T.V. shows you've been watching

[Drew]

I meant Xavier, the blonde long haired dude (his real name is Percy).

I thought the effects in Wheel of Time were pretty good compared to Wednesday tbh. The CGI was so bad except for Thing (which was mostly practical with some CGI so it doesn't really count lol).

Oh yeah, I have my issues with that show - read and loved the books as a kid, finally finished them five or six years back after Brandon Sanderson finished ghost-writing them - but the quality of special effects were not one of them.

EDIT - on that note, it occured to me quite recently that my tendency to use "roll the dice" as a phrase for taking a chance on something almost CERTAINLY was from Mat, which is funny because as a kid he was my least favorite of the three protagonists, and rereading as an adult he was easily my favorite.

Then later in season 6 and more in seasons 7 and 8 they started just having her show up on horseback in random scenes and delivering one liners that you know were designed to make certain circles of the internet go YASSSS QUEEN and ruined everything.

I mean, it helps a little that all those YASSSSS QUEEN people took it right on the chin in the last couple episodes with Mad Queen Daenerys rampaging her way through Kings Landing.

 

[Drew]

You didn't like Fred Armisen as Fester? I thought he did a good job tbh. The character is always kind of goofy and annoying. That's his whole schtick.

I really dislike that guy... but yeah, he was a pretty good casting decision. Didn't even annoy me as much as he normally does, which is saying something.

 

[wankerness]

You didn't like Fred Armisen as Fester? I thought he did a good job tbh. The character is always kind of goofy and annoying. That's his whole schtick.


Gwendoline Christie was better in Sandman as Lucifer tbh.

That was Fred Armisen? Jesus. Didn't recognize him at all. I am not big on Fred Armisen (he's in way too much stuff and usually isn't funny; kind of a male Maya Rudolph), but have liked him in some stuff, ex the fascist he played on Parks and Rec. I HATED the voice he was using on Wednesday. Reminded me of Robot in the Family, a movie where they just stuck the most obnoxious wacky voiceover imaginable over a robot character who NEVER shuts up:



Again, my reference for Fester mainly comes from the two live action movies, not anything earlier or more true to the original series or comic strip. And Christopher Lloyd's version of the character is a weirdo but he basically struggles to get words out and mostly silently mugs, while Armisen's version has verbal diarrhea and an annoying little voice.

 

[spudmunkey]

I forgot how funny The Mick is.

 

[nightflameauto]

I forgot how funny The Mick is.

It's a travesty that show didn't last longer.

The main dude on there, the squirrely fucker with the scraggly hair, plays Adam on Lucifer. Yeah, that Adam. The first man. He's also hysterical in that portrayal.

 

[spudmunkey]

While I typically hate every kid in every TV show (and that's also true if you remove everything after the word "kid"), the youngest kid on The Mick is the highlight for me.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Lone star 911 is really fucking retarded.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Lone star 911 is really fucking retarded.

911 was dumb as fuck. Probably the worst tv version of EMS ever imo.

Fire Country does a way better job of actually
getting the EMS side right (and it's relatively entertaining). Still has the same problem where these people are dealing with insane calls every week, yet they magically have no medical calls with heart attacks/hypoglycemia/falls/dead old people/homeless people drunk and shitting themselves.

If you want a good movie about EMS check out Bringing Out The Dead w Nicolas Cage.

 

[nightflameauto]

911 was dumb as fuck. Probably the worst tv version of EMS ever imo.

Fire Country does a way better job of actually
getting the EMS side right (and it's relatively entertaining). Still has the same problem where these people are dealing with insane calls every week, yet they magically have no medical calls with heart attacks/hypoglycemia/falls/dead old people/homeless people drunk and shitting themselves.

If you want a good movie about EMS check out Bringing Out The Dead w Nicolas Cage.

You had me at Nicolas Cage.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

You had me at Nicolas Cage.

allow me to further sell it. Martin Scorcese and Ving Rhames.

 

[Carrion Rocket]

Malcolm In The Middle.

While it's nice to watch in 16:9 HD, I'm constantly distracted by alot of things that the 4:3 ratio hid. You full on see crew members and stand ins all over the place. Or you see actors waiting for their cue.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

allow me to further sell it. Martin Scorcese and Ving Rhames.

