Television Tab
 

I know, I know this is a movie forum. But I also watch Television, weird huh? So why not have a T.V. tab? I'm sure it won't be as popular as the movie tab but that's ok. I'm willing to admit that sometimes I watch some absolutely atrocious T.V. are you?

I mostly just wanted to start this because I'm going to be watching all of The Twilight Zone over the next few months and it just doesn't go in the movie tab, however its a great show and I just wanted to throw in a few few thoughts when I see an episode that I actually haven't seen, or when I run across someone interesting. Which is pretty often in this show in particular. So chime in if you like, other wise I'll just talk amongst myselves :p.

Last night...

The Twilight Zone

Mr. Dingle the Strong, Ep.55 March 3rd, 1961 Burgess Meredith.

Two Ep.66 Sep. 15th, 1961 Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson

A Passage for Trumpet Ep.32 May 20, 1960 Jack Klugman

The Four of Us are Dying Ep.13 Jan. 1, 1960

Such a great show, we've got the whole series so I'll be at this for awhile.

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I just finished watching the first season of The Wire and I am hooked! Some of the best television I've ever seen. Thank God for HBO. Now I gotta figure out if I'm gonna buy the other seasons or Netflix them.

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More Twilight Zone, man this show is good! I haven't seen a lot of these since I was *cough* about 11 or 12.

Long Distance Call Ep.58, One of only six episodes shot on videotape to save money, so it looks a little funny. Rod thought it looked terrible (which it did) and they quickly went back to 35mil.

I Sing the Body Electric Ep.100, A robot or robut as they always seem to pronounce it in the show comes and joins the family after the mother dies and becomes the grandmother.

The Lonely Ep.7 Jack Warden, Another robut episode and a really good one too.

Probe 7 Over and Out Ep.129 This one was so good it was over before I realized it had really got going. A futuristic Adam and Eve story.

The Passerby Ep.69 A Ghost story.

The Grave Ep.72, What a cast! Lee Marvin and some guy named Lee Van Cleef, and for you fans of The Dukes of Hazard (I know you're out there lurking) a very young James Best or Roscoe P.Coltrane!

Deaths-Head Revisited Ep74, A very good episode.

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Well, you can't go wrong with The Twilight Zone! I watched many originally broadcast episodes, and then over and over again in reruns. Rod Serling was a visionary - his show, along with The Outer Limits, provided a major science fiction fix on a weekly basis.

Great stories,great writers, great actors.

Two is an interesting episode, love Bronson and Liz Montgomery.
I really liked I Sing the Body Electric as a child - which of course was written by Ray Bradbury.

A few other favorites:

Time Enough at Last
with Burgess Meredith

http://www.twilightzone.org/images/tzguide/tz_08.jpg

A typical ironic twist at the end of this tale of an anti-social bookworm who survives an H-bomb blast.

The Invaders, written by Richard Matheson (one of several episodes he wrote, and also the books I am Legend and the Incredible Shrinking Man)

http:///www.twilightzone.org/images/tzguide/tz_51.jpg

A tour de force by Agnes Moorehead, as an old backwoods woman who fights off tiny creatures invading her farmhouse. Almost no dialog, and another fine twist ending.

The Eye of the Beholder and Number Twelve Looks Just Like You; two episodes about beauty and conformity that really gave me pause as a teenager. And those pig-faced people!

How about: Nothing in the Dark; a very sweet story which starred a young and dreamy Robert Redford as Death?

And who can forget To Serve Man, with those oh so benign aliens who've come to earth offering to help man?

http://www.twilightzone.org/images/tzguide/tz_89.jpg

With a tag line which I still use to this day
"To Serve Man - It's a Cookbook!!!!!"

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

http:///www.twilightzone.org/images/tzguide/tz_123.jpg


A classic with William Shatner, and reworked with a cameo for the movie.


Okay one more:

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

http://www.twilightzone.org/images/tzguide/tz_22.jpg

"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children; the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to The Twilight Zone!"


Quite a show, indeed.

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Arrested Development! So unbelievably funny.

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Exactly monkey punch, exactly

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Damn writers strike is messin with my TV time and I've heard some of the time slots will be changed when they do air again but this was my schedule up till recently...

