Let's Talk Television

It looks like Star Trek: Discovery is in big trouble.

I have to say my excitement level has radically lowered down, with or without production problems. Even Michael Dorn's failed attempt at launching "Captain Worf" show sounded more workable

There is a chance I'll just watch the pilot (whenever/if it comes out) and decide whether I invest into it. Now, that may not be the greatest idea considering pilots or even first whole seasons of Star Trek have generally not been that great to put it mildly, but... you know

The Xena reboot seems dead in the water as well. I wouldn't mind it dying, and just leaving the campy original for us fans to enjoy.

I started watching The X Files. In hindsight, right before the big move might not have been the best time to start a new series since my watch-time is gonna be severely limited from here on out (moved to the country. Limited wifi. Lol.) Meaning I can't watch to my heart's content. That can be frustrating, especially if an episode ends on a cliffhanger. But I couldn't resist the urge. D=
Anyway, so I've been watching that, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, (which is being removed from Netflix. Arg.) and I want to start Supernatural, but I guess I won't because of my restricted Netflix privileges.
Farm life ya'll.

I would suggest watching Millennium afterwards, it's almost as awesome as the early X-Files seasons and Lance Henriksen does role of his life. The other two Carter spinoffs aren't that amazing though.

X-Files
Season 1 - 8/10
Season 2 - 10/10
Season 3 - 10/10
Season 4 - 10/10
Season 5 - 8/10
Fight the Future - 8/10
Season 6 - 7/10
Season 7 - 6/10
Season 8 - 8/10
Season 9 - 5/10
I Want to Believe - 5/10
Season 10 - 5/10

Millennium
Season 1 - 10/10
Season 2 - 10/10
Season 3 - 7/10

The Lone Gunmen
Season 1 - 5/10

Harsh Realm
Season 1 - 6/10

Arnold Schwarzenegger will quit The New Celebrity Apprentice.

The ratings have been lower since he took over. But he claims it was 'baggage'.

Robert Meyer Burnett says why there will not be Blurays of DS9 and Voyager
http://www.treknews.net/2017/02/02/why-ds9-voyager-not-on-blu-ray-hd/

The answer in short is just the one you're probably thinking of before even opening the link.

Anyway, I would be even more interested in proper Bluray of Babylon 5, as the current DVDs are very sub par in pic quality, but that's even more of a pipe dream given the nightmarish situation with the way effects are cropped. Which is a shame as B5 is only behind Farscape in my scifi series hierarchy.

Speaking of Farscape, it already has technically had blurays for several years, however they are not really HD, but rather just upscaled DVDs. And only season 4 was shot in 16:9.  I wish they came out and said that 16:9 miraculously existed for S1-3 after all, I mean it kind of happened with X-Files seasons 1-4 when the Blurays came out. Before that every single season 1-4 dvd set had been 4:3 and people had been insisting that's how it was shot, at least as far as I was aware

Ken Burns will make a documentary about Muhammad Ali on PBS.

Just finished Planet Earth II's final episode. And it was pretty great. I'll have to watch the old series now, I don't really remember anything about it. Maybe Blue Planet too.

Better Call Saul S3 premieres in few days, can't wait

Invader Zim is coming back!

The dream finally becomes reality.

Star Trek: Discovery still has no release date.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Star Trek: Discovery still has no release date.

Christ... I know that Star Trek tends to work best on television, but why is it so hard for them to get it right in this day and age?? A bad Star Trek show will probably be worse than a single (or even a few) bad Star Trek movies, because of the high caliber of the classic shows.

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Star Trek: Discovery still has no release date.

Christ... I know that Star Trek tends to work best on television, but why is it so hard for them to get it right in this day and age?? A bad Star Trek show will probably be worse than a single (or even a few) bad Star Trek movies, because of the high caliber of the classic shows.

