What is the last Television series you watched?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I find that show nigh on insufferable.

[Simon McBride 113]

On 12/8/2016 at 0:39 AM, Stefancos said:

Is it Golden Age quality?

 

No, it's actually pretty terrible, but in a fun way, and not in a way that detracts from it

 

 

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

8 hours ago, Quintus said:

I watched the first episode of Bojack Horseman and, well, I suppose it was alright-ish. Tbh I struggled with it. 

 

Watch the full first season, it will surprise you. It really improves as it goes along.

[Quintus 5,399]

I'll try. They're only short. 

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I've finally started my complete DVD set of The Wire.

 

Five episodes in and it's already amazing. Fantastic writing.

[A24 4,331]

In glorious 4:3, right?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The downloads I have are from a blue ray. What ratio is that?

[A24 4,331]

16:9

[Quintus 5,399]

I'd rather watch a widescreen presentation of it myself, if one exists. Where possible I don't really want to make do with 4:3 nowadays. Whenever I watch Curb I look forward to its later episodes and its switch to widescreen. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

4 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

16:9

 

Hurray!

 

I dont like the black bars Alex, they contain coded messages from the government!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,514]

Which one of those features the girl in the blue knickers? I'll take that action.

[Jay 37,346]

6 hours ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

I've finally started my complete DVD set of The Wire.

 

Five episodes in and it's already amazing. Fantastic writing.

 

Why DVD and not Blu? 

[KK 3,307]

On 12/9/2016 at 11:52 AM, Quintus said:

I watched the first episode of Bojack Horseman and, well, I suppose it was alright-ish. Tbh I struggled with it. 

 

The first few episodes are not much more than decent. But stick through the whole season, and you'll be surprised with it.

 

The third season has some of the finest hours of television. Brilliant stuff.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

52 minutes ago, Jay said:

Why DVD and not Blu? 

 

I ignored the Blu-ray, because I wanted to watch the show in its original aspect ratio.

Also, it cost twice as much.

[A24 4,331]

8 hours ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

 

I ignored the Blu-ray, because I wanted to watch the show in its original aspect ratio.

 

 

Exactly! IQ is pretty good for DVD anyways. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's cheaper, but you get less picture than with the blu's!

[A24 4,331]

That's probably the reason why they say the original ratio feels more 'intimate'.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So the blu's are more epic? And therefore more awesome?

[A24 4,331]

It's not Game Of Thrones, Steef.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I'm just joking Alex. DS9 got very epic in its later seasons and thats 4:3.

[Jay 37,346]

 

 

 

Well that looks terrible

 

Weird to see Heather Dunbar from HOC show up here

[Quintus 5,399]

Amazon emailed me just to tell me The Man in the High Castle season 2 is now available. Whoop! 

[KK 3,307]

Already? Seems so soon.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

Amazon emailed me just to tell me The Man in the High Castle season 2 is now available. Whoop! 

 

You gonna binge or take it slowly?

[Quintus 5,399]

Just checked the app now and all episodes are available. We'll probably aim for one per week, but you know what it's like once you get started... 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So we can discuss the season finale Sunday evening?

[Quintus 5,399]

I reckon it'll end up being 2-3 episode each week. There's no rush. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

There will be once I start feeding you spoiler info!

[Quintus 5,399]

You gonna blitz it again? 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ep 2 now! This is great stuff! JFK as resistance leader!

[Quintus 5,399]

Wait until you get to the part where Martin Luthor King is revealed as a traitor and slave trader. 

[KK 3,307]

Apparently The Leftovers' final season might be heading down to Australia.

 

The Leftovers: First look at the final season

 

[Jay 37,346]

Bryan Fuller Is Teasing A Potential Fourth Season Of ‘Hannibal’

 

OH MY GOD!

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Shame. I was excited about Fuller doing Trek. (Now that Jay has moved the post before mine, this seems rather out of context.)

 

The last thing I watched was Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It's based on Douglas Adams's two and a half novels, the first of which I consider to be on par with his Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. And "based on" means that it takes the character, and the overall concept of super weird criminal cases consisting of lots of several seemingly unconnected storylines which come together in a highly constructed, but highly logical, conclusion, but with a story (nearly) completely of its own instead of using the actual plots of the Adams novels - based on a short comment in one of the earlier episodes, it's set after the two original stories, although that doesn't fully seem to make sense.

 

And it's probably a good idea to not actually use the book plots, because at least the first one excels in not making any sense at all until the last half page makes everything fit together perfectly. If you do that in a series, I suppose hardly anyone will keep watching it beyond the first two episodes. Which means that the series is a bit more straightforward, while still leaving you guessing how (and why) it's all going to come together, although there's one major bit in the first episode that basically gives away what could have been a major twist closer to the end. It also means that the ending isn't the perfect focal point of all the plot strands that it is in the first Adams novel, but then what makes the novel so brilliant is that it seems nearly impossible to do that (and as far as I remember, Adams himself doesn't come close in the sequel). Considering this, I think the series is still mostly faithful to the source material, and has a quirkiness and over-the-topness of its own that makes it endearing if you like that sort of thing. It's more or less Sherlock with the absurdity (though not the fairy tail touch) of Pushing Daisies. Very fine cast, too, with Elijah Wood as the main sidekick doing his usual wide-eyed bewilderment thing to great effect.

