General Purpose US TV thread

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32614

So as to avoid dragging the existing thread about Fringe further off-topic, here is a new thread what I done made.

So, Heroes and Chuck are tanking in the ratings:

The Hollywood Reporter wrote:

NBC’s two younger-skewing action dramas fell sharply yet again. "Chuck" (5.8 million, 2.3/8) dropped 15% and "Heroes" (8.2 million, 4.0/9) dropped 11%. At 10 p.m., "Life" (5.6 million, 2.2/6) also fell, down 19%.

Not to gawk at the overturned semi-truck on the freeway, but that "Heroes" number is startling -- a series low by far (as is "Chuck") and marking the show's third week of decline. The action series matched "How I Met Your Mother" (!) for the first time.

"Heroes" was NBC's strongest scripted series the past couple years and is now fading with alarmingly quickness. It's a clear problem ... without a clear solution. Episodes this season have continued the show's dense and sometimes difficult-to-follow mythology (here's Maureen Ryan throwing up her hands and giving up on the show). That two-hour season premiere following a one-hour recap special felt like a headache-inducing mistake -- by the time you finished watching all three hours you've seen practically every character die and come back to life. Yet it still feels superior to last season. One can only hope the show has now established its third-week ratings bottom.

I've not seen Chuck yet, and only the first two Heroes (i.e. both parts of the two-hour opener). I think I agree that Heroes has been too dense. Perhaps you are supposed to have read all the comics and ARG websites, because just off the TV show even I'm finding it slightly heavy going.

Grim... · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 18:13

Wait - are you saying Heroes is hard to understand? I thought it had an excellent learning curve.
[edit]Unless you're not talking about Series 1.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3538

Any "The big bang theory" fans here?

Mark X · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 19:02

Both Dexter and American Dad are off to storming starts. Ep two of the latter is possibly the most finely crafted episode of a US sitcom since Seinfeld's "The Betrayal".

It's not all good. The excellent Izzard/Driver drama The Riches has been cancelled by FX. And because of the writer's strike, the show has been pulled right in the middle of what would have been season two.

BikNorton · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 9579

RuySan wrote:

Any "The big bang theory" fans here?

Yes.

Also, Chuck season 1 is good. I'm not sure there's much life in it, though.

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Dexter remains awesome. I'm not sure I'll ever get bored of a TV show where a total owner kills people.

The Heroes plot is wonking all over the place in an effort to remain interesting. I do worry about that. It's gone from being a show I look forward to seeing to a show I watch because I've already invested the time in S1 and 2. It's for this reason, for some fucking reason, I still watch Smallville. I'm desperate for that to end so I can stop watching the fucking thing.

I'm also looking forward to more US Office, which remains brillo.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3538

everything sucks to compared to Rome and Six Feet Under though

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32614

Grim... wrote:

Wait - are you saying Heroes is hard to understand? I thought it had an excellent learning curve. [edit]Unless you're not talking about Series 1.

No, I'm on about season 3.

Dudley · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 8679

RuySan wrote:

Any "The big bang theory" fans here?

Yes. It should be awful then amazingly failed to be anything like it.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5978

I'm quite hopefully about The Mentalist based on both the excellent name and the concept (ex-fake-TV-psychic-uses-his-derren-brown-powers-to-help-the-police).

It could swerve massively in tone though and end up anywhere between CSI, Monk and Dexter. But as I said, hopeful.

Mark X · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 20:26

ComicalGnomes wrote:

The Heroes plot is wonking all over the place in an effort to remain interesting. I do worry about that. It's gone from being a show I look forward to seeing to a show I watch because I've already invested the time in S1 and 2..

Yeah, I watched all of series one and half of series two of Heroes, all the time waiting for it to get as good as everyone said it was. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

Nik · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1982

Mark X wrote:

ComicalGnomes wrote:

The Heroes plot is wonking all over the place in an effort to remain interesting. I do worry about that. It's gone from being a show I look forward to seeing to a show I watch because I've already invested the time in S1 and 2..

Yeah, I watched all of series one and half of series two of Heroes, all the time waiting for it to get as good as everyone said it was. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

I know what you mean about the lack of sympathetic characters, but somehow I still enjoy it anyway. I think Ando is my favourite character, probably for the very reason that he has no powers and is just dragged along as a sidekick, making him easier to identify with. Christopher Eccleston was good, too.