I still don't get why they haven't outright canceled the whole thing by now. Maybe they're thinking "Hey, Jurassic World had a troubled development and look how well it did at the box office. If Universal can make it work, then so can we."

Survivor Contestant Who Outed Transgender Competitor Loses His Job

Dead2009 wrote:

Survivor Contestant Who Outed Transgender Competitor Loses His Job

I don't know how I feel about this. Like, on the one hand, the guy shouldn't have done it in the first place, assuming the whole reality show isn't scripted or whatever. Then again though, the network could've cut it, or consulted the contestants on it before airing as is and causing all these problems for the guy. Yes, it was bad to do, but being a pre-recorded show I feel like it's all being handled very poorly. I also kid of feel his job is in the wrong, though I understand why they felt they had to do it.

The 11th season for the X-Files has been confirmed by FOX, with 10 episode order for either late 2017 or 2018 airing.

Given that out of the six episodes of revival S10 only IMO two were actually any good (episodes 3 and 4), they better ramp up in quality. The mess that is the mythology is so completely off the mark at this point, and has been ever since circa seasons 5 and 6 - funny to think it was 20 years ago - that I don't have particularly high hopes of that aspect improving. So limitation of the mythology episodes to very minimum, like 2 or 3 episodes is my hope. But at least the MOTW and comedy episodes should have standards of quality. I would like horror MOTW in particular.

Also, give Mulder beard or something to better suit the pass of time. Scully can show her bra again if she wishes. More screen time for Skinner. The new agents, meh have them in background doing something. And as for Cigarette Man, he's been such a comical mess of a character since the 7th season that mere cameo would be sufficient.

Robert Patrick would be nice as he was the best part of seasons 8-9, but apparently he doesn't want to come back (I can sorta see why)

Just noticed that Reetae has finally, years later posted the last part of his amazing Lost Review, now totaling well over 9 hours. It's almost to the Plinkett level of brilliance, it really us, and you don't have to know or care of Lost at all to get immersed into the ludicrousness of that show. Highly recommend

Few years old, but really cool time lapse into writing process of Breaking Bad (ep S05E04) I hadn't seen before. I'd love to just stroll around there drinking coffee all week like they do and coming up with ideas

https://vimeo.com/100638526

Bates Motel came to and end this week. Only started watching a couple months ago, wish I'd caught onto it sooner. Such a fantastic show I'm glad got to run it's course.

Roseanne Revival Series In the Works

I am absolutely in love with the Man in the High Castle. I just finished both seasons and it's the only thing on my mind. HIGHLY RECOMMEND#

That's a show I been meaning to check ever since it came out, but never got around to it. I'll try to remember to check the pilot soon-ish

Not a big fan of summer, but it does mean several season premieres coming up. Most of all, I can't wait for third season of Another Period to start. It's probably the best thing ever in the category of "in-your face insane comedy". Which is not a thing that usually is something I care for, because people either try too hard or the jokes just fall flat, but here it works perfectly. The parodied reality show aspect isn't even the most interesting side of it, but the surprisingly historically accurate* - well within comedy parameters - satire of the ridiculous class structures at the start of the 20th century. They really studied the history books and not just slapped something together out of their asses, which I very much appreciate. Also the characters make Austin Powers look sane. Hopefully this season will be as amazing as the show's been for the last couple of summers.



*It's funny that all-out crazy show like this is so much more accurate and realistic than something like When Calls the Heart, which actually seriously attempts to create drama for a period decade later, 1910's. Yet it fails miserably in authenticity, their clothing and stylizing department in particular is like the worst ever. Season 1 was passable-ish I guess but then it turned into absurdity when everybody gave up on trying to bother with anything. Those characters in that show might just as well all be from 2017, wearing newest fashion brand clothing, makeup and hairstyles when going to freaking opera. I can't think of a more terrible historical inaccuracy in modern television*. I mean what the hell is this sh*t below, supposedly trying to present 1910's middle class people in rural backwater Canada in the middle of nowhere? It's a joke, that's what it is. Total joke.



