What TV Shows Are You Watching? The 9th Is - Excuse Me - A Damn Fine Cup Of Coffee

[Birdjaguar]

The Tourist on Netflix is a great Aussie thriller. I'm just over halfway through the 6? episodes. The complex story slowly unfolds in the outback. Fun characters and, so far, a compelling story.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Just finished watching the first season of Fallout.

I finished watching Fallout. It was better than I expected, but I was kind of expecting something like a bad attempt at a post-apocalypic Evil Dead.

Spoiler :

A lot of the reveals in the last few episodes weren't entirely surprising as these reveals are found in the game lore. The one thing that the show did that the games never did (except for the tutorial for Fallout 4) was the flashbacks to just before the Great War of 2077. We actually get to see how Vault-Tec and the other big corporations operate before the war.

The games hint but never flat out say that the one of the causes of the war was corporate interests. The other big cause is growing American reactionary nationalism, with the US government before the war fleeing to hide in an oil rig out in the Pacific Ocean and becoming the Enclave. I don't think the show makes it clear but America's enemy in the war is China.

The way that Lucy's storyline ended reminded me of Fallout 4 except done better (Fallout 4's twist can be guessed within the first ten minutes of playing). In Fallout 4 the quest is the player character searching for their son, only to discover that their son is the villain. The vault that the player emerges from in Fallout 4, Vault 111, is a cryogenic vault.

The only big contradiction in the TV series with the games is the destruction of Shady Sands being in 2277. Fallout 3 and 4 are set on the east coast so that's understandable that there would be no mention, but New Vegas takes place in 2281 and the New California Republic is one of the main factions in the game and you get to meet cattle ranchers from Shady Sands.

One thing I did like his how not everything from the games was forced into the series. Apart from a single line or an easter egg, there's no super mutants, no deathclaws, no rad scorpions, no rogue robots, no aliens, no power fists, no laser or plasma weapons, no Forced Evolutionary Virus, no Followers of the Apocalypse, no mention of any other big settlements or cities that exist in the American South West (except for the ending that shows New Vegas).[/spoilers]

Spoiler :

I think they have reserved more game elements to be introduced in the next season, deathclaws and super mutants have been dearly missed in the first season so they are going to be in the second one imo.

In the first and second episodes it looked as if they tried to force too many elements into the show and looked kind of false, and even silly for some moments. It was as watching a game I can't play. Later they apparently noticed it and changed things making it more a tv series and less a game, like more adult (I think they even changed director). Still pretty happy with the series in general. Only hoping they keep the equilibrium between being game-like and comedic, and being a more dramatic adult oriented series. Difficult equilibrium.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Started watching Manifest. I've heard it's maddening.

 

[Synobun]

Started watching Manifest. I've heard it's maddening.

It becomes religious tract material pretty quickly.

 

[lymond]

Started watching Manifest. I've heard it's maddening.

I couldn’t get through but a coupla episodes.

 

[warpus]

I gave up before the first episode was over, I think

 

[Birdjaguar]

Under the Bridge is revealing episodes way to slowly for me. (Hulu)

 

[EgonSpengler]

Under the Bridge is revealing episodes way to slowly for me. (Hulu)

I prefer it when shows do one episode a week, most of the time. But I suppose in the Streaming Age, there's no reason a series couldn't release an episode twice a week, or every three days, or even one a day. There's no reason they have to choose between releasing episodes once a week or all at once. (I think the one time they really annoy me is when they do "Season N, Part 1" and "Season N, Part 2" weeks or months later.)

 

[EgonSpengler]

It becomes religious tract material pretty quickly.

Yeah, I've heard that. That doesn't bother me. Mythology frequently makes for good stories. I don't see a huge difference between a movie about Jesus and a movie about Thor. If either one expects me to think the story is true, I'm going to laugh at them. But as a parable or as fodder for a fun adventure, sure, okay. I just heard Mark Kermode - an agnostic, I believe - give Ordinary Angels with Hilary Swank a decent review.

