Television thread

[Miasma]

I'm not worried about the new characters, judging by what they have done to them in past seasons they are probably all red shirts.

[WayAbvPar]

Depends on how many actors get popped for DUI while filming, I imagine.

[Cheddar]

So, there was a Jericho marathon this weekend, which I DVR'd (wifes dead mother was a fan).  I am a huge fan of post apoc; why not check it out?


Holy shit, this show is the bomb.  It grabbed me like no other show since BSG.  Check it out, 4 serious.


And please, no spoilers.  I am only 14 episodes or so in.

[Reg]

Flash Gordon ended it's season on a high note last Friday. Flash and the Gang defeated the Evil Ming and he was executed.

Or was he!!!11! 

[Nerf]

I'm pretty sure the deviant brother is going to be evil now, if ming comes back it won't be a major uprising, maybe a minor annoyance and a small 1-3 episode plotline.  Them being stuck on mongo could make the next season interesting though, it's better that way anyways, their earth plotlines sucked ass.

[Reg]

Yeah, I was getting the evil vibe from the deviant brother too. Still, you just can't have Flash Gordon without Ming the Merciless. They've taken enough liberties with the mythology. Ming going away permanently would be too much even for me.

[HaemishM]

I'm pretty sure Flash Gordon got shitcanned. There will be no next season.

[Reg]

You are wrong, wrong, wrong. A quality show like Flash Gordon could never be cancelled. That is strictly the fate of lesser shows like Journeyman.

[Triforcer]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/14/tv.24delay.ap/index.html

REVENGEANCEFUL.

[sigil]

Jericho was one of my faves, once they tightened up the plot  in the second half.

[Evil Elvis]

So... tonight's Lost plot twist:




Are you fucking with me?

[stray]

I've finally caught up to the current eps. Season 3 was the shit, but I'm having a hard time getting into 4 so far. Not sure what you mean about plot twist. I don't even know wtf the plot is to begin with.

Here's hoping Michael makes some kind of re-appearance soon.. So someone can kill his dumb ass.

[HaemishM]

I dug Lost and the plot twist. Not necessarily because it made sense, but because it was unexpected but not so crazy that I couldn't believe it based on the characters involved.

[stray]

Wait.. What plot twist? I'm actually confused here. The entire show is a freakin plot twist. 

Are you talking about Ben and Sayid?

[HaemishM]

That's what I'm talking about.

[stray]

Ah k... I'm not surprised at all is what I'm saying, I guess. I can't rely on anything really. Except the general portrayal of the characters -- Jack's a leader, Sawyer's a dick, Locke's a kook, Desmond says "Brutha" a lot, etc.. Other than that, shit keeps on twisting and changing. Even the main plot -- getting off the island -- even that is a bad idea now.

[Tebonas]

Jack's a leader

Can't really agree there. Jack was a lousy leader through the whole series.


Wasn't THAT surprised by the Sayid/Ben twist. The way they explained it made sense. Sayid is not really squeamish, and if he does it to protect the other survivors, he'll not lose much sleep over killing people. The only question is if Ben plays him or not.

Edit: Whole, not hole

[stray]

The only question is if Ben plays him or not.

Well, that would be Ben's "reliable character trait", wouldn't it? Ben is most definitely playing Sayid. It's just a question of how.

[Tale]

Forget all that, I just want to engage in speculation about whether McNulty is about to have a meltdown on The Wire.  He hesitated at the end of episode 6 and I think his conscience finally surfaced. And the next episode is directed by his actor, Dominic West.

Also the city desk editor Gus Haynes is one of the most accurate portrayals of a newsroom role I've seen on film. The actor has done his research.

Trivia: the actor playing journalist Alma Gutierrez is married in real life to the actor who used to play D'Angelo Barksdale.

[Abagadro]

Also the city desk editor Gus Haynes is one of the most accurate portrayals of a newsroom role I've seen on film. The actor has done his research.

That's Clark Johnson. He was great on Homocide and has directed some great episodes of The Wire, The Shield and other shows. He directed the final eps for both those series in fact. I can't wait to see them.  I want to see me some Omar kicking ass.

[Miasma]

Also the city desk editor Gus Haynes is one of the most accurate portrayals of a newsroom role I've seen on film. The actor has done his research.

That's Clark Johnson. He was great on Homocide and has directed some great episodes of The Wire, The Shield and other shows. He directed the final eps for both those series in fact. I can't wait to see them.  I want to see me some Omar kicking ass.

I really like that guy too, I've never seen a real news room but that guy just screams it he's taken to the role so well.

McNulty has always been an asshole, and not the kind you love to hate either, he's just an asshole.  Now that he's gone nuts, I bet he gets killed in this final season, either that or absolutely disgraced, thrown off the force and possibly jailed himself.

I'm thinking Carcetti might get taken out too...

[Tale]

Also the city desk editor Gus Haynes is one of the most accurate portrayals of a newsroom role I've seen on film. The actor has done his research.

That's Clark Johnson. He was great on Homocide and has directed some great episodes of The Wire, The Shield and other shows. He directed the final eps for both those series in fact. I can't wait to see them.  I want to see me some Omar kicking ass.

Turns out he directed the first episode of The Wire in season 1, and will be director of the final episode of the Wire in the final season, and now he is also one of the best actors in it. What a legend.

