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Post by otherscott on Dec 24, 2019 11:30:48 GMT -8
I have to type the next couple on mobile so that is why I’m going to get lazier with the italics.
Number 4: Rectify (Sundance)
It’s a little hard to explain what is great about Rectify. The show is stunningly beautiful, which is intentionally done. I think what ultimately makes the show a winner is that it is able to do two things at once. It’s able to take a deep long look at our external surroundings, while at the same time looking inward at people, and specifically inward at one person, the main character Daniel Holden.
It’s a great setup for a show, a man is released into the world after 16 years on death row, after DNA evidence caused his sentence to be vacated. He’s seeing the world for the first time and much of the first season is spent seeing it with him, all these things that are normal to us that are either new to him or that he thought he’d never see to him.
Then near the end of the first season an event happens, and that causes us to stop focusing only outward, and it becomes a character study of who this man is and what he’s had to live with. How much he was always a little strange and how much his circumstances had made him that. It’s a brilliant exploration of human nature and the way this kind of damaged person can inhabit the lives of the people around him and take it over.
The show is so specific, but that’s where it succeeds. Some shows go well by getting big and allegorical. This and the next show on my list succeed by being small and specific, and wrapping you in the world of the characters.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 24, 2019 19:56:43 GMT -8
In case you haven't guessed, Rectify is the show from Scott's Top 4 that isn't on my Top 20 at all. (I generally appreciated the show more than I outright loved it.) And here's the show from my Top 4 that isn't on Scott's list at all. (Isn't it great how these transitions keep working out?)
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Post by otherscott on Dec 24, 2019 20:25:07 GMT -8
I really liked the fourth season of H&CF but I never really connected with the first three seasons. I always appreciated that it was a show in a completely different setting than most of television, which is probably why it didn’t catch on. Why watch shows about engineers and coders when you can watch cops and doctors?
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 24, 2019 20:45:36 GMT -8
I think if the show had been stronger out of the gate, it would have kept more viewers around. The show was never going to be a hit in the vein of Breaking Bad (let alone Walking Dead), but it deserved better than the barrel-bottom ratings it got in its last couple of seasons.
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Post by Jay on Dec 25, 2019 11:54:01 GMT -8
I didn't know if I expected H+CF to pop up at all this late in the game, but I'm pleasantly surprised. My own TV viewing (and cultural engagement generally) is pretty spotty on the whole--- I couldn't tell whether the show would resonate with a larger audience even as it worked its magic on me simply because I didn't know much of what peak TV was doing elsewhere. Still, weird little show that maintained faith in its characters and kept going even when things got messy. The changing character dynamics and the looser chronology risked incoherence and yet it succeeded, maybe not in spite, but because of those variations. I'd also agree, the "...It speaks?" moment in season one was really where the whole series just snapped into place for me
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 25, 2019 19:52:21 GMT -8
Yeah, I kept juggling the placement of HaCF, and decided it was worthy enough to put in the Top 3. Despite the slow start, it features some of the best character drama I've ever seen on television, and I place character pretty high on the list of important factors. My #2 show also has some excellent characters, albeit with less drama. Though for all the hilarity it provided, it could get pretty emotional at times.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 25, 2019 20:15:15 GMT -8
Yeah, I kept juggling the placement of HaCF, and decided it was worthy enough to put in the Top 3. Despite the slow start, it features some of the best character drama I've ever seen on television, and I place character pretty high on the list of important factors. My #2 show also has some excellent characters, albeit with less drama. Though for all the hilarity it provided, it could get pretty emotional at times. Character-driven story-telling is my favorite type of story. The characters of Parks and Recreation are not nearly as rich of those of Halt and Catch Fire. I could actually imagine Halt and Catch Fire's characters having a life beyond the show. I suppose it's just how their genres work, but Halt and Catch Fire affected me on a much deeper level regardless. There's no way I'd put Parks and Rec above it, and I think it easily earned its place in the top 3. Its later seasons were so brilliant that they pulled some anti- Lost mojo and made the entire series seem stronger in retrospect. I get what they were going for with Season 1 now, even if they hadn't worked out the kinks. With Parks, there's no solace really. It just got significantly weaker and lost whatever edge it once had over time, as comedies tend to do.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 25, 2019 20:58:08 GMT -8
I seem to have gotten a whole number behind, though I am still posting this on the correct day in my timezone I would like to note. There may be some holiday shenanigans going on.
Number 3: Breaking Bad (AMC)
I’m not going to come out and say Breaking Bad is a perfect show. Its treatment of its supporting characters was always very streaky, with at times all of Hank, Skyler and Jesse being done well by, and at other times having their stories either flung aside or manufactured in service of the main character, Walter White. The show was really one track, about the corruption that one mans decisions could have on those around, whereas almost all the other shows in this area are more versatile in their themes.
All that being said, the things Breaking Bad did well, no other show came close. The acting of its two main characters is tremendous, and the way it digs into the psyche of Walter White, I don’t think any other character is as well developed. And just the way it’s able to hook audiences and string them along, and force them to cheer for a horrible person in Walter until they can’t anymore. It’s all brilliant stuff.
Breaking Bad has a place as one of the greatest shows of all time with audiences and critics alike and it deserves it.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 26, 2019 9:02:33 GMT -8
By the way, I do think the Parks main characters were as well drawn as the Halt and Catch Fire characters. The Halt characters were more realistic, but there’s also some benefits to the specificity and memorability that the Parks characters provided.