MONDAY
Chuck
Heroes
Journeyman

TUESDAY
Reaper

WEDNESDAY
Bionic Woman
Pushing Daisies

THURSDAY
Smallville
Supernatural

SUNDAY
Family Guy
American Dad

DOWNLOADED
South Park
Stargate: Atlantis
The 4400
The Sara Connor Chronicles
The Shield

Sadly, I've heard that The Bionic Woman, Journeyman, and The 4400 may have already been cancelled so I'm not too happy there.

I've also started grabbing episodes of Charlie Jade and Kyle-XY off the net since I always missed them on the Space channel.

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Bionic Woman hasn't been canceled yet, but since the ratings have fallen so fast it doesn't look good. I don't know about the other 2 because I don't watch them and frankly I'm to lazy to search for it. The network ordered 13 ep's and now they are shut down because of the strike. Man, if this strike doesn't end soon we are in for some really bad T.V. next fall. I see you are downloading The Sarah Connor Chronicles, did you get all nine ep.s? That's how many they have scripts for but I don't know if they've filmed them all yet.

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No, just the pilot was available for download a couple months ago but I think the actual episodes begin airing on TV this week anyway so...

I like it so far.
Nice little twist at the end of the first episode.
Some potential here, I hope they do it right.

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Just really got into Buffy and am half way through season 2. Plan to see this till the end then move onto Angel

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I just found out that Summer Glau from Firefly is in this now I think I may just go ahead and watch it tonight and see what I think. She plays a Terminator, that should be pretty cool!

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Both were great series'.
I'm not sure what Buffy season Angel began in (3 maybe?) but I know there were a couple episodes that tied into each series. Especially where Buffy's final episode in season 7 ended and Angel's first episode of season 5 began.

"Come with me if you want to live!":cool:

She also played a mental patient with mind control powers in that series The 4400 I mentioned earlier. I think you said you didn't know anything about the series.
Basicly 4400 people appear out of a ball of light in the pilot and it is learned that all had been abducted and missing over a 60 year period.
Now with no memories of their abductions they begin to learn they posess strange powers.

It was a pretty good series, imo, and it sucks that they cancelled it when they left us with a big cliff-hanger.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOO I am going to SaveThe4400.com and sign that damn petition

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I find it harder and harder to keep up with TV schedules these days!

Heroes is the one show that I've made a point to sit down and watch every week. Very entertaining. I'm glad they at least came to a reasonable stopping point before the strike affected it. Suppose we won't be seeing it start back up anytime soon.

They could go ahead and rerun the fall episodes and it would be better than nothing, I suppose.

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Monday
Desperate Housewives

Tuesday
Heroes
Prison Break

Wednesday
Reaper

Friday
Supernatural
Scrubs

and lately watching Moonlight

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Ok, I watched the first 2 eps of Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, not bad. Summer Glau is great as usual. God I miss Serenity. But I would rather see her on this show than not at all. I'm still just afraid that this is going to be the wrong network, why a show like this doesn't go straight to the Sci-fi channel I will never understand. But whatever, people are always looking for the next X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, well good luck! You gotta stick with them for awhile before they get that kind of following. You listening FOX? Aneeeeewaaaay, I'll be there with bells on next week and see what's crackin!

I'm also watching Medium while its still on for the time being and I still really love the show. I get that it's pretty predictable and why after all these years Allison isn't better at deciphering her dreams is a little silly but I'm a sap. So I still like it. Anjelica Huston is making a fine addition to the show so far this season and I believe she's set to be in 4 more ep's as of now.

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Got season one of the X-files in the bargain bin before the holidays (15 bucks!), so I have been watching a couple episodes a night. Just watched Fallen Angel & Eve last night, the latter which I had remembered seeing another time. I think I picked the series up around season 2 or 3 when it first aired, as I don't remember many of these season one episodes, aside from Eve and the one with Tooms (Squeeze).

http://www.tvsquad.com/media/2006/06...ana_scully.jpg

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15 bucks? Nice! I love season 1 some of the best episodes imo, plus you really get a feel for Fox and just how paranoid he is. Tooms is just about totally creepy isn't he?

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http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ater96/1-1.jpg

Yeah, remember earlier when I was saying I may in fact watch a little bad T.V. from time to time? This show could potentially qualify in some peoples books I imagine. I just watched the first 5 episodes of what amounted to only a 10 episode season before it was canceled yet again. I barely remember these shows, this small box set is certainly more informative. When I was a kid I hated it because there was no Apollo or Starbuck, but now I understand why and I'm enjoying it probably more than I should. Wikipedia has a pretty good synopsis of how this show got re-heated and why most of the original cast didn't return if you're interested.

