2015 - 2016 TV Season

I watched Big Bang for the first time in a long time last night. One of the things I admired on the show back in the early seasons was the careful choice of character for the parents - as we met Sheldon's mother, Leonard's mother, Raj's parents and Howard's mother, it was like each one was not what you'd expect, but then absolutely perfect - great characters on their own, and adding complexity and dimension to the characters of their children. Only Penny's father was a disappointment, and maybe Bernadette's mother. Not big of Raj's or Sheldon's sisters, but that's OK.

So I tuned in because the tv guide said we'd finally meet Sheldon's Mee Maw. Am I the only one who was completely disappointed? Soooo predictable, and such a throwaway episode for every character except Amy. Nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing even funny.
 
I've finally caught up on Lucifer and I think, what could become a problem for the show would be if they let him become more human. I get that it may be what they want to be the show about, however, personally, I find that this balance between human traits and bad boy from hell (who still has a sense for right and wrong) make the character who he is and once they take the Lord of the Underworld away, they take his sass and a huge part of his charm away and he becomes like any other good-looking guy.
 
Jenny said:
So I tuned in because the tv guide said we'd finally meet Sheldon's Mee Maw. Am I the only one who was completely disappointed? Soooo predictable, and such a throwaway episode for every character except Amy. Nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing even funny.
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Unfortunately that description applies most of the episodes this season and last. A few exceptions (the Star Wars + Sheldon & Amy consummating their relationship being one brilliant exception), but for the most part it's all very familiar now.

I still watch because, well, habit mostly, but it's really become more like hanging out with folks you know really well than an actual comedy.

However that's the problem with comedies that stick around for so long. And a serious flaw in the American network series formula. It's just not possible for a comedy to stay fresh for 9 seasons. Friends went the same way, as did Cheers.
 
Artemis@BC said:
However that's the problem with comedies that stick around for so long. And a serious flaw in the American network series formula. It's just not possible for a comedy to stay fresh for 9 seasons. Friends went the same way, as did Cheers.
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Ha! I gave up on American sitcoms decades ago. The last ones I watched got very old after the first season or season and 1/2. I stuck to dramas or documentaries or British sitcoms. Then my nephew stayed with me for a while and introduced me to Big Bang. It became the only exception because it seemed quite fresh and different, but you are correct and it is becoming pretty predictable and really just a habit. I think the only really memorable American ones for me were from my "extreme-cough-cough" youth - MASH, which of course isn't actually a sitcom at all but a pioneering dramedy, Barney Miller, and Mary Tyler Moore which allowed the characters to grow and evolve and for it's time was very pioneering - a single career woman making it in a man's world.
 
I actually think Shelley Long leaving Cheers really freshened up the show even though her character in season 1-2 is my fave character of the entire series. It allowed the show to be more of an ensemble and the addition of Fraiser and Lillith was brilliant. I actually thought Season 8 is actually one of its best seasons with the next couple of ones benefitting, even though the show by then was a vastly different one from the show it started out as. The last season was pretty blah though.
 
Buzz said:
That was some episode of the Colony tonight. Did not expect that ending although I should have seen it coming.
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Oh yeah ... what the hell was that all about?! I am so confused about what is happening on this show. What was the purpose of the house fire? I think I need to find the shows on line and start over, cause I be sssooo :confused: .
 
New/Returning Shows for the week Sunday February 07/2016 - Saturday February 13/2016:
http://www.cinemablend.com/televisi...ere-Schedule-Dates-Returning-Shows-99687.html

Sunday, February 7
?:00 - Super Bowl 50 - CBS
?:00 - The Venture Bros. - Adult Swim

Monday, February 8
8:00 p.m. - Castle - ABC
10 p.m. - FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE - TBS

Tuesday , February 9
10 p.m. - Tosh. O - Comedy Central
10:30 p.m. - NOT SAFE WITH NIKKI GLASER - Comedy Central

Thursday, February 11
8:00 p.m. - Grey’s Anatomy - ABC
9:00 p.m. - Scandal - ABC
10:00 p.m. - How To Get Away With Murder - ABC
10:00 p.m. - Impractical Jokers - truTV
10:30 p.m. - THOSE WHO CAN'T - truTV

Friday, February 12
8:00 p.m. - The Amazing Race Season 28 - CBS

Please post any updates or shows i may have missed.
 
