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Topic: Almost Human (Read 41505 times)
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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So I watched the XRN episode.
I can't tell if it's the out of order airing or the writing, but fuck me, this show has gone WAY downhill over the last two episodes (Magic Bullet and Robot Hotness Kill Club). The Wall? WHAT THE FUCK IS THE WALL AND WHY ARE WE JUST NOW HEARING ABOUT IT? So many things in both these episodes have just jumped the fuck up out of nowhere and then been completely left unexplained as if we've missed an episode or 6. Not to mention some of the things in them were just bad. The gratuitous tit shots of XRN getting the hookerbot body felt like a Fox exec just jerking it all over my face. YES GEEKS LOVE TITS THROW THEM SOME TITS!!!! Laroquette's acting has started to bug me, because I can almost see every mannerism he is going to inject into the character before it happens. And we just NOW get to see why the guys were trying to assault the precinct in the first episode? The ordering really is creating a huge narrative problem, and it feels like some of the snappier, more interesting episodes that have been shown have been dumbed down and mucked with by suit-type fuckheads rather than being written that way.
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Reg
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5271
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I totally agree. The last episode actually made me angry to watch. From the way people were behaving it looked like it should have been episode 2 or 3. They had the guy going for memory treatments and I don't think I've seen anything about those since the pilot.
I can't believe the showrunner isn't raising a huge internet fuss. Is the show really unpopular enough that some asshole Fox exec can just kill it like this?
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Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9167
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Yes, those were early episodes. As much as it sucks to have them out of order the early episodes really were much much shitter.
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I am the .00000001428%
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Reg
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5271
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I went and googled for more info and apparently the executive producer has promised that after the first 7 episodes the rest will be aired in order. And you're right. The early episodes were kind of crappy compared to the later ones. Maybe that's the rationale for showing the stronger ones first.
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jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888
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With very, very rare exception, sci-fi takes a few episodes to find their world and center it. AH showed the stronger stuff - after they found themselves - before going back to the sometimes painful stuff filmed earlier on. We're at the point in the year when I usually drop about half the new shows I'm watching - the shows that showed me enough that I'd give them time to pull it all together, but failed to do so by ~episode 12. AH showed me enough to stick with it. I expect a few more failures on the path, but they'll even out and probablt be a pretty great show - about the time they get axed by Fox.
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2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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What the fuck happened to this show? I was cool with it right up until the "virtual hackers party" and Kennex's silly makeup. It was like a producer who knew only the most surface things about cyberpunk or sci-fi came in and rewrote the rest of the episode based off scenes from a Terminator movie he'd heard of but not seem himself. This show just keeps going downhill and the only thing keeping me is the Karl Urban/Michael Ealy chemistry.
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Venkman
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11536
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I have the exact opposite opinion. I loved the episode. Typical stuff, but handled well. The only thing that didn't work for me was the actress playing the hacker (hacktress?)
I can't get past how lady cop keeps smirking though. Something about her face makes her seem like she's seconds away from LOLing.
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Venkman
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11536
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Just saw the latest.
I don't like the new voiceover throughout the intro. No idea why they didn't want to keep paying the former actress.
Otherwise, solid episode if a bit sappy. But maybe I'm only seeing the sappy because of how out of order the prior episodes were. I also don't like that
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satael
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2431
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I wish they'd concentrated more on the android evaluation instead of the whole Kennex's dad plot (maybe adding some Bladerunner type of reaction test that might have hinted to the memories etc that popped up in the earlier episodes).
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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The season got better the last two episodes - the Chrome murder and Kennex's Dad ones. But yeah, this show is really suffering from the lack of an overarching arc. I know there's one there, they have tried with the whole girlfriend, syndicate, evidence theft stuff. But it never has gotten paid off or made much sense because of how out of order the show is. And the ratings don't point towards an automatic, full season renewal either. It's a shame, because the concept is good at the micro and macro level and the chemistry between Dorian and Kennex has developed real well.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23620
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The show is over for this season. We have to wait and see if FOX will renew it for next season (probably not).
