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shadowkat[John Scalzi on his blog stated 2017 was interfering with his creative output, specifically writing output. Personally, I think its our media saturated culture, and specifically the internet, and social media (twitter, blogs, journals, face-book, etc...) that's interfering with creative output.
Got some good advice this week, which I decided to try -- turn off the news, turn off the net, reduce time on social media, turn off all news notifications, and don't focus on it. If something happens, people will tell me, and they do. Right now, Santa Rosa, California's Napa Valley, is burning, so far my Aunt and Uncle are okay, but that could change at any moment. I've been there -- it's beautiful, it looks like Southern Italy or Turkey, with trees, villas, olive groves, grape vines, and flowers. Now it is nothing burned cinder and ash, with thousands of homes demolished. When I look at the news, the world is either burning or drowning.
Don't discuss politics. Don't discuss anything that triggers. And stay away from the negativity as much as possible. Felt better. Much. Lighter somehow. And less angry. Decided to just blog about television, books and movies for now. And maybe, if I can figure out how, post pics of trees, turtles, and birds.]
Television
Watching Seal Team, which is better than I expected. It's well acted, and an interesting role for Boreanze, who for the most part is playing more of character role for a change, less romantic lead. (Of course he's not pretty any longer, somewhat rugged, sort of looks like a hockey player gone to seed, and more normal looking. And somewhere between Buffy S1 and Seal, Boreanze became a good television actor, although I never thought he was a bad actor. I liked him well enough in Angel and Buffy. Buffy, for the most part, was well cast, as was Angel, or I'd have never stuck with either.) It's a good role for DB, who is playing Jason, leader of the team, a conflicted solider with problems at home. DB does conflicted well. Also the rest of the heavy male-oriented cast is good. So far I don't see any weak links in the cast.
The pilot is exposition heavy and hard to follow as a result. There's a lot going on, and a lot of back story. The story picks up in the middle, with the team already established. Via flashbacks, we learn that Boreanze's character feels directly responsible for one of his team members' deaths who was also his best friend. That he's separated from his wife due to being married to his job and being away a lot, also not exactly into sharing and emotionally distant. Has three kids, all teenagers. We jump into the team mid-flow, with a lot of military jargon thrown at the screen, and the first job is your typical hostage rescue, failing to capture not kill the bad guy routine (Similar to The Brave's plot-line, but less suspenseful and far more realistic. Not to mention less predictable and cliche ridden.). The difficulty is there's a lot of
jumping back and forth between the flashback, the job, and the home lives of the team -- also a lot of characters are introduced at once and too many pov's.
The second episode is much better than the first. It was compelling enough to get me to watch the second episode "On Demand", which I guess is saying something, right?
This episode gives us more insight on how the team works together. It follows two main pov's instead of several, Jason (Boreanze), who is the seasoned leader of the team, with the world on his shoulders, and Clay Spenser, the young hot-head, who he kicked back to training and off the team. Both are compelling characters, and hit my story kinks pretty hard. (I like wounded/conflicted male and female heroes, with savior complexes, and who have to make tough and often ambiguous decisions. I'm not really gender specific.) The other thing about this episode is it is realistic -- they come upon a bunch of poisoned Syrian kids, and debate what to do about it. The debate is mainly, if you rescued them, then what? They spend their lives in a refugee camp? Will we even be able to do it?
And do we risk ourselves for a fools mission? With impossible odds? They win and lose the day. And Jason also has to make a decision about whether to tell one of his team-mates about his wife undergoing a difficult c-section to delivery her child. Each decision is realistic and fits the tough and world-weary character that DB is portraying. Seal Team, unlike The Brave, feels more like a character piece and the jobs are less important that the character's arcs. It's also not a soap opera, there's no romantic bed-hopping, or love triangles. It's a straight from the top military action drama.
The one draw-back of both episodes, and why my attention kept wandering, is I had to watch both "On Demand" and you can't fast-forward via On Demand. So you are stuck with about five-six commercials interrupting the flow of the drama. I wish the commercials would be before, at an intermission and after -- less disruptive.
[There are so many tv shows that I can't keep track of when they are premiering any longer. I've missed five pilots to date. And had to watch shows via On Demand. Part of the problem is they all have different start dates between September - November. And some of the date published in magazines and elsewhere were wrong. I miss the days when there were less shows and it was easier to track. There are now so many the entertainment mags have given up giving full reviews of all of them. (145 scripted each season). ]
I have the third episode of Seal taped apparently. I thought it was the second.
After seeing these two episodes, I may stick with it for a while. I'm not in love with it or anything, but I find it compelling in places and recommend it to people who enjoy strong albeit conflicted male leaders, military action dramas with heavy and somewhat diverse male casts (although this one is heavily white, but there are POC in it), with a few women characters in supporting roles. If that isn't your thing? Pass this one on by.
