@greg - r.e. Torchwood, you're referring to the Miracle Day season I presume. Agree - was not my favorite, sort of ponderous. Much preferred regular Seasons 1 and 2, had more a sense of humor and quirk.
I guess Primeval US or whatever it's called hasn't set the world on fire since Syfy dropped it from its regular schedule - they're running a marathon Saturday including the 3 or 4 episodes not yet aired, after which I presume it's to be deep sixed. It was not really working for me, but I am a sucker for dinosaurs. I couldn't figure where this was headed and actually was hoping the dinosaurs might eat some of the characters.
Well, at my rate of TV consumption it will take me about fifteen years to work through the episodes, but it should be noted that I finally watched the first two Battlestar Galactica episodes (the 'miniseries' of two 90 minuters) and found them fascinating. (I guess this means I finally joined the twentieth century or something.) I would definitely like to continue. I am thinking that maybe I should selectively drop into Netflix membership when I have a cluster of work trips - it would make a good alternative when in hotels to watching reruns of Law and Order.
I get you on being tired of the family drama, Jonah; I'm pretty well sick of Walt, and the Walt Skyler interaction has gotten pretty boring. But it still has my attention and it still has its charms. I should say I don't like Walt, not I'm sick of him; it's a good character still and well acted. He's just well and truly a bad guy now. I think I started to feel that last season when I was routing for Walt but becoming more and more convinced that Fring was a better person.
Episode 3 of the new season comes up with an awesome new way of doing cooks, and a really great cook scene.
More Spoiler alert;
Mike decides to work with them. I love Mike. In episode 3 they have this exchange when they divide up the money, and Mike takes most of it to pay off his old guys to keep quiet;
Walt: so, $137,000, that's less than with Fring.
Mike: get this straight; just because you shot Jessie James, doesn't mean you are Jessie James.
At this point I'm routing for some combination of Mike, Jessie and Hank to win the day, which is where, I think, te creators want me to be, so I'm still in it.
Oh and Orange is the new Black spoiler:
Man, that got dark in the end, but still not in a way that makes me not want to watch.
I suppose technically this could be considered a spoiler post, but I don't actually say anything that has happened.
Well the beginning of the end for Breaking Bad did not disappoint. I wonder what the odds are on how Walt is going to die (obviously it'll happen). Cancer? Hank in a shoot out? Jessie getting revenge for making his life a living hell? Suicide by ricin? Skylar locking him in the car wash? Walt Jr. suffocating him with a pancake? Marie painting him purple so his skin suffocates like the girl at the start of Goldfinger? Badger talking him to death? Run over by a Pontiac Aztec?
Has anyone else checked out "Hell on Wheels?" I had ignored it for awhile because the show name made it sound like some kind of Sons Of Anarchy knockoff, but it's actually a Western following the expansion of the transcontinental railroad. Four episodes in and my wife and I our hooked with several plots unfolding. One of the main actors was on Star Trek TNG and Deep Space Nine. It has at least two seasons to stream on Netflix right now.
I took an interest in Hell on Wheels because of Colm Meaney. I have been watching the episodes for the last week. I rather like it. Meaney and Common are wonderful. the first episodes of season 2 are a little off course but it eventually gets back in the groove. I can't wait for the new episodes on Saturday.
We watched the first 2 episodes of Orange Is The New Black - funny, dark, we will be continuing. Advantage of being a Netflix original is being able to watch anytime, no sweats about overcrowded DVR or scheduling conflicts - nice.
Watched the first episode of Broadchurch on BBC America - heavy. Dark doings are afoot in this placid English coastal town it seems. Will be watching more.
Saw the first commercial on BBC-A - four night mini-series presentation in September of Luther - Alice will be there. I'm stoked.
Actually, we're going to be starting The Fall soon, too. I bookmarked it just because it looked interesting, but then began watching the first few minutes (sort of a preview), and noticed it's Gillian Anderson. We're finishing up the post-Mulder X-files right now, then The Fall is next.
