let's talk about tv shows itt

It is lol how they cant give up the jazz thing tho

i'm finally catching up on homeland and getting into it

An interesting analysis of "How I Met Your Mother":

What matters is that the show is structured around a philosophy that is fundamentally this: However your life goes, that's the story of how you ended up where you are, and therefore, every turn your story took, whether sad or happy at the time, is part of how you achieved whatever joy you have.

Much more here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/06/143195693/how-i-met-your-mother-the-optimism-of-inevitability?sc=tw

booze science, i just started watching american horror story too! was drawn in by my love for connie britton

american horror story is just... it may actually be the worst show achievable

seriously

it's so bad yes but i cant stop watching it

and lol Grimm too. i got juked last week cuz the moved it to thursdays. i was way sad about that

american horror story is just... it may actually be the worst show achievable

lol no way

you can't say anything remotely like this unless you've vetted the competition (VIP, Models Inc, MANIMAL, Automan, Passions, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, Horseland, Bakugan Battle Brawlers)

couldn't watch grimm.

american horror story...way more watchable than glee i'd say. it's definitely no homeland.

I mean, even THE CAPE is a better contender for "worst show achievable" than AHS (which admittedly I've only seen two episodes of)

Grimm is hilarious to me because it's basically "what if Law & Order didn't have the 'Law' part and also had evil fairytale creatures in it"

MTV's Good Vibes is by far the worst show 2011 imo

oh is that the surfing cartoon? I haven't seen that yet because the commercials make it seem even less appealing than Ugly Americans

it's like a big johnson t-shirt come to life but less subtle

i tried to watch that becasue the kid had this poster in his room

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qDNkXt1CL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

i thought it might have been i sign from above that this show would be awesome. i watched about 5 min and remembered there is no god

lol

you can't say anything remotely like this unless you've vetted the competition (VIP, Models Inc, MANIMAL, Automan, Passions, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, Horseland, Bakugan Battle Brawlers)

i guess this is true, but i think the difference btw ahs and these shows is that ahs is actually p good (well except the writing) in its component parts, its just assembled seemingly on purpose to be the most terrible it possibly could be?

like passions is/was gloriously wtf but the acting is nowhere near as good as it is on ahs and its much more quickly/cheaply produced, like a two minute stretch of ahs (esp w/o dialogue) can seem like a top teir cable drama but its just so stupid as a whole

attn: max i am totally obsessed with homeland now

― horseshoe, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 2:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

i knew it i kNEW IT i know you too well

lewis is so perfect b/c hes got like the most difficult-to-read face possible. his upper lip looks like upper lips do after dudes who youve only ever seen with mustaches shave their mustaches and you like focus on their upper lip and youre like "its so big"

episode 10 (the damian lewis "backstory") is unfortunately p silly but episode 11 is better (i tink i have those ep #s right...)

i feel like homeland only exists w/in the confines of this thread like it is some conceptually project yall are working on

well it's on showtime so that may as well be true

i guess this is true, but i think the difference btw ahs and these shows is that ahs is actually p good (well except the writing) in its component parts, its just assembled seemingly on purpose to be the most terrible it possibly could be?

haha okay this I can get behind

i only got through 2 eps of AHS but the pilot was one of the most wearyingly misconceived things i've ever seen -- like every horror trope you can imagine with all rhythms and moments of building tension taken out so it's just one wacky WTF after another except not as fun as that sounds

the editing on ahs is so fucked most of the time

the ahs pilot was the worst thing they have done so far, i was pretty much sure that i wasnt bothering to go back, but then i had no internet for a couple of days and it was on demand and now it is too late for me.

i am into homeland atm but i wish it was a little better sketched out at the margins; every peripheral character is such a caricature, like the ASSHOLE FBI AGENTS, or the DIFFICULT DESK BUREAUCRAT AGENTS, or the comedy Saudi diplomat who smirks and says, a ha ha ha ha!, but I have diplomatic immunity!.