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The Simpsons

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Watched all of LOST season 3 last weekend and now I'm going to watch all 6 seasons of The Soprano's since we just got picked up both parts of the sixth season.

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Any body watch the new Knight Rider the other day? Or is that to low brow? :p I liked it. Sue me. Those Shelby Mustangs are pretty sweet.

Still working my way to season six of The Sporano's, and we started a little bit of this last night.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...6957-large.jpg

Yet another Sci-fi show that started out on the worst network ever. That's FOX for those of you playing at home. At least this show got a full season under it's belt before FOX canceled it I suppose. The CGI is pretty cheesy but over all the show itself is pretty decent. I'm not sure and I may look into it at some point but I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the new BSG writers were involved with this older show, its got a lot of similar feels to some of the episodes, that the newer BSG does.

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I thought the same thing.
To me looking back at Space: Above & Beyond, it seems like a cross between the original BSG and the current BSG.
That's the vibe I get from it anyway.:rolleyes:

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For my birthday I was given Seinfeld: The Complete Series - all 180 episodes from all 9 seasons. Currently going to fight my way through it.

http://i.fosfor.se/i07/070824_3.jpg

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Wow.
You'll be on your couch, or wherever you watch movies from for a looong time.

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If only :p

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No couch?

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Just recently watched the 4th season of Oz - I'm addicted to the show, I love it. I know it aired on TV going on 7 years ago, but I can't get enough, and they're releasing the DVDs too slowly.

My TV schedule goes:

MONDAY
9:30pm Dirty Sexy Money

TUESDAY
8:30 Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (Sue me, it's hilarious.)
9:30 The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Love it.)

WEDNESDAY
9:30 Burn Notice

THURSDAY
9:00 Family Guy
9:30 The Footy Show (Absolute hilarity.)

FRIDAY
8:30 AFL Football.

SATURDAY
7:30 More football.

SUNDAY
6:30 Gladiators


Things that stretch over the entire week are probably The Biggest Loser & Friends.

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Season Two of Rome.

I'd watched 2/3 of this HBO/BBC co-production on TV a few months ago before a memory-related PVR malfunction meant that I missed the remaining episodes. My local video store is doing TV series rentals for £7 a week no matter how many discs in the season set so I thought, "What the heck".

The show has always been more Up Pompeii than I, Claudius and probably all the better for it. Decadence drips from every scene, the art direction is absolutely wonderful and each cast member (wo)manfully goes up to 11.

Ultimately, season two succumbs to what I can only imagine to be The Deadwood Syndrome - The producers hear about the show's impending cancellation half way through shooting so compress 10 episodes into 8 while shoehorning an entire third season into the remaining 2 programmes - and it's a real shame.

The last few years have been a Golden Age for TV drama - The Sopranos, Carnivale, The Wire and the mighty Deadwood to name but four - and Rome deserves its place in the Pantheon (see what I did there? :D). Sadly, like many an Emperor, it didn't serve its full term.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...RomeS02E14.jpg

Carry on, Cleo...

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Thanks Tatty, I've heard more than once that Rome isn't quite as good as some of the other "heavies" that have been on HBO. If they would just price those things a little more reasonably I would buy most of HBO's series but they just put them out there like they are disc's encased in gold pressed latinum for chirst's sake.

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I'd put it below the shows I mentioned but it's the sort of television that justifies my time spent watching it.

We've got the same inflated prices over here, obscenely so. My 3 seasons of Deadwood cost the thick end of £100 (and that was after endless searching and wheeler-dealing on eBay) and are running at £39.99 each in most stores here - the R2 copies have even fewer extras and no commentaries either (so two of mine are R1, heh).

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Yeah, I found both Oz and Six Feet Under on Amazon for just under $170 for the entire series but I still have yet to actually pry that much out of my wallet yet. I seem to have some sort of fundamentally core issue with shelling out that much cash for DVD's.

On a side note there is another network here that has some pretty decent original programming of it's own called FX. Have you ever seen The Shield or Rescue Me? Both are really quite good if you ever run across them for a reasonable price.

