Television thread

[stray]

Now becoming an entirely different person, that's impressive.

Impressive, sure.....But nobody actually does that. Actors aren't schizos. They're just liars.

Any role that calls for a little more surface decoration is still going to rely on and employ the same exact things as the "actors who play themselves". The real masks are joy, anger, pain, sadness, experience with a thing, inexperience with a thing, etc.. If an actor can't do those convincingly, then they're just an impressionist and a clown. A Rob Schneider (sorry Rob). Not an actor. Good actors are the ones who can interpret and display all the emotional/experiential subtleties of the person contained in a script, regardless if the role requires them to do it in a funny voice or not (and 9 times out of 10, there's just little room for that kind of stuff. It's not an actor's fault if they appear to be "normal").

[Engels]

I think there are actors out there who occasionally take on roles that are entirely different personalities from who they are commonly seen as. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, Charlize Theron in Monster or Brad Pitt in Snatch come to mind. Not a matter of simply acting out emotions pertaining to a character's circumstances, but adapting an entirely different person's point of view. That's the kind of acting that impresses.

Of course, you're fighting a hollywood trend that only wants roles for main characters that Joe Schmoe can empathize with, so its not often a good measure for an actor when there are so few roles that are really demanding.

[HaemishM]

Any bets on Eureka?

It certainly looks interesting enough to Tivo.

EDIT: I finally caught the Deadwood episode. Holy fuck, that fight scene turned my stomach. Maybe it was because I dig the Dan character, or just the gruesomeness but fuck, they pulled no punches. That show continually amazes me.

[WayAbvPar]

I finally caught the Deadwood episode. Holy fuck, that fight scene turned my stomach. Maybe it was because I dig the Dan character, or just the gruesomeness but fuck, they pulled no punches. That show continually amazes me.

I finally caught it last night as well. WOW. The fight scene really felt REAL, and was just brutal. The rest of the episode was top notch as well. Poor Hostetler. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope Steve does something out of line so Bullock can just shoot his ignorant racist ass.

[trotski]

Agreed.  Goddamn that fight scene was amazing.  This show just continues to get better and better, not even a mediocre episode yet this season.  They have all been fantastic.  When are Joanie and Jane gonna hook it up?  :-D

[Rasix]

When are Joanie and Jane gonna hook it up?  :-D

When they move into Joanie's new place and Jane takes a bath. This story line will be great just for the reaction it will illicit from Charlie.

My wife and I are hoping for a violent end for Steve (and a final resting place in the belly of one of Wu's pigs).  I'm somewhat amazed at how high strung Hostetler was, but one can only imagine the shit he's had to endure throughout his life.

Ohh, and the new season of Reno 911 started up.  The last scene had my wife laughing for minutes after it ended. 

[stray]

I think there are actors out there who occasionally take on roles that are entirely different personalities from who they are commonly seen as. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, Charlize Theron in Monster or Brad Pitt in Snatch come to mind. Not a matter of simply acting out emotions pertaining to a character's circumstances, but adapting an entirely different person's point of view.

All of the things I mentioned are about adapting to an entirely different point of view. All good actors are displaying a different point of view other than what they have -- It's just that "different point of view" isn't always going to be so loud and externalized. Such things shouldn't be some kind of litmus test. It's not that simple.

[edit]

To further add (and this will probably better sum up what I'm trying to say here): The process and amount of preparation in creating good characters is always the same. No matter how they look in the end. The actual mechanics in the performance phase are dictacted by the character itself, and what you learned during the preparation.

But it isn't like there's a whole of group of "better" actors out there who somehow have a better use of mechanics. Any good actor can do that stuff. It's just that not every character they have an opportunity to play or are interested in playing makes use of those things all the time.

If anything, what you should be judging people on is how they approach the first phase. The bad actors are the ones who do nothing here and lack the imagination to build a character. It's either all mechanics and gags to them, or worse yet, some can't even do that. Some just say their lines and suck on both fronts.