I'm ready for more Luther. C'mon Netflix, go go go!
Watched the first two episodes of Hell on Wheels. The acting was just too awful for me. Hm, no, that sentence doesn't quite click for me... it's not that the acting is totally awful (though there were many moments that made me cringe)... there was something about it... it makes me feel like the scene in the Family Guy when Peter shouts out at the children's play how he's not being drawn into the story, that he's very aware that he's watching a play (couldn't find the clip of it). That's what I feel like watching Hell On Wheels. It just doesn't draw me in. And I hate the acting.
So, I finally did dig into the current Netflix season of Breaking Bad (what season is it?). Me and AMClark are at the same point. I think episode 3 was my last one, too... that, or four. I forget.
I find re-runs of Deadliest Catch to be very soothing. The scenes of snowy Dutch Harbor, the rolling ocean waves, seagulls riding air currents alongside fishing boats, grey skies, red skies... all very calming. I would like it if Netflix picked up some new episodes.
Still haven't bit on Amazon Prime. Still not sure it really gives me much of anything that Netflix isn't (aside from the FX shows, which I'm not sure is worth the extra cash per month).
Yikes, episode 2 of The Fall was even more disturbing (and not as good). Not sure what I think about this show.
Breaking Bad is in season 5, jonah. With 8 episodes airing last year (those are the ones just added to Netflix) and 8 that started last Sunday. I have no idea why they are calling all 16 episodes over more than a year a single season. I've seen some say it has to do with Shakespearean tragedy being in 5 parts, and BB is certainly Shakespearean.
I'm at the same point in Breaking Bad as jonah and amclark, too. Just watched episode 3 of season 5 last night. I think in general they've done a good job of moving the family drama to the background, but still showing enough of it to emphasize the changing dynamic between Walt and Skyler. The way he... SPOILER ALERT... just kind of moves back in and her fear-induced passivity preventing her from really even responding was great. Walter White is one of the most fascinating character ever put on TV.
I just watched episode 6 last night. The family dynamic gets way better as it moves on. Ok, better is the wrong word, but it gets way more interesting. Sort of spoiler; there's a dinner scene that can't be beat with Jessie, Walt and Skyler.
IIRC, when Sopranos did the same thing, breaking up one season in two different smaller sets of episodes, there was discussion that it had to do with how the actors' contracts were structured... episode vs. season. By calling it all one season, it saved the show money. Can't recall how much credence there was to that premise, and it may have nothing to do with Breaking Bad.
No spoilers I promise. Broadchurch - well worth watching all the way through, it gripped Britain when it was shown here. The Fall - quite dark with surprising outcome, but we enjoyed it. I've commented on Luther before - just watch it!!
That dinner scene might be the greatest scene in the show's history.
I don't understand all the hate online for Skyler. I think it stems from people still having sympathy for Walt and thinking she should just forgive and forget or some such utter crap. Once I got to the point that I'm anxiously awaiting Walt's well deserved comeuppance, I liked Skyler a lot more.
Walt Jr./Flynn is a whole nother story though. That kid needs to just shut up and eat his cereal.
Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston (supported I gather by Sony which owns it) wanted two final seasons of BB at the normal 13 episodes each but AMC would only go 8 and 8. There was some tsuris between seasons a couple of years back that Sony was shopping it around to move networks which at the time I thought was just negotiation tactics but since have read things that make me believe it was a more serious possibility. So, booo AMC and hopefully they are regretting it since last week was the highest rated episode yet.
Recently watched episode had Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul playing a Johnny Knoxville Jackass type of character. It was strange seeing him look so young. One of those things where I was sure it was him, and the guy had his voice, but it wasn't until I saw the name appear later in the credits that I could be sure.
He basically acts on the X-files with the same persona as Jesse Pinkman, but less meth-y and more high-school-y.
Last night's X-files episode had an actor from Band of Brothers (and, later, Justified) and an actress from Sons of Anarchy both playing members of a religious cult who believed God was really an alien, as they dug up a buried spaceship in Canada and tried to kidnap Scully's baby.
