The Swamp

I’m gonna toss this steamer trunk containing the lifeless husk of my ex-boyfriend into a remote corner of my limitless void.

Ryan wrote:3 notes from SNL:

I had literally never heard of the host before
Again, Leslie Jones stinks
More angry IDGAF Weekend Update jokes, please

I did not know who she was either, but not surprised as most of her work was not really targeted at me.
I fine SNL writers going back to a premise that worked once and maybe a second time a bit tiresome (i.e. I think they can rest on the screen test skits for a few seasons).
The video game worked because Kenan Thompson is just funny.

Ryan wrote:3 notes from SNL:

I had literally never heard of the host before
Again, Leslie Jones stinks
More angry IDGAF Weekend Update jokes, please

Update has really come a long way with those 2. They were TERRIBLE when they started, but the timing and the writing is peak DGAF right now.

I agree with you on Jones. Every cast member has a tendency to fall back on their laugh lines (in her case, it's shouting and then smiling with her teeth out.) But it's just f'ing annoying with her. I mean, Keenan can save a scene with just a side glance and raised eyebrow. McKinnon knows when to go over the top and walk up to the line of breaking character.

I thought the host brought it, but frankly she was trying too hard. The cat lady skit was hilariously bad.

I watch the show Sunday morning on DVR, so it's still a pretty entertaining exercise. Though, the Larry David monologue and most of that show... I just don't get that guy's brand. Not my deal.

wlu_lax6 wrote:

Ryan wrote:3 notes from SNL:

I had literally never heard of the host before
Again, Leslie Jones stinks
More angry IDGAF Weekend Update jokes, please

I did not know who she was either, but not surprised as most of her work was not really targeted at me.
I fine SNL writers going back to a premise that worked once and maybe a second time a bit tiresome (i.e. I think they can rest on the screen test skits for a few seasons).
The video game worked because Kenan Thompson is just funny.

They will never retire the screen test. That's when the new cast members get to throw the 2 or 3 audition pieces out there. And they usually find a few for the host. And it's pretty consistently funny, for my money.

Nonlinear FC wrote:

Ryan wrote:3 notes from SNL:

I had literally never heard of the host before
Again, Leslie Jones stinks
More angry IDGAF Weekend Update jokes, please

Update has really come a long way with those 2. They were TERRIBLE when they started, but the timing and the writing is peak DGAF right now.

I agree with you on Jones. Every cast member has a tendency to fall back on their laugh lines (in her case, it's shouting and then smiling with her teeth out.) But it's just f'ing annoying with her. I mean, Keenan can save a scene with just a side glance and raised eyebrow. McKinnon knows when to go over the top and walk up to the line of breaking character.

I thought the host brought it, but frankly she was trying too hard. The cat lady skit was hilariously bad.

I watch the show Sunday morning on DVR, so it's still a pretty entertaining exercise. Though, the Larry David monologue and most of that show... I just don't get that guy's brand. Not my deal.

More than any cast member I have ever seen - and worse than any performer I have seen on TV, Leslie Jones seems unable to stay in character or even memorize her lines. There have been episodes where she has literally one or two short lines, and she either blows the timing or stares directly at the cue cards. How she stays on the show is beyond me.

and Larry David's monologue was just plain offensive. It is possible to make certain jokes about the Holocaust (being jewish helps...) but he was not funny in the least..

DVR-ing the show is the only way to watch it. That way you only waste 30 minutes on a bad episode.

Yeah, she is irksome man. I'm a total SNL mark... Grew up watching when I was definitely too young to get a lot of the jokes, watched it really crater in the Rocket year, come all the way back. Read the books, still love the show. (I love how every generation talks about how bad the current show is, and then a new batch comes in and we wax nostalgic for the very cast people spent 4 years shitting on. I'm old. I've seen it at least 5 or 6 cycles now. The show is always going to be 3, maybe four really funny moments a week. Sometimes more, sometimes left. But people have the best of shows in their head and forget that for every James Brown winner, there was some random skit that is lost in the rubble of shitty skits.)

Anyways, she is one of the worst I've seen. You nailed it. She so consistently falls back on the "this is live!" vibe, which again... Certain people make that work to save something that's falling flat. McKinnon and Thompson in particular are very strategic about it. She just fucks up routinely and doesn't even make it work for anything. Just fucks up the timing. And how many more Update monologues are going to be "Big black woman talks about her vagina, because..."

