Television thread

[schild]

I'm so glad Whedon always goes outside his comfort zone.

[Abagadro]

Wooooo, Dethklok is back! Metal wedding!

[Selby]

So... The Simpsons... does anyone even watch this show anymore?  I caught an episode tonight and outside of a few sight gags and giggles here and there, I kep wondering what else was on TV or what else I could be doing...

[HaemishM]

The Office season finale was fantastic. How they can continue to take such a small concept and stretch it out more than a full season and actually make the characters grow is fabulous understated writing. Especially when the shows are still funny.

The Dollhouse show looks good, but it does remind me a bit of the River storyline from Serenity/Firefly.

[Ookii]

I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend somehow seeing the original British version of Life on Mars before this drivel comes out:

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/55121/life_on_mars_us_trailer.html

It's in my top 5 Shows of all time, which are roughly (in no particular order):
Life on Mars (British)
Sports Night
Lost (don't hate)
Twin Peaks
Monty Python/Seinfeld

[Samwise]

Latest episode of Dr. Who was entertaining, remarkably silly and clearly a "filler" but I still enjoyed myself. Don't know how many of you are UK/Proxied into BBC iPlayer but it's probably a better way of killing an hour than a lot of TV. Only if you are definitely a Dr. Who fan though, I don't think it'd really grab anyone who didn't already love it.

I've been loving this entire season.  And here's hoping we see more of Jenny.   

[Jain Zar]

^^ We are only on the Sontaran Stratagem 2 parter.  With blue balls since the conclusion isn't for TWO WEEKS ARGH.  BSG is the same way.  Luckily Sarah Jane Adventures are always 2 parters so I just wait till my DVR has both half hours and watch them back to back, but to do this to BSG and Who?

FUCK YOU SCI FI.  *Nerdrage*

[NowhereMan]

I got the impression that they set Jenny up for a spin-off, though having her show up a few more times in the main series wouldn't be overly shocking. It would at least mean there'd be female talent to rival David Tennant 

[Reg]

[I've been loving this entire season.  And here's hoping we see more of Jenny.   

A couple of years and 50 pounds and they'll give her, her own series. 

[WayAbvPar]

The Office season finale was fantastic.

Amen. The whole episode was just pitch perfect, with the exception of the very last scene. While a great twist, it seems incredibly out of character for both people involved.

[Jeff Kelly]

Any must see television out there?

Unfortunately apart from all of the CSIs no network here in germany touches quality entertainment with a ten foot pole.

24 got cancelled
Battlestar Galactica got cancelled
Heroes is the next candidate to be cancelled

So I am looking for imports to fuel my love for american television. So what would you recommend?

[stray]

Rome, if you haven't seen it yet. Especially season 1 -- truly one of the best television shows ever made.

Three Sheets, if you can get that.

[Ookii]

After the last two episodes especially, House.  The Office, Pysch, Weeds, Entourage, The Tudors, Greys Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Scrubs, Chuck, Reaper, Flight of the Conchords, and those are just the shows that are running currently.  You could always get DVDs of old throwbacks like Alias, Sliders, Twin Peaks, Sports Night, or Arrested Development.

Of course you also know that Heroes and 24 are still going on so you could always acquire them, and BSG is on its last season so the DVDs will come out soon enough.

[WayAbvPar]

You could always get DVDs of old throwbacks like Alias, Sliders, Twin Peaks, Sports Night, or Arrested Development.

Last time I looked, Sports Night was no longer in DVD production. I tried to order it from a place that still reported it in stock, but got the inevitable "Duh, our website was out of date" mail soon after. I KNEW I should have bought it myself, but I thought it was in the perfect price range for a gift, so I left it on my Amazon Gift List for years.

[Ookii]

I didn't know!

Schild has the DVDs and I have a DVD burner, just sayin'.

[HaemishM]

I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend somehow seeing the original British version of Life on Mars before this drivel comes out:

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/55121/life_on_mars_us_trailer.html

Oh, for fuck's sake. NO. NO. NO NO NO NO NO. Fuck no.

Too much fucking comedy, too many laughs and cheeky '70's jokes. I like Lenny Clarke and the guy playing the boss cop, but FUCK NO. They will totally fuck up what is an incredible series. Stop it. Just stop. If you want to put on a hit, buy the rights to the original and run that shit on American television.

Fuckheads.

[tazelbain]

The Office season finale was fantastic.

Amen. The whole episode was just pitch perfect, with the exception of the very last scene. While a great twist, it seems incredibly out of character for both people involved.

Haven't you been watching the sexual expliots of the GOP?

[Trippy]

So I am looking for imports to fuel my love for american television. So what would you recommend?

Bones.

[Triforcer]

I should have said this much earlier, but I just finished watching the first season finale of Reaper on the CW.  Fantastic show, highly recommend the season when its released on DvD. 

[Tebonas]

Bones.

Yeah, except that season finale? Killed off much of my goodwill. The contrast to the superb House finale made it particularly jarring.

[Trippy]

Yeah I agree. That came out of nowhere. And the beginning part with Booth was totally stupid. I blame it on the strike and it's still my favorite show. They should've just ended with Bones's dad -- that was a very good episode.

[MrHat]

You could always get DVDs of old throwbacks like Alias, Sliders, Twin Peaks, Sports Night, or Arrested Development.

Last time I looked, Sports Night was no longer in DVD production. I tried to order it from a place that still reported it in stock, but got the inevitable "Duh, our website was out of date" mail soon after. I KNEW I should have bought it myself, but I thought it was in the perfect price range for a gift, so I left it on my Amazon Gift List for years.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/20/sports-night-10th-anniversary-box-set-coming-this-fall/

[WayAbvPar]

You could always get DVDs of old throwbacks like Alias, Sliders, Twin Peaks, Sports Night, or Arrested Development.

Last time I looked, Sports Night was no longer in DVD production. I tried to order it from a place that still reported it in stock, but got the inevitable "Duh, our website was out of date" mail soon after. I KNEW I should have bought it myself, but I thought it was in the perfect price range for a gift, so I left it on my Amazon Gift List for years.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/20/sports-night-10th-anniversary-box-set-coming-this-fall/

 

[Abagadro]

10 hours of digitally remastered Flying Circus being shown this Monday from 9 am EDT to 7 pm EDT on BBC America.

[Samwise]

The problem with Monty Python's Flying Circus is that most of it sucked.  I say this as someone who bought the complete DVD set.

[Miasma]

The problem with Monty Python's Flying Circus is that most of it sucked.  I say this as someone who bought the complete DVD set.

I hate that set.  All the annoying unskippable bits at the front, the really annoying animations they use to navigate the menu (which itself is terrible), no simple "play all" ability.

And yes only about one third of the sketches are funny, but those one third are really good.  That last season without Cleese was a total write off though.

[stray]

I just watch "And Now for Something Completely Different". It's most of their best skits... Hell, I think there's only one great one I've seen that isn't in it.

[HaemishM]

Bones.

Yeah, except that season finale? Killed off much of my goodwill. The contrast to the superb House finale made it particularly jarring.

Yeah. What... the... fuck? The main draw of Bones is how those characters interact in the context of the mysteries. Throwing the identity of the apprentice in there like they did (trying not to spoil it) was so out of fucking left field it was playing soccer in some other fucking city. It made no sense, much less sense than one of the other red herrings they threw out there during that episode. Not to mention it had no real bread crumbs in any of the other stories on that serial killer during the season. I really wonder if the next season is going to have any steam at all. I also hated that they removed that character with all the pomp and fanfare of a character getting killed heroically in the line of duty, as if they completely forgot what he did. That episode was a major misstep.

[Signe]

I also very much disliked the last episode of Bones.  Not because I liked that character, which I did, but because it almost seemed like an afterthought.  I've watched the entire series so far and it just seemed bizarre. 

Also, after the finale of Lost, I guess we should just post the same stuff over and over in this thread.  Right?  In keeping with the festive re-run series... or how TV people like to call them:  Encore Presentations.   Those dumbasses.

[Samwise]

I just watch "And Now for Something Completely Different". It's most of their best skits... Hell, I think there's only one great one I've seen that isn't in it.

Live at the Hollywood Bowl is also a good one (the best IMO).  Between those two you've got almost all the good sketches (Dead Parrot not included).

[stray]

I think I've seen that once. It's not a late one, when Graham Chapman died, right?

Dead Parrot is in Something Different. The best version too.

[Merusk]

I think I've seen that once. It's not a late one, when Graham Chapman died, right?

Dead Parrot is in Something Different. The best version too.

No, Grahm was alive for the Hollywood Bowl shows they did in the early 80's.  Cleese makes reference to it often, including on the show I think you're thinking of; the one where they have Grahm's "ashes" in the urn with the picture of his face on it?  That was the reunion show in Aspen in '88 hosted by Robert Klein. It's on the Monty Python Live! collection. (along with the mocumentery from the mid 80's hosted by Steve Martin that was pretty amusing. )

This collection was also pretty amusing as I just finished watching it two weeks ago.  Only one of the German episodes, but Palin's spoof of his travel show where he goes and visits several of the locations where the skits were filmed some 25-30 years later was pretty good.  Only worth it if you're really into Python, though.  If you're just looking for a collection of sketches don't bother.

[HaemishM]

I actually thought the sketch versions in Something Different were a bit flat, almost like they were too rehearsed. I much preferred the Nudge Nudge, Dead Parrot and Lumberjack skits from Flying Circus to the Something Different versions.

[stray]

Man, all of those are better on Something Different, I think. Maybe it just depends on what you saw first.

I have every nuance of Different's version of Lumberjack seared into my brain. I could not see it any other way.


Yeah, that Robert Klein show was the one I was talking about. I remember those Hollywood versions now though.

[Sky]

The whole Kevin-as-a-retard thing was absolutely hilarious.

For some reason I couldn't stop laughing at those scenes.