Fall 2012 & Spring/Summer 2013 TV Catch-all

Jayhawker wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Tagging in on this thread. Man, I've missed Person of Interest.

It was great return, wasn't it?

And now he has a dog! Batman has a dog. My wife squealed with delight.

That made me quite gleeful, too. Dutch commands make it even better.

Be careful about spoiling recent episodes in the general TV thread, guys.

ranalin wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

Is anyone going to watch Arrow? AKA the Green Arrow show.

I thought this was mandatory for all geeks? That way we can gush or hate on it.

I'm a Marvel guy.

I'm going to keep watching Elementary. I appreciate that it's not like BBC Sherlock. CBS did approach BBC and say that they wanted to do a modern Sherlock without infringing on their show. So it makes sense that they won't have very many major similarities.

Jayhawker wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Tagging in on this thread. Man, I've missed Person of Interest.

It was great return, wasn't it?

And now he has a dog! Batman has a dog. My wife squealed with delight.

I was hoping that he would name the dog "Jack". As in King - Queen - Jack - ?

Amy Acker is killing it as Root. Different from characters we have seen her play before, including the cover from last season's finale. The amount of playful intimidation she brings from just a conversation across a table is creepy. She must be the scariest speed date ever.

Wait Amy is in that? Maybe I will check out...

cyrax wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Tagging in on this thread. Man, I've missed Person of Interest.

It was great return, wasn't it?

And now he has a dog! Batman has a dog. My wife squealed with delight.

That made me quite gleeful, too. Dutch commands make it even better.

Spoiler:

Yeah, when he left the warehouse without him, she got pretty worried. So it was pretty awesome when he whistled and the dog came running out. Naming him Bear was the cherry on top for her.

One thing PoI does so well is surround Reese with a collection of misfits and loyal supporters. And he has this perfect balance of of being their boss vs. being their caretaker.

Spoiler:

I'm hoping Leon sticks around, too.

Stele wrote:

Wait Amy is in that? Maybe I will check out...

Spoiler:

She showed up in the finale last season, and appears to another recurring villain.

And you are a bloody fool for not watching it already. It has been strong from the very first episode, and is the perfect balance of story arc and weekly stories. While it is an Abrams show, it is written and created by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan's brother. Jonathan is responsible for writing Momento, and the last two Batman movies with Christopher Nolan. It's more than just good, it's as must-see as Fringe is for me each week.

Here's a god non-spoilery take on the show.

Except the title is wrong. It is freaking Batman! But it is Batman with zero comic book elements to use as hooks. The show works without even knowing what a comic book is.

Well we (read my wife ) have that rule of not watching 1st season shows that so we don't get heartbroken when they are canceled.

I heard awesome stuff about Homeland last year too but waited until I heard it was getting a 2nd season before we watched it. And obviously it was great.

And we never did watch that one show... No Ordinarily Family was it? The live-action Incredibles type thing. Since it got canceled, it got deleted without ever watching.

So anyway I guess I'll put Person of Interest on that list of things to watch sometime. It's getting to be quite a long list with old shows I've been catching up on too.

While I am disappointed when a show I like gets cancelled, I never wish that I had never watched the shows I enjoyed.

Prime Suspect was one of my favorite new shows last year, and Detroit 187 the year before. 187's cancelation just made room for Prime Suspect on my DVR. I watched two seasons of really well done police procedurals, which is a good thing.

I will DVR a ton of new shows, and then weed out what I either hate (Revolution) or find episodes building up on my Tivo without me watching them. As a plus, it makes for good conversation with the wife as we discuss the merits of different shows and what we like or don't like about them.

We don't see the merit in skipping good TV because it doesn't click with the masses. And we don't have much interest in using the masses to define what we do watch. I'm glad we spent more time with Terra Nova than we did Touch last year, yet Touch is what made it to a second season.

I definitely don't regret seeing Journeyman, The Event (despite the romance), or Firefly, just a couple off the top of my head. No Ordinary Family was good, with only one or two great episodes, but its finale was truly terrible.

Getting caught up in a Homeland marathon on Showtime today (have seen it advertised, etc, but hadn't actually seen any episodes).

