[QuickTidal]

Gorefest, on 01 September 2023 - 11:37 AM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 26 August 2023 - 04:37 PM, said:

Finished most of Good Omens season two---stopped in the middle of the last episode, feel no compulsion to finish it (but I will, next Friday). Guess my expectations were too high---I remember really liking season one. The script generally seems much weaker (despite a few good lines and conceits), and the acting makes it worse. It's as if they're compensating for the weak script with distractingly hammy embellishments and/or by rushing through without inflection. They remind me of bad Shakesperean actors who assume the audience won't understand what's being said anyway, and don't seem to understand much of it themselves. Made me wonder if the director just hated most of the script, but it appears to be the same guy from season one---but they're not the writer (Neil Gaiman apparently wrote it and was co-showrunner, though IDK how much say he had). Hamm's acting was decent when playing 'corny dad with hot body' or 'cheery asshole boss'. Crowley actor was okay---mostly just understated gruff or cranky, with bouts of arguably justified manic over-acting---but there's more of a focus on Aziraphale. The music and cinematography remind me of other Amazon series like Rings of Power and [that shitty werewolf fairy show] season 2---glossy 90's big budget Hollywood children's movie. However I didn't find it to be much of a slog. Overall I'd give it a resounding 'okay'; glad they made it, wouldn't mind another season or two, but it would be nice if it were actually good more of the time....

Haven't started watching it yet. The original Pratchett/Gaiman novel is the first season, so that for me is Good Omens. I'm not sure what a brand new season can bring to the table if there is no original book content or idea to back it up. Great that Gaiman was involved and I am a big fan of his works, but it was mainly the Pratchett humor that made the original novel the genius masterpiece that it is. Any follow-ons, especially without Pratchett involvement, are bound to be pale imitations. I'll give it a go if a space in our endless 'to weatch' list opens up, i guess.

I know he was working off the skeletal outlines that he and Pratchett crafted for the second novel way back after they wrote the first...but without the meatiness of Pratchett's humour in the dialogue and whatnot, it's simply Gaiman trying to be funny, and his humour is wildly different.

[champ]

QuickTidal, on 01 September 2023 - 11:30 AM, said:

Live action ONE PIECE is...good? Like they leaned into the anime/cartoony look just enough, while also grounding the fights with realistic choreography, and the characters are all being as earnest as possible. The guy playing Luffy is PERFECT, as is the guy playing Zoro...my wife even likes it (which I'm surprised by). This is a far cry from Netflix's last aborted attempt to make live action anime. From what I understand Oda was DEEPLY involved, and many things needed to be reshot after he saw them and asked them to change certain aspects, which helps me know they are interested in making this right.

Dude, isn't it just!!!

Only three eps in though but totally unexpectedly enjoying it!

Zoro character is absolutely nailing it! Luffy soon grew on me too!

This post has been edited by champ: 01 September 2023 - 02:29 PM

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 01 September 2023 - 02:29 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 01 September 2023 - 11:30 AM, said:

Live action ONE PIECE is...good? Like they leaned into the anime/cartoony look just enough, while also grounding the fights with realistic choreography, and the characters are all being as earnest as possible. The guy playing Luffy is PERFECT, as is the guy playing Zoro...my wife even likes it (which I'm surprised by). This is a far cry from Netflix's last aborted attempt to make live action anime. From what I understand Oda was DEEPLY involved, and many things needed to be reshot after he saw them and asked them to change certain aspects, which helps me know they are interested in making this right.

Dude, isn't it just!!!

Only three eps in though but totally unexpectedly enjoying it!

Zoro character is absolutely nailing it! Luffy soon grew on me too!

I think the mistake a lot of anime-to-live action films/shows make is to try to make it too normal and realistic....leaning into the cartoonishness of it a decent amount without going overboard is really what makes this work. Can't wait to watch the rest.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 01 September 2023 - 02:41 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Pretty sure I hadn't heard of it before:

Quote

What if I told you that there was an anime and manga franchise which, in Japan, was so beloved it had its own theme park? And its own chain of stores? And that internationally, the manga has sold over 516 million copies? That number makes it not only the bestselling manga series of all time, but the bestselling comic book series of all time[...]

Now, what if I told you that while this series has blown up in Japan since its 1997 debut, it essentially flew right over Western anime fandoms for two decades? [...]

However, that conspicuous absence in the mainstream spotlight might be about to change. [...] One Piece's mangaka (author), Eiichiro Oda, sees the live-action Netflix series as his last chance to make One Piece catch on in the West in the same way as it has internationally.

[...] This is a world where phones are living snails. The Devil Fruit powers are often so ridiculous, one guy can simply turn himself into a jacket. One Piece has a wonderful ability to be both poignant and a lot of fun.

[...] It's not an exaggeration to say that, in Japan, Monkey D. Luffy is as easily recognizable as Mickey Mouse.

There are 15 feature films and 56 video games based on the series, and counting. [...]

