Watch, Watched, Watching: Coming 2 America is the reward for our sinful life

[Nictarion]

28 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

I'm not sure, I think I'd find it depressing right now.

Maybe I should try The Wire?

You should definitely watch The Wire at some point, but you’re not going to find it any less depressing. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

34 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

 

I'm not sure, I think I'd find it depressing right now.

Maybe I should try The Wire?

You want to watch The Wire to not be depressed? Okay my friend. I've only seen a few episodes, but that show is dark.

Quote

It's really hard for me to find something that suits me right now. I watched the first episode of Parks and Recreation, and while it was funny, I also started to get annoyed/ frustrated with the protagonist (and her "helpful" co-workers) already.

Parks and Recs gets so much better with time (granted I've only seen the first few seasons), but it can feel repetitive at times. 

I miss fat Starlord though....

[Mindwalker]

OK, no crime shows for me in the forseeable future! Dark is probably not good for me right now.

Btw., my all-time favorite show is Six Feet Under (even though I did look away during some morgue 'sewing' scenes), but I wouldn't rewatch it at this point in time.

[WarGalley]

1 hour ago, Mindwalker said:

I could finally catch up with OITNB (after s5) or AD (after s1), or try this show about an AU of the moon landing..

 

Arrested Development? Seasons 2 and 3 are definitely worth a go and are hilarious even on re-watch as there are just so many foreshadowing jokes you can't understand on the first watch. Never got through season 4 or after but have been watching clips on YouTube in homage to Jessica Walters.

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, Mindwalker said:

As for Dr. Who, I would have loved it as a child! (And maybe I did watch classic Who, I don't remember.) I'm watching ep 5 now, and all in all, I find it mildly entertaining, but burping bins and farting aliens are just not my knd of humor. And I somehow can't get interested in the main characters, or Victorian "ghosts", or any of the aliens. Of those first eps, I liked the second one best.  Love the intro, though, and it was nice to see the actor of Dickens again. He was on of the better parts of "Four Marriages And A Funeral". Oh, and I might watch the first eps of the current doc, if just because some fans freaked out when a woman was announced.

The first season did have some rough moments, some of the more infantile humour is the worst bit. I think we've never seen the Slitheen again since that season and I think that's a good thing.

The best episodes in the first season are The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances two parter. I liked Dalek and Father's Day as well but the rest of the season is very mixed.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

51 minutes ago, WarGalley said:

Arrested Development? Seasons 2 and 3 are definitely worth a go and are hilarious even on re-watch as there are just so many foreshadowing jokes you can't understand on the first watch. Never got through season 4 or after but have been watching clips on YouTube in homage to Jessica Walters.

I really like Arrested Development, but it can feel like peaks and valleys at times. Though I will say if I had to rank the top 10 funniest scenes I've seen on TV, AD might own like half of them. This will always be catnip to my soul:

Spoiler

 

 

[felice]

5 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

As for Dr. Who, I would have loved it as a child! (And maybe I did watch classic Who, I don't remember.) I'm watching ep 5 now, and all in all, I find it mildly entertaining, but burping bins and farting aliens are just not my knd of humor.

A lot of long-term fans were very unimpressed with the "humour" at the time. If you don't want to keep going with the first season, maybe try skipping ahead to season 5 ( starting with The Eleventh Hour ) for a new showrunner who handles things a bit differently.

[BigFatCoward]

6 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

 

It's really hard for me to find something that suits me right now. I watched the first episode of Parks and Recreation, and while it was funny, I also started to get annoyed/ frustrated with the protagonist (and her "helpful" co-workers) already.

 

Don't watch S1. They changed the whole of Leslie's character for the better from S2, and its amazing. The show works much better once they got her correct. 

[Ghostlydragon]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Don't watch S1. They changed the whole of Leslie's character for the better from S2, and its amazing. The show works much better once they got her correct. 

Agreed. And Andy is far more likeable in s2 especially when he mixes with more people than just Anne.

[Ghostlydragon]

6 hours ago, felice said:

A lot of long-term fans were very unimpressed with the "humour" at the time. If you don't want to keep going with the first season, maybe try skipping ahead to season 5 ( starting with The Eleventh Hour ) for a new showrunner who handles things a bit differently.

I wouldn't go that far. S5 is incredible but benefits from following on from the tenth doctor's final year where his loneliness and unhappiness is really enhanced but you've got to watch all the way through to appreciate it.

In fact the only one I really recommend skipping or generally ignoring most of would be s2. Rose and 10s relationship is so cringey.  I won't give spoilers although a lot of people are aware of the episode Doomsday but I really hated it.

9 and Rose are so much better. Again no spoilers but the best relationship is 10 and his s4 friend.

[Veltigar]

Just finished season 1 of The Shield. I'm sold. This is going to be one heck of a ride

12 hours ago, WarGalley said:

I can't recall specifically as my last re-watch was a few years ago. There's no down season but there will be filler episodes that can make a season feel a little bloated.. at least as far as I can remember. 

Filler episodes I can take. Filler seasons would be tougher to swallow so I'm glad to hear that!

13 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

 

I'm not sure, I think I'd find it depressing right now.

It certainly isn't life-affirming but I would say it is also not very depressing. Just tense  

[Red Tiger]

14 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

 

I'm not sure, I think I'd find it depressing right now.

Maybe I should try The Wire?