Rodafowa · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 20:44

Mark X wrote:

Yeah, I watched all of series one and half of series two of Heroes, all the time waiting for it to get as good as everyone said it was. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

You didn't even like Hiro? But yeah, if you got to the end of S1 and weren't into it, you might as well give up. Season 2 was a bloody mess.

I think that tail end piece has Heroes spot on - just too much happens at the start of S3 (and that's from someone who only finished watching S2 last week, so it's fresher in my mind than it would be for most people), but it's definitely a step up from the I-Feel-Like-I'm-Taking-Crazy-Pills second season.

And hey - Marlo Stansfield's in it.

imtypingonakeyboard · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 21:39

I'm looking forward to the American version of Life On Mars after the spectacularly shit first pilot to see if they can turn it around.

And 30 Rock can't come back soon enough

imtypingonakeyboard · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 21:41

Mark X wrote:

And hey - Marlo Stansfield's in it.

Commissioner Daniels is in Fringe. They is getting everywhere after the Wire eh

KovacsC · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 22:57

RuySan wrote:

Any "The big bang theory" fans here?

yup.... was great..

and the cute blonde helped

DBSnappa · **Posted:** Wed Oct 08, 2008 23:10

I definitely think Heroes has jumped the shark. It's fucking ridiculous and feels desperate. It's going to get two more episodes to make amends then I'm ditching it if it carries on with the stupidly complex narrative.

Dexter season 3 is just awesome.

Chuck season 2 is good also - though the second episode wasn't as good as the second.

Terminator SCC is good as well. It's very well written but obviously doesn't have a huge budget.

I'm a couple of episodes behind on True Blood but was enjoying it, but don't know where they're going to take it.

Burn Notice is entertaining formulaic tosh - perfectly watchable but I'm not sure I'll make it through the entire series.

I must get back to 30 Rock. I've only seen the first 4 episodes of the first series.

Goddess Jasmine · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:32

Dexter 3 is being aired???? Yes!!

*punches the air*

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

Hi everyone, my friend told me about this great for- *smack*
Ow, what the hell was that for? >:(

This place is terrible.

kalmar · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:45

Welcome The Air!

Where are are these new people coming from? NEUUW PEEEOPLE

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

I'm afraid I am a gimmick account created only for the purpose of making a very poor joke.
Apologies if I got your hopes up. :kiss:

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3538

Kovacs Caprios wrote:

and the cute blonde helped

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 48901

The Air wrote:

I'm afraid I am a gimmick account created only for the purpose of making a very poor joke.
Apologies if I got your hopes up. :kiss:

That's quite sad really. Your only existance is for the purpose of cheap comedy. I mourn for you, Mr Air.

markg · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 16245

Series we're watching at the moment are currently ranked thusly:

Sons of Anarchy (getting better and better with each episode now the setup is out of the way, wild west on motorbikes basically) > Chuck 2 (always fun) > Heroes 3 (teetering on the brink) > > Fringe (now given up on) > > > > > > > Knight Rider 2008 (a hahahahahahaha)

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 48901

We are watching (in order of entertainment):

House S5
The Unit S3
How I Met Your Mother S3
Heroes S3
Fringe

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

Craster wrote:

The Air wrote:

I'm afraid I am a gimmick account created only for the purpose of making a very poor joke.
Apologies if I got your hopes up. :kiss:

That's quite sad really. Your only existance is for the purpose of cheap comedy. I mourn for you, Mr Air.

My real account mainly exists for cheap comedy as well, so I'm used to it.

markg · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 16245

Are you Titler?

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

markg wrote:

Are you Titler?

3 posts (before this one). Average of 2 lines per post. What do you think?

DBSnappa · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:31

Goddess Jasmine wrote:

Dexter 3 is being aired???? Yes!!

*punches the air*

In america at the moment. Not sure when it's scheduled for UK transmission.

Shin · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:37

RuySan wrote:

Any "The big bang theory" fans here?

