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Post by TheNewMads on Jun 3, 2013 9:00:00 GMT -5
Finished Season 1 of "The Killing," AMC knockoff of a Danish production. About a Seattle neighborhood that gets traumatized after a high school girl is brutally murdered.
I can't actually tell you anything about it without spoiling anything; I expected it to be an existential drama as the trail goes cold and the realization sinks in to the detectives and the grieving family that the murder will never be solved. The first half of the season feels that way and I'm into this idea of how a live case makes the transition to a cold/unsolved case. there's no definite point when one becomes the other; it's this gradual, poorly understood transition.
anyway, the second half of the season they uncover a real elaborate, conspiracy-theory style narrative and the show becomes a standard mystery, but an unusually compelling one. It has cliched moments (shaking down the call girl for information about an abusive john, witnesses who demand protection, "you don't know what you're getting yourself into, how powerful the people behind this are," etc.) but has some real nice twists and a very suspenseful penultimate plot point.
also, they make seattle look really cool. (although I suspect some of the shots that don't include the space needle are probably Vancouver or some such.) They have an unusual (and somewhat gratuitous) number of establishing shots. i'm weirdly attracted to that idea of the rainy climate and forests of the northwest. It never rains here in D.C. but i digress...
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Jun 21, 2013 15:33:21 GMT -5
I've never been a huge fan of westerns. They've always been "seen one, seen 'em all" for me. My dad's a huge fan though, so the last few times I've visited him we've been watching Bonanza. Despite my distaste for the genre, I must admit that I actually enjoy this show. What is it about it? I'm not entirely sure. The tiresome cliches are still there, but I really enjoy the characters (including I Was a Teenage Werewolf's Michael Landon) and the plots I've seen have been pretty entertaining.
Good to know that I haven't entirely turned my back on a whole genre and it just depends on the execution. I might have to watch a few more episodes on my own.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jun 21, 2013 16:03:05 GMT -5
Gunsmoke could be a pretty good show at times, too. And I share your dislike of Westerns in general; visually I just don't find them very engaging for the most part. There's only so much dust and horse asses I like to see in my movies, and westerns pretty regularly exceed their allotment of both.
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Post by Ijon the Asano on Jun 30, 2013 21:22:15 GMT -5
Gunsmoke could be a pretty good show at times, too. And I share your dislike of Westerns in general; visually I just don't find them very engaging for the most part. There's only so much dust and horse asses I like to see in my movies, and westerns pretty regularly exceed their allotment of both. I was actually quite disappointed when Gunsmoke vanished from TVLand. One reason was because the late '60s ones they were running were the ones I remembered, but also by that stage they'd largely played out the principals and had to build stories around guest stars. This got around the BIG RED RESET BUTTON of series TV. For these characters there was no guarantee that things had to be OK by next week, and they were usually well-written to boot. Prob'ly helped that the first one I watched was also the one needle dropped on Pink Floyd's The Wall: "It'll be a lot less safe to stay here. Your father's gonna pick up our trail before long." Just watched the Wonderful World of Disney ep on the '64 World's Fair, where Small World debuted. Heh heh . . . prob'ly irritated my wife by e-mailing her that China and Japan seem to have been a combined segment initially. But at least the song was " Sekai ha semai . . . " Godless PRC commies movin' in on the Southeast Asia portion! Why I oughtta . . .
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Post by nondescript spice on Jul 10, 2013 9:51:00 GMT -5
first, my disclaimer: i hate reality tv. it's ruining tv, imo. first of all, it's not even reality - most of it is totally scripted. and i hate to think of a fair percent of this generation of kids ditching plans for school so they can pursue their dreams of getting into catfights, knocking themselves up on purpose, getting plastic surgery while they're still in their 20's and making general asses of themselves on TLC.
that being said, i am totally hooked on tattoo nightmares on spike. comes on ever tuesday night at ten and they usually have a mini-marathon of shows beforehand. the three artists (i have a huge crush on tommy helm) do cover ups of really bad tats, and the stories behind them are often hilarious. also, the work they do on the cover ups is no less than amazing.
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Post by Ijon the Asano on Jul 13, 2013 0:17:11 GMT -5
The Twilight Zone, "Death's Head Revisited."
Is it just me, or does this actually distill all the impact of Schindler's List into an even tighter package?
Nicely complementary to Men behind the Sun, not to mention Idi i Smotri, perhaps even Der Prozess.
"I cannot--for the life of me--remember the name of this town."
"By its nature--by its very nature--it must be one of the populated areas of the Twilight Zone."
But, to be pedantic, "Captain" Lütze should have been called "Hauptsturmführer."
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Post by Skyroniter on Jul 29, 2013 21:09:46 GMT -5
Raising Hope
First new episodic tv show in ages that had me laughing throughout. The humor is right up my slightly twisted alley. Ethan Suplee, Randy of "My Name is Earl" fame, and "The Diceman" Andrew Clay were among guest stars. Great ending shamelessly ripped from "Wizard of Oz." I plan to tune in again next week for another look.
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Post by Skyroniter on Jul 29, 2013 21:19:41 GMT -5
I just looked it up. "Raising Hope" isn't even close to new, been on three seasons. Its new to me though.
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Post by crowschmo on Aug 10, 2013 21:03:46 GMT -5
Watched the premiere of Broadchurch on BBC America this past Wednesday. It's a murder mystery starring David Tennant, a boy is found dead on a beach in a small, close-knit community. Looks like it could be pretty good. I forget how many episodes it's running, it's like a mini-series.
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Post by Shep on Aug 11, 2013 5:14:18 GMT -5
I've never been a huge fan of westerns. They've always been "seen one, seen 'em all" for me. My dad's a huge fan though, so the last few times I've visited him we've been watching Bonanza. Despite my distaste for the genre, I must admit that I actually enjoy this show. What is it about it? I'm not entirely sure. The tiresome cliches are still there, but I really enjoy the characters (including I Was a Teenage Werewolf's Michael Landon) and the plots I've seen have been pretty entertaining. "Bonanza" was all the about the characters ("The High Chaparral" worked for the same reason). The last four seasons (10-14) were actually my favourite, because the writing was a little better overall. (Some of the scripts Landon wrote were quite good, especially "Kingdom of Fear" and "To Die In Darkness.")
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Post by Shep on Aug 11, 2013 5:17:50 GMT -5
Gunsmoke could be a pretty good show at times, too. And I share your dislike of Westerns in general; visually I just don't find them very engaging for the most part. There's only so much dust and horse asses I like to see in my movies, and westerns pretty regularly exceed their allotment of both. I thought the radio series was actually better than the TV show. The actors on TV were pretty bland in comparison (with the exception of Ken Curtis' Festus who came on later).
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 18, 2013 21:35:24 GMT -5
Squidbillies Season 7 Episode 10
Ain't got no time to keep up with episode names. And don't touch the trim!
Looks like the sherriff is going to lose the election to Denny. So he enlists Early and Granny to help him turn the tide. Typically rude and hilarious action follows.
I likes this show and look forward to it weekly.
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Post by Crowfan on Sept 21, 2013 15:49:55 GMT -5
That show is the best!!!
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Post by robboss on Sept 25, 2013 19:23:05 GMT -5
War of the Worlds: The Series. season 1
I gotta say I watched this during it's original run in the late 1980's. And I didn't remember if being this graphically violent. In many ways it gives The Walking Dead A run for it's money. It was somewhat "corny" in some ways but still lots of fun.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Sept 25, 2013 20:37:54 GMT -5
I watched it back then too even though I never really was completely happy with it. As I recall the second season was radically different.
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