2018 Fall-Spring TV New/Returning Shows

[VGThuy]

Did anyone else see the series finale of Veep. I would love to talk about it. Also, does anyone here still watch Game of Thrones?

 

[Japanfan]

Also, does anyone here still watch Game of Thrones?

YES!

Looking forward to the final two episodes, though I fear the ending will be anti-climactic.

And I'm sure we'll rewatch the entire series once again, as the plot is so twisty and hard to follow, especially when there are long breaks between seasons.

 

[snoopy]

I read the GOT spoilers which have been spot on for episode 3 on. The best thing about the spoilers is they must have ticked D&D off that their ending got leaked. Which is the only way to get back at them for tanking so many character story lines through ridiculously rushed writing.

 

[oleada]

I am and I’m so disappointed in this season.

 

[VGThuy]

I'm just glad to see where things were supposed to be headed for the characters (for the most part as I'm not convinced that's how Jamie Lannister's arc would have turned out in the books) even though I am quite sure George R.R. Martin would have written them way better, with much more depth, and not have it come out like a random "heel turn".

 

[snoopy]

One of the big differences IMO is that the show made Tyrion dumb and ineffective as a plot contrivance to get Dany to Mad Queen - where Martin made him conniving and cynical. Tyrion being dumb is against character from the book and his first 4 seasons. The most ambitious thing Jon Snow has done this season is scream at a dragon. And Cersei standing around like a damsel in distress the entire 5th episode is a waste of Lena Headley and that character. But ha, the final throne sitter fits with the season.

 

[oleada]

The Dany as the mad queen plot is so contrived; they completely ruined Jamie’s character development and Jon Snow still knows nothing.

 

[Garden Kitty]

A number of shows I like weren't renewed in the announcements last Friday, but at least God Friended Me was - that's a cute little show and I like the characters. Something pleasant and happy for a Sunday night. But I also like the Cool Kids and that got the ax,.

 

[MacMadame]

I like God Friended Me too. Even though I'm an atheist.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I don't keep up with God Friended Me as each episode airs but it's good for background noise when I'm only 1/2 paying attention. It still beats every show that's designed to manufacture fake dramas and tears. So I am glad to hear it was renewed.

My previous show that filled this slot was Kevin Saves the World Probably.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

The Carol Burnett Show Season 1 (The Lost Episodes) are up on Amazon Prime!

ETA: The second skit in the first episode is clearly spoofing commercials that were out at the time. Can anyone remember what the originals were? I know the butter reference but not most of the others.

 

[VGThuy]

The Dany as the mad queen plot is so contrived; they completely ruined Jamie’s character development and Jon Snow still knows nothing.

I guess we're ok with spoilers in this thread so we can discuss it further? I'll put spoiler tags just in case.

Spoiler

I bet the book would have done it so much better. Now I do think it makes sense if you think about it as some sort of allegory to like potentially unhinged people with nuclear weapons (dragons) who start feeling isolated and losing it. Add to the writers for years who felt Dany was just a colonialist invoking modern day ideas of imperialism or equating her with revolutionaries (like Mao Zedong or Che Guevera) who had great forward thinking ideas but became totally brutal with no care for human life to justify the ends.

Anyways, I stupidly was shocked about what happened last night but I'm not a close watcher of GOT so I don't analyze it as much as I probably should have. I will always equate this song to last night's episode though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M

 

[oleada]

I think you’re right. I can see the point but it’s been so rushed.

 

[snoopy]

The easiest fix would have been for - after the bells start ringing - Dany to breathe a sigh of relief and then for an archer’s arrow to take out greyworm. Her last loyal advisor gone. And it ties it back to the “be measured” advice given to her by Varys and Tyrion that resulted in all her previous losses. Then the motivation for “eff that” becomes believable.

But the writers seemed really hell bent and making sure we hate her - versus giving us a little bit of gray.

 

[sk8pics]

I like God Friended Me very much, even though some of the acting is . Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

[VGThuy]

I think you’re right. I can see the point but it’s been so rushed.