Fallon was one of the all-time worst about breaking, but there was something charming about it AND he pretty consistently delivered, so I think he got a pass. No idea why Jones gets so much run.

Yeah she has her problems, but just the nature of being BIG has been used in pretty funny ways. Maybe funnier with another cast member, but physically there is just nobody like her (like her performance in "Black Annie"). Yeah too much Weekend Update.

Also I have heard references to surviving dating Kat Williams. I don't find Kat funny but would love to understand more about those stories.

Nonlinear FC wrote:Fallon was one of the all-time worst about breaking, but ...he... was s...hi...tty ...ass.

Totally agree.

Off-topic, but I will never forgive Fallon for A) humanizing Donald Trump, and (lesser) B) that horrible baseball version of Fever Pitch.

I just don't think he's very funny. Arguably the funniest thing about him is when he breaks character and that's not a good sign.

He's all of Adam Sandler's relying on cutesy shit without any of his weirdness or humor.

This has to be the stupidest, heaviest on plot armor episode of TWD, which is really quite an achievement.

That French Guy wrote:This has to be the stupidest, heaviest on plot armor episode of TWD, which is really quite an achievement.

I have this season recorded but haven't watched. Should I just get off the train? I'm almost been hate watching for a year. I like JDM as Negan, but that's about the extent of it at this point.

BSF21 wrote:

That French Guy wrote:This has to be the stupidest, heaviest on plot armor episode of TWD, which is really quite an achievement.

I have this season recorded but haven't watched. Should I just get off the train? I'm almost been hate watching for a year. I like JDM as Negan, but that's about the extent of it at this point.

YMMV but I just quit two (or three?) years ago and honestly haven't missed it or considered catching up on streaming services since. I was hate-watching for the last year I watched, but I just couldn't do it any more.

brian wrote:

BSF21 wrote:

That French Guy wrote:This has to be the stupidest, heaviest on plot armor episode of TWD, which is really quite an achievement.

I have this season recorded but haven't watched. Should I just get off the train? I'm almost been hate watching for a year. I like JDM as Negan, but that's about the extent of it at this point.

YMMV but I just quit two (or three?) years ago and honestly haven't missed it or considered catching up on streaming services since. I was hate-watching for the last year I watched, but I just couldn't do it any more.

Minus the hate-watching, me too.

I think for me, the show was too negative, and there was no happy ending in sight. So I decided not to make myself go through more grimness week after week when anything positive was only leading to more grimness.

If they do a final season that is likely to lead to a refuge for our characters, I could see getting back into it.

I almost never quit a show (2 or 3 ever, tops) but l'm getting closer with this one. The 4 épisodes so far have been ultra boring, which is a bit too much to go along the usual plot-driven stupidity of almost every character.

If you re watching it for negan, he's barely in it so far, although it looks like it's about to change next week.

That French Guy wrote:I almost never quit a show (2 or 3 ever, tops) but l'm getting closer with this one. The 4 épisodes so far have been ultra boring, which is a bit too much to go along the usual plot-driven stupidity of almost every character.

If you re watching it for negan, he's barely in it so far, although it looks like it's about to change next week.

See this is what bugs me. There's a ton of source to draw off of and at this point as a fan it's like you know they're reaching to hold on to this property as long as humanly possible. AMC likely share a lot of the blame here and it's hard to fault Robert Kirkman who I'm sure now has more money than g-d.

This is why Breaking Bad was so appealing. Vince had a story, wrote a story, told a story. Nothing about that was superfluous or reachy. They took the amount of time they needed to tell it and then let it go. I've got a real distaste for shows that drag you through the mud to get there and I feel like TWD has gone way past that mark.

I don't understand hate-watching at all. With as many shows as I watch, who has the time? I think the closest for me was The Newsroom, where I begrudgingly finished the first season, but around the 3rd episode of the second, I just stopped and deleted it literally in the middle of an episode. It was when that one guy went out on the campaign trail for the 2012 New Hampshire primary, and then another female reporter told him he wasn't experienced enough or some other shitty dialogue when I just stood up, said "fuck this", and shut it off.

Steve of phpBB wrote:If they do a final season that is likely to lead to a refuge for our characters, I could see getting back into it.

hahahaha

Steve of phpBB wrote:

brian wrote:

BSF21 wrote:

That French Guy wrote:This has to be the stupidest, heaviest on plot armor episode of TWD, which is really quite an achievement.

