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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   2494 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 16, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Favorite TV Series anyone?

Live action? Probably the 1995 revival of The Outer Limits; it's like a different science fiction movie each week, most of which are as good as any short story from the golden age. Early Game of Thrones was great as well; shame about the last 2 seasons. Deep Space Nine had its moments, at least when it stopped fucking around with The Prophets and Vic Fontaine long enough to remember the epic multi-season Dominion War arc; "In the Pale Moonlight" remains the greatest Star Trek episode of all time.

Western animation? Besides the usual answers of Gargoyles, Avatar, and the DCAU, I am also very fond of Shadow Raiders and Roswell Conspiracies. The former is a military science fiction nihilistic cosmic horror show for kids; I particularly liked the way conflicts are solved by armies/fleets in massive battles instead of a 5-man team saving the world, which is something that bugged me about TV shows ever since I was little. The latter is basically The X-Files, except that they actually planned out the plot all the way through instead of making shit up as they went along; the series has a fantastic ending that explains all the mysteries and ties up all the narrative threads.

Anime? Damn, that's hard. The Promised Neverland, I guess; easily the most rational show I have ever seen on television (too bad they never made a second season). Erased was a 10/10 for the first 10 episodes; the last two episodes were infuriating a little weak, but even so the series as a whole holds up astonishingly well. And of course the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist; I know most people prefer Brotherhood, but that's because they are wrong.

Firefly. One of the best character-driven sci-fi series. Ended too soon but enough to make an excellent show.

I liked Dollhouse as well even if the first season started poorly.

Community. Last season or two jumped the shark.

Cowboy Bebop. Still the best anime series ever made.

I recently finished the Amazon show Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. A tad too 'Mary sue' the last season is a bit weak, but other than it's pretty fun show. Gives some 'Mad Men' aesthetic.

Breaking Bad is our modern civilizational epic. Better Call Saul is a prequel which is just as good.

I always thought if there were a novelization of Breaking Bad the full title would be "Breaking Bad: or, the Modern Ozymandias" due to its obvious literary associations.

Never understood the hype.

Ever? Malcolm in the middle , Kaamelott (french), Cowboy Bebop, Arcane

The Sandbaggers. Someone on the old place recommended it, and it is the best spy show ever made.

Attack on Titan, though I wish it had ended at the end of season 3 instead of turning into what it is now. Whenever I show it to someone, I tell them to stop watching before season 4.

Are you referring to the season that began this year? I haven't watched it yet, but by god loved everything that came before and will eventually watch it just for the closure.

Everything since MAPPA took over making the show from WIT aka the “Final Season” which has pretty much been 3 seasons of content. Barring a few amazing scenes I really dislike what it did with the characters and themes of the story.

Mad Men

Supernatural - There's a lot of it. I like the relationship between the brothers and the importance of family.

Of course, it's an older show...

New season coming out in a month

Halt and Catch Fire, one of the most underrated series in AMC's catalog. The show follows a group of programmers, businessmen, and families during the 1980s computer boom in Texas. The show is four seasons and packed with excellent acting and writing.

Rome, Arrested Development, and The Wire have all been mentioned, so to add some variety I'll say The Venture Bros. I rewatched it these past few weeks and it still blows me away how good it is. It starts off as a pretty straight forward send up of Johnny Quest, but the more it develops the more it becomes an exploration of the dysfunction of being raised by tv, and of living in a world where technology outpaces our capacity to understand it, and the way older generations look down on the younger ones for not having to deal with the very hardships they fought to eliminate, and how that gets taken for granted and the apathy it generates and... I could be here all day. And it manages to do all that while also being funny and fun. God I wish it wasn't cancelled.

Also I have been on a detective procedural kick recently, so my favourites there are - high concept wise: Person of Interest (pop-sci ai powered batman), comedy wise: Psych (fake psychic solves crimes through shenanigans) and no frills wise: law & order criminal intent (just great mystery solving with minimal personal drama).

God I wish it wasn't cancelled.

I managed to completely forget about the movie being in production until a few weeks ago and am now trying to avoid hopping on the hype train for the next ~month.

Dude you have made my day, because I had forgotten about the movie too! They better tell us who that bear with a knife is.

I consider all of the following shows to be basically one single show since they involve a great deal of overlap in the people involved and have a similar style of humor: Mr. Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, John Benjamin has a Van, and Nathan for You. Would nominate those collectively as my favorite.