However, for a long time in the West, One Piece didn't catch on. [...] While its English-language take on Pokémon won swaths of fans, 4Kids' dub and localization of One Piece were legendarily bad. The company's creative edits only helped the story make no sense at all. One important, multi-episode plotline was cut out [...] 4Kids also retconned several series-defining character deaths, offering instead that the dearly departed were lingering somewhere in a dungeon, or that they bullied out of their biggest passion and peaced out.

[...] The fights are rounded out by an absolutely ridiculous, delightful sense of humor, which colors the entire series. The whole series is constructed around its characters being ridiculous, which often makes its humor character-based. The anime in particular is no stranger to absurdist gags.

'One Piece,' Explained: What to Know About the Most-Hyped Netflix Show of 2023 (thedailybeast.com)

Seems to be adapting Western pirate tropes---wonder if pirates are to Japanese audiences like what ninjas are to 'Western' audiences?

Reminds me of a famous haiku:

Quote

hatsushigure saru mo komino wo hoshigenari

first-winter-shower monkey also small-straw-raincoat [acc.] look-wanting

Bashō and His Interpreters - Google Books

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 01 September 2023 - 04:52 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I too really enjoyed the One Piece adaptation. I binged it over three nights, and am already irritated that there isn't a 1000+ episode backlog of it to keep watching!

[worry]

I started watching One Piece as well. Like halfway through the season. I've never watched the cartoon or read the funny pages, but it definitely feels like a cartoon come to life. I could nitpick it (it can be a little repetitive, and I don't think I needed another evil clown in my life) but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. There's like a Babe: Pig in the City energy to it.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

SNL Fired Him for Being Racist. Now He's #1 on Netflix.

[...] his second stand-up special [...] Beautiful Dogs [...] has topped the streaming platform's daily TV rankings for American viewership each of its first two days. He's more popular than One Piece, Who Is Erin Carter? or anything else on Netflix.

[...] had announced Gillis as a new SNL hire [...] old podcast clips of Gillis making disparaging marks, including ethnic and gay slurs, started to make the rounds online. [...] SNL [...] made it clear that they needed an immediate apology out of Gillis. Instead he posted [...] "[...] I'm happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said."

[...] built up a loyal fanbase for the same podcast that derailed his SNL ambitions[...]

[...] His podcast, via Patreon, has grown its membership [...] At levels ranging from $1/month up to $50/month, he's already banking millions without factoring in his touring income. [...]

[...] [appearances on] Joe Rogan['s podcast] [...]

Throughout his stand-up career, Gillis has joked about how he looks like someone with Down syndrome. In Beautiful Dogs, he defends what could be seen as an offensive stereotype by sharing loving stories about his Uncle Danny, who has Down syndrome. [...]

Gillis has also maintained his love of Donald Trump but couched it in terms of Trump as a funny personality

Shane Gillis Is Netflix's #1 Comedian 4 Years After SNL Firing (thedailybeast.com)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 08 September 2023 - 12:03 PM

[worry]

While I think his (standup & podcast) career has certainly been turbocharged by similar reactionary 'culture war' stuff as more recent things like Aldean and that other guy, that headline and article still feel like desperate clickbait to tie it all together as like a moment. Standup is stupidly popular generally on Netflix, and also their daily rankings thing is fake.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 08 September 2023 - 01:08 PM, said:

While I think his (standup & podcast) career has certainly been turbocharged by similar reactionary 'culture war' stuff as more recent things like Aldean and that other guy, that headline and article still feel like desperate clickbait to tie it all together as like a moment. Standup is stupidly popular generally on Netflix, and also their daily rankings thing is fake.

'I want to believe', but are there any good sources for those claims?

Some people might be mistaking their personalized 'Popular on Netflix' for Netflix's non-personalized viewership rankings. From 2021:

Quote

"Popular on Netflix" and "Trending," [...] are "actually personalized content that also happens to be popular." [...]

[...] the streamer uses what it calls a "chose to watch" standard, which tallies how many people sample at least two minutes of a given title. Netflix opted for this metric because it evens out disparities in program length and episode count.

Netflix's 'Top Ten' Most Popular Lists, Explained (vulture.com)

But they changed the metric this June:

Quote

Netflix Updates Top 10 Charts to Include Estimated Viewers in Addition to Hours Viewed

[...] estimated by taking the traditional hours viewed they have provided for some time and dividing by the show or film's total runtime. [...] window of measurement for the most popular lists for TV and film [is now] 91 days.

[...] Netflix's new way of calculating views isn't exactly perfect. [...] it assumes that every time a user watches a new piece of content, they make it all the way through every single time, which is ultimately inflating unique views. [...] it's more likely that some users are watching multiple times, while many never make it to the end the first time.

Netflix Updates Top 10 Charts to Include Estimated Viewers - Variety

From 2021:

Quote

Netflix released Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up special, The Closer. I don't have to tell you that it was the subject of lots of internet commentary, backlash and protest. So how did it do? Better than most other stand-up specials, though that's not saying much.

