(no subject)

[proximoception]

My wife nixed Battlestar Galactica an hour or so in for its agonizing slow-mo predictability and lame dialogue, re. which I agree so far, but I might be able to talk her into resuming just so she can see some more of Vancouver (Caprica = SFU, esp. its Quadrangle, also featured heavily in the Day the Earth Stood Still remake).

Californication seemed fun at first but was then confirmed stupid.

24 (season 1) was stupid. We lasted four episodes.

We watched some of a new House episode. Still following the same formula.

Dollhouse seems godawful.

Survivor is actually pretty cool. I wasn't watching TV back then, and remember being angry at everyone I knew who watched this. Yes, the game is absurd, the premise is cruel and should probably be outlawed, the producers shot, but people are people. Even people who want to be actors are people. Totally fascinating, as I'm the last person to find out.

We still haven't attempted Big Love, Breaking Bad or West Wing. Sopranos needs to be rereleased with subtitles before we'll try again. We might give Weeds another shot.

Still the best I've seen, for some portion of their run: Futurama, Lost, The Simpsons, Mr. Show, Fawlty Towers, The Office U.K., Twin Peaks, Flight of the Conchords, Six Feet Under, and (near as I could tell) The Wire.

Also proved worth watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, Seinfeld, Friends, American Dad & Family Guy, Gilmore Girls, Extras, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Law and Order (original). Those and maybe four, five episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Comments

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

I was worried Dollhouse would not be great since the advertisements all seemed to feature Eliza's skin and not much else.

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

It was suck city. Buffy and Angel were too, at times, but nowhere near like this--and they were mostly saved by their comedy.

[all-unnecessary.livejournal.com]

Whedon's imperilment of that chick - crazy extreme last week (I mean really! menaced on all sides!). I intend to avoid it from here on out.

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

Have you ever watched Veronica Mars?

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

We watched about a handful and were on the fence about it.

[andalus.livejournal.com]

i'm surprised, the West Wing was the most consistently non-disappointing show. Up to season 5, but patches were good after that. I didnt finish the last season.

I'm almost at the end of the first season of Battlestar, and people tell me it gets better but I really dont know. It seems like an excuse for young people to get mad rutty with each other in space. The way they dance around religion is also weird. I mean, clearly the plot is straight out of scientology, but God is evil, or at least on the side of the cylons. Im afraid it'll degenerate into some "everything happens for a reason, we're all on the same side" bullcrap.

[andalus.livejournal.com]

i had always wondered what they used for caprica. that bay is so pretty.

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

We lived right there. Right there.

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

Okay but listen: is it as mind-numbingly stupid, boring, predictable, bad as the first couple hours of the miniseries? Because what you describe sounds at least watchable.

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

It does get better. I'm waiting for it to turn great. All those awards, etc.

[andalus.livejournal.com]

the only way i made it through the miniseries was to detatch my brain a little and do other things. it doesnt seem terribly necessary to the plot either. nothing you cant learn from a wikipedia article. the first episode of the series proper wasn't bad, it restored my faith a little.

[parishat.livejournal.com]

agree about west wing. i just started and it's now what i seem to live for. actually, it's just so phenomenonal because of everything 24 is not: it challenges the utilitarian premises of 24 and not just with wit and ethics but with its treatment of gender and generational relationships. I'm puzzled--why you didn't get past season 1 of 24. it's so over the top. what did you have against it? put another way, can it not convincingly be read as caricature?

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

Plausibility is something I've never demanded from tv shows--except within whatever terms they've already set up for themselves. But they have to be good!

24 was both predictable and repetitive, at least to the extent that it was drip torture watching it most of the time. The daughter is still kidnapped. Phone call. Shooting someone's kneecap to make them talk. Phone call. Being shot at. Two calls. Oh no who's the mole. Phone call. Kneecap. The daughter is still kidnapped. Etc. Absurd's fine, but even absurd has to stay new and avoid dumb!

[andalus.livejournal.com]

you should really add cowboy bebop to the list. pound for pound some of the best pure entertainment out there. the first few episodes are a little hokey but once it gets into it it glides all the way to the end, only one or two throwaways.

and while we're at it why have you still not watched FLCL? it's six episodes! done in an afternoon!

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid the anime fairy misblessed me at birth.