TV you've just watched

[BIL]

Finished the currently sole season of French TV series "Les Revenants" (2012) tonight (it's fully subbed in English and a few other languages - will be airing in the UK on Channel 4 this month). Thought the premise sounded interesting, ended up really enjoying it. Does a decent job exploring the inherent drama of dead loved ones reappearing with no concept of time elapsed, without leaning too heavily on tired zombie apocalypse routines. It does employ that scenario to an extent, but its handling was inventive enough to keep things interesting. Really heavy atmosphere throughout, quite foreboding and moving at points.

[Ed Oscuro]

Funny you should mention that - did you see this?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/retu ... re-1923948

[BIL]

Yeah, I'd heard about that! I'm not from here so that sort of thing really goes over my head ("HOLY FUCK, THESE COMMERCIALS ARE IN FRENCH").

Blehhh @ the thought of watching this with ads altogether, actually.

[Ed Oscuro]

They need to show a zombie trying to wash her hair with some of dat shampoo.

Don't sit in the bath too long your skin will get all wrinkly

[BIL]

BTW, although the headline on that page is really misleading (the show is well-restrained in the old "Hungry Hungry Zombies!" department, enough that its traces of that stuff actually become creepy), that trailer is totally what the show is like. Eerie and violent small-town soap opera with ghostly shit goin' on and a happenin' soundtrack, son! It works nicely when diluted over an hour.

[Rob]

The spring season J-drama report you didn't ask for:

#1 雲の階段



Man makes his way up in the world as a doctor without a medical license. Usually hate doc shows, but this is more about deception, the rise/fall and breaking hearts like so many ships in bottles (than it is about correct or not medical jargon being shouted over operating tables).

#2 みんな！エスパーだよ！ -- same director as 愛のむきだし/Love Exposure, same unrelenting barrage of panty shots and boner jokes. Really stupid and repetitive, still pretty amusing.

[MadSteelDarkness]

So, every six years or so i feel a mighty need to rewatch Twin Peaks in its' entirety. The last time was through dodgy, low-res avi's. The time before was on even dodgier vhs dupes.

But thanks to the magic of netflix, i've been enjoying these in a decent resolution and the cinematography is truly a revelation.

[emphatic]

Under The Dome - The pilot was excellent, and I'm currently watching episode 2. Really nice summer TV.

[Skykid]

Just watched both series of Spaced. Caught eps when it aired on TV, but never seen it all in one go. 'Tis great, I'm a pretty big Edgar Wright fan, cos he likes all the same shit I do.

[drauch]

Just watched both series of Spaced. Caught eps when it aired on TV, but never seen it all in one go. 'Tis great, I'm a pretty big Edgar Wright fan, cos he likes all the same shit I do.

Hell yeah, dude. Probably my favorite series. So many great jokes for gamers and cinemaphiles. It's really great if you're a slacker piece of shit as well, so I can totally relate to everything that goes on.

[Skykid]

Just watched both series of Spaced. Caught eps when it aired on TV, but never seen it all in one go. 'Tis great, I'm a pretty big Edgar Wright fan, cos he likes all the same shit I do.

Hell yeah, dude. Probably my favorite series. So many great jokes for gamers and cinemaphiles. It's really great if you're a slacker piece of shit as well, so I can totally relate to everything that goes on.

Colour me surprised! I would have thought it would have been difficult to relate to for folks in the US, since the whole joke of it is taking the glamour of Hollywood and the scale of American drama and supplanting it into the quiet, boringness of London day-to-day life.

I suppose you can just get off on all the awesome references (one a minute) and generally tight directing from Wright. I love the videogame stuff, so well implemented. I think the Resident Evil daydream is probably the most memorable.

[neorichieb1971]

Dexter S8 - Really good.

Under the dome - I'm liking to it, but its a bit slow and a bit samey, as I just watched Revolution from beginning to end.

The Following - I only love crime thrillers when the bad guys give the police the runaround. When the cops get the upper hand I start losing interest. The trouble with this is that Kevin Bacon is an immortal character, so anyone who goes up against him inevitably dies. The writers should probably try to disguise that a bit more if future episodes are written.

The cult - I'm up to date with it. But its waning really badly at the moment. It has a really nice lady in it though and I'm a sucker for watching a mesmerizing face. (Jessica Lucas)

Thats it from me.