Also, I may have been mistaken about my true number one show earlier in this thread.
Number 2: The Leftovers (HBO)
I think where you stand on The Leftovers as either a very good show or an all time great comes down to what you feel about the Guilty Remnant. For a lot of people, the Guilty Remnant were just an annoying group of people to spend time with and either didn’t have much depth or had false depth, certainly not enough to justify the time spent on them.
To me they are one of the keys to the whole show. The Leftovers is about moving on, being able to find the next part of your life after something major, tragic, and confusing has happened. And the GR is needed to provide an example to those who aggressively don’t move on. Those who continue to live in the past rather than embrace a new future.
There were other poor parts of the first season, which sometimes skates into “not very good” depending on the plot. It had an underlying “the kids are not alright” theme that bothers me in pretty much any show, and anything involving Holy Wayne and Tommy was both uninteresting and didn’t fit. But the last two seasons are two of the great seasons of television, finding a groove between episodic and serial storytelling, knowing how to use characters without overusing them, and knowing when to turn up the weird meter without ever making the show unapproachable or kitschy.
Also a major shoutout to the three episodes focusing on Matt, which are three amazing episodes dealing with the frustrations of faith, and wanting justification for that faith without it ever truly coming.
This is a terrific show and the best show by a landslide that aired entirely in the decade.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 26, 2019 10:22:16 GMT -8
By the way, I do think the Parks main characters were as well drawn as the Halt and Catch Fire characters. The Halt characters were more realistic, but there’s also some benefits to the specificity and memorability that the Parks characters provided. Also, I may have been mistaken about my true number one show earlier in this thread. Number 2: The Leftovers (HBO)I think where you stand on The Leftovers as either a very good show or an all time great comes down to what you feel about the Guilty Remnant. For a lot of people, the Guilty Remnant were just an annoying group of people to spend time with and either didn’t have much depth or had false depth, certainly not enough to justify the time spent on them. To me they are one of the keys to the whole show. The Leftovers is about moving on, being able to find the next part of your life after something major, tragic, and confusing has happened. And the GR is needed to provide an example to those who aggressively don’t move on. Those who continue to live in the past rather than embrace a new future. There were other poor parts of the first season, which sometimes skates into “not very good” depending on the plot. It had an underlying “the kids are not alright” theme that bothers me in pretty much any show, and anything involving Holy Wayne and Tommy was both uninteresting and didn’t fit. But the last two seasons are two of the great seasons of television, finding a groove between episodic and serial storytelling, knowing how to use characters without overusing them, and knowing when to turn up the weird meter without ever making the show unapproachable or kitschy. Also a major shoutout to the three episodes focusing on Matt, which are three amazing episodes dealing with the frustrations of faith, and wanting justification for that faith without it ever truly coming. This is a terrific show and the best show by a landslide that aired entirely in the decade. I didn't say well-drawn. I said rich. I absolutely agree that Parks had a very solid grip on its characters, but I don't see the Parks characters going beyond Parks and Recreation. Halt and Catch Fire's characters are similar to those of The Wire's and Treme's-we saw a part of their lives, but there was important development that occurred before the series and important developments that occurred after. Mad Men was like that too, and I bet The Leftovers as well. Perhaps it's just a case of different focuses the shows had due to their genres, but if so, then I guess I prefer a drama like Halt over a comedy like Parks. But that's undermined by BoJack, which I love the hell out of. I am excited to watch The Leftovers. If it disappoints, I'm blaming you Scott.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 26, 2019 13:44:42 GMT -8
The Leftovers is about moving on, being able to find the next part of your life after something major, tragic, and confusing has happened. And the GR is needed to provide an example to those who aggressively don’t move on. Those who continue to live in the past rather than embrace a new future. I think this is all well and fine, but to me, the GR were stuck in one-note territory because the show, for the longest time in the first season, wouldn't ELABORATE on why these people wouldn't move on. There was no depth or development to it. I suppose they were meant to be a mystery of sorts, but mostly became an annoyance due to sheer surface-level repetition. It just felt like petulance, and little more. Also, chain-smokers in general are just insufferable.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 26, 2019 20:29:41 GMT -8
It’s definitely petulance. That’s a massive part of it. I think I see more depth to it than you do. It’s about being trapped in the past, and the dangers of nostalgia, and living in the world that used to be rather than refusing to live in the world that exists.
Further, the really frustrating thing is they didn’t let anyone else move on. To them, people were just going on like nothing happened, and ignoring the significance of the departure. The world ended that day, and they wanted to make sure everyone realized it. They were awful, but I thought they were awful in ways that reflect the human condition.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 26, 2019 21:16:25 GMT -8
I think I got most of that at the outset, but that it really didn't develop beyond that until at least the season finale. I also never really believed that Brenneman's character would be a part of that group: that struck me as really forced.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 27, 2019 12:22:57 GMT -8
I think my larger problem with the GR is that the Brenneman/Tyler role reversal at the end of S1 felt entirely forced. Tjankfully, the group was largely sidelined in later seasons. Oh also, here's my #1 show. I am very tired after this month of writing and this don't have a witty comment to make. I've barely had time to take a drink between writing these articles, and my throat is parched. You might say I'm a hoarse man.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 28, 2019 5:45:46 GMT -8
I’m in the US with really bad wifi for the next few days, so I’ll reveal my number 1 show on January 2nd, along with maybe my best TV list for the year
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