Succession

I've not come across a review of this series on the site, so perhaps I've missed it.

Despite my admiration for Brian Cox, I had to bail on this series after the first two episodes. The story is interesting enough, although familiar territory; but the writing is sophomoric, and the dialogue sounds like it was written by a computer programmed by a beginning dialogue coach.......... from 1986.

All the men, save Brian Cox, are either wimps or goofballs, and all the women are witches. But everyone gets to utter the F word in nearly every sentence. Is this what passes for "hip" these days?

I think the Jeremy Strong character ought to commit suicide as soon as possible. And the grandson would be better off squashed by a falling safe.

Granted, the show might improve in later episodes, if they have any audience left. Still, if someone could give me some encouragement, we'll continue viewing, against our better judgement..

~Doc

I love the show - absolutely adore it - and thrilled that season 2 begins in August.

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Pretty much in the same boat here. I had to stop after ep2, and made myself finish that one. It's been a few weeks now and have attempted another go but I can only take it in half episode increments.

It's stylish, but I can't figure if it's comedy or pop drama. It doesn't feel like it's committing to anything for me, playing it safe pretending to be either as it's convenient. I'll keep at it though. Maybe it will grown on me.

Shaking my head. I cannot wait for season 2 to start early next month.

I'm honestly trying! I still can't put my finger on why this show bugs me the way it does. I THINK I have started EP6, the one with the board meeting. But I literally had to stop it because I threw my hands up and screamed at the setup.

I think it's that the characters are all bipolar. I don't mean their mental states necessarily, but the way they are written. In one scene, Kendall is an idiot frat boy throwing slang to try to fit it. Another scene he is actually quite intelligent, self-aware, and quite confident and capable of what he is doing. It's just that these traits are not consistent, as if he is written to the needs of individual scenes rather than longer arcs across an episode or even season. I find the similar patterns in all the other characters. In fact, the only consistent development I've seen is with Cousin Greg. His peaks and valleys seem appropriate throughout and he is actually growing, even if by paranoid accident, enough to plant seeds for potential future story development.

Overall, I feel as though characters are only responding to what is in front of them at any given moment. While I can appreciate that people do that in real life, and the lifestyle of this family may have set up short attention spans. It's hard to believe that every character has the same pattern when Roman fills that role so well already. That leads me to believe that it may not be the characters that think this way but the writer's inability to write beyond that short term characterization so then everyone gets the same treatment.

Hey! I think I have it! It's like a hybrid between HBO's Westworld and Arrested Development. Just there's no central straight man Michael Bluth to ground things for me. And it doesn't blend the two styles but, instead, jumps from one style to the other every few scenes.

Tonight I will try to finish at least this episode, though I may need to fast forward through where I left off. That was just too preposterous for me. But I'm trying!

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear

Cousin Greg is hilarious. Very unwise of anyone to under-estimate him. He will probably end up as head of the company. His interactions with Tom are hilarious.

I'm not interested based on the trailer but my wife is. That means I'm trying it.

Curious what you both think after 2 or 3 in.

If she doesn't like it, she won't even give it 20 minutes. We'll see.

Although I'm interested in seeing a second season, I get exactly what's been said about this here. I like it, but not really for reasons I can quite understand. It should annoy me and it doesn't sit easily, but then some episodes I really liked, while others just seemed to happen in front of me.

I've been like that with Big Little Lies too (and I'm about 3 episodes from the end of season 2 with that) and I still haven't decided whether to stay with it or not.

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I couldn’t make it through the pilot of Big Little Lies. But I just bought season 1 on sale so will try again since people seem to love it.

I loved Big Little Lies

Season 2 has started of Succession HBO. First episode was so good.

I've caught the first two episodes of season 2 and have enjoyed both. Someone must have hit a reset button during the break as character motivation makes sense now to me. It seems like everyone has settled into what should be comedic for plot rather than distraction or lack of writing commitment, and characters are pulling interesting moves now that someone is considering longer arcs. I hope the rest of the season can maintain this.

I felt the same way, @ynwtf and having finished the second season I feel that continues. It now feels to me as if the first season was an unnecessarily long intro to the second season. But the second season really delivered for me and felt much more like the programme I was expecting from the beginning. When I finished the first season I didn't really know why I'd bothered finishing it and, had I not had the whole season recorded, I probably wouldn't have. But with the end of the second season I can't wait for the next. If you struggled with the first season but kind of know who the characters are, I'd say just jump into season 2 and give it a go. I'm sure that what currently feels like an overlong season 1 will have planting seeds for future plotlines and character development, but by then I see no reason why you won't just need a couple of lines of dialogue to catch up. I'm sure I'll have forgotten (along with much of the audience) the thing which happened or was said in season 1 which become relevant later down the line.

Season 2 was brilliant. Too bad we have to wait until 2020 for season 3.

They absolutely gush about this show at the Ringer, but then again I'm pretty sure HBO has a shadow stake in that operation.

⬆️ One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

So glad Succession won at the Golden Globes. Such a good show.

Couldn't find another thread for this show, so I'm starting one. Just watched the pilot for this sizzling HBO drama of corporate chicanery and family dysfunction that takes old fashion prime time dramas like Dallas and Dynasty into the 21st century. From the creative force behind the Oscar nominated film Don't Look Up, this is the story of the Roy family. Patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is the CEO of the fifth largest media conglomerate on the planet who has apparently been contemplating retirement and handing over the reins to his son Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the high strung divorced father of two who has returned to the day to day at the company after a stint in rehab. The official announcement of Kendall taking over the reins is getting varied reactions from Kendall's siblings, Connor (Kieran Culkin), Connor (Alan Ruck) and Shiv (Sarah Snook), who have all gathered to celebrate Logan's 80th birthday in the opening. Throw into the mix Logan's pot-smoking nephew, Greg (Nicholas Braun) who has just lost his job as a character in one of Logan's theme parks and now wants in Logan's management training program. Logan also fired his COO Frank (Peter Friedman) after 30 years on the job before Logan lands himself in the hospital. Cox is a one man acting class in this role of Logan Roy...this character redefines the term "ice water in the veins". This family is falling all over him trying to impress him and no one is really succeeding. Love the way Logan speaks in abbreviations and doesn't care whether or not anyone can translate. We know Logan's not dying in the pilot but it's going to be fun to see what the Roy siblings will be up to until he wakes up. In its three seasons on HBO, the show gas racked up 13 Emmys, including ones for Cox and Strong, but the rest of the cast is equally impressive. Loved Culkin channeling Robert Downey Jr as Connor, stealing every scene he was in. This is definitely a new millenium TV family. They interrupt a birthday dinner to fly in helicopters to a baseball field for a ball game, where a kid is offered a million dollars if he hits a home run. This one is going to require strict attention, but I think it's going to be worth it.