Best TV Shows

[GAME05]

I found The Chosen on Amazon and binged it. I hear it's been popular enough they're going to show the season finale in theaters along with streaming.

[AKCheesehead]

I watched the first two episodes of the new Night Court last night, I suppose out of nostalgia for the original.  I got some chuckles out of it, I hope it does ok.  Reminds me of a more innocent time I suppose. I was hoping Richard Moll would reprise his role as Bull Shannon but so far, no. 

[thebruce44]

On 1/17/2023 at 10:40 AM, homer said:

Really enjoyed the first episode of The Last of Us. I have zero familiarity with the source material. I'd be curious if people that have played the game like it or not. 

It's been a while since I played the first game, but it felt very true to the source material in tone and look. I think some minor parts of the story were tweaked, but I could be misremembering.

 

I really enjoyed what I saw so far.

[nate82]

First game was good second not so much as they ruined the character in the second.  They ruined the development of the character that is.  They basically turned Ellie into a Mary Sue in the second game.

So far it is following the game fairly close.  I do wonder how they are going to handle a certain part of the game with Ellie.  I am not sure they will want to touch that part and if they skip it then they are skipping a major character development part for Ellie.

[thebruce44]

4 hours ago, nate82 said:

First game was good second not so much as they ruined the character in the second.  They ruined the development of the character that is.  They basically turned Ellie into a Mary Sue in the second game.

So far it is following the game fairly close.  I do wonder how they are going to handle a certain part of the game with Ellie.  I am not sure they will want to touch that part and if they skip it then they are skipping a major character development part for Ellie.

Difficult to discuss without spoilers, but if you are speaking to the part I assume, its HBO. Why would they stay away from that?

[nate82]

1 minute ago, thebruce44 said:

Difficult to discuss without spoilers, but if you are speaking to the part I assume, its HBO. Why would they stay away from that?

Would be very controversial on TV I am not sure even HBO will touch that. 

[TURBO]

22 hours ago, AKCheesehead said:

I watched the first two episodes of the new Night Court last night, I suppose out of nostalgia for the original.  I got some chuckles out of it, I hope it does ok.  Reminds me of a more innocent time I suppose. I was hoping Richard Moll would reprise his role as Bull Shannon but so far, no. 

I also watched and was hoping for better results.  I'll keep watching for a couple more episodes, but if it doesn't get better, I doubt I'll keep tuning in.  It was just kind of blah...

[pitchleague]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:05 AM, TURBO said:

I also watched and was hoping for better results.  I'll keep watching for a couple more episodes, but if it doesn't get better, I doubt I'll keep tuning in.  It was just kind of blah...

And that's why I am choosing not to watch, at least for the time being.  Part of what made "Night Court" NIGHT COURT was that it was so silly and politically incorrect.  A lot of the stuff that they got away with in the 80s and 90s just won't fly anymore and, thus, (to me) the new show just won't be anywhere close to the same.

Did they at least do any kind of tribute to any of the original gang (besides Dan Fielding, obviously, and, I presume, Harry, since the new girl is his daughter (I think?)

 

[AKCheesehead]

1 hour ago, pitchleague said:

And that's why I am choosing not to watch, at least for the time being.  Part of what made "Night Court" NIGHT COURT was that it was so silly and politically incorrect.  A lot of the stuff that they got away with in the 80s and 90s just won't fly anymore and, thus, (to me) the new show just won't be anywhere close to the same.

Did they at least do any kind of tribute to any of the original gang (besides Dan Fielding, obviously, and, I presume, Harry, since the new girl is his daughter (I think?)

 

I agree with this.  To answer your question...not really.  And also disappointing is that Fielding seems to no longer even be a pervert!

I'm going to give it a few more chances if I happen to be idle and it's on.  In addition to Richard Moll, I'd love to see an appearance from Marsha Warfield "Roz" or heck even Buddy, if John Astin would be up for it.  He's in his 90s now...

[TURBO]

3 hours ago, pitchleague said:

And that's why I am choosing not to watch, at least for the time being.  Part of what made "Night Court" NIGHT COURT was that it was so silly and politically incorrect.  A lot of the stuff that they got away with in the 80s and 90s just won't fly anymore and, thus, (to me) the new show just won't be anywhere close to the same.

Did they at least do any kind of tribute to any of the original gang (besides Dan Fielding, obviously, and, I presume, Harry, since the new girl is his daughter (I think?)

 

Harry was brought up a lot, I mean, A LOT!

I don't remember any mention of other original characters other than Harry though.

You are so right about the original show, I think it will be so hard to make this work in todays climate.

[Vgmastr]

The original Night Court took awhile to get its footing though too.  The first few seasons were a bit rough and they went through a ton of cast changes before solidifying the cast, only Harry Anderson, John Larroquette and Richard Moll were on from start.  I agree it didn't knock my socks off, but I liked it enough to keep giving it a chance for the cast and the writing to find their footing.

Speaking of reboots, I really liked That '90s Show, it really felt like a continuation of the original.  Red and Kitty were great as always and the cameos from the original cast were all pretty good.  It took the new kids a few episodes to find their chemistry, but if you liked the original you'll probably like the reboot.

[SeaBass]

On 1/18/2023 at 4:44 PM, nate82 said:

First game was good second not so much as they ruined the character in the second.  They ruined the development of the character that is.  They basically turned Ellie into a Mary Sue in the second game.

So far it is following the game fairly close.  I do wonder how they are going to handle a certain part of the game with Ellie.  I am not sure they will want to touch that part and if they skip it then they are skipping a major character development part for Ellie.

I think mentioning Ellie in the second game is already a spoiler for those that don't know anything from the game at all. There is always the chance that due to the second game angering so many fans they could go a completely different direction and thus remove some plot armor but...

