Televison Round-up Take II
Oct. 7th, 2017 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSlowly making my way through my DVR recordings...
1. Wisdom of the Crowd -- new procedural crime series on CBS, Sundays, at 8PM.
I was surprised by this one. Mainly because it actually held my attention and I found the characters along with the gimmick/set-up innovative and somewhat interesting.
Jeremy Piven plays Tanner, a tech innovator (think Steve Jobs meets Joe Walsh), whose daughter was killed a year ago. New evidence has come to light that the wrong man may have been convicted. So he sells his mulit-million dollar business platform, to launch a crowd-sourcing software program that solves crimes via the assistance of social media. The way it works is that they post something similar to "have you seen this person", face and id, to everyone's cell phones. People check it out and respond. (Similar to Amber alerts). They also reach out to people to ask for assistance. In other words, the community helps the police solve the crime via the use of iphones and social media.
It does tackle the legal pitfalls and slippery slope of this concept. Early on someone hacks into the network. And as the police detective assigned to them states -- you can't tap into people's phones, that's a privacy violation, or use information that you've obtained illegally. (So someone on the writing team has researched the legalities of it.)
The cast is interesting, particularly the female characters (which is important to me, mileage clearly varies on this). Also Piven is rather good at playing a vulnerable rich ass, and I've always found him to be an interesting actor. The police detective is played by Richard T. Jones of Judging Amy, Collateral and Godzilla. English actress, Natalie Tena from Harry Potter, About a Boy and Game of Thrones (Osha) is playing the head of the tech team, who is also secretly involved with Tanner.
And Monica Potter (Parenthood) plays Tanner's Congresswoman ex-wife.
So far, the series is fast-paced, uplifting, with emphasis on tech and detective work, low on violence. Which to be honest is a breath of fresh air as far I'm concerned. The action and suspense involves figuring out how to use social media and others to help solve a case. With the interpersonal dramas playing in the background.
I enjoyed it and decided to stick with it for now.
2. Poldark S3
Fortunately they've moved away from the irritating and seemingly endless Elizabeth/Ross/Demelenza love triangle. Because I agree with George's Uncle on this point -- why three different men became enamored with the increasingly self-absorbed and narcissistic Elizabeth is beyond me. Although one of the three, Warleggan is just like her, so that at least makes sense. It's not the actress is a beauty. Looks a bit peaked actually. That love triangle was why I had to skim/skip most of Season 2. My tolerance for Lord and LadyNarcissist Warleggan only goes so far.
They are still featured in the story, but not quite to the same degree as last season. I'm guessing it's wrong to wish for an untimely demise for both? Maybe a house fire? I kept wanting George to trip and fall down the stairs...except Ross would probably be blamed for it.
Ross does make a bargain with Warleggan -- he'll stay out of Warleggan's life completely if Warleggan promises to do well by his Aunt, nephew, homestead, and the mine. And not use any against him. The moment he does -- Ross states, because he just could not leave it there --- he'll wish he was never born.
Problem with Warleggan is he's a narcissist. Which means he only cares about his image and nothing else. Although the actor is interesting --- and provides a certain vulnerability which can't quite be overcome with how his character is written. I keep trying to place him but just can't.
And Robin Ennis, the previous Poldark (the one as my mother states was on a 100 years ago..hardly, it was just the seventies), approaches Ross for a judgeship, Ross turns it down and lets Warleggan have it. Makes sense he does...not Ross's idea of fun. He'd much prefer to dash off to France to save Dr. Ennis. And so would I ...so I'm with Ross, let the Narcissist have it.
Love Delmenza, whose name I can't spell. And adore Verity, and Caroline (Poor Caroline, who finally marries the Doctor but does it in secret, and has to continue to ward off people who want her to marry Lord Conniston, who she has no interest in. Caroline isn't a narcissist.)
Ross is less of a jerk this round. This is an odd series...I prefer the female characters to the male characters and find them to be more complex and better written. Ross...is getting better, and I rather liked him when he wasn't pining over Elizabeth. My favorite male character is the Doctor, Dr. Dwight Ennis...I adore him. He's not an idiot or a jerk, well except for the fact that he decided to sign up for the war.
