The Glass Teat, or 'Television'

I was a huge AD fan when it was on TV, even as Fox sabotaged it left and right (I mean, they burned four new episodes in one night against the Winter Olympics!), but the original version of season 4 left me unimpressed and my wife downright bored. Never could finish it, though we were only a couple episodes away. This recut promises to make it more salvageable, based on what I have heard about it. And gives me good feelings about season 5.

I think the original edit is still available on Netflix under ā€œTarilers & Moreā€ or something like that, but I havenā€™t checked for myself yet.

Westworld is good, but Legion is best. Latest episode is just not of this world.

Also tried The Rain recently, which is not holding my interest.

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Is Legion great? I just watched a mouse sing Slave to Love and I canā€™t help but think Iā€™m living Davidā€™s psychosis, which I suppose is the point. But I donā€™t like living in a delusional word. I like knowing whatā€™s real. The visuals are superb, the acting is quite good, and there is a thin thread of a plot stringing the episodes together but I canā€™t shake the feeling this is one long art house film cut up into episodes for tv consumption. Itā€™s certainly different and unique and Iā€™ll continue watching it for a bit. If someone asked me if Legion was a great series I would honestly say ā€œI donā€™t know but itā€™s unique.ā€

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But enough about Twin Peaks: the Return, folks.

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Iā€™m fairly sure it is. People rave about Westworld, and Iā€™ve seen some say Legion is deliberately obfuscatory, but Iā€™d switch those two descriptors. Westworld appears to be dragging out a fairly thin story over as much ground as it can. Legion is giving us a depiction of characters who are real people with realistic ambiguity stuck in situations that have no clear exit.

David is a homeless street crazy, a coffee boy fuck-up, a quietly insane officer worker, a sedated warehouse flunky, a crazed billionaire, and he hurts people with his powers every single time. Itā€™s not a depiction I can remember seeing elsewhere when it comes to superhero shows specifically, and depictions of characters who use hugely destructive non-super powers in ways that express their uncertain morality are also very rare. How many times have you seen Superman tear a human being apart? David casually or negligently exercises power, and this is something you almost never see without their being stern moralistic warnings attached in other works. The only version (that I remember) where he is happy is the 2.3 kids David, where heā€™s not using his power at all.

Now is David doing so, in those versions, because heā€™s afflicted with the Shadow King (arguably at least one of them), or because of mental illness, or simply because his power has corrupted him? Is he actually in control in those versions, or are the others around him in control of him (his sister, Farouk).

The show resists simple answers (ā€œLove wonā€™t save us.ā€), it doesnā€™t layer on exposition to explain everything to you, its style is impeccable, the nature of the characters and their relationships is unusual and never simple, there is no clear ā€˜goodā€™ and ā€˜badā€™ given the closest thing the show has to a supervillain is a mirror image of David, and he isnā€™t a hero. It shows real, painful loss, it depicts mental health issues in ways that are neither demonising nor patronising, and it doesnā€™t rely on superpowers to resolve every conflict. Itā€™s among the very best stuff on telly, and it uses simple colour coding and clear explanations to help you follow what at first appears to be a complex narrative. Instead of flipping between superhero/supervillain, David appears to be an actual human.

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SyFy just canceled The Expanse. I canā€™t imagine how his wouldnā€™t be picked up by someone else, but as of now itā€™s done after Season 3.

As Netflixā€™s new focus is on SciFi and Fantasy, Iā€™m sure theyā€™ll happily pick that up.

Thatā€™s absurd - itā€™s a great show!

Seriously!!!

I havenā€™t even watched any of Season 3 yet, though they are recorded.

Theyā€™d better either get picked up elsewhere or not end on some kind of cliffhanger (Iā€™m looking at you, Dark Matter)

Arghā€¦ I do principally like books more than other visual mediums but I liked the 1st seasonā€¦havenā€™t watched the rest yetā€¦man itā€™s always the Science Fiction Stuff that gets the short end of the stickā€¦

Unfortunately, quality sci fi shows are very expensive to produce and Netflix already has a couple originals like altered carbon and the lost in space remake. Iā€™m not sure what Amazon has in the pipeline. Isnā€™t apple looking to jump in on producing original content? This would be a good pickup for them. But this news is such a disappointment. Syfy is such a turd of a network but they canā€™t be the sole reason for this. The demographics are shifting to the cord cutters. I feel old with my cable television. If I didnā€™t watch sports I would drop my cable tv subscription in a heartbeat.

On the plus side, Altered Carbon isnā€™t very good and Lost in Space is shit, so perhaps theyā€™ll need a good series anyway?

Back. Mitchell & Webb in something that isnā€™t Peep Show or a sketch comedy is nice, and doubly so when itā€™s as acidly funny as this. Mitchell is the heir to a country pub, Webb is the smug foster brother angling his way in. Some excellent moments watching Mitchell climb deeper into a hole of envy, hatred, and despair. Webb is impossible to like, and thatā€™s perfect.

Watching Westworld, I canā€™t help but think how I wish Michael Crichton were still around.

The episode this week was great. I donā€™t really care that the time jumps are blatant and the story is deliberately obfuscous; I know what Iā€™m in for, I know how they tell their stories, and I quite enjoy the show. In my opinion, it is the best science-fiction since Battlestar Galactica.

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I donā€™t usually have a lot to say in this thread, but Iā€™m finally getting around to watching season 2 of True Detective, and after a lifetime of disliking Vince Vaughnā€™s fast-talking comedy persona, Iā€™m really enjoying him in this. Itā€™s not quite as slick as season 1, and so far (5 episodes in) there are few occultic overtones, which I think is one of the things which really garnered so much praise for the first season, but it really does not deserve the scorn that was heaped on it. Itā€™s good.

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Engrenages (Spiral). A rather good French police and legislature procedural. Some very odd use of crash zooms that are really quite gratuitous. Aside from that, quality all round.

Iā€™d love if everyone posted not only what theyā€™re watching, but where as well? So many great sounding shows on here, but sometimes searching for where they are / are not streaming can be a bit muchā€¦

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Iā€™m currently watching Wild Wild Country on the back patio.

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:rolling_eyes:

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