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The Gifted

Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.

Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.

 Easy E wrote:
The Gifted

Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.

Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.

Hmm, you just reminded me of the first Not~X-Men show Mutant X. I wonder if that's streaming anywhere?

All I remember from it was the main villain was basically Andy Warhol, which is a choice I guess.

On episode 2 of HBO Max's "Industry", returning for a 3rd season.

Came for Eric Tao (Ken Leung) and his biting dialogue to his subordinates, almost checked out for the segments focusing on his subordinates, stayed for Kit Harrington's performance as a rich, entitled donkey-cave as he navigates the ups/downs of launching an IPO for his green tech company. The dude showed some range, much more than he could showcase as the sullen Jon Snow in GoT. The battle in the ball pit of his workplace kid playroom was wild.

I'll probably stick around for the season, unless it starts to get excessively bleak or gross, which this episode came very, very close to being.

Now, on to episode 1 of the "Chimp Crazy" mini-series, which looks like an off the chain primate version of Netflix's "Tiger King" (Made by the same people, I think).

 Easy E wrote:
The Gifted

Started watching these not realizing it was a Marvel property. It is basically CW-verse not X-men. The X-men and Brotherhood are referenced as disappearing, but it is its own thing. Sentinels are just a FBI/CIA/NSA style government agency and not giant robots.

Anyway, it is not great because of all the quirks of Twenty-Teens serialized TV. However, it is reminding me how great the Mutant metaphor is as a story-telling device for social commentary. It is a great "Blank Canvas" where people can pour in their own lived experiences to help relate to the characters. It can be applied to groups all across the political and social landscapes. That makes the show way more compelling than it would otherwise be.

It's not great, but it's crazy that it's darker than any X-Men film.

Finished Episode 1 of Chimp Crazy

There are some bonkers wild folks in this show, but so far not as compelling/guilty pleasure fun as Tiger King.

The scene where a chimp is watching the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey and getting genuinely hyped was heartwarming and hilarious, but it has a collar and leash around its neck like a dog on a walk, immediately setting the tone for how people treat these animals.

Looking at full grown chimps stuck in cages the size of a Walk-in closet is sad as feth. There is a child-like sweetness to some of them, but gak can go south violently so fast that its hard to have any sympathy* for folks who try to keep them as pets. Its thankfully not shown, but one “owner” had his nose bitten clean off, and he was running a business that let kids interact with chimps at birthday parties even after that event. They do show a juvie chimp randomly grabbing and pulling a toddlers leg, almost pulling the child from the mothers arms in front of a crowd of kids at one of these events.

Never knew that Missouri of all places was like an Old West of exotic animal trading.

This show has me rooting for PETA, so far. Impressive feat.

*And I don’t think this show is trying to garner sympathy, but to show the derangement some of these folks exhibit.

Just finished first series of Only Murders In The Building. Comedy/comedic crime drama, trio of true crime podcast enthusiasts join forces to investigate a murder in their apartment building and publish their investigation as a podcast of their own. Bloody great. It's tense, it's funny, it's cheesy in places, there's some cracking cameos and the main cast (Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez) are awesome. Well worth watching.

That is a terrific show. It’s low key whilst being incredibly warm and funny.

Might have to see about getting my hands on this...

Had some free time and decided to watch the final season of Umbrella Academy
Kinda wish i'd kept putting it off, because while there were moments i found interesting and story threads
with potential, by the end when it all wrapped up, i just found myself disliking so much stuff



so yea, think i might rewatch something i know has a good ending to make up for it

Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.

But highly regarded it is.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.

But highly regarded it is.

It's almost like the BBC didn't like money...... but i suspect the real reason was probably that it would have been complicated to do,

some of the contracts probably didn't have T&C allowing video release (or worse might have meant extra payments), some of the episodes had been misplaced, or all they had was horrible scratchy tape they'd got back from an african country after they'd re-used the master tape for an episode of Blankety Blank, and maybe the audio of one epidode mysteriously ended up swaped with the audio for a random bank holiday special about farming in the lake district

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Now that’s a show I’ve never sat down to watch. I’m a bit too young for real memories, and I don’t recall seeing it for sale during my mad VHS and DVD phase.

But highly regarded it is.

Thanks to a certain Australian TV host I avoided it like the plague for a lot of years, but I was on a huge Dr Who binge about 10 years ago and couldn't pass up the episode with Colin Baker...




...its like the grand daddy of shows like Farscape, Dark Matter and Star Wars: Rebels. If you love Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, you'll probably also love Blake's 7!

Wait….hold on…..

Colin “objectively the worst Doctor ever, and no it wasn’t just the scripts’ Baker somehow convinced you”??

