[Binder of Demons]

Caught up with the most recent eps of Justified. Really like that show. Very different from anything else out there.

The last 3 episodes for this season could be great, as all kinds of shit are about to hit the wall.

[Abyss]

So i got HBO specifically for GAME OF THRONES, but now that i have it, am curious what's worth watching.

I know Dexter and True Blood - what else is good and why?

[MTS]

Hmm, let's see:

Boardwalk Empire - about a corrupt mayor of Atlantic City (Steve Buscemi) during Prohibition. Sex, crime, politics, what more could you want?
Curb Your Enthusiasm - like Seinfeld, but better. Seriously.
Entourage - if anything, watch this for Ari Gold. Jeremy Piven is THE MAN.
Hung - about a high school basebeball coach who becomes a male prostitute for money with the poetry teacher as his pimp. Hilarious.
Eastbound And Down - Danny McBride is a professional baseballer who retires to become a phys-ed teacher. Even more hilarious, although I can see it being painful if you don't like Danny McBride.

I've also heard good things about Treme, but I haven't seen it.

[Beezulbubba]

These also on HBO:

The Ricky Gervais Show
Funny of Die Presents

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 02:14 PM, said:

So i got HBO specifically for GAME OF THRONES, but now that i have it, am curious what's worth watching.

I know Dexter and True Blood - what else is good and why?

True Blood is NOT good. I can't fathom it's popularity...hell I can't even fathom Charlotte Harris's book series being popular.

I stomached like 6 episodes of the first season and wanted to slit my wrists.

That said, it's probably oodles better than the show my gf and her sister fill the PVR with...the goddamned VAMPIRE DIARIES...that is an even worse show. Blecch.

Where's BUFFY when folk need stakin'?

[HoosierDaddy]

QuickTidal, on 20 April 2011 - 07:15 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 02:14 PM, said:

So i got HBO specifically for GAME OF THRONES, but now that i have it, am curious what's worth watching.

I know Dexter and True Blood - what else is good and why?

True Blood is NOT good. I can't fathom it's popularity...hell I can't even fathom Charlotte Harris's book series being popular.

I stomached like 6 episodes of the first season and wanted to slit my wrists.

That said, it's probably oodles better than the show my gf and her sister fill the PVR with...the goddamned VAMPIRE DIARIES...that is an even worse show. Blecch.

Where's BUFFY when folk need stakin'?

You can't fathom why people might like the show? Knowing how popular Twilight is, does that help? Good material does not equal "popular."

Sex and fighting seems to be the trend right now. Plus throw in a mystery "whodunit" every season and you it's unsurprising it isn't liked. It has a little something for everyone. That being said, it's a bit formulaic, but to my knowledge those types of books tend to be so.

[POOPOO MCBUMFACE]

The Wire's on HBO, isn't it? Apologies for slight ignorance, on the wrong side of the ocean here (and have a general ignorance of how TV works given that my approach is to wait until a series is finished, watch an episode then order the entire thing in a boxset if I like it). If it is, well, it's pretty much the best TV series I've ever seen.

[Abyss]

Twilight and True Blood are very very different things, vampires aside.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 08:12 PM, said:

Twilight and True Blood are very very different things, vampires aside.

True indeed.

My issue with TRUE BLOOD actually has nothing to do with the vampires and humans aspect at all. Instead I think the storytelling is subpar and I really dislike the southern gothic setting. Anna Paquin is good in it...and so was Michelle Forbes (while she was one it doing some scenery chewing).

So my non-fathoming of it more relates to that I guess.

You make a good point though Hoosier Daddy....'tis the vampires that are likely what makes it popular.

[Tapper]

QuickTidal, on 20 April 2011 - 09:26 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 08:12 PM, said:

Twilight and True Blood are very very different things, vampires aside.

True indeed.

My issue with TRUE BLOOD actually has nothing to do with the vampires and humans aspect at all. Instead I think the storytelling is subpar and I really dislike the southern gothic setting. Anna Paquin is good in it...and so was Michelle Forbes (while she was one it doing some scenery chewing).

So my non-fathoming of it more relates to that I guess.

You make a good point though Hoosier Daddy....'tis the vampires that are likely what makes it popular.

After watching season 1, I have to disagree with you on the setting.
I absolutely love that southern flavor, exactly because it has such a lack of what one expects from vampires. What bugs me is how much weirdness is thrown down in one little sleepy town where the arrival of 1 vampire already causes a stir. Plus, there is quite a lot of predictability in the plot and it is more black and white than grey.

All in all, the 25,- I paid for the season's box delivered enough entertainment to make it worthwhile, without it being a masterpiece. It is however much better than Starz' Spartacus: gods of the sands or whatever that second series is called.

And I don't know if it is caused by Twilight, but vampires are undergoing a revival again.
I was actually curious to see if there was some frequency to it. From scanning wiki, it seems that after around 5 years of peace and quiet (direct to dvd/ spoof/ Uwe Boll/ low budget stuff aside) there is a three year period in which Vampires are hyped.

