that she loved where she was in the afterlife and hated coming back. THAT made sense to me. And now I have renewed faith in the series. I hate the three new villains, the boy "geniuses" (i.e., Jonathan and co.). I can't believe they're so smart and creative that they're able to invent all sorts of dazzling technology that is light years ahead of their time. It's just stupid and incredible (that is, NOT believable.) Let's see where this is headed. I'm beginning to hate Willow more and more. Anya is as ditsy as ever. Construction utilizes her skillset the best. Too bad the job was sabotaged by bad choices by the writers. Welcome to Season 6. Some great stuff in there. The musical episode was really risky but paid off big. The complaints by the fans back in the day are mostly the same you make here -- Willow too powerful, the three boys being a bad "big bad" for the season, etc. (Though it was almost all worth it when Jonathan was yelling at the other two about them not touching his "magic bone.") It all does get addressed, but the whole season is about the characters making really bad, self-destructive personal choices. At many times you wondered why these characters who have been so smart and strong in the past were behaving so stupidly, and the number of times the writers dropped overly-blunt anvils on us ("See? This is addictive behavior driven by self-esteem issues! It's bad for you!") got to be tedious. Part of the problem may have been that Joss Whedon had mainly moved on from Buffy at this point. He was producing both Buffy and Angel, but was also working on Firefly (which came out the next year, simultaneously with the final Buffy Season 7).
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 6, 2014 13:43:57 GMT -5
Just finished Buffy, Season 7. And, it's actually end of the live-action series. Whew!
Quick thoughts:
I loved Seasons 6 and 7 more than Seasons 1-5. For some reason, those last two seasons worked for me in ways that the previous 5 didn't. Anya started to behave like the character I expected a thousand-year old character to behave -- wise, incisive, opinionated, observant -- instead of the ditzy teen from the earlier seasons. Buffy was more mature, but still made boneheaded decisions. Several characters even called her out on her intelligence. She's obviously the brawn, not the brains, of the group. Xander has also developed into a more interesting character. Willow's power was curbed. (I still despise Willow and the Buffy writers for making her too powerful to the point of losing all credibility.) The three boys (Jonathan, Andrew, and Warren) grew on me. But I still think it's ludicrous for the writers to create three uber-geniuses (well, mostly Warren) in Sunnydale. The writers handled the lesbian issues very sensitively and naturally, without getting too political. Still like Spike. Still hate Dawn, the most irritating character on television...well, second only to Olivia Pope of Scandal.
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 6, 2014 14:35:45 GMT -5
Well, there you go.
Now, if you want to watch the best thing Joss Whedon has done so far, get a hold of Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog.
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 6, 2014 19:58:47 GMT -5
Buffy has a lot of flaws. Many many things don't make sense in logic and plot. They don't seem to matter to some viewers, but the logical irregularities just absolutely irritate me to no end. One of the things that puzzles me is Buffy's rationale in determining who gets killed and who is spared:
1. If the subject is an ongoing threat to humans, they must be killed.
2. Conversely, if the subject is not an ongoing threat to humans, they will be spared, regardless of their past sins. For example, even though Spike feasted on hundreds (if not thousands) of innocent lives in the past, he will not be staked because he now has a chip in his head preventing him from harming humans. Also, if that chip is removed and Spike can now attack and kill humans, he will still not be staked because he now has a soul. Also, Spike will not be staked because he's strong and is invaluable in the fight against evil. Anya even called her out when one of the Potential Slayers wondered what's Spike doing here in the house -- and alive: "Don't waste your time down that road. Spike's got some sort of "Get Out of Jail Free" card that doesn't apply to the rest of us. I mean, he could slaughter a hundred frat boys, and..." See also, Angel. Football coaches must love this policy: No matter what you've done in the past (or capable of doing in the future), you will still be a member of the team as long as you can score touchdowns. See, e.g., Lawrence Phillips and Tom Osborne at Nebraska, circa mid-1990s. Another example, Buffy tried to kill Anya when she became a vengeance demon again. Then, when her vengeance demon powers were removed (again!), Buffy decides she can be spared.
