Fall TV Preview: What are you watching?

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:17 pm

So a handful of new shows seem interesting enough in concept, but what are thinking about watching?

While Agents of Shield is the big boy out there, Almost Human looks to be pretty interesting to me. (But I also liked all of the new Star Trek movies too, so what do I know?) My kid and I have started watching Sleepy Hollow-bt I don't have huge expectations of that show. It'll be okay, but pretty formulaic.

Normally I don't like this kind fo show-but Broklyn Nine-Nine may actually be pretty funny!

I also know that Blacklist ill probably be pretty predictable, but I'm going to watch it! And if you haven't been watching Person of Interest you're missing out on a fun show!

So what am I missing here?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:29 pm

This fall, I'll try to keep up with Parks and Recreation, Agents of SHIELD, Daily Show, and Top Gear and Fifth Gear, but I'm already so far behind on TV that I'm on the first season of Breaking Bad [it gets good sometime, I'm assuming?]. We're going to try to wedge in Agents of SHIELD tonight somehow, but I've got over 100 hours of TV on my "to watch" platter, so it's hard to get started on anything new.

How am I supposed to keep up with TV?! Having a job is bullshit.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:42 pm

You'll have to tell us if any of those are good, by the way: I could see adding a couple to my platter!

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 12:36 am

Just started Agents of Shield, I'll try to follow up.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:18 am

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Castle, Revolution, Ultimate Fighter, Sons of Anarchy, Modern Family, SNL and Big Bang Theory...and, of course, Walking Dead when it comes back on in a week.

O-Funk! · Post by **O-Funk!** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:35 pm

Agents of shield, Boardwalk Empire, Arrow, Walking Dead, Thinking of checking out Sparticus due to Rome 2: Total war, and trying to get the girlfriend to watch Ghost in the shell for a cosplay.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:52 pm

So Agents of Shield has potential-I like the banter, and interactions between the characters, but I am unsure of how I feel about how it's trying to intertwine the story lines of the movies and the TV show. That's a pretty difficult balance to achieve.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:53 pm

Sleepy Hollow is basically crap, but it's pretty crap. My kid really likes it so I'll be watching it with her, but yeah...interesting premise with bad execution.

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:10 pm

What do you find so horrible about it?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:59 pm

Agents of SHIELD hasn't popped for me yet. Sometimes it takes me a few episodes to get into a Whedon show - I hated Firefly for quite a while - but I'm having trouble even seeing the potential in these characters. When you watch the pilot of Firefly, you can see exactly what they're setting up, exactly who these archetypes will be, and they're interesting: about the only "hidden past" in AoS is May, and...sigh, did we have to make the Asian lady the martial arts expert? Wasn't enough to let her be the rigger?

Also, where's the fucking fly-through of the show's biggest set? First time they show the Hyperion in Angel, they actually slow down the film with a slow-motion camera to show you the lobby in its hayday; they do enough [seemingly] single-shot fly-throughs of Serenity that I could draw you a layout of the ship after watching it once. I don't even know where the lab is in relation to the hangar in the...what's the name of this plane?

We realized the other day I could only name one character [besides Phil, of course]. This is what happens when Whedon doesn't name his characters things like "Buffy," "Xander," "Angel," and "River." [edit] Nope, I remember another: Skye. See? [/edit]

The banter is usually worth the price of admission, but it's hard to see where they're going with this. But like I said, I didn't like Firefly at first, either, so...and to be fair, I'm only two episodes in, so maybe I'll come around.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:32 pm

Bishop wrote:What do you find so horrible about it?

Give me a few days I promise to come back to this. I'm pretty roughed up today, but I want to discuss this!

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun Oct 13, 2013 10:43 pm

Gave Ana the choice between Castle and Agents of SHIELD to watch with dinner tonight, and she chose Agents of SHIELD, which speaks highly of it, Castle being probably her second-favorite currently-airing show on TV, after Sherlock.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:08 pm

UncleJoseph wrote:Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Castle, Revolution, Ultimate Fighter, Sons of Anarchy, Modern Family, SNL and Big Bang Theory...and, of course, Walking Dead when it comes back on in a week.

So I'm not sure if I'll keep up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I like the first 2 episodes, but I thought the 3rd one was utterly boring. SNL is absolute crap this season. SOA is fantastic, as is Walking Dead. And Castle is good as usual, but I think the series is on its way out.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 11:56 pm

UncleJoseph wrote:So I'm not sure if I'll keep up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The fourth episode is widely regarded as being the best of the season so far - courtesy of Jeffrey Bell, alumnus of The X-Files and Angel - but that's really not saying much. I'm not impressed by anything Whedon does with his sister and brother-in-law, I guess. Except Much Ado About Nothing, and they didn't write that.