I was told that since I sort of skipped a lot of the middle seasons (my brother said when the show was actually good) and just caught up when my husband (then boyfriend) got me back into it in like season 6 or whatever, that I still had this idea of season 1 Dany stuck in my head and really saw her as a "breaker of chains" and someone who valued empowering the oppressed and minimizing the needless destruction of innocent life above all else, and that I should let go of that idea and think of her doing that as a way to get people's love. She was feeding off that energy and loved the reputation and love it was giving her (addicting), but overall her endgame has always been amassing power and having people fall in line (either through love or through submission). She always had a brutal streak that many people sort of glossed over because there was like Joffrey and the Red Wedding and the Lannisters and other bad people doing more obvious bad things at the same time that whatever bad things Dany did seemed to pale in comparison but they were still bad acts that lead up to this. We all do think that the execution was badly done and if GRR Martin got his wish for this to have another season and a movie, this would have had a much better pace leading to this, thus this would have felt a lot more earned and organic rather than something that was done for shock and awe.

It still sort of sucks that the one character standing up for non-white people (in GOT land) and who was actually putting an end to slavery (though obviously when you force an end to centuries-old practice like that by force there will be "collateral damage" and people suffering) and the woman who chained up her children (dragons) after the burning of ONE innocent child ended up doing this...but it is what it is. If this was written and developed better, then it would have been a truly brilliant way to showcase how we as people can truly believe in someone who turns out to be someone who we really should not have believed in and it's a great lesson for many of us to learn in real life when we support certain leaders, etc. rather than stick loyally to them even though we know they're doing bad things in the name of "siding with the right side". Plus, thinking about it some more...there's no way Martin would have written this series as a return to the glorious Targaryen dynasty. We all just wish the TV show writers could have done Martin's story more justice for the plot and for the characters we've grown attached to for like 8-10 years.

@snoopy , I actually agree and I wish that happened, but after what she did to Varys, I think the writers didn't want to give Dany something else that fans of the show could use to justify or explain her actions. They wanted to show what war means for casualties. Greyworm himself also lost it and started just killing mindlessly. He and Dany are both seriously grieving and angry so they are not being rational nor do they care to be right now.

 

[AxelAnnie]

"For the People" got the ax. I liked it ok. First season was better than second. One episode called "This is America" was sterling! I have watched it several times...just to watch
Anna Deavere Smith aka Too Tall McCall (The American President) gives an utterly amazing explanation of what America is, and the complexities of being American.

 

[snoopy]

Greyworm himself also lost it and started just killing mindlessly. He and Dany are both seriously grieving and angry so they are not being rational nor do they care to be right now.

The unsullied are trained to not be emotional. gray worm watched Dany closely and followed dany’s action. He threw the spear only after she started burning stuff again. He was following her lead (her implied orders).

 

[VGThuy]

The unsullied are trained to not be emotional. gray worm watched Dany closely and followed dany’s action. He threw the spear only after she started burning stuff again. He was following her lead (her implied orders).

I disagree that it was all just following her orders and that he completely had his emotions in check. I think he didn't do it until she started burning things but at the same time I do think he was more than happy to take her actions as a command for him to just go crazy on a blood thirsty mission. He lost his inability to be unemotional when he fell in love and had the love of his life murdered in front of him in spectacular fashion thus dashing the future he had imagined for himself with her as established earlier this season in that cliche scene where he told her his fantasies about their future before she died. It's only human.

 

[clairecloutier]

We’ve been rewatching Seasons 1-3 of GOT in between episodes of the new season & I kind of agree with @VIETgrlTerifa about Daenerys’s tyrannical tendencies always being there. It’s more clear upon rewatching. I think when I first saw these episodes, I was sort of caught up with the idea of this once-helpless, naive girl finding the agency & strength to take charge of everything. After rewatching, it just feels like her only real goal was power. Also I realized that, while technically she freed the Unsullied, arguably she just continues to exploit & use them.

I feel like this final season has been spotty and uneven in terms of the characterizations, the logic, the battle strategies, you name it.

 

[snoopy]

Daenerys’s tyrannical tendencies always being there.

And these things were largely characterized as a good thing until this season. Getting her rightful throne back. All of the things people are noticing now happened before Varys and Tyrion joined her side. Yet they still joined her side and then randomly decided oh wait, she might be crazy. We didn’t notice that before. Heck Varys tries to poison her with his little kitchen helper at the beginning of the episode after he declared his loyalty a short time ago.

