What TV shows are you watching?

[The JG Man]

I don't know if this entirely counts, but hey.

I picked up Arrested Development series 1 on DVD a few months ago but never ended up watching it. Without the internet at my uni place the last couple of weeks, I popped it in. Amazing stuff. Promptly ordered 2 and 3 and I finished watching it earlier. Unrelentingly funny. At the same time, it was clever but didn't need it all the time. Done with master strokes, truly. A shame it got cancelled, but it definitely felt like it had a good conclusion. If I had to pick a favourite character (and I no I don't, but I want to emphasise this) it has to be Maebe, particularly what happens for her during series 2.

In a sense, I feel like it's sort of like Police Squad in style, in that it's really pushing the Jokes Per Minute, but can do all kinds of comedy with no difficulty involved. Anyhow, I strongly recommend AD for comedy fans.

[Dubbill]

Parks & Recreation is back. Which means a weekly opportunity to bask in the glory of Ron Swanson

Parks and Rec is fantastic. If you want to study Ron's pyramid in all its glory, you can find it here.

I'll also give another shout out to Arrested Development now that they've announced it's returning for another season before the film (finally) gets made. Hurray!

[squirrel]

Great, The Good Wife and House MD have started their new seasons. Am downloading to watch. (Dont blame me for downloading please, I am not American so I cannot watch on American TV channels, just like you have to download / stream to watch Chinese TV in your countries, doubt you would be interested though).

I read on Wikipedia that Dr. House will be thrown in jail (real prison time, not some one day lock down for contempt to court) for his crazy act in the last episode of last season. I am kinda of so much feel for him. He is not a bad guy actually, just holds some wrong attitude over some issues. However, it's also kinda natural for someone like him to end up in jail. What a world we are living in. (But it's just a drama, I know)

[Jockie]

I watched the first episode of Homeland last night, a new kind of high concept slow burning spy drama. The concept for those of you not familiar is that a US marine is rescued in Iraq, 8 years after disappearing, while a slightly unhinged CIA agent receives some intel that the rescued marine may in fact have been 'turned' in captivity.The drama comes from her (the CIA agent is played by Claire Danes) trying to uncover the truth, or find evidence proving this is the case. The Marine is played by Damien Lewis, his wife is Morena Baccarin who you may remember from Firefly and V (I can confirm she gets naked within the first 10 minutes, for those that way inclined).

Anyway, it seems like a cross between high concept spy thriller and something a bit more slow burning like Rubicon. On evidence of the first episode, it seems well worth a watch, with a low-key aesthetic and a very character driven plot.

Oh, it also has Mandy Patinkin, who people of a certain age will remember fondly.

[Ian]

So I finished season 1 of The Wire.

What a show. And I think the first disc of season 2 should be sitting in my flat by today. Good times.

[SMiD]

Yeah, just found out about Arrested Development's return. This news makes my balls tingle. And it looks like it's about time to crack open the DVDs again for another spin through the series. Brilliant show; I have my fingers' crossed on this one.

[DigitalSignalX]

Thanks for the tip on Homeland. Will definitely check it out. Damian Lewis is in it, his show "Life" was a real treat, too bad it was canceled. Spent a week taking a break from games, with the exception of an odd hour or so Witcher 2, so watched a *lot* of stuff. The first seasons of Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones were both excellent, compelling dramas.

[cjlr]

Arrested Development is pretty great. My roommate of a few years back introduced me to the show, and I swear we watched an episode or two of it just about every day. There are so many layers and background jokes all throughout, watching it once is hardly enough to catch everything. I'm skeptical of a renewal so much later, though... Is there any TV show that's done well, coming back from a long hiatus? I read that the actors are all back (and looking much older) but how many of the writers are back? How many of the crew?

And for myself, I just got hold of the full run of the original Prisoner. Great stuff. There are some stock parodies and references I knew about before, without having seen it - especially that great episode of the Simpsons. But I hadn't realized how wide ranging that show's influence is. I'm only about halfway through, now, and I've managed not to spoil the end for myself (not easy, with a 45 year old show!).

[icupnimpn2]

Sure there are shows and concepts that have done well after a long hiatus, but those have usually had either severe cast changes ala Dr. Who and ST:TNG. Those that have retained their original cast have been cartoons ala Family Guy and Futurama. There have been TV reunion specials bringing original cast members back together, but none I can think of that rival the 10-episode length of the new Arrested Development series.

[The JG Man]

The Prisoner is an excellent show. A real head case, but excellent.

As for shows brought back, I thought the last series of Futurama was actually really good. No better or worse than the series that came before it. Dr. Who is an odd example though, simply because they changed the cast anyhow. It's only really the format that's any different and does work. Similarly, with the two-parters, you're getting lengths equal to the old four-parters anyhow!

