Watch, Watched, Watching: No Dragons Allowed

[Nictarion]

52 minutes ago, DMC said:

Gotta say, as much as I love Rhea Seehorn, I don't have too much faith in Vince Gilligan at this point and Apple TV is just ugh.  I'm being prejudiced, but someone is gonna have to convince me to watch that.

Why? Between X-Files, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul, I’ve pretty much loved everything he’s been involved with. At least of the stuff I’ve seen. 

That said, I probably won’t be watching this new show as I don’t have, or to intend to get, Apple TV. 

[DMC]

7 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

Why? Between X-Files, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul, I’ve pretty much loved everything he’s been involved with. At least of the stuff I’ve seen. 

Anticipated this question.  First, I don't count X-Files.  That's like counting Winter, Weiner et al. for Sopranos.  And, even if I did the latter, that was Sopranos, whereas X-Files is..not Sopranos...

Anyway, I think there's diminishing returns on showrunners when it comes to TV shows.  Particularly Creators/Showrunners.  I understand the response will be David Simon but..yep, that's my point.  How many showrunners have really run two great shows?  Or three, if you count BCS and now this new one?  I'm just not optimistic.  If he's stepping back and is just an EP, ok, I'll check it out when I can.  But, well, that's my rule.  Even Sorkin couldn't get to three.

[3CityApache]

Oh, come on. It might not be great, it might be just good. That's perfectly enough to watch it and enjoy it.

[Cas Stark]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Gotta say, as much as I love Rhea Seehorn, I don't have too much faith in Vince Gilligan at this point and Apple TV is just ugh.  I'm being prejudiced, but someone is gonna have to convince me to watch that.

At the point where he is now the creator of two of the best TV shows in history, with many people [not  me] crediting Better Call Saul as better than BB.  The new show may not be a good as BB or BCS, but it seems premature to think he's lost his mojo.

[Spockydog]

El Camino was not good. Neither was the conclusion of BCS.

Despite this, I will give his new show a fair shake.

[DMC]

Well I got ninja'd there a bit, but I was somewhat thinking of El Camino.  And The Many Saints of Newark.  I dunno, I just feel snakebitten lately, but I think the theory is well-founded too.  I always try to have an open mind -- and I would, but bottomline is I just don't get Apple TV.

[Spockydog]

4 minutes ago, DMC said:

 And The Many Saints of Newark. 

That was proper shite.

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Spockydog

[Cas Stark]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

Well I got ninja'd there a bit, but I was somewhat thinking of El Camino.  And The Many Saints of Newark.  I dunno, I just feel snakebitten lately, but I think the theory is well-founded too.  I always try to have an open mind -- and I would, but bottomline is I just don't get Apple TV.

As a coda to the series, El Camino was fine, better than the putrid Many Saints of Newark.  VG already proved the 'experts' wrong by creating a great prequel that was great at everything..writing, pacing, direction, acting.  I also despise Apple TV, but VG going back to his roots in scifi, could be great.  Even a VG 'C' effort is going to be better than most of what is out there.

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

VG already proved the 'experts' wrong by creating a great prequel that was great at everything..writing, pacing, direction, acting.  I also despise Apple TV, but VG going back to his roots in scifi, could be great.  Even a VG 'C' effort is going to be better than most of what is out there.

Yeah fair enough.  Not too into him going back into scifi.  Is that what it's supposed to be?

[Veltigar]

So I need to know, why the dislike of Apple TV here? I haven't seen much of their stuff, but they did give us Ted Lasso which to me is the best television show of this decade so far, so surely not everything about them can be bad  

[Mark Antony]

7 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

So I need to know, why the dislike of Apple TV here? I haven't seen much of their stuff, but they did give us Ted Lasso which to me is the best television show of this decade so far, so surely not everything about them can be bad  

Severance is also very very good

[DMC]

10 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

So I need to know, why the dislike of Apple TV here?

Not really dislike, I just don't have it.

[Nictarion]

41 minutes ago, DMC said:

Not really dislike, I just don't have it.

Same. I already have too many streaming services as it is, and nothing on Apple TV has really piqued my interest enough to try it. 

[Mark Antony]

9 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

Same. I already have too many streaming services as it is, and nothing on Apple TV has really piqued my interest enough to try it. 

Scorseses next flick is Apple TV so you may have to bite the bullet for a month my friend  

[Heartofice]

I got Apple TV to watch Severance and deleted it quick sharp afterwards, it’s like a ghost town in there 

[Nictarion]

26 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Scorseses next flick is Apple TV so you may have to bite the bullet for a month my friend  

Forgot about that…

[Mexal]

For All Mankind is great as well.

[DaveSumm]

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Something completely different now, but I just saw the series finale of Neighbors (yes, the Australian soap). There was a time during the pandemic that I indulged myself with it. I have also gone on record to say that all soaps are trash, but if you have to watch one of them, Neighbors is about as good as it gets.

I was thus more than a little shocked when they decided to ax this iconic series. It's command of the watercooler conversation might have disappeared completely (I hear this was like GoT in the eighties, everyone wanted to talk about it, although back then it was probably of a better quality than the latter seasons of GoT ), but I was still surprised that in the age of streaming and endless niche appeal they could not find any streaming service willing to take over this series.

I thus decided to watch at least the final episode, because I heard that many of the old favorites came back. In particular, I heard a lot of praise lavished on Guy Pearce for returning and actually committing to a storyline. Margot Robbie, Kylie Minogue, Natalia Imbruglia, etc. came back but didn't do more than a cameo, while Guy Pearce actually put a lot of effort in.

All things considered, the finale wasn't great. You felt the emotion, but a lot of the wistfully looking back and the barrage of cameos was a bit much. Guy Pearce's storyline was the highlight though. While everyone else was stuck in nostalgia land, his return actually impacted the stakes of the story. It was very sweet to see how willing he was to give back to soap that started it all for him. 

I never thought I’d be discussing it here, but yea I skimmed through the finale as well. It was huge in the UK back when I was at school, it aired at both lunch time and after school to catch both audiences. Apparently the Australian broadcaster used it to drive people toward their on demand service and removed it from regular TV, so it kinda killed it. Numbers in the UK dropped when it moved to Channel 5 and it just descended downward. 

It was barely an episode, more an excuse to roam around and talk to different people. Really strange watch.  They basically give up even pretending it’s fictional at a certain point, nobody is even in character. Also thought it was accidentally hilarious when they repeated the theme over and over at the end, like someone had started it too early and had to play it like 5 times.

[DaveSumm]

Yea I’ve watched Severance, For All Mankind and Ted Lasso, but all in the free 3 months you get from buying the Apple TV itself (which I love btw, but get that it’s a pretty penny for something you don’t strictly need).

[RumHam]

Apple TV and Amazon video annoy me because why are they doing that. They're like the two most profitable companies in america why do they need to pile on when there are already too many streaming services.