 

Certainly not for everyone, but I'm happy to see that apparently a second season has already been confirmed. Although I have to wonder how they are going to continue it with the main case of the first season basically solved, without running out of ideas when they can't reuse the plot devices of the first case again. Adams tried for his sequel, and was only partially successful, and more straightforward plotting of the series relies even more on those devices.

[Quintus 5,399]

I watched the first episode the other night, "a blind view", as I call them - I'd never heard of it before, so it was another Netflix impulse. I'll be watching the second episode. 

 

This is high up on Steef's list, although he doesn't know it yet. 

[Jay 37,346]

It's on my radar, but I think Man in the High Castle is next for us now that we've finished The Fall 3, Mr Robot 2, Westworld and The OA

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

It's on my radar, but I think Man in the High Castle is next for us

 

Go for it! Me and Quintus need someone to talk to.

[Quintus 5,399]

I get the impression Dirk Gently is starting out very beneath the radar, but I'll be very surprised if doesn't turn out to be a huge Netflix cult in the next couple of years. It's very good at its niche, and after one episode I think it's pretty safe to say there's probably nothing else on tv quite like it at the moment. Imagine Sherlock by way of Doctor Who as directed by Wes Anderson and that's sort of somewhere where Dirk Gently sits. 

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

OMG! Frodo!

 

I'm in!

[Quintus 5,399]

His character is the most harassed I've watched in recent memory, Wood is excellent.

 

As my being a Northern Englishman, the chap in the yellow jacket (Dirk Gently) is really irritating at this early stage, but hopefully that'll change once I get used to his punchworthy personality. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

36 minutes ago, Quintus said:

As my being a Northern Englishman, the chap in the yellow jacket (Dirk Gently) is really irritating at this early stage,

 

A southern ponce? He certainly looks punchable. Wouldn't know how to hold a pint proper!

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

As my being a Northern Englishman, the chap in the yellow jacket (Dirk Gently) is really irritating at this early stage, but hopefully that'll change once I get used to his punchworthy personality. 

 

He's much more Sheldon than the Dirk Gently I imagined when reading the books. I'll have to re-read them to see if my interpretation was off or if the series's is just different.

[KK 3,307]

5 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

Go for it! Me and Quintus need someone to talk to.

 

I got there before both of you did. Though I wasn't as impressed.

[Quintus 5,399]

You bothering with the second season? I haven't started it yet, I want to wait till January. I noticed a couple of of reviews for the first few episodes though, and they seemed to be very encouraging! Looking forward to it seeing as it's one of my favorites nowadays. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

7 minutes ago, KK said:

 

I got there before both of you did. Though I wasn't as impressed.

 

Perhaps you didn't "get" it. It's not like Game Of Thrones or Westworld. There's a certain subtlety to it.

[KK 3,307]

Man in the High Castle is hardly subtle! That's the point. It's straightforward pulp.

 

I think my problem with it was that I went in expecting Golden Age television, but the show seems to have different intentions.

 

2 hours ago, Quintus said:

You bothering with the second season? I haven't started it yet, I want to wait till January. I noticed a couple of of reviews for the first few episodes though, and they seemed to be very encouraging! Looking forward to it seeing as it's one of my favorites nowadays. 

 

I checked out the first few episodes actually. Aside from some disappointing elements, I'm liking it. The world-building is done quite well.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It is pulp, but compared to the sledgehammer approach of some other shows it's actually very subtle in how it slowly builds its premise and it guids the audience through the story with a surprising amount of confidence. 

 

 

[A24 4,331]

On 10-12-2016 at 5:35 PM, Stefancos said:

 

 

I dont like the black bars Alex ...

 

Believe it or not, sometimes images look better in 4:3: A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, Barry Lyndon, ...

 

9 hours ago, KK said:

Man in the High Castle is hardly subtle!

 

Neither is Star Trek or Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  Conclusion: Steef doesn't like subtle. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

But Alex does love all-sweeping statements based on loose generalisations. 

[Matt C 452]

Been plowing through random episodes of "Stargate Atlantis."

 

Before I Sleep (S1) - It's a pretty good mythology-driven episode, with Weir being the sole focus here. I hadn't refreshed my memory by rewatching the pilot, so it got confusing at times. The underlying theme is surprisingly moving and intriguing. The bit players portraying the Ancients weren't convincing at all, especially the Asian chick.

 

Irresistible (S3) - Wow. This is one of the worst episodes in the series, by far. The plot feels like a rejected filler episode originally written for Xena or Hercules, with a wildly miscast Richard Kind. He's not charismatic or threatening, just an irritating extension of his "Spin City" schtick. I ended up fast-forwarding parts of it.