Now, Ross has gone after him.
Delmenza's brothers, both rather attractive, are a good addition to the story, as is the Governess and cousin of Elizabeth's who I actually like better than the brothers or Elizabeth. I like her a lot. Geoffrey Francis got the better end of things. Poor Valentine is stuck with a neglectful mother and father.
Now...if someone would just get rid of George and Elizabeth...all would be well. But alas, they are the token villains, so not going to happen any time soon.
Will probably stick with it this year. Has the same pacing
3. Trailer for Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams...the sci-fi anthology series adapted from Philip K. Dick short stories premiering on Amazon
4. Runaways Trailer finally surfaces...
This is James Marsters new series, where he plays one of the super-villain parents of the kids, along with Marcia Croft and various others. It's based on the Marvel X-men Spin-Off series created by Brian K. Vaughn, that all sorts of folks wrote for at different points. And is being written by best-selling YA novelist Rainbow Rowell
Damn. Hulu is making me want to subscribe..but must resist. I might do a free trial in November and binge watch Handmaid's Tale, Future Man and Runaways like I did Big Little Lies and GOT this summer with HBO Now.
[I keep skipping over words or my fingers are, I think them, but they don't appear on the page via typing, and it's getting worse. Hmm.)
6. The Good Place -- not as good as last week, or the week before. Mainly because it was 90% exposition and set up for the upcoming weeks.
Right now, Chidi and Ted Danson's Michael are the only two characters I don't want to smack upside the head, and say, you idiots. This is a choice between being eating alive by spiders or scorpions and well having to put up with clowns on the walls and being annoyed to death. Let me think.
And Tahani's sister better have a one-way ticket to the Bad Place, just saying.
Am curious to see how Michael, a devil, plans to sneak into the real Good Place with well our protagonists. I think he got bored in hell and decided to come up with ways to stress himself out.
1. Wisdom of the Crowd -- new procedural crime series on CBS, Sundays, at 8PM.
I was surprised by this one. Mainly because it actually held my attention and I found the characters along with the gimmick/set-up innovative and somewhat interesting.
Jeremy Piven plays Tanner, a tech innovator (think Steve Jobs meets Joe Walsh), whose daughter was killed a year ago. New evidence has come to light that the wrong man may have been convicted. So he sells his mulit-million dollar business platform, to launch a crowd-sourcing software program that solves crimes via the assistance of social media. The way it works is that they post something similar to "have you seen this person", face and id, to everyone's cell phones. People check it out and respond. (Similar to Amber alerts). They also reach out to people to ask for assistance. In other words, the community helps the police solve the crime via the use of iphones and social media.
It does tackle the legal pitfalls and slippery slope of this concept. Early on someone hacks into the network. And as the police detective assigned to them states -- you can't tap into people's phones, that's a privacy violation, or use information that you've obtained illegally. (So someone on the writing team has researched the legalities of it.)
The cast is interesting, particularly the female characters (which is important to me, mileage clearly varies on this). Also Piven is rather good at playing a vulnerable rich ass, and I've always found him to be an interesting actor. The police detective is played by Richard T. Jones of Judging Amy, Collateral and Godzilla. English actress, Natalie Tena from Harry Potter, About a Boy and Game of Thrones (Osha) is playing the head of the tech team, who is also secretly involved with Tanner.
And Monica Potter (Parenthood) plays Tanner's Congresswoman ex-wife.
So far, the series is fast-paced, uplifting, with emphasis on tech and detective work, low on violence. Which to be honest is a breath of fresh air as far I'm concerned. The action and suspense involves figuring out how to use social media and others to help solve a case. With the interpersonal dramas playing in the background.
I enjoyed it and decided to stick with it for now.
2. Poldark S3
Fortunately they've moved away from the irritating and seemingly endless Elizabeth/Ross/Demelenza love triangle. Because I agree with George's Uncle on this point -- why three different men became enamored with the increasingly self-absorbed and narcissistic Elizabeth is beyond me. Although one of the three, Warleggan is just like her, so that at least makes sense. It's not the actress is a beauty. Looks a bit peaked actually. That love triangle was why I had to skim/skip most of Season 2. My tolerance for Lord and Lady
They are still featured in the story, but not quite to the same degree as last season. I'm guessing it's wrong to wish for an untimely demise for both? Maybe a house fire? I kept wanting George to trip and fall down the stairs...except Ross would probably be blamed for it.
