TV Series Thread

[Mr.Obvious]

Gf´s soap opera is on Summer break, so we have more time to watch better shows.

Finished ´all of us are dead´, which was fun. A good, korean zombie series. Plot armor galore, but consistent zombies, which I like.

We are now watching squid game, which is also pretty good so far. Had my eye on it for a while.

Going to watch ´rough diamonds´ hereafter, shot at least in part in my homecity of antwerp.

[Hydra009]

We are now watching squid game, which is also pretty good so far. Had my eye on it for a while.

That was a very shocking show.  Utterly callous cruelty.

I was going to buy a poster of it for my bedroom but the circle-symbol workers were mistakenly portrayed with guns, even though the triangle ones are the armed guards.  Literally unbuyable.

I was surprised by people who didn't piece together the message.  It's not particularly subtle.

[Hydra009]

Futurama is back!



Imho, it previously had a near-perfect ending of Fry and Leela finally getting together and they better not mess that up.  They're a couple now and forever, dammit.

[Blackleaf]

The final season of The Witcher has been out for a little while now. No, it's not officially the "final" season, but let's be honest. It basically is. Between Henry Cavill jumping ship, the writers' strike delaying production, the godawful spinoff show, and fans shitting on the main show, there likely won't be another season. But anyway... I watched the first two seasons and I actually found it enjoyable. It started off strong, and aside from Yennefer's confusingly inconsistent motivation, I never really thought the show was bad. I even thought the non-chronological order of the storytelling was an interesting twist, even if I think it could have been told in a way that was less confusing. I went into the show knowing little about the series, so I was unaware of the creative liberties the writers were taking.

However, the more I've learned about things happening behind the scenes, the more my interest in the series has waned. First, of course, Henry Cavill announced he would be leaving after season 3 due to creative differences. Henry Cavill is apparently a massive fan of The Witcher, having read the books and played the video games. When he heard there was a Netflix series being planned, he pestered his agents to get him an interview. He greatly wanted to be a part of it, due to his passion for The Witcher. The guy was the perfect man for the role, and he made it clear that as long as the show remained loyal to the source material, he'd happily stick around for seven seasons. And they did remain loyal to the source material, apparently. For about five minutes.

It takes a lot of hubris to take someone else's property, and instead of adapting it faithfully, choosing to change it as if you know better. This always seems to happen. An author writes a series of books (sometimes video games or something else) that captures imaginations and has a lot of success. Hollywood takes that intellectual property and adapts it. But instead of remaining faithful to the source material--the thing that made the series popular to begin with--they use it as a vehicle to tell their own story. Basically, they use the title of the show to trick people into paying attention to their own original story, because no one will pay attention to their work otherwise.

The writers had a massive fan working for them in their starring role. But instead of listening to him and heeding his advice, they ignored him. They called him a "living encyclopedia" of The Witcher lore, but they considered that a hindrance instead of a resource. So it's no wonder fans of the books and games were not happy with the show. Personally, while I have a bit of morbid curiosity regarding the show's final season, seeing it now would probably just be sad. Especially knowing the show will end on a cliffhanger that will likely never be resolved. Although, after experiencing the conclusion of Game of Thrones, perhaps the lack of an ending isn't such a bad thing.

[Hydra009]

Henry Cavill is apparently a massive fan of The Witcher, having read the books and played the video games. When he heard there was a Netflix series being planned, he pestered his agents to get him an interview. He greatly wanted to be a part of it, due to his passion for The Witcher. The guy was the perfect man for the role, and he made it clear that as long as the show remained loyal to the source material, he'd happily stick around for seven seasons. And they did remain loyal to the source material, apparently. For about five minutes.

That sort of enthusiasm is a godsend for directors.  Not only will the actor give a fantastic performance, they'll offer valuable input to keep the production on track.  Apparently, this enthusiasm was complained about, rather than valued.

It takes a lot of hubris to take someone else's property, and instead of adapting it faithfully, choosing to change it as if you know better.

I go back and forth on this.

On one side, a lot of people want a straight one-for-one adaptation, which isn't always possible or even desirable in some cases.  Raise your hand if you want an adaptation of Stephen King's IT where the girl has sex with all the guys.  Nope, not when they're adults.  Yeah, didn't think so.  Or the Little Mermaid where she dissolves into sea foam.  And holy smokes, don't even get me started on Jurassic Park.