I've seen two of these military action dramas to date, The Brave and Seal Team, and I think "Seal Team" is better -- better written at any rate. Title sucks. While they are very different in some respects, they have similar set-ups, so it is hard not to compare them. Also of the two, one (The Brave) I don't buy at all (it reminds me of one too many similar top secret US government covert ops thriller television series that I've seen...which no, the government just doesn't operate like that. I can tell the writers don't know what they are writing about), and the other one I do (Seal Team - whoever is writing this appears to have done some serious research). And certainly more compelling. Of the two? I think Seal Team has more longevity. I could be wrong about that. Anyhow, considering I don't tend to like military action dramas and am not a fan of David Boreanze by any stretch of the imagination, yet of the two dramas -- watched the second episode of Seal Team (on "On Demand" no less) and didn't bother to record the second one of The Brave. Add to all of that? I wanted to like the Brave and not like Seal Team. In short, don't judge a television show by its title or the actors in it.
Got some good advice this week, which I decided to try -- turn off the news, turn off the net, reduce time on social media, turn off all news notifications, and don't focus on it. If something happens, people will tell me, and they do. Right now, Santa Rosa, California's Napa Valley, is burning, so far my Aunt and Uncle are okay, but that could change at any moment. I've been there -- it's beautiful, it looks like Southern Italy or Turkey, with trees, villas, olive groves, grape vines, and flowers. Now it is nothing burned cinder and ash, with thousands of homes demolished. When I look at the news, the world is either burning or drowning.
Don't discuss politics. Don't discuss anything that triggers. And stay away from the negativity as much as possible. Felt better. Much. Lighter somehow. And less angry. Decided to just blog about television, books and movies for now. And maybe, if I can figure out how, post pics of trees, turtles, and birds.]
Television
Watching Seal Team, which is better than I expected. It's well acted, and an interesting role for Boreanze, who for the most part is playing more of character role for a change, less romantic lead. (Of course he's not pretty any longer, somewhat rugged, sort of looks like a hockey player gone to seed, and more normal looking. And somewhere between Buffy S1 and Seal, Boreanze became a good television actor, although I never thought he was a bad actor. I liked him well enough in Angel and Buffy. Buffy, for the most part, was well cast, as was Angel, or I'd have never stuck with either.) It's a good role for DB, who is playing Jason, leader of the team, a conflicted solider with problems at home. DB does conflicted well. Also the rest of the heavy male-oriented cast is good. So far I don't see any weak links in the cast.
The pilot is exposition heavy and hard to follow as a result. There's a lot going on, and a lot of back story. The story picks up in the middle, with the team already established. Via flashbacks, we learn that Boreanze's character feels directly responsible for one of his team members' deaths who was also his best friend. That he's separated from his wife due to being married to his job and being away a lot, also not exactly into sharing and emotionally distant. Has three kids, all teenagers. We jump into the team mid-flow, with a lot of military jargon thrown at the screen, and the first job is your typical hostage rescue, failing to capture not kill the bad guy routine (Similar to The Brave's plot-line, but less suspenseful and far more realistic. Not to mention less predictable and cliche ridden.). The difficulty is there's a lot of
jumping back and forth between the flashback, the job, and the home lives of the team -- also a lot of characters are introduced at once and too many pov's.
The second episode is much better than the first. It was compelling enough to get me to watch the second episode "On Demand", which I guess is saying something, right?
This episode gives us more insight on how the team works together. It follows two main pov's instead of several, Jason (Boreanze), who is the seasoned leader of the team, with the world on his shoulders, and Clay Spenser, the young hot-head, who he kicked back to training and off the team. Both are compelling characters, and hit my story kinks pretty hard. (I like wounded/conflicted male and female heroes, with savior complexes, and who have to make tough and often ambiguous decisions. I'm not really gender specific.) The other thing about this episode is it is realistic -- they come upon a bunch of poisoned Syrian kids, and debate what to do about it. The debate is mainly, if you rescued them, then what? They spend their lives in a refugee camp? Will we even be able to do it?
And do we risk ourselves for a fools mission? With impossible odds? They win and lose the day. And Jason also has to make a decision about whether to tell one of his team-mates about his wife undergoing a difficult c-section to delivery her child. Each decision is realistic and fits the tough and world-weary character that DB is portraying. Seal Team, unlike The Brave, feels more like a character piece and the jobs are less important that the character's arcs. It's also not a soap opera, there's no romantic bed-hopping, or love triangles. It's a straight from the top military action drama.
