What TV Shows Are You Watching? Series VI - Programmes of Power

[Snerk]

I gave it as many episodes as promised. There were good jokes in it, but as a coherent narrative it was miserable. It's structured like a series of skits where things are only loosely organized in chronological order, and a lot of the skits feel more like rehearsals than performances where the act gets repeated or drawn out overly long because they're trying to find the one that "clicks."

It was a pretty easy bin for me.

Fair enough. But tbf Seinfeld's whole thing was that is was "a show about nothing", so not having a coherent narrative was part of the package. And how the skits are kinda under coordinated and free flowing, or as you say rehearsal like, is the whole schtick about Larry David's works. And he took it to another level in Curb your enthusiasm.

 

[warpus]

GRRM has a big book out on the history of House Targaryen (Fire and Blood), so luckily there plenty of canon to base the new show on. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Let me ask you this. Would it make sense to go back and watch all of GoT just so I can try to get into this new show? Would it make sense to only watch the first 7 seasons? Where should I stop watching, if I do this? Or would it be perfectly fine to watch this new show without ever watching GoT? (I've seen a season and a half or so)

@Synsensa Instead of trying to watch every single Seinfeld episode chronologically or whatever, I would watch the top episodes only. i.e. the masturbation contest, the soup nazi, and so on. Watch all the classic episodes, and if you don't like those, then Seinfeld is clearly not for you. But if they make you chuckle a bit, then it might very well be the best way to take in the show. I would imagine that if you force yourself to sit through a bunch of episodes you don't enjoy, you might very well end up hating some of the classics by the time you get there. But if you just watch those and nothing else, you might actually enjoy them to some degree (or not)

 

[Snerk]

Let me ask you this. Would it make sense to go back and watch all of GoT just so I can try to get into this new show? Would it make sense to only watch the first 7 seasons? Where should I stop watching, if I do this? Or would it be perfectly fine to watch this new show without ever watching GoT? (I've seen a season and a half or so)

To be honest if you dropped out of GoT pretty early on out of lack of interest, I don't see why the new show would fare much better.

Story wise you probably don't need anything from GoT to follow the new Targaryan show, by all accounts it will take place very many years earlier than the events in GoT. But you'd miss out on loads and loads of world building though.

 

[Synobun]

@Synsensa Instead of trying to watch every single Seinfeld episode chronologically or whatever, I would watch the top episodes only. i.e. the masturbation contest, the soup nazi, and so on. Watch all the classic episodes, and if you don't like those, then Seinfeld is clearly not for you. But if they make you chuckle a bit, then it might very well be the best way to take in the show. I would imagine that if you force yourself to sit through a bunch of episodes you don't enjoy, you might very well end up hating some of the classics by the time you get there. But if you just watch those and nothing else, you might actually enjoy them to some degree (or not)

Hmm. This isn't how I consume media at all. I'll... consider it.

 

[warpus]

@Snerk I stopped watching GoT due to other parts of life taking over at the time, it wasn't really because I wasn't enjoying the show. These days I'm in complete hermit mode and binge watch a lot more TV shows and movies, so I'm a bit more flexible when it comes to my visual entertainment options.

I might try to watch GoT again, we'll see. I just finished watching Netflix's "WW2 in colour" or whatever. That was pretty good. I've been watching so many random things that I can't even remember what else I've seen recently

Hmm. This isn't how I consume media at all. I'll... consider it.

With a show like Seinfeld you can do that without sacrificing any of the story, since there really isn't one. Yeah, there's some character development along the way, but you can pretty much watch random Seinfeld episodes in any order you want, and it doesn't really matter. Almost like Family Guy or the Simpsons or whatever. Contrasted with something like GoT, which you need to watch in order and can't just jump around.

 

[Synobun]

Wheel of Fortune is a very easy watch. I can see why it's a cornerstone television show.

 

[Takhisis]

Doesn't more or less everyone die in GoT anyway? It's kinda pointless with that.

 

[Synobun]

Doesn't more or less everyone die in GoT anyway? It's kinda pointless with that.

We all more or less die in the grand scheme of things, Takhy-chan.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm watching Warrior on HBO. Pretty good show so far. I do like costume dramas and westerns.

 

[Takhisis]

We all more or less die in the grand scheme of things, Takhy-chan.