*Well okay. The only more obscure example of laughable historical accuracy comes from Xena (/Hercules TLJ), where you know absolutely nothing in the setting or landscape or clothes or happenings or timeline or characters or whatever makes sense whatsoever. But that's because it's camp! It's a land of so-bad-it's-funny historical inaccuracies yes, and those inaccuracies are especially hilarious in episodes that try to act serious, but at the same time it's also a land of gods, monsters, centaurs and whatever! And even the parts that try to mimic the ancient Greek mythology are mostly fabricated on purpose. It's silly by design. That's one of the reasons why I love Xena so much... it's just whatever goes



Hercules is nowhere near as good, not by long shot, but one of my favorite lines ever comes from standout episode there where someone says " Listen, I know this ain't Shakespeare", as reference to the show itself lol.

Anyone else watching Better Call Saul season 3? This is getting into some really good television again, the last couple of episodes have been pretty amazing. I mean season 2 was pretty good, but I thought still bit of a slump after the first season, and now they are getting back on rails again. Both Jimmy and Mike story lines are becoming extremely interesting, minute by minute, and obviously with Gus now on the frame as well it starts to break into the Breaking Bad territory ever so more.

Which is something they could've screwed up easily, but they handle it pretty damn good actually. You know the recurring appearances and linkups, while still holding personal identity to this show. That's not to say every reference to Breaking Bad has been necessary, and I don't think it needs to be quite as connected as the writers seem to be pushing it. Some of it is admittedly tad clunky. But for the most part they seem to know how to execute this kind of thing. Most of all the conflict with the cartel side is really exciting and actually links up with the story. I'm really happy they brought back Don Eladio and associates for this latest episode for example, because it's not forced. It's appropriate. And away from that, Jimmy vs Chuck is escalating into all-out war.

Really hoping AMC doesn't cancel it, and we get season 4. I hear the ratings have gone down a bit, but hopefully that doesn't discourage the network.

HBO Eyeing Multiple Game of Thrones Spinoffs

That is disappointing. I don't want them disney/marvel'fying Westeros. I could live with one spinoff, but not multiple. The desire to cash on it seems high. Multiple efforts will also lead to concentrating less on making one product great.

Also, I tried to watch the pilot for that Man in the High Castle show, but I couldn't finish it. I mean the premise is interesting, but the exposition is clunky and acting wooden. Maybe it gets better, but usually when I'm not particularly convinced by pilot I don't continue on. Yes, even acknowledging that many great shows have had not so amazing starts in history, Star Trek shows being the prime example of course.

Mistral wrote:

Anyone else watching Better Call Saul season 3? This is getting into some really good television again, the last couple of episodes have been pretty amazing. I mean season 2 was pretty good, but I thought still bit of a slump after the first season, and now they are getting back on rails again. Both Jimmy and Mike story lines are becoming extremely interesting, minute by minute, and obviously with Gus now on the frame as well it starts to break into the Breaking Bad territory ever so more.

Which is something they could've screwed up easily, but they handle it pretty damn good actually. You know the recurring appearances and linkups, while still holding personal identity to this show. That's not to say every reference to Breaking Bad has been necessary, and I don't think it needs to be quite as connected as the writers seem to be pushing it. Some of it is admittedly tad clunky. But for the most part they seem to know how to execute this kind of thing. Most of all the conflict with the cartel side is really exciting and actually links up with the story. I'm really happy they brought back Don Eladio and associates for this latest episode for example, because it's not forced. It's appropriate. And away from that, Jimmy vs Chuck is escalating into all-out war.

Really hoping AMC doesn't cancel it, and we get season 4. I hear the ratings have gone down a bit, but hopefully that doesn't discourage the network.