Man, Claire Danes is so very good

Homeland S1 was great stuff. Very excited for season 2.

Agree whole heartedly on Homeland. We just got DirecTV back in July and enjoyed the hell out of the first season, as they have been airing it on Sunday nights leading up to the Season 2 premiere.

In fact, I'm canceling HBO, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel now that our free three months are up, but I'm keeping Showtime until Season 2 is done. My wife and I both love Damian Lewis, and Claire Danes is fantastic. Throw in Mandy Patinkin, and it becomes a fanatic ensemble.

I thought Last Resort was pretty OK, but I agree I have no idea how they are going to keep that story going. Seems impossible.

Fringe was great, as always!

I too really enjoyed the season premiere of Person of Interest and Amy Acker is fantastic.

Spoiler:

Totally loved the dog bit as well.

Elementary was OK, but didn't grab me like the BBC version did in their first episode. Not sure how interested I will be after the first few episodes.

There is a new Sky One show you guys got to check out called Moone Boy! It's pretty great so far and stars Chris O'Dowd (IT Crowd fame) as a kid's imaginary friend.

I am going to stick with Revolution for a bit. It has potential, and is surprisingly violent. Yeah it has it's flaws, but I felt the same way about Fringe when it first started. We'll see I guess.

Boo ABC for scheduling Revenge so that I have to make a choice between football and cartoons.

Just wrapped up S1 of Homeland, having watched 7-8 episodes over the past two days.

I've really enjoyed it, and look forward to diving into the season premier next.

Stele wrote:

Cougar Town isn't back until Jan 8.

But they've made a nice 2-min video to announce that.

http://www.tbs.com/shows/cougar-town/

Enjoy. :lol:

Yay! Love Cougar Town!

We gave Elementary another episode. Even without comparing it to Sherlock, it's a bit bland and generic. I feel like you could swap out Sherlock himself for any of the other crime investigators on TV right now and have more or less the same episodes.

And is it just me or is every single drama show on CBS filmed in exactly the same way? The lighting, sound work, staging, etc. is practically identical show to show. It's weird and makes their entire lineup blur together in a haze of roomtone and 3/4 shots.

Heh finally watched new South Park from Wed. Mostly a commentary on Honey Boo Boo and how low the bar is now.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

And is it just me or is every single drama show on CBS filmed in exactly the same way? The lighting, sound work, staging, etc. is practically identical show to show. It's weird and makes their entire lineup blur together in a haze of roomtone and 3/4 shots.

Back before I gave up on all those CBS shows, I seem to remember all 3 CSI shows having their own specific color palletes/color filters. So at one point they at least tried

I think Person of Interest and The Good Wife look far different from each other and from NCIS. Actually, I don't even think NCIS and Criminal Minds look the same despite having essentially the same type of settings.

But yeah, if we are talking NCIS, The Mentalist, and Sherlock, you have a point.

And holy cow Person of Interest is full of even more awesome than last year. I just love the world they are building. Great, great television.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

We gave Elementary another episode. Even without comparing it to Sherlock, it's a bit bland and generic. I feel like you could swap out Sherlock himself for any of the other crime investigators on TV right now and have more or less the same episodes.

Yeah, it was a rather poor second episode. I like the leads, so one generic episode isn't enough for me to drop it.

Once again, PoI is damn good.

Spoiler:

I was surprised they abandoned the kidnapping story arc so early in the season, but I guess logistically it doesn't make sense to make so many new sets for every episode, or for the female cop who has a son thousands of miles away. I wonder if they'll give us a Root segment, or series of events, an episode. I hope she doesn't get lost in the background and just become a mouthpiece for when the show needs to be rooted (Eh?).

Didn't watch Last Resort yet, but supposedly another good episode.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

We gave Elementary another episode. Even without comparing it to Sherlock, it's a bit bland and generic. I feel like you could swap out Sherlock himself for any of the other crime investigators on TV right now and have more or less the same episodes.

And is it just me or is every single drama show on CBS filmed in exactly the same way? The lighting, sound work, staging, etc. is practically identical show to show. It's weird and makes their entire lineup blur together in a haze of roomtone and 3/4 shots.