3. If the subject is a human, they are off limits, regardless of their threat to humankind. See, e.g., Willow. Willow has the power to commit atrocities and yet, Buffy spares her. Why? Well, because Buffy believes she's a good person who has refrained from witchcraft. Plus, she's a good friend. D'oh!
This sense of "justice" is very bizarre. In 99% of all cultures, if you commit a crime, you must be punished. This punishment serves as: (a) a deterrent to others, (b) a form of justice for the victim and the victim's family/friends, and (c) the start of rehabilitation of the criminal. In Buffy's world, your criminal history doesn't matter, only your future crime potential. So, you could murder a million people but if, all of a sudden, you are suddenly as harmless as a butterfly, you will be spared. Remarkable.
(I'm making up the 99% number because there are some cases (1%) where a criminal is pardoned and not punished at all if they help the government. See, e.g., hackers helping out the government thwart future hacking crimes, Witness Protection of criminals. But the number is small compared to the overall total number of criminals and crimes. Even this is rare because these pardoned criminals may have served time before they were pardoned.)
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 6, 2014 20:30:50 GMT -5
(I'm making up the 99% number because there are some cases (1%) where a criminal is pardoned and not punished at all if they help the government. See, e.g., hackers helping out the government thwart future hacking crimes, Witness Protection of criminals. But the number is small compared to the overall total number of criminals and crimes. Even this is rare because these pardoned criminals may have served time before they were pardoned.) 98% of all statistics in web forums are made up on the spot.
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 8, 2014 20:30:02 GMT -5
Watching Top of the Lake (Elisabeth Moss, Holly Hunter). Very very slow pace.
Also watching Walking Dead, Season 4.
Sometimes watching Angel, Season 1.
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Post by azvb on Nov 10, 2014 13:22:53 GMT -5
I'm on season 2 of Call The Midwife. BBC show, really good. Don't watch if you're pregnant, though
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 20, 2014 20:41:37 GMT -5
Finished Revolution, Season 1. One of the crappiest shows I've ever watched. So many logical inconsistencies and absurdities and insanely incredulous goings-on. Reminds me of the worst of Lost. Oh, wait, Lost guru J.J.Abrams is also behind Revolution.
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 25, 2014 20:44:33 GMT -5
Really enjoy The Americans...I'm a sucker for a lot of things with spies and people undercover. Ever see the BBC series "Sleepers"? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepers_(TV_series)Two deep-cover KGB agents who have been in the UK for so long that they basically became assimilated into their covers. The KGB accidentally "activates" them, but panics because nobody in the KGB remembers what their mission was supposed to be. And MI-5 and the CIA spot all the activity in the KGB and wonder what the deal is. It was made in 1991, just as the Iron Curtain was collapsing. Sleepers has now reached almost to the top of my queue. I'm looking forward to it. As much as I enjoy spy stuff, I'm surprised I haven't seen the John LeCarre miniseries like A Perfect Spy and Smiley's People and a few others. I've seen the British version of Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy and the American movie of the same name. The British version was more clear but less interestiing, while the American version was somewhat confusing but more interesting.
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 25, 2014 20:51:19 GMT -5
(I'm making up the 99% number because there are some cases (1%) where a criminal is pardoned and not punished at all if they help the government. See, e.g., hackers helping out the government thwart future hacking crimes, Witness Protection of criminals. But the number is small compared to the overall total number of criminals and crimes. Even this is rare because these pardoned criminals may have served time before they were pardoned.) 98% of all statistics in web forums are made up on the spot. Haha...old joke.
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Post by Wolfgang on Dec 30, 2014 20:27:06 GMT -5
Just finished The Americans (S2). One of my all-time favorite TV shows. The "twist" near the end (re. related to Jared) was actually a surprise to me. I really didn't see that coming. And, best of all, it was a believable twist because it makes sense that the Russians would try to develop this type of spy.
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Post by azvb on Dec 30, 2014 21:58:13 GMT -5
Love The Americans. Wish it wasn't so long between seasons.
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Post by bigdfromla on Jan 4, 2015 19:43:00 GMT -5
Orphan Black on the BBC America network and Shameless from Showtime are the two best shows on TV
Shameless starts its new season next week (followed by another really good show House of Lies)
Orphan Black comes back in April, I think.
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