[lilmanjs]

Yuusha Yoshihiko to Akuryou no Kagi. Somehow I decided watching the second season of this was a good idea. Its so far after 3 episodes not as good as the first, but still darn funny. Nice to see Square actually allowing something like this to get made. I'm sure somebody will complain that I'm watching a J-Drama though, but I like the spoof and all the stuff they make fun of in RPGs.

[rapoon]

Just watched both series of Spaced. Caught eps when it aired on TV, but never seen it all in one go. 'Tis great, I'm a pretty big Edgar Wright fan, cos he likes all the same shit I do.

Hell yeah, dude. Probably my favorite series. So many great jokes for gamers and cinemaphiles. It's really great if you're a slacker piece of shit as well, so I can totally relate to everything that goes on.

Colour me surprised! I would have thought it would have been difficult to relate to for folks in the US, since the whole joke of it is taking the glamour of Hollywood and the scale of American drama and supplanting it into the quiet, boringness of London day-to-day life.

I suppose you can just get off on all the awesome references (one a minute) and generally tight directing from Wright. I love the videogame stuff, so well implemented. I think the Resident Evil daydream is probably the most memorable.

It's one of my fav series as well. Video game and pop culture references, criticisms of what constitutes "art", commandeering a tank in an effort to attack France. It's awesome. The dynamic between Pegg and Frost (that's carried over into Wrights films) is the most memorable aspect for me. It's obvious they're very close, if not best friends.

[Rob]

Yuusha Yoshihiko to Akuryou no Kagi. Somehow I decided watching the second season of this was a good idea.

I've been going backwards. Lots of the same gags, still funny. I think the cast just works well together (even if they are horrible on their own, like the wizard guy).


3D glasses for Ray-Bans. Watched something else recently with hero Yoshihiko in a much less heroic and more stubbly role- 白夜行/Byakuyakou. Pretty ridiculous stuff. The two characters worrying over the statute of limitations for a certain crime while committing a string equally deplorable crimes. Liked the detective('s gnarly accent).

...And the current season of J-dramas - weak. Woman is the only one that feels half-respectable. Didn't particularly like Mother and those fingerprints are all over this one, but the cast has the sobbing drama chops I desire. Also couldn't be a more fitting role for Hikari Mitsushima and her Olive Oyl frame than sickly woman.

[lilmanjs]

Yuusha Yoshihiko to Akuryou no Kagi. Somehow I decided watching the second season of this was a good idea.

I've been going backwards. Lots of the same gags, still funny. I think the cast just works well together (even if they are horrible on their own, like the wizard guy).


3D glasses for Ray-Bans. Watched something else recently with hero Yoshihiko in a much less heroic and more stubbly role- 白夜行/Byakuyakou. Pretty ridiculous stuff. The two characters worrying over the statute of limitations for a certain crime while committing a string equally deplorable crimes. Liked the detective('s gnarly accent).

...And the current season of J-dramas - weak. Woman is the only one that feels half-respectable. Didn't particularly like Mother and those fingerprints are all over this one, but the cast has the sobbing drama chops I desire. Also couldn't be a more fitting role for Hikari Mitsushima and her Olive Oyl frame than sickly woman.

Well I have to say, that the main reason I decided to watch Yuusha, is that a friend on facebook looks just like the guy from season one who has the poisoned knife. But if the current season of J-Dramas is as weak as you say it is, I'm glad I watched stuff earlier in the year. Last Cinderella was funny, and Mayonaka no Panya-san was a good food drama that had a smaller cast.

[GaijinPunch]

Started Children's Hospital Season 5. If you've not watched the previous season, you're probably an asshole.

[brentsg]

4 days bitches...

Low Winter Sun looks interesting too, also Sunday.

[GaijinPunch]

4 days bitches...

i'm purposefully holding a load in to raise the tension.

[Moniker]

Hell on Wheels, Season 2 (Netflix)

Still a poor man's Deadwood, but they made an exquisite villain out of the Swede. There are far too few true Iagos in contemporary entertainment.

I have to ask of AMC, though: How many "manly men" wax their chests? The leads in both Sons of Anarchy and Hell on Wheels have absolutely no chest hair, despite having admirable beards. I'm no geneticist, but this strikes me as fundamentally unsettling.

[GaijinPunch]

[Moniker]

^Yeh, that's more like it. Sam Elliott never needed no waxing.