But let's say you have a perfectly adaptable book, when you do a straight adaptation, you're likely to get a pretty decent film.  The problem is that it's also perfectly predictable from start to finish.  Unless you're adapting Shakespeare, that's usually not a good thing.  Generally speaking, a little deviation is perfectly fine, as long as you stay true to the spirit of the original.  Speaking of Game of Thrones, the TV series was always somewhat different from the books, but they still largely held true to GRRM's themes - until they didn't.  And while changing some stuff wasn't always a bad thing, they really dropped the ball bigtime when it came to the Greyjoys - Euron (changed from a scary-as-hell madman to a complete clown with unclear motivations) and Victarion (book-only character).  I could type about all the great book-only characters who deserved screentime and show characters who got completely screwed up in the adaptation towards the end, but if I did, I would be awake all night.

Which brings me to the other camp, people who don't expect or want a one-to-one adaptation.  Well, guess what?  Now you have D&D (or someone just as bad) taking the show completely off-the-rails or some serious executive meddling, with predictable results.  The victims are almost too many to count.  Here's a particularly wild close-call: in Fight Club, casting Reese Witherspoon as Marla instead of Helena Bonham Carter.  Or how about the ending of I Am Legend?  Or the whole existence of the nuking-the-fridge Indiana Jones Crystal Skull movie?  Coulda stopped at three, just sayin'.

Both stances have their pitfalls, though the scale is obviously tilted in changing too much doing far more harm than not changing enough.  But imho, changing just a little is where the real sweet spot is.

[Blackleaf]

A few changes from the source material are fine. Especially if its something we've seen before already, we don't need another copy/paste of the same thing. I actually hate seeing new versions of A Christmas Carol for that reason. "Well, then they'd better do it and decrease the surplus population!" Come on. You couldn't even just change up the wording a little bit?

But with the MCU, I think most comic fans have come to realize they have a multiverse out there, so it's okay to change things up to keep things fresh. It doesn't take away from the original, but it creates another unique universe. Especially after No Way Home and Into the Spider-Verse, I think most of them get that. Some will still complain, but most have enjoyed the ride.

The problem is when the writers have no love for the original and don't understand what make it appealing to begin with. Instead of wanting to please the fans, they want to appeal to some new group instead, and then are surprised when it doesn't work out. Hell, they've even accused the fans of being sexist, as if anybody cares what genitals the people who wrote and produced the show had between their legs.

I mean, jeez. After the end of the first season, it seems like they were trying to make Geralt a side character in his own show. After season 2, it basically turned into the Yennifer and Ciri show, with Geralt being reduced to a glorified babysitter. They didn't even want to give him lines. Henry Cavill had to convince them to let Geralt talk.

[Hydra009]

The problem is when the writers have no love for the original and don't understand what make it appealing to begin with.

Heh, remember when comic books were banned on the set of X-Men?

No idea how First Class didn't meet the same fate as most of the other films.  I suppose it's easier to get lightning in a bottle when you get a lot of chances.

[Mr.Obvious]

Never read the manga nor watched the anime.
But as a new watcher, netflix's one piece is pretty awesome.

[Hydra009]

Film theory just made a video about my second favorite show! (though it's perilously close to unseating Helluva Boss for the #1 spot)

And yes, I agree with his assessment about the big reveal.  I saw that one coming as far back as episode 2.  What I don't yet understand is the big plan of the big bad and the hidden information.  And hopefully, we get some hopeful information for a change.  Because what we've seen so far is as bleak as it gets.  Jeez, is it bleak.

[Unbeliever]

I don't even own a television.

[Blackleaf]

I don't even own a television.

You're in luck. Murder Drones is a YouTube animated series, like Helluva Boss.

[Unbeliever]

I wouldn't watch TV if they paid me. There are too many things to watch on YouTube. 🤓

[the_antithesis]

If you watch Youtube, who'll watch all that porn?

[Unbeliever]

I don't know, I've never watched porn, so I don't know who does. I think it's all those Latter Day Saints in Utah...😇

[Mike Cl]

I don't know, I've never watched porn, so I don't know who does. I think it's all those Latter Day Saints in Utah...😇

According to the stats, the states with the highest concentration of repubs are the biggest consumers of porn.