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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 16, 2024 20:19:25 GMT -5
I was more into Dudley Doo-Right and Fractured Fairy Tales than the Bullwinkle installments (largely because of the continued plots that I didn't always see resolved). Whasamatta U, though, is brilliant.
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Post by berkley on Jul 16, 2024 21:49:49 GMT -5
Rocky and Bullwinkle is another of those shows that I did see as a small kid in the 60s - but not as an older kid in the 70s via re-runs, so my memories are very vague: little more than the fact that I liked it a lot at that young age. I look forward to watching them as an adult once I get into the 60s in my retro-media explorations.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 17, 2024 8:00:52 GMT -5
I was more into Dudley Doo-Right and Fractured Fairy Tales than the Bullwinkle installments (largely because of the continued plots that I didn't always see resolved). Whasamatta U, though, is brilliant. Funny, as I'm getting more into my Complete series box set, I'm becoming that way too (I don't mind Aesop & Son or Peabody & Sherman, but they're not my absolute favorite). And what's a pain is that there seemed to be less Dudley Do-Right segments as the series went on |
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Post by Calidore on Jul 17, 2024 8:59:32 GMT -5
Same here. So I ripped my Bullwinkle DVDs so I could put the R&B serials together in their own folder (and the other cartoon sets into their own folders as well). The R&B stories are great fun and very much worth watching. Though I will caveat that like many classics, it didn't quite hit the ground running; the very first story, the 40-part "Jet Fuel Formula", takes some work to get through. But the next one, the 12-part "Box Top Robbery", is terrific.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 17, 2024 12:06:39 GMT -5
Same here. So I ripped my Bullwinkle DVDs so I could put the R&B serials together in their own folder (and the other cartoon sets into their own folders as well). The R&B stories are great fun and very much worth watching. Though I will caveat that like many classics, it didn't quite hit the ground running; the very first story, the 40-part "Jet Fuel Formula", takes some work to get through. But the next one, the 12-part "Box Top Robbery", is terrific. Oh, Box Top Robbery is great and has the most wonderfully stupid premise. Metal Munching Mice (which I just started) is kind of like that too with the tv antennas of everyone in Frostbite being bitten off by an unseen force, causing people to panic because they can't see their favorite program, Rock & His Friends |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 17, 2024 13:52:32 GMT -5
Reminds me of of a story that Joe Straczynski told, of Mira Furlan's first sci-fi convention appearance. Someone in the audience asked her to say "Moose and squirrel." She did not understand, but was a good sport.
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Post by Doghouse Reilly on Jul 29, 2024 8:12:51 GMT -5
Are we following the "ten years old" rule for classic TV, like for comics?
I started on The Shield a month ago. I'm up to the middle of season 2. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end. The cons are starting to outweigh the pros. The exploits of our protagonist and his small team are becoming fantastical. They need a half million dollars? That's super-easy, barely an inconvenience - just run down to Mexico and rip off a powerful drug lord. A major, untouchable mob boss gets in their way - take him down in an episode or two after he gets on Vic's radar. Acevedo is a joke. In every episode, his purpose is to reluctantly let Vic get his way. Yeah, I know this was setup plot-wise, but he doesn't have to cave all the time. The leverage in this setup goes two ways.
Every episode has at least one interrogation, but nobody ever asks for a lawyer. And I hope this show is not accurate about how quickly detectives jump to conclusions.
Worst of all, the fake documentary-style camera work is becoming more pronounced. Even if everything else were fixed, this is probably going to make me drop the show.
The good - the characters and their interactions. If I do drop the show, I would be missing Julien's and Danny's arcs the most.