I...I feel...bullied.

And well you should

BY THE POWER OF INDISPUTSBLE FACTS

🤣🤣

I see what you did there...

This sounds awesome... British zombie series coming in the autumn...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/24/ben-wheatley-zombie-drama-generation-z

Those Who Are About To Die

Arrrrgggggghhhhhhh!

After making it through the first episode (deep down I must hate myself) it is now my solemn quest to save people from this crime against television. The better half and I switched to

Our Lady Jane

The first Queen of England, but basically a victim on the long list of dark days in English/British history. Here is her story - with all the historical accuracy of Xena: Warrior Princess. And it's quite a bit of fun. A bit of girl bossing, a bit of magic, independent minded young woman takes on the patriarchy of medieval England. Jane is a bit anachronistic: with a modern viewpoint that clashes with the mores of the times, but that's to place here as the identification figure. If you've enjoyed Renegade Nell you'll probably like this. The only minor niggle (to me) is that Rob Brydon is in it and I'm getting a little weary of his schtick.

Scary Tales

Very short, 15 minute “scary” shorts.

Well, the first one was a tale, but scary it was not. But they are charmingly zero budget!

Stargate Atlantis Season 5.

The final season. And for me? It’s best.

The preceding four are ok, I guess but they have a pretty dodgy consistency. But this one? It’s really good.

That’s the one with Michael and Todd, right? And are the Genii still kicking it? Stargate is always at its best when it has fun villains.

That’s the one. And the random renegade Asgard who had completely escaped my memory.

Mr & Mrs Smith (TV series)

Watched first episode. The dialogue is better than Citadel….?
It looks expensively produced….?

It takes the dumb fun premise of the film…and tries to be serious with it.

But the fledgling agents do a bunch of really ‘loud’ stuff in the middle of a city without getting challenged.

I’m steeling myself to watch the second episode….

i almost watched that a while back myself
might have to revisit the idea

Rod Serling’s Night Gallery

A 1970’s tv horror anthology series. And it’s pretty rad! Made at a time when censors wouldn’t allow much in the way of gore, violence and nudity, it relies mostly on atmosphere which is to its benefit.

Gaw Blimey! That bowled me a googly and no mistake! See, the above series wasn’t just that series. But also…

Sixth Sense

A 70’s show about a paranormal investigator/detective.

Thought Amazon were repeating an episode, but no. It’s a completely different TV series tacked on. And it’s alright, I guess. Will give it a proper watch later, now I know it for what it is.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed

The new movie dropped and I'm rewatching the series. It's okay. Lot of early-00s Anime problems. The show makes use of quite a bit of stock footage and on the whole it's not the most mature Gundam series. But it's good mecha action.

Sadly I can't find the un-Remastered version. The remaster made a few 'changes' that were odd to say the least. The Netflix English dub is also oddly lacking some lines. The audio just cuts out but in a deliberate way that's very odd.

IBO and 00 are still better post-Millennium series imo, but Seed isn't bad. It did character drama pretty well for what it was.

Seed Destiny is still dogshit.

Tokyo Vice (HBO MAX)

This show is adapted from a true story about an American crime reporter in Japan who thrusts himself into the conflict between the Japanese police and the Yakuza. I didn't know anything about this and hoped for something watchable, and was pleasantly surprised as its really very good. It has a complex and interesting story that is well shot and well acted. Ken Watanabe is as good as expected particularly in the first season as the hard boiled detective who doesn't play by the rules, an archetype quite familiar to western audiences. Rinko Kikuchi starts off as a mere obstacle to the MC and ends up having great character development and a really interesting "slice of life" storyline.

On the negative side, in the second season the stakes rise dramatically and the ending ultimately feels a little forced. I'd tend to believe that much of that was created rather than adapted though I haven't read the book. That said, while not quite "peak TV" quality its still among the best shows I've seen from the post COVID era.

8.5/10

Lucha Underground season 1.

I'm only 8 episodes in right now. I've seen season 2 and 3 already but had never had the chance to see season one before.

I think this is a really fun format for pro wrestling.
Making it TV with TV storylines and some acting. The wrestling is a blast to watch but I really like that they crank it up to 11 by episode 2. It has some problems but what doesn't. One thing that caught my eye is a finishing movie used to get a pin-fall, winning the match, and the commentary was like "we've never seen that before! " except they had the previous episode and done by a different performer. I could be wrong about that but I don't think so.

Over all it's a fun ride.

Only Murders In The Building S4

Bloody hell I adore this show. It’s clever, it’s goofy, and the cast are universally amazing.