Sunday Television in April
Apr. 3rd, 2015 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHave a lovely 4 day weekend, with the only required commitment - the 11 am design consultation that I completed well an hour ago. See previous post for details.
Sunday television has suddenly become insanely crowded with good television series. (Depending on your taste of course, and since my taste is so weirdly eclectic, I'm guessing I probably watch something you love and something you despise with the force of 1000 suns. It's gotten to the point that I often just tell people to list off what they like, before I nod in agreement and state - yeah, that one.)
Here's my Sunday Line-Up for April:
1. Once Upon a Time
2. Call the Midwife
3. The Good Wife
4. Mad Men
5. Outlander
6. Wolf Hall
7. Game of Thrones
I cancelled The Walking Dead during the second half of the third season. The violence really got to me. It's is unrelentingly violent television series - there's no light in it, just unrelenting violence and torture. With a very dark sense of humor. Also, I've never been fond of the zombie horror trope. It bugs me.
Revenge -- I gave up on this season. I got tired of ranting at the television screen. The show was pissing me off. Or aggravating me. It never resolved any of its story threads, it just kept regurgitating them. On and on and on. Also, you know there's a problem when you can't abide 90% of the characters. By the time I gave up on it, the only character I didn't want to push off a cliff was possibly Nolan and Emily, and the other characters appeared to be invested in pushing them off a cliff, and somewhat succeeding at it.
Madam Secretary and Secrets and Lies - I just couldn't get into. Neither held my attention for more than five minutes. I'd wonder off and surf the net or play Candy Crush.
Probably a good thing I cancelled these shows - considering I have 7 other shows on the same night that I really love to watch.
Good Wife has admittedly not been as strong this season as it was last season. But it continues to redefine itself, and the characters continue to evolve and grow in unexpected directions. I never would have predicted this storyline, I honestly thought they were going a different route. Also the dialogue is smart and fast. The acting pitch perfect. And I adore Eli's daughter Marisa.
Once Upon a Time - remains unpredictable as well, also rather clever in its plot lines and thematic scope. Exploring various angles of story telling, what stories mean, what fairy tales mean, and why we tell them. Plus the characters continue to grow evolve, peel back layers, and change. I'm starting to really like the character of Regina, who has grown on me a great deal.
Wolf Hall - haven't read the books. Have the first one on Audio, which doesn't quite work for me. But I've been curious about the mini-series, which my flist appears to have mixed feelings about. They state that it is a fairly close adaptation of the books, but the television writers (like all television adapters) take artistic license with some of the material and go off text at times. Apparently the television writers liked the character of Anne Boylan more than the novelist, Hillary Mantel did. And shipped Boylan with Cromwell, while Mantel shipped Cromwell with Henry. (I don't know if this is true or not, but I found the comment to be rather funny. Also, regarding slash?
I've noticed a pattern emerging over the years that I've found to be rather curious: heterosexual women tend to write slash m/m and fantasize over slash m/m, heterosexual men tend to write slash f/f and fantasize slash f/f. But very few homosexual men or women in fandom appear to write slash? Curious as to why? You'd think it would be the opposite?)
Mad Men - it's the second part of the final season. And if it is close to last year's portion - we're in for a great ride. Last season was good, amongst the best.
Game of Thrones - apparently they are going off book this season, combining a few things, cutting a few things, and adding a few things. Considering I was not overly fond of either Feast of Crows or A Dance of Dragons (although the second book was admittedly better, if a tad longer), this may not be a bad thing. Overall, I've preferred the television series to the books. Martin's writing style is not my favorite. Very verbose and rambling. The television series is tighter.
I decided to get HBO again because of GoT, well that and a few other up and coming programs on HBO.
Outlander - the first half of the season surprised me. It was so good, I bought the DVD for $24. (30% with an additional 20% off). Definitely better than the book - which is slow, and gives GRRM a run for his money regarding rambling and repetition.
Tighter, and the casting like GoT is pitch perfect. As is the production value and to some degree the writing. I like GoT better - but it comes rather close. Plus the actor playing Jamie, is admittedly hot or (very pretty).
Call the Midwife - a quiet, well done, character driven series - with no violence, and filled with kindness. It's my happy show.
Sunday television has suddenly become insanely crowded with good television series. (Depending on your taste of course, and since my taste is so weirdly eclectic, I'm guessing I probably watch something you love and something you despise with the force of 1000 suns. It's gotten to the point that I often just tell people to list off what they like, before I nod in agreement and state - yeah, that one.)
Here's my Sunday Line-Up for April:
1. Once Upon a Time
2. Call the Midwife
3. The Good Wife
4. Mad Men
5. Outlander
6. Wolf Hall
7. Game of Thrones
I cancelled The Walking Dead during the second half of the third season. The violence really got to me. It's is unrelentingly violent television series - there's no light in it, just unrelenting violence and torture. With a very dark sense of humor. Also, I've never been fond of the zombie horror trope. It bugs me.