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Post by berkley on Jul 29, 2024 19:38:12 GMT -5
Are we following the "ten years old" rule for classic TV, like for comics? I started on The Shield a month ago. I'm up to the middle of season 2. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end. The cons are starting to outweigh the pros. The exploits of our protagonist and his small team are becoming fantastical. They need a half million dollars? That's super-easy, barely an inconvenience - just run down to Mexico and rip off a powerful drug lord. A major, untouchable mob boss gets in their way - take him down in an episode or two after he gets on Vic's radar. Acevedo is a joke. In every episode, his purpose is to reluctantly let Vic get his way. Yeah, I know this was setup plot-wise, but he doesn't have to cave all the time. The leverage in this setup goes two ways. Every episode has at least one interrogation, but nobody ever asks for a lawyer. And I hope this show is not accurate about how quickly detectives jump to conclusions. Worst of all, the fake documentary-style camera work is becoming more pronounced. Even if everything else were fixed, this is probably going to make me drop the show. The good - the characters and their interactions. If I do drop the show, I would be missing Julien's and Danny's arcs the most. That's a show I missed at the time and have thought of going back to try but have never done so. Sounds like it'll be moving a little farther down on my list of things to consider trying for now. |
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Post by Doghouse Reilly on Jul 29, 2024 19:51:31 GMT -5
Are we following the "ten years old" rule for classic TV, like for comics? I started on The Shield a month ago. I'm up to the middle of season 2. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end. The cons are starting to outweigh the pros. The exploits of our protagonist and his small team are becoming fantastical. They need a half million dollars? That's super-easy, barely an inconvenience - just run down to Mexico and rip off a powerful drug lord. A major, untouchable mob boss gets in their way - take him down in an episode or two after he gets on Vic's radar. Acevedo is a joke. In every episode, his purpose is to reluctantly let Vic get his way. Yeah, I know this was setup plot-wise, but he doesn't have to cave all the time. The leverage in this setup goes two ways. Every episode has at least one interrogation, but nobody ever asks for a lawyer. And I hope this show is not accurate about how quickly detectives jump to conclusions. Worst of all, the fake documentary-style camera work is becoming more pronounced. Even if everything else were fixed, this is probably going to make me drop the show. The good - the characters and their interactions. If I do drop the show, I would be missing Julien's and Danny's arcs the most. That's a show I missed at the time and have thought of going back to try but have never done so. Sounds like it'll be moving a little farther down on my list of things to consider trying for now. Hardly anybody ever shares my likes and dislikes. I was just venting about what bugs me, and what seems like wasted potential. The Shield is no more disappointing than any other well-received show I've seen, and still better than most. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 29, 2024 21:15:07 GMT -5
Are we following the "ten years old" rule for classic TV, like for comics? I started on The Shield a month ago. I'm up to the middle of season 2. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end. The cons are starting to outweigh the pros. The exploits of our protagonist and his small team are becoming fantastical. They need a half million dollars? That's super-easy, barely an inconvenience - just run down to Mexico and rip off a powerful drug lord. A major, untouchable mob boss gets in their way - take him down in an episode or two after he gets on Vic's radar. Acevedo is a joke. In every episode, his purpose is to reluctantly let Vic get his way. Yeah, I know this was setup plot-wise, but he doesn't have to cave all the time. The leverage in this setup goes two ways. Every episode has at least one interrogation, but nobody ever asks for a lawyer. And I hope this show is not accurate about how quickly detectives jump to conclusions. Worst of all, the fake documentary-style camera work is becoming more pronounced. Even if everything else were fixed, this is probably going to make me drop the show. The good - the characters and their interactions. If I do drop the show, I would be missing Julien's and Danny's arcs the most. Character interactions are tight! |
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Post by berkley on Jul 29, 2024 22:02:23 GMT -5
That's a show I missed at the time and have thought of going back to try but have never done so. Sounds like it'll be moving a little farther down on my list of things to consider trying for now. Hardly anybody ever shares my likes and dislikes. I was just venting about what bugs me, and what seems like wasted potential. The Shield is no more disappointing than any other well-received show I've seen, and still better than most.
To be honest, it's never been very high on my list so even if it stays roughly where it's always been I likely won't be watching it any time soon. It'll be a while before I get up to the 2000s and early 2010s again anyway, as I'm still back in the 80s and 90s in my retro-viewing.