That GIF is so perfect, I can't wait to get to that scene!
Curious about Paul in X-files I looked it up. Turns out he was in some mysterious season 9 that was never aired, filmed or even written. Very curious, because clearly absolutely no episodes of the series exist beyond the 8th season...
Man, now I feel like we're building the scene up too much.
I was curious about that too thom, and can't find any evidence that such a season ever existed. I did see recently, though, that his first on screen kiss was playing Romeo in a high school production of Romeo & Juliet...on 90210!
After much reticence (and a couple hit and miss episodic experiences), I'm finally watching the post-Mulder episodes. There's a handful of good ones, usually in the vein of "classic x-file monster/horror stories," and several duds. I don't mind Robert Patrick much... he seems to grow into his role as the series progress, and he brings a New Jersey sensibility to his character which is quite refreshing after the years of deadpan Mulder. Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish?) is most pretty meh, sometimes a little bad as far as acting goes. The new conspiracies don't always click or build much drama.
That said, there have a been a couple solid episodes, too. In fact, the episode titled "This Isn't Happening" is one of the best X-files episodes I've ever seen from any season. It's a part one of a two-parter (part 2 is okay), and the way the story is written and acted are both phenomenal. The structure of it, especially, though Scully's parts are acted with some powerful emotions evident in the delivery. That episode alone made it worth finally satisfying my curiosity of the post-Mulder episodes.
X-FIles, overall, holds up well to rewatching, doesn't it? One of my favorite episodes is I think from Season 3 when a writer is trying to write a book about an alien encounter and the same incident is told from around three different perspectives, which hilarious discrepancies.
I've watched through it several times (Scully/Mulder episodes) and never been disappointed. Even the first season episodes, which typically are never a show's strong point, are enjoyable to watch. And, then of course, the penultimate Two Fathers/One Son two-episode conclusion of the alien conspiracy still blows me away both as story and as gold standard of how to wrap-up a long-standing plot line... especially one as tricky as the X-files story type.
The last couple of X-files have been sorta stupid. There's one about the murder victim perpetually getting reincarnated to exact revenge on the people who killed him (who also keep getting reincarnated), and then this other one with Monica Reyes in a coma, the killer doctor, and the metaphorical hospital in the attendant's mind (or whatever the hell it was)... both of those were pretty stupid. Even an episode like the one where the Jeckyl&Hyde serial klller (whom Doggett arrested as a beat cop) gets released from prison, it's a neat episode to watch, but the premise of how the "evil" works is pretty specious. It's like the writers are just out of supernatural ideas, and now they're relying on whatever they can come up with while hitting the bong and eating doritos. Even Doggett seems to be making fun of the premise... whereas Scully would express skepticism of Mulder's theories, Doggett is kind of making fun of Reyes' supernatural hypotheses... as well he should, because many of them are stupid.
That said, still enjoying the show and looking forward to closing it out.
Hah, just checked Wikipedia, and I was right! On the last episode I saw (the one about the Jeckyl/Hyde serial killer), that was Dan from the show Deadwood (Swearingen's right-hand-man).
Apparently the episode ("Underneath") almost didn't air. Fox executives (and others) thought the episode had so many holes that they weren't going to let it air, but finally relented. It was directed by John Shiban, which may or may not mean much to people here. Oh, hey, just read some stuff on Shiban. He's been involved with Hell on Wheels, Breaking Bad, Star Trek and other stuff. Whatevs.
Just realized that I'm only a few episodes away from the end of the X-files. Guess I'll have to start over from the beginning.
@choice - That's one of the best episodes. I'm not sure which part is funnier - Scully bleeping out all of the bad language or the guy recounting the alien encounter in Shakespearean English. I think season 5 was the one that did a number of great "monster of the week" episodes including one of my other favorites - Mulder going back in time on the German ship.