As for Dr. Who, I would have loved it as a child! (And maybe I did watch classic Who, I don't remember.) I'm watching ep 5 now, and all in all, I find it mildly entertaining, but burping bins and farting aliens are just not my knd of humor. And I somehow can't get interested in the main characters, or Victorian "ghosts", or any of the aliens. Of those first eps, I liked the second one best.  Love the intro, though, and it was nice to see the actor of Dickens again. He was on of the better parts of "Four Marriages And A Funeral". Oh, and I might watch the first eps of the current doc, if just because some fans freaked out when a woman was announced.

It's really hard for me to find something that suits me right now. I watched the first episode of Parks and Recreation, and while it was funny, I also started to get annoyed/ frustrated with the protagonist (and her "helpful" co-workers) already.

I could finally catch up with OITNB (after s5) or AD (after s1), or try this show about an AU of the moon landing... I don't know.

Someone recommended Person of Interest to me, but said that s1 would probably be a bit of a struggle. Lays some groundwork, though, so shouldn't be skipped.

 

The Wire is more depressing than The Shield. In the Shield you have the feeling that individuals are responsible for their own destiny, in the Wire...well.

[RumHam]

14 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

Someone recommended Person of Interest to me, but said that s1 would probably be a bit of a struggle. Lays some groundwork, though, so shouldn't be skipped.

I'd actually go further than that. Depending on your tolerance for police procedural shows with shocking twists most of the first three seasons are bad. There's some great stuff there, but you have to wade through a lot of "Oh no the person we thought was good is bad!" 

Not to mention Caviezel's Batman voice / whisper talking ALL THE TIME. I never saw The Passion of the Christ but I assume he can talk like a normal human when he wants to.. 

That said I've rewatched the show a few times now, I really like the good parts. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

So last night, I believe for probably the fourth time, I tried to watch Spectre. Man did I have to force myself to stay awake to see it through, because I fell asleep each of the previous times. Craig easily in my book has the best Bond entry with Casino Royale, but Spectre has to go down as one of the worst films in the series. The opening scene is cool, but it's also kind of dumb when you think about it. And that's the film's highlight. I really do appreciate what they were trying to do because it's something I've been waiting for as a long time, being a big Bond fan overall, but damn, they failed. I don't want to hear another criticism of Quantum of Solace after finally finishing this piece of crap.

The only film I think puts me to sleep more than this is A Streetcar Named Desire, which is actually a good film, but the first hour is a snore.

[Heartofice]

I dunno what it is about the Bond franchise that its almost entirely ‘meh’ movies punctuated with a series of highlights, usually when a new Bond is cast. Outside of Casino Royale I think all of the Craig movies are either forgettable or bad, same applies to Brosnan and everything after Goldeneye. 
 

It’s like they have injections of energy and creativity but then completely stop bothering until things get really bad and they need to start again.

[RumHam]

I like Skyfall. I know a lot of it makes little sense and the ending goes on a bit too long but I like it. 

Spectre supposedly was impacted by the North Korean Sony hack. The script or plot leaked and so they changed it. I never read the original script but it had to be better than what came out. 

[DMC]

I liked Skyfall as well.  Still never seen Spectre.

The Wire is indeed one of the few movies/shows that actually does depress me.  This is why I've rarely rewatched it, especially compared to other shows I consider my favorites.

Parks and Rec does indeed get a lot better after the first season.  The initially tried to make Leslie Knope basically a female Michael Scott, which was ill-advised for a number of reasons.  The showrunners have admitted starting in season 2 they made a conscious effort to make her at least "less ditzy," and generally (imo) far more likeable.

[WarGalley]

Spectre was the most disappointing movie for me in the 2010-2020 decade. Mostly because of my own hype and expectations and the thought that I was going to get a non-cartoonish, serious and sinister version of the Spectre organization that might befit Casino Royale. I still can't believe they tried to tie the previous movies and characters to Spectre with literal strings.. 

[Red Tiger]

1 hour ago, WarGalley said:

Spectre was the most disappointing movie for me in the 2010-2020 decade. Mostly because of my own hype and expectations and the thought that I was going to get a non-cartoonish, serious and sinister version of the Spectre organization that might befit Casino Royale. I still can't believe they tried to tie the previous movies and characters to Spectre with literal strings.. 

It's not just your hype. They spend the movie building up Blofeld and then his motivation turns out to be "Daddy, why didn't you give me enough attention?!!!" and his actions are ultimately extremely petty. The friend I went with and myself were wondering if the writers were smoking crack.

[polishgenius]

7 hours ago, Ghostlydragon said:

In fact the only one I really recommend skipping or generally ignoring most of would be s2. Rose and 10s relationship is so cringey.  I won't give spoilers although a lot of people are aware of the episode Doomsday but I really hated it.

 

 

I quite like Doomsday even though it is cheesy, but one should definitely watch the Impossible Planet two-parter, The Girl in the Fireplace, and School Reunion.

Also Love & Monsters but only to hate.

 

 

In hindsight, honestly, RTD's run is better than Moffat's run coz yeah it suffered from some bad humour (especially early on) and being a bit unimaginative with its big threats, at least RTD knew how to finish his plots. Season 5 is great but s6 is already running into trouble despite some cracking episodes and after that it just gets into an increasingly embarassing routine of setting up ideas then just abandoning them midway or ruining them in ways that makes no sense. Moffat's dialogue and humour is better than RTD's and he upped the production value but his story control is shockingly bad.