The TV Thread

[DavidM]

43 minutes ago, Shadow said:

 

You're both wrong.

Basil Rathbone is the correct answer. 

The first two period pieces are excellent , then it got a bit silly reverting to wartime propaganda 

[John Drake]

4 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

It was very good.  Not many laughs mind you, and I doubt it gets any lighter!

Guardian TV critic wasn't keen. I think this is a very harsh review tbh.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/07/chernobyl-review-chaos-reigns-in-confusing-nuclear-disaster-epic

Anyone attracted to a TV drama with the title 'Chernobyl' would surely have a reasonable knowledge of what it was about to even sit down and watch it in the first place, without needing the whole background explained to them as part of the drama?

[Bedford Roughyed]

8 hours ago, John Drake said:

Guardian TV critic wasn't keen. I think this is a very harsh review tbh.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/07/chernobyl-review-chaos-reigns-in-confusing-nuclear-disaster-epic

Anyone attracted to a TV drama with the title 'Chernobyl' would surely have a reasonable knowledge of what it was about to even sit down and watch it in the first place, without needing the whole background explained to them as part of the drama?

I thought it was great (if unrelentingly grim), the whole idea was that the guys in the control room had no idea what was going on, and took wrong/misplaced decisions.  The audience didn't need to know how a power station worked, they just needed to know it was going wrong fast.  

[Bedford Roughyed]

With regards to the Moriarty problem in sherlock, I think GoT almost had the opposite problem.  They had seeded this great enemy in every season and then seemed to wrap it up in one episode.  Unfortunately I think GoT is being finished a season too early, so is rushing a bit.  This season should of been all about the whites, with defeat after defeat for the combined armies.  Then the final battle would of played better.  

[distantdog]

38 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

With regards to the Moriarty problem in sherlock, I think GoT almost had the opposite problem.  They had seeded this great enemy in every season and then seemed to wrap it up in one episode.  Unfortunately I think GoT is being finished a season too early, so is rushing a bit.  This season should of been all about the whites, with defeat after defeat for the combined armies.  Then the final battle would of played better.  

I think they had started to rush the last couple of series. Lots of the details were washed over and while the battle in Ep/ 3 was spectacular, the outcome was predictable. 

One thing is for certain, it is no Twin Peaks : The Return

[ckn]

3 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

With regards to the Moriarty problem in sherlock, I think GoT almost had the opposite problem.  They had seeded this great enemy in every season and then seemed to wrap it up in one episode.  Unfortunately I think GoT is being finished a season too early, so is rushing a bit.  This season should of been all about the whites, with defeat after defeat for the combined armies.  Then the final battle would of played better.  

The problem is the author of the books has been on a jolly since 2011 and he gets all indignant when pushed when he’ll get around to writing the closing books. It’s been written from nothing but past storylines now by show scriptwriters rather than adapted from novels. 

[Dave T]

10 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

With regards to the Moriarty problem in sherlock, I think GoT almost had the opposite problem.  They had seeded this great enemy in every season and then seemed to wrap it up in one episode.  Unfortunately I think GoT is being finished a season too early, so is rushing a bit.  This season should of been all about the whites, with defeat after defeat for the combined armies.  Then the final battle would of played better.  

Pacing was a huge issue in series 7 too, for a show that prides itself on its excruciatingly slow pace.

However I don't necessarily agree with the point about the Night King and his chums. I have never found this element too interesting, and ultimately they were just another army in the end.

The real story is the battle for the Iron Throne, and we are now back to it.

I cant help but feel that by making the characters annoying, they are setting us up for Cersei to win this whole thing and be on the throne for a long time to come.  I'd welcome that as she is the best character by some distance.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Dave T

[RidingPie]

Well I started watch Lucifer season 4 on Netflix :-0 last night. Good to see the show hasn’t changed too much. 

[Futtocks]

The Durrells finished tonight. Not fashionably "dark". Not fashionably padded out to 20 hours per series. 

But, as someone who grew up on Gerald's books, and felt a protective trepidation before this adaptation first aired, a real pleasure. Keeley Hawes was wonderful as Louisa and anchored the whole thing, but the rest of the family were played really well too, especially Daisy Waterstone as Margo. Alexis Georgoulis as Spiro was well played too, and I hope this puts him in the shop window for more British TV work.