I have this season recorded but haven't watched. Should I just get off the train? I'm almost been hate watching for a year. I like JDM as Negan, but that's about the extent of it at this point.

YMMV but I just quit two (or three?) years ago and honestly haven't missed it or considered catching up on streaming services since. I was hate-watching for the last year I watched, but I just couldn't do it any more.

Minus the hate-watching, me too.

I think for me, the show was too negative, and there was no happy ending in sight. So I decided not to make myself go through more grimness week after week when anything positive was only leading to more grimness.

If they do a final season that is likely to lead to a refuge for our characters, I could see getting back into it.

Also to my own point, I feel like they've wrapped up so many story lines that I care about while never really writing new ones in. Beth/Daryl was a cool story line. Carol/Daryl/Morgan/Carol trying to find herself was compelling. Even Maggie/Glen were characters you could connect with.

Rick/Michonne does nothing for me. Maggie is pregnant, who cares? Carl is still a waste. Daryl/Ironfaceguy was a bust.

In regards to Michonne you have this great actress in DG and have done exactly nothing to develop any character there other than "cool black Blade-chick".

This is therapeutic. I'm actively talking myself out of an abusive situation.

I quit watching House of Cards in the middle of this latest season (before the Spacey allegations) because I felt it was going in the same direction.

Just watching an episode and saying a dozen times "this is ridiculous". I don't have any problem suspending disbelief, especially for a TV show but you shouldn't feel like literally mocking the show you're watching MST3K style every episode and that's where I was with TWD at one point and that's about where I decide to pull the pin on a TV show. Like someone else said, there's too much good stuff out there to suffer through the dreck even if you've already watched the show for the first few seasons. It's better to burn out than fade away.

L-Jam3 wrote:I don't understand hate-watching at all. With as many shows as I watch, who has the time? I think the closest for me was The Newsroom, where I begrudgingly finished the first season, but around the 3rd episode of the second, I just stopped and deleted it literally in the middle of an episode. It was when that one guy went out on the campaign trail for the 2012 New Hampshire primary, and then another female reporter told him he wasn't experienced enough or some other shitty dialogue when I just stood up, said "fuck this", and shut it off.

1) This is where I'm at... I literally don't have time for shows that don't keep me fully engaged.

2) I also want to fully endorse something up-thread... You (show-runner) need to let me know you've got an endpoint in mind. There are certain shows I'll give a lot of leeway because they are just that entertaining. But I'd say around Season 5 of ANY show, there needs to be an indication that things are coming to a close. I know this might be a bad example, but a show like Parenthood is a good example. That show, theoretically, could've gone on forever. But around Season 4 or 5, you got the sense that the characters had all evolved to a point that anymore movement moves into farce.

If a show I've dropped off my DVR or watch-list on various services signals they are going to actually wrap things up, I'll absolutely come back and catch-up... Unless it's just too much of a slog. Bloodlines is a perfect example. We got very bored with it around the middle of S2. Then they announce they are going to wrap it up and we are back in. (I still find it tough to watch.)

I stopped watching House of Cards when Kate Mara got killed.

mister d wrote:I stopped watching House of Cards when Kate Mara got killed.

I said that half joking just last week. I finished the second season, but it was so ridiculous half the time, I contemplated ditching it. Several friends tell me I have to get caught up, but with the real life drama in the White House, I have no interest right now. Same with Veep. I think I have 2 more seasons, but I can't laugh about a bunch of clowns in the WH. The last season I finished was fantastic. Maybe if Trump gets impeached I can laugh again.

I finished Season 2 of Man in the High Castle, and it is in my all-time Top 5 shows. It is just so fucking good, and so real in some ways. But if anyone watched, I have one issue I can't get past. Obergruppenführer Smith. He is a very high ranking Nazi in New York. I kind of assumed, and they eventually alluded to his being in the US Army during WWII. I just can't fathom US military officers in WWII becoming good Nazis if we lost the War.

The Sybian wrote:

mister d wrote:I stopped watching House of Cards when Kate Mara got killed.

I said that half joking just last week. I finished the second season, but it was so ridiculous half the time, I contemplated ditching it. Several friends tell me I have to get caught up, but with the real life drama in the White House, I have no interest right now. Same with Veep. I think I have 2 more seasons, but I can't laugh about a bunch of clowns in the WH. The last season I finished was fantastic. Maybe if Trump gets impeached I can laugh again.