Hmmmm. This isn't like that 13th Floor film, is it?

 

[Ferocitus]

Foundation - One of my all-time favourite sci-fi novels isn't getting a fair treatment. Too many wasted opportunities to explain what is going on.

Squid Game - average, with (non-accidental) Wes Anderson Death-in-Legoland moments. "Real Lighting Park" in the credits is a mystery to me.

American Rust - Mare of Easttown without the charm.

 

[warpus]

How has Foundation been? I always thought that it'd be a poor choice to attempt to adapt this series to the TV or the big screen. That's because there are really no common characters in between the different novels. IIRC the one thread tying everything together was Hari Seldon. So the way I saw it, you'd tell a short story, and then would have to jump 100+ years to the next part of the story and deal with completely different characters. Doesn't seem like a great setup for TV or the big screen

I also found the first couple novels.. sort of slow moving. Everything simply follows Seldon's plan. The best parts of the Foundation series for me was the Mule, was was admittedly a cool addition.. but again is a non-recurring character.. and Prelude to Foundation, which is a prequel written much later (by the same author still though)

Are they being faithful to the novels? Which ones are they adapting? Should I just suck it up and start watching?

 

[Birdjaguar]

How has Foundation been? I always thought that it'd be a poor choice to attempt to adapt this series to the TV or the big screen. That's because there are really no common characters in between the different novels. IIRC the one thread tying everything together was Hari Seldon. So the way I saw it, you'd tell a short story, and then would have to jump 100+ years to the next part of the story and deal with completely different characters. Doesn't seem like a great setup for TV or the big screen

I also found the first couple novels.. sort of slow moving. Everything simply follows Seldon's plan. The best parts of the Foundation series for me was the Mule, was was admittedly a cool addition.. but again is a non-recurring character.. and Prelude to Foundation, which is a prequel written much later (by the same author still though)

Are they being faithful to the novels? Which ones are they adapting? Should I just suck it up and start watching?

I read the books many years ago and have forgotten most of the details, but so far they story is hanging together pretty well including the various time jumps. I'm enjoying it. I don't like waiting for each episode so you might consider waiting for a bunch to pile up and then going through all together.

 

[Kyriakos]

The Squid Game.
It was nice, although possibly plagiarist; most of the plot and dynamic is there in the manga (and anime) Kaiji.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Are they being faithful to the novels? Which ones are they adapting? Should I just suck it up and start watching?

As I've said previously in this thread, it is not a faithful adaptation of the first novel at all. The show thus far is covering the time period of the first two short stories in the first Foundation novel - "The Psychohistorians" & "The Encyclopedists". But, there have been several plot points & character backstories that have been invented whole cloth or changed significantly. If you can set aside any expectations based on the literary work, it's actually not too bad of a show. I still hold my rating of 7/10 after the first four episodes.

 

[Synobun]

How has Foundation been? I always thought that it'd be a poor choice to attempt to adapt this series to the TV or the big screen. That's because there are really no common characters in between the different novels. IIRC the one thread tying everything together was Hari Seldon. So the way I saw it, you'd tell a short story, and then would have to jump 100+ years to the next part of the story and deal with completely different characters. Doesn't seem like a great setup for TV or the big screen

I also found the first couple novels.. sort of slow moving. Everything simply follows Seldon's plan. The best parts of the Foundation series for me was the Mule, was was admittedly a cool addition.. but again is a non-recurring character.. and Prelude to Foundation, which is a prequel written much later (by the same author still though)

Are they being faithful to the novels? Which ones are they adapting? Should I just suck it up and start watching?

I've enjoyed it. Very pretty too.

 

[warpus]

As I've said previously in this thread, it is not a faithful adaptation of the first novel at all. The show thus far is covering the time period of the first two short stories in the first Foundation novel - "The Psychohistorians" & "The Encyclopedists". But, there have been several plot points & character backstories that have been invented whole cloth or changed significantly. If you can set aside any expectations based on the literary work, it's actually not too bad of a show. I still hold my rating of 7/10 after the first four episodes.

So essentially this isn't Foundation, but rather "A story set in the Foundation universe", more or less? I can get behind that. Gonna check it out

 

[The_J]

I've enjoyed it. Very pretty too.

Guess I need to get AppleTV now, this must be close to lifechanging!

