What have you been watching on (proper scripted) telly?

[Wretch]

I can't help but think that Derek would be a lot better if he wasn't in the show. Derek is the weakest character in it IMO.

[Cobra1000]

Nashville is clearly the finest show on television. That duet at the end is by The Civil Wars. You should all buy their album, or at the very least grab their free live set from http://noisetrade.com/thecivilwars

 

Fuck sake, I keep discovering things I want to watch, I really havent been keeping up with any US TV this year! Where you watching Nashville? Is it on over here or are you just downloading it?

[Monkee]

Man, what show were you watching?

 

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Happy ending? Who actually lived out of the enormous cast -- Lana Banana? Kit got sucked up by the aliens, but he was terminally ill, and both the women he loved had died horribly. Sister Jude got a happy ending of sorts, but it doesn't exactly balance out the years of torment leading up to that. And she did die, like pretty much everyone else.

 

I thought the finale was spectacular. It's such a consciously wacky show, and most of the time, that's what it's all about, the HOLY SHIT stuff where it's just wall to wall craziness. But the final episode had moments in it that were genuinely very, very moving. Jude's scenes were so beautifully shot and acted, it's hard to believe the same show that gave you Ian McShane as a crazy Santa, or a Nazi war criminal climbing into a furnace with the corpse of a dead nun who'd been possessed by Satan could move you to tears.

 

The Name Game sequence from earlier in the season is one of my favourite things for years.

 

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Well...

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

I didn't actually mean 'happy ever after' as I know no-one was actually 'happy' for the reasons you pointed out. I meant that nothing left you wondering what might've happened.

 

In the first series, you were left wondering about the Harmons in the house as ghosts. What happened to Tate and Constance? It could've had a second series purely on this storyline rather than taking it to the asylum. They were great characters and there was scope.

 

The ending for Asylum though just wrapped everything up and you weren't left wondering about anything. If Kit had just disappeared and they'd not show the bright lights then that could've at least saved it a bit. If Johnny had turned out to be Kit's son rather than Lana's and her son had actually died because she didn't feed him or whatever then that would've been a good twist. I know no-one lived but there was nothing to keep you wondering. There was no-where else for the story to go and it was definitely a one-off series unliked the first one.

 

However, having said that, I totally agree with everything else you said. Every other episode was just brilliant. I didn't even recognise Ian McShane at first and kept wondering where I knew him from. And the whole experi-mental Nazi doctor storyline was brilliant too. I think the AHS writers have a great knack of weaving so many stories together without losing the plot and de-characterising (a term?) the characters. I mean, you don't lose sight of who's who or feel like the character development is lost. You both love and hate Sister Jude, you actually feel sorry for Arden towards the end, you empathise with Grace even though she's a pyscho axe murderer, etc.

 

And yes, The Name Game episode was my favourite too. I'd love to have seen than being filmed.

 

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Also, while writing that I had to look it up it up on Wiki as I'm really bad with names. I love that Jessice Lange, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson have all been confirmed for season 3 as well as Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy (I love her, I think she's great!) and that the girl who played Violet will be back as well.

 

Really looking forward to seeing what they do with season 3!

 

 

EDIT: I Sky+d Nashville last night as I thought it looked really good and then had a dream involving Hayden Panettiere - I was in a prison choir and was signing Dirrty by Christinas Aguilera while slut dropping with Hayden. Randomly weird.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Monkee

[Chilly McFreeze]

Derek is by far one of the most confusing shows I have seen recently. I am a big Gervais fan (not the man, but the work,) but Life's Too Short was absolutely terrible. Derek is a step back in the right direction, and I enjoyed the pilot. But the series is really strange. There's a really good drama/comedy buried in the script somewhere, but I'm just not seeing.

 

Firstly, Derek has shown very little of the supposed 'kindest person in the world.' And Gervais is not playing him well. He come's out of character frequently to deliver some of the big lines, and shows no real skill in playing the part.

 

The message regarding the old people was especially confusing in the second episode. Are we meant to feel sympathy for how slow and boring there lives are now? Why were they partying like it was 1999? Were we then meant to realise being old isn't so bad? It didn't make any sense to me.

 

The Kev character is possibly the worst thing Gervais has ever written. A horribly one dimensional character, that is so crude and cheap, you can't even laugh at him. The show would be infinitely better without him. The thought that a pervy old guy who sleeps naked in the residents bed would be happily accepted by everyone as harmless is totally unbelievable.

 

And the whole thing is as subtle as as sledgehammer. The overbearing piano music, the weird montages that don't fit in with the mockumentary style, tugging at our heartstrings before we have any chance of emotionally investing in the characters. The emotional ending to The Office works so well because we spent 2 seasons investing in the cast, and the pay offs were fantastic. You can't ask us to feel anything for any of these characters after 20 minutes of unsubtle, forced emotion. And the whole thing doesn't play like a documentary. It's filmed more like a normal TV show. The mockumentary style just seems like an excuse for Gervais to use the 'look to camera' for cheap laughs. When someone looks at a camera, they may as well be saying 'You havin' a laugh?' Life has imitated art.

 

I'll keep watching Derek (unlike Life's Too Short, which I couldn't stand to watch,) but I don't expect it to improve.

 

Pilkington is great in it though. Even though he is playing himself, it's clear he has acting ability. He has stolen the show in both episodes.

 

Gervais has lost his touch. Extras was still great, but everything since has been incredibly poor. Although Derek is an improvement on Life's Too Short, it's still way below the high standards he set with The Office.

