TV Serieseseses
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[quote name='taniwharugby' timestamp='1365023922' post='356709']<br />
Watched the finale of Walking Dead last night, and having really enjoyed this series, was a wee bit disappointed with the ending TBH.<br />
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As to GOT - I think they need to follow through with all the new characters, as they are part of the overall story, will be interesting to see how they do it, especially with books 4 & 5 running concurrently, which is where IMO it would be best if they merged the 2 books into 2 series rather than following Book 4 = S4, otherwise there will be alot of confusion for people to follow S4.<br />
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[spoiler]There was even a FB post that Peter Dinklage (aka Tyrian) would not be in S4, which is true, as he isnt in book 4, but they then played it as an April 1st joke.<br />
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Aaah fark, I read that spoiler thinking it was a TV show one, not a book one! Grrrr.<br />
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As for the new series, I was a bit meh with the first episode, TBH, and we need to put this in the context that I loved the first series, I found the second series average as well, and I've read Game of Thrones and am unsure if I'll even bother with the rest of the books. In saying that I still like the look of the show and many of the characters and want to see where the story goes so will continue to watch. (But it's not up with my top TV of all time outside of S1 ... so far).<br />
Book and Ep 1 TV spoiler:<br />
[spoiler]I've made it known I don't like fantasy that much but to be honest I just struggled with the chapter style of the book, I often found that the characters I really liked from the show had boring book chapters. Arya is great on the show but I stopped reading the book for about a week on one of her chapters.<br />
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As for the latest episode, I couldn't remember half of what happened in the last season - I needed a previously on ..., man the Stannis stuff was boring although I like the smuggler/knight character played by Liam Cunningham, Tywin's rant at Tyrion was good value though, Sansa is either quite tall or Littlefinger is short, man I wished that Bron had taken out those knights, and his exchange with Tyrion was funny when Tyrion had no idea how much he was paying him. [/spoiler] -
[quote name='JK' timestamp='1364977024' post='356644']<br />
Not much of a reader myself but would imagine they would be pretty hard books to read. Must be ALOT going on<br />
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They are actually MUCH easier to follow after watching season 1 of the TV show. I read the first 2, then stopped, as they're pretty complex & its a 3 year wait between books. So I figured I'd just wait till he finished them, then read them all. But having watched S1 & 2 I thought I'd start into it (since he's now up to book 5) and i found it a lot easier to keep everything locked down. This is largely because the casting is so riduculously good.<br />
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Don't actually think the TV show is anywhere near as good as its hyped to be (good, but not Sopranos / Wire / Breaking Bad good), but it has made the outstanding books better... -
I thought th last GOT book was pretty poor. I think Martins standards are slipping as he takes longer between books.<br />
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He kinda annoys me now. -
[quote name='barbarian' timestamp='1365375897' post='357893']<br />
Anyone watching season 4 of Justified? Just finished it last night. Good season, don't think it was as good as season 3 though.<br />
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I have it but havent started watching yet.<br />
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Finished watching Banshee on Friday, pretty good finale and has set it up nicely for season 2.<br />
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Arrow is dragging out a bit now, seems alot of the same, 23 eps seems a bit long for a series IMO! -
[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1365329344' post='357834']<br />
It finished OK, and is going to be a cat and mouse game between Lecter and Graham. They need to cut out the gimmicky CSI-esque crime reconstruction visualising that Graham is supposed to do.<br />
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Phew! Had a bad feeling about it, but if you're saying it might be OK then I'll give it a go. -
[quote name='barbarian' timestamp='1365375897' post='357893']<br />
Anyone watching season 4 of Justified? Just finished it last night. Good season, don't think it was as good as season 3 though.<br />
[/quote]Yeah thought it was really good, didn't realise it had finished though. I reckon it's just getting better and better. Raylan even won a couple of fights. -
Thoughts on the latest Game of Thrones episode and the changes made to characters and events.<br />
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[spoiler]The new characters that are introduced in the second season and beyond will probably be important as the series goes on in part because there are a few major characters that will die and someone will need to take up the narrative.<br />
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The series runners have already shown a willingness to change characters (Jeyne Westerling for Talisa Maegyr - Robb Stark's book and TV wives respectively), add storylines to keep important characters busy (such as Daenerys losing and regaining her dragons in Quarth), kill off minor characters earlier (killing off Daenerys' handmaids in Quarth), and adding characters later (Meera and Jojen Reed not meeting the two young Stark boys at Winterfell).<br />