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You know, I think that Saturday Night Live is starting to actually be funny again. I laughed through most of tonights episode, and that hasn't happened in a long time. Maybe the strike did them good, let them re-group, or maybe it's Tina Fey not being the head writer anymore (ok, I love that woman, she's hilarious on 30 Rock, and oh so gorgeous, but the years she was in charge were pretty much the worst since the early 80's.), but the show really is good. The cast is funny and the writing is absurd and not aimed directly at 12 year olds anymore...I'll keep watching if they keep bringing the funny.

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I am not a reality tv kinda guy, but I love Hell's Kitchen, if for nothing more than learning new things to do in the Kitchen.

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Heard about but haven't seen. The problem with a lot of the US shows is that they're either tucked away on satellite/cable or not shown at all. The Sopranos, Lost, 24 etc make it to the terrestrial channels but unless you want to hand Murdoch your money you're flying blind or going by word of mouth about the rest.

Gordon 'F*cking' Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen? I must admit that I've learned a lot from Ramsay myself...

...Vocabulary-wise. :D

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There are probably some parts of Rescue Me that you may particularly enjoy, such as: Dennis Leary plays an alcoholic Firefighter in a post 9/11 New York City and oh yeah he's Irish and he is constantly trying to quit drinking (if you can wrap your mind around that concept) and not be such an *sshole to everyone he loves. Other than that though the show sucks... :p (I keed, I keed)

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There is nothing really of interest on Aussie TV at the moment ...

I tend to watch
Media Watch ... where media is scrutinised.
7.30 Report ... news/current affairs programme
4 Corners ... news/investigative/current affairs programme
Late Line ... news programme
Under Belly ... drama about the criminal fued which happened in 90's in Australia.
Time Team ... BBC programme hosted by 'Baldric' from Black Adder ... archeology programme.

So not much on :( ... thinking of re-watching Dexter season 1 and 2 :cool:

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The new season of Deadliest Catch just started this week. I really like the show. I get seasick and I don't like to be cold when I fish, so watching it from the friendly and warm confines of my home is like a bonus or something.

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The Office!

I'm glad I didn't judge it by the trailer I viewed.

I checked some of those 2 minute clips out, and they were very addictive. I watched quite a few, but figured I best stop. I had no idea if I was spoiling anything or not, by watching them.

This is a good deal, so I will give it a try.

The Office - Season One (2005)

$16.80 + $2.98 shipping
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpg

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The original Brit version is pretty good ... I believe a bit subtler than Yank version of the Office

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Y'know when you're sitting down to your dinner and the TV remote is at the far end of the room? You just can't be bothered getting up to change the channel unless something really terrible comes on (like a Ricky Gervais stand-up show or the worst TV show in the history of the world UTV Life - consider yourselves lucky that you don't live where I do, dear MoFos), can you?

Yesterday, I was in a predicament - leave my dinner for a minute or sit eating with BBC1's stultifyingly banal The One Show beaming at me out of the corner of my eye? I chose the latter and am rather glad I did now - the special guest was none other than directorial genius Mike 'The General' Leigh!

First off, he really is a tiny wee man, Hobbit-like in fact. Secondly, he likes eating carp and thirdly, he's got a new film out.

That was all I could glean from half an hour in the company of what the BBC must describe as a 'topical early evening magazine-style show' (if not, they surely will now - their spies are everywhere!) and what I describe as 'a waste of two decent presenters' (I bet they'll not use that).

Incongruous. That's the word I'm looking for. :D

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The only show I watch regularly these days is South Park. It's pretty consistently funny. I started watching them online now to avoid the commercials.

Used to watch the Simpsons but lost interest in 1999, after that Home Movies but I've seen all the episodes enough times now that it's lost a little of its appeal for me.

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South Park episode where Oprah Winfrey (sp?) promotes Towlie's book. This was probably the worst episode I've seen. A couple laughs but no clever satire or anything, just raunchy celebrity mocking. Okay, so maybe adjust my above post to "inconsistently very funny."

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I've been watching It's always sunny in Philadelphia, freakin' hilarious.

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I will definitely NOT be watching Big Brother :mad:

and here I thought Australia had seen the last of this dross :frustrated:

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Seasons 1 & 2 of The Wire (again).

Quite possibly the best cop show I've seen, even if you include the likes of Morse. Sherlock Holmes crossed with Charles Darwin...

Huge thanks go out to Sammie D for pointing me in its direction a few years ago. :)

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We have season 4 being broadcast in Aus http://forums.civfanatics.com/images/smilies/banana.gif
... Idiot network screens it at 12.30am though http://forums.civfanatics.com/images...s/wallbash.gif

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I can't remember it being shown here at all, at least not on television stations unconnected to Murdoch (and I refuse to give that sh*tehawk a penny).

