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The Official TV Thread

Nik the Trik said:
I think a lot of that was self-referential though. David Chase knew that he was going to get heat for another show focusing in on the Mafia and he wanted to present both sides of the coin, the Italian folks who bristle at that sort of stereotyping(like Dr. Melfi's husband) and the guys like Tony.

The Columbus Day episode wasn't that though. I think the Columbus day episode was a bit of a shot at the Italian Anti-Defamation people by suggesting that as offended as they are by negative depictions of Italians in the media they generally seem ok with Columbus day which is taken by some others to be very offensive to their culture.

That said, I think it's one of the worst episodes of the show, regardless of whatever point they were trying to make.
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Not that I disagree, but I just thought there were a few moments here and there in the series when that subject would come up, and it would come across as heavy handed and forced.. almost kind of tacky.

Big fan of the show though, great sense of humour, very likeable characters (even as despicable human beings)..
 
I'm not saying I subscribe to this theory, but it is still very interesting:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsTVnZm9hFg[/youtube]
 
Nik the Trik said:
Potvin29 said:
The thing I like about Game of Thrones as a TV series is something Grantland touched on in their review of the last episode - it's a series where there can be actual/dramatic change, and unexpected change.  They used the examples of Homeland and The Sopranos - you know the main character in each was going to survive at least until the end of the series.  But in Game of Thrones (unless you've read the books I suppose), you really don't know.
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I think that's a trade-off though. The reason that GoT is able to dispose of just about any character is because with most of their characters/narratives we get 5-10 minutes a week with them. That adds predictability but it hurts the show as a character study.
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The books are even worse. Martin will adds characters left and right, describes them in detail, then they disappear.  As characters die off, he just introduces more in their place.

Best part of the shows is not having to read about what everyone has for breakfast and how often they take a piss.
 
64523-Ramsay-Snow-sausage-gif-mhysa-blfs.gif
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
While I'm going to miss Jon Stewart for 3 months, I can't wait to see John Oliver take the reins tonight on the Daily Show.
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Thoughts so far? I think he's doing well. Perhaps trying to sound like Jon Stewart a bit too much, but somewhat understandable.
 
Greatest GIF ever?

TGE2hIT.gif


King of the Hill is one of my top favourites of all time, a chronically underrated show.
 
Confession: I've yet to see one episode of Breaking Bad....

Okay, okay, once you're all done laughing at that, if you haven't already, check out Orange Is The New Black. - I'm really enjoying it. 
 
Potvin29 said:
It's on quite the roll right now. It's exhilarating TV.
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Deeply love the Wire and Deadwood, but Breaking Bad was, from a distance, the very best TV show I've ever seen. Amazing to see a show so committed to developing characters -- letting decisions mean something and have consequences at all levels (plot, unintended consequences, character relationships, development of the chracter). Hope it's long remembered for pursing that noble objective. But, when you dig down into the end game, it's a bit disappointing...



SPOILERS AHEAD....



It's logical conclusion was 3 episodes ago (THAT was a great finale, had it ended with a 273D arrest). Another pretty good ending was last episode (card games with Max Cherry, at $10k an hour, till expiration). And the finale we got... It was a bit disappointing to me. The guy whose plans always worked, improbably but perfectly, to accomplish goals we knew were wrong but liked seeing accomplished nonetheless ended up having a plan... that worked, improbably but perfectly, to accomplish goals that we could finally feel okay about? Felt cheap and easy.



BIGGER SPOILERS AHEAD...



Better ending was: the abandoned family leads a miserable life, the corporate face gets clear and continues her awful business, and the meth slave offs himself when he realizes the guy responsible for it all is still, selfishly invested coming out the hero. The show was always kind of unpleasantly moralistic. Would've been nice if it followed its own logic and was that but bleakly so, rather than contorting itself to be redemptively so. I actually would've been happy if a busted tail light on the NH car led to an arrest and the silly gun never went off. At the very least, it should've been less perfectly "satisfying." While the muted tone and withheld catharsis was appreciated, would've preferred an unapologetically anti-climatic and unredemptive ending, since (in a lot of ways) Gilligan gestured toward wanting to go that way. 
 
mr grieves said:
SPOILERS AHEAD....



It's logical conclusion was 3 episodes ago (THAT was a great finale, had it ended with a 273D arrest). Another pretty good ending was last episode (card games with Max Cherry, at $10k an hour, till expiration). And the finale we got... It was a bit disappointing to me. The guy whose plans always worked, improbably but perfectly, to accomplish goals we knew were wrong but liked seeing accomplished nonetheless ended up having a plan... that worked, improbably but perfectly, to accomplish goals that we could finally feel okay about? Felt cheap and easy.
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ALSO SPOILERS

I agree, I think. For a show that was so chaotic and took so much energy from its chaos that seemed a little too neat for me. The bullet hitting Walt essentially prevented anyone from making a hard choice that, I thought, the series was building to. Alex Pappedemas last week described the narrative arch of the series as "a show about a man who gets cancer, and it kills everyone else" and I feel like wrapping things up that neatly...detracts from that aspect of it.

A good finale but not a great one.
 
I could quibble about the finale, but there are so many ways they could have gone with it, and I think regardless of which way they went there would be a segment of the fanbase upset with it.  If it left too much up in the air, if they went in some abstract direction.  I don't think it was their greatest hour (and 15) but I do think tying things up in general was a good way to go.

Either way, it doesn't take away from things much for me, I was pretty satisfied with it.
 
Potvin29 said:
I could quibble about the finale, but there are so many ways they could have gone with it, and I think regardless of which way they went there would be a segment of the fanbase upset with it.  If it left too much up in the air, if they went in some abstract direction.  I don't think it was their greatest hour (and 15) but I do think tying things up in general was a good way to go.

Either way, it doesn't take away from things much for me, I was pretty satisfied with it.
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I agree that an "up in the air" finale wasn't fitting. But, thinking back now, it's weird in deciding which of the many ways to go, they went for (it seemed to me) all of them. The awful things done to the partner lead to a betrayal and that plus Walt's arrogance ends in arrest (ep 13); awful consequences of getting into the drug business rain down, decimation of the family, Walt goes full monster (14); Walt made impotent and left to die in bunker (15); and Walt's return for a redemptive/ tying up loose ends ending (16). The last ending was "satisfying" but it felt so calculatedly so I was a bit dissatisfied. 

Rather than circling several endings, I think the show would've lived up to all the good it'd been doing for several seasons if it committed to the logical one (Walt gets terminal cancer, everyone around him dies) and executed that for maximum impact.
 
LittleHockeyFan said:
Dr. Bobby Leafer said:
Anyone watching The Blacklist? I'm told it's worth watching...
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I probably should watch it. I love James Spader. He creeps me right the *bleep* out where applicable :)
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I like Spader too though it freaks me out to look at him now. He's changed a lot since he played 'Steff' in 'Pretty in Pink.' - I think CRAP, have I changed like that too? - And then I get all depressed  :(
 
Dr. Bobby Leafer said:
I like Spader too though it freaks me out to look at him now. He's changed a lot since he played 'Steff' in 'Pretty in Pink.' - I think CRAP, have I changed like that too? - And then I get all depressed  :(
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did you ever see Mannequin? He's absolutely unrecognizable in that. It's what I love about him, how different he can look from one film to the next.
 
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