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If you like the TV show "Frequency", you should definitely see the movie. It's basically the same story, but instead of a daughter, he's talking to his son, and instead of policeman, the father was a fireman. There are some other differences, but those are the main differences. Also, (obviously), the movie has a conclusion, while the TV show won't have one for a while.

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OPEN FLOOR.

I've watched six episodes so far of this series and loveeeeeeeeeeeee it.

Jessica Jones is great

I've been watching the Swedish crime thriller Modus and it's been pretty heavy going as it's considerably weaker than other recent shows such as Beck, Trapped and The Bridge. I started watching it because I wasn't familiar with Uppsala (the architecture and scenery alone have made it worthwhile); plus I'd never seen Krister Henriksson outside his role as Kurt Wallander. One detail is the uncommon amount of actors in Modus who are familiar from other productions, especially Henriksson's Wallander, and it tends to show the range of the actors in question very well, as they usually get to play fundamentally different parts.

Last night's episodes featured one of the most embarrassing elements I can remember seeing in a production – namely an FBI officer in Texas with the strangest delivery known to man. She is someone with whom the main character, a criminal profiler, used to work. Initially I thought that the actress was Swedish and was doing a very unconvincing Texas accent but it would seem that she is English. The character also uses some incredibly odd phrases that appear to be there to denote her Americanness, namely "I'm on my way back from a 'situation'" and "You guys were right". These lines are all delivered in an unnaturally slow way, which reminded me of Krister Henriksson speaking in English in Wallander and which is why I expected the actress to be from Sweden (Henriksson says he isn't comfortable acting in English and there is a slowness to his use of it in various scenes, which, even if it wasn't intended, works for the character as Kurt isn't confident with it anyway). The result was very uncomfortable and infuriating rather than comical as it threw the earnestness of the rest of the piece out of the window.

Finished Jessica Jones last night. And sad there is no more until series 2 in 2018! No no no no. I know that Defenders thing is coming next year but that's not enough.

I've been watching Bleasdale's GBH for the first time in years.

The first thing that struck me was how broad, how gauche, most of the performances are with Robert Lyndsay's in particular verging on Lee Evans territory. What we expect from TV drama has changed a lot in the past 25 years...

The second thing that struck me was how prescient GBH was - The story of a Labour leader becoming a puppet of a Trotskyite faction. It was originally, of course, a take on Derek Hatton and Militant.

The third thing that struck me was how utterly, beautifully awful most of the haircuts were in the early 90s.

The forth thing that struck me was that GBH is still brilliant.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

The 100




Let's talk a bit about The CW. I've never liked the network, for the most part. Populated with allegedly "edgy" shows populated by young, beautiful people spouting wooden dialogue in contrived, predictable situations. People who will be in an explosion only to emerge with perfect hair and make-up. I have tried multiple times to watch a show that brought an interesting premise to the table, only to find myself rolling my eyes and reaching for the remote. It's so bad, other networks openly joke in their own shows about the calculated casting and poor writing.

So, when a friend recommended The 100, a post-apocalyptic science fiction show on The CW, I looked at the floor and said "Come on man...The CW?" This is a friend I watch stuff like Westworld and Game of Thrones with. He knows his stuff when it comes to quality programming, so I thought that maybe he fell in the snow and hit his head on the way to my house.

"Hey, it's good...not your average CW show. Check it out."

So, against my better judgment, My wife and I fired up The 100. Yep, there they all were...a cast of teens and twenty-somethings out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, with a couple of token adults thrown in the mix. Within two episodes...love triangle. Easy to read character archetypes... The bully, the pretty girl, the tough chick with an attitude, the psycho... Hmm, I think I am getting punked by my friend!

By the fourth or fifth episode, I am eating my words. People are dying. The shallow characters are gaining depth, subverting their archetypes, considering the implications of their behavior and taking strides to change and grow. An explosion occurs and people are hurt, badly; Injuries which still show scars both physically and psychologically into the next season and beyond. No Star Trek reset button here! Characters make mistakes, and people die. They die. Children die. All because they made a hasty decision without thinking it through, or because they let their emotions cloud their judgment. The show sets up a potentially cliche and contrived scenario, and then blows it apart. Someone gets put on their knees with a gun to their head? Most shows would have a hero swoop in at the last second, just in time! Not this show. The hero is too late, the villain wins, and the hero makes a decision that makes the villain look good. Suddenly, you realize there aren't any heroes and villains at all. Just different points of view and people making hard decisions that cause deaths, because there was no other choice. Meanwhile, the intrigue gets more and more complicated, the number of factions and points of view multiplies, and pretty soon, the world building starts to rival that of shows like Game of Thrones.