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I'll be pretty interested to read what you think of The Shield if'n you ever get a chance to see it.

Vic Mackey, the evil whore cop with a heart of gold truly needs to be seen to be believed. :yup:

"Good cop and bad cop have left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop"

As corny as that sounds, it really encapsulates him as a man and a cop. A terrific show.

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I'll look out for it next time I'm in the local rental store. ;)

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Never seen The Wire but The Shield is the best cop show I've ever watched. Sadly, I hear the upcoming season will be the last.

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I've just read this on a cricket website and it sums things up perfectly (if reversed somewhat)...

One-day cricket is CSI; Test cricket is The Wire.

;)

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Nice analogy :)

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About this time last week I picked up Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1 and that's been peppering my time for the last week or so. Currently debating as to when I'll get around to buying Volumes 2 and 3 (which are A$45 each at the last shop I checked - lucky I got Volume 1 for $30...)

Now if only they'd bring out Daria on DVD with the original soundtracks (unlikely, but I can dream).

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I've been watching seasons of 24. It's been quite amusing and so full of action.

I think I'm up to the last season now. I can't WAIT to see the throat tearing scene! Woo hoo!

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I finally made it through to the end of the last season of The Soprano's. The last season was decent enough, I would have been fine if they stopped at the end of season 5 but whatever. I'm sure they got paid. I loved the ending though. I'm not sure what all the hub bub was about, Did you really expect some kind of closure or something? Tony Soprano was the anti-christ, what did you really think, he was going to get his comeuppance like in grade school or something?

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I've been working my way through The Sopranos again slowly myself (about to start season 5) and probably not loving it as much as I did first time round. It's still mostly classic telly though but one thing began to irk me:

The writing was generally of high quality but badly let itself down when it came to the Soprano kids. They were just far too generic (although AJ's sheer stupidity raised a few smiles) for me. ;)

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Over this past week I took in Season 1 of Veronica Mars. Second time through the series...


http://images.teamsugar.com/files/us...ro.preview.jpg

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Yeah, well it really doesn't count as "watching" a series when you pause the dvd at a scene with Kristen Bell fully framed in it and then strip down to your underwear and smear cold strawberry jello all over yourself whilst singing JoJo tunes....duh. ;)

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I warmed the Jello, dude...

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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

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We watched that Sci-fi show called Tin Man the last few nights. Pretty good stuff. I'll say one thing for the Sci-fi channel, their shows are a good deal better than their so called Sci-fi channel original movies. Which are mostly just movies that were put out straight to DVD or Video.

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Saving Grace Season 1

Really good stuff. I skipped this the first time around because of all the God stuff. I shouldn't have. Sometimes I need to just get out of my own way a bit and sit back and enjoy things.

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I know what you mean. I've found it is the things I resist most that I need to allow into my life, heart and mind.

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I've watched at some episodes of hustle, It's a british tv-show about a team of con artists who try to steal money from people who don't desearve it. I think it is very good, a lot of humour, just the right amount of drama and action and various plot twists that make sense.

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The Closer season three is one of the things I'm watching as I get the disks from the library. I'm not happy with the menopause storyline but maybe I'm just sensitive about that sort of thing.

For the most part the show is funny and has great characters. The Southern accents are mostly not authentic but I really enjoy the show.

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Thaaank youuuuu Liiieuuutenant! I love that show. Good stuff BD.

We just finished up the first season of Dexter and I'll tell you what this is just the kind of twisted dude I particularly enjoy. Very good stuff. Got season 2 all ready to go next. Can't wait.

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I enjoyed the first season of Dexter too! I'm looking forward to seeing season 2.

It is however, the kind of show I need a watching buddy to see. Otherwise it might creep me out.

Btw, I can't watch the opening sequence without getting squicked out. LOL.

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Finished watching Season one of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, and that's pretty good, a television budget version of one of my favourite film series. Can't wait to see where they go with it.

Also, I'm watching the second season of the BBC series Robin Hood, which has many many glaring anachronisms (most notably in costuming, I.E. soldiers wearing modern army berets, anything Marian wears, and Gisbourne's not very medieval leather coat), but I enjoy the humour and fast paced action very much. The actor playing the Sherriff of Nottingham is fantastically evil and quite funny.