UncleJoseph wrote:And Castle is good as usual, but I think the series is on its way out.

Yeah, it's all just following the formula now, and they're not even following that very well. I feel like it's lost its direction, and is just cruising on autopilot until it glides to a meh.

These are both shows we watch - and they're the only shows we watch, although I'm mostly keeping up on Fifth Gear - more because of their past and pedigree than because of their reality.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:33 am

Episode 4? Eye Spy? Okay, yeah just checked IMDB-agreed so far it's the best Episode of the season. I like it-but I am a huge Marvel Comics fan-boy from an early age, so I would. I am going to see how they tie it into the next movies-something the Marvel movies have been amazing about.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:08 pm

Serious Paul wrote:
Bishop wrote:What do you find so horrible about it?
Give me a few days I promise to come back to this. I'm pretty roughed up today, but I want to discuss this!

So I think this is how I feel about it:

It's a lot like National Treasure for me-at face value there's a great plot, that relies on actual historical events to drive it. I like the concept that the Revolutionary War was more than just a war for Independence, but is some how connected to a deeper and darker spiritual war is pretty cool. I also like that they try to make Crane something more than just an absurd Disney caricature, which is good.

But all of that is pretty shallow, and beyond the surface things get pretty muddled. While the Revolutionary War is a great back drop I feel like they force things in spots, but here's a spot where I am going to give them some latitude.

Crane is a pretty humorous character, but he feels a little too contrived-and really why hasn't he changed clothes? C'mon, let's at least try to make it work here folks!

The female lead, I forget her name right now, is a hot mess. She's the one that I have a hard time with. But I think that's just me and TV, nothing special there.

All in all I think it's a good premise, with bad execution. But I'll give it a chance, and my kid likes it. So we'll watch it!

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:39 pm

So the mid-season arc of Person of Interest has a Warriors style crawl across New York by the main characters as their hunted by the Police and Organized Crime. I highly recommend this show. It has some flaws, but it does a great job of dealing with an assortment issues surrounding the surveillance state we read so much about in the media these days. It also has a lot of other interesting-to people who've played Shadowrun-arcs about espionage, combat, and much more.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:53 pm

Tried a little Almost Human. It's sort of "police-procedural meets cyberpunk-lite." It's not bad, and I suspect when I was 12, I'd have worshiped it, but I'd like to see the cyberpunk get a little heavier. Also a little tired of sci fi series in which we have the technology to built self-aware human-indistinguishable androids, but in which people drive their own cars with interiors from 2013.

Interesting the cyberpunk resurgence. I suspect the people who were influenced by it the first time around are now in positions of influence. You can't tell me the people who make Continuum haven't read a Gibson novel or two.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:13 am

I watched the first episode, but I need time to digest it. I am going to try and slog thru Agents of Shield first.

Cain · Post by **Cain** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:46 pm

Anyone follow Arrow?

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:31 am

I tried the first 8-10 episodes I think, it wasn't horrible but I was kind of put off by the relationship between Ollie and Diggle. I liked that they used some elements I recognize from both the actual comic books and the Justice League cartoons. But I ended up dropping it after the midway point because it just didn't get me hooked.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:23 am

3278 wrote:Tried a little Almost Human. It's sort of "police-procedural meets cyberpunk-lite." It's not bad, and I suspect when I was 12, I'd have worshiped it, but I'd like to see the cyberpunk get a little heavier. Also a little tired of sci fi series in which we have the technology to built self-aware human-indistinguishable androids, but in which people drive their own cars with interiors from 2013.

Interesting the cyberpunk resurgence. I suspect the people who were influenced by it the first time around are now in positions of influence. You can't tell me the people who make Continuum haven't read a Gibson novel or two.

It reminds me of Alien Nation meets I Robot and this is the illegitimate child out of the one night stand

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:38 pm

If you haven't been watching Person of Interest I want to highly suggest it-great plots, fun takes on technology and surveillance techniques; I think it's impressively tied up a multi season arc, with a great selection of soundtrack music!

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:30 pm

Serious Paul wrote:If you haven't been watching Person of Interest I want to highly suggest it-great plots, fun takes on technology and surveillance techniques; I think it's impressively tied up a multi season arc, with a great selection of soundtrack music!

Agreed. I wasn't sure near the end of the first season where -- if anywhere -- it was going, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Solid show.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 2:27 am

Yeah the first season was a little monster of the week, but the sound track is what caught my ears.