I finished Season 2 of Man in the High Castle, and it is in my all-time Top 5 shows. It is just so fucking good, and so real in some ways. But if anyone watched, I have one issue I can't get past. Obergruppenführer Smith. He is a very high ranking Nazi in New York. I kind of assumed, and they eventually alluded to his being in the US Army during WWII. I just can't fathom US military officers in WWII becoming good Nazis if we lost the War.

Yeah, tell that to all of the active and retired generals licking Trump's boots. I imagine a lot of them would welcome an openly authoritarian state especially since it would magnify their importance.

The Sybian wrote:I just can't fathom US military officers in WWII becoming good Nazis if we lost the War.

I think the events of the past few months show why that is not so far fetched.

The complaints are the same, but with different authors. Glad to know I missed nothing aside from annoyance by dropping out multiple seasons ago.

The Sybian wrote:

mister d wrote:I stopped watching House of Cards when Kate Mara got killed.

I said that half joking just last week. I finished the second season, but it was so ridiculous half the time, I contemplated ditching it. Several friends tell me I have to get caught up, but with the real life drama in the White House, I have no interest right now. Same with Veep. I think I have 2 more seasons, but I can't laugh about a bunch of clowns in the WH. The last season I finished was fantastic. Maybe if Trump gets impeached I can laugh again.

I finished Season 2 of Man in the High Castle, and it is in my all-time Top 5 shows. It is just so fucking good, and so real in some ways. But if anyone watched, I have one issue I can't get past. Obergruppenführer Smith. He is a very high ranking Nazi in New York. I kind of assumed, and they eventually alluded to his being in the US Army during WWII. I just can't fathom US military officers in WWII becoming good Nazis if we lost the War.

Michael Flynn

Avram wrote:

The Sybian wrote:

mister d wrote:I stopped watching House of Cards when Kate Mara got killed.

I said that half joking just last week. I finished the second season, but it was so ridiculous half the time, I contemplated ditching it. Several friends tell me I have to get caught up, but with the real life drama in the White House, I have no interest right now. Same with Veep. I think I have 2 more seasons, but I can't laugh about a bunch of clowns in the WH. The last season I finished was fantastic. Maybe if Trump gets impeached I can laugh again.

I finished Season 2 of Man in the High Castle, and it is in my all-time Top 5 shows. It is just so fucking good, and so real in some ways. But if anyone watched, I have one issue I can't get past. Obergruppenführer Smith. He is a very high ranking Nazi in New York. I kind of assumed, and they eventually alluded to his being in the US Army during WWII. I just can't fathom US military officers in WWII becoming good Nazis if we lost the War.

Michael Flynn

Not remotely the same. Think about the hatred of Nazism in the US during WWII. Is a nuke hitting DC and the US surrender going to make soldiers take pride in the Purity Laws and uphold Nazi ideals? Flynn is a conspiracy nut piece of shit who hated Obama, and was lured by money. Maybe in Season 3 they will explain how Smith became who he became.

I think you're completely underestimating how many Americans sympathized with the Nazis during that era which I have to assume included many members of the military.

Saying that the entire country was anti-Nazi is looking at the country in that era with rose-colored glasses at best. Many Americans -- more than I'm comfortable with -- agreed with much of the Nazis agenda if not their territorial designs on western Europe.

brian wrote:I think you're completely underestimating how many Americans sympathized with the Nazis during that era which I have to assume included many members of the military.

Saying that the entire country was anti-Nazi is looking at the country in that era with rose-colored glasses at best. Many Americans -- more than I'm comfortable with -- agreed with much of the Nazis agenda if not their territorial designs on western Europe.

And even George Patton who supposedly hated the Nazis was only too happy to propose arming the Germans and going after the Russians.

The German-American Bund was quite a significant U.S. organization until WWII.

Arguably, the zenith of the Bund's activities was the rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 20, 1939.[21] Some 20,000 people attended and heard Kuhn criticize President Roosevelt by repeatedly referring to him as "Frank D. Rosenfeld", calling his New Deal the "Jew Deal" and denouncing what he believed to be Bolshevik-Jewish American leadership. Most shocking to American sensibilities was the outbreak of violence between protesters and Bund storm troopers.

Avram wrote:

brian wrote:I think you're completely underestimating how many Americans sympathized with the Nazis during that era which I have to assume included many members of the military.