As I said in the books, it works better because Tyrion is using her more then believing in her. But that is not how the show portrayed it.

 

[Skate Talker]

The Carol Burnett Show Season 1 (The Lost Episodes) are up on Amazon Prime!

ETA: The second skit in the first episode is clearly spoofing commercials that were out at the time. Can anyone remember what the originals were? I know the butter reference but not most of the others.

I am certainly old enough to remember the originals, but don't have Amazon Prime so have no answers unless you want to describe the spoofs? We could always take it off line.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I was trying to find it on YouTube but she did a ton of commercial spoofs. I'll have to dig through and see if I can find the specific one.

 

[Japanfan]

We’ve been rewatching Seasons 1-3 of GOT in between episodes of the new season & I kind of agree with @VIETgrlTerifa about Daenerys’s tyrannical tendencies always being there. It’s more clear upon rewatching. I think when I first saw these episodes, I was sort of caught up with the idea of this once-helpless, naive girl finding the agency & strength to take charge of everything. After rewatching, it just feels like her only real goal was power. Also I realized that, while technically she freed the Unsullied, arguably she just continues to exploit & use them.

The tyrannical tendencies weren't clear to me early on. I saw young Daenerys as a fighter who would use opportunity to advantage, as she did when married to Drogo. She succeeded in creating an equal relationship of sorts with Drogo, but also did seem to love her very much.

When she stood naked in the fire her and dragons were born, I saw her as a mythic goddess-like character. At the same when she took charge of the Unsullied and supported the emancipation of the slaves, I saw her very much as a capable, compassionate leader. And continued to see her as such for most of the series. Yes, she was also arrogant, but that didn't take away from her good qualities.

I feel like this final season has been spotty and uneven in terms of the characterizations, the logic, the battle strategies, you name it.

Spoiler

I can't wrap my head around her killing spree. I get it that another 'Mad Targarian' brings the story round full circle, but didn't see any warning signs that it was coming? Did I miss something? [/QUOTE]

All of the things people are noticing now happened before Varys and Tyrion joined her side.

What things?

Heck Varys tries to poison her with his little kitchen helper at the beginning of the episode after he declared his loyalty a short time ago.

Now I understand what was up with the kitchen helper.

 

[vgerdes]

The tyrannical tendencies weren't clear to me early on. I saw young Daenerys as a fighter who would use opportunity to advantage, as she did when married to Drogo. She succeeded in creating an equal relationship of sorts with Drogo, but also did seem to love her very much.

When she stood naked in the fire her and dragons were born, I saw her as a mythic goddess-like character. At the same when she took charge of the Unsullied and supported the emancipation of the slaves, I saw her very much as a capable, compassionate leader. And continued to see her as such for most of the series. Yes, she was also arrogant, but that didn't take away from her good qualities.

Dany was a much more sympathetic character early on. The last couple of seasons have kind of been an object lesson in how "absolute power corrupts absolutely," even with someone who started on their quest for power with the best of intentions.

 

[Japanfan]

Dany was a much more sympathetic character early on. The last couple of seasons have kind of been an object lesson in how "absolute power corrupts absolutely," even with someone who started on their quest for power with the best of intentions.

I somehow missed seeing her becoming corrupt in the last couple of seasons. She fell in love with John Snow and saw the Iron Throne as her's, but that doesn't make her corrupt.

Could you please elucidate some scenes in which this was evident?

 

[gkelly]

I would say not so much "corrupt" as power hungry and entitled.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Just saw the series finale of The Big Bang Theory. Overall, I liked it but it felt a bit incomplete. They certainly left enough space for a possible reboot, did they?

 

[judiz]

Just saw the series finale of The Big Bang Theory. Overall, I liked it but it felt a bit incomplete. They certainly left enough space for a possible reboot, did they?

Not quite what I expected but still emotional

 

[vgerdes]

I would say not so much "corrupt" as power hungry and entitled.

I guess I tend to think that someone who is "power hungry and entitled" has already been corrupted.