Meeee

Shin · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:39

The Air wrote:

Craster wrote:

The Air wrote:

I'm afraid I am a gimmick account created only for the purpose of making a very poor joke.
Apologies if I got your hopes up. :kiss:

That's quite sad really. Your only existance is for the purpose of cheap comedy. I mourn for you, Mr Air.

My real account mainly exists for cheap comedy as well, so I'm used to it.

You are GazChap AICMFP

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

Shin wrote:

The Air wrote:

Craster wrote:

The Air wrote:

I'm afraid I am a gimmick account created only for the purpose of making a very poor joke.
Apologies if I got your hopes up. :kiss:

That's quite sad really. Your only existance is for the purpose of cheap comedy. I mourn for you, Mr Air.

My real account mainly exists for cheap comedy as well, so I'm used to it.

You are GazChap AICMFP

Funnier than that. :hat:

KovacsC · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:43

I want the rest of BSG to be aired..

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:44

imtypingonakeyboard wrote:

Mark X wrote:

And hey - Marlo Stansfield's in it.

Commissioner Daniels is in Fringe. They is getting everywhere after the Wire eh

And in 'Lost'.

Though calling him that is a spoiler! Bad person!

Shin · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:45

Hmmmm....maybe you are my fellow BEEX housemate, Dudley? ICMFP? C'mon, I do need it

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Craster wrote:

We are watching (in order of entertainment):

House S5
The Unit S3
How I Met Your Mother S3
Heroes S3
Fringe

Awesomely, Mrs Chris is now interested in The Unit, so we're watching from Series 1 again. I'd only got three eps into Series 2....

EDIt - Mr The Air, please biscuits use your biscuits extra 5 votes biscuits wisely. Biscuits.

The Air · **Joined:** 9th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 9

Shin, I'm sure Dudley would be insulted to know that you think he only exists for cheap comedy.

Mr Chris, As I'm not a real person, I think it would be wrong for me to vote for the mods. My real account may or may not vote for you though.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32614

DBSnappa wrote:

I definitely think Heroes has jumped the shark. It's fucking ridiculous and feels desperate. It's going to get two more episodes to make amends then I'm ditching it if it carries on with the stupidly complex narrative.

I don't think it's any worse than Lost got at some points during seasons 2 and 3, but Lost season 4 was terrific. As a show it jumped the shark then jumped back. So I'm certainly sticking with Heroes for now.

Quote:

I must get back to 30 Rock. I've only seen the first 4 episodes of the first series.

I've seen a handful of episodes from re-runs on, umm, some high numbered Sky channel or other. The new series is on my download list though. I think it's hilarious.

Shin · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:54

Did someone say biscuits?

Poor Dudley

sorry if you read this thread! >.<;

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 48901

Kovacs Caprios wrote:

I want the rest of BSG to be aired..

January for the second half of S4.

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 48901

Mr Chris wrote:

Awesomely, Mrs Chris is now interested in The Unit, so we're watching from Series 1 again. I'd only got three eps into Series 2....

Series 3 is really, really good. Only 12 eps though.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 13:07

Craster wrote:

Kovacs Caprios wrote:

I want the rest of BSG to be aired..

January for the second half of S4.

but but that is months off

CUS · **Posted:** Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:44

richardgaywood wrote:

Lost season 4 was terrific. As a show it jumped the shark then jumped back. So I'm certainly sticking with Heroes for now.

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Series 2 I liked, because I had worked out that the plane was brought down by an EMP, and that there was some correlation between the bunker and magnetism. Because I'm so clever? Nope, I just happened to randomly watch a couple of different older episodes at a friend's, and noticed that they kept mentioning magnetism. Series 3 was mostly bobbins. 4... wow. The episode where Ben's daughter is killed, and he moves the island was for me the most electric hour of TV I've seen all year I think. They should seriously rename the show to BEN

I really like a new series on HBO called True Blood. Imagine if Buffy the Vampire Slayer were really seemingly all an allegory for early black/white racial integration in America, and about the 'sides' involved in that, and the players. Er, and the main character is Rogue from the X-Men movies as quasi-Buffy. It sounds terrible doesn't it? I find it quite compelling. The black chick, the main character's best friend, is truly excellent, amuses me lots.

Fringe is alright in an Outer Limits-me-do kind of way, but I'm surprised it's already been picked up for a full season.

Are there any other good new series out there? I've not tried or heard of any.

