Telly thread

[HarmonicGenerator]

1 hour ago, gmoney said:

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with intertextual fiction, and I find it sad that Marvel seem to have somehow taken ownership of this concept in people's minds. It can be a really fun thing. 

David Mitchell’s* novels do this in a really fun way. A teenage cousin of the main character in Black Swan Green turns up as an adult in The Bone Clocks, a descendant of a character in one book set in the 17th century is one of the band members in Utopia Avenue, and there’s a weird mystical thing running in the background of all the books which only occasionally becomes a main plot point. Every novel works completely on its own merit but there are fun bits of just enough connective tissue to spot that make you go ‘ooh, that’s…’ but don’t distract from the stories.

 

*the author not the comedian 

Edited December 31, 2025 by HarmonicGenerator
Why do they have the same name

[Mr_Danger]

1 hour ago, gmoney said:

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with intertextual fiction, and I find it sad that Marvel seem to have somehow taken ownership of this concept in people's minds. It can be a really fun thing. 

I blame the King of Queens/Everybody Loves Raymond crossover episodes for being so successful everyone wanted a piece of the shared universe pie.

[DavidB6937]

The issue with Marvel is that the MCU, with movies AND television shows that are so tightly interlinked - you can mostly ignore Shield and the Netflix shows originally - just ends up being overcomplicated and too many characters introduced elsewhere. There will be so many people that simply don't watch the TV shows so it was much easier when it was just the big screen adventures.

I don't think anyone else has that issue to that level and I don't think that it should put anyone off having an interesting shared universe idea or easter eggs etc. On a surface level they're fun if you understand them and have no impact whatsoever if you don't. Most of the time stuff like that is incredibly harmless. It's only when Marvel decided to link so many things on such a grand scale that the shared universe idea became problematic. Spin offs etc should mostly be able to exist on their own and not force everyone to keep up to date to understand the next movie etc.

[Mr_Danger]

Vince Gilligan doesn’t half have an eye for great underused actors. He stuck a rocket up Bob Odenkirk and Bryan Cranston’s careers arses and almost every character in Better Call Saul was perfectly cast. Kathryn Wydra and the Manousos fella are two more examples of him giving a spotlight to actors not particularly well known. 
 

It wouldn’t surprise me if by the end of Pluribus we’re eagerly awaiting the Oscar bait films or Laxmi and Khoumba.

I enjoyed Pluribus. I completely get people who it did nothing for but nothing makes an empty space more interesting than a Vince Gilligan show. 
 

It’s interesting that it was compared to The Leftovers on the other page because that’s a show that had one of the all time landings and it didn’t overstay its welcome one bit. It’ll be interesting to see if Gilligan gets 5 series out of this but it feels like the perfect 3 series show to me.

[DavidB6937]

11 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

It’ll be interesting to see if Gilligan gets 5 series out of this but it feels like the perfect 3 series show to me.

Completely agree. I think they'd have to do something fairly drastic to make it worth 5 seasons at this rate but i guess we still dont know a massive amount. Might get to the end of S2 and still have loads to cover. I trust the process with those involved.

[Mr_Danger]

Just now, DavidB6937 said:

Completely agree. I think they'd have to do something fairly drastic to make it worth 5 seasons at this rate but i guess we still dont know a massive amount. Might get to the end of S2 and still have loads to cover. I trust the process with those involved.

Yeah the thing that intrigues me the most is that in Breaking Bad and especially BCS he gave loads of characters plenty of screen time with intriguing stories that helped the shows run as along as they did. He doesn’t really have this luxury as yet with this show as there’s a handful of actual people then 7 billion that are the same character. It’s one thing for a show not to find its groove by the end of its first series but I don’t even know what this show is going to be by the end of its first series.

[Dai]

Need something new to watch and have boiled it down to the following, so am interested in if anyone has watched any of them:

 

- Spartacus: Ashur. Was a massive fan of the original, and rewatched it a few years back and it holds up well. Is this any good?

- Then theres a few others that seem interesting: All Her Fault, The Morning Show, Bookish, Paradise, The Assassin.

Any there which are worth a watch?