Revenge -- I gave up on this season. I got tired of ranting at the television screen. The show was pissing me off. Or aggravating me. It never resolved any of its story threads, it just kept regurgitating them. On and on and on. Also, you know there's a problem when you can't abide 90% of the characters. By the time I gave up on it, the only character I didn't want to push off a cliff was possibly Nolan and Emily, and the other characters appeared to be invested in pushing them off a cliff, and somewhat succeeding at it.
Madam Secretary and Secrets and Lies - I just couldn't get into. Neither held my attention for more than five minutes. I'd wonder off and surf the net or play Candy Crush.
Probably a good thing I cancelled these shows - considering I have 7 other shows on the same night that I really love to watch.
Good Wife has admittedly not been as strong this season as it was last season. But it continues to redefine itself, and the characters continue to evolve and grow in unexpected directions. I never would have predicted this storyline, I honestly thought they were going a different route. Also the dialogue is smart and fast. The acting pitch perfect. And I adore Eli's daughter Marisa.
Once Upon a Time - remains unpredictable as well, also rather clever in its plot lines and thematic scope. Exploring various angles of story telling, what stories mean, what fairy tales mean, and why we tell them. Plus the characters continue to grow evolve, peel back layers, and change. I'm starting to really like the character of Regina, who has grown on me a great deal.
Wolf Hall - haven't read the books. Have the first one on Audio, which doesn't quite work for me. But I've been curious about the mini-series, which my flist appears to have mixed feelings about. They state that it is a fairly close adaptation of the books, but the television writers (like all television adapters) take artistic license with some of the material and go off text at times. Apparently the television writers liked the character of Anne Boylan more than the novelist, Hillary Mantel did. And shipped Boylan with Cromwell, while Mantel shipped Cromwell with Henry. (I don't know if this is true or not, but I found the comment to be rather funny. Also, regarding slash?
I've noticed a pattern emerging over the years that I've found to be rather curious: heterosexual women tend to write slash m/m and fantasize over slash m/m, heterosexual men tend to write slash f/f and fantasize slash f/f. But very few homosexual men or women in fandom appear to write slash? Curious as to why? You'd think it would be the opposite?)
Mad Men - it's the second part of the final season. And if it is close to last year's portion - we're in for a great ride. Last season was good, amongst the best.
Game of Thrones - apparently they are going off book this season, combining a few things, cutting a few things, and adding a few things. Considering I was not overly fond of either Feast of Crows or A Dance of Dragons (although the second book was admittedly better, if a tad longer), this may not be a bad thing. Overall, I've preferred the television series to the books. Martin's writing style is not my favorite. Very verbose and rambling. The television series is tighter.
I decided to get HBO again because of GoT, well that and a few other up and coming programs on HBO.
Outlander - the first half of the season surprised me. It was so good, I bought the DVD for $24. (30% with an additional 20% off). Definitely better than the book - which is slow, and gives GRRM a run for his money regarding rambling and repetition.
Tighter, and the casting like GoT is pitch perfect. As is the production value and to some degree the writing. I like GoT better - but it comes rather close. Plus the actor playing Jamie, is admittedly hot or (very pretty).
Call the Midwife - a quiet, well done, character driven series - with no violence, and filled with kindness. It's my happy show.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-03 04:49 pm (UTC)I don't know who you got that from, but IMO they only got it from their own imaginations. Or more likely were just being flippant.
I thought the series reproduced the books pretty faithfully and that Cromwell's relationships with both Henry and Anne Boleyn were as in the books. Absolutely nothing 'shippy in the romantic sense at all.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-03 07:04 pm (UTC)Which I found amusing.
The other reviewer on my correspondence list, TCH, stated it was pretty close to the books, but more emphasis on Boylen and less on Henry. He didn't see anything shippy in it.
Reviewers are interesting. They often pick up on things that other people don't. And your opinion of a work, if you aren't careful, can be heavily influenced by the review, which is why a friend of mine doesn't read reviews. She says they either contain plot spoilers, or interfere with her reading/watching experience - influencing her opinion in some way . She'd rather form one on her own first.
For me? I'm way too curious as to what others think about it. I honestly want to know how they viewed it. And how their view was similar or different from mine. Even though there's the risk of course of having it influence my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-03 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-04 12:40 am (UTC)I just love reading reviews - and getting a feel for what it might involve.
Although, that said, I don't do it for everything. There are books and tv series that I've gone into blind. Buffy is an example of a series that I went into blind. Sometimes going into something blind is more rewarding, albeit it's harder to do nowadays with the constant bombardment of information.