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I don't get Comedy, which is carrying Full Frontal in Canada -- but since Comedy makes The Nightly Show available streamed I'm going to assume they'll do the same with Full Frontal. If they don't, I'll first have a tantrum .. and then find another way to watch it.
 
So I just finished watching When Calls the Heart on Netflix about a highly educated, upper class girl going to the Western frontier in a Canadian coal mining town to teach the children there after a huge disaster that impacted the morale of the local townsfolk in 1910...and a budding romance between her and a handsome mountie starting out with the usual hate/love foundation. It's an American-Canadian production shown on Hallmark so I was prepared for formula and a lack of nuance, complexity, and deep characterization, but season 1 had a lot of promise and I liked that it had shades of Call the Midwife. I even got into the romance. I couldn't help but think what a better show it would have been if it wasn't Hallmark behind it. I was looking forward to season 2 because I did enjoy what I saw in season 1. Something went terribly wrong in season 2. Everything got a lot prettier, cleaner, and the anachronisms with the costume and hairstyle went CRAZY. I mean Lori Loughlin obviously had highlights in season 2. They also got rid of a lot of what made season 1 work and I felt like they really showcased the flaws of season 1. I really have no idea what happened in-between season 1 and season 2. Did they get a bigger budget and want to show it off? Did Hallmark have a heavier hand in it and "Americanized" it? It reminds me of reading about how Sarah Polley left Avonlea because she felt the show was becoming too Americanized after Disney took more creative control.

Has anyone else seen this show?
 
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VIETgrlTerifa said:
So I just finished watching When Calls the Heart on Netflix about a highly educated, upper class girl going to the Western frontier in a Canadian coal mining town to teach the children there after a huge disaster that impacted the morale of the local townsfolk in 1910...and a budding romance between her and a handsome mountie starting out with the usual hate/love foundation. It's an American-Canadian production shown on Hallmark so I was prepared for formula and a lack of nuance, complexity, and deep characterization, but season 1 had a lot of promise and I liked that it had shades of Call the Midwife. I even got into the romance. I couldn't help but think what a better show it would have been if it wasn't Hallmark and Michael Landon Jr. behind it. I was looking forward to season 2 because I did enjoy what I saw in season 1. Something went terribly wrong in season 2. Everything got a lot prettier, cleaner, and the anachronisms with the costume and hairstyle went CRAZY. They also got rid of a lot of what made season 1 work and I felt like they really showcased the flaws of season 1. I really have no idea what happened in-between season 1 and season 2. Did they get a bigger budget and want to show it off? Did Hallmark have a heavier hand in it and "Americanized" it? It reminds me of reading about how Sarah Polley left Avonlea because she felt the show was becoming too Americanized after Disney took more creative control.

Has anyone else seen this show?
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I have not seen it but sounds a lot like the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall. Loved that book so maybe I should check out the show. Christy was also a short lived TV series as well.
 
Sunday, February 7
?:00 - The Venture Bros. - Adult Swim :cheer2:

Anyone else a fan of cartoons?

I can't help but watch reruns of "Family Guy", "American Dad", "The Venture Brothers" and "Archer". And I still laugh like it's a new episode, even though I've seen them all 5-6 times already.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
So I just finished watching When Calls the Heart on Netflix about a highly educated, upper class girl going to the Western frontier in a Canadian coal mining town to teach the children there after a huge disaster that impacted the morale of the local townsfolk in 1910...and a budding romance between her and a handsome mountie starting out with the usual hate/love foundation. It's an American-Canadian production shown on Hallmark so I was prepared for formula and a lack of nuance, complexity, and deep characterization, but season 1 had a lot of promise and I liked that it had shades of Call the Midwife. I even got into the romance. I couldn't help but think what a better show it would have been if it wasn't Hallmark behind it. I was looking forward to season 2 because I did enjoy what I saw in season 1. Something went terribly wrong in season 2. Everything got a lot prettier, cleaner, and the anachronisms with the costume and hairstyle went CRAZY. I mean Lori Loughlin obviously had highlights in season 2. They also got rid of a lot of what made season 1 work and I felt like they really showcased the flaws of season 1. I really have no idea what happened in-between season 1 and season 2. Did they get a bigger budget and want to show it off? Did Hallmark have a heavier hand in it and "Americanized" it? It reminds me of reading about how Sarah Polley left Avonlea because she felt the show was becoming too Americanized after Disney took more creative control.

