TV Thread - beware, [expletive] can get spoilery

[robbotis]

The reviews of "Revolution" have all been terrible, FWIW. Although it was fun to see Wrigley Field in ruins in that commercial.

It looks exactly like the kind of show that I think might be a decent DRV show to have as a time-waster but ends up being absolutely unwatchable. Like Terra Nova last year.

I keep going back to these network shows thinking this will be the one where they finally learn something from all the great cable shows out there and I keep being extremely disappointed. I begrudingly DVR'ed the pilot of Revolution. We'll see.

I agree completely.
They try way to hard to target a broad, expansive audience.
Maybe they have to.
Although, I'm not sure why 90% of the shows that air at 9PM central involve a sappy, lame doctor or cop relationship show.

[ghostrunner]

There's something to be said for execution and realism on a show that purports to show an electricity free land for 15 years. The girl looked like she walked out of a makeup booth and then a tailor shop that specialized in sexy adventure wear. That stupid column on the steps of the brother's hideout. My wife said "oh, this column fell here 15 years ago and we just decided to leave it right in the way" (we're not usually THAT kind of people). It's just not well thought out. Were there bodies in that plane they were scavenging for supplies in? Add up a bunch of little things like that and it just doesn't feel right. And how exactly did the doofus texting buddy that forgets his military ID transition into a fearsome warlord who seriously lives in a huge command tent with antique folding screens like he's back in medieval times?

[Vidor]

A while back in some thread--this one?--I posted a picture of Phyllis Smith from "The Office" in her younger days as a cheerleader for the St. Louis football Cardinals.



Only it seems that person isn't her and the Yahoo story was false.

But this is!




http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/fall-tv/offic ... 08189.html

[MrSaigon]

There's something to be said for execution and realism on a show that purports to show an electricity free land for 15 years. The girl looked like she walked out of a makeup booth and then a tailor shop that specialized in sexy adventure wear. That stupid column on the steps of the brother's hideout. My wife said "oh, this column fell here 15 years ago and we just decided to leave it right in the way" (we're not usually THAT kind of people). It's just not well thought out. Were there bodies in that plane they were scavenging for supplies in? Add up a bunch of little things like that and it just doesn't feel right. And how exactly did the doofus texting buddy that forgets his military ID transition into a fearsome warlord who seriously lives in a huge command tent with antique folding screens like he's back in medieval times?

I thought it was really cool of the aliens or Republicans or whoever cut the power to do so in such an aesthetically pleasing way. It was awesome the way the headlights went out on cars one by one, front to back, and then how the power went out north to south for the global view.

If you seriously need to know the answer to your last question right now, maybe shows that have run their course and are available in entirety on DVD would be better for you. Or sitcoms. About 90% of them have a gay guy now, so that's good. (Just giving you a hard time).

It wasn't the tightest hour of television ever, but I found enough intrigue to give it some play.

Shows do get better sometimes, too. Not a great comparison but remember how lame Parks and Rec was in the first season (What if Michael Scott was a woman!?!)

[Fat Strat]

Shows do get better sometimes, too. Not a great comparison but remember how lame Parks and Rec was in the first season (What if Michael Scott was a woman!?!)

That was Lost for me. I watched an early episode of Lost (not the pilot, that we before DVR) and thought it was one of the most ridiculous hours of television I had ever seen. A polar bear running around a tropical island? A smoke monster? Seemed like the whole show was about that girl running around the jungle in a bra.

Ironically considering we're talking about Revolution, but it wasn't until a huge ice storm hit Tulsa and knocked the power out for a few days that I got into Lost again. We were staying with a friend who did have power and he forced a Lost marathon on me. After watching them all at once, I was hooked.

[ghostrunner]

There's something to be said for execution and realism on a show that purports to show an electricity free land for 15 years. The girl looked like she walked out of a makeup booth and then a tailor shop that specialized in sexy adventure wear. That stupid column on the steps of the brother's hideout. My wife said "oh, this column fell here 15 years ago and we just decided to leave it right in the way" (we're not usually THAT kind of people). It's just not well thought out. Were there bodies in that plane they were scavenging for supplies in? Add up a bunch of little things like that and it just doesn't feel right. And how exactly did the doofus texting buddy that forgets his military ID transition into a fearsome warlord who seriously lives in a huge command tent with antique folding screens like he's back in medieval times?

I thought it was really cool of the aliens or Republicans or whoever cut the power to do so in such an aesthetically pleasing way. It was awesome the way the headlights went out on cars one by one, front to back, and then how the power went out north to south for the global view.

If you seriously need to know the answer to your last question right now, maybe shows that have run their course and are available in entirety on DVD would be better for you. Or sitcoms. About 90% of them have a gay guy now, so that's good. (Just giving you a hard time).

I don't really mean how so much as why that guy. There was nothing about him early to hint that he was of any consequence or that he had some sort of malicious or egomaniacal personality. In the end it's a surprise but it's not the kind that carries any shock to it. Not that I know better than the average tv writer, but the way you'd set that up is before they're in the car you have a scene where that guy maybe picks a fight in a bar so you know at least he's sort of a dick or he's troubled in some way. I liken it to The Phantom Menace where you meet the kid Vader but there actually is no hint of menace there at all. As it is your just like "hey it's that guy we saw for 30 seconds earlier." Also can't figure why based on the incident as he witnessed it, why he thinks the brother knows anything about the blackout.

I think falling skies is a good analogy. I think it has the opposite problem - weak story but a fairly strong cast and better execution. To me everything and everyone looks authentically gone to hell in that world. I've thought before that I wish the cast of Falling Skies could partially be swapped with that of The Walking Dead. Another good story with a bland cast.

[Cole Burns]

Shows do get better sometimes, too. Not a great comparison but remember how lame Parks and Rec was in the first season (What if Michael Scott was a woman!?!)

That was Lost for me. I watched an early episode of Lost (not the pilot, that we before DVR) and thought it was one of the most ridiculous hours of television I had ever seen. A polar bear running around a tropical island? A smoke monster? Seemed like the whole show was about that girl running around the jungle in a bra.

Ironically considering we're talking about Revolution, but it wasn't until a huge ice storm hit Tulsa and knocked the power out for a few days that I got into Lost again. We were staying with a friend who did have power and he forced a Lost marathon on me. After watching them all at once, I was hooked.

I remember that night, but don't remember the Lost marathon. We must have bugged out before then.

[Fat Strat]

Yeah, that was day 2 or 3.

[ghostrunner]

No way should that guy from Homeland have beaten Cranston or Hamm. I like his work and the show, but it might be the most overrated on tv right now.

[robbotis]

No way should that guy from Homeland have beaten Cranston or Hamm. I like his work and the show, but it might be the most overrated on tv right now.

I agree 100%. I watch Homeland, and like it, BUT...

I mean, does anything ever really happen?
It's Claire Danes being schizo. No way she ever gets close to a government position again.
It's not really that much different than the universally hated, The Killing. I mean one episode Brody looks like a bad guy. The next he's a hero. The next, he'a a terrorist. Then he's a dad, who had a change of heart. then... You get the point.
It's entertaining, and well acted. But Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and The Walking Dead are much, much superior.