Yes--on my mental reasons not to watch Elementary list, my affection for Sherlock pales next to how boring and tedious I find CBS style shows.

Stele wrote:

Heh finally watched new South Park from Wed. Mostly a commentary on Honey Boo Boo and how low the bar is now. ;)

It had been years since I'd watched a South Park, and I'm impressed by how much and how hard I laughed. Also kind of interesting to see Parker and Stone grapple with their role in the bar lowering--many of Stan and Kyle's conversations seemed to be about that.

Is Person of Interest on Netflix? I need a show that I can watch anytime I want.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Is Person of Interest on Netflix? I need a show that I can watch anytime I want.

Nope. Not on Amazon Prime either.

Thin_J wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Is Person of Interest on Netflix? I need a show that I can watch anytime I want.

Nope. Not on Amazon Prime either.

It's on Tortuga. You have to be a pirate to get it.

OK so I just finished watching the second episode of the The Neighbors and I fully expected to hate it, or if not hate it at least find it stupid. Surprisingly though I find myself laughing more often then not and the name thing just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I feel like I should be ashamed, but I'm not.

Anyone else watching?

Oh and Person of Interest still rocks. Amy Acker is still fantastic!

Last Resort is a keeper so far. It's an interesting story, and I'm curious how long staying on the island will stay interesting. Maybe there is a smoke monster. It really does feel like it should have been a movie. It was kind of a fun twist in the last episode.

And as a bonus, Dichen Lachman plays the hot barkeep. That's Sierra from Dollhouse, who was one of the few strong actors in that show.

666 Park Avenue didn't last an entire episode. It's not terrible, and might still be worth watching if deals with the devil your kind of fiction. It's just not good enough to make the cut of shows I watch with my wife.

Vegas got a positive reaction from us, but the second ep lasted all week on the DVR and is still unwatched.

The Mindy Project is kind of quirky fun, but we don't do a lot of half hour comedies, and I'm afraid it won't make the cut. That's kind of a shame, as I think Mindy Kaling is really doing something interesting. I even think it could get a lot better with time.

I really need to just get a job a TV reviewer, because I don't have time to watch all the good stuff. We have the new season premieres of Supernatural and Homeland sitting there, both of which are must-see TV for us. We didn't get to Fringe in last night because we were cleaning in prep for a big get-together of my daughter's friends today. The Walking Dead and American Horror Story are both coming soon.

We did take time to watch Survivor, and it is becoming one of the better seasons. I know how much love reality TV gets here, but Survivor really is in a different class. It easily has the best balance of game strategy, drama, and interesting contestants of any show in the genre. And this season sees enough changes in format, without being gimmicky, that is still fresh.

New girl and Modern Family are two of our exceptions to 30 minute comedies. How I Met Your Mother is recorded for the daughter. I like it, but it just kind of works better as a syndicated show we watch randomly. Same goes for Big Bang Theory. We like the show, but not as every week prime time viewing.

Oh, and Major Crimes has been a nice transition from The Closer. Mary McDonnell has really done a nice job of taking over for Kyra Sedgwick, and now we don't have to hear whining about a bad accents! And it still has a great supporting cast.

Gaald wrote:

Oh and Person of Interest still rocks. Amy Acker is still fantastic!

Boy is she ever! Every time her character was on screen in this episode 2 she seemed to draw my attention, not just because of her looks or anything like that but all the inflections she added to her character that she doesn't normally do - the extra darting of the eyes, like she's always thinking steps ahead, and how that makes you notice when she stops doing it and completely fixes her gaze, usually on Harold, which calls back to her obsessive behavior. The way she put something down near the edge as an obvious setup but mostly from her manner of speaking, which I can't really put a finger on the reason except for calling it having an edge of "playful intimidation" all the time, which is just creepy because you think she's constantly holding back, about to do something crazy. Then she does it.

excellent excellent work. Not so say that she doesn't make mistakes in acting choices - See her take on a ditzy fairy in Once Upon a Time which was just basically every annoying trait of Fred's from Angel, amped up.