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Post by berkley on Jul 30, 2024 2:59:59 GMT -5
Just finished a show I had heard about for years but never saw at the time, Boys from the Blackstuff. Last month I watched the original tv movie, The Black Stuff, and this month the five episodes of the series that followed a few years later. This is a very highly acclaimed series so my expectations were raised going in, which can often work against the enjoyment of a show (or anything else, for that matter) but in this case it wasn't a problem: both the original tv-movie and the series are so well-made in almost every way that they more than met my expectations.
Maybe it helped that I had only a vague idea of what it was about going in - I knew the main characters were was a group of labourers and had heard somewhere that the show dealt with social problems like unemployment, but that was about it. The specific manner in which all this was presented and developed came as a surprise to me. For one thing, it was much darker and emotionally heavy than I had been expecting - not that I thought it was a comedy but the general tone was more sombre and pessimistic than I'd been anticipating. Not that it's completely humourless, there are many funny little situational and especially character moments but they're exceptions to the general tone, which is very serious.
Not only the initial tv movie but each of the individual episodes of the series left a strong impact that took some time to recover from - I don't think binge-watching this would be a good idea if that meant seeing more than one episode a night. I found myself leaving several days between episodes, except for the last two, which I watched on consecutive nights.
One thing I liked in the series was that individual characters from the ensemble cast of the tv-movie were given an individual episode that was mainly about them. Speaking of the characters, I remember now what provoked me to finally to watch this show - the talk in the RIP thread when Bernard Hill died and his character from this show was mentioned, Yosser Hughes (BTW, was Yosser one of the inspirations for Alan Moore's brain-damaged character in Skizz?). That character is certainly a stand-out but all the others are so well written and acted, it was good to see each one be the protagonist of an episode.
Anyway, this was so impressive, I'll have to look up what other shows the writer, Alan Bleasdale, wrote or worked on in any capacity afterwards, as well as the actors, director, etc..
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 5, 2024 14:19:09 GMT -5
It took me about a year to watch, but I finished The West Wing recently. Overall, I liked it. I think. I will say that the seventh season - election year - was a total yawnfest. (I won’t be bringing any real-world politics into the thread).
The episodes in Season 7 were interminable, they all blurred into each other. Episode after episode of main and ancillary characters going on about “polling numbers in this state” or “focus groups in that state”. There were a lot of episodes of people simply talking as they looked at a map of red states and blue states. Honestly, this network TV limitation of shows having to have x amount of episodes is something I don’t always miss; I’m sure if it had been a Netflix show, Season 7 could have been told in about 8 episodes.
I like the early seasons of the president and his staff dealing with everything from international incidents to Oval Office politics.
However, this is one of the most nihilistic shows I’ve ever seen. No-one in the show is remotely likeable. No-one appears to know the words “please” and “thank you”. Everyone from the Chief of Staff to the Communications Director speak to each other and their staff like dirt. No-one has any sympathy for anyone, personally or professionally. No-one appears to show any empathy ever. “Get the Ambassador on the phone now!” Or, “Tell so-and-so he’s not going home tonight - and I want those polling numbers now.” Rude. I really hope real life isn’t like this. A HR professional could pick this apart better than I can. (Really, I know it’s a high-pressure environment, but does please or thank you every cost anything?)
And no-one seems to have a life - or take vacations. At one point, a character by the name of Josh Lyman, who works as both a Deputy Chief of Staff and a Campaign Manager for a presidential candidate, turns down a woman’s advances - a woman he has worked with for years - because, hey, polling and campaigns matters more than, I don’t know, a potential lifelong romance. Why commit to a relationship, or have a holiday with a beautiful woman, when there’s polling numbers to pick apart at 4am?
I really, really hope people in the real-life equivalent do have lives, do treat others well, and do consider romances when the opportunity presents itself. I know White House jobs aren’t about punching time clocks. But people like Josh Lyman are just asses, total workaholics, who consider politics a way of life. I wonder, how many people’s graves in real life might have the words “I WISH I’D SPENT MORE TIME DEBATING POLLING NUMBERS” on them.