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satael
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Posts: 2431
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The show is over for this season. We have to wait and see if FOX will renew it for next season (probably not).
Didn't notice that the "Straw Man" was the last episode for the season. It wasn't a bad episode but as a season finisher it wasn't very good in my opinion. hopefully the show will come back for another season. edit: SoundOnSight's article sums up pretty well what I thought of this show
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« Last Edit: March 09, 2014, 12:53:39 AM by satael »
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Tannhauser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4436
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I also liked the last episode. It quit being so schmaltzy and we got a good "murder" mystery. Hope it comes back.
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Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9167
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So Kennex gets a new awesome leg, which he then used to defeat the super robot... three episodes ago. Sigh.
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I am the .00000001428%
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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So Kennex gets a new awesome leg, which he then used to defeat the super robot... three episodes ago. Sigh.
Wait... seriously? I didn't even notice them saying anything about the new leg during the hottie killer robot episode, but then again, I'd lost interest in that episode long before any ass kicking took place.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23620
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No the last episode shown was the last episode filmed.
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Der Helm
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4025
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Is the season done yet so I can watch it in the intended order ?
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"I've been done enough around here..."- Signe
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23620
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Yes.
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Triax
Terracotta Army
Posts: 156
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Der Helm
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4025
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Is the season done yet so I can watch it in the intended order ?
So. Does it have an ending of some sorts or a cliff hanger ? I have yet to start watching it.
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"I've been done enough around here..."- Signe
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disKret
Terracotta Army
Posts: 244
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So. Does it have an ending of some sorts or a cliff hanger ? I have yet to start watching it.
No. It just ends like any other episode. Some of the stuff is just unresolved hanging there.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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That's something, I guess. I was very, very hacked off at the ending of Alcatraz, leaving us as it did with a hottie with large breasts in a shot condition.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Ceryse
Terracotta Army
Posts: 879
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Unfortunate to see it get canceled. I liked the show, even with its flaws. I'm not surprised it got canceled, because, well, Fox. Seemed like they were intent on screwing it up from the beginning, such as with screwing around with the episode order.
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Lakov_Sanite
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7590
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They left some stuff hanging but in the last episode they finally accepted each other as partners and friends. So considering the show was really about that to begin with I'm ok with a couple loose ends, the partnership was wrapped up nicely.
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~a horrific, dark simulacrum that glares balefully at us, with evil intent.
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Tannhauser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4436
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What a shame. Good show that never got to be great.
LOL Fox
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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That's something, I guess. I was very, very hacked off at the ending of Alcatraz, leaving us as it did with a hottie with large breasts in a shot condition.
I am with you on this one. I miss Alcatraz way more than I will this one. At least that one was released in sequence. I liked Almost Human but once the ordering went sideways, I stopped watching completely.
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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Yeah, Fox really fucked this show over. It could have been really good but the Monday night time slot and the continual ordering screwups really hurt the long term potential.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23620
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Monday is better than Friday which is the only other place it could've gone.
Edit: the
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« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 03:04:19 PM by Trippy »
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Johny Cee
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3454
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Yeah, Fox really fucked this show over. It could have been really good but the Monday night time slot and the continual ordering screwups really hurt the long term potential.
