TV watching poll

[rachelmanija]

After not watching much TV for two years, I actually caught up on a couple shows. However, all are best left unspoiled, in some cases for everything but the premise.

Which shows would you like me to make spoilery discussion posts on? Feel free to talk about or rec/anti-rec them in comments to this post, but only in a non-spoilery manner.

Poll #18132

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 76

View Respondents

Which TV show would you like me to post on?

View Answers

Legion
18 (23.7%)

The Good Place
34 (44.7%)

Better Call Saul (Season one)
7 (9.2%)

Killjoys
14 (18.4%)

11.22.63
3 (3.9%)

Comments

[monanotlisa]

HOMG KILLJOYS PLEEEEEEAASE! :)

[yhlee]

Joe and I thought The Good Place was amazing and had fun trying to anticipate the plot twists. I know of at least one person who really disliked how it ended. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, especially the ending.

[rachelmanija]

Done! (I mostly wrote about the ending.)

[enemyofperfect]

I couldn't not vote for The Good Place -- I love that show beyond reason -- but I'm also very interested in Killjoys thoughts!

[rachelmanija]

Done!

[sholio]

I haven't seen any of these, but I'm curious about 11.22.63 mainly because I've read the book, so I'm not worried about spoilers and wonder what the adaptation is like. However, I can see I'm being outvoted by pretty much every other option. *g*

VAGUE SPOILERS for 11.22.63

[rachelmanija]

In that case, I will tell you here: I had the same problems with the adaptation that I had with the book, which was that the protagonist never quite came alive to me as a character and I was bored by everything involving Lee Harvey Oswald. I additionally found the love story less compelling in the miniseries than I did in the book - my favorite part of the book was the long stretch where the hero is just hanging out being a teacher and dealing with the fallout from his girlfriend's stalker. What I did like about the miniseries was the look of '60s, the credit sequence (damning with faint praise, but it really was excellent), and the darkly comic aspect of the ways the past tries to prevent itself from being changed.

The changes it made to the story generally made sense, but it missed one of the most fun aspects of time travel, which is the repeated tries at getting things right - he only makes one major trip to the past. It also failed to fix what I thought was the big flaw of the book, which was providing more of a sense of who the hero was as a person and why he was so determined to save Kennedy. James Franco was OK but there wasn't much there there. I think a better or more interesting actor could have sold it way more on the script they had.

Re: VAGUE SPOILERS for 11.22.63

[sholio]

Whaaaaat, the multiple do-overs and the critical "can't fuck up now, I'll have to start all over!" tension were the biggest thing I liked about the book! I enjoyed the immersive take on the 1950s/60s, but it was the really interesting twist on time travel that truly fascinated me.

I still like my idea about Lee Harvey Oswald SO much better than what the book went with. I spent most of the book thinking it was going to turn out that Oswald was another time traveler who was killing Kennedy to prevent an even more horrible future, and the hero was actually the antagonist and just didn't know it. I was so deeply disappointed when that turned out not to be the case.

Anyway, from the sound of things, the adaptation keeps everything I didn't like about the book, takes out some of what I did like, and doesn't add a whole lot that's new ... so yeah, can give this one a miss.

Re: VAGUE SPOILERS for 11.22.63

[rachelmanija]

I know! I liked the early time travel bits of the book a lot (and was disappointed when the end went with a more common time travel idea rather than something more inventive), and the miniseries skipped that entirely. In the interest of time (ha!) I assume, but at the cost of the most fun part. (And they should have known that was the most fun part, because it's the entire premise of Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow.

I also like your idea about Oswald better than the actual one. I have no pre-existing interest in the Kennedy assassination. Usually King can get me interested in stuff I don't normally care about, like baseball or psycho killers, because his characters care. But in this case I never really got why the main character cared, so I didn't either.

[blueswan]

I can not pick between Killjoys and The Good Place. I love them both so much. I will be happy to read what you have to say about either one.

[rachelmanija]

Done!

[kore]

Aww, it looks like we have totally opposing tastes in shows -- we're watching Magicians and The 100, and rewatching Agent Carter because I signed up for the fic exchange. Due to my being Mentally Interesting I found the (spoiled) premises of Leviathan and Good Place both really unappetizing. however, I'm v psyched for American Gods and handmaid's Tale. T likes the Expanse.

Did you see the new It trailer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnCdOQsX5kc

[rachelmanija]

I did watch the first season of The Magicians but forgot about it while writing the poll. I enjoyed it in parts, but not enough to continue - too much Quentin, basically, though I did like most of the others in the cast. (Really fantastic casting for Penny, who I did not find memorable in the book.) I couldn't get into The 100 at all and am a bit burned out on superheroes, so I haven't seen Agent Carter - I'll check it out when I'm more into them. (Legion doesn't play like a superhero show.)

I'm also looking forward to American Gods. I'm at least watching the pilot of Handmaid's Tale, though it might turn out to be too depressing.

I did see the It trailer but I'm not sure if I dare watch the movie. That book terrified me.

[kore]

I KNOW, I am so totally not watching that. I remember watching the 1990 miniseries and getting freaked out and it was terrible. I don't want to imagine what a good adaptation of that book would be like.