What do you feel about Home Movies?

Love it

Ha, Nathan for You is great. Have you seen The Rehearsal?

Yes, I love that show as well, perhaps should be part of the list above.

The Rehearsal

Outstanding as it's demented. Highly recommended.

The Terror, Chernobyl, Utopia (the UK channel 4 show from 2013), season 1 of Twin Peaks, Scrubs for its moralizing.

If I had to name just one it'd be the Wire, no question about it. Asking people what they like is fantastic for engagement though.

The Wire

  • Has great performance throughout with a diverse cast

  • Operates almost entirely in a morally ambiguous space

  • Keeps characters for an extensive period of time,

  • Gradually ramps up the complexity of the story (introducing whole new societal factions almost each season)

  • Avoids "Jumping the shark" in later seasons for excitement or...

  • Taking the easy way out by having main characters avoid consequences for actions

  • Has a masterful, if cynical, ending

As I've rewatched it over the years, it always has something extra to teach me regardless of where I stand on socio-political issues. It's timeless but also represents the post 9/11 era extremely well.

Other greats:

  • Drama/Serious

    • The Wire

    • Mad Men

    • Succession

    • Dexter (Through S6)

    • Black Mirror

    • Skins (Maybe not good for everyone, but lots of great college memories from it)

    • GBBO

  • Animated

    • Rick and Morty (only just started watching, but love it)

    • The Simpsons (through season 7)

    • Adventure Time

  • Comedy

    • Arrested Development

    • Party Down

    • Veep

    • The Good Place

    • The Inbetweeeners

    • The Office (Till Michael Scott leaves)

    • Parks and Rec (Seasons 2-5)

GBBO

....Great British Bake-Off?

Don't get me wrong, I've always thought it made for unusually appealing TV, but it feels a little out of place on that list.

Yeah the category it's under isn't accurate but I didn't want to make a whole section for "competition shows that are great at pretending the drama and challenge is authentic"

The Good Place is incredible. I wish more shows actually delved into complex philosophical questions, but I suppose it's a niche audience. Also Kristen Bell is super hot.

When I watch Ms. Bell I can't stop thinking about how hot she is. Also one of the many reasons why Forgetting Sarah Marshall is awesome.

Hah, that's my favorite movie! Jason Segal is a fucking gem. You should watch The Muppet Movie and Get Him to the Greek as well if you liked FSM - the latter is actually a kind of sequel in the same universe.

Liked both quite a bit. Had a debate on The 5 year Engagement with my wife last night. Very similar feel in that it took a more realistic view of relationships and grief at them ending/devolving (ironically better than many "serious" relationship movies). But even as a comedy I felt it would have been better if Jason Segel and Emily Blunt hadn't ended up together. I end up feeling more uncomfortable and unhappy at the end of the movie, whereas I've watched FSM at least 6 times at this point (including in Hawaii on vacation).

The Good Place is decent, but anyone thinking of watching should keep in mind that it does bludgeon you over the head with progressive-isms which are immensely hard to ignore. Zero HP Lovecraft, whatever you may think about him, has a pretty good summary of how the ideology is interwoven through the show's plot.

Read the article - well written as always, and agree with most of it. The unredeemable white male character at the end took some very special looking past.

Nice write up, thanks for the link.

So... it does, at least in the second to last season. I toughed it out till the final and appreciated it.

Admittedly this is as an atheist who would have been considered socially liberal 12 years ago. I think I'm sensitive to culture war ham-fists and it had bought enough good will by the end to have me grit my teeth and finish.

Babylon Five. Terrible acting (with a few exceptions) and gimmicky special effects. But great story. G’kar and Londo make the whole series worth it.

Seconding Babylon 5! The Minbari are the best alien race ever created hands down.

Recently finished my nth rewatch of Twin Peaks as my girlfriend hadn't seen it. Granted I'm not a big TV person, but for all its flaws I've never seen anything else like it, and every rewatch feels like coming home. I watched The Return a few years ago but it didn't make as big an impression on me as the original series. My girlfriend is curious about The Return so we'll probably end up watching it too.

I had a difficult time the first time I watched The Return because I had such a strong desire to see the old characters I loved and have things resolved (silly summer child!). I watched it again a bit later and really enjoyed it as something different.