Unabashed prime-time family viewing. ITV have absolutely hit the spot with this. 

[Bedford Roughyed]

Well.  I shall wait until after tonights showing before I say any more.  GoT.

[YCKonstantine]

2 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Well.  I shall wait until after tonights showing before I say any more.  GoT.

Hmm, I dont know what to think

[Bleep1673]

I'm glad Killing Eve won a couple of BAFTA's last night. I didn't see it when it was first broadcast, but someone suggested it to me, and I watched it on iPlayer, I thought it was an excellent series, and can't wait for Series II

[jacksy]

GOT ep5 isn't going to go down well with the fans.

[Bedford Roughyed]

Can we talk about it yet?

[Wiltshire Rhino]

7 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Can we talk about it yet?

"Of course you can" says someone who doesn't watch it 

[RidingPie]

7 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Can we talk about it yet?

Never mind who dies. After that episode, who lives!

[GeordieSaint]

7 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Can we talk about it yet?

I thought it was excellent. It shocked me. 

[RidingPie]

21 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I thought it was excellent. It shocked me. 

I thought I could never have too much of a dragon burning things. Turns out I was wrong. Very good episode but I’m now glad I didn’t join the game of Thrones deadpool at work. I’d have been completely wrong. 

[Dave T]

I've desperately tried to enjoy it, and I hate it when people try to be controversial, or even cool by saying they hate these things. 

But... I hated it.

It was shot beautifully, apart from a few baffled effects, but it got boring quickly.

They have also gone from empowering all the female characters for years and setting them up in the early part of this series to rule the world, to stereotyping them as weakling.

Sansa is the gossip about her sis in law, because she is jealous.

Arya was bitter, but gave up on her life mission because the man told her too and she might die. We watch half an hour of her running away scared.

Danny has become bitter and twisted because Jon doesn't love her. Yeah, I know it's far more than that, but they portrayed that as the tipping point. Irrational woman kills thousands because she is heartbroken. 

Cersei. Gutted. The best character in the whole show, basically had no plan, spent most of the episode crying because she was losing power, then ran crying to her Male lover saying she doesn't want to die. Would they ever do that with a Male character? No, they get the heroic stubborn death scenes.

They have abandoned a lot of what they have built up over 8 years for fancy set pieces. 

On Arya, her presence really grated all night. She must have had 3 death scenes, only for her to wake up again a few mins later. My only hope with this is that she is actually dead, and the dream-like sequence of her on the white horse was her in the after-life, but GoT doesn't really do subtle or ambiguous like that, so I suspect she really did just find a random white horse.

Quite frankly I couldn't care less about Jon Snow.

[RidingPie]

I suspect Arya will have a new purpose now to kill Deny

[GeordieSaint]

30 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I've desperately tried to enjoy it, and I hate it when people try to be controversial, or even cool by saying they hate these things. 

But... I hated it.

It was shot beautifully, apart from a few baffled effects, but it got boring quickly.

They have also gone from empowering all the female characters for years and setting them up in the early part of this series to rule the world, to stereotyping them as weakling.

Sansa is the gossip about her sis in law, because she is jealous.

Arya was bitter, but gave up on her life mission because the man told her too and she might die. We watch half an hour of her running away scared.

Danny has become bitter and twisted because Jon doesn't love her. Yeah, I know it's far more than that, but they portrayed that as the tipping point. Irrational woman kills thousands because she is heartbroken. 

Cersei. Gutted. The best character in the whole show, basically had no plan, spent most of the episode crying because she was losing power, then ran crying to her Male lover saying she doesn't want to die. Would they ever do that with a Male character? No, they get the heroic stubborn death scenes.

They have abandoned a lot of what they have built up over 8 years for fancy set pieces. 

On Arya, her presence really grated all night. She must have had 3 death scenes, only for her to wake up again a few mins later. My only hope with this is that she is actually dead, and the dream-like sequence of her on the white horse was her in the after-life, but GoT doesn't really do subtle or ambiguous like that, so I suspect she really did just find a random white horse.

Quite frankly I couldn't care less about Jon Snow.

I disagree with some of that. 