 

In terms of American sitcoms, then St Denis Medical and Ghosts are still staying strong. Ghosts in particular is very good, to the point I dont even associate the UK one with the show any more. Theyve gathered a nice little cast with some solid supporting characters, and explored lots of different aspects that you wished the UK one would of done if it had more time. The Christmas special, particularly Part 2, was a belter of an episode. 

 

Someone here I'm sure recommended Big Boy's too I think. Whoever it was, thanks, as it was superb. Excellent performances, story and characters, and some extremely emotional moments too that would get to anyone. Top stuff. 

Edited January 10 by Dai

[abucalves]

The Lowdown was my first finished show of 2026. I thought I might be able to squeeze it in in 2025 but I ended up finding Patriot and then watching all of Ultra City Smiths.

Anyways The Lowdown is bloody great, and after this and Reservation Dogs , I will watch anything Sterlin Harjo does

[LaGoosh]

12 hours ago, Dai said:

Spartacus: Ashur. Was a massive fan of the original, and rewatched it a few years back and it holds up well. Is this any good?

If you enjoyed the original you'll definitely enjoy the new show. Although it's weird having that conniving, traitorous, evil rapist cunt Ashur as the main protagonist. It's the only show on TV right now where you'll see someone get their cock ripped off, that's for sure.

Edited January 11 by LaGoosh

[organizedkaos]

If you liked the original it's definitely great fun to be back in that world. Still not quite sure where it could go in the long run (its more like the gods of arena miniseries, so I can see how season 1 might build but im intrigued where you go for 3 plus seasons without just repeating "stuffy roman gets manipulated by Asher". The gladiator side of the story is clearly important but I imagine will always be secondary in this show (no rebellion surely?)

New characters are generally lots of fun. Asher status works for some fun dynamics (him having a Doctore that feels more on an equal level to him gives sone great almost buddy cop comedy monents) and it really like how they've effectively worked "modern show does a thing that certain dickhead original fans of the show will consider to be woke in a bad way" into the plot of the show

Spoiler as of episode 5 (im a little behind)

Spoiler

Acheallea (sp?) is badass and underestimated but also the show acknowledges Asher is over pushing her so the other gladiators have a genuine reason to be pissed but also theyre probably wrong? The guys running the games are basically acting as TV execs (initially resistant but totally swayed by audience reaction). Spartacus is at its best when everyone's motivations are in the grey. They probably need to flesh her out a bit more but at the moment the plot is that she's being presented as a main character in the show but isn't really so that's fine

Like other Spartacus seasons its very setup at the start and they've definitely defanged Asher (partially to make him a likeable protagonist and partially, I assume, to refang him as he learns to play the game better). I was getting a little worried it might not have the same spark but by episode 5 it felt like old Spartacus with characters having all sorts of interesting connections, big cool fights and a general sense that shits going to go down but youre not sure who's getting betrayed/tragically killed/exacting violent revenge..

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, organizedkaos said:

they've definitely defanged Asher

Yeah for sure. He's basically just Batiatus at this point really. It's understandable though because you can't have the main character of a show be a completely loathsome psychopath. 

[Wideload90]

Run Away on Netflix.

James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones and Minnie Driver.

It's shit. Don't bother.

[TheBurningRed]

I watched that. It was shite Harlan Coben fair. But more entertaining shite than some of the others that have been put out. Nesbett was terrible, the girl villain was hilariously bad, every plot twist was obvious.

Oh and what a surprise, the plot revolved around a girl going missing. Again. 

[Merzbow]

Finally been watching Fallout and it's fine? I'm kinda upset that it's not a complete dumpster fire or something as that'd be more interesting than it is. I'm going to keep going with season 2 just because it looks like we might get some New Vegas (the best Fallout) stuff but it really is the most middle of the road show I've seen in a while. 

Even Dale Cooper isn't really given much to do here.

[FLips]

2 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Finally been watching Fallout and it's fine? I'm kinda upset that it's not a complete dumpster fire or something as that'd be more interesting than it is. I'm going to keep going with season 2 just because it looks like we might get some New Vegas (the best Fallout) stuff but it really is the most middle of the road show I've seen in a while. 

Even Dale Cooper isn't really given much to do here.

Season 2 has been a lot bolder so far. I think Season 1 is really good but it’s definitely dipping toes in the water to see how Fallout-y they can make it without scaring people off. So far Season 2 has been moving at a much faster pace.