Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jan 1, 2022 23:56:35 GMT -8
Another year, another thread, another absentee apostrophe in the title.
And another new avatar for me! Yay for Mythic Quest - a show I watched largely because everyone here seemed to love it, and with which I was not disappointed. Except at one key moment: Jer and Scott and Flame all really seemed to love "A Dark Quiet Death." What are you guys on? Worst episode of the show by a country mile, imo. Going into MQ I was worried this would be one of those shows, with the sort of gender dynamics you'd expect out of a Syfy Channel nerd fulfillment thing and extremely unsubtle gags about gaming culture. It isn't, but that's largely what "A Dark Quiet Death" is - an extremely unsubtle episode that aims for quiet drama but ends up becoming a caricature of the show at large, mostly coasting off Cristin Milioti's manic pixie dream girl charms. I am currently between seasons of the show* so I will assume that season 1's ending, in which Ian gets David his job back and negotiates a union contract singlehandedly and totally off-screen, is not going to end up as merely a gag and will in fact have some repercussions to the show at large. And yes, Poppy is awesome and I love her.
Well, I guess I should lead with a "what are you excited for in 2022, TV-wise?" Well, obviously Better Call Saul's final season is going to be extremely compelling, and I am genuinely excited for She-Hulk whenever that becomes a thing. But if we're just limiting ourselves to stuff with a finite launch date, personally - I guess I have no choice to see how Search Party ends next week, even if I don't know how the hell a final season including Kathy Griffin (!!??) can be anything but a disappointment; I'm also excited to dive back into How To with John Wilson. How about youse?
*in a conspicuous "fuck you" to the netflix binging paradigm i take a break of at least a week between seasons of a television show even if all of the episodes have aired.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 3, 2022 7:44:05 GMT -8
If Mythic Quest tried to be "A Dark Quiet Death" every week, I could see it being diminished as a show and not being nearly as compelling. It mostly works as an experimental change of pace, to show that the series is focused on more than traditional workplace comedy dynamics (even if that is the series' underlying hook), which becomes more of a point on Season 2. The "Quarantine" episode was similarly compelling, even if that one was brought on/inspired by by external forces.
In terms of stuff I'm interested in - despite my strong distaste for Search Party S4, I'm hoping the show sticks the landing this month. Apart from the usual Marvel and Star Wars fare that will be taking up a lot of TV oxygen this year (the Book of Boba Fett premiere is good, even if it devolved into a cheesy Harryhausen-esque CGI battle by the end), there are a handful of upcoming shows that look promising - The Afterparty (from Chris Miller, although apparently without Phil Lord this time); Peacemaker (by this point, DC is going in more interesting directions than Marvel); and the return of Atlanta (after nearly four years away).
And I fully expect that the gritty dramatic reboot of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be a disaster, but it should at least be an interesting one.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 4, 2022 6:14:43 GMT -8
I can no longer remember if I had the apostrophe in the original. Probably not as using the word "whatcha" throws any hopes of proper grammar out of what anyways.
I think what I'm most anticipating this year is the return of Westworld. I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but I'm always more taken to things that are flawed but fascinating rather than things that everyone agrees are just good. That's why I was obsessed with The Walking Dead for about 5 seasons, before it lost the part where it was also fascinating. The third season was a complete miss, but I think the show still has potential if it goes back to the foundations of the first and second season and builds a puzzle box again. Yes, the storytelling method is not for everyone, but Season 3 was for no one, and there's no other show on TV that operates in the same way.