like I feel like there being some texture or dimension to those people would make it a better show & deliver some of the 'complexity' it's striving for wrt the convoluted world of intelligence agencies & international relations & stereotypes, &c. stuff like the wire is very genre w/o losing credibility, but homeland can feel a little light in this, too automatic, too many stock characters. i'm really into boss, & think that everyone in it's super well realised - the people like the caregiver at the previous mayor's house, or the people who populate the world of the daughter, &c, they all seem real & are interesting enough to kinda command some attention.

also yes lol at continued generic jazz driving soundtrack efforts

i'm actually in the middle of the brody backstory episode and yes, it is kind of dumb. but whatever i am still obsessed.

lewis is so perfect b/c hes got like the most difficult-to-read face possible. his upper lip looks like upper lips do after dudes who youve only ever seen with mustaches shave their mustaches and you like focus on their upper lip and youre like "its so big"

― max max max max, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 4:27 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

loooooooooooooool yeah and his coloring! it's so "Opie" like that one white supremacist calls him but also so chilling!

i should start watching Boss, too. because of the martin donovan.

i feel like i just said something borderline racist i am fine with redheads with blue eyes fwiw

hes got that "could be creepy, could be charming" vibe down to a science

totes it's funny how he plays like an entirely angelic creature in band of brothers

should start watching Boss, too. because of the martin donovan.

― horseshoe, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 23:30 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

do it, even just watch the first. i am only four or five in but think it is amazing & p distinctive. donovan is good, idk whether some of that's just that I'm pleased to see him or what

my only previous experience w/ damian lewis was in dreamcatchers when he played the infuriatingly named charachter 'jonesy' who was possessed by aliens so i just think of him as always having this weird distant aura. also i had no idea he was british so that kind of adds another layer of oh that's why there seems to be something 'off' about his performances.

I really liked Life & lewis was great in that too. Was super bummed when it was cancelled.

Also, I think that the court part of l&o is the order part, not the law part. After all, the theme song says "first comes the law, then comes the order".

Finally, this is totally nuts: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/12/kyra_sedgwick_in_tnt_s_the_closer_challenging_the_tv_procedural.html

totes it's funny how he plays like an entirely angelic creature in band of brothers

― horseshoe, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 11:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Permalink

i don't think i want to watch him do bad things tbh

sterl is right on all three counts.

i had not yet registered on the sandbox until now but i feel moved to post after seeing that eva amurri is back on tv. just as a bit character on 'the new girl' (yes i know), but it looks like they are setting up to keep running 'schmidt at work' plotlines, so maybe they'll keep her around once in a while.

sigh, eva amurri.

I got two episodes into Boss, found it a very silly platform for Grammer's monologues.

american horror story is excellent. every episode it's like they thought, "what would be fucking ridiculous and over the top? deformed insane dwarf ghost chained to a bed in the attic? OH OK"

I got two episodes into Boss, found it a very silly platform for Grammer's monologues.

― Simon H., Thursday, 8 December 2011 06:01 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

huh, really? they haven't seemed to dominate, to me; they happen, sure, but they're almost rattled off. i just love the roaming perspective of it, i think, which is aided by how well presented it is. i would totally sign up for a show of blustering kg monologues but this seems more varied, more interesting.

Jean-Ralphio's walkthrough that job at the end of Parks and Rec was gold.

i had not yet registered on the sandbox until now but i feel moved to post after seeing that eva amurri is back on tv. just as a bit character on 'the new girl' (yes i know), but it looks like they are setting up to keep running 'schmidt at work' plotlines, so maybe they'll keep her around once in a while.

sigh, eva amurri.

― j., Thursday, December 8, 2011 12:51 AM (21 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

ah shit i have to watch the new girl again

Donna from 70s Show is playing Chelsea Handler?!?! This can't be good.

ah shit i have to watch the new girl again

well, it still seems just as good - strong writing, good comic performances. it's just... her.

at least she carries off her scenes with aplomb? during the big terrible sex scene in the last episode i wasn't exactly laughing all the time but i was kind of aghast and impressed throughout.

Jean-Ralphio's walkthrough that job at the end of Parks and Rec was gold.

1000x this. Plus he was hitting on the dognapping victim from Veronica Mars!

AHS was as crazy as ever this week!!

i'm catching up on Homeland and just lolled so hard at "MILES DAVIS...YOU LIKE JAZZ?"