All that being said, I haven't even seen the Dennis Leary show that originally sparked this discussion. Maybe he sucks. I don't know. 

[Wolf]

We should just make a new thread so me and sky can froth about how awesome sg-1 and atlantis were :)

[Sky]

Holy shitballs. I liked when Sheppard referred to his stunt (latching onto the hive ship just before they went into hyperspace) "Something I saw in a movie once" Very strong shows for each series.

I'm a week behind on Deadwood, but that was a prett good episode, too. Dan vs the Cap ftw!

All hell has broken loose on all three series :)

[WindiaN]

i heard the new season of weeds is supposed to come out in august, anybody else watch that show? I think the first few episodes of season one are amazing but it sort of tails off with really funny parts mixed. I'm really looking forward to the new season though!

[Johny Cee]

Venture Bros. last night cracked me up.  God, I love that show.

How are Claudia Black and Ben Browder doing on SG-1?  I loved Farscape,  but the few times I've caught the new lineup on SG-1 I'm depressed by how sane and staid they have Browder's character acting.

An intereting link to AICN on HBO programming:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23840

Looks like Rome may be done.  Not surprised.  Mediocre ratings for a massively expensive program are trouble.

Big Love is back,  but can't say that it kept my interest.

Deadwood is done and the creator's next series is slotted into the lineup.  Deadwood was also supposed to be massively expensive to make.  My take is mostly that the creator wanted to head on to different projects.


Any of our Canadian friends know if/when the next season of Dr. Who is coming to a Canadian station?  I think I get most of the national Canadian stations,  so I'd love a heads up.

[Evil Elvis]

I'm not sure which show gave me a bigger chubby last nice; The Venture Bros. or Deadwood.

They were both great.

[Llava]

I always wanted to get Poe in a headlock!  Look at that thing, it's like a pumpkin!

[Sky]

How are Claudia Black and Ben Browder doing on SG-1?  I loved Farscape,  but the few times I've caught the new lineup on SG-1 I'm depressed by how sane and staid they have Browder's character acting.

Black has been great, she was given an interesting character. Maybe one of the strongest characters in the show's history. Crichton isn't bad, but he isn't real compelling, either.

[Mazakiel]

While not current shows, they are TV shows, so I thought this would be the best place to mention.....

Carnivale Season 2, as well as the complete series of Brisco County, Jr., are supposed to be released today.  I should be picking both up pretty soon.  I loved Brisco, and I'm looking forward to watching it again.  And Carnivale was....well....Carnivale.  Shame it had to be cancelled, especially on the cliffhanger of sorts it left off with. 

[HaemishM]

That's a damn shame about Rome, and I knew the news about Deadwood. For an episode where not a lot happened, the Deadwood episode from Sunday night was just great.

Venture Bros. was great. Reassure me that I'm not on crack... there wasn't a Part One of this story, right? The voice of the guy who played Katz's son (and Coach McGirk) as Orpheus' master was just perfect.

[Merusk]

While not current shows, they are TV shows, so I thought this would be the best place to mention.....

Carnivale Season 2, as well as the complete series of Brisco County, Jr., are supposed to be released today.  I should be picking both up pretty soon.  I loved Brisco, and I'm looking forward to watching it again.

Agreed. Much man-love for Bruce Campbell.  I don't get paid until Friday, but that's why we have Credit Cards. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Llava]

Venture Bros. was great. Reassure me that I'm not on crack... there wasn't a Part One of this story, right? The voice of the guy who played Katz's son (and Coach McGirk) as Orpheus' master was just perfect.

I seem to remember something about last week's being Escape From The Mummy Temple or whatever, but I didn't watch it.  That's just what it was on my Info button.

And yeah, no one delivers deadpan like H. Jon Benjamin.  He's a riot in everything.

[sigil]

Anybody heard anything  about Heroes?  New show on NBC Mondays starting this fall.  The premise has me queasily optimistic. I'll watch the pilot, at the least.