@jonah - I typically like Robert Patrick, but either he or the writers were just so one-dimensional with his character it was obnoxious. I remember saying to my friends one week that if he said "dollars to donuts" (his catchphrase to emphasize that he was a beat cop from Brooklyn or something) one more time I was done watching. He used it twice that episode. But you're totally right about that first season - those shows hold up way better than most first season shows.
Comments
I guess Primeval US or whatever it's called hasn't set the world on fire since Syfy dropped it from its regular schedule - they're running a marathon Saturday including the 3 or 4 episodes not yet aired, after which I presume it's to be deep sixed. It was not really working for me, but I am a sucker for dinosaurs. I couldn't figure where this was headed and actually was hoping the dinosaurs might eat some of the characters.
I get you on being tired of the family drama, Jonah; I'm pretty well sick of Walt, and the Walt Skyler interaction has gotten pretty boring. But it still has my attention and it still has its charms. I should say I don't like Walt, not I'm sick of him; it's a good character still and well acted. He's just well and truly a bad guy now. I think I started to feel that last season when I was routing for Walt but becoming more and more convinced that Fring was a better person.
Episode 3 of the new season comes up with an awesome new way of doing cooks, and a really great cook scene.
More Spoiler alert;
Mike decides to work with them. I love Mike. In episode 3 they have this exchange when they divide up the money, and Mike takes most of it to pay off his old guys to keep quiet;
Walt: so, $137,000, that's less than with Fring.
Mike: get this straight; just because you shot Jessie James, doesn't mean you are Jessie James.
At this point I'm routing for some combination of Mike, Jessie and Hank to win the day, which is where, I think, te creators want me to be, so I'm still in it.
Oh and Orange is the new Black spoiler:
Man, that got dark in the end, but still not in a way that makes me not want to watch.
Well the beginning of the end for Breaking Bad did not disappoint. I wonder what the odds are on how Walt is going to die (obviously it'll happen). Cancer? Hank in a shoot out? Jessie getting revenge for making his life a living hell? Suicide by ricin? Skylar locking him in the car wash? Walt Jr. suffocating him with a pancake? Marie painting him purple so his skin suffocates like the girl at the start of Goldfinger? Badger talking him to death? Run over by a Pontiac Aztec?
Tread lightly.
Craig
Watched the first episode of Broadchurch on BBC America - heavy. Dark doings are afoot in this placid English coastal town it seems. Will be watching more.
Saw the first commercial on BBC-A - four night mini-series presentation in September of Luther - Alice will be there. I'm stoked.
Craig
I'm ready for more Luther. C'mon Netflix, go go go!
Watched the first two episodes of Hell on Wheels. The acting was just too awful for me. Hm, no, that sentence doesn't quite click for me... it's not that the acting is totally awful (though there were many moments that made me cringe)... there was something about it... it makes me feel like the scene in the Family Guy when Peter shouts out at the children's play how he's not being drawn into the story, that he's very aware that he's watching a play (couldn't find the clip of it). That's what I feel like watching Hell On Wheels. It just doesn't draw me in. And I hate the acting.
So, I finally did dig into the current Netflix season of Breaking Bad (what season is it?). Me and AMClark are at the same point. I think episode 3 was my last one, too... that, or four. I forget.
I find re-runs of Deadliest Catch to be very soothing. The scenes of snowy Dutch Harbor, the rolling ocean waves, seagulls riding air currents alongside fishing boats, grey skies, red skies... all very calming. I would like it if Netflix picked up some new episodes.
Still haven't bit on Amazon Prime. Still not sure it really gives me much of anything that Netflix isn't (aside from the FX shows, which I'm not sure is worth the extra cash per month).
That's it. Cheers.
Breaking Bad is in season 5, jonah. With 8 episodes airing last year (those are the ones just added to Netflix) and 8 that started last Sunday. I have no idea why they are calling all 16 episodes over more than a year a single season. I've seen some say it has to do with Shakespearean tragedy being in 5 parts, and BB is certainly Shakespearean.
