[TV] Talk about the last TV you watched, the catchall thread

[figmentPez]

Yeah. Ashoka's gonna get a lot of complaints that it's inaccessible because "you have to watch a bunch of stuff to understand why this is important." And those complaints will be wrong, because the show is perfectly accessible without all that history... all you need to know is Ezra is missing, his friends want to find him, and they want to stop Thrawn along the way because he's the greatest military thinker alive and was being held back by the Emperor.

A lot of people seem to be so used to bad storytelling that they can't recognize good storytelling when they see it. They want to be told everything, even when they're being shown everything they need to know.

A character could walk in, kick a puppy, hold a knife to a child's throat, and demand to know where the princess is, and some people would still ask "Who is this? Do we know who they are? Princess of what?" They're the villain. They are what their actions are showing them to be. Knowing their name and backstory tells us less than the fact that they kick puppies! We know they're the villain because they're doing evil things. They're looking for someone important to the plot, and we'll learn more about that person if you watch what you're being shown, instead of expecting to be told.

I'm 30 minutes into the first episode, and I haven't seen a damn thing that I need to have watched any Star Wars at all to have understood, let alone Rebels, specifically. Does it help that I know what Jedi are, and the Empire, Rebels, droids, and all that? Sure, but I don't need to know what a lightsaber is to know that it's a weapon that can cut through almost anything, when I've just seen it used to cut through stone like it's butter. This show is doing a great job of showing who characters are; by the way they act, and by the way others treat them.

 

[chris]

Man, I'm so glad I finally decided to try Disney+. I waited too long. So many new stuff. The new Muppet Show, the Star Wars shows, the new season of Futurama, third season of Only murders in the building...

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Man, I'm so glad I finally decided to try Disney+. I waited too long. So many new stuff. The new Muppet Show, the Star Wars shows, the new season of Futurama, third season of Only murders in the building...

It's the only streaming platform I've consistently kept subscribed to. When they added all the Fox Studios or Hulu content (at least here in Canada), it became even more worth it.

 

[Bubble181]

We haven't seen Rebels (I'm not a fan of the animation style, sorry...I'm sure the story is worth watching but I can't get over it - and my wife won't watch anything SW I don't), and I can already guess that I'll be perfectly fine and my wife will be going "who is that? Why are they doing X? What are they referring to? Are we supposed to know this person?" endlessly. Oy.
We keep up with the live action stuff, but all the animated things too? It's too much to take. Same for Star Trek btw - I'm convicned Lower Decks is worth watching, but it just doesn't happen.

 

[Frank]

I tried Prodigy but it's too much of a kid's show. And also apparently the least popular Star Trek thing ever produced by how Paramount won't even bother hosting it's finished second season.

 

[AshburnerX]

I tried Prodigy but it's too much of a kid's show. And also apparently the least popular Star Trek thing ever produced by how Paramount won't even bother hosting it's finished second season.

It's not unpopular in the Trek fandom. Lots of the Voyager crowd enjoy it for doing a lot of rehabilitation of Janeway's character by giving her a more consistent personality and motivation, as well as pointing out a lot of her actual good actions in the Delta Quadrant having an actual impact on that part of the galaxy as a whole. It also did pretty well for kids. The bigger issue is that Paramount+ expected it to pull Picard numbers, but without advertising it to ether children or the parents of children.

At least it's not getting written off... CBS is shopping the show around to try and find someone who wants to host it. All the post-production's done, so it's ether going to get a home somewhere or it's getting pushed to bluray.

 

[PatrThom]

Neil Gaiman is a fucker.

Can now confirm. Neil Gaiman is a fucker.

--Patrick

 

[HCGLNS]

Avenue 5 it's good. You probably never heard of it.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

How I Met Your Father canceled after 2 seasons.

I'm disappointed but not surprised. I enjoyed the show well enough, but it didn't have the same magic as HIMYM.

‘How I Met Your Father’ Canceled at Hulu After Two Seasons

"How I Met Your Father" has been canceled after two seasons at Hulu, Variety has confirmed.

variety.com

 

[figmentPez]

One Piece (live action 2023)

I was about to give this one a pass, because so many other live action adaptations of anime have suuucked, but then I saw that Luffy is played by one of the leads from The Imperfects (which is a great show) and so I decided to give it a shot, and I'm so glad that I did.