Has anyone else seen this show?
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I started watching it when it aired on CBC, but I just couldn't get into it. It wasn't bad, just not to my tastes -- I found it too cloying and sentimentalized. (same reasons I don't watch Heartland) However I did appreciate that it was nice to have some actual "family" entertainment available, pretty rare these days, so I figured there was an audience for it out there somewhere.

I didn't get as far as season 2 so can't comment on the changes. I didn't even know it was a co-production, I thought it was all CBC. Doesn't surprise me though, almost everything is a co-production these days.
 
I watched a couple of episodes of When Calls the Heart, but it departs so far from the books it is based on (even the name of one of the main characters is changed), that it drove me crazy and I gave up on it.
 
Having finished season 1 of Mozart in the Jungle, my conclusion is the show is certainly more drama than comedy (yes, there is certainly some quirkiness from Rodrigo (conductor), Cynthia (cellist) and Lizzie (Hailey's roommate), but not enough IMO for it to be competing in the comedy category for accolades).

What's interesting to observe is that the "background" musicians in the orchestra are pretty legitimate in terms of their playing style, while the leads are less than convincing.
 
Seerek said:
Having finished season 1 of Mozart in the Jungle, my conclusion is the show is certainly more drama than comedy (yes, there is certainly some quirkiness from Rodrigo (conductor), Cynthia (cellist) and Lizzie (Hailey's roommate), but not enough IMO for it to be competing in the comedy category for accolades).

What's interesting to observe is that the "background" musicians in the orchestra are pretty legitimate in terms of their playing style, while the leads are less than convincing.
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Season 2 is a lot wackier, and some episodes are becoming auteur-ish, especially the ones Jason Schwartzman directs.
 
New/Returning Shows for the week Sunday February 14/2016 - Saturday February 20/2016:
http://www.cinemablend.com/televisi...ere-Schedule-Dates-Returning-Shows-99687.html

Sunday, February 14
9:00 p.m. - VINYL - HBO
9:00 p.m. - The Walking Dead - AMC
10:00 p.m. - Talking Dead - AMC
?:00 p.m. - Last Week Tonight - HBO

Monday, February 15
?:00 p.m. 11/22/63 - HULU
8:00 p.m. - Grammy Awards - CBS
9:00 p.m. - Major Crimes - TNT
10:00 p.m. - Better Call Saul - AMC

Tuesday, February 16
9:00 p.m. - Rizzoli & Isles - TNT

Wednesday, February 17
8:00 p.m. - Survivor - CBS
10:00 p.m. - Broad City - Comedy Central

Thursday, February 18
10:00 p.m. - Vikings - History
11:00 p.m. - JOIN OR DIE WITH CRAIG FERGUSON - History

Friday, February 19
12:01 a.m. - LOVE - NETFLIX

Please post any updates I may have missed.
 
So last weekend I decided to get back into Downton Abbey. I honestly haven't watched since
Lady Sybil died and couldn't bear to watch because I really invested in her character and her and Tom's relationship, and I honestly didn't care too much about the rest and thought the Bates/Anna romance was sort of blah for some reason.
However, I didn't know it was taken away from Netflix, but thank goodness I have access to Amazon Prime. I'm now on Series 4 Christmas special about to start Series 5. Is there still a dedicated Downton thread or is this thread used to discuss the show?
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
Is there still a dedicated Downton thread or is this thread used to discuss the show?
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We're discussing the 6th and final season here, corresponding to the PBS broadcast schedule in North America.

There was a thread for the 5th season but you'd have to spelunk back many months to find it ...
 
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