[Xercies]

I thought this season of Futurama had nothing on the previous seasons, There was only a few episodes where I thought it was great and its not like previous seasons where even if I watched it I will still watch it again because its really good. This season was just dull.

[The JG Man]

Catch up time!

Then prepare to be in for a shock.

Is there any chance I can ignore what you said and hope otherwise? I know, but...optimism, eh?

So I got my mitts on season 4 of Chuck on Sunday night and have watched...well, it's all gone now. On the whole, eclipsed season 3, although that wasn't necessarily the hardest thing to do and generally felt consistent. Certain episodes better than others, but that's understandable. What isn't is how NBC couldn't make up their damn minds, so we had two series finales in one season. Good lord. That being said, the best episodes were up there with the best stuff and the worst was still very entertaining. Many, many hearty laughs and a good few "Hell yeah!" moments. Funnily enough, most of them involved Casey.

And for that matter, Casey wins the "Awesome Moment" award this series for his sniping people in a room based solely on a video-feed from someone moving about in that room. Ho-ly crap. Brilliant stuff! Timothy Dalton comes a close second though for being consistently excellent. Both lunatic and scary, with something of a sheet of paper between which one he'd choose.

So yeah, as it turns out, I gleefully disagree! I do however acknowledge that they really needed to cut down on the angst between Chuck and Sarah. Of course, considering the ending to the season, I don't think that'll be too much of a problem now.

And finally, Yvonne Strahovski in the belly dancer out-fit. Words cannot do justice. Despite that, and some of the great stuff Chuck has provided in the last two seasons, I can't help but think it would've been better to have ended it at the end of season 2. Maybe that's a case of wanting to ignore the bad whilst not accepting the good that did come through, but it would have been such a high note to have gone out on. I hope the final run can do it absolute justice.

got back into farscape. second season ep 10.
quality varies. some episodes are pretty awesome. some are just shit. anyone can say whether it gets worse/better later on?

Probably a bit late to this one, but Farscape descends into madness and then completely revels in it. It starts to happen about a third of the way through the second season, but it really picks up pace. The best part is, having seen the show before, re-watching some of the earlier stuff shows not only how far they came, but how many things they hint at so well that you don't really notice till later. There's an awful lot of fantastic thread-weaving going on. Also, Aeryn shooting things never gets tiring.

When I was re-watching the first season, there was not one episode I didn't enjoy. The last few episodes as well are excellent. I actually thought some of the early ones in season two were a bit pants, but they pick right back up again. It starts to get incredibly consistent in quality and bizarreness though, but like I said, it benefits from this oh-so-much.

I actually intend to get the blu-ray collection which releases in a few weeks. Well, I say intend, maybe as a birthday/xmas present. We shall see. Either way, by the end of the year I intend to own it!

I thought this season of Futurama had nothing on the previous seasons

Inconsistent, but generally still above board. There were some weak episodes, definitely, but the best ones were up there with the rest of the best. It's just a shame the bad ones were just not up to snuff at all.

Phew, okay. Well, now that I've finished Chuck for the time being, the only shows still ongoing are Castle, which remains a weekly treat of fun and at some point on iPlayer, HD Frozen Planet. Anyone watch it earlier?

[MD!]

Inconsistent, but generally still above board. There were some weak episodes, definitely, but the best ones were up there with the rest of the best. It's just a shame the bad ones were just not up to snuff at all.

Will you concede that it has changed significantly? (In tone, characterisation, etc.) Because to me, the resurrection of Futurama has been freaking terrible. To the point that I have a newfound empathy with old-school Simpsons fans who whinge about its decline, and people generally who use ridiculous metaphors ('My childhood just got shat on!') to complain about things they love(d) being sullied by remakes and reboots and sequels.

I totally get that judgments of quality are almost entirely subjective, but I don't think that applies to judgments of consistency or similarity, and I've seen far too many people imply that the latest seasons are pretty much just new episodes of the same old Futurama. I know this shouldn't bother me, but I can't help it. I guess I would hate to see anyone judge the series as a whole by the latest run of episodes. (If you want to get technical though, I will concede that the slide/evolution began in production season 4 (TV season 5), which had a few episodes that would have fit in well with the latest run. Not to mention the movies, which I had successfully forgotten about.)

I am aware of the risks of nostalgia, but I'm also entirely confident that this is not a case of me 'changing' or 'growing up' while holding on to the things I experienced when younger. My old favourites are still great, and against the charge of youth-affected judgment carried into the present, I offer the fact that I was perfectly capable of disliking some episodes in the original run, and was aware of the declining quality of production season 4 as it happened. (And this wasn't because I was already going cold on the show -- one of my all-time favourite episodes came right near the end of production season 4.)