The one draw-back of both episodes, and why my attention kept wandering, is I had to watch both "On Demand" and you can't fast-forward via On Demand. So you are stuck with about five-six commercials interrupting the flow of the drama. I wish the commercials would be before, at an intermission and after -- less disruptive.
[There are so many tv shows that I can't keep track of when they are premiering any longer. I've missed five pilots to date. And had to watch shows via On Demand. Part of the problem is they all have different start dates between September - November. And some of the date published in magazines and elsewhere were wrong. I miss the days when there were less shows and it was easier to track. There are now so many the entertainment mags have given up giving full reviews of all of them. (145 scripted each season). ]
I have the third episode of Seal taped apparently. I thought it was the second.
After seeing these two episodes, I may stick with it for a while. I'm not in love with it or anything, but I find it compelling in places and recommend it to people who enjoy strong albeit conflicted male leaders, military action dramas with heavy and somewhat diverse male casts (although this one is heavily white, but there are POC in it), with a few women characters in supporting roles. If that isn't your thing? Pass this one on by.
I've seen two of these military action dramas to date, The Brave and Seal Team, and I think "Seal Team" is better -- better written at any rate. Title sucks. While they are very different in some respects, they have similar set-ups, so it is hard not to compare them. Also of the two, one (The Brave) I don't buy at all (it reminds me of one too many similar top secret US government covert ops thriller television series that I've seen...which no, the government just doesn't operate like that. I can tell the writers don't know what they are writing about), and the other one I do (Seal Team - whoever is writing this appears to have done some serious research). And certainly more compelling. Of the two? I think Seal Team has more longevity. I could be wrong about that. Anyhow, considering I don't tend to like military action dramas and am not a fan of David Boreanze by any stretch of the imagination, yet of the two dramas -- watched the second episode of Seal Team (on "On Demand" no less) and didn't bother to record the second one of The Brave. Add to all of that? I wanted to like the Brave and not like Seal Team. In short, don't judge a television show by its title or the actors in it.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-15 08:26 am (UTC)I'm wondering how they cope with the demands of an action role given that DB's knees are so bad. The latest Bones that I watched (season 11) he was obviously pretty crippled and they seemed to be cutting back on his action scenes. I think DB got his playing hocky, but apparently a lot of leading men are prone to knee injury because of the requirement to run up to the camera and then turn on the spot.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-15 01:25 pm (UTC)Seal Team is grittier and more realistic than Bones, less clean, and polished.
And to the degree it tackles current political issues, it appears to take a more nuanced approach.
So far it's among the better new tv shows that I've seen, and it's been picked up for a full season. I can see why, it's not heavy-handed, veers towards realism, and does a decent job of showing things as well complicated.
Surprised me, wasn't expecting to like it all that much. They either got a consultant, a good one, or someone did extensive research.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-15 01:32 pm (UTC)I suppose DB must be well into his forties by now, so it is reasonable for such a character to take a less active role.
Or it's possible it was conceived and written by someone with direct experience. In this country there have been several very realistic shows about the services recently, written by former soldiers. I'm not sure if that is down to the careers service steering them towards writing or just that soldiers are pretty well educated these days.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-15 11:58 pm (UTC)I think we're less directly engaged these days. But there are an army of retired military folks that would be happy to tell stories and provide input to shows like these...
no subject
Date: 2017-10-16 12:13 pm (UTC)Feels like retired military --- the series is more personal level, less organizational.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-15 11:59 pm (UTC)Considering all the things I've forgotten over the years..it's odd that I remember that.
Or it's possible it was conceived and written by someone with direct experience.
Don't know. It's not like I'm an expert or anything. But it feels more real somehow. Similar in tone to the better written military dramas. And their conversation about the Syrian Refugees..was one I've heard people have in real life.
Also there's none of the pretty twenty-somethings with the perfect eyebrows and complexions like in the other two I've seen.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-17 08:25 am (UTC)I may be deluding myself but I think there might be a trend to move away from everything being dominated by pretty twenty-somethings. It may be the ageing population, or the current contempt for young people.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-17 12:26 pm (UTC)Not as far I've seen. Every new show over here except for maybe two is populated by the pretty twenty-something's. We have four military shows, and only one of the four isn't pretty twenty-something's as far as I can tell. Although to be fair to the CW - it's demographic is 16-35.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-17 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-17 03:25 pm (UTC)Well, you are in UK, the shows over there don't have pretty twenty-somethings or not as many...possibly because they've all come over here. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2017-10-17 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-18 12:34 pm (UTC)I don't know if that's necessarily true...Tom Ellis, Emma Stone, Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant, Pierce Bronsan, Scean Connery (former Mr. Universe -- and chosen for that), Peter O'Toole, Elizabeth Taylor...all very very pretty. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2017-10-19 07:32 am (UTC)