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

[Registration_Form]

Justified's been a huge disappointment for me. S1 was pretty good, but with the promise of getting way better when Jeremy Davies and co showed up in S2. S2 was better, but still has those 'case/story of the week' episodes that fucked up the pacing and just weren't interesting. I've finished S3, and by this point, it's getting to be a chore giving them my time. There's just no weight to anything, if that makes sense. Everything feels so casual and half-arsed that I'm not connecting to it. I don't think I've ever been further from the edge of my seat on such a highly regarded show. Yeah, there's a lot of characters, and they're doing stuff, but there's nothing that makes me care. I keep waiting for Boyd Crowder to do something that makes him worthy of all the sigs and praise, but it's still not happened. Does it get extraordinary in S4 or something?

 

I think the problem is, the entire show feels comprised of what would be the C-strands in another show. If Justified is Oz, then every character is a Jazz Hoyt or Richie Hanlon, with no Shillinger, Alvarez or Beecher; it's the 90 seconds a week on Lost we spent with Rose and Bernard stretched out over 40 minutes; paper-thin background characters and stories brought to the front but without the writing or plot to justify (lol) their position. There's a general lack of depth, and it's just not that good.

 

Hannibal is fucking amazing though. Absolutely gorgeous too. It's going to break my black, black heart when it inevitably gets cancelled.

 

 

I am a outlaw.

 

Sorry I realise yet more ambiguous quotes and sig-worthy photos don't offer a proper response. But I think that scene (in S4 incidentally) adequately sums up the aura around Boyd Crowder, and is probably the finest example of the caring about characters you feel is absent in the earlier seasons. His story is linked to one of the main themes of the show- the South, it's customs, people's (often unjustif-er.. unsupported) perceptions about 'rednecks', being backwards etc. and pawns of richer, 'educated' Nothern City folk. Mags Bennett v the Oil Companies in S2 and the whole Detroit/Quarles arrogance in S3 show this dynamic. I think there is a bit of a patronising edge to some of it but on balance I think it explores the South very interestingly. Season 4 does continues it but with Boyd thrillingly positioned as an underdog. I think Boyd is such an absorbing character (aside from some of his amazing lines/speeches) due to his relationship with Raylan. Raylan is a dickhead who, whilst not on the same depth of dickheadness as, say, Vic Mackey is self-serving and takes a very 'ends jus- er.. legitimise the means' outlook so as evil as Boyd is its quite each to get behind him. I think one of the great parts of the show is deciding whether we care about Raylan on a human level. He is very unemotional and easy to support as a badass action hero but not as a deep character. It is pretty unusual to have a shows protagonist so undefined.

 

I think the neo-Western aspect too really endears the show to me. The verbal(and non-verbal, I guess) showdowns are incredible, Raylan's probably-not-that-plausible-but-still-ace-anyway gunslinging, the mystique and fear surrounding some of the more formidable characters.

 

I agree the cast of peripheral characters can be a little shallow and unexplored. Winona, Rachel and some typical Southern folk Raylan encounters are all guilty of this. Tim is ace and gets a bit more interesting in S4 but I still would like to know more about. Ava definitely improves in S4, in her own right, but also due to Boyd's brilliance.

 

I think the 'story of the week' eps are a bit hit and miss yeah. They can be a refreshing break (Dewey + kidney- which definitely plays up the dumb redneck stereotype!) or just pad out episodes.

 

I am biased but would definitely carry on through S4. I would like to think it is a lot more edge of your seat as it involves a cat/mouse chase, a big season-long story arc with mystery aspect, a lot more Boyd and villains less cartoonish than Quarles in S3.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Registration_Form

[SpursRiot2012]

Also, Quarles is one of the creepiest characters in any TV show ever.

 

And I don't know how anybody can't love Wynn Duffy.

Edited April 28, 2013 by SpursRiot2012

[Astro Hollywood]

I think one of the great parts of the show is deciding whether we care about Raylan on a human level. He is very unemotional and easy to support as a badass action hero but not as a deep character. It is pretty unusual to have a shows protagonist so undefined.

 

That's what stops me from caring about all of the characters, the complete lack of depth. And there's zero character evolution. I'm 39 episodes in, and everyone's the same as they were back in the pilot, meandering through their motions. That works in comedy, like the Simpsons or Seinfeld, with everyone resetting at the start of each new episode, but it sucks the life out of a narrative drama. You expect that kinda thing from CSI or other by-the-numbers shit TV, but I wasn't expecting it from this.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Obviously, I disagree. But, probably not for the reasons you imagine.

 

For example, Boyd Crowder is so fucking tremendous because whilst to his mind he is a deep and complex individual, on a different intellectual level to his peers, he can be boiled down to one simple motif; he likes to blow shit up and make money.

 

He's a complete sociopath, a genuinely shallow one that bounces between personalities and ideologies with abandon, only desiring to achieve a level of power, an audience, to satisfy his vanity

 

He's superb. Fucking superb.