That was more words on Futurama than I've written for several years. I apologise, but I guess I needed to get some things off my chest! To answer the thread title: I'm currently enjoying The West Wing, only a few years behind everyone else.

P.S. I guess I pretty much gave up on Futurama after the first post-resurrection series. So when I say 'the latest run' I'm mostly referring to the season before the current one. If the current one is actually a dramatic return to form, please tell me.

[Lukasz]

thx for the info on farscape. yeah. already finishing season 2 and it is weird.

also watching Doctor Who. I must say i was underwhelmed with good man goes to war. didn't see newer episodes as they are not being shown in my country and my internet is crap so can't pirate when i am home.

[The JG Man]

Will you concede that it has changed significantly?
P.S. I guess I pretty much gave up on Futurama after the first post-resurrection series. So when I say 'the latest run' I'm mostly referring to the season before the current one. If the current one is actually a dramatic return to form, please tell me.

Yes. I'm not entirely sure how it's changed, but it has. It's smaller things that add up to it, like why all of a sudden is everyone going on missions? To get the most out of the voice actors? They think it'll benefit from the jokes they've done? I dunno. It has changed, but I would say there's still plenty good from the last season to justify its continued existence. It remains my favourite show, but I too would be remiss in saying that I didn't enjoy every episode of the original run. Some just didn't click with me and I found it hard to get involved with those episodes since. I think it was some of the 'mythology' episodes, just didn't work for me.

The films (/season 5) were an odd one. I can see what they tried to do, but ultimately I only found two enjoyable, one passable and one bad. Not a great record considering how anticipated they were. Yet, they were enough for it to be brought back, so it's hard to argue with their successfulness.

Just like with the original run, season 6 has its stand-out episodes and it also has the more...mundane ones. I'm not entirely sure then the latest season started up, or if 6 is still technically the 'latest' one. This really doesn't help considering how screwed by the network it ended up becoming and having different designations for seasons depending on where you were in the world.

[Ian]

I think I watched the first four or five of the most recent series of Futurama and if I averaged a laugh per episode that was the most.

Anyway, ploughing on through The Wire and I think I've got five season 2 episodes left now. It's definitely not as good as the first series, if only because the two "main" sides of the show to this point aren't (them being the Barksdale organisation and the main police characters) as woven together, but the last episode or two have started to show more reason why they are linked.

Also needs more McNulty and Omar.

Enjoying it though, and I'll be looking to get going on the next couple of discs.

[Xercies]

Really? I thought Season 2 to me was the strongest season and it still hasn't been beaten in my mind(though I'm thinking Season 4 is going to change that) except for that one character Ziggy who is so fecking annoying. I mean he might supposed to be annoying but everytime he was on screen I wanted to strangle him so much.

With Futurama I think the jokes got weaker and its heart got weaker as well. Even when an episode was trying to be like heart breaking like Jurrasic Bark it never truly got to it and there definitely was flaws. Also to me they definitely tried a bit to much of the pop culture references, Futurama your not Family Guy so stop it! It also kind of depressed me that there was no general continuity and characters acted out of character to get to the story elements. Also Leela and Frys relationship was a bit disappointing as well.

[Ian]

I've seen somebody else saying that they thought season 2 looks better on re-viewings and when considered in the context of the show as a whole.

Obviously I've not seen and know nothing about the ones after season 2 but up to this point it felt times like the stuff with Barksdale people was there as much to show us the outcome of stuff from the first season. As I say, now it's starting to become clearer what their role is or might be and it's doing more of the stuff that I liked in the first season so there's a plenty of time yet for me to like it even more.

[Xercies]

Obviously I've not seen and know nothing about the ones after season 2 but up to this point it felt times like the stuff with Barksdale people was there as much to show us the outcome of stuff from the first season

Hmm it kind of is, the Barksdale stuff is sidelined for Season 2, but to be honest the main investigation of the Dock Workers was a lot more interesting to me so I didn't really mind that to be honest.

[MD!]

I'm not entirely sure then the latest season started up, or if 6 is still technically the 'latest' one. This really doesn't help considering how screwed by the network it ended up becoming and having different designations for seasons depending on where you were in the world.

Yeah, I was a bit confused about that too. I've looked it up, and it seems that the most recent season was still production season 6 (with 5 being the movies, as you said). Season 6 was split into two seasons (7 and 8) on US TV.

I can't help myself, I'm going to give a couple of 'season 8' episodes a go. (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to admit to downloading TV shows. But my first exposure to Futurama was through downloads, and I ended up buying the seasons 1-4 box sets despite having watched (almost?) every episode on my computer.)