What? 1. Fox promoted the hell out of it all Fall during sports. It seemed like every 5 minutes you had a promo during football, and the same during baseball. I remember constant banner ads as well. 2. Monday isn't great but its far better than Friday, and there aren't a whole lot of places to slot in an hour long. 3. They waited until after playoffs so it wouldn't be pre-empted constantly, which happened to Firefly. 4. Ordering is changed all the time, someone linked to the TVtropes page on it. It was a procedural with a few continuing overall story elements that weren't dependent on being chronological. They just changed the ordering to front load a couple of the stronger episodes, as the three episodes were pretty weak. All in all, Fox gave the show a decent shot at success. The problem for me was that it was just a pretty good show, that never managed to provoke any "aw shit!" moments to set the hook in and put up with the passable episodes.... As mediocre as BSG could be, they kept you on the line with the occasional amazing episode or episodes such that you would sit through the awful love triangles and useless delving into secondary characters lives that they dished out as filler. Or Lost. Lost was built on having 3-5 excellent to amazing episodes and whole mess of nonsense. The problem is just Sci-fi on television, and Fox doesn't have as weak a schedule as NBC. Sci-fi is massively expensive to shoot well, so it's got to have good ratings or else that's it. Fox's lineup being strong means that you have a higher bar to get over. Community only continues to exist because NBC is the Network where pilots go to die. Game of Thrones, for instance, had to be a huge hit for HBO or else it was getting cut like Rome or Deadwood... great shows with decent viewership that where expensive as hell to shoot (period pieces are nearly as bad as sci-fi).
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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2. Monday isn't great but its far better than Friday, and there aren't a whole lot of places to slot in an hour long.
4. Ordering is changed all the time, someone linked to the TVtropes page on it. It was a procedural with a few continuing overall story elements that weren't dependent on being chronological. They just changed the ordering to front load a couple of the stronger episodes, as the three episodes were pretty weak.
Your other points are valid, but #2 - well, had it been on Friday, it would have benefited from Bones being on the same night as opposed to Sleepy Hollow and the Following. #4 is flat wrong. There were some significant things that happened in the show that were very dependent on being shown chronologically, especially character interactions that didn't make sense when shown out of order. At least 2 or 3 episodes of the season were just plain worse because of the "HUH? WHAT?" moments I had that took me out of the show completely. The show might not have gotten Firefly-ed, but it sure got fucked around.
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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Is airing day as big of a deal these days as it used to be? Is there a Fox catch-up VOD service of some kind? Was it on any streaming services?
I watched a few episodes and just thought it was shit. Terrible acting, dumb plots, mediocre production. Really, Karl Urban is like a plank of wood.
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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As someone that had this flung is his face continually during sporting events, I didn't bother watching it once. The promos were fucking terrible. It's looked like imitation Bladerunner, but acted out by mannequins.
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-Rasix
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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Is airing day as big of a deal these days as it used to be? Is there a Fox catch-up VOD service of some kind? Was it on any streaming services?
Same-day viewing is still a big deal, because that's where most shows get their ratings. VOD and streaming services still lag behind others, plus the advertisers don't like them as much because on some of them, you can skip the commercials. And to make money, these shows need eyeballs on advertising. It was a better show than it should have been considering how badly TV often fucks up near-future cyberpunk/sci-fi. It had its bad moments, but overall, it deserved a second season.
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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Same-day viewing is still a big deal, because that's where most shows get their ratings. VOD and streaming services still lag behind others, plus the advertisers don't like them as much because on some of them, you can skip the commercials. And to make money, these shows need eyeballs on advertising.
Well, fair enough, but I still don't think it was good enough for a different air date to have saved it. It was a better show than it should have been considering how badly TV often fucks up near-future cyberpunk/sci-fi. It had its bad moments, but overall, it deserved a second season.
Sci-fi etc. is so often badly done on TV (and in movies, and books) because so much of it is so terribly, terribly written. It's a problem with most genre fiction because many genre fans will accept a lower standard than they otherwise might do simply because something ticks their 'fave genre' buttons. I've been a science fiction & fantasy fan all my life and have been continually disappointed by the quality of most of it, regardless of the media. Almost Human was shit. It was stupid, it was shallow, it didn't credit its audience with the slightest intelligence and it really, really didn't deserve a second season. In my opinion.
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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For some episodes I'd agree with you. For other episodes, I thought it was a lot smarter than you would expect network TV to be. The writing quality was wildly inconsistent on the show.
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