@Craig, did you notice the writing credit for Sunday's GOT was G.R.R.Martin himself - personally I just watch now because it's still cool to look at and enjoyable compared to most TV drivel. They have gone so far off the story line of the books in rather a few ways this season it's almost apples and oranges - you can like both but they are different. Of course this was time he should have been spending working on finishing the book series! I have almost surrendered hope he actually intends to accomplish that. (Semi-Spoiler Alert : At least we now know how the TV series is going to deal with the issue of Tyrion's nose - that had been worrying me, it being not easy to simulate actual absence via prosthesis or it would have required quite a lot of CGI. It seems we shall only have a scar.)
I did see that. Apparently it's only the second episode of the series he's written (Season 1, "The Pointy End" being the other). I haven't read the second book yet, but I've heard a lot of the differences. Including the relationship between Arya and Tywin, which I thought was fantastic. I'm confused why they would change the name of Theon's sister, though, and the love interest for Robb is boring and cliche. I'm also bored with Dany's quest to rescue her dragon babies, so that addition has not worked for me.
The dragons get better, trust me. I wish we would see more of them, and the direwolves too now that they've appeared in big CGI form, dammit. There are very layered historical nuances to these things in the books that the show just can't cover - lots of questions and referenced words and scenes to past persons and actions - some of which have not yet or are only starting to be answered after 5 volumes. Serious re-readers ( 3 or 4 reads at least) can still find new aspects to consider - one of the things I really admire about the books, but I hope he doesn't just slop together a resolution with the prospect of TV rights monies floating before him. I've often wondered if that isn't what happened to Thomas Harris with the Hannibal Lecter books - the first 2/3 of Hannibal was quite good and then it just got crazy, all rushed and frankly not plausible - the success of the Silence Of The Lambs movie may have created pressure to finish Hannibal that did not work to artistic merit.
There are new episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix. I love that show. But spoiler alert alert: if you are a season behind like me, don't read anything about the show. If you see a blurb about it in say Rolling Stone or Time, skip the whole page. Seriously.
I finally got to see Boardwalk Empire. I saw the very first episode, then half the second before we had to go. Definitely gonna try to pick up more of this somehow.
Boardwalk Empire is worth watching through the slow patches (it never bothered me, but some people have problems with it for that reason.) The end of the last season was pretty amazing.
Holy crap. My wife and I grabbed the DVD for Season 1 of Homeland. We watch a lot of intense shows (Breaking Bad, The Wire, etc.), but I don't think I've ever seen a more intense hour of television in my life, and all we watched was the pilot!
I watched the rest of Boardwalk Empire Season One over the labor day weekend. It was pretty good, though most characters just seemed thickly sketched, not too much depth. I've been told that changes in Season Two, that many characters really blossom. I'm looking forward to seeing Season 2, though I'm not sure when that'll happen... maybe not for awhile.
Homeland is a show I would like to see sometime, too.
We've been watching Copper the last several weeks on BBC America - quite good - Irish cop in the Five Points area of New York City, 1864. Gritty, dirty - and that's not just the inhabitants. Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana among the executive producers (from Homicide which was one of my favorite shows ever).
Haven't gotten to them yet but first three seasons of Fringe are now free on Amazon Prime Instant Video - good news for me because a number of episodes were lost in a DVR crash (latter part of season 2). Highly recommended otherwise - so weird, but in a good way.
Have been laughing all weekend at Marcus Bachmann spoof character in Parks and Rec: "You look like Annie Oakley and Pippi Longstocking had a baby and I love it."
{To Ann, in a cowboy shirt and pigtails. You probly had to be there...}
I looove Parks & Rec. That was a great line. Also the kid talking non-stop to Ron all day & well into the night about the websites he visits daily ; )
Community does a lot of spoofs on other shows. Their send-up of Law & Order was hilarious.
Too many shows, too little time. My cable company is doing promos for Showtime but I am already missing shows I'd like to check out on the channels we have!
OMG, this made me laugh, from this week's episode of The Office:
Angela: I feel so stupid. I sit next to him every day. Dwight: You're not stupid! Jazz is stupid. Angela: Jazz IS stupid. I mean, just play the right note!
We just watched season one of Mad Men. First three episodes were kinda dull, and the characters just so unlikable. Then it got better. Then it got real good. Characters are more likable, but still mostly assholes. We're looking forward to starting up on season two later this week.
I also just watched the first two episodes of Breaking Bad. I'm interested to see where it goes. The show is okay, I guess, but I really like the dialog a lot. Bonus points to me for recognizing the wife as the same actress who played Bullock's wife in Deadwood.
Is Mad Men over yet? I'm afraid to look anything up online for fear of reading a spoiler. Currently, the first four seasons of Mad Men is available on Netflix. I don't know how many it went/is going.
I believe I saw a comment on twitter that said Breaking Bad was currently starting up its last season. Is this correct? And how many seasons, then, will Breaking Bad have gone? I forgot to look to see how many seasons are on netflix.
Breaking Bad has 4 seasons on netflix; be really, really careful of spoilers. If you see anything about Breaking Bad in a magazine or online or anything don't read it. I read a tiny blurb in Rolling Stone about one season and got really spoiled.
I've gone through a lot of different shows bit by bit on Netflix, but when a new season of Breaking Bad comes outs it's basically one every single night until I'm done. Walking Dead is a little bit like that too, except without fail when I'm watching Walking Dead I always think "why the eff am I watching this?" Then I watch another one.