Ross does make a bargain with Warleggan -- he'll stay out of Warleggan's life completely if Warleggan promises to do well by his Aunt, nephew, homestead, and the mine. And not use any against him. The moment he does -- Ross states, because he just could not leave it there --- he'll wish he was never born.
Problem with Warleggan is he's a narcissist. Which means he only cares about his image and nothing else. Although the actor is interesting --- and provides a certain vulnerability which can't quite be overcome with how his character is written. I keep trying to place him but just can't.
And Robin Ennis, the previous Poldark (the one as my mother states was on a 100 years ago..hardly, it was just the seventies), approaches Ross for a judgeship, Ross turns it down and lets Warleggan have it. Makes sense he does...not Ross's idea of fun. He'd much prefer to dash off to France to save Dr. Ennis. And so would I ...so I'm with Ross, let the Narcissist have it.
Love Delmenza, whose name I can't spell. And adore Verity, and Caroline (Poor Caroline, who finally marries the Doctor but does it in secret, and has to continue to ward off people who want her to marry Lord Conniston, who she has no interest in. Caroline isn't a narcissist.)
Ross is less of a jerk this round. This is an odd series...I prefer the female characters to the male characters and find them to be more complex and better written. Ross...is getting better, and I rather liked him when he wasn't pining over Elizabeth. My favorite male character is the Doctor, Dr. Dwight Ennis...I adore him. He's not an idiot or a jerk, well except for the fact that he decided to sign up for the war.
Now, Ross has gone after him.
Delmenza's brothers, both rather attractive, are a good addition to the story, as is the Governess and cousin of Elizabeth's who I actually like better than the brothers or Elizabeth. I like her a lot. Geoffrey Francis got the better end of things. Poor Valentine is stuck with a neglectful mother and father.
Now...if someone would just get rid of George and Elizabeth...all would be well. But alas, they are the token villains, so not going to happen any time soon.
Will probably stick with it this year. Has the same pacing
3. Trailer for Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams...the sci-fi anthology series adapted from Philip K. Dick short stories premiering on Amazon
As is fitting for a Philip K. Dick adaptation, the Electric Dreams series seems concerned with questions of reality, identity, perception, corporate control, and free will. I hope some of the episodes really dive into Dick’s what-is-even-real paranoia, because getting freaked out about whether I exist or not is my favorite part of reading his work.
4. Runaways Trailer finally surfaces...
This is James Marsters new series, where he plays one of the super-villain parents of the kids, along with Marcia Croft and various others. It's based on the Marvel X-men Spin-Off series created by Brian K. Vaughn, that all sorts of folks wrote for at different points. And is being written by best-selling YA novelist Rainbow Rowell
“This is my favorite Marvel book. When [editor Nick Lowe] first reached out to me a few years ago about maybe working for Marvel, it was the first thing I asked him about,” Rowell tells EW of how the match-up came to be. “The characters and original story by Brian K. Vaughan (Paper Girls) are just so great and so beautifully built. I was really excited because I always felt like there were more Runaway stories and that book should just have kept going.”
Damn. Hulu is making me want to subscribe..but must resist. I might do a free trial in November and binge watch Handmaid's Tale, Future Man and Runaways like I did Big Little Lies and GOT this summer with HBO Now.
[I keep skipping over words or my fingers are, I think them, but they don't appear on the page via typing, and it's getting worse. Hmm.)
6. The Good Place -- not as good as last week, or the week before. Mainly because it was 90% exposition and set up for the upcoming weeks.
Right now, Chidi and Ted Danson's Michael are the only two characters I don't want to smack upside the head, and say, you idiots. This is a choice between being eating alive by spiders or scorpions and well having to put up with clowns on the walls and being annoyed to death. Let me think.
And Tahani's sister better have a one-way ticket to the Bad Place, just saying.
Am curious to see how Michael, a devil, plans to sneak into the real Good Place with well our protagonists. I think he got bored in hell and decided to come up with ways to stress himself out.