I feel exhausted. We’re not always meant to identify with characters, but we are supposed to care for them, root for them, etc. Or have some feeling. I apologise if you like this show, but I find it dystopian, and as I said, the characters, while serving their functions, aren’t relatable in any way, shape or form.
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Post by DubipR on Aug 5, 2024 16:32:19 GMT -5
God bless streamers like FreeVee, Pluto and Tubi for free old movies and TV shows. Tubi is chock full of fun series. During the pandemic I went through a ton of 70s and early 80s TV series and old HB cartoons. I watched Scooby-Doo's Laff-A-Lympics. I loved it as a kid because it was sports and cartoons but giving it a rewatch, it was a bit tough. Great concept of using all the Hanna Barbara's creations in making a huge Olympics type of show but the writing was hard. Fun seeing who was on the Scoobie Doobies, Yogi Yahooies and the Really Rottens; I think I'll stick with the comic books.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 5, 2024 16:53:35 GMT -5
It took me about a year to watch, but I finished The West Wing recently. Overall, I liked it. I think. I will say that the seventh season - election year - was a total yawnfest. (I won’t be bringing any real-world politics into the thread). The episodes in Season 7 were interminable, they all blurred into each other. Episode after episode of main and ancillary characters going on about “polling numbers in this state” or “focus groups in that state”. There were a lot of episodes of people simply talking as they looked at a map of red states and blue states. Honestly, this network TV limitation of shows having to have x amount of episodes is something I don’t always miss; I’m sure if it had been a Netflix show, Season 7 could have been told in about 8 episodes. I like the early seasons of the president and his staff dealing with everything from international incidents to Oval Office politics. However, this is one of the most nihilistic shows I’ve ever seen. No-one in the show is remotely likeable. No-one appears to know the words “please” and “thank you”. Everyone from the Chief of Staff to the Communications Director speak to each other and their staff like dirt. No-one has any sympathy for anyone, personally or professionally. No-one appears to show any empathy ever. “Get the Ambassador on the phone now!” Or, “Tell so-and-so he’s not going home tonight - and I want those polling numbers now.” Rude. I really hope real life isn’t like this. A HR professional could pick this apart better than I can. (Really, I know it’s a high-pressure environment, but does please or thank you every cost anything?) And no-one seems to have a life - or take vacations. At one point, a character by the name of Josh Lyman, who works as both a Deputy Chief of Staff and a Campaign Manager for a presidential candidate, turns down a woman’s advances - a woman he has worked with for years - because, hey, polling and campaigns matters more than, I don’t know, a potential lifelong romance. Why commit to a relationship, or have a holiday with a beautiful woman, when there’s polling numbers to pick apart at 4am? I really, really hope people in the real-life equivalent do have lives, do treat others well, and do consider romances when the opportunity presents itself. I know White House jobs aren’t about punching time clocks. But people like Josh Lyman are just asses, total workaholics, who consider politics a way of life. I wonder, how many people’s graves in real life might have the words “I WISH I’D SPENT MORE TIME DEBATING POLLING NUMBERS” on them. I feel exhausted. We’re not always meant to identify with characters, but we are supposed to care for them, root for them, etc. Or have some feeling. I apologise if you like this show, but I find it dystopian, and as I said, the characters, while serving their functions, aren’t relatable in any way, shape or form. Politics, at least in the modern world, doesn't seem to draw what I would term as "nice" people. I think a lot of the problems we face are because we see more people looking for power and influence than to serve the community. In that, I think the show pretty accurately reflects that. At the same time, they are still human beings, with positive and negative traits and there are good people and there are despicable people. Drama is about conflict, so they fixate on that. I think it is a very rare show that can mix serious drama, comedy, romance, mystery...etc. Hollywood is very much about pigeonholing things, target demographics, genre conventions, etc. For what it's worth, the best show about politics I ever saw was Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister. It had a mix of real issues, contrived but realistic situations, political expediency and administrative stability, the desire to do good, but the fear of being controversial and losing votes. And, it was funny and brilliant, at the same time. Terrific cast, wonderful writing. |
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