 

[Laurana Kanan]

So essentially this isn't Foundation, but rather "A story set in the Foundation universe", more or less?

It is, and it isn't. The opening credits state, "Based on the novels by Isaac Asimov." I'd say the show takes the overall premise/characters of the novels as a starting point, and then adapts/alters them to create something new and unique. Not unlike how the story in the reimagined BSG developed from the classic BSG show.

Guess I need to get AppleTV now, this must be close to lifechanging!

See is also another worthwhile show to watch on ATVP.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Let me ask you this. Would it make sense to go back and watch all of GoT just so I can try to get into this new show? Would it make sense to only watch the first 7 seasons? Where should I stop watching, if I do this? Or would it be perfectly fine to watch this new show without ever watching GoT? (I've seen a season and a half or so)

I did a "comprehensive analysis" (ie rant) on this a little while back so I will just quote it here for you, but the TL;DR is Yes, absolutely, GoT was an excellent show, absolutely superb... until Season 7, where its still OK, but starting to unravel at the seams, and then the first 2 episodes of Season 8 where it really has run its course. If you have the discipline to stop there, go for it, but you absolutely have to end your binge with Episode 2 of Season 8 or you will be kicking yourself. And its going to be tough because it will feel like you're missing the dramatic conclusion... but you're not. All you're missing is a complete trainwreck that will spoil the show for you. Season 1-6 is Game of Thrones. Seasons 7 and 8 are mediocre and bad fanfiction respectively, based on Game of Thrones. Stop after Season 6, or 7 (or even Episode 2 of Season 8) and you will be treated to one of the best shows ever put on TV. Go further than that and well... you've been warned.

My advice is don't even watch Season 8. Seriously. Not joking. Don't watch it. It's going to ruin the whole story for you. I'm sorry for you that you even watched Season 7, but season 7 is sort of a mixed bag, so you can still quit now with an overall warm and fuzzy feeling about this amazing show. If you watch Season 8, your feelings about the show are going to be effed. And this is coming from someone who makes jokes all the time about @Synsensa hating everything. GoT was soooo good, but the ending season(s) was just botched beyond belief.

Resist the temptation. Don't watch Season 8 out of a desire to "see how things turn out". You will be so pissed if you do. It will be like having the most delicious feast with all your favourite foods and such a savory taste in your mouth, only to have the dessert be rancid, moldy, give you food poisoning and make you vomit... whole meal ruined. Meal was so good, but just completely ruined by the dessert.

EDIT: Oh poop... just noticed that you already watched it. Well my warning stands for anyone else who is going to watch GoT. Watch Season 1-6 and just treat it like one of those fantastic shows that gets cancelled too soon, right when it is getting really good. Season 1-6 is a masterpiece. Much watch. If you really can't resist then go ahead and see season 7. But under no circumstances should you see season 8. It's just not worth your time. You just have to accept that you can't see the end of the story. It sucks, but actually seeing the end is worse.

Thinking about it some more... Game of thrones Season 7 is actually decent, and integral to the overall story. With Season 7, it was starting to go off the rails a little, but overall, Season 7 is still worth watching. Definitely and noticeably lower quality than the prior 6 seasons, but still staying somewhat in the ballpark of watchable and interesting. Also Season 8 episodes 1 and 2 are closer to that level than I remembered... I mean we're completely off the rails at that point but the train hasn't actually crashed yet... still worth watching arguably, because they sort of wrap up some important things (that they subsequently do their best to ruin).

But then that's it... absolutely it. You have to jump out the window after Season 8 episode 2, because episode 3 is where the trainwreck total disaster happens. It's ridiculous... Putting aside all the reasons the show crashes and burns at this point, writing, storytelling, acting, directing, and so on... The episode is quite literally, not figuratively, literally unwatchable, because its so effing dark you cant even see it. Even if the episode was good (its not), it wouldn't matter because you can't see jack squat. Ugh, its so dumb, I'm actually getting a little angry just thinking about it. I think that because up to that point, the decline seemed a little more gradual, but that episode forced you really take stock of how far the decline had gone. From that point it was pure sunken-cost-fallacy watching.

Bottom line, you can certainly stop with the end of Season 6 and I think that's optimal, but you will miss a bunch of things that are actually worth seeing in Season 7. But the absolute breaking point of no return is episode 2 of Season 8. You've absolutely got to bail after that.