[...] this is the first time that a comedy special has made the Nielsen rankings. I double checked this a few times, and the math checks out.

Consider that Netflix themselves said that Kevin Hart's Zero F**ks Given was their most watched comedy special in 2020. Released on 17-Nov, it didn't make the Nielsen Top 10 list that week, meaning it had a viewership below 7.8 million hours. In other words, right around the range of Chappelle's special—which earned 6.7 million hours in its first week—and these two comics seem to deliver the most viewers for Netflix stand-up specials.

How Popular are Standup Specials on Netflix? Plus the End of "Manifest Summer" - Entertainment Strategy Guy

Granted, that last quote is from a blog post, and stand-up comedy could have surged in popularity since 2021, as the 'end' of the pandemic made life so much more depressing.... They could also be intentionally falsifying or manipulating the numbers to make certain things seem more popular, and they do have a vested interest in promoting things that are cheaper to produce ($200 million for a new movie vs... one person on stage with a microphone and an audience that actually pays to be there?). But falsifying viewership numbers would be illegal, and heavily manipulating them to (intentionally) misleadingly promote certain material seems like it would at least be a huge scandal (and hit to their stock price...) if discovered....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 08 September 2023 - 04:56 PM

[worry]

The source is me. I'm saying they're fake.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 08 September 2023 - 05:56 PM, said:

The source is me. I'm saying they're fake.

Oh right I forgot that you're a corporate spy and the CIO of Netflix (and also Go*) in your spare time (but if you were truly omniscient omnipotent and omnibenevolent (like Skynet) wouldn't you change every channel and stream to One Piece?...).

[worry]

I’m the one who decided the Netflix “tudum” sound should be the volume of a sonic boom no matter what your tv is set at.

[Tsundoku]

I heard you also invented hold music.

Monster!

Speaking of monsters ...

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 09 September 2023 - 11:10 AM

[QuickTidal]

Yeah this looks great!

I like the revisit being basically an inversion of the tropes of the original show.

On FRASIER Martin was the down to earth blue collar everyman, and his son(s) grew up (regardless of his attempts at influence) to be pretentious snobby prigs...now we have Frasier as the older dad and his son grew up (regardless of his [and Lilith's] attempts at influence) up more like his grandpa...which must throw Frasier for the same loop it did his dad.

I would HOPE we could see a cameo of Niles and Daphne...but at least we have Lilith and Roz returning. Roz is SUCH a great foil for Frasier.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 14 September 2023 - 07:14 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 14 September 2023 - 07:07 PM, said:

Yeah this looks great!

I like the revisit being basically an inversion of the tropes of the original show.

On FRASIER Martin was the down to earth blue collar everyman, and his son(s) grew up (regardless of his attempts at influence) to be pretentious snobby prigs...now we have Frasier as the older dad and his son grew up (regardless of his [and Lilith's] attempts at influence) up more like his grandpa...which must throw Frasier for the same loop it did his dad.

I would HOPE we could see a cameo of Niles and Daphne...but at least we have Lilith and Roz returning. Roz is SUCH a great foil for Frasier.

i am.. skeptical yet cautiously optimistic.

[Tsundoku]

Spinoff from The Boys:

[Slow Ben]

“Shrinking” on AppleTV is really, really good.

Jason Segel is Jason Segel. Harrison Ford is great as the grumpy boss.

And the sheer amount of self deprecating humor. Love it.

Solid show.

[Tiste Simeon]

Slow Ben, on 19 September 2023 - 02:59 AM, said:

“Shrinking” on AppleTV is really, really good.

Jason Segel is Jason Segel. Harrison Ford is great as the grumpy boss.

And the sheer amount of self deprecating humor. Love it.

Solid show.

Another winner by Bill Lawrence and another reason I think I'll end up having to get AppleTV at some point...

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 19 September 2023 - 11:33 AM, said:

Slow Ben, on 19 September 2023 - 02:59 AM, said:

“Shrinking” on AppleTV is really, really good.

Jason Segel is Jason Segel. Harrison Ford is great as the grumpy boss.

And the sheer amount of self deprecating humor. Love it.

Solid show.

Another winner by Bill Lawrence and another reason I think I'll end up having to get AppleTV at some point...

And once you get AppleTV+ please also watch ACAPULCO....it's splendid and very much in the same wholesome/feelgood vibe as TED LASSO and SHRINKING.

[Slow Ben]

QuickTidal, on 19 September 2023 - 12:13 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 September 2023 - 11:33 AM, said:

Slow Ben, on 19 September 2023 - 02:59 AM, said:

“Shrinking” on AppleTV is really, really good.

Jason Segel is Jason Segel. Harrison Ford is great as the grumpy boss.

And the sheer amount of self deprecating humor. Love it.

Solid show.

Another winner by Bill Lawrence and another reason I think I'll end up having to get AppleTV at some point...

And once you get AppleTV+ please also watch ACAPULCO....it's splendid and very much in the same wholesome/feelgood vibe as TED LASSO and SHRINKING.

Gonna have to watch that now too.