I'll preface that I have never watched the anime, nor read the manga, and know almost nothing of either. So I have no idea if this is a faithful adaptation, but damn it's fun. The acting is just the right mix of zany and serious. Iñaki Godoy, as Luffy, has an unhinged look in his eyes, but the emotional core is there in his determination to be a good person and find adventure. Mackenyu, as Roronoa Zoro, has some serious charisma and really sells being a master swordsman. Even the clown pirate, Buggy, manages to be hammy and menacing at the same time (played by Jeff Ward who I'm familar with as Deke in Agents of SHIELD).

Aside from the acting, the cinematography is beautiful. The use of lighting really shows off the action and fantastic sets. (It kinda gives me "A Series of Unfortunate Events" vibes but with brighter colors.) Everything works together well to sell this as slightly cartoonish, with enough realistic grounding that the actors don't feel out of place. The fight scenes help a lot in that. They're well paced and feel impactful (as opposed to the Bleach live action where everything felt sluggish).

Also, I'll pull a @bhamv3 here and say that Emily Rudd is hot.

Overall, I'm 4 episodes in and loving it so much I didn't want to finish the other half before posting about how good it is.

 

[AshburnerX]

One Piece (live action 2023)

I was about to give this one a pass, because so many other live action adaptations of anime have suuucked, but then I saw that Luffy is played by one of the leads from The Imperfects (which is a great show) and so I decided to give it a shot, and I'm so glad that I did.

I'll preface that I have never watched the anime, nor read the manga, and know almost nothing of either. So I have no idea if this is a faithful adaptation, but damn it's fun. The acting is just the right mix of zany and serious. Iñaki Godoy, as Luffy, has an unhinged look in his eyes, but the emotional core is there in his determination to be a good person and find adventure. Mackenyu, as Roronoa Zoro, is some serious charisma and really sells being a master swordsman. Even the clown pirate, Buggy, manages to be hammy and menacing at the same time (played by Jeff Ward who I'm familar with as Deke in Agents of SHIELD).

Aside from the acting, the cinematography is beautiful. The use of lighting is fantastic, and the sets are fantastic. (It kinda gives me "A Series of Unfortunate Events" vibes but with brighter colors.) Everything works together well to sell this as slightly cartoonish, with enough realistic grounding that the actors don't feel out of place. The fight scenes help a lot in that. They're well paced and feel impactful (as opposed to the Bleach live action where everything felt sluggish).

Also, I'll pull a @bhamv3 here and say that Emily Rudd is hot.

Overall, I'm 4 episodes in and loving it so much I didn't want to finish the other half before posting about how good it is.

The One Piece live-action is fairly faithful and it's changes are done with intent for the time and storytelling. I can't recommend it enough; the actual creator helped out with this and has 100% faith in the showrunners and cast.

 

[Gryfter]

One Piece (live action 2023)

I was about to give this one a pass, because so many other live action adaptations of anime have suuucked, but then I saw that Luffy is played by one of the leads from The Imperfects (which is a great show) and so I decided to give it a shot, and I'm so glad that I did.

I'll preface that I have never watched the anime, nor read the manga, and know almost nothing of either. So I have no idea if this is a faithful adaptation, but damn it's fun. The acting is just the right mix of zany and serious. Iñaki Godoy, as Luffy, has an unhinged look in his eyes, but the emotional core is there in his determination to be a good person and find adventure. Mackenyu, as Roronoa Zoro, is some serious charisma and really sells being a master swordsman. Even the clown pirate, Buggy, manages to be hammy and menacing at the same time (played by Jeff Ward who I'm familar with as Deke in Agents of SHIELD).

Aside from the acting, the cinematography is beautiful. The use of lighting is fantastic, and the sets are fantastic. (It kinda gives me "A Series of Unfortunate Events" vibes but with brighter colors.) Everything works together well to sell this as slightly cartoonish, with enough realistic grounding that the actors don't feel out of place. The fight scenes help a lot in that. They're well paced and feel impactful (as opposed to the Bleach live action where everything felt sluggish).

Also, I'll pull a @bhamv3 here and say that Emily Rudd is hot.

Overall, I'm 4 episodes in and loving it so much I didn't want to finish the other half before posting about how good it is.

Yup, finished it this passed weekend and I also had only limited familiarity with the source material beyond games from Bandai-Namco and I found it an enjoyable watch all around.

