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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!
Firefly is pure awesomeness. Adam Baldwin is hilarious. Lol.

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).



Sci-Fi-Guy's Avatar
Beware The Probe!
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.

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Fear the Probe!



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
24: Redemption (John Cassar, 2008)




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.



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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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



Chappie doesn't like the real world
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.



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



You ready? You look ready.
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.
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



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.
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.



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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something witty goes here......



The People's Republic of Clogher
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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"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



I hated The Wire - never got into it.
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?

It was almost as good as Deadwood.
Don't even say that.



THE. MOST. HORRIBLE. science fiction show since......Dr. Who.
wtf.



The People's Republic of Clogher



Don't even say that.
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...

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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...



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?
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.



The People's Republic of Clogher
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.



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!



The People's Republic of Clogher
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.



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.



24: Redemption (John Cassar, 2008)




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

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.
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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The People's Republic of Clogher
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.
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.