Here's one of about  a half dozen or so YouTube clips NBC has put up there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbR-c1rm5oM

[Sauced]

The good news about Deadwood, anyway, is that Milch (and everyone else) agreed to make 2 2-hour movies for HBO, so that'll be something.

[tazelbain]

No there wasn't a part 1

I think the joke is that we never get to see Venture Bros. actually go on their adventures.  We only get to see small clips and left to wondering WTF! is going.

[HaemishM]

No there wasn't a part 1

I think the joke is that we never get to see Venture Bros. actually go on their adventures.  We only get to see small clips and left to wondering WTF! is going.

That's exactly what I thought.

Chris Ryall of Scott Tipton's Comics 101 seemed to think Heroes was decent.

[Johny Cee]

Rescue Me continues to be pretty fucking good.

I also watched Eureka....  and it was...  uncharacteristic of Scifi's usual output.  Sort of X-files with a sense of humor, the production was good (unlike the cheeseball junk they usually serve out), and the BSG preview looked amazing.  I might actually watch it again.

Anyone here ever watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia??  I ask just because you get bombarded with commercials for it while watching Rescue Me.

[Johny Cee]

Bah, forgot to mention:

The only reason I saw any of Eureaka was because Scifi started airing Dead Like Me tonight (pilot was tonight.)  A damn good show.  They'll have to edit down some of the language (I seem to recall that they liked saying fuck alot)....

[Velorath]

I feel I should point out that the complete set of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was just released on DVD.  Now there was a good TV series.

[Triforcer]

This may be old, but the Wiki entry on 24 has some info on the next president.  Sort of interesting and something I didn't expect at all.

[schild]

Isn't reading ahead on a show like 24 completely missing the point?

[Triforcer]

Also:  Eureka was good.  I'm going to be watching in the future.  Dead Like Me: meh.  It feels to me like a show that could have been great except for some horrendous miscasting (cept its one of those situations where I can't feel out exactly who is miscasted, but I know its holding the show back).  I'll skip it.

[Sky]

Time Warner in this area picked up Universal HD a couple months ago, which is airing BSG in HD. Now, I'm not a big BSG fan (remember my "Heretic" grief title?), but it brings home one thing that's bothered me a long time:

I want SciFi in HD!

Mostly for Stargates, though. I think the rest of their programming sucks, especially their cheesy movies. Mansquito? WTF.

[schild]

Triforcer, Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin and whoever plays the british-ish white dude make Dead Like Me COMPLETELY worth watching. it's ont of the best shows I've ever seen. Ever.

Also, only 6 weeks or so til the new Boston Legal. Anyone else see the season finale this past May? Fucking brilliant.

[HaemishM]

Anyone here ever watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia??  I ask just because you get bombarded with commercials for it while watching Rescue Me.

Yes. That show is fifteen kinds of wrong, but it's funny as fuck. It's like watching four friends from the Vault Network try to get along with intelligent society, or similarly it's like Seinfeld with cursing and no filter.

[Merusk]

I feel I should point out that the complete set of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was just released on DVD.  Now there was a good TV series.

It's also $79.95 at Best Buy.  It's a good show, but I don't know that it's $80 worth of 'good' for 27 shows.

[Sky]

Triforcer, Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin and whoever plays the british-ish white dude make Dead Like Me COMPLETELY worth watching. it's ont of the best shows I've ever seen. Ever.

Triforcer was in Dead Like Me?

[Margalis]

Ha ha The Adeventures of Brisco County Jr. ruled, one of the few shows my dad and I both liked.

It's Always Sunny is great, it's just so wrong all the time.

[Zetleft]

I feel I should point out that the complete set of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was just released on DVD.  Now there was a good TV series.

It's also $79.95 at Best Buy.  It's a good show, but I don't know that it's $80 worth of 'good' for 27 shows.

Loved that show.  Only 65 at mine, you sure they priced it right?