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The Sarah Conner Chronicles ranged, for me, from just barely watchable to ART. The next to last episode of the first season BLEW me away! The writing was just that good!

Of course it helps watchability wise that they have Lena Hedley in it. YUM!

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Lena shmena... Summer Glau, Ahhhhooooga!

God I miss Firefly.

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Summer Glau is a very talented and likeable young lady but, for me, Lena is a more smoldering talent.

Firefly ROCKED! I didn't know that until I borrowed the boxed set from the library. It was soooo good! I want more!

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Have you seen Serenity yet? It is a fantastic conclusion to the series and sadly it will probably be the last visit we ever get to the Firefly universe.

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Oh yes! I borrowed it from the library too! Great stuff!

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Just finished up season 2 of Dexter. Pretty good stuff. It sure was nice to see Jaime Murray, she was also on that excellent show called Hustle from across the pond. And she was just a complete nut job! Loved that. It's a pretty twisted show and not for the faint of heart though I'd say. It deals with some pretty dark stuff. But me? I like dark stuff. So I will anxiously be waiting for season three.

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Prison Break season 4 just started with two awesome episodes

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Ok I've got a few shows that well I really am a jerk for not watching them before. BSG, Lost, Weeds, and Veronica Mars.
I really cant wait to see BSG, I've never seen such an amazing tv show that has made me stop and think about things in my own life. The show for me has hit home a lot and I've enjoyed watching it. As for the other shows mentioned they are pretty damn addicting also!

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Tin Man. 10/10
If you loved the Wizard of OZ, you have got to see this one. It is definitely not the same old story, but it is really well done, and they tie in all the elements of the old WOO. Great story, forgot to rent the 2nd disc, and liked it so much, I had to watch the rest online! :eek:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 7/10
Ok. This is a show I totally avoided because I thought it would be total cheese. And it kind of is, which is why it gets a 7 instead of a 10. Because I hate, hate HATE all Sarah's whining - in the show itself, and the voiceovers. I spend that time rolling my eyes. But then...I'm not a mother. Plus, I hated John's Season 1 hair. UGLY! But yes, in a moment of serious end-of-my-rope boredom, I rented this show, and while its definitely no Prison Break, it'll do in crunch time.

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Britain's Got The Pop Factor

The greatest TV satire in years...

I think that Peter Kay is fast becoming a national treasure (apart from his stand-up, which I've never had much time for) and I imagine that some of the X Factor morons would have been quite confused here - it's almost too good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFspcteHh9w

When 2 Up 2 Down were announced at the start I almost wet myself. :eek:

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Firefly is pure awesomeness. Adam Baldwin is hilarious. Lol. :laugh:

They said if they'd made more episodes, they would've introduced Jayne's family and Zoe would've fallen pregnant. Just imagine that. Shame there wasn't more (aside from Serenity). :(

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I love my sci-fi action shows on TV but a couple months ago I started watchng these two sit-coms that I think are just freaking hiliarious.

The Big Bang Theory is one.
About these 4 brainiac nerds who live across from a hot girl.
Lotsa jokes about comic books, science fiction, and videogames that I really 'get' and some really over my head techno-babble jokes that still sound funny even if you don't know what it means.

(YouTube tabs won't work right on this one for some reason)
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRkj6...eature=channel


The other is How I met Your Mother.
This one's into it's 4th season now so once I saw the first couple shows this year I had to download them all.
I think I've watched them all twice now and it's still funny as hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5VffwILK3A

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24: Redemption (John Cassar, 2008)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...herland466.jpg

This TV movie, which apparently attempts to connect 2006/2007's sixth season with this coming January's seventh season (as well as sell some DVDs for Christmas presents to "24" fans, slightly reinvents the series by setting Jack Bauer's "adventures" in the current world of civil war-torn Africa where children under 10 years old are used to wield weapons and try to take out as many of the "enemy" as possible before they are killed as "cannon fodder". Jack Bauer has spent more than a year in Asia and Africa trying to atone for his sins, but he's still tracked down at the beginning of the film by the U.S. government who tries to serve a subpoena on him to appear in the U.S. to answer charges against his alleged crimes of torture, murder and treason.

