Telly thread

[Mr_Danger]

Yeah it never reached the highs of Malcom in the Middle for me but it was good enough. Too good to be a shitcom but not quite good enough to be a classic. Norm McDonald as Mikes brother was inspired casting and I wish there was more episodes with them together. In a world where Big Bang Theory spin offs are smash hits it’s a show that was criminally under watched.

[gmoney]

I must admit, I never gave it a chance as I was perhaps irrationally annoyed that they had a ridiculously similar title and premise to Malcolm in the Middle. It felt disrespectful. 

[Mr_Danger]

Brick and Dewey are the same person in my mind. It’s impossible for me to separate them.

[DCW]

I avoided it, mainly because I don't like the wife in it as she reminds me of Everybody Loves Raymond, a show I detested!

[Chest Rockwell]

Yeah I didn't bother with it for both of those reasons. I'm sure a lot of people had the same preconceptions!

[SuperBacon]

On 10/9/2024 at 10:05 AM, SuperBacon said:

I started watching Gilmore Girls.

Forgot about this. Absolutely blitzed the lot. Its really good up until series 6 and then it just falls off a cliff and 6 and 7 were pure hate watches, and I was appalled the whole way through.

Some of the character decisions they make are absolutely awful and everyone comes off as a cunt at some point (obviously not Kirk)

I started the Netflix addition (which I have seen bits of before) but I think it says something that I blitzed the series and haven't even bothered with the second episode yet of the add on a month or so on, as its all a bit rubbish.

Lorelai Gilmore though. Ooof. Also not hard to see why Melissa McCarthy broke out of the show. She has such a lovely warmth to her.

Also, Jess > Dean and Logan, all day. 

[Carbomb]

On 11/29/2024 at 4:48 PM, SuperBacon said:

Forgot about this. Absolutely blitzed the lot. Its really good up until series 6 and then it just falls off a cliff and 6 and 7 were pure hate watches, and I was appalled the whole way through.

Some of the character decisions they make are absolutely awful and everyone comes off as a cunt at some point (obviously not Kirk)

I started the Netflix addition (which I have seen bits of before) but I think it says something that I blitzed the series and haven't even bothered with the second episode yet of the add on a month or so on, as its all a bit rubbish.

Lorelai Gilmore though. Ooof. Also not hard to see why Melissa McCarthy broke out of the show. She has such a lovely warmth to her.

Also, Jess > Dean and Logan, all day. 

Lane is also one of the more likeable characters who doesn't really do much wrong. And whilst Paris starts off as a screaming arsehole, and is a bully to that poor lad, she develops into one of the more solid and decent people on the entire show, displaying more growth than most of them.

Melissa McCarthy as Sookie is a big, warm hug of a casting - she kind of embodies everything the series makers wanted the programme to be, with the picturesque, New England township setting and "howdy neighbour" feel. She fits the whole twee cosiness of the Dragonfly Inn, and her food looks amazing.

Apart from being a dick on one particular occasion, I'd say Lorelai is one of the better people (and yes, Lauren Graham is one of the sexiest women to walk the planet) - it's Rory who's a shit. There's a big GG fandom that loves to idolise the character as this pure-as-the-driven-snow angel; I remember one particular article going into detail about how none of the blokes she was with were good enough to be with her, glossing over the fact that she was emotionally cheating on one with another, and, rather than owning her shit, went into what was essentially a hand-wringing "poor me" abdication of responsibility. She's an entitled little git who's used to getting away with it from a lifetime of people bending over backwards for her because she looks like (to paraphrase Paris) "she has little birds dressing her in the morning".

Jess is way better than any of Rory's other blokes; it's really quite curious as to why the writers thought that making him a bit of a rude, but clearly troubled teenager at the beginning who "led Rory astray" was automatic villainhood. It just made me root for him, and when he showed he was above his material as a person, I ended up thinking he was too good for Rory.

Taylor Doose is a superb, American small-town crypto-fascist that you just can't help but want to see fail at everything with his pernicious local empire.

Have you watched the reboot? Only watch it if you're happy to hate everyone in it even more than before.

Edited December 2, 2024 by Carbomb
Stuart Nethercott

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2e3182xk4o

 

Goodbye Harold Bishop. Ian Smith has terminal cancer. Fuck you cancer!

[Thunderplex]

15 hours ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2e3182xk4o

 

Goodbye Harold Bishop. Ian Smith has terminal cancer. Fuck you cancer!

On the bright side, I’ve thought he’d been dead a while so at least he got some more time in.

[SuperBacon]

One day there will be a good discussion about how The Goldbergs is the most underrated sitcom of the last 20 years.

I've seen lots of it over the years (mainly due to a horrific spell of depression back in 2017 when it seemed to be on 30 times a day on E4) but never all the way through so went back to the start (all on Prime) 

Just such a gem of a show, and I don't feel like it ever leans too hard on the 'nostalgia for nostalgia sake' trope, everything always seems relevant and nothing is really too US specific.

I also like how they just use 'the 80s' as a time frame so they can play around a bit with what happened when.

Lots of great comedy acting, Troy Gentile as Barry, sorry Big Tasty, is spot on but the real MVP is Wendy McLendon-Covey as Beverley. An all time great performance packed with warmth.

The only downside is during Series 3 and 4, Sean Giambrones voice is so off putting and I couldn't quite work out if he was playing up to it. Obviously he is growing and his voice is breaking so its not his fault but my god its annoying, and subsequently Adam is rubbish-ish.

Anyway, fantastic show. JTP! JTP!

[TibBo]

30 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

The only downside is during Series 3 and 4

...and knowing all the stuff about Jeff Garlin on set.  It is a great show though.
They did a spin-off called 'Schooled' too, which was nowhere near as good, but still watchable

[Merzbow]

New season of Silo continues to be excellent, I've heard a few complaints of it being slow but that's no different to the first and I enjoy the methodical pace. My only complaint is that there's not enough Rebecca Ferguson on my screen..

[DavidB6937]

I have to be in the right mood to watch anything serious or that requires my attention so powered through these two over the past week.

Penguin

I'm leaning on the side of it being as good as many said. I genuinely thought the writing and the acting and the character development was superb. I really got lost in his story, and Sofia as well. And they nailed the landing completely at the end.

Day of the Jackal

Really enjoyed this too. Just a fun watch. Doesn't stand up as anything overly intelligent or clever but as a general spy thriller type thing it's good.

My main problem was always going to be that I find Lashana incredibly bland and hard to buy into. Her performances lack range and emotion for me. That works here to a point but I just don't get her as an actress. On the other hand I buy into Eddie Redmayne a lot more so I thought he did a great job here, although I see why some people find him annoying.

[Hannibal Scorch]

How can The Goldbergs be considered underrated? It ran 10 seasons, won awards, and was critically acclaimed. It did fall of a cliff when Grandpa died but the stuff about Jeff Garlin ruined it. His appearance in the finale was hilariously bad. It was a great show but I do feel suffered from not ending sooner. 

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, TibBo said:

They did a spin-off called 'Schooled' too, which was nowhere near as good, but still watchable

That was just about Laney wasn't it? Not sure I ever saw it but I'll seek it out after I've finished The Goldbergs. 

1 hour ago, TibBo said:

and knowing all the stuff about Jeff Garlin on set

Had completely forgotten about that, read up on it and spoiled some of the later series for myself! That'll teach me.