A quick scan around the internet, and I see people comparing the two shows quite a bit, with some asking the question as to whether or not The 100 might be the better show. I don't think I would go that far, but considering the fact that one show has a much higher budget, a better crew of actors, and a Hollywood level special effects crew, the idea that people are seriously comparing the two says something about the work the show runners over at The 100 are doing. By combining the gritty realism of Battestar Galactica, and the faction-centric intrigue of Game of Thrones, The 100 is a fantastic science fiction show - one that sheds the negative aspects of the two shows I just mentioned. It never stumbles into the "Who's a cylon" sleeper agent business that brought the final season of BSG to its knees, and the overall pacing maintains its urgency, something that Game of Thrones fails at pretty consistently, IMO. The show does start out a bit weak, but quickly finds its legs and then blasts off into the stratosphere after the conclusion of the first season.

The 100 is probably the best science fiction show on Network TV right now, and it stands in the ring with some of the cable network;s best offerings to date, with only Westworld being clearly better at the moment.

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I saw the trailer on IMDB and it looked like a typical CW show with some sci-fi thrown in the mix. But then you come along, with this outrageous claim that they have a show that's not only good, but comparable to GOT. You realize what you're saying? The CW? This is so crazy that I have to see for myself. So, I'm sold.

You'd make a killing in the sales industry.

Comparable in some ways. I did also say i wouldn't go as far as to agree that it is better than GoT per se., but in some other regards, it most certainly is. Lack of silly sexploitation, better pacing, and the way it builds to character deaths in a more believable and unavoidable way, for instance. The BSG comparison is apt, as well, the more I think about it.

If you do take the plunge, keep in mind that in the first few episodes, it comes across like your average CW junk. Doe-eyed teens simpering about etc. I do think the show runners use this stuff as a set-up, just so they can rip it to shreds as the season proceeds along. Later seasons are also stronger than season one, IMO. Not to say season one doesn't have its moments, as it certainly does!

Have fun - pop back in here and let us know how you make out. Also, keep an eye out for the language used by some of the characters on the ground - the same person that created the Dothraki language in GoT created this language, Just as fleshed out, and takes into account linguistic drift and other realistic language concepts.

Might take me a bit to get to it, I have several shows queued as it is. The first season has 13 episodes at 40+ minutes each, so I think the first 5 episodes should be enough to gauge whether or not I want to watch the rest of the show. If I like it, I'll make sure to finish it before the 4th season starts. I'll drop by and give my 2 cents, either way.

You've convinced me to give it a go, especially with so many other shows on hiatus. How many episodes would you say I'd need to watch to say, with confidence, whether I dig it?

The first couple (few?) episodes stumble out of the gate, for sure. A couple of the characters seem especially thin at that point. I do think it was intentional so we could then go through the subverting of expectations process the show revels in. Keep that in mind, and if you are still rolling your eyes by episode 6 or so, it may not be your cup of tea. Keep an eye out for Desmond from Lost, and Lt. Gaida from BSG!

Okay, six it is!

Watched the first 2 episodes of Channel Zero and I was surprised how good it actually turned out. Especially considering it's a show on Syfy. Perhaps they just might be turning it around. The suspense on the show is superb, you can see the skill behind the directing and editing to help heighten what is already a pretty great concept. It leaves me wondering why something of this caliber isn't seen in many films. I'm glad to see the show was picked up for another season.

Ah, excellent news. Now that we have binged the entire bunch of The 100 at a ridiculous rate over the past couple of weeks, we are short on things to watch. I will look this up on OnDemand very soon. Thanks for the rec.

Speaking of SyFy shows, have you gents seen The Expanse? Great stuff!

If you're into creepypasta, then this should be right up your alley.

I've had The Expanse in my queue for a while now, I really should give it a go soon before the new season starts. Considering it's one season I'll get to that as soon as I finish Channel Zero. Then after that I'll start The 100.

So I have a conversation with Yoda regarding a conflict, and the same day the next episode of The Office I see is called Conflict Resolution, where Michael Scott takes it upon himself to try and handle every grievance filed ever, instantly.

I dropped The 100 at the start of season 3. Mainly because I just had too much to watch, but also because I didn't love it. Were it not for the Neighbours connections I might not have watched for as long as I did. Not that it's bad, though. It's not. I think there's plenty of people out there who wouldn't give this a go who'd probably like it.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Hey Sedai, if you see this have you seen Deadwood as well as The Expanse? If so it would be awesome if you could break a tie for us in the TV Character Tournament? It's been 1-1 for two rounds because noone that has been voting has seen The Expanse to vote. Anyway it would be a big help if you could, the match is:

Josephus Miller vs Al Swearengen