Saying that the entire country was anti-Nazi is looking at the country in that era with rose-colored glasses at best. Many Americans -- more than I'm comfortable with -- agreed with much of the Nazis agenda if not their territorial designs on western Europe.

And even George Patton who supposedly hated the Nazis was only too happy to propose arming the Germans and going after the Russians.

Good points. I've read a lot about Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh supporting Hitler and his crusade against the Jews. Ford even produced a 4 volume set of booklets entitled The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.

Looking at how easily Trump swayed the populace, I guess it is conceivable that a destroyed US could be convinced by Nazi propaganda that it was all the Jews' fault, and only Hitler could fix it. The show goes into the grand Nazi scheme to create a perfect world without war, where all effort is devoted towards technology and making life better. Yeah, I could see a decimated America eager to believe that giving in to the Third Reich would bring about a rapid rebuilding and a utopian world. DC and Boston were both destroyed by nukes in the show, so maybe. That would make a fascinating spinoff to see the back story of the US floundering and surrendering with DC nuked, then the Japanese controlling the West.

The Sybian wrote:

Avram wrote:

brian wrote:I think you're completely underestimating how many Americans sympathized with the Nazis during that era which I have to assume included many members of the military.

Saying that the entire country was anti-Nazi is looking at the country in that era with rose-colored glasses at best. Many Americans -- more than I'm comfortable with -- agreed with much of the Nazis agenda if not their territorial designs on western Europe.

And even George Patton who supposedly hated the Nazis was only too happy to propose arming the Germans and going after the Russians.

Good points. I've read a lot about Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh supporting Hitler and his crusade against the Jews. Ford even produced a 4 volume set of booklets entitled The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.

Looking at how easily Trump swayed the populace, I guess it is conceivable that a destroyed US could be convinced by Nazi propaganda that it was all the Jews' fault, and only Hitler could fix it. The show goes into the grand Nazi scheme to create a perfect world without war, where all effort is devoted towards technology and making life better. Yeah, I could see a decimated America eager to believe that giving in to the Third Reich would bring about a rapid rebuilding and a utopian world. DC and Boston were both destroyed by nukes in the show, so maybe. That would make a fascinating spinoff to see the back story of the US floundering and surrendering with DC nuked, then the Japanese controlling the West.

But, the smart ones won't call themselves Nazis or such inflammatory terms, and they won't wear white bedsheets that make them look like loony white trash. They'll call themselves the alt-right and Nationalists and wear J. Crew.

Alternate Rose Parade coverage from Funny Or Die with some famous faces.

This is either going to be utterly hilarious or a complete disaster. Either way, I'm in.

brian wrote:Alternate Rose Parade coverage from Funny Or Die with some famous faces.

This is either going to be utterly hilarious or a complete disaster. Either way, I'm in.

That is great. They have time to prep for it so it should be good. Reminds me of when Comedy Central was very very young they would broadcast the political conventions with comedians (maybe Penn and Teller) on the side.

wlu_lax6 wrote:

brian wrote:Alternate Rose Parade coverage from Funny Or Die with some famous faces.

This is either going to be utterly hilarious or a complete disaster. Either way, I'm in.

That is great. They have time to prep for it so it should be good. Reminds me of when Comedy Central was very very young they would broadcast the political conventions with comedians (maybe Penn and Teller) on the side.

I'm a total mark for both of those hosts, I'm all in on that.

Anybody watching Future Man on Hulu?

Produced by Seth Rogan... I'm finding it nice as a silly escape. The other show I started up was Tin Badge with Tim Roth on Amazon. That is not.. silly. In any way. It is difficult to watch.

Nonlinear FC wrote:Anybody watching Future Man on Hulu?

Produced by Seth Rogan... I'm finding it nice as a silly escape. The other show I started up was Tin Badge with Tim Roth on Amazon. That is not.. silly. In any way. It is difficult to watch.

I really, really, really liked Future Man.

Kind of felt it a spiritual kin to Stranger Things, steeped in 80s nostalgia while also picking apart some of the material it was based on. I always appreciated that the show would come right out and essentially say it was ripping off Back To The Future, The Terminator or The Last Starfighter.

And by the way, the show is basically a crazy mashup of those three movies. I really grew to love Wolf though -- maybe one of my favorite TV characters of all-time. No kidding.

PAW PATROL DEEP DIVE - Sounds like anyone who had a piece of this show is probably bathing in money!