Craig
IIRC, when Sopranos did the same thing, breaking up one season in two different smaller sets of episodes, there was discussion that it had to do with how the actors' contracts were structured... episode vs. season. By calling it all one season, it saved the show money. Can't recall how much credence there was to that premise, and it may have nothing to do with Breaking Bad.
Cheers.
I don't understand all the hate online for Skyler. I think it stems from people still having sympathy for Walt and thinking she should just forgive and forget or some such utter crap. Once I got to the point that I'm anxiously awaiting Walt's well deserved comeuppance, I liked Skyler a lot more.
Walt Jr./Flynn is a whole nother story though. That kid needs to just shut up and eat his cereal.
Craig
I have this comic.
Craig
Recently watched episode had Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul playing a Johnny Knoxville Jackass type of character. It was strange seeing him look so young. One of those things where I was sure it was him, and the guy had his voice, but it wasn't until I saw the name appear later in the credits that I could be sure.
He basically acts on the X-files with the same persona as Jesse Pinkman, but less meth-y and more high-school-y.
Last night's X-files episode had an actor from Band of Brothers (and, later, Justified) and an actress from Sons of Anarchy both playing members of a religious cult who believed God was really an alien, as they dug up a buried spaceship in Canada and tried to kidnap Scully's baby.
[drops oranges]
Craig
Curious about Paul in X-files I looked it up. Turns out he was in some mysterious season 9 that was never aired, filmed or even written. Very curious, because clearly absolutely no episodes of the series exist beyond the 8th season...
I was curious about that too thom, and can't find any evidence that such a season ever existed. I did see recently, though, that his first on screen kiss was playing Romeo in a high school production of Romeo & Juliet...on 90210!
Craig
That said, there have a been a couple solid episodes, too. In fact, the episode titled "This Isn't Happening" is one of the best X-files episodes I've ever seen from any season. It's a part one of a two-parter (part 2 is okay), and the way the story is written and acted are both phenomenal. The structure of it, especially, though Scully's parts are acted with some powerful emotions evident in the delivery. That episode alone made it worth finally satisfying my curiosity of the post-Mulder episodes.
The last couple of X-files have been sorta stupid. There's one about the murder victim perpetually getting reincarnated to exact revenge on the people who killed him (who also keep getting reincarnated), and then this other one with Monica Reyes in a coma, the killer doctor, and the metaphorical hospital in the attendant's mind (or whatever the hell it was)... both of those were pretty stupid. Even an episode like the one where the Jeckyl&Hyde serial klller (whom Doggett arrested as a beat cop) gets released from prison, it's a neat episode to watch, but the premise of how the "evil" works is pretty specious. It's like the writers are just out of supernatural ideas, and now they're relying on whatever they can come up with while hitting the bong and eating doritos. Even Doggett seems to be making fun of the premise... whereas Scully would express skepticism of Mulder's theories, Doggett is kind of making fun of Reyes' supernatural hypotheses... as well he should, because many of them are stupid.
That said, still enjoying the show and looking forward to closing it out.
Hah, just checked Wikipedia, and I was right! On the last episode I saw (the one about the Jeckyl/Hyde serial killer), that was Dan from the show Deadwood (Swearingen's right-hand-man).
Apparently the episode ("Underneath") almost didn't air. Fox executives (and others) thought the episode had so many holes that they weren't going to let it air, but finally relented. It was directed by John Shiban, which may or may not mean much to people here. Oh, hey, just read some stuff on Shiban. He's been involved with Hell on Wheels, Breaking Bad, Star Trek and other stuff. Whatevs.
Just realized that I'm only a few episodes away from the end of the X-files. Guess I'll have to start over from the beginning.
Cheers.
@jonah - I typically like Robert Patrick, but either he or the writers were just so one-dimensional with his character it was obnoxious. I remember saying to my friends one week that if he said "dollars to donuts" (his catchphrase to emphasize that he was a beat cop from Brooklyn or something) one more time I was done watching. He used it twice that episode. But you're totally right about that first season - those shows hold up way better than most first season shows.