Television Report...
Jan. 1st, 2018 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinally got around to watching some television series outside of The Crown, which was amazing.
1. Runaways -- streamed on Hulu. I am doing a free 30 day trail on Hulu. I picked the cheap one with the commercials. It's similar to watching shows "On Demand" -- you can't rewind or fast-forward during the commercials and the commercials are repetitive and annoying after a while. I don't know if they think watching the same commercial every twenty minutes is going to subconsciously get you to buy something or what -- but news to the wise, I'm more likely to boycott the product.
The series reminds me more of Riverdale than The Gifted. And while it's fun in places, and the teens are rather well-played, the adults...are a bit on the stiff side. Lots of B and C class actors. (That said, this possibly the most well-rounded and best role that I've seen Marsters in since Buffy. But like everything else I've seen him in since Buffy -- he's not that appealing or attractive, making me realize that I was never a fan of Marsters, so much as the character he'd created. Unlike ASH, who I was a fan of, regardless of which character he played. Actually the only two actors from those series that resonated for me as actors long after the series stopped are ASH and Amy Acker. Everyone else?
Meh.)
Riverdale is much better, as is The Gifted -- both in production value, writing, directing, set design, costumes, and acting. Not to mention plot.
Runaways feels a bit silly. (But I wasn't exactly a fan of the comics either, and am not a fan of Brian K. Vaughn's writing. This in some ways is more interesting than the comics were.)
While I'm compelled enough to watch the next two episodes, I'm not compelled enough to get Hulu in order to continue with it. It's very..."tween", and I think I may be the wrong demographic for it.
The story is about a bunch of teens who have split apart due a friend's death two years prior. One of the teen's decides to bring them back together to commiserate, while his parents host a charity organizing dinner with the other teens parents at his house. The charity is called "Pride" which seems to help fund various charitable acts around their community -- sort of similar to United Way.
Each parent is successful in their field.
Chance's Dad, Victor Stein, portrayed by Marsters, is genius scientist who invented the self-driving car among other things. Including many weapons. He's also a class-A asshole, and abusive parent. Marsters isn't as believable at playing these sort of roles as David Boreanze, Alexandar Starsgard and Vincent D'Ornitho. Mainly because he's such a short man that it is hard to buy that his six-foot tall, muscular son is terrified of him or his wife, who towers over him. He was even shorter than the boy's coach, who he manages to throw up against a wall and intimidate, making me wonder if someone is feeding him a super drug. (Being a big woman, I can tell you for a fact that small men do not intimidate me. I know I can overpower them.) This would have worked better if Chance had been smaller, or they hired someone like Alex Starsgaard or the guy playing Jonah. His mother, played by Ever Carradine, is actually more compelling -- she's a frustrated scientist who took a back seat to her genuis and abusive husband.
Alex (the hacker), parents are a real estate mogul and top-notch attorney. Who back in the day convinced an innocent man to confess to a crime to get his father out of jail.
Gerdt (who has a pseudo-telepathic link with a dinosaur), parents appear to be bio-engineers, who specialize in the making of various pharmaceuticals. They are wacky, and a bit irritating to watch. I've seen both actors somewhere before. I rather like Gerdt.
Molly (who has super-strength) is adopted by Gerdt's parents after hers died tragically in a fire (or so we were told.)
Karolina (who can turn into a being of light energy and fly) -- parents run a church, which worships aliens. Turns out the alien in question is Jonah, who is also her biological father. And in order to re-energize him -- the Pride has been sacrificing runaway teens for several years. Each teen is dematerialized into pure energy, which is transmitted into Jonah. If they don't do it -- Jonah will expose them to the authorities, and/or sacrifice them and their children. They made this deal with Jonah, not realizing what the price was, in order to obtain power.
At the party, the kids discover their parents killing a teenage runaway. And spend the next seven episodes trying to obtain proof, while at the same time trying to avoid detection. (With mixed results.) It's sort of mystery-thriller/sci-fi action/teen family soap -- think the OC and Gossip Girl meets well...a Marvel superhero show.
There's a cut dinosaur puppet. And the kids are great. It's fun. Not very deep.
I recommend watching Riverdale instead, much better written. OR for that matter The Gifted, Legion, Supergirl, and Arrow. Hulu's show is fun, but not worth spending money for.
2. Once Upon a Time
This has become insane crack-fic. Okay it was always crazy crack fic. But now, Captain Hook and the Witch from Rapunzel's daughter is Alice (from Alice in Wonderland). And Alice is in love with the daughter of the Wicked Witch of the West and Robin Hood. See? Sort of takes the whole AU cross-over fic thing to new levels doesn't it?
* Wish-Verse Hook (which is the version of Hook that did not meet Emma and was not transported to Storybrook after a curse, because said curse never happened) has a daughter by the evil witch in Rapunzel. The daughter is Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
* Alice has fallen in love with the daughter of Robin Hood and Selene (yes, she's all grown up now).
* Meanwhile Rapunzel through a long sequence of crazy events, becomes Cinderella's evil stepmother.
The long series of events -- includes Rapunzel making a deal with the Witch Gotheble (I think that's her name), to save her family. But in exchange she is kept captive in a high tower for years. Growing out her hair, Rapunzel escapes and follows lanterns lit by Anatasia to find her family. Only to discover that her husband has remarried and had a new step-daughter, Ella, explaining why she's older than the other two girls. Rapunzel who is a bit put-out by this turn of events, gives in to the evil witch again -- and poisons Cecilia, Ella's mother's drink, causing the woman's heart to be poisoned - so she runs away. Which results in Rapunzel remarrying her husband -- but alas, Ella goes out onto the ice and worried, Anastasia tries to stop her. Both fall through and their father saves Ella but not Ana, much to Rapunzel's horror. Rapunzel blames Ella, and asks the witch to save her daughter. The witch places Ana in stasis -- because she believes Ana may be the one the witch has been looking for. Rapunzel gets the upper hand and imprisons the witch.
*The witch gets out by seducing Hook, getting him to get her a flower, and having a kid by him. Then she poisons the kid's (Alice) heart so they can't be together without Hook dying.
* Years later, Henry falls for Cinderella and Droodzilla attempts to poison his heart so he can't break the curse she wishes to enact, throwing everyone back to the land without magic. They foil her the first time, but not the second when with Gotheb's help and various witches, she manages to trap Henry and fatally poison him. (This is what happened in a blip at the very end of last season).
Regina is thusly forced by Droodzilla to enact the curse to save Henry's life, since he will die in the land with magic but not in the land without. (But Rapunzel is lead to believe she enacted it to save Ana. The whole evil stepmother routine is a huge mislead.)
* In the land without magic, Regina hunts down Selena who is currently an exercise guru and hippi in this version. Also on the verge of marriage. While Regina is a bar owner.
Lucy stupidly believes everