The Small Screen: TV

Kieran

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Broken_Shoelace said:
Kieran said:
Finished House of Cards last night. I'll say nothing except...I'm missing Frank!

I really hope this isn't a spoiler :nono

No, it's no spoiler, I wouldn't do it to ya! They signed up for series 3, but that's next year and I'm missing my daily fix of chilling cold hearted Machiavellian screwing of the process.

And that's not a spoiler either! ;)
 

DarthFed

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I forgot about Entourage. I'd probably put that in Tier 3 as well but near the bottom of it with Weeds. A few very good seasons and then mostly junk.
 

britbox

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Tier 1: Game of Thrones, Sopranos
Tier 2: Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers
Tier 3: Boardwalk Empire

Only seen first series of the Wire. Thought it was well acted but didn't press the right buttons. I will force myself to watch Seasons 2 and 3 as I've been told it ramps up.

Don't watch a huge amount of TV, so my list is a little threadbare. Will be downloading the Dexter and Mad Men seasons to watch in the near future, but foaming at the mouth waiting for Game of Thrones Season 4 and that will take precedence over anything.

My missus is big on "Big Love" and "Downton Abbey" - haven't watched any of these other than a Christmas Day Special of Downton where I was a bit limited on excuses for finding something else to do.
 

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britbox said:
Tier 1: Game of Thrones, Sopranos
Tier 2: Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers
Tier 3: Boardwalk Empire

Only seen first series of the Wire. Thought it was well acted but didn't press the right buttons. I will force myself to watch Seasons 2 and 3 as I've been told it ramps up.

Don't watch a huge amount of TV, so my list is a little threadbare. Will be downloading the Dexter and Mad Men seasons to watch in the near future, but foaming at the mouth waiting for Game of Thrones Season 4 and that will take precedence over anything.

My missus is big on "Big Love" and "Downton Abbey" - haven't watched any of these other than a Christmas Day Special of Downton where I was a bit limited on excuses for finding something else to do.

Season 2 is the worst of the Wire. Still not bad, but it kind of doesn't belong with the rest and actually is a different story line than the rest of them though it still relates somewhat. Season 3 and 4 are phenomenal.
 

kskate2

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Bid farewell to Jim Lange better known as the host of "The Dating Game." He was 81 and died of an apparent heart attack. He hosted many celebrity contestants on his show in the early days: Michael Jackson, Steve Martin, Farrah Fawcett, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others.
 

Kieran

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Any True Detective fans? It's one I'm gonna source next, would like a non-spoiler thumbs up, if there's one going. The title is corny, but it might be relevant to the show...
 

brokenshoelace

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Kieran said:
Any True Detective fans? It's one I'm gonna source next, would like a non-spoiler thumbs up, if there's one going. The title is corny, but it might be relevant to the show...

I've heard nothing but REALLY high praise for it. Waiting for the show to conclude in a week before watching every episode.
 

DarthFed

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Kieran said:
Any True Detective fans? It's one I'm gonna source next, would like a non-spoiler thumbs up, if there's one going. The title is corny, but it might be relevant to the show...

I will rewatch it at some point as I've watched the episodes late at night and kind of dozed off for a couple of them. It was underwhelming but that could partly be due to dozing off, or the fact that it seemed underwhelming could be why I was dozing off :snigger

McConaughey is brilliant in it and there is a good dynamic between the cops (McConaughey and Harrelson).
 

tented

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Tier 1 -- The Office (UK version), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Frasier, Downton Abbey, Six Feet Under

Tier 2 -- Mad Men, Homeland, The Borgias, Doctor Who, Elementary, True Blood, Being Human (UK version / first few seasons only), Grimm

Tier 3 -- The IT Crowd, Torchwood

I'm sure I'm forgetting several, but they're the first which come to mind. It never occurred to me how many of them are British until I wrote them down.

I enjoyed the first season of Masters of Sex, but it's too soon to include it. After hearing so much about Sherlock, I downloaded it but haven't watched it yet. And this feels heretical to admit, but I've never watched GOT. I take it it's worth it, considering how many of you guys love it.
 

brokenshoelace

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britbox said:
Tier 1: Game of Thrones, Sopranos
Tier 2: Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers
Tier 3: Boardwalk Empire

Only seen first series of the Wire. Thought it was well acted but didn't press the right buttons. I will force myself to watch Seasons 2 and 3 as I've been told it ramps up.

Don't watch a huge amount of TV, so my list is a little threadbare. Will be downloading the Dexter and Mad Men seasons to watch in the near future, but foaming at the mouth waiting for Game of Thrones Season 4 and that will take precedence over anything.

My missus is big on "Big Love" and "Downton Abbey" - haven't watched any of these other than a Christmas Day Special of Downton where I was a bit limited on excuses for finding something else to do.

Glad to see you went back and watched GOT, and happy to see you loved it. I too, watched the first season of The Wire and it didn't really do it for me. It's well acted, authentic, etc... but it just lacked the entertainment factor IMO. Not sure what it is. I don't mind slow shows, but something was lacking. I need to give it another chance soon.
 

Front242

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James Clavell's Shogun (1980) series is finally out on bluray. A great mini series well worth a look.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080274
 

britbox

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Broken_Shoelace said:
britbox said:
Tier 1: Game of Thrones, Sopranos
Tier 2: Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers
Tier 3: Boardwalk Empire

Only seen first series of the Wire. Thought it was well acted but didn't press the right buttons. I will force myself to watch Seasons 2 and 3 as I've been told it ramps up.

Don't watch a huge amount of TV, so my list is a little threadbare. Will be downloading the Dexter and Mad Men seasons to watch in the near future, but foaming at the mouth waiting for Game of Thrones Season 4 and that will take precedence over anything.

My missus is big on "Big Love" and "Downton Abbey" - haven't watched any of these other than a Christmas Day Special of Downton where I was a bit limited on excuses for finding something else to do.

Glad to see you went back and watched GOT, and happy to see you loved it. I too, watched the first season of The Wire and it didn't really do it for me. It's well acted, authentic, etc... but it just lacked the entertainment factor IMO. Not sure what it is. I don't mind slow shows, but something was lacking. I need to give it another chance soon.

BS - Game of Thrones is the best series I've ever seen and I was a massive Sopranos fan. I couldn't see how anything would top it for me, but G.O.T. did. Compelling viewing - I watched all 3 seasons in the space of 10 days.

I was exactly the same with the Wire. I'll give season 2 a go at some point but Dexter and Mad Men are next on the agenda.
 

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For GOT lovers...we are 34 days away :clap

Here is the 2nd trailer and an additional in-depth look at the upcoming season:

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ZNaLQD60Y

"A foreshadowing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5iS3tULXMQ
 

Front242

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Can you believe I still haven't watched a full episode of GOT. I think I'll wait till the whole series ends and then watch them all. Actually a lot of people tend to do that with series so I guess I'm not alone there. It looks great though. Watching on tv and then missing an episode 'cos you were away or just couldn't watch it that day would get on my nerves so I'll just watch them all when they finish the series up. Have 720p bluray encodes of all series 1-3 waiting anyway.

Btw those clips look cool and great soundtrack.
 

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There is no end in sight for this show Front. The author is almost through book 6 and this upcoming season (#4) covers the 2nd half of book 3. Get on board and watch it now, bet you will be caught up before the new one starts :)
 

Front242

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^ Yeah probably a better idea alright. I still haven't even watched the 4 seasons of Spartacus either! Mortal Kombat Legacy series 2 is out now as well. Looks pretty good.
 

brokenshoelace

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Front242 said:
Can you believe I still haven't watched a full episode of GOT. I think I'll wait till the whole series ends and then watch them all. Actually a lot of people tend to do that with series so I guess I'm not alone there. It looks great though. Watching on tv and then missing an episode 'cos you were away or just couldn't watch it that day would get on my nerves so I'll just watch them all when they finish the series up. Have 720p bluray encodes of all series 1-3 waiting anyway.

Btw those clips look cool and great soundtrack.

You my friend, have waaaaaaaaaaaay more patience than us mere mortals. It looks good for at least another 3 seasons or so, so that's a lot of waiting. Since we're in the "off season" of GOT, so to speak, now would be a good time to catch up on the 3 seasons you missed, and you should be good to go come the season 4 premier. Or, alternatively, you can wait for season 4 to end in June and watch all 4 seasons together. Perhaps the latter might be a better idea since A) you seem patient enough and B) you'll avoid the horrors of waiting from one week to the next (trust me, it's annoying as hell if you're really into a show).

EDIT: One one of the benefits of watching from week to week though, is the fact that you avoid spoilers. Trust me, the internet talks about nothing but GOT the day after an episode. It doesn't help that many people have read the books and spoil $hit that hasn't even been aired. Urgh.
 

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Front242 said:
^ Yeah probably a better idea alright. I still haven't even watched the 4 seasons of Spartacus either! Mortal Kombat Legacy series 2 is out now as well. Looks pretty good.

You can watch the 2nd series of MK Legacy in one or two sittings on Youtube. It was good. Not as good as the first, but still good. Some episodes stand out more than others (the Kenshi episode for example, as well as Scorpion/Sub Zero), and I actually like the different direction they took with Liu Kang. While it's a bit cliche in the general sense (grieving train-wreck hero who needs to get his life together after the loss of a loved one), it's a change of pace from another cliche (the Shaolin monk martial arts expert who saves earth).
 

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Currently watching season 1 of Mad Men. 6 episodes in, it's quite slow. Definitely unique in the sense that nothing much happens, but that's one of the premises of the show I suppose. It's less story driven and more of a social outlook, which is fine. I can't say it's been blowing my mind but it's managed to maintain my interest. I'll admit however, that unlike many shows, it doesn't give you that "one more episode" syndrome (you know, when you promise yourself that you'll watch one more episode and go to bed/get back to work/do something more productive, only to do the same once said episode concludes). Don't get me wrong, it's extremely well made with some quality performances.

After that I'll alternate between season 2 of House of Cards (which I'm stoked about) and the Spartacus prequel season.
 

Kieran

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Mad Men is slow because it's filmed in the style of the period. As television, it's the opposite to what we're mostly seeing, and in that way it's very original and daring. It unwinds like a good book. It seems to be very well observed, according to people who lived through similar.

For me, Mad Men is about identity. Is a man who he says he is? You watched 6 eps, so you already see that the main character is - in some senses - an example of advertising, himself. Someone later says: "The Japanese have a saying: a man is whatever room he is in, and right now Donald Draper is in this room." That's it, in essence. And that's a goal of advertising, and advertising is the creative engine that drives capitalism, so it's quite a subtle show, not banging the themes too loudly.

Don is no Dexter or Walter White: his darkness isn't murderous, or violent. But being a character-driven show, I think it goes way deep. Sopranos without the bloodshed, is how it's often described, but I find it more interesting and consistent in quality than the Sopranos. Don is highly attractive and he's a compelling archetype. We watch the fifties, basically, give way to the sixties, and Don is a fifties man. He's no boho. In a sense, because of his past, he's actually Old American, where a guy rides into town and tells everybody who he is - and they accept it.

But the world around Don is getting modern, electronic, and changing. I must say, I got a great laugh out of how they talk to the secretaries, more or less handing them their hats and telling them to make coffee. And that's when they're bring nice to them. :laydownlaughing ;)