With Blade 2, Blade Trinity, Underworld (and as an aside Van Helsing) all being released in the period 2002-2004, you could identify that as the latest gulf before the Twilight films, True Blood, Let Me In were made in the USA in the past three years.

In between, only Underworld follow-ups and I Am Legend were produced as big budget movies.

[Abyss]

I would believe that the massive (ly misplaced) popularity of Twilight led to a surge of interest in True Blood, which started around the same time and Twi was picking up speed, but in terms of audience retention i suspect it's a different crowd demographic for the most part.

[Binder of Demons]

ysterday i saw the most recent episode of Bones, and foolishly i watched it cos i was bored. It had to have been one of the most singularly irritating episodes of tv i have watched in ages.

I think they were trying to use it as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series. But the characters for this spin-off were astonishing (and not in a good way). The main guy is an ex-marine who has a knack for finding anything, with Michael Clarke Duncan playing his "associate" that spouts off legal ramblings and is a pacifist that may also kick your ass. I kid you not. The other associate is played by Saffron Burrows, who would appear to be a jack of all trades character to be used for any convenient plot devices, easy escapes, info dumps etc. now, she may be hot, but in this episode they have her speaking in an accent that defies belief (i think it was a kind of Mockney accent but my ears were bleeding after her first few lines and i couldn't concentrate).

What a complete shambles. Through some genius typecasting, i knew who the killer was as soon as they came on screen (it's a familiar role for this person). The next 20 mins or so was either info dump time or convenient skill demonstration, and then the last 10 mins we get the warm fuzzy ending and another big load of exposition to set up the premise for the spin-off.

I would have said it was a ham-fisted effort, but that does HAM a major disservice. Mmmmm......Ham.

A crock of shit fits better.

[Sir Thursday]

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 02:14 PM, said:

So i got HBO specifically for GAME OF THRONES, but now that i have it, am curious what's worth watching.

I know Dexter and True Blood - what else is good and why?

Dexter is on Showtime .

MTS has the list about right, I think.

ST

[RodeoRanch]

My love for "Community" knows no bounds! It's streets ahead!

[stone monkey]

Channel 4 in the UK just showed this http://www.intoetern...e.com/synopsis/ It's a rather extraordinary document, I think. The combination of sober thought, and possibly hubris involved in the Onkalo Project is pretty awe inspiring, if at the same time more than a teensy bit worrying on both a practical and philosophical level. These are people coming face to face with the consequences and implications of Deep Time. The mind shrinks from the timescales that they're planning along. It's rather apt and quite deliberate, I expect, that it was shown on the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Accident.

For UK viewers it should be available on 4OD at some stage. Those of you in the rest of the world should probably seek it out to watch, if you can. It's definitely one of the most interesting and thought provoking documentaries I've seen for a long time.

[Abyss]

Binder of Demons, on 24 April 2011 - 11:07 AM, said:

ysterday i saw the most recent episode of Bones, and foolishly i watched it cos i was bored. It had to have been one of the most singularly irritating episodes of tv i have watched in ages....

The only way to watch Bones is with the expectation that at any point David Boreanz can turn into Angelus and break necks.

Sir Thursday, on 24 April 2011 - 07:17 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 April 2011 - 02:14 PM, said:

So i got HBO specifically for GAME OF THRONES, but now that i have it, am curious what's worth watching.

I know Dexter and True Blood - what else is good and why?

Dexter is on Showtime .
...

Noted, didn't get either channel til recently so they were mixed up in my head.

Anyone watching TREME? Any good?

Watched a few eps of BREAKOUT KINGS. It's about a team of two US Marshals and their three convict 'escape experts' (naturally, a streetwise black dude, a hot chick ex-bounty-hunter and a brilliant/immature psychologist Steve Buscemi lookalike) who help them catch escapees in exchange for time off their sentences... (kind of like Suicide Squad without the 'sploding arm bands, if you know the ref) The cast is decent but each episode rises and falls on the strength of the excapee they're after. So far the one with the badguy from PRISON BREAK and HEROES was awesome and everything else has been just ok.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finally - FINALLY - got round to watching 30Rock. Oh my word, I have been missing out on this absolute gem of a show! Hilarious, and gets funnier with every episode! Already pretty much finished season 2 and season 3 should be here tomorrow (the fact that a whole boxset is less than a tenner helps!) Seriously cannot get enough of it!

[Obdigore]

Stargate Universe is over.

I was hoping for some sort of closure or something.... but damnit I'm mad that the show is cancelled.

[rhulad]

Obdigore, on 11 May 2011 - 07:19 PM, said:

Stargate Universe is over.

I was hoping for some sort of closure or something.... but damnit I'm mad that the show is cancelled.

Haven't watched the last couple episodes. Dreading the ending.

[Binder of Demons]

I just saw that, while hardly a surprise, LIE TO ME and HUMAN TARGET have both been cancelled. While Lie to Me had become pretty stale, I still enjoyed the over-the-top nature of HUMAN TARGET.

And then, just to make me sadder, I see that the BONES spin-off that I railed against upthread, has now been picked up for a full season. How on earth did that tripe get picked up!!!