civvver
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 5,855
AMC is launching a slew of new shows this summer, and the amount of new programming by amazon, netflix, hulu and the cable networks is staggering. Used to be just the over the air networks like ABC, CBS and NBC would come up with this many shows, green lighting 3-4 a season, and they'd often fizzle out after one or two seasons until they struck gold with some new comedy or whatever. But then AMC started something with Mad Men that showed a cable network could have quality original programming and earn real ratings. Breaking Bad followed, and FX launched their own originals like Sons of Anarchy, until we got the show that literally changed the landscape of TV in The Walking Dead. Those numbers were too staggering to ignore and now it seems every channel is trying to have their own originals. Heck I've seen commercials for shows that look interesting on channels I didn't even know existed like Hap and Leonard, which I guess is on Sundance channel, and Spotless on Esquire. I haven't seen either, don't even know where to watch Sundance, but both look pretty good from trailers.
I don't watch any tv live, I do on demand and streaming services exclusively, cus I hate tuning in at a specific time. But I do stay current on a few shows, usually just 1 or 2 a season, like Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead. I'll usually watch it the night after on demand.
That said this summer is CRAZY for me. Last summer I watched AMC's Humans, Turn and Halt and Catch Fire. I don't remember any of them overlapping, or maybe just a few weeks. Then FX's The Strain came out late summer and into fall and so did AMC's Hell on Wheels. Fast forward to this summer, since April I've watched Fear the Walking Dead, then Game of Thrones, and now shows still going on include Turn, Hell on Wheels, and two new ones from AMC Feed the Beast and Preacher, and Halt and Catch Fire and Humans aren't even back yet.
There's really far too much for one person to watch right now, so let's break it down and decide which shows are worth checking out and which should be skipped. For example I still haven't seen Mr. Robot and people rave about this show. Thankfully it's on Amazon prime I believe so I don't have to rush to get to it.
I'd like to limit this to shows in their 1st, 2nd or 3rd season at most. Like The American's is a great show but most people should already know what it is. Similarly Breaking Bad is done, over, if you haven't watched it by now another person raving about it here shouldn't change anything. This is more to get an idea of shows people might not know of still in their infancy. Here's a couple I've watched.
Feed the Beast - It's on AMC. It's about a drug addicted chef who just got out of jail but owes the mob a ton of money for burning down their restaurant he used to work at (motive unknown, maybe just cus he was high at the time), so to pay them back he starts another restaurant and agrees to let them launder money there. Of course he can't start it by himself being an ex con with no money so he drags his childhood friend who is like the greatest sommelier in NYC into it to help him. But the sommelier has no idea of the mobs involvement, hence all the drama.
I thought this show would suck. The commercials for it are very campy imo, one is of David Schwimmer (who plays the sommelier) taking a reservation for Tuesday's at 10pm (the show's air time), while mobsters drag a body out the back door of the restaurant. It's cheesy and the acting is atrocious. But the actual show has a completely different feel. Schwimmer still seems akward at times in what's supposed to be a pretty serious role, but overall he pulls it off and Jim Sturgess who plays the chef is amazing. The tone and pace are all spot on and I think the actors will get there as they play their roles more. I also like the foodie nature of the show even though I think win pairins are cheesy when they talk about hints of sour cherries and aroma of burnt umber or whatever. I've heard they actually make that stuff up irl, who knows really, it's a little weird on the show, but I love watching the cooking, even if it's fake. I love shows like Chopped so a drama that uses gourmet cooking as a backdrop is pretty cool to me. Overall this is a well done show you should check out, it has mass appeal being a drama about cooking and mobsters, it's not an action show or comedy, just interesting.
Preacher - Another one on AMC. I did not know this was based on a comic/graphic novel, but once I figured that out it kind of explained a lot. The show is very stylistic, which makes you do a big ohhhh, cus it looks like something based off a comic.