 

[EgonSpengler]

‘Fallout’ Commands Record Streaming Audience For Amazon

According to Amazon, more than 65M viewers have watched Fallout since it debuted

deadline.com

The series, which was already renewed for a second season, debuted 16 days ago and has since lassoed more than 65M viewers, making it the second most-watched title ever in that time frame on Prime Video, according to the streamer.

Through 16 days, it’s also the most-watched title on the platform since The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Tourist on Netflix is a great Aussie thriller. I'm just over halfway through the 6? episodes. The complex story slowly unfolds in the outback. Fun characters and, so far, a compelling story.

The Tourist turns out to have two seasons of 6 episodes each. Season 1 happens in Australia and Season 2 in Ireland. It is a thriller, a mystery and a bit of a comedy. Lovely characters and twisty turns.

 

[EgonSpengler]

One wonders, how much of Manifest's success can we attribute to closeups on Melissa Roxburgh's face?

 

[Kyriakos]

When radiography reveals that you are an onion/russian doll.

It's from the adaptation of Junji Ito's stories.

He plays a lot with inner body indifference. In another story a person is hollow inside (obvious metaphor) but this leads to his inner self turning inside out to be free.

Part of the family of conjunctions of metaphors and lack of focus that also gives us Dorian Gray; beauty is only skin deep, but if literally so, you may as well have anything below as long as the surface is fine.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I couldn’t get through but a coupla episodes.

Same.

 

[warpus]

Was the Rings of Power any good? Is it worth watching? If it's not at least twice as good as the Hobbit movies, I'm not interested.

I've been rewatching Ozark. It's even better on the rewatch I think

 

[lymond]

Was the Rings of Power any good? Is it worth watching? If it's not at least twice as good as the Hobbit movies, I'm not interested.

I liked it a lot myself, but it had its critics. It appears Season 2 is coming sometime this year, but no date. Production-wise it is superb. I was entertained completely and enjoyed getting into some of the lore from the earlier Age. I will watch it again. I think most critics are the hobbitheads who aren't happy with anything. Hard to compare to Jackson's films, although I thought the Hobbit movies, despite the first one, were not all that great.....jackson made a mistake making 3 films. (edit: there were some cool things in the 2nd hobbit movie, but the third just felt like things were well too stretched out)

I've been rewatching Ozark. It's even better on the rewatch I think

Great show. I'm gonna give it a bit more time before I rewatch it. I'm backlogged enough as it is

 

[Birdjaguar]

I enjoyed the Rings of Power.

 

[Lexicus]

I liked it a lot myself, but it had its critics. It appears Season 2 is coming sometime this year, but no date. Production-wise it is superb. I was entertained completely and enjoyed getting into some of the lore from the earlier Age. I will watch it again. I think most critics are the hobbitheads who aren't happy with anything. Hard to compare to Jackson's films, although I thought the Hobbit movies, despite the first one, were not all that great.....jackson made a mistake making 3 films. (edit: there were some cool things in the 2nd hobbit movie, but the third just felt like things were well too stretched out)

From what I've read of the Rings of Power, it is best considered a kind of alternate timeline, as it contradicts the source material on numerous points. Apparently the writers weren't allowed to use the Silmarillion so this makes sense.

The hobbit films are utter trash, I watched the third one and man it was astonishing how Peter Jackson made such a bad film when the LotR trilogy was as good as it was.

 

[Farm Boy]

What didn't you like about it? It seemed reasonably good as a more childlike lark with Silmarillion weirdness mixed in to make a different story that was 3x longer than it strictly needed to be.

 

[Lexicus]

What didn't you like about it? It seemed reasonably good as a more childlike lark with Silmarillion weirdness mixed in to make a different story that was 3x longer than it strictly needed to be.

I liked basically nothing about it, but I especially disliked the cartoonish action sequences and the bizarre elf-dwarf love triangle.