 

[bhamv3]

Netflix Taiwan recently added Band of Brothers, which I recall as being very very good, so I decided to do a rewatch of the series. Just for fun, I decided to turn on the Chinese subtitles to see how they translated certain lines.

The Chinese subtitles are so very very shit.

No, "staff sergeant" does not mean a sergeant who's on the staff.

No, "Curahee" does not mean "basic training".

No, "We Stand Alone" does not mean togetherness. This one is especially egregious because it directly leads to another error. After the troops of Easy Company yell this slogan while running, one of the men immediately hurts his leg, at which point Captain Sobel, in an effort to demonstrate that he's a dickhead, shouts "Do not help that man!" The subtitles translated this as "Help that man immediately!"

The episode itself was just as good as I remembered though.

 

[IronBrig4]

The wife watches HGTV shows when she’s stressed out. I understand why she likes them, but I am starting to develop a seething hatred for the couples on the shows. It always seems like one of the pair is insufferably picky. One person absolutely NEEDED space for three Christmas trees. Another person needed to “have a feeling” about every room she saw. And this third person was a spiritual medium who needed to feel the right energy in every corner of the house. Even the host got annoyed after a while.

It’s like one half of the couple is a part-time hippie while the other half is a stay-at-home parent for Aiden, Brayden, Cayden, and McKayla. Somehow they have a $1.5 million budget.

 

[GasBandit]

It’s like one half of the couple is a part-time hippie while the other half is a stay-at-home parent for Aiden, Brayden, Cayden, and McKayla. Somehow they have a $1.5 million budget.

There have been so many memes about that.

 

[IronBrig4]

So many of them work vaguely in fashion or some artisanal craft. If they weren’t always trying to buy houses in a major city they could be Hallmark characters.

 

[GasBandit]

So many of them work vaguely in fashion or some artisanal craft. If they weren’t always trying to buy houses in a major city they could be Hallmark characters.

The real story is "I'm a trust fund baby" "And I'm also a trust fund baby" "And our parents' budget is..."

 

[Frank]

My aunt leaves HGTV on all day and I can hear it. It's so fucking foul.

It's all bullshit too, none of these are real people.

 

[IronBrig4]

The real story is "I'm a trust fund baby" "And I'm also a trust fund baby" "And our parents' budget is..."

There's a scene in Ant Man: Quantumania where Cassie complains that post-Blip housing is so scarce you need to be a trust fund baby just to live. I was thinking, "oh honey, the Blip had nothing to do with that." Especially in San Francisco.

 

[chris]

There's a scene in Ant Man: Quantumania where Cassie complains that post-Blip housing is so scarce you need to be a trust fund baby just to live. I was thinking, "oh honey, the Blip had nothing to do with that." Especially in San Francisco.

I guess the the Blip is the MCUs version of the pandemic?

 

[GasBandit]

There's a scene in Ant Man: Quantumania where Cassie complains that post-Blip housing is so scarce you need to be a trust fund baby just to live. I was thinking, "oh honey, the Blip had nothing to do with that." Especially in San Francisco.

Hot take - Undoing the blip the way they did it was a well intentioned bad idea, and one last "I ruined everything" that was Tony's Fault. . Yes, everybody lost half of everybody... but when you get stabbed, there's no "undo" button of just yanking the knife out. - especially not 5 years later. So because Tony refused to fix the blip in any way that might have resulted in Morgan never being born, the entire universe had to put up with that pain and suffering and injustice and economic hardship and needless death all over again in slow motion.

Because the real villain of the entire MCU was Tony Stark. Start to finish, from Iron Man through Endgame and beyond, everything bad (that wasn't a self-contained side story, and even a few things that were) basically was because of something Tony did.

 

[chris]

Hot take - Undoing the blip the way they did it was a well intentioned bad idea, and one last "I ruined everything" that was Tony's Fault. . Yes, everybody lost half of everybody... but when you get stabbed, there's no "undo" button of just yanking the knife out. - especially not 5 years later. So because Tony refused to fix the blip in any way that might have resulted in Morgan never being born, the entire universe had to put up with that pain and suffering and injustice and economic hardship and needless death all over again in slow motion.

Because the real villain of the entire MCU was Tony Stark. Start to finish, from Iron Man through Endgame and beyond, everything bad (that wasn't a self-contained side story, and even a few things that were) basically was because of something Tony did.