My question for myself is will I continue to ignore the Marvel/ Star Wars TV shows or will I start to dig into them this year? I'm putting my money on ignore, but sometimes I can't help myself.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jan 4, 2022 11:44:34 GMT -8
I think what I'm most anticipating this year is the return of Westworld. I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but I'm always more taken to things that are flawed but fascinating rather than things that everyone agrees are just good. That's why I was obsessed with The Walking Dead for about 5 seasons, before it lost the part where it was also fascinating. The third season was a complete miss, but I think the show still has potential if it goes back to the foundations of the first and second season and builds a puzzle box again. Yes, the storytelling method is not for everyone, but Season 3 was for no one, and there's no other show on TV that operates in the same way. My question for myself is will I continue to ignore the Marvel/ Star Wars TV shows or will I start to dig into them this year? I'm putting my money on ignore, but sometimes I can't help myself. Scott, if you're looking for a "flawed but fascinating HBO sci-fi-adjacent drama," you might be literally the only person other than me who is interested in The Nevers. My take is that it is simultaneously very good and laughably bad, and it was not even remotely interested in being a Wheel of Time style nerd fantasy epic even before HBO decided to kind of bury it, wait for Season 1B to air, and then slit its throat in the middle of the night.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 4, 2022 20:03:50 GMT -8
My question for myself is will I continue to ignore the Marvel/ Star Wars TV shows or will I start to dig into them this year? I'm putting my money on ignore, but sometimes I can't help myself. Scott, you need to watch the Marvel shows if you're going to understand the forthcoming Marvel movies! How do you expect to understand a handful of in-jokes in the next Ant-Man and the Wasp movie if you haven't watched that one episode of What If...?Actually, I probably did overdose on Marvel shows in 2021. I even somehow caught a few minutes of the new Spider-Man show (which is marketed toward preschoolers). Despite my love for a couple of recent projects, I think personal MCU fatigue may finally be setting in.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 5, 2022 5:59:16 GMT -8
Scott, if you're looking for a "flawed but fascinating HBO sci-fi-adjacent drama," you might be literally the only person other than me who is interested in The Nevers. My take is that it is simultaneously very good and laughably bad, and it was not even remotely interested in being a Wheel of Time style nerd fantasy epic even before HBO decided to kind of bury it, wait for Season 1B to air, and then slit its throat in the middle of the night. I have watched the first half of The Nevers, and I don't think it ever hits high enough highs to reach the classification of "flawed, but interesting." There's nothing wrong with it exactly, but I think the main problem is that I'm not sure what the concept is here that's supposed to be unique or interesting. I did enjoy it as I watched, and I might pick up the last half of the season. I don't really see if there's anything laughably bad about it, I just don't know what they're going for.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 5, 2022 6:04:35 GMT -8
Scott, you need to watch the Marvel shows if you're going to understand the forthcoming Marvel movies! How do you expect to understand a handful of in-jokes in the next Ant-Man and the Wasp movie if you haven't watched that one episode of What If...?Actually, I probably did overdose on Marvel shows in 2021. I even somehow caught a few minutes of the new Spider-Man show (which is marketed toward preschoolers). Despite my love for a couple of recent projects, I think personal MCU fatigue may finally be setting in. I think the problem with Marvel tends to be that there's just not enough tonal variance in what it's doing. The bits of the shows I have watched, the movies, they just all try to meet that same quippy but with an emotional underpinning sweet spot, which even predates MCU Marvel. So it's pretty easy to overdose and feel like you're worn out if you aren't supplementing it with enough different things. I think that's why I'll try to stick to the movies, and even then they've never been a particular love of mine. DC definitely has less average quality than Marvel, but they don't have the same monotone nature too them. In fact, too many of their properties struggle with tonal whiplash. Once again, DC is that flawed but interesting set of properties.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jan 16, 2022 22:59:08 GMT -8
I guess I have no choice to see how Search Party ends next week, even if I don't know how the hell a final season including Kathy Griffin (!!??) can be anything but a disappointment And the answer is... it can instead be a shitshow! A shitshow, but not a shit show, if that distinction makes sense. I reluctantly admire how off-the-wall the show got, even though I can't shake the feeling that they could have made a genuinely good final season with mostly the same material if these episodes were 22 minutes instead of 30.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 21, 2022 7:21:26 GMT -8
I have just realized What We Do in the Shadows has shown up in Canada on Disney Plus with a whole bunch of other FX properties. That is exciting, because I'm tired of having nowhere to stream all these FX shows and just having to take people's word that they are all really good (or if I am excited enough, just buy the season off Apple.)
In other news, Yellowjackets has given me the most LOST-like feelings I've had since LOST, Peacemaker maybe has the best opening credits sequence ever, and I'm definitely going to do a 2021 top 10 list it's just taken me a while because so many of the notable shows seemingly aired in September onward.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 21, 2022 12:57:16 GMT -8
Peacemaker maybe has the best opening credits sequence ever... It's a pretty long opening credits sequence. I think that's the first time I've ever seen John Cena dance.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 23, 2022 6:40:47 GMT -8
Peacemaker is a ton of fun. Even moreso than with The Suicide Squad, DC gave James Gunn a camera and told him to just go nuts. The show is pretty cavalier with its R rating, but often genuinely funny, and - much like Harley Quinn - really underscores how little concern DC has in preserving the sacred text of their comics lore. (Apparently Bat-Mite is a thing in the DCEU now. Don't think too deeply about it.)