http://hotvnews.files.wordpress.com/.../24-banner.jpg

Most of the film details Jack trying to help his old secret agent buddy (Robert Carlisle), who has also tried to seek his own redemption for past sins by trying to help the homeless children of Africa. It crosscuts with machinations by America's corrupt politicians, including a mysterious Jon Voight who seems to be financially sponsoring the mass murders of Africans for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, the first female President (Cherry Jones) is being sworn in on the same day that all of this is happening (Yes, "24" is still in real time; if it weren't, they'd have to change the title!) The new president's son (Eric Lively) learns that something is not quite right with certain government officials and politicians, but he doesn't get all of the info before his source is killed and the evidence deleted. This is basically the set-up for "24"'s next season. Jack Bauer is just as supercharged a fighter of bad guys as he ever was, even when bathed in beautiful golden filters of the camera's lens, but he seems to truly want to stay out of the fray. Of course if he did, few "24" fans would want to tune in, although the concept of "Kung Fu 2" isn't all that bad an idea. I'll be watching how the show turns out in January; that's for sure.

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I am three episodes into The Wire. I am hoping it grows on me, because so far I feel very "meh" about it. All I've heard about it is that it is the greatest cop show ever. We'll see. The second disc should arrive in the mail tomorrow so I'll get back on whether or not I am liking it more.

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give it time, Godoggo. i haven't seen it, but i've heard the same as you, from verrrry respectable people.

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That's why I am not giving up on it. Had it not been praised so highly I probably would have erased the other discs from my queue.

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I just watched The Shield series finale. It was beautiful and epic. Couldn't have been done any better. Although, I have no idea how I will carry on, but I suppose I will find a way. :bawling:

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It's the best cop show ever about nine episodes in; the best TV show after the first season; the best thing ever after the second season.

This is fact.

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I hated The Wire - never got into it.

But I just finished Prison Break, and I gotta say - who DIDNT see that ending coming? I'm not one to agree with the critics, because as a Chicago girl, you know I love the boys from Illinois, but Im starting to get to the point where even I feel that the madness has to come to an END.

Anybody into Life? And if you are, is it me, or is the umbrella story beginning to become somewhat disjointed? I feel like Daniel(?) is such a good actor, I wish they'd have given him a more compelling understory. Oh wait. They DID! And his partner is the requisite attractive/interesting compliment to his character, so I'm not sure why this story is becoming so ....dull.

Finally, Sanctuary is THE. MOST. HORRIBLE. science fiction show since......Dr. Who. So boring. So unreal. So ....already done. And the protagonist Doctor looks like he's 15 years old. Couldnt they have gotten an older looking man - with a little hair on his face - to play the story?

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I loved The Wire and even though I'm not in the least respectable (I'm kinda dishevelled) I'd recommend it to anyone. It's probably best starting from the first season as everything is one big story arc.

It was almost as good as Deadwood. ;)

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Well, did you watch more than two episodes? It's like a book. Would you give up on reading Moby Dick after the first few chapters where nothing happens?

Don't even say that.

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wtf.

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Ok, I won't. I'll put it another way then. :)

It wasn't quite as good as Deadwood. Nah, that's too similar.

I thought Deadwood was a bit better.

Put it another way, if I had Kelly Brook's and Maggie Cheung's phone numbers I'd phone Maggie but that's not to say I don't think Kelly is lovely too.

Just not quite as lovely... ;)

______________________

Moving along: I finally got round to watching The Shield and, surprise surprise, I quite (there's that word again, damn) like it. It's kinda flashy and Michael Chiklis looks like if Ross Kemp was made of wool and someone put him on a warm cycle, but that's ok.

I just wish the editors didn't have the DTs...

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well - I hated Deadwood (and The Shield) on the first episode as well. Very strange, since it looked to be exactly the kind of thing that would float my boat, and I did everything I could to get it as immediately as I could and barely eeked through Ep 1.

Im not sure what it was about the Wire - I actually liked a few eps in the later seasons (not sure which), and based on recommendations, I went back to attempt to start from S1, Ep1.

Horrible, and horribly depressing stuff. Deadwood (and The Shield) were the same way to me: all felt degraded and degrading to humanity, and I felt absolutely NO affinity or sympathy for any character - and especially not Calamity Jane. In fact, I had an immediate and strong aversion to just about every character....and it never went away. They were all despicable to me, and I didnt really want any of them to triumph over anything.

I dont think its that I dont like depressingly real, because I came to enjoy Homicide: Life on the Streets.