I also had no clue what it was about. I thought it was another action show about gangsters or something. Man was I wrong. I don't want to give too much away except to say it's about a man, the preacher Jesse who has a bad past. Obviously he was some sort of criminal but we don't know the extent of it, except he knows how to fight really well. He goes back to his home town to continue his father's ministry. His father was killed but again we don't know how or why. And then a whole bunch of supernatural stuff starts happening with this alien entity possessing people, vampires (well just one really) falling out of the sky, and angels showing up. It gets crazy but it's totally awesome. The plot could go anywhere I suppose. The show almost has a noire feel too it but it's set in texas. It's really hard to describe what this show feels like but the shots are incredible. Just recently there was this fight scene where a bad guy punches through an adjoining hotel room, then gets pulled through the wall and the fight continues while the camera pans out and you start viewing the fight from the hole in the other room as it slowly backs up. It's so cenematic it's hard to describe except I was going "wow what a shot" the entire time. It's just good and you should check it out.
The appeal is less broad, even if it's really well done. You have to like fantasy/sci fi and/or action shows. Like if you are a fan of Trueblood you'll probably like this.
Humans - AMC as well. This show premiered last summer. I'm not sure when the second season starts but s1 is on amazon video.
It's set in a time period that is basically the same as ours except that AI exists. These androids called "synths" in the show are made out of some material so they look and feel exactly human. They can have conversations with you or just be your maid. They can be lovers or servants or both, they can babysit your kids or do your taxes, whatever they are programmed to do, and different models do different things better.
But there's a few that seem to have actually gained consciousness, true AI where they think for themselves and have morality and "feel." The other synths don't feel. If you hurt them it's just a programmed response for them to feel the pain and you can erase it later.
There's a whole bunch of characters, the most interesting is a family with a work-aholic, emotionally distant mother, so the father buys a synth to help with all the housework so the mom can have more time to spend with the family. But the synth they purchased starts acting really weird and it starts all sorts of drama.
Then there's a scientist guy who was responsible for creating synths and has some insight into the true AI. And of course there are a bunch of government agents searching for the true AI synths.
In all it's a really interesting show, kind of like I Robot novels. It questions a lot of our own humanity and morality but it's not that deep of course, more just an interesting story line. I'm not really sure what they'll do in s2 to keep it interesting so I worry a little, cus the s1 storyline wrapped up very neatly so we'll see if it stays as good.
I don't watch any tv live, I do on demand and streaming services exclusively, cus I hate tuning in at a specific time. But I do stay current on a few shows, usually just 1 or 2 a season, like Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead. I'll usually watch it the night after on demand.
That said this summer is CRAZY for me. Last summer I watched AMC's Humans, Turn and Halt and Catch Fire. I don't remember any of them overlapping, or maybe just a few weeks. Then FX's The Strain came out late summer and into fall and so did AMC's Hell on Wheels. Fast forward to this summer, since April I've watched Fear the Walking Dead, then Game of Thrones, and now shows still going on include Turn, Hell on Wheels, and two new ones from AMC Feed the Beast and Preacher, and Halt and Catch Fire and Humans aren't even back yet.
There's really far too much for one person to watch right now, so let's break it down and decide which shows are worth checking out and which should be skipped. For example I still haven't seen Mr. Robot and people rave about this show. Thankfully it's on Amazon prime I believe so I don't have to rush to get to it.
I'd like to limit this to shows in their 1st, 2nd or 3rd season at most. Like The American's is a great show but most people should already know what it is. Similarly Breaking Bad is done, over, if you haven't watched it by now another person raving about it here shouldn't change anything. This is more to get an idea of shows people might not know of still in their infancy. Here's a couple I've watched.
Feed the Beast - It's on AMC. It's about a drug addicted chef who just got out of jail but owes the mob a ton of money for burning down their restaurant he used to work at (motive unknown, maybe just cus he was high at the time), so to pay them back he starts another restaurant and agrees to let them launder money there. Of course he can't start it by himself being an ex con with no money so he drags his childhood friend who is like the greatest sommelier in NYC into it to help him. But the sommelier has no idea of the mobs involvement, hence all the drama.
