What TV series are you watching at moment?

the first ep of the deuce is out, david simon's new big budget hbo thing. and the first thing that bothers me about it is why even set the whole thing in the 70's. if the driving idea is to explore prostitution as an institution then why go 45 years back? is there really not enough material to work with for a script with today's prostitution business? i doubt it. and although they make conscious effort to de-glamorize the whole setting, the effect is still the same. that 70's brown and gritty criminal seediness, the sleaze of the prostitution business, the music, the sound, the painstaking production design (for which there will probably be a dedicated segment in the upcoming blu-ray with talking heads explaining how much effort was made to recreate the era convincingly and all that blabla) and the showy wide angle shots of 70's cgi new york are pushed to the forefront, it's the main axis of attraction of the show, and i'd say it goes at the expense of the actual exploration of prostitution and is somewhat of a distraction.

with that said, the first ep is quite engrossing overall, it's piloty and full of exposition and jumping from one character to the next a lot, but it does suck you pretty much from the start with the dialogue and the feel of the city of that era. the idea of double james franco is of course pretty stupid, but the whole thing is based on a real events and people (i think) and it's seen as a good attraction so it was inevitable i guess. the two core tension building bits based on his moral ruminations/cowardice ("will he find his courage and do the right thing or not?!?!") were pretty dumb dramatically, i expect something sharper from simon. the gyllenhaal bits were really good. it does seem like a high quality show in general, the writing usually manages to outsmart and not to snap onto a trope, so im in.

  On 8/26/2017 at 2:53 PM, eugene said:

but it does suck you pretty much from the start

  On 8/26/2017 at 2:53 PM, eugene said:

the first ep of the deuce is out, david simon's new big budget hbo thing. and the first thing that bothers me about it is why even set the whole thing in the 70's. if the driving idea is to explore prostitution as an institution then why go 45 years back? is there really not enough material to work with for a script with today's prostitution business? i doubt it. and although they make conscious effort to de-glamorize the whole setting, the effect is still the same. that 70's brown and gritty criminal seediness, the sleaze of the prostitution business, the music, the sound, the painstaking production design (for which there will probably be a dedicated segment in the upcoming blu-ray with talking heads explaining how much effort was made to recreate the era convincingly and all that blabla) and the showy wide angle shots of 70's cgi new york are pushed to the forefront, it's the main axis of attraction of the show, and i'd say it goes at the expense of the actual exploration of prostitution and is somewhat of a distraction.

 

with that said, the first ep is quite engrossing overall, it's piloty and full of exposition and jumping from one character to the next a lot, but it does suck you pretty much from the start with the dialogue and the feel of the city of that era. the idea of double james franco is of course pretty stupid, but the whole thing is based on a real events and people (i think) and it's seen as a good attraction so it was inevitable i guess. the two core tension building bits based on his moral ruminations/cowardice ("will he find his courage and do the right thing or not?!?!") were pretty dumb dramatically, i expect something sharper from simon. the gyllenhaal bits were really good. it does seem like a high quality show in general, the writing usually manages to outsmart and not to snap onto a trope, so im in.

Did you like Treme?

haven't seen it.

Worth a look. Especially foe the music.

yeah, sound like a good idea.

It's worth it, but only for the music.

This character pretty much made it unwatchable for me, without him I probably would've endured past the first handful of episodes.

Fucking hate that guy.

As a fictional portrayal of Katrina it's not bad. Steve zahn is radical ya dig!

Giving Halt and Catch Fire a whirl. Enjoying it so far.

  On 8/27/2017 at 10:40 PM, Gocab said:

This character pretty much made it unwatchable for me, without him I probably would've endured past the first handful of episodes.

He tones it down after the first season IIRC

watching the leftovers. it's hokey but i kind of like the stephen king vibe of the thing. i'm expecting it to go completely off the rails though, this being a lindelof joint.

If anything, it ends better than it begins. S1 is the weakest part of the show by far.

  On 8/29/2017 at 12:46 AM, zaphod said:

watching the leftovers. it's hokey but i kind of like the stephen king vibe of the thing. i'm expecting it to go completely off the rails though, this being a lindelof joint.

season 1 is the worst season and it's still got some incredible episodes of television. against all odds, that show improved with every season, to the point that it's probably one of my top 5 or 10 favorite shows of all time.

Anyone seen Comrade Detective? Unconfirmed reports say it's "funny".

  On 8/28/2017 at 8:28 PM, joshuatx said:

Giving Halt and Catch Fire a whirl. Enjoying it so far.

I loved this show. Gets better as it goes on too, seasons 2 and 3 are great and very different from the first.

so yeah, treme isn't good at all, pretty bad acting all around, lester from the wire is pretty much identical to kirk lazarus from tropic thunder, that aforementioned radio guy is just plain vomit inducing. all those "back in the day"-isms and the incessant attempts to go for the "authentic" are very annoying and hipsterish. the constant righteous zeal that was cleverly contained within a flawed but very watchable character like mcnulty in the wire permeates everything here, the whole thing feels like some kind of propaganda effort and a commercial for new orleans rather than drama really.

it was so overtly preachy, i couldnt weather it (no Katrina jibe)

the facile characters glazed over any good tunes & if folks want music from New Yawlins, theres a whole universe to explore w/out these wanky stories

Celebrity Masterchef - where else could you see Ulrika Jonsson (sp?) nearly cry over an undercooked rack of lamb, nevertheless i wont get those 10mins back on my deathbed

tbh david simon is overrated as fuck and the wire isn't really that great, bad writing and some terrible acting plus that preachy tone, oh boy. it's an important tv show for the discussions it provokes but as a piece of fiction i think it's forgettable.

  On 8/31/2017 at 2:53 AM, eugene said:

so yeah, treme isn't good at all, pretty bad acting all around, lester from the wire is pretty much identical to kirk lazarus from tropic thunder, that aforementioned radio guy is just plain vomit inducing. all those "back in the day"-isms and the incessant attempts to go for the "authentic" are very annoying and hipsterish. the constant righteous zeal that was cleverly contained within a flawed but very watchable character like mcnulty in the wire permeates everything here, the whole thing feels like some kind of propaganda effort and a commercial for new orleans rather than drama really.

Wheres your film/tv review blog Eugene?

  On 8/31/2017 at 2:53 AM, eugene said:

so yeah, treme isn't good at all, pretty bad acting all around, lester from the wire is pretty much identical to kirk lazarus from tropic thunder, that aforementioned radio guy is just plain vomit inducing. all those "back in the day"-isms and the incessant attempts to go for the "authentic" are very annoying and hipsterish. the constant righteous zeal that was cleverly contained within a flawed but very watchable character like mcnulty in the wire permeates everything here, the whole thing feels like some kind of propaganda effort and a commercial for new orleans rather than drama really.

I bit my tongue when you said you were gonna watch it because I wanted this post lol

I totally enjoyed watching Blunt Talk, like American Dad in Real Life with Patrick Stewart.

Just finished Ingobernable on Netflix - it's a Mexican political drama about how the Mexican government colludes with the CIA/DEA to further keep its people in the dark (and disappeared).

I'm caught up on Preacher now. Annoying that it was just starting to get good and then I ran out of episodes. On reflection I'm not sure it was worth 20 hours of my time and the way recognisable plot points were mangled made me a little queasy.

Herr Starr is done very very well though. Oh and I have the hots for the woman who plays Featherstone omg.