My mom thinks the name "Ving Rhames" is funny because it "sounds like some sort of disease." She loves his acting, though. Now every time I hear the name, I can't help, but think of a disease because of her. Lol

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Malcolm In The Middle.

While it's nice to watch in 16:9 HD, I'm constantly distracted by alot of things that the 4:3 ratio hid. You full on see crew members and stand ins all over the place. Or you see actors waiting for their cue.

Lol, really? Usually 16:9 versions of a 4:3 show/cartoon, etc. is just cropping or stretching the aspect ratio to fit. I was not aware any of them actually uncropped things like that. Where are you watching this?

 

[BlackMastodon]

Watched the first 2 episodes of The Last of Us last night even though I wanted to wait until it was all out to binge. Really enjoying it, even if Ellie is a bit annoyong with all the swearing but it's faithful to the game, and also adds to the perspective that Joel finds her annoying at the start. That opening sequence was every good as bit as good as in the game.

 

[Carrion Rocket]

Lol, really? Usually 16:9 versions of a 4:3 show/cartoon, etc. is just cropping or stretching the aspect ratio to fit. I was not aware any of them actually uncropped things like that. Where are you watching this?

Disney+ is where I'm watching it now, but from what I've read up about online, it was also apparently a problem when it streamed on Netflix too.

By the 90s alot of show were shot in 16:9 and then cropped to 4:3 when it aired on TV. Some shows knew it would be aired in 4:3 so just shot it like they'd have done prior, but a few shows framed for 16:9 regardless (Friends and That 70s Show for example).

Simpsons and Seinfeld had the opposite problem of a show shot / animated and framed for 4:3 and then cropped and stretched to 16:9 years later. Horribly too.

I remember when The Wire first came to 16:9 for the HD remasters they made efforts to crop them in ways that didn't show the equipment and crew in uncropped shots.

David Simon on the Tricky Process of Remastering The Wire

Slate is celebrating HBO’s marathon broadcast of the remastered The Wire by republishing some of our best coverage of the show. This article,...

slate.com

There have been worse efforts, did you ever see the HD "remastered" versions of Buffy The Vampire Slayer?

 

[Drew]

Watched the first 2 episodes of The Last of Us last night even though I wanted to wait until it was all out to binge. Really enjoying it, even if Ellie is a bit annoyong with all the swearing but it's faithful to the game, and also adds to the perspective that Joel finds her annoying at the start. That opening sequence was every good as bit as good as in the game.

Watched episode 2 last night, as well.

Probably not a surprise to anyone who's played the game, but the twist at the end was wholly unsurprising, and still really effective. And man, the scen right before the lighter was absolutely disturbing in ways I wasn't prepared for.

Spoiler

I like how Ellie was asking about all the rumors she'd heard and asked about undead whose heads split open and who now hunt navigating like bats, and Joel and Tess look at each other for a second like "who's gonna tell her that one's true," before they hear something in the distance, and then sure enough they run into a pair of them. My wife didn't actually initially make the connection and I had to remind her about the conversation on the bridge.

As a Bostonian, the setting is... like, parts of it are REALLY well done. I recognize parts of Congress Street, Faneuil Hall was pretty true to life, and the Capital building was accurate enough in architecture that at first I thought they'd fabricated it, before I realized it was just a different angle that I was expecting and they were on the (facing from the front) right side, a little behind.

But... They depict Boston as perfectly flat, devoid of skyscrapers between Faneul Hall and the Capital, and even in 2003 there were enough that you couldn't have seen the Capital from that spot (which I think in real life would have been a Gap, from that vantage) because Government Center would be in the way... even accounting for the fact the icoonic gold dome of the capital is on top of Beacon Hill. The grassy field where they run off from isn't there, there's no lawn to speak of, and they ran off through what would have been a bar called the 21st Amendment, more or less, and would have been heading down a steep and narrow street running off Beacon hill. And, there's no Bostonian Museum I'm aware of - the signage is very reminiscent of that at the Boston Tea Party museum, but that's a small building and a boat, and the look is a bit like the old capital building on State Street, but that's already on the other side of Faneuil Hall, coming from Congress Street down on the Seaport and edge of the Financial District.