And the opening credits sequence is terrific. Recalls the intro to Jack of All Trades (which is a reference that only Jay will understand), and really sells the show's complete bonkers tone. All of this based on an obscure comics character who was created by a third-string publisher in the 1960s. Incredible.
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Post by Jay on Jan 23, 2022 9:27:01 GMT -8
Recalls the intro to Jack of All Trades (which is a reference that only Jay will understand), and really sells the show's complete bonkers tone. One of the many shows that streams NOWHERE no matter how often I look.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 23, 2022 11:22:54 GMT -8
The whole series used to be on YouTube years ago, though I think most of the episodes have been removed. A lot of first-run syndication shows seem to be streaming on Roku or Tubi, but for some reason JoAT isn’t among them.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 30, 2022 7:08:30 GMT -8
I guess I have no choice to see how Search Party ends next week, even if I don't know how the hell a final season including Kathy Griffin (!!??) can be anything but a disappointment And the answer is... it can instead be a shitshow! A shitshow, but not a shit show, if that distinction makes sense. I reluctantly admire how off-the-wall the show got, even though I can't shake the feeling that they could have made a genuinely good final season with mostly the same material if these episodes were 22 minutes instead of 30.
I just finished the Season 5 of Search Party, and I definitely see what you mean. The writers clearly went in knowing this was the final season, and decided to toss every insane idea they could think of on the screen before the clock ran out. I don't know if I'd call it good - it's wildly uneven, and certainly several of the episodes needed some trimming - but it was nothing if not memorable. Whereas S4 spent too much time with a broad, unappealing plotline and unwisely split up the four leads for the bulk of the season, S5 mostly keeps characters together as it bounces from one crazy plot development to the next. I was baffled, but never really bored. Kathy Griffin's role was disappointing (particularly since it was hyped up as her big uncancellation moment), but Jeff Goldblum was as funny as ever. I don't think there was ever a chance of the series ending on a high note akin to those first two seasons, but I'm impressed by the writers' commitment to take things in a whole new direction, even if it does undermine some of the story developments of the earlier seasons. And if nothing else, S5 stuck the landing on the show's central theme, which is that white millennial Brooklynites are the most dangerous group of people in the world.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Jan 30, 2022 17:20:10 GMT -8
And the answer is... it can instead be a shitshow! A shitshow, but not a shit show, if that distinction makes sense. I reluctantly admire how off-the-wall the show got, even though I can't shake the feeling that they could have made a genuinely good final season with mostly the same material if these episodes were 22 minutes instead of 30.
I just finished the Season 5 of Search Party, and I definitely see what you mean. The writers clearly went in knowing this was the final season, and decided to toss every insane idea they could think of on the screen before the clock ran out. I don't know if I'd call it good - it's wildly uneven, and certainly several of the episodes needed some trimming - but it was nothing if not memorable. Whereas S4 spent too much time with a broad, unappealing plotline and unwisely split up the four leads for the bulk of the season, S5 mostly keeps characters together as it bounces from one crazy plot development to the next. I was baffled, but never really bored. Kathy Griffin's role was disappointing (particularly since it was hyped up as her big uncancellation moment), but Jeff Goldblum was as funny as ever. I don't think there was ever a chance of the series ending on a high note akin to those first two seasons, but I'm impressed by the writers' commitment to take things in a whole new direction, even if it does undermine some of the story developments of the earlier seasons. And if nothing else, S5 stuck the landing on the show's central theme, which is that white millennial Brooklynites are the most dangerous group of people in the world. It's interesting that the fourth and fifth seasons both struggle, because they each seem to take custody of one half of the show's dynamics. At its best Search Party was a fairly goofy show about self-absorbed millennial twits, but it was also a sort of antihero drama in which Dory "breaks bad" and doesn't like the antihero she sees in the mirror. After a season exclusively focused on the latter, the fifth season totally jettisons Dory's character arc and goes full-on "satire." It turns out, neither half of the show's premise is enough to sustain a season; you need both in equal measure.
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