 

Merchant has his own sitcom with HBO coming out soon, it will be very interesting to see what that's like, comparing both writers solo TV series may show where the true genius came from in their earlier work. I increasingly find myself thinking the best stuff they did was more Merchant's hand than Gervais.

 

EDIT: Oh, and I'm 90% sure they are going with a 'Secret Millionaire' ending. Not sure who that person would be out of the cast, but it seems like the only logical conclusion.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Chilly McFreeze

[Baz Windham]

And the whole thing is as subtle as as sledgehammer.

 

This is my main criticism, all a bit too in your face cutesy with the story so far, the general message is there and would work well if it weren't hitting you in the face with a branding iron. I agree on the Kev character too, it's as if they were worried there weren't enough 'proper jokes' and stuck him in. I've also noticed the slips in the Derek character, a few times i've thought "I don't believe he'd do/say that"

 

Those crticisms aside I am enjoying it, it could just be so much better with a few tweaks.

[dopper]

I reckon a beloved old person dying and Kev somehow turning babyface will be the big end to the series.

[Astro Hollywood]

Monkee, I think we just wanted different things out of it, but the set-up of Asylum demanded a different ending to the previous season.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

Murder House was another beast entirely. The entire conceit was of the eternal wandering spirits trapped there, and that once you die there, there is no ending, and you're doomed to be wailing "WHERE'S MY BABY!" for centuries.

 

Whereas, Asylum was less supernatural, and more about the horrors and atrocities committed by people. Plus, once they time-skipped to modern day, the loose ends at Briarcliff kinda had to be tied up.

 

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Anyway, I see that some plot synopses from the next season of Community have leaked and are out on the net. They look pretty great.

 

Oh, go on then...

 

Community Season 4: Leaked Internal Memo... possibly

[Monkee]

I understand that Murder House and Asylum were two different entities dealing with differnt "horrors". But I still think it was all tied up too neatly in Asylum. I felt as if the writers were sitting there for ages trying to think of a way of ending Asylum with a 'wow' or a 'hmmm' aspect but couldn't think of anything so they just packed it all up in a lovely box and put it on a shelf. No questions, no what ifs, no wonderings. I just wanted something to keep me going that's all. It didn't detract from how great the rest of the season was though, far from it.

[Nexus]

The newest Community episode was actually terrible.

[Forrest]

I reckon a beloved old person dying and Kev somehow turning babyface will be the big end to the series.

 

I think that'd be a bit rubbish, to be honest, as they did the whole beloved old person dying soty for the pilot ending.

[Joey Joe Joe Jr]

New episode of Community was very underwhelming. Premiere episodes don't need the strongest episodes because often fans are just happy to see it back. With last night's episode it felt like the creators were thinking 'the audience like subversive stuff; they'll like this...probably'. Very all over the place and with too much crammed in. Characters felt like louder caricatures of themselves. They could go in a really interesting direction, by acknowledging that they brought everything to an end quite nicely last season and explore a darker timeline route; an idea which they've already introduced. Everyone already has these expectations that things won't be the same, so they might as well go way down the rabbit hole with it; though I'm sure with new showrunners in place of Harmon, the network are wielding more influence to appeal to a broader audience.

 

The Office wasn't bad compared to the general standard of the last two years, though I hope they haven't already settled the Jim/Pam problems. I have to say that Clark/Dwight Jr, despite the actor annoying me in most which I've seen in him, has settled in quite nicely, along with Pete. I suppose it's the longtime closeness to the characters, that they can come out with the odd ensemble episode that makes you realise why you still watch despite the plummet in quality.

Edited February 8, 2013 by dharmabear

[Dai]

Clark has been the standout character in The Office for the last few episodes. A great character, and a shame you wont see him develop. Pete is also pretty good. When you look back at all the new characters they have introduced (Andy, Karen, Holly, Charles Miner, Robert California, Erin, etc), they pretty much have a 100% record of being at least good. Catherine Tate is good, so they've introduced 3 new characters recently, who are all solid. Makes me wish they went ahead and tried the 'reboot', without Pam/Jim/Andy/Dwight. I think they could have pulled it off.

 

 

Its been pretty good for most of the new season, just nothing great any more. The episode where they brought back all of Dwight's friends was great. Seeing the Karate guy who appeared for 2 minutes in that episode yonks back when Michael and Dwight had a fight, or Dwights babysitter who appeared for a few minutes at Michael/Jan's dinner party, was a nice attention to detail, which I always like.

 

 

Crowbarring the sound guy into the Pam/Jim storyline wasnt very good, but on the whole, its been pretty good recently.

[Chest Rockwell]

The newest Community episode was actually terrible.

 

 

I'm not surprised, but I'm definitely going to watch it anyway.

[organizedkaos]

The newest Community episode was actually terrible.

 

I didn't hate it, but it certainly had the feel of someone else trying to ape Community. Lots of pop culture references and use of other television styles yet without the character moments to ground it (in fact the resolution of the Abed storyline was the opposite of how they'd do homages before, rather than use all the cool meta/parody stuff to lead to character growth they kinda handwave it away with "Abed is weird" suggesting the writers didn't care so much about the overall story as much as the bit they wanted to do)

[Professor Paul's Bin]

Does anybody know if Kitchen Nightmares USA is currently showing on any of the freeview channels at the moment?

 

Despite it probably being fake. Me and the Mrs's love it. Brilliant television.