As far as the first two episodes go it's been really good. The first 30ish minutes of episode 1 were pretty much iconic when it comes to the harrowing experience of Joel, his daughter Sarah and Joel's brother Tommy just like how the game began the story and it was really beautifully done. The casting of Pedro Pascal as Joel is a home run, I don't think I could have pictured a more perfect match for that character.

Going forward I don't know that I'd expect to see things go shot for shot the way the game did but more that they'll hit major plot points and game events and fill in the rest of the show with realistic storyline while fleshing out some of the peripheral things that didn't get as much time in the game. There's kind of a lot of repetitive things that happen during game play that they won't need to keep hitting on for television so that will allow for more character and world building,

What I've enjoyed are each of the first two episode's opening scenes where they've looked back at the world before things went bad (or just as things are starting to go bad in episode 2) that weren't in the game at all. This show is doing everything right so far between blending game cannon and supplementing other things to enrich the world. Pretty exciting stuff so far.

[TURBO]

Might be a stupid question, but for those of us who are not gamers, will this show make sense if not having played the games? (the Last Of Us)

[homer]

39 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Might be a stupid question, but for those of us who are not gamers, will this show make sense if not having played the games? (the Last Of Us)

My wife and I are not gamers and we know what's going on. 

[Samurai Bucky]

Started watching Wednesday on Netflix.  I like it so far.

Is Catherine Zeta-Jones in everything now (see National Treasure:  Edge of History which I like, too).

[stoutdude04]

21 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Started watching Wednesday on Netflix.  I like it so far.

Is Catherine Zeta-Jones in everything now (see National Treasure:  Edge of History which I like, too).

Makes me think of Workaholics. heh

[jerichoholicninja]

Paul T Goldman on Peacock. I've seen the ads for it for a couple weeks and thought it might be something good to have on in the background every now and then. Yesterday I started the first episode while I was on the treadmill with the intent of just watching that one. I wound up finishing the series in bed last night only taking a break to eat dinner. I don't even know how to describe it. It was the most engrossing thing I've ever watched.

[AKCheesehead]

This could just as easily go in the random pointless thoughts thread but here goes. I watched just a few minutes of that new George Lopez show last night. In the episode his daughter’s boyfriend was joining his fantasy baseball league despite not knowing baseball. During the draft the kid blurted out something that sounded like churro. Lopez goes Oh Jackson Chourio from the Brewers? Nice pick I was hoping to get him myself. Couldn’t help getting a kick out of that one. Perhaps  one of their writers is on brewer fanatic? 🙂

[SeaBass]

On 2/1/2023 at 12:29 PM, jerichoholicninja said:

Paul T Goldman on Peacock. I've seen the ads for it for a couple weeks and thought it might be something good to have on in the background every now and then. Yesterday I started the first episode while I was on the treadmill with the intent of just watching that one. I wound up finishing the series in bed last night only taking a break to eat dinner. I don't even know how to describe it. It was the most engrossing thing I've ever watched.

I'm 3 episodes in, breaking there to watch the Bucks. I just laughed out loud at the last line of that episode. What a crazy show, not at all what I expected. You seriously can't prepare for the actual show you're getting from what the guy is explaining about what happened to him in the first episode.

If anyone is curious there's only 6 episodes, the first 5 are between 30 to 40 minutes and the last one is around an hour so you can get through it quickly.

[pitchleague]

2 hours ago, SeaBass said:

If anyone is curious there's only 6 episodes, the first 5 are between 30 to 40 minutes and the last one is around an hour so you can get through it quickly.

This was the same for "Man vs. Bee" on Netflix.  Something like 9 or 10 episodes but each one is only about 15-20 minutes long.  Hilarious, if you like Rowan Atkinson humor, that is.

[RedStickBrew]

I'm curious what you all think of "Last of Us," so far?  I am not a gamer so I'm not sure where it's going but I'm enjoying it.

[homer]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:17 PM, RedStickBrew said:

I'm curious what you all think of "Last of Us," so far?  I am not a gamer so I'm not sure where it's going but I'm enjoying it.

My wife and I really like it. I'm also not a gamer.

[SeaBass]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:17 PM, RedStickBrew said:

I'm curious what you all think of "Last of Us," so far?  I am not a gamer so I'm not sure where it's going but I'm enjoying it.

It's really good. That the source material is a video game doesn't really mean much, the producers of the show are taking the outline and major plot points from the game and filling in story and character development around that.

If you were playing the game the scenes that take 3 to 5 minutes of show screen time, like entering the university and walking through the abandoned corridors and rooms, in the game there would be search quests, problem solving, more enemy encounters, finding equipment upgrades and stuff like that that could take 20 minutes to an hour to explore.

While I'm familiar with the story the game told I can't be sure the show will adhere to everything in the game or if they might choose to do some things differently. So the suspense is there even though I have a good idea what is coming.

[pitchleague]

@SeaBass I appreciate what you said about the show.  I have been on the fence about starting the show because I have never played the game, since it was always a console-exclusive (I'm a PC gamer.)  Now that the game comes out on PC this month, I have incentive to play the game and then watch the show.  However, I am also a CHEAP PC gamer, meaning that I never, ever buy a game full price, always waiting for sales and almost exclusively waiting for those 75% off deals on steam or some other gaming site.  So, it'll probably still be months/years before I play the game! 😆

[brewerfan82]

Count me in as a non-gamer that's enjoying Last of Us! I definitely haven't felt like I've missed anything by never playing the game. I was a Walking Dead fan and made it through that whole thing. There's a lot of similarity between the two (especially the first season of TWD when they were still actually trying to figure out what was going on), but so far Last of Us has a much nicer pace than what TWD became (ie. not staying in one location for 20 straight episodes). Definitely check it out if that genre is your thing.