I understand Lynch and Frost's desire not to repeat themselves, not to indulge the desire for fan service, and to take the series in a radically different direction. With such a long interval between instalments, any attempt to slavishly emulate the vibe of the original series probably would have failed anyway. A creator who knows exactly what the audience wants and deliberately denies it to them can sometimes make for a very impactful artistic statement (e.g. Metal Gear Solid 2, one of the most powerful video games I've ever played - indeed, one of the most powerful works of fiction I've ever experienced in any medium).

For all that, The Return didn't quite click for me. I don't think it quite achieved the standard of "radically different from the original series, but still just as good in a very different way", and I say this as a huge fan of Lynch in general (Mulholland Drive is one of my favourite films ever, and The Return probably has more in common with that, stylistically and tonally, than the original series of Twin Peaks). A lot of it just seemed needlessly padded. But perhaps it'll grow on me after a second watch.

The Leftovers, without a doubt.

A very complex exploration of mystery, faith, loss & grief. Immaculately acted, very unpredictable. Exactly the right length, three seasons.

As perfect an ending as I’ve ever seen. Watching it was literally life changing for me.

I second the previous Deadwood recommendations.

European version of Borgia (Borgia: Faith and Fear), it truly captures middle age Europe; its authenticity is unmatched.

Renaissance Europe.

The Magicians

I read The Magicians when everyone raved about it and it just seemed to be Harry Potter and the Need for Prozac. Can you sell me on the TV show?

Unlike the other respondents here I liked the books but didn't care for the show (watched a few eps).

The show is miles ahead of the books. The characters are fully realized as are the implications of a world created by fickle gods for their personal entertainment. The show has more humor and depth alike. It feels like the spiritual successor to Buffy and would rate highly under Vonneguts system. Later seasons get progressively more woke which is progressively more distracting with major trouble in season 5.

The TV show is definitely not for everyone, but if you can tolerate some wokeish themes of like 10 years ago I’d recommend it.

They age up the characters so they’re in university, and add more so it’s an ensemble instead of just a navel gazing story about how awesome Quentin is. The plot is pretty different although they stick to the roots.

The best part of the show is the character development, and the relationships between the characters. Even though there’s a lot of magic and fantasy, the show manages to ground itself by deeply exploring the pain of the characters, how they deal with it, and how it changes them. Bad things happen often, and not always for good reason. The cast has to push against a brutal, uncaring universe and somehow find purpose and meaning despite that.

That being said it’s not all doom and gloom, there are many heartwarming moments, fun escapades, and incredible musical numbers. I enjoyed almost all aspects of it.

Yeah if you don’t have any stomach for woke stuff, it’s probably not for you. That being said it definitely doesn’t go overboard into wokeness like some of the more recent shows coming out.

The fifth season jumps the shark a little bit, but I enjoyed it.

No no, I read the book and you're on the right track, the first book was mildly interesting as a decent portrayal of depression, that drew my eye since I was depressed myself.

The story didn't go anywhere, and I'm left wanting my time back.

I’ve read the series a couple times, and the show is far better than the books.

Fall Of Eagles, or maybe I, Claudius

For comedies, The Office (original). Dramas, The Wire.

Honourable mentions: Deadwood, Party Down, Community, The Thick of It.

HBO's Rome, chock full of absolutely stellar performances (James Purefoy's Marc Antony is perhaps my favorite performance across all of television) and while the historicity leaves quite a bit to be desired it does such a fantastic job at creating a sense of time and place.

Other favorite would definitely be The Expanse, quality is not even across the run (first 3 episodes are unfortunately among the weakest which can put people off), but it reaches some outstanding heights in seasons 2 and 3 especially. Highly recommended to anyone who likes Sci-Fi.

We just started the Expanse and finished episode 2 last night. Can't tell you how relieved I am to hear it gets better!

Yeah, I actually bounced off the series when I first discovered it, went back into it due to the recommendation of someone who I trust in such matters and almost gave up again before I got to the good stuff.

Learning that the book series it was based off was itself loosely based off someone running a RPG on a web forum made a lot of the early installment weirdness suddenly make sense to me.

I really love Rome but I think it was really hobbled by it being canceled. One more season to flesh out the pacing would have made it a masterpiece.

I'd add Deadwood to this list. It's a bit dry at times, but overall very watchable unlike almost all of television.

But overall my favorite is Rome. No contest. I'm fine with never watching TV again, but I do intend to watch Rome for a third time at some point.

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