Ref Dani - she’s being turning a bit mad for a considerable amount of time. She’s always had a mean streak but losing her best friend, key adviser (Jorah) and feeling betrayed by Tyrion and Jon Snow tipped her over the edge.

Arya... well... she’s not a fighter. She’s an assassin. They live in the shadows so thinking she’s storm the castle keep to kill Cersei was a bit too far fetched for me. Wilton under an aerial (fire) barrage does not show her to be weak in my opinion; it shows a human side. 

Sansa... well she’s learned her trade from Cersei, Little Finger, Varys and Tyrion. She’s always going to be a skeamer and work in the shadows.

I do however, agree about Cersei. That’s the bit that doesn’t meet the narrative development IMO. 

But I guess opinions are great things.

[Dave T]

11 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I disagree with some of that. 

Ref Dani - she’s being turning a bit mad for a considerable amount of time. She’s always had a mean streak but losing her best friend, key adviser (Jorah) and feeling betrayed by Tyrion and Jon Snow tipped her over the edge.

Arya... well... she’s not a fighter. She’s an assassin. They live in the shadows so thinking she’s storm the castle keep to kill Cersei was a bit too far fetched for me. Wilton under an aerial (fire) barrage does not show her to be weak in my opinion; it shows a human side. 

Sansa... well she’s learned her trade from Cersei, Little Finger, Varys and Tyrion. She’s always going to be a skeamer and work in the shadows.

I do however, agree about Cersei. That’s the bit that doesn’t meet the narrative development IMO. 

But I guess opinions are great things.

I can't disagree on the first three. The developments make sense, and I said to my wife earlier that on paper there is clear rationale for their arc and they have been coming, I think it was some of the execution.

Dani hadn't had enough time for the anger to really grow - sure there were signs she was going mad, and it is in  her genes clearly, but I think because it was rushed, it came across like it was because her bestie had been murdered and her crush wouldn't get it on with her because he wasn't a fan of incest. The theme of love vs fear was clumsily done, as had the liberated Kings Landing like she had other cities the people would have loved her too, so some of the logic went out of the window. Unfortunately her anger was mainly portrayed as her being irrational, I'd have preferred it had she just killed Jon!

Fair point on Arya, but it just makes the whole story unnecessary tbh. We spent an awful lot of time with her, and ultimately it was done for effect - showing the horror of this war (which they did excellently). But it didn't go with her character arc, and it was still left to a man to make her see sense.

Sansa is still a favourite of mine, but the writers haven't painted her in glory, she has just come across as a spoilt brat and has some responsibility for the massacre.

Cersei was the one that did it for me. It was such a weak finish for her. Gutting.

[John Drake]

23 hours ago, jacksy said:

GOT ep5 isn't going to go down well with the fans.

It couldn't possibly match the expectations they've developed in their own heads, no matter what the show's writers came up with to wrap up the series. It's a lot like Doctor Who in that regard. The people who seem to hate that the most are people who call themselves fans of it, because they've forgotten how to just enjoy it for what it is, a television sci-fi/fantasy show made to entertain people.

I watched GoT last night and thought it was terrific entertainment, as usual. It rattled along at great pace, lots of things happened and it looked amazing. This is a TV show, not a feature film but it's hard to tell the difference now. People take the incredibly high quality of it for granted.

Watching fans on social media slagging off the writers and producers, as if they've somehow deliberately conspired to ruin their lives by not wrapping up the show in the way they expected, makes me glad I'm not that invested in it quite as much as that, really. 

Wildly varying theories about plot, character development etc are great fun, but not when it stops you enjoying it for what is is, IMO.

Can't wait for next week, to see how it concludes! Then I'll be a bit disappointed it won't be on anymore...

[YCKonstantine]

If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

Maybe it's good it made people feel uneasy. I personally did not care for the episode, but that doesn't mean it was bad. It was more of a "I don't really like what's going on here" much like when Ned got his head lobbed off or any scene with Joffrey.

At the end of the day what happens happens and there's probably hundreds and thousands of different theories and ways people want the show to play out but the writers can't please everyone. 

[John Drake]

It's guaranteed that when George R R Martin gets round to wrapping up the story in the books, there will be plenty of people complaining that he's got it all wrong, even though every single one of these characters and every aspect of life in Westeros were created in his own head.

How could HE possibly know what's meant to happen!!!