[mrissa]

Any Quentin is too much Quentin. Bloody Quentin.

[kore]

I feel sorry for the actor, who seems like a nice enough guy, but every time I see him on the show I just want to punch him. Remember when Kady punched him? That was great.

[kore]

Also it seems weird everyone I know who watches the shows is either a Dark Matter OR a Killjoys fan (we like Dark Matter0. It's kind of like the old Trek/B5 split.

[rachelmanija]

I haven't seen Dark Matter yet.

[kore]

It has Ryo Tetsuda who is absolutely gorgeous and I think did martial arts training for the role and whips around lots of knives and staves and pikes.

Nonspoilery hot pix

https://tv-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--_013fQPk--/t_teaser_wide/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_75/v1467055165/alex-mallari-jr-as-four-dark-matter.jpg

http://www.syfy.asia/sites/syfy.asia/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/cast/Cast/DM2_Cast_4.jpg

https://tv-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--FiJDXQmP--/t_full/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_75/v1467055165/alex-mallari-jr-as-four-dark-matter.jpg

https://josephmallozzi.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/178.jpg

[rachelmanija]

VERY nice!

[kore]

His character is very sarcastic and broody and misanthropic (hnnng), and the actor is nothing like that -- he's very sweet and smiley and has this sunny disposition. Watching the behind the scenes videos is a trip!

[sholio]

ahaha, I resemble that remark! We watched (and really liked) the first season of Dark Matter, though we're not caught up on ... whatever it's up to now (two seasons? three?). But this reminds me that we need to get caught up!

It's hard for me and my husband to find things to watch together; he likes stuff that's way darker than I do (e.g. Walking Dead or Breaking Bad are pretty typical of how his tastes run; most recently he's really enjoying The Expanse and everything he's said about it has made me nope out). Dark Matter falls into that sweet spot where it's got enough darkness and twistiness to make him happy, but the character interactions get me in my happy place.

[kore]

We LOVED, loved loved S1 of Dark Matter. I will watch Roger Cross in just about anything (T lured me with "Travis from Continuum is in this"). I was less happy with S2, but it still had some pretty good eps. S3 is going to premiere in June I think?

T is typically more okay with gore than I am (he watched TWD too, until they killed [CHARACTER WHOSE IDENTITY I DID NOT REVEAL NOPE] and now the show is, ahem, DEAD to him ayup) but he'll just really watch any kind of scifi show. No matter how good. OR bad. The Expanse, Helix, Continuum, The Strain, The 100, some terrible thing about a space colony, 12 Monkeys....it really varies. It's how he relaxes in between programming code and reading about the genetics of viruses and climate change and fractals, IDEFK. I was the one who suggested Magicians since I'd read the books. -- Dark Matter, like Guardians of the Galaxy, REALLY reminded me of Farscape which was one of our all-time favourite shows. I am an absolute sucker for people thrown together in deep space who can't stand each other and very grudgingly form a found family. And yeah, that's a v good description of it -- it's got the sf worldbuilding and plots, but also interesting characterization and crew dynamics.

And burly evil Wil Wheaton! Every sf show should have burly evil Wil Wheaton, just for the shock value. Every single time he shows up somewhere: "That's Wesley!" "That's Wesley? No way." "No, look at the face! And subtract about 30 lb of muscle."

[sholio]

... I totally did not realize that was Wil Wheaton. Wow.

Yeah, we loved the first season too! I should note that I really do love twisty stuff and mysteries, so for me it pretty much had it all: twisty mindfucks and really neat found-family character dynamics, which are a huge thing for me too. The only reason why we haven't seen season two is because we were waiting for it to show up on Netflix (and really don't watch that much TV, especially during the schoolyear -- he's university faculty and tends to be swamped from September to May) but I see that it is on Netflix now, so we'll have to get caught up on that!

[kore]

IT WAS. You know who else bulked up and got almost scary-looking? The geek kid from the Breakfast Club.

for me it pretty much had it all: twisty mindfucks and really neat found-family character dynamics, which are a huge thing for me too.

Oh yes, me too, altho probably the character dynamics have an edge over twisty mindfucks. But I love both. I'm also a total sucker for amnesias-discovering-their-past, and gradually revealed backstory, and so this show was total catnip. Roger Cross and Ryo Tetsuda totally did not hurt at all in that department either, yowza.

The only reason why we haven't seen season two is because we were waiting for it to show up on Netflix

We ahem most things. /o\ But I bought the DVDs!

[rachelmanija]

Can you edit out the TWD spoiler from your comment below?

Dark Matter has evil Will Wheaton? Is he a recurring character or a one-off?

[kore]

ARGH SORRY been in a dumb chronic pain stupor all day!

He's in 1-2 episodes in both seasons -- it's a small part but he makes the most of it, he's funny and creepy. And burly.

[maidenjedi]

A strong plug for Legion!!! Love that show.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I voted for The Good Place, but I'd also be interested in your thoughts on 11.22.63. Didn't vote for Legion only because I haven't seen any of it yet and don't want spoilers.

[rachelmanija]

Done!

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

obviously killjoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooys.

[tonapah.livejournal.com]

11.22.63! I just watched it and would love to read some intelligent discussion on it.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I talked a bit in comments on the DW side.