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Posted: |
May 10, 2015 - 11:54 PM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Game of Thrones. I'm not a big fan of fantasy drama. It seems to still be as popular as ever with people quoting it and discussing it left and right.
There are so many series that I'm missing out on, but I need to feel in the mood to start watching one. The days of waiting weekly for a new episode in front of the tv are over for me. When a show starts, I like to wait to see if it will survive its first season so I can bingewatch a lot of episodes. My brother is the same.
So for instance I still have Breaking Bad to watch completely, I still need to catch up with 24 after season 3, never seen The Wire, the new Battlestar Galactica... I did the same with Lost, I watched that series after it finished over the course of several months.
The only exceptions of series lately I followed weekly are Walking Dead and The Newsroom, the latter sadly cancelled.
As for overload, I don't think it's a bad thing. There's actually some great television being made, still nothing groundbreaking but the quality almost matches film. One of the highlights in that regard for me were the Masters of Horror series that allowed on-hiatus genre directors to go at it completely uncut with almost guerilla style filmmaking on a tv budget with little time to shoot it. I loved that result and I'm surprised not more genres exploited it (OK, there was a sci-fi one but that tanked).
Having TV be that cinematic also means you have a lot of shows that try to pass as such with only a budget for marketing but little else, so there still is a lot of filler out there. Though I couldn't be happier with a show like Walking Dead, I find it sad that sci-fi is mainly dead on tv. So for all the overload, there doesn't seem to be a good answer to that yet.
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Posted: |
May 11, 2015 - 6:31 AM
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By: |
CinemaScope
(Member)
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Some great telly these days. I'm only on the basic package of my TV provider (Virgin), so I don't see that many programs as they go out, that means it's box set time. I love Game Of Thrones, & it does look stunning on Blu-ray. I haven't seen any Breaking Bad, but I'm told that I'd like it (& I think I'd quite like Penny Dredful). I've seen the first four seasons of The Walking dead, but will have to by the discs to see series five. There's been some very good dramas on British TV as well. Happy Valley, a kidnap plot, but quite hardcore, & brilliant, & The Missing, another brilliant mini-series. Just as well TV is so good, as most movies seem to be crap these days.
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For me Happy Valley was gripping and almost essential viewing, while Midsomer Murders is a snooze-fest ! And it's surprising there's anyone left in the area.
HV had some great performances especially from the female lead, ex-Coronation Street star Sarah Lancashire. The Missing was ok, but started getting drawn out.
Game of Thrones became a guilty pleasure, despite the extreme nature of it. And of course it's got a great cast.
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Posted: |
May 11, 2015 - 10:00 AM
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By: |
CinemaScope
(Member)
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The cast of actors and characters are usually very interesting and the production values rival that of feature films, but I constantly find the writers to be the weakest link. Even if a series starts out strong, they usually devolve into ludicrous plots twists and completely ignore countless episodes of predetermined facts or set ups. It's very frustrating. I also find it extremely annoying the producers of many shows feel they need to completely reboot the premise of the series every season or two.
Yup, I hate that. It's all set up, & what it's all about will be explained in time, but they never get there, as the series is cancelled at the end of series one or two (& you get the idea that there never was an answer, it's all been set-up without a clue what's going to happen, or what it's all about). That's the great thing about a mini-series, there's a beginning, middle & end. And that's the great thing about Game Of thrones, it's sticking close to the books (the author is a co-producer), not that I've read the books.
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Posted: |
May 11, 2015 - 10:07 AM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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The cast of actors and characters are usually very interesting and the production values rival that of feature films, but I constantly find the writers to be the weakest link. Even if a series starts out strong, they usually devolve into ludicrous plots twists and completely ignore countless episodes of predetermined facts or set ups. It's very frustrating. I also find it extremely annoying the producers of many shows feel they need to completely reboot the premise of the series every season or two.
Yup, I hate that. It's all set up, & what it's all about will be explained in time, but they never get there, as the series is cancelled at the end of series one or two (& you get the idea that there never was an answer, it's all been set-up without a clue what's going to happen, or what it's all about). That's the great thing about a mini-series, there's a beginning, middle & end. And that's the great thing about Game Of thrones, it's sticking close to the books (the author is a co-producer), not that I've read the books.
Exactly. J. Michael Straczynski got it right with "Babyon 5" because he put in the time before hand to visualize the entire series.
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Is it any wonder that no matter what show is in the nation’s zeitgeist, the odds of your actually watching that show are pretty slim?
Good point, Bob.
Remember when there was CBS, NBC, ABC and local programming that included a guy announcing the afternoon cartoons next someone in a bear suit? Maybe that was as much as I could keep up with.
Today, I'm staying away from the water, 'cause it's just too deep!
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Posted: |
May 11, 2015 - 1:21 PM
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By: |
CinemaScope
(Member)
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Is it any wonder that no matter what show is in the nation’s zeitgeist, the odds of your actually watching that show are pretty slim?
Good point, Bob.
Remember when there was CBS, NBC, ABC and local programming that included a guy announcing the afternoon cartoons next someone in a bear suit? Maybe that was as much as I could keep up with.
Today, I'm staying away from the water, 'cause it's just too deep!
I think what we call those water cooler times - when you discuss with work mates that great TV program you all saw last night - are well over. So many channels (I grew-up with two, & got a third when I was 14, BBC2), even stuff I watch now, I don't watch it live, it maybe a month or two before I get around to seeing it. Times do change.
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No, I try to keep up-to-date on most new television shows -- basically everything with a paranormal slant (pr. the 'paranormal tv shows' thread), but also most of the main non-paranormal shows that are lauded. Some exceptions occur, though.
It probably makes a difference, though, that you are a media professional, Thor. Wouldn't you say?
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My initial post in this thread noted that there were "352 original scripted series airing in 2014." Now comes this:
"FX has calculated that in 2015 networks and streaming services had a record 409 dramas, comedies and limited series — and that’s not even including unscripted shows or TV movies. Digging into the data, the number of scripted series this year was up 9 percent over 2014, and has doubled since 2009 — while network ratings have, on average, declined."
Based on the 2014 number, which also came from FX, my calculations show that the number of scripted series rose 16%, not 9%--but the point is the same. Projections are for the number of scripted series to increase again in 2016.
And is everyone going to think this is enough?
I'll wager it's "nope".
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). Happy Valley is about as far away from MM as you could get, very nasty violence, an ever growing body count, & a baddie who looks angelic, but is everybody's nightmare. 