McNulty has always been an asshole, and not the kind you love to hate either, he's just an asshole.  Now that he's gone nuts, I bet he gets killed in this final season, either that or absolutely disgraced, thrown off the force and possibly jailed himself.

I'm thinking Carcetti might get taken out too...

Good theories - yes I think the only way out is for McNulty to die. Hopefully at the hands of Marlo, Chris and Snoop, recorded on a wire.

[Velorath]

This is the first person I've seen speak out against the writers strike settlement.  Maybe it should be no surprise that it's Harlan Ellison, who has always been one to let people know when something pisses him off.

HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:

Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw Board twice, worked on negotiating committees, and was out on the picket lines with my NICK COUNTER SLEEPS WITH THE FISHE$$$ sign. You may have heard my name. I am a Union guy, I am a Guild guy, I am loyal. I fuckin’ LOVE the Guild.

And I voted NO on accepting this deal.

My reasons are good, and they are plentiful; Patric Verrone will be saddened by what I am about to say; long-time friends will shake their heads; but this I say without equivocation…

THEY BEAT US LIKE A YELLOW DOG. IT IS A SHIT DEAL. We finally got a timorous generation that has never had to strike, to get their asses out there, and we had to put up with the usual cowardly spineless babbling horse’s asses who kept mumbling “lessgo bac’ta work” over and over, as if it would make them one iota a better writer. But after months on the line, and them finally bouncing that pus-sucking dipthong Nick Counter, we rushed headlong into a shabby, scabrous, underfed shovelfulla shit clutched to the affections of toss-in-the-towel summer soldiers trembling before the Awe of the Alliance.

My Guild did what it did in 1988. It trembled and sold us out. It gave away the EXACT co-terminus expiration date with SAG for some bullshit short-line substitute; it got us no more control of our words; it sneak-abandoned the animator and reality beanfield hands before anyone even forced it on them; it made nice so no one would think we were meanies; it let the Alliance play us like the village idiot. The WGAw folded like a Texaco Road Map from back in the day.

And I am ashamed of this Guild, as I was when Shavelson was the prexy, and we wasted our efforts and lost out on technology that we had to strike for THIS time. 17 days of streaming tv!!!?? Geezus, you bleating wimps, why not just turn over your old granny for gang-rape?

You deserve all the opprobrium you get. While this nutty festschrift of demented pleasure at being allowed to go back to work in the rice paddy is filling your cowardly hearts with joy and relief that the grips and the staff at the Ivy and street sweepers won’t be saying nasty shit behind your back, remember this:

You are their bitches. They outslugged you, outthought you, outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted yer asses blue, and said yes sir, may I have another.

Please excuse my temerity. I’m just a sad old man who has fallen among Quislings, Turncoats, Hacks and Cowards.

I must go now to whoops. My gorge has become buoyant.

Respectfully, Yr. Pal, Harlan Ellison

[Triforcer]

Ah, Ellison is one of those "if we don't get everything we wanted, exactly, we betrayed the cause of unionism forever to the Man" types.  Noninsane people realize that compromises are usually necessary.

[HaemishM]

As always, Ellison is a bag of dick. The deal ain't perfect, but from what I could understand from the reading I did on the deal, it was as decent as it was going to get.

[Merusk]

Knight Rider was actually pretty decent, albeit a completely predictable plot.  But then it's fucking Knight Rider, I'm not looking for depth and complexity in it.    I also got a kick out of the throw-back references to the old show and the 'cameo' by the original K.I.T.T. as well. 

[Signe]

I almost never watched television when I was a kid.  In fact, until we moved to the US several years ago, I didn't watch much.  I guess I missed most of these TV shows and films that are re-makes of originals.  I guess the nostalgia must make them better.

[stray]

I'm practically the "Cable Guy". Heh. It's kind of pathetic actually. My parents put a tv in my room when I was real young, so I already had a bad schedule in my elementary years, staying up late watching all kinds of crap.

[Signe]

If I wasn't in school, I was outside.  I would have been outside 24/7 if allowed.  I only stayed in when forced... like if there was a severe electrical storm or something.  It was only as an adult that I became mushroom-like. 

[stray]

I spent a lot of time outside too! Got the scars to prove it. 

[tazelbain]

KR was lackluster like Bionic Woman.  Sci Fi = buzzword bingo.  Where all the characters are one dimensional, act hard-boiled and deliver stilled dialog.  They could have been a little less blatant about the whole thing being a car commercial.

The only thing I liked was that the new wasn't pretentous like the old one. 

But it would be nice, for once, that these shows have some concern for our civil liberities.

[stray]

I'd love to see a revival of "cars" in shows though. Remember that about the 80's? Cars were practically part of the cast in quite a few of them... Knight Rider, Hardcastle, Starskey, A-Team, even Magnum PI and Miami Vice.

[Nerf]

Cars didn't make the A-Team awesome, jumping off of things and tackling the bad guys made the A-Team awesome.  It also told us that bad guys can't hit the broad side of a van with full auto mini 14s.

[stray]

Well I didn't say it made it awesome. Just that their ride was kind of part of the cast.

A-Team is still awesome though. Hope they never remake it.

Hell, KR isn't all that dated either. Didn't need to be remade. Plus, Hasselhoff is almost as irreplaceable as Shatner. Can't really be done.

[Signe]

They'll remake it.  You know they will.