In other news.. Watched most of Jack Taylor (Netflix).

I like Iain Glen, if only for his amazing quote in GoT: "There's no word for 'Thank you' in Dothraki."

The series seems unsure of whether to treat Jack as a devil-may-care brohim, or a more universal righteous man in an unrighteous world. B+/A- police procedural, in any case.

[Mischief Maker]

Just finished watching Season 4 of Arrested Development.

This almost feels like a sitcom bit, where someone suggests making an 8 hour long version of that Seinfeld episode that played chronologically in reverse, and everyone goes along with it until someone realizes to their horror that it actually happened and it's actually airing.

I love love LOVE the original 3 seasons, but season 4 left me with the same sick feeling of intense disappointment I felt after the 2nd season of Twin Peaks.

*SPOILERZ FOLLOW*

Gob remains a gutbuster and every episode that revolves around him is Season 4 at its best.

I really loved George Sr in the original 3 sesaons. Entire episodes devoted to George Sr? Great! George Sr's subplot is that he's losing that low-key sleazeball personality that made him so funny in the first place? Wait, what?

Yeah, some of these characters are best played against some straight man character reacting to them, not so much carrying the show on their own. (see Maebe)

Why the personality flip on Michael? Yes there's a story reason for it, but what were they thinking? The whole point of the show is that he's the only member of the Bluth family with any self-awareness, acting as a straight-man to the antics of his self-absorbed family. Suddenly they turn him into a self-absorbed compulsive liar without a trace of self-awareness? That just makes him a boring version of Gob. How painful was that drawn out dueling voicemails bit between him and George Michael and how much funnier would it have been if it actually was Gob trying to string together an increasingly absurd freeway traffic jam story?

So after 8 hours, 2 of which were as fun an entertaining as the previous 3 seasons, it was all about the fall of Michael? Really? The show always had dark humor, but why have things become so bleak and gloomy in this season? Are they trying to be "Louie?"

Now people are encouraging me to go back and spend an additional 8 hours watching it again so I can see all the parts where one character runs past the camera really fast in someone else's story? I don't think I can stomach this season a second time just for pure meta humor. Maybe the Gob episodes.

[Moniker]

Derek (Netflix)

I'm usually game for anything Ricky Gervais does, but here.. wtf? So, assuming he's not playing a mentally handicapped person (as he claims), I'm still sort of baffled at what he was going for with the title character. It's nigh impossible to see Derek as anything but Ricky Gervais making funny faces and talking funny. Especially given it's the same exact format, even repeating the same gags, as The Office (UK). I guess I really don't get it. Karl Pilkington is a riot, as usual. He basically carries the show.

[BitFaced]

Did anyone else think this thread was for TV models you've recently seen?

[Skykid]

I just did the first season of Californication. Fucking junk food TV, but well written junk food TV. It's all about Duchovny isn't it? Hank Moody, too cool for words, fucks anything that moves including sixteen year-old teens, while drinking, smoking, and punching shitty movie directors in the face for making shitty movies.

/idol.

[emphatic]

I just did the first season of Californication. Fucking junk food TV, but well written junk food TV. It's all about Duchovny isn't it? Hank Moody, too cool for words, fucks anything that moves including sixteen year-old teens, while drinking, smoking, and punching shitty movie directors in the face for making shitty movies.

/idol.

This show started kinda fun but does get shittier by each season. You've been warned.

[Skykid]

This show started kinda fun but does get shittier by each season. You've been warned.

Yeah, my bro told me as much. Just reckoned the first season was worth watching. I've had Duchovny withdrawal ever since Season 7 of the X-Files.

[GaijinPunch]

I think it continually delivers, but of course is filled w/ self-parodical cliche'. Moody is indeed a slow-motion train wreck that never learns his lesson. While it may not offer tons of new stuff as it goes on, the writing/humor are still entertaining. For me, anyway.

[GaijinPunch]

And this post inspired me to get off my ass and use my Hulu+ account after a few weeks, and pick up on the X-Files where I left off. 3x10 is the one w/ the train, in which some Japanese scientists are involved. Mulder finds a doctors notes in a spiral notepad... handwritten Japanese. He flips through 3 or 4 pages... each one... the exact same as the last. Haha. 20 years of studying Japanese... finally has paid off.