On the Boob Tube

11th hour stubble

agreed, the scene where he is talking to his innie via the video camera seems like it could be a verbatim transcription from the writers room as they quickly try to pull the details out of their arses.

Randall

11th hour stubble that was so painful to watch

Eric O

11th hour stubble

Completely. I was heckling.

And agree on the diminishing enjoyment by the episode. Watching Christopher Walken and John Turturro together is great- too bad it was in such a straightjacket.

Lincoln

Righteous Gemstones?
I thought the first episode of the new season was perfect. Noticed it was directed by Danny McBride himself.

Randall

Lincoln awesome. Didn’t know that was out yet

As far as Severance in the first season it was a compelling story in a world that bore a lot of questions. In the second season I felt like creating questions became more important than story telling and often I found myself asking why did the writers do this rather than why does this exist in this world

Eric O

dr_chile

Am with you, enjoying it. The "I am the ladyboy" monologue is an all-timer.

Bony Maroney

Eric O The Sam Rockwell/Walton Goggins team is great. Looking forward to the 3/23 episode

Sukebe_GG

Let the Severance backlash begin! I was a little disappointed by a few things in the finale but still really enjoyed all the episodes this season and since it's basically the only current tv show I watch, I have to die on the Severance rock...

sixbigboys

Severance just feels like a 2020’s Lost. You can get swept up in whatever’s happening episode to episode, but it seems pretty clear that the goal of the show is more to keep the plot moving forward and you invested than it is to tell a specific story. I remember being so stoked about the show’s premise when I first heard about it. I was excited about the potential of exploring stuff like personhood, identity, self-knowledge, and the moral implications of such a severed life, while also touching on how capitalism can get so out of control that it compels laborers to voluntarily opt-in to this extreme form of alienation. And it’s not like the show doesn’t touch on that stuff. But, man, I was so bummed when they introduced the work and it was so abstract and mysterious, and then all the real philosophical questions took a back seat to mystery box shit like, “OMG, what’s the deal with the goat room!?” That kind of shit worked better with Lost because the show couldn’t set any expectations with its concept because it was basically mystery boxes all the way down. To me Severance ends up being more annoying because it’s failing to deliver on the promise of its concept. I don’t know—I guess I’m going to keep watching, but I kinda wish a slightly different version of me could do that dirty work.

JessVex

sixbigboys You’re right. Ugh, I’m afraid to say but I think Severence is going down the Westworld route. It’s become too bloated, meandering, and lost sight of its original appeal. Pretty much every damned plot-line has fizzled out and flatlined.

gtrarcade

Jah-Nah-Nah Sandbaggers is my favorite non-John Le Carre spy thing ever. (The main dude Roy Marsden also did a bunch of adaptations of the Dalgliesh novels prior to the newest go-round that are exquisite.)
Sandbaggers deserves particular praise for ramping up the stakes and suspense despite a budget of maybe $-5 per show.

Bony Maroney

JessVex I binged this series this past week solely on your recommendation. Loved it! Thanks and this is why I love the TP forum ❤️

JessVex

Bony Maroney Hell yeh! It’s a nice departure from this reality at least! Ha! 🍻

Randall

Just watched the last episode of White Lotus. For the first four episodes or so I thought it was the best season, but man those last two were real dogs. What a complete waste of time.

Señor Scratchy

Randall

Yeah, pretty predictable ending in keeping with the overarching theme of this show- the richest shitheads always come out on top.

Why did Rick return to the resort at all, and what was up with that dialogue where the lady spells out the precise instructions for suicide? Are we that stupid?

JessVex

Randall Yeh, you’re right! It was incredibly predictable to say the least. Also, the three friends story could’ve been easily told in a single episode yet they drew that shit out over too many. What a big dud.

Randall

Señor Scratchy Why did Rick return to the resort at all, and what was up with that dialogue where the lady spells out the precise instructions for suicide? Are we that stupid?

Yeah there were so many of these moments. It's like they had an ending in mind and didn't care how they got there or if they made any sense

dr_chile

Righteous Gemstones goes off. I kind of vibe with Judy Gemstone?? Love that goofy ass energy.

Wade T Oberlin

FRIEND ME

A couple life cycles ago I went on a trip to Vegas and since gambling didn’t appeal to me or my s/o of the moment, there was some free/affordable events around the strip to check out; mermaid tanks, magic shows, stuff like that. One such offer was being part of a test screening, watching a TV show pilot. So we opt for that, and it’s this show called Friend Me.

It had McLovin in it, and some other kid I don’t know-he’s on Succession. The whole premise is that they’ve moved to Los Angeles from Indiana and the taller of the two wants to make friends in person, so they go to a coffee shop and look at stuff on the bulletin board, the tall one posts a notice on the bulletin board, and then the Midwestern pals argue about whether they should stay out (where everyone is still on their phones/laptops) or pack it in, where the e-devices are also ubiquitous. It’s clear that at the very least, they agree on wanting some LA girl-swirl.

In this pilot, they go to a party with a little person who responds to the desperate notice, and somehow these Bloomington boys plus the munchkin end up befriending and driving strippers to another party that happens to be hosted by Fred Durst (playing himself) wherein sexy prospects dry up, goodwill sours, and a fight occurs between the repressed and “Mr. Bizkit.” A soupçon of “Break Stuff” blares.

Feeling somewhat powerful and probably elitist, I jotted down that the show was not very good. Negative marks.

Years go by. I wonder what became of Friend Me. Turns out that one of the creators of the program had killed himself, and CBS never aired what episodes were completed. The show never aired, at least not beyond the pilot to my knowledge. The full thing is on archive: https://lostmediawiki.com/Friend_Me_(partially_found_unaired_CBS_comedy_series;_2012-2013)

Looking back now, I also notice that Tim Robinson was in this. I’m sure that overall Friend Me could have been a middlin’ to fair sitcom. The best part of this pilot had to be the physical humor with the midget, which is just a return to classicism.

Sukebe_GG

Believe it or not, I watched Black Mirror for the first time last night. "Common People" - the first episode of the new season. I have been re-watching Parks and Recreation and always had a crush on Rashida Jones, and also some tweet making it sound "relevant to our current malaise", which I guess it was but damn, very predictable once the trope is set and just horribly depressing overall. I thought to myself, "This must be how all the Black Mirror episodes are..." Then I thought I could write a really good essay on the total permeation of Protestant Death Cult-ure in fin-de-empire Ahhhh-merika but then I remembered I'm not in grad school anymore and just jammed some Subhumans...

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