DGAF, of course, but it's just all kind of interesting to me since this is basically my backyard.

 

[nightflameauto]

Watched episode 2 last night, as well.

Probably not a surprise to anyone who's played the game, but the twist at the end was wholly unsurprising, and still really effective. And man, the scen right before the lighter was absolutely disturbing in ways I wasn't prepared for.

Spoiler

I like how Ellie was asking about all the rumors she'd heard and asked about undead whose heads split open and who now hunt navigating like bats, and Joel and Tess look at each other for a second like "who's gonna tell her that one's true," before they hear something in the distance, and then sure enough they run into a pair of them. My wife didn't actually initially make the connection and I had to remind her about the conversation on the bridge.

As a Bostonian, the setting is... like, parts of it are REALLY well done. I recognize parts of Congress Street, Faneuil Hall was pretty true to life, and the Capital building was accurate enough in architecture that at first I thought they'd fabricated it, before I realized it was just a different angle that I was expecting and they were on the (facing from the front) right side, a little behind.

But... They depict Boston as perfectly flat, devoid of skyscrapers between Faneul Hall and the Capital, and even in 2003 there were enough that you couldn't have seen the Capital from that spot (which I think in real life would have been a Gap, from that vantage) because Government Center would be in the way... even accounting for the fact the icoonic gold dome of the capital is on top of Beacon Hill. The grassy field where they run off from isn't there, there's no lawn to speak of, and they ran off through what would have been a bar called the 21st Amendment, more or less, and would have been heading down a steep and narrow street running off Beacon hill. And, there's no Bostonian Museum I'm aware of - the signage is very reminiscent of that at the Boston Tea Party museum, but that's a small building and a boat, and the look is a bit like the old capital building on State Street, but that's already on the other side of Faneuil Hall, coming from Congress Street down on the Seaport and edge of the Financial District.

DGAF, of course, but it's just all kind of interesting to me since this is basically my backyard.

Consider yourself lucky. The only depiction we've ever seen of Sioux Falls was in Supernatural, and amounted to a junkyard (got many of them), one coffee shop (bazillions of them), the sheriff's office (which is about 1/10th the right size) and a library that disappears and reappears as needed for the plot, all along one street. I know of six libraries in town that are public facing, and a few more that are group specific.

The fact they bothered putting any reality into it is actually kinda shocking. Surprised they didn't just build a dock with fake wooden boats and a few ramshackle bars to cover the Cheers crowd that remember the show, but don't remember the bar was supposed to be under another building.

 

[Drew]

Consider yourself lucky. The only depiction we've ever seen of Sioux Falls was in Supernatural, and amounted to a junkyard (got many of them), one coffee shop (bazillions of them), the sheriff's office (which is about 1/10th the right size) and a library that disappears and reappears as needed for the plot, all along one street. I know of six libraries in town that are public facing, and a few more that are group specific.

The fact they bothered putting any reality into it is actually kinda shocking. Surprised they didn't just build a dock with fake wooden boats and a few ramshackle bars to cover the Cheers crowd that remember the show, but don't remember the bar was supposed to be under another building.

Fair points.

Yeah, it's an interesting experience watching this as a Bostonian. I thought for a moment I even saw my own office building in the wreckage, but I'm not positive it was intentional.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Consider yourself lucky. The only depiction we've ever seen of Sioux Falls was in Supernatural, and amounted to a junkyard (got many of them), one coffee shop (bazillions of them), the sheriff's office (which is about 1/10th the right size) and a library that disappears and reappears as needed for the plot, all along one street. I know of six libraries in town that are public facing, and a few more that are group specific.

The fact they bothered putting any reality into it is actually kinda shocking. Surprised they didn't just build a dock with fake wooden boats and a few ramshackle bars to cover the Cheers crowd that remember the show, but don't remember the bar was supposed to be under another building.

Well there was The Sioux Falls massacre in season 2 of Fargo, so there was a motel set in the 80's for a couple episodes.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I watched The Recruit this week on Netflix, it kept me interested but had plenty of cheese/suspension of belief moments. I mean, a lawyer newly hired at the CIA most likely won’t be the guy being sent around the world doing secret missions and escaping assassins, but it was written like they knew it was a bit cheeky and wrote enough humor in it to not be terrible.