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Y'see, I find both Deadwood and The Wire to be absolutely brimming with humanity (and wonderful writing, but more later). Maybe I've just got lower expectations as to how humans should behave in given situations, I dunno. :)

I'm with you on the character of Jane though, she was the only character to me who outstayed her welcome.

As to the rest of the show (especially season two), I thought it was bordering on Shakespeare, or at the very least Dickens (who I've always felt would have been a TV screenwriter if he were alive today). The third season was muddled but I can forgive that because the show's demise was announced half way through the filming of it and Milch took the decision to try to resolve some plot strands that would have been best served by way of a few more episodes.

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As I said though, mack, think of each season of The Wire as a novel. The characters grow on you, you get more involved. I think I was on episode five before it clicked, and I was all 'whoa' like Neo.

Some of the characters are ugly people, but even they have their good sides. What's interesting about The Wire is that there are no 'sides' - the worst person in the show is probably a white cop, and I fell in love with a few of the dealers (Bodie, Dee) and the most redeemable character is a washed-up 40-something Junkie named Bubbles.

The main character (McNulty) is largely a prick which I can see bemusing some viewers, but it's a breath of fresh air for me.

Deadwood - the first season was amazing, but the second was poorly-written tosh. I think David Milch said 'let's write this so no-one can understand it like Bill Shakespeare but with lots of ****s'. I never had a problem with the dialogue in the first, but in the second it seems so forced. I've heard the third season is amazinh, but I can never finish the second!

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Poorly written tosh? I understood every word and think it takes everything that the first season did so well and builds upon it. :)

If I can get away with describing season 2 as Shakespearian I'd venture that season 3 is Biblical. It comes across, though, as a bit hurried (for the reason I stated probably) and it would have been great to see HBO giving them just another few episodes or the two TV movies that Milch supposedly (can't remember where I heard this so dunno how true it is) gave up in order to have complete artistic freedom over John From Cincinnati.

And what a damp squib that one was... ;)

Edit - Bodie is one of my favourite characters in The Wire, too. It was nice to see a young guy grow into a role.

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I can do brimming with humanity, and I often slog through the most depressing of novels - I am actually a huge fan of Dickens (though I'm no scholar on the subject Tatty -thats you ;)), but these aint no Dickens-ish.

Come on now. With Dickens, you have ultra depressing and degraded, but for the most part there is always a clearly painted victim with redeeming qualities, and various others in myriad stages of ethical development. Despite how dark Dickens painted the world, you always had the sense that Good would win over Evil....in the end. Of course, if I remember it correctly, Dickens' worldview was shaped by his "suffering is our lot in life" and "good always wins in spite of great tribulation" christian family. There is a hope in his works that transcends the dark picture he paints.

I like Dickens' approach to depravity, because he really does "humanize" them in such a way that even though you absolutely want to HATE and are disgusted with the antagonist(s), you cant help but to pity them. I think it must be that you perceive in his work an overall acknowledgement of 'the human condition" and an apology for it.

The Wire? The Shield? Deadwood? There is also an acknowledgement of the depravity......with no apology, and therefore no hope. They struck me as kind of like: I'm here, Im like this, and I'm never gonna change - DEAL with it. Not to be funny, but I actually perceived that approach as hopeless, desperately Godless and fundamentally depressing.

If man truly cannot triumph over this kind of depravity - what is left to us?

Dickens = There is good in the world even though it basically sucks.
Deadwood = The world sucks.
The Shield = The world sucks.
The Wire = The world sucks.

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I was pretty disappointed with this one, it can't believe the made 2 hours out of a depressingly minor story. If you take it as prequel and not 24: The Movie which it was almost advertised as, then i can take it. I'm certainly looking forward to Season 7 and the jumps they've taken needed some warm up by looks of it. But as the ever twisting stories in 24 go, i hope this prequel doesn't come of as redundant and minor as it felt. Mark, you seen the trailer for the new season? Tony Almeida is the baddie :eek:

Yeah, i'd heard nothing but excellent things about this show but couldn't get into it after the first episode. For it's reputation I am planning to carry on with it, though.

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Heh, sorry. I didn't explain myself well enough - I was alluding to the richness of the prose, not the subject matter. Deadwood was a primarily a Western to me, like The High Chaperal with more c*cksuckers. If a theme ain't visceral, I ain't a-huntin' for it. :)

I did study Victorian Lit, as it happens, but deliberately shied away from much Dickens. Mrs Gaskell and George Eliot floated my boat a bit more. ;)