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Last night's episode had at least three more changes that may not prove to be important in the grand scheme of things but certainly deviated from the books. The relationship between the Blackfish and his nephew, Lord Edmure is openly tense with the Blackfish roughly pushing Edmure out of the way to fire the flaming arrow into Hoster Tully's funeral pyre after Edmure's shots had missed their target. Lem Lemoncloak and Thoros of Myr appear to have been merged into one character which doesn't really work for me work as Thoros of Myr is supposed to be a foreign preist serving the same god of light as Melisandre while Lem is a commoner native to the Seven Kingdoms. The two characters are part of the same group but I would have thought that they were too disctinct to merge and having the geezer Lem do some of Thoros' part later could be a hard sell. Not too mention that all the other characters we've seen from the free cities all had a particular look and accent which the TV series Thoros is lacking.<br />
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The episode ended on one of the major plot points of the season with everyone's favourite member of the Kingsguard, Jamie Lannister, having his sword hand removed in brutal fashion by Roose Bolton's men. In the books Jamie's hand is taken by the Brave Companions - a group of sellswords originally brought to the Seven Kingdoms by Tywin Lannister who change sides during the war with a charming regularity. This seems likely to have the biggest ripple-effect of any of the changes so far as Bolton plays an important role going forward but maiming Tywin's favourite son is going to make any Lannister-Bolton alliance difficult. [/spoiler] -
up to date with GOT, and while I am still liking it, as I suspected, it feels like they are just brushing the surface of things to squeeze it all into 1 series.<br />
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They could probably use up a whole episode with an upcoming pivotal event, but wont, so I hope they at least give it more than a few minutes.<br />
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Started S4 of Justified last night, love the little one liners that come through all the time, particularly from Raylan and Boyd. -
GOT suffers from similar narrative problems to LOTR in that there are multiple characters motivated by historical events who exist over a wide geographical area who then need to be in certain places at certain times to make the story work. The LOTR movies used a combination of flashbacks, exposition and lots of walking to convey the vastness and try to explain the story while GOT has favoured a form of exposition where the characters are either travelling or someone is naked.<br />
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The latest two episodes of season three of GOT felt like the showrunners were resetting for the next big round of set pieces. Obviously not as exciting as having a battle every week but it should build to the significant events of the season.<br />
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Has anyone been watching The Following? Serial killer-cult nonsense with Kevin Bacon and the always excellent James Purefoy. -
[quote name='scruffy-lookin' timestamp='1366153356' post='360184']<br />
Has anyone been watching The Following? Serial killer-cult nonsense with Kevin Bacon and the always excellent James Purefoy.<br />
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Yeah I have been watching that on TV1.<br />
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The cult or 'following' aspect is OTT, but the acting is good, like oyu say, particularly Purefoy. -
[quote name='JK' timestamp='1364630338' post='355919']<br />
Hadnt seen it before but gave first episode a go. Will continue on based on that.<br />
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I would give it more than one episode. You really need to get into the characters. It's that kind of story.<br />
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I think its bloody good. Sublime performances from a number of actors.<br />
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Oh and it makes me want to paddle on that lake, looking at those mountains, which I intend to do before long.<br />
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But it seems to have got a bad rap in NZ for a number of reasons and the Aussie funders pulled out when an Aussie actor didn't get the lead role (which went to Elizabeth Moss who to me nails the role and then some).<br />
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I think some people didn't like it because they felt it isn't "Kiwi" enough but the truth is it is a story which could be set anywhere. -
[quote name='Nepia' timestamp='1366154371' post='360187']<br />
After finding the first episode of GOT meh I've really enjoyed the following two - as stuff actually happens.<br />
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<img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':yes:' /> This is one of the interesting things about TV structure - too much happens and it's unrealistic - too little and it's boring. Add in the time constraints where episodes must be 42 or 55 minutes long and network TV means you need to have multiple ad breaks in which the narrative builds to a mini cliffhanger several times and it's a wonder that anything on TV is worth watching.<br />
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One of my faves from a structural perspective is Criminal Minds which I only watch once or twice a season but I'm always amazed at how formulaic and yet well-crafted it manages to be. The scenes when the oh-so-smart FBI agents explain to the local rube law enforcement officers why they're using a particular line of investigation based on the details of a real-life serial killer never disappoint. I also admire the writers' commitment to almost every episode being able to stand alone as the FBI agents almost never mention the hundreds of serial killers that they have personally caught. -