I thought this show would suck. The commercials for it are very campy imo, one is of David Schwimmer (who plays the sommelier) taking a reservation for Tuesday's at 10pm (the show's air time), while mobsters drag a body out the back door of the restaurant. It's cheesy and the acting is atrocious. But the actual show has a completely different feel. Schwimmer still seems akward at times in what's supposed to be a pretty serious role, but overall he pulls it off and Jim Sturgess who plays the chef is amazing. The tone and pace are all spot on and I think the actors will get there as they play their roles more. I also like the foodie nature of the show even though I think win pairins are cheesy when they talk about hints of sour cherries and aroma of burnt umber or whatever. I've heard they actually make that stuff up irl, who knows really, it's a little weird on the show, but I love watching the cooking, even if it's fake. I love shows like Chopped so a drama that uses gourmet cooking as a backdrop is pretty cool to me. Overall this is a well done show you should check out, it has mass appeal being a drama about cooking and mobsters, it's not an action show or comedy, just interesting.
Preacher - Another one on AMC. I did not know this was based on a comic/graphic novel, but once I figured that out it kind of explained a lot. The show is very stylistic, which makes you do a big ohhhh, cus it looks like something based off a comic.
I also had no clue what it was about. I thought it was another action show about gangsters or something. Man was I wrong. I don't want to give too much away except to say it's about a man, the preacher Jesse who has a bad past. Obviously he was some sort of criminal but we don't know the extent of it, except he knows how to fight really well. He goes back to his home town to continue his father's ministry. His father was killed but again we don't know how or why. And then a whole bunch of supernatural stuff starts happening with this alien entity possessing people, vampires (well just one really) falling out of the sky, and angels showing up. It gets crazy but it's totally awesome. The plot could go anywhere I suppose. The show almost has a noire feel too it but it's set in texas. It's really hard to describe what this show feels like but the shots are incredible. Just recently there was this fight scene where a bad guy punches through an adjoining hotel room, then gets pulled through the wall and the fight continues while the camera pans out and you start viewing the fight from the hole in the other room as it slowly backs up. It's so cenematic it's hard to describe except I was going "wow what a shot" the entire time. It's just good and you should check it out.
The appeal is less broad, even if it's really well done. You have to like fantasy/sci fi and/or action shows. Like if you are a fan of Trueblood you'll probably like this.
Humans - AMC as well. This show premiered last summer. I'm not sure when the second season starts but s1 is on amazon video.
It's set in a time period that is basically the same as ours except that AI exists. These androids called "synths" in the show are made out of some material so they look and feel exactly human. They can have conversations with you or just be your maid. They can be lovers or servants or both, they can babysit your kids or do your taxes, whatever they are programmed to do, and different models do different things better.
But there's a few that seem to have actually gained consciousness, true AI where they think for themselves and have morality and "feel." The other synths don't feel. If you hurt them it's just a programmed response for them to feel the pain and you can erase it later.
There's a whole bunch of characters, the most interesting is a family with a work-aholic, emotionally distant mother, so the father buys a synth to help with all the housework so the mom can have more time to spend with the family. But the synth they purchased starts acting really weird and it starts all sorts of drama.
Then there's a scientist guy who was responsible for creating synths and has some insight into the true AI. And of course there are a bunch of government agents searching for the true AI synths.
In all it's a really interesting show, kind of like I Robot novels. It questions a lot of our own humanity and morality but it's not that deep of course, more just an interesting story line. I'm not really sure what they'll do in s2 to keep it interesting so I worry a little, cus the s1 storyline wrapped up very neatly so we'll see if it stays as good.
And I didn't see the end of the episode coming from a mile away, which is always a nice change for me.