Currently watching Freaks and Geeks with my wife. It's really good; I didn't pay enough attention to it when it was on.
Matt Weiner, Mad Men creator, has previously said he will end it after 7 seasons so 2 to go. If it doesn't end with Sally hitchhiking across country and joining the Manson family I shall be sorely disappoint. I personally wouldn't be too fussed about spoilers with Mad Men, its not a show that thrives on plot twists that will be less dramatic if you know them in advance - Breaking Bad yes, avoid spoilers like a zombie-borne plague. ;-) The first season of BB is cut short because of the writers' strike at the time so it really gets going season 2 imho.
I believe I expressed my strong like of Walking Dead earlier on this thread (or a different one). I think the criticisms about some of the acting and writing are valid, though I find its flaws part of its charm. We canceled our cable, so I'm not able to watch Season 3. I was able to view S3's first episode on the AMC website, and while it offered some interesting stuff, I don't miss it at all. I could've watched a bunch of it on my in-laws On-Demand function over Thanksgiving weekend, but just didn't really care that much to invest any time in a WD mini-marathon.
There were some very strong moments in both seasons one and two, but I'm starting to think that WD would've made for a very good eight-part mini-series.
I've seen Season One of Boardwalk Empire and liked it a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing more.
I still really like Walking Dead. I'm afraid it's going to start getting a little too "weird" but I'm sticking with it. Probably would have been best as a bunch of mini-series. Follow a different group every 8-10 episodes. Kind of like the original plan with Heroes.
@jonah - You can catch up with Breaking Bad pretty quickly as all the seasons are 13 episodes. And it's well worth it. Definitely beware of spoilers - the stupid commercials for the new season came on while I was still on season 2!
Thanks for the warning. Now that we no longer have TV, I'm safe from any spoilers that way. And the good thing about those stupid Yahoo "news" leads that I have to go through to get to my email account never actually give anything away about anything without first clicking through to the next page. So, I'll see things like "Fans shocked at new Sons of Anarchy episode," without ever knowing what the hell they're shocked about (or if they are, because that yahoo "news" page is so so sad).
I have had to un-follow a few people on twitter because they kept tweeting out comments as they watched episodes of Walking Dead and Mad Men.
Comments
"Cruel, cruel, cruel."
I want to see a crossover show: Mad Thrones about the struggles between rival ad agencies in Westeros trying to lock up the Lannister account.
Craig
Craig
Craig
Craig
This show is well worth the hype.
Craig
Homeland is a show I would like to see sometime, too.
We've been watching Copper the last several weeks on BBC America - quite good - Irish cop in the Five Points area of New York City, 1864. Gritty, dirty - and that's not just the inhabitants. Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana among the executive producers (from Homicide which was one of my favorite shows ever).
Haven't gotten to them yet but first three seasons of Fringe are now free on Amazon Prime Instant Video - good news for me because a number of episodes were lost in a DVR crash (latter part of season 2). Highly recommended otherwise - so weird, but in a good way.
{To Ann, in a cowboy shirt and pigtails. You probly had to be there...}
Community does a lot of spoofs on other shows. Their send-up of Law & Order was hilarious.
Too many shows, too little time. My cable company is doing promos for Showtime but I am already missing shows I'd like to check out on the channels we have!
Craig
Angela: I feel so stupid. I sit next to him every day.
Dwight: You're not stupid! Jazz is stupid.
Angela: Jazz IS stupid. I mean, just play the right note!
I also just watched the first two episodes of Breaking Bad. I'm interested to see where it goes. The show is okay, I guess, but I really like the dialog a lot. Bonus points to me for recognizing the wife as the same actress who played Bullock's wife in Deadwood.
Craig
I believe I saw a comment on twitter that said Breaking Bad was currently starting up its last season. Is this correct? And how many seasons, then, will Breaking Bad have gone? I forgot to look to see how many seasons are on netflix.
Breaking Bad is in the middle of Season 5 with the season being broken into two halves, and the second half will be the end.
Craig
Gracias.
I've gone through a lot of different shows bit by bit on Netflix, but when a new season of Breaking Bad comes outs it's basically one every single night until I'm done. Walking Dead is a little bit like that too, except without fail when I'm watching Walking Dead I always think "why the eff am I watching this?" Then I watch another one.
Currently watching Freaks and Geeks with my wife. It's really good; I didn't pay enough attention to it when it was on.
Just watched the season finale of Boardwalk Empire. Now there's an under rated show.
Craig
There were some very strong moments in both seasons one and two, but I'm starting to think that WD would've made for a very good eight-part mini-series.
I've seen Season One of Boardwalk Empire and liked it a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing more.
@jonah - You can catch up with Breaking Bad pretty quickly as all the seasons are 13 episodes. And it's well worth it. Definitely beware of spoilers - the stupid commercials for the new season came on while I was still on season 2!
Thanks for the warning. Now that we no longer have TV, I'm safe from any spoilers that way. And the good thing about those stupid Yahoo "news" leads that I have to go through to get to my email account never actually give anything away about anything without first clicking through to the next page. So, I'll see things like "Fans shocked at new Sons of Anarchy episode," without ever knowing what the hell they're shocked about (or if they are, because that yahoo "news" page is so so sad).
I have had to un-follow a few people on twitter because they kept tweeting out comments as they watched episodes of Walking Dead and Mad Men.