Can anyone (Rusty especially but any others) recommend which of the more (very*) recent US sitcoms are worth watching? I have a whole in my content for my 20 min brain switch off before bed. <br />
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*The last couple of years as opposed to few years like Community, Parks and Rec etc. -
[quote name='Blue' timestamp='1366166427' post='360217']<br />
I would give it more than one episode. You really need to get into the characters. It's that kind of story.<br />
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I think its bloody good. Sublime performances from a number of actors.<br />
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Oh and it makes me want to paddle on that lake, looking at those mountains, which I intend to do before long.<br />
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But it seems to have got a bad rap in NZ for a number of reasons and the Aussie funders pulled out when an Aussie actor didn't get the lead role (which went to Elizabeth Moss who to me nails the role and then some).<br />
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I think some people didn't like it because they felt it isn't "Kiwi" enough but the truth is it is a story which could be set anywhere.<br />
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I've been watching it but 'enjoying it' would be the wrong term to use. It's very well made, very well acted. The story is good (I think). The scenery is fantastic, but it's just all too 'Jane Campion' for me. The obvious juxtaposition of the beauty of nature against the ugliness of people and some of the over-wrought subject matter makes it something I record and tuck away to watch when it suits rather than as soon as possible. -
[quote name='Nepia' timestamp='1366171186' post='360233']<br />
Can anyone (Rusty especially but any others) recommend which of the more (very*) recent US sitcoms are worth watching? I have a whole in my content for my 20 min brain switch off before bed.<br />
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*The last couple of years as opposed to few years like Community, Parks and Rec etc.<br />
[/quote]New Arrested Development episodes out May 24th! Otherwise, cupboard is bare. I didn't catch onto any new comedies this year. I tried most, they all were shit (to me). I did blow through House of Lies S02 a couple of days ago. OKish, but not as good as S01, which was enjoyable but not special.<br />
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Sitcoms I watch right now<br />
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Californication<br />
House of Lies<br />
How I met Your Mother<br />
Modern Family<br />
Communnity<br />
Parks and Rec<br />
Big Bang Theory<br />
Happy Endings<br />
New Girl<br />
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Of those, Community, Happy Endings, New Girl, Parks and Rec my favs.<br />
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Have you watched The League? Very funny, I highly recommend. Always Sunny in Philly? (has it's ups and downs for me) Nurse Jackie? (never watched) -
[quote name='Crucial' timestamp='1366171639' post='360236']<br />
I've been watching it but 'enjoying it' would be the wrong term to use. It's very well made, very well acted. The story is good (I think). The scenery is fantastic, but it's just all too 'Jane Campion' for me. The obvious juxtaposition of the beauty of nature against the ugliness of people and some of the over-wrought subject matter makes it something I record and tuck away to watch when it suits rather than as soon as possible.<br />
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Definitely not "easy" watching. It's not something I watch as soon as it's on. Have to be in the right mood. Grant it the concept isn't a novel one but it's well executed. But I tend to like shows or movies that's just about people and their shit so I was always going to like it.<br />
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Anyone else think this new series of Mad Men is meh? -
[quote name='Blue' timestamp='1366181025' post='360255']<br />
Definitely not "easy" watching. It's not something I watch as soon as it's on. Have to be in the right mood. Grant it the concept isn't a novel one but it's well executed. But I tend to like shows or movies that's just about people and their shit so I was always going to like it.<br />
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[b]Anyone else think this new series of Mad Men is meh?[/b]<br />
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Two (three) episodes in it's a bit hard to tell. I thought episode 1&2 combined were pretty poor, but I've only just watched season 5 and the opening 2 hour episode of that was average as well. At any rate I think I'm the reverse of most Mad Men fans, I thought that from midway through season 3 onwards it's been great, before that it was a little meh to me.<br />
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Rusty:<br />
Yep, seen all of those, and the League and watch Always Sunny in spits and starts. I'm midway through S2 of House of Lies and find it hard going. I really can't stand the guy who plays John Ralphio on Parks and Rec and it really diminishes my enjoyment of House of Lies having him in most scenes.<br />
The same four would be my faves as well.<br />
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Have you seen any of the Mindy Project? <br />
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Man I hope they don't stuff up Arrested Development! -
I'm watching the first episode of Hannibal. What the fuck am I watching? Is this weird fluffybunny psychic? Why, halfway through the episode has the title character not even looked like appearing?