He and his father. But I agree

 

[IronBrig4]

I was also wondering how societies would deal with all those newly reunited and blended families. Five years is a long time. Plenty long enough to mourn spouses or children who got dusted. Many of them would have remarried and started new families.

In Britain, there is a genealogical publication called Burke's Peerage. It's a list of all the aristocrats and landed gentry along with their heirs. It was regularly updated until World War One, when so many of those aristocratic lines were disrupted or extinguished. Researchers had to search far and wide to find distant cousins who were often just bankers, lawyers, or even grocers who had never set foot on manor grounds. It took years for Burke's to get updated after the conflict.

Post-Blip, the folks at Burke's probably just chucked the entire collection into the garbage.

 

[Tress]

I always hated Endgame's plot. The 5 year jump and restoration was a stupid fucking idea that caused more problems than it solved. The Russos and their writing staff didn't think at all about any other stories, or the MCU really. They just wanted to have a big impact, like little kids smashing toys together. But in this case it would be little kids smashing their siblings' toys together, not caring if they were done playing with them or not.

 

[Bubble181]

Currently watching Ahsoka. I expected to be into Ahsoka, but I find my impure thoughts turning more towards Sabine Wren and general Syndulla.
All three are hot, though.
/bhamv

Not really invested so far yet, honestly. The first episode was too much backstory and excessive Cool Intro for Cool Character. Makes sense because they're pre-existing characters from Rebels and whatever but still.

 

[Shakey]

The first episode is the worst so far.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Honestly I wish they picked someone else to play Ahsoka, and I will be straight up it's an extremely superficial reason.

I have no idea what it is about Rosario Dawson's eyes, but anytime I see her as Ahsoka I can't look past her "lazy eye."

I don't know if it's just the blue contact lenses doing something to accentuate something, as her normal dark eyes aren't as noticeable, but the minute I see her on screen as Ahsoka I can't stop looking at it, and it pulls me right out because it becomes the only thing I see.

Again, I know it's superficial of me and she is a fine actress, but for some reason I can't look past it no matter how hard I have tried.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Honestly I wish they picked someone else to play Ahsoka, and I will be straight up it's an extremely superficial reason.

I have no idea what it is about Rosario Dawson's eyes, but anytime I see her as Ahsoka I can't look past her "lazy eye."

I don't know if it's just the blue contact lenses doing something to accentuate something, as her normal dark eyes aren't as noticeable, but the minute I see her on screen as Ahsoka I can't stop looking at it, and it pulls me right out because it becomes the only thing I see.

View attachment 46157

Again, I know it's superficial of me and she is a fine actress, but for some reason I can't look past it no matter how hard I have tried.

This happens pretty much anytime you have an actor wear brightly colored contacts. If you look at Hera you'll see the same thing.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Yeah like I said I thought it was something with the contact lenses that was accentuating it. I won't be able to unsee the Hera eye issue now either. Maybe I should just skip Ahsoka as a show.

 

[chris]

Yeah like I said I thought it was something with the contact lenses that was accentuating it. I won't be able to unsee the Hera eye issue now either. Maybe I should just skip Ahsoka as a show.

Because of contact lense? Is it so much an issue?

 

[AshburnerX]

Ahsoka is basically Disney giving Dave Filoni the time he needs to wrap up most of his ongoing story threads in time for his upcoming "Filoniverse" movie that is planned to feature the characters from The Mandalorian, Rebels, and Ahsoka as a grand finale for all of that.

I'm pretty sure we're getting Old Republic content at some point in the near future. Certain characters from Ahsoka look a bit too much like characters from The Old Republic for it to be coincidental.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Because of contact lense? Is it so much an issue?

I wish it wasn't, but when I hyperfocus on something it's hard for me to enjoy what's around it. If it was just a cameo I can suck it up, but main characters? It will be what I dream about for multiple nights. Just the eyes.

 

[Ravenpoe]

For anyone that's curious, it happens when colored contacts turn while in the eye. Most people's eyes aren't perfectly spherical, they're closer to ovals, and contacts are made to sit a certain way. But they do move around in the eye, and blinking usually resets them. All contacts do this, but it's only visible with colored contacts obviously, and the brighter the color the more pronounced it's going to be.

 

[GasBandit]

 

[Yoshimickster]

Pre-beard Riker is horrifying.