 

Raylan is just a flawed anti-hero motivated by frustration. But, a very well acted one.

 

Alone, he'd probably be quite a callow character but the interplay between him and Boyd brings both characters to life.

 

The interesting thing with Raylan is that you get the feeling, for a law man, he has zero attachment to the law or authority. The only reason he chose that career, it seems, was it was the ultimate way to separate himself from his background and his dad. He didnt want to be a hillbilly, he longed for the bright lights and big city. When he battles with Boyd you sense it's less to do with him wanting to best a criminal, but wanting to fuck up the hick, backwater criminal that Boyd and his father represent and he so wanted to get away from.

Edited April 28, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz

[robbo9292]

Not on tv but its a tv pilot, has anyone seen the Zombieland pilot yet? Its a mix of terrible and ok

[organizedkaos]

Raylan and Boyd's relationship with each other, Raylans father and in particular how Raylan's upbringing governs so many of his actions is fairly complex too and very interesting. In particular consider the 3rd and 4th season climaxes where it's more about where Boyd and Raylan are as characters rather than defeating the big bad or solving the mystery. For example whilst season 3 is dominated by Quarles the big climatic moment is

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

Arlo shooting and killing someone who could have been Raylan (he wasn't sure)

 

[close spoiler]

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The character stuff is subtle, so many of the characters want to portray themselves as these badasses that the emotional stuff comes out in little doses (the stuff involving a particular death in the fourth season is fantastic for tiny moments). Not to say it's always there, the show does love it's moments and cool dialogue, but to argue it lacks depth I feel doesn't give the show credit.

Edited April 29, 2013 by organizedkaos

[niff]

Its one of those rare shows where the supporting cast are outshining the main cast members time after time after time. The 4th series is fantastic not only for the development of those main characters but they certainly upped the ante on the humour (as well as the body count).

[theironshake]

So ITV brings two new sitcoms to our screen one featuring two of the greatest acting talents of the last 50 years (Sir Ian Mcellan and Sir Derrick Jacobi) and the other with a strong ensemble cast. one is the dribbling shits and the other is pretty good.

Vicious staring the two acting legends is the worst sitcom i have ever watched! not a funny line quite what these acting gods are doing staring in a dated piece of crap like this is beyond me.

The Job Lot on the other hand has alot of potential likeable characters along with horrid but funny ones. roll on the next episode

[KingOfMetal]

So ITV brings two new sitcoms to our screen one featuring two of the greatest acting talents of the last 50 years (Sir Ian Mcellan and Sir Derrick Jacobi) and the other with a strong ensemble cast. one is the dribbling shits and the other is pretty good.

Vicious staring the two acting legends is the worst sitcom i have ever watched! not a funny line quite what these acting gods are doing staring in a dated piece of crap like this is beyond me.

The Job Lot on the other hand has alot of potential likeable characters along with horrid but funny ones. roll on the next episode

 

Agreed. ITV had been pushed Vicious continuously for weeks with the same 3 jokes in adverts which all came within the first few minutes. Dare I say it, but do you think that Mcellen and Jacobi are 'out of the depth' in this style of situation comedy? It was a tired, predictable by-the-numbers 'filmed in front of a live audience' sitcom.

The Job Lot, as you said, has potential though, similar to what the BBC had with The Smoking Room (which started OK, but then went to shit)

Edited April 30, 2013 by KingOfMetal

[Keith Houchen]

do you think that Mcellen and Jacobi are 'out of the depth' in this style of situation comedy?

No.

[theironshake]

I don't think they are out of the depth as they are great actors Mcellan was brilliantly funny on his stint on Corrie. Its just that the script is bad and its out of date. And its a crap stereotype of a older gay couple

Edited May 1, 2013 by theironshake

[Devon Malcolm]

The Job Lot, as you said, has potential though, similar to what the BBC had with The Smoking Room (which started OK, but then went to shit)

 

No.

[Chest Rockwell]

Every week, Community somehow manages to have its worst episode ever. It's pretty amazing, really. I hate that I will undoubtedly continue to watch it because I used to really like it and want it to be good. (also, it's only 20min a week. If I was blitzing this as a full series like I do with most sitcoms I'd have probably chucked my mouse through my monitor in exasperation by now)

 

At least they've put an end to the complete fucking awful non story that was Britta/Troy.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Chest Rockwell

[Forrest]

Speaking of really bad comedies, has anybody here plucked up to watch The Wright Way, the new Ben Elton sitcom about Health and Safety? If that sounds terrible in your head, then you'd be right. The advert made it look dreadful, but nothing can quite match the full 30-minute battering of sexist jokes and innuendo that would have been too dated even in the 70s. I failed to laugh once. It was about as funny as a fatal accident inquiry, but even then I was tempted to watch the second one just to see if it could possibly get any worse. I don't think I could take the pain, to be honest.

[Chest Rockwell]

I had no interest before, but I kinda want to see it after the complete critical shit-canning it got. Even better though, if someone with decent taste and writing ability could just watch it and write an amusing scathing review that would be great.