Television

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:02 am

howard wrote: Just knowing that Saul becomes a sleazy but very sharp bottom feeding criminal attorney a few years in the future is sufficient.

Just describing him as an Albuquerque lawyer says enough.

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:46 am

Jonah Keri @jonahkeri
Wade Boggs has now been a central figure on episodes of Cheers, The Simpsons, AND Sunny, rendering all his baseball accomplishments moot.

Loved last night's episode.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:54 am

Also, Sancarlos, just do yourself a favor and watch Breaking Bad. Seriously. I am jealous that you still have that experience in front of you.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:34 am

tennbengal wrote:Also, Sancarlos, just do yourself a favor and watch Breaking Bad. Seriously. I am jealous that you still have that experience in front of you.

Agree completely.

I came on board late - end of 4th season - which allowed me to binge heavily and get caught up as season five unfolded. Simply, it is the best TV series I have ever seen.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:00 am

Thirded.

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:12 am

I don't know if it's the best drama I ever saw, although it's certainly in the conversation.

One thing I can say is I can't recall another show that started out pretty good, and then got increasingly better every season thereafter. Just an incredibly rich and detailed story.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:20 am

I'm hoping that happens to The Wire. Still waiting after 9 episodes.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:39 am

howard wrote:
sancarlos wrote:…do you think I can still enjoy it a lot (assuming it is as good as we think it might be), despite not having watched Breaking Bad?
Absolutely. Aside from inside jokes and easter eggs, if you learn a little bit about the Saul character in the Breaking Bad series, that will help your enjoyment a bit, but it is not necessary. Just knowing that Saul becomes a sleazy but very sharp bottom feeding criminal attorney a few years in the future is sufficient. Maybe knowing a bit of the future of one other character, Mike Ermantraut, would similarly help, but you'll be fine starting cold I am sure.

Agreed. Saul was an unexpected breakout character for the show. From what I've heard (maybe Odenkirk on a podcast), the character was only supposed to be a minor character in a few episodes. The character and actor were so incredibly awesome, they wrote him in more. The show is supposed to be a prequel character development showing how he became the caricature of a scumbag criminal attorney, but also extremely sharp, well connected, and willing to aid in committing crimes to cover for his clients. For a large cut.

Breaking Bad is must watch. No matter how much hype you may have heard, it is even better. I need to catch up on a lot of the great shows that have come out recently, but BB is easily the best show I have ever seen. Just the development of Walter White's character evolution is worth it.

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:44 am

J-Lo, I know you're slogging through The Wire. I was the same way that I wasn't pulled in completely during the first season. The 2nd (focusing on labor), 3rd (city politics), and espcially the 4th (schools) is where this season really shines. I enjoyed it greatly when they expanded the scope to a more epic scale, but that's just me.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:03 am

Wait...so The Wire is like a new show every season?

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:04 am

Sort of. The focus of each season is different. Many of the same main characters are there throughout.

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:06 am

Not exactly.

The Law vs. the Barksdale crew is an overarching plot line. Later seasons expand the scope, however, to different areas of how the law and crime intersect and effect. By the 5th season, the Law vs. Crime is one of about 5 different plot points, and I don't even think was even the secondary arc.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:15 am

So do the story lines in season 1 get resolved in season 1 or do they carry over? Although, I suppose the only real story line is bringing down Barksdale/Stringer.

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:27 am

The Law vs. Barksdale arc doesn't quite resolve as much as it morphs into different arcs, with different players.

duff · Post by **duff** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:46 pm

I may be in a very small minority, but I believe The Wire is better the Breaking Bad. And I loved them both.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:05 pm

Hey, a PapaDuff sighting. Welcome back.

That French Guy · Post by **That French Guy** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:54 pm

Yeah Parks and Rec is back, even for a mini final season. Andy convincing himself he was moving to Chicago was fantastic, as was Poehler's imitation of Tammy. At first I thought she was dubbed.

duff wrote:I may be in a very small minority, but I believe The Wire is better the Breaking Bad. And I loved them both.

I'm with you. The Wire is my favorite show ever. By far.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:42 pm

I swore I had given up on Homeland after last season but my coworkers told me to watch season 4. I did. It wasn't that bad, but there were points I wasn't entertained. Her sleeping with that kid was ridiculous, amongst other things.

But the most striking image from that show was the "subtlety with a sledgehammer" effect of finding a baby with red hair and ice blue eyes to let you know who the dad of Carrie's kid was. That ugly little thing was a fucking demon.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:11 pm

[quote="That French Guy"]Yeah Parks and Rec is back, even for a mini final season. Andy convincing himself he was moving to Chicago was fantastic, as was Poehler's imitation of Tammy. At first I thought she was dubbed.

Finally watched the first 2 Parks episodes this weekend and I loved it. Really going to miss this show

Tomorrow Justified starts it's final season - can't wait to see how it ends. I'm thinking Ava is killed, Raylon is fired and Boyd leaves the state, but I have no idea if any of that will happen.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:02 pm

Just watched SNL for the first time this season. All praise the DVR as it was beyond belief horrible.

Kevin Hart sure tried his hardest, but it was dismal viewing.

Post by **brian** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:56 pm

Oral history of Justified.

(Longish, but well worth your time if you're a fan of the show.)