House, The Shield, South Park, The Big Bang Theory*, Dexter, Entourage, American Dad, The Simpsons (so far actually amusing me... "Kindly Deeds And We Do 'Em For Free!" "Day is FUN!"), Robot Chicken, Family Guy. Watched the first new Heroes, can't bring myself watch the rest yet. Given up on Prison Break completely after watching the second through to conclusion in the hope that was the end of it. Sigh.

Runcle · **Posted:** Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:51

you've played the lost videogame haven't you CUS?

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

Isn't there a bit crack about how the company on the island, I've forgotten their name, were doing experiments/tests on peoples brains on the island or something. I cant remember this being in the show unless I've passively watched them bits. and I was hoping that was the juicy bit of info the game brought with its turgid dullness of unfunlessness mess

CUS · **Posted:** Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:58

Runcle wrote:

you've played the lost videogame haven't you CUS?

Played it and about 970/1000 in it no less! Hurley's camper van can fuck right off, I can't be bothered looking[/quote]

Quote:

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

the juicy bit of info the game brought with its turgid dullness of unfunlessness mess

Erm. I dunno mate, I didn't notice that in the game... and I'm sure it's not been mentioned in the series, that's way too... specific. Nah, I'm sure that's not been in the series...

tossrStu · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1326

CUS wrote:

Family Guy

Did somebody mention Family Guy?

Dudley · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 8679

That was an awesome episode, being a poster child for how to do a recurring gag right, especially with the "actual plot", modern Simpsons style in the middle but then managing to squeeze in a last repetition (albeit, clearly signposted) at the end.

Interestingly occurring the same night American Dad (still can't get into the new intro), tried for something really clever and pulled it off brilliantly.

The King of the hill "green" episode was quite scathing too, almost seemed like an attack on hollywood.

imtypingonakeyboard · **Posted:** Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:09

Any views on the first ep of Life On Mars?

The look of it is great, the fella from the Sopranos playing Ray is a good casting choice, not sure about Keitel being Hunt yet...

Mark X · **Posted:** Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:37

imtypingonakeyboard wrote:

Any views on the first ep of Life On Mars?

The look of it is great, the fella from the Sopranos playing Ray is a good casting choice, not sure about Keitel being Hunt yet...

Only had a quick glance at it so far. From what I've seen, it's a definite improvement on the first pilot, but I'm not so sure about Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. One part of the dynamic between John Simms and Philip Glenister was that the latter was more of an old fashioned brute not afraid to get his hands dirty. The ABC Network Sam Tyler could easily kick Gene Hunt's 'ass', which takes something away from it, I think. It doesn't help that Keitel is looking quite a bit frailer nowadays. Michael Madsen would have been a much better choice for Gene Hunt, if you ask me. The "god-damn, it really is 1973!" big reveal moment in the US version is handled much more effectively than in the original, though. (No spoilers, you're better off seeing it.)

It's hard to judge a remake when you're so used to the original, especially when Manchester accents are replaced by Noo Yoik ones. The show will hopefully take a tip of The Office, and do away with just remaking specific episodes, taking it in a slightly new direction.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:49

Saw the second episode of Fringe last night.

It was just about entertaining enough for me to watch it next week, and I susepct it will carry on in this manner.

I get that it's a new X Files, but it takes itself too seriously, and the advocation of the stuff they do as 'science' is slightly annoying, in a 'Creationism is science' kind of way.

Take the episode last night, for instance:

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

They caught the killer by attaching some sort of super-technology camera to a dead person's optical nerve, with the idea being that since she was pumped full of muscle relaxants, the nerves would still contain the last electrical pulses of the last thing she saw before she died.

Okay, it's daft, but fair enough. I'm with you so far.

Her last images were the guy hovering above her as he carved open her face and removed a part of her brain. Before that, it was her lying flat on her back in terror. Somewhere between ten minutes and an hour before she died, she looked out of the window where they were located.

Guess which was the only image that came up on the camera?

Yes! The one of her looking at the bridge! So they could (in ten seconds) use a triangulation tool to work out exactly which room she was in (that was also amusing... with technology like this how do any crimes ever go unsolved?).

I mean, if you're going to pass this off as science, at least make an effort to be consistent. God knows I'm not watching it for the top class acting...

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