I'm behind, I haven't seen the last 3 episodes yet, I've gotta get to it this weekend. That said, I wouldn't worry yet. While ratings dipping are never good, Breaking Bad was actually pretty mediocre in ratings for much of its run. The current Netflix culture really brought that show up because despite always being fantastic, it didn't really catch on until binge watching did. You can check the ratings and see that while the first few seasons had decent viewership, it shot extremely far up at season 5, especially for the final half.

TheDreamMaster wrote:

Mistral wrote:

Anyone else watching Better Call Saul season 3? This is getting into some really good television again, the last couple of episodes have been pretty amazing. I mean season 2 was pretty good, but I thought still bit of a slump after the first season, and now they are getting back on rails again. Both Jimmy and Mike story lines are becoming extremely interesting, minute by minute, and obviously with Gus now on the frame as well it starts to break into the Breaking Bad territory ever so more.

Which is something they could've screwed up easily, but they handle it pretty damn good actually. You know the recurring appearances and linkups, while still holding personal identity to this show. That's not to say every reference to Breaking Bad has been necessary, and I don't think it needs to be quite as connected as the writers seem to be pushing it. Some of it is admittedly tad clunky. But for the most part they seem to know how to execute this kind of thing. Most of all the conflict with the cartel side is really exciting and actually links up with the story. I'm really happy they brought back Don Eladio and associates for this latest episode for example, because it's not forced. It's appropriate. And away from that, Jimmy vs Chuck is escalating into all-out war.

Really hoping AMC doesn't cancel it, and we get season 4. I hear the ratings have gone down a bit, but hopefully that doesn't discourage the network.

I'm behind, I haven't seen the last 3 episodes yet, I've gotta get to it this weekend. That said, I wouldn't worry yet. While ratings dipping are never good, Breaking Bad was actually pretty mediocre in ratings for much of its run. The current Netflix culture really brought that show up because despite always being fantastic, it didn't really catch on until binge watching did. You can check the ratings and see that while the first few seasons had decent viewership, it shot extremely far up at season 5, especially for the final half.

Yeah, but it's difficult to imagine the ratings going up from this point either, because everybody knows the property and format already. And at the end the studios don't care of reasons, only the numbers. But hopefully they'll renew it.

You've only seen the season premiere of BCS 3? That's more like alright catching up episode, the three after that are really great.

Spoiler:

Mistral wrote:

That's a show I been meaning to check ever since it came out, but never got around to it. I'll try to remember to check the pilot soon-ish

Def would check it out if you have the time.

Btw I dig your profile pic a lot (Gravity Falls fanboy here lol). Is Wendy possessed by Bill Cipher or does she have lemon juice in her eyes?

Richard Levine wrote:

Mistral wrote:

That's a show I been meaning to check ever since it came out, but never got around to it. I'll try to remember to check the pilot soon-ish

Def would check it out if you have the time.

Btw I dig your profile pic a lot (Gravity Falls fanboy here lol). Is Wendy possessed by Bill Cipher or does she have lemon juice in her eyes?

Yeah I kind of checked the pilot, as I said couple of posts above, not sure if my thing

Good to have even more Gravity Falls fans here. And yes it's the 'usual' reasoning for her mood

It looks like American Idol is coming back. This time on ABC. Because the 2016 presidential election wasn't enough of a reality show.....


Sony Pictures and Universal are both aiming to get Funimation. One movie/tv branch that's imploding and burning against another one that I don't fully trust since they rarely plan thing out. That's just great... I trust WB or Fox far more then these two.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Sony Pictures and Universal are both aiming to get Funimation. One movie/tv branch that's imploding and burning against another one that I don't fully trust since they rarely plan thing out. That's just great... I trust WB or Fox far more then these two.

I still put way more stock in Universal rather than Sony any day.

However, I would be interested in a video/research piece showing the degrees to which Universal really aren't as competent as WB or Disney. I know you expressed interest in Midnight's Edge doing something on it, but I would be curious as to what your own take would be either as a video or forum post.