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:57 pm

Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore...2 episodes in and I'm not sure yet. I think I'm biased towards wanting to like it, but his monologue and the panel has had a bit of a rough start. Anyone else have any initial thoughts?

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:18 am

GoodKarma wrote:Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore...2 episodes in and I'm not sure yet. I think I'm biased towards wanting to like it, but his monologue and the panel has had a bit of a rough start. Anyone else have any initial thoughts?

Feel like 11:30 is a very competitive time window. If i was up I was on Colbert at the cost of the big 3 channel offerings. Did not think Larry brought it and the panel Chelsea Lately is not my thing. Just not the strength of the comics they bring on.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:18 pm

Agree about the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore - want to like it and it has had a few good spots but I can this format getting very old quickly.

BuffloSoldier · Post by **BuffloSoldier** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:20 pm

This next few months is my FX sweet spot: Archer, Justified, the Americans.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:44 pm

BuffloSoldier wrote:This next few months is my FX sweet spot: Archer, Justified, the Americans.

I'm trying to make myself get into Archer, and the Americans didn't really ring with me, but goddamn is Justified a great show.

Walton Goggins should be the Hollywood equal of the next stupid MLB pitching deal. Just walk up and say, "Hello, I'm Walton and I will need X truckloads of money to appear in your moviefilm."

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:47 pm

BSF21 wrote:
BuffloSoldier wrote:This next few months is my FX sweet spot: Archer, Justified, the Americans.
I'm trying to make myself get into Archer, and the Americans didn't really ring with me, but goddamn is Justified a great show.

Walton Goggins should be the Hollywood equal of the next stupid MLB pitching deal. Just walk up and say, "Hello, I'm Walton and I will need X truckloads of money to appear in your moviefilm."

if the Clint Howard biopic could ever find a director, he's a lock.

Post by **brian** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:54 pm

AB_skin_test wrote:
BSF21 wrote:
BuffloSoldier wrote:This next few months is my FX sweet spot: Archer, Justified, the Americans.
I'm trying to make myself get into Archer, and the Americans didn't really ring with me, but goddamn is Justified a great show.

Walton Goggins should be the Hollywood equal of the next stupid MLB pitching deal. Just walk up and say, "Hello, I'm Walton and I will need X truckloads of money to appear in your moviefilm."

if the Clint Howard biopic could ever find a director, he's a lock.

I can think of a pretty famous director who might be interested.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:45 pm

Jesus christ I'm gonna have to start putting my jokes in a different color.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:56 pm

AB_skin_test wrote:Jesus christ I'm gonna have to start putting my jokes in a different color.

Or making better jokes.

burn.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:18 pm

Sigh. You keep running, you magnificent bastard.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:41 am

brian wrote:Oral history of Justified.

(Longish, but well worth your time if you're a fan of the show.)

Didn't make my way through it yet, but here is an outtake (from Walter Goggins):

So I agree to do [the show]. I get on a plane, I connect through Detroit on the way to Pittsburgh, and as I’m making my way from one gate to another a guy comes up to me with this heavy Aussie accent. He says, “Are you Walton?” And I said, “Yeah, yeah.” And he said, “I’m Damon Herriman.” And I said, “Well nice to meet you Damon.” Then he said, “I’m playing Dewey,” and I thought, no, man! No! They have an Aussie, this gentrified, polished, world-traveled Aussie playing Dewey Crowe? Are you kidding me? No! And I had all these fears and insecurities from that conversation. And then the first words came out of his mouth in that read-through and it was like, Oh. My. God. That guy is brilliant. In a million years I wouldn’t have seen it. And he killed it. And then I thought, here we are. And here we go.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 11:55 am

I miss Elmore Leonard and will miss this show once it's over.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:49 am

The first episode back sets up big shit for the final season. Love Boyd Crowder

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:31 am

Bensell wrote:The first episode back sets up big shit for the final season. Love Boyd Crowder

Look at the flowers Lizzie...

BuffloSoldier · Post by **BuffloSoldier** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:59 am

I really want to know who the alternatives were to Raylan. They keep saying others were tested, etc, but never seen any actual names.

That French Guy · Post by **That French Guy** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:42 pm

Although it taps à bit much on the "Everyone in town has a dark secret" trope, I really liked Broadchurch season 1. Great characters, great locations, not that many clichés and most actors were very good (how did I not recognize Walder fuckin’ Frey). Tenant had some hilarious lines. And that last half hour was really... dusty in the room I reckon.

On to season 2 !

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:21 pm

So I am a big fan of Alpha House (Amazon original) but have not gotten into too many of their other original programs. I watched Betas but realized it was not going to make it past one season (and you realize the nerd kid from the Verizon ad clearly has no acting range). I am also not sure I can get into Transparent. However, I just watched the pilot for The Man in the High Castle. A series based on the Philip K. Dick novel. Hope this gets made into a full series.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:59 pm

Parks and Recreation continues to kill it.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:08 am

"The idiot plot" is a term referring to a storyline that is kept in motion only because of the fact that most of the characters in a story are complete idiots.

Watched an episode of Blackish on the dvr (the MLK Day episode) last night and boy, it should have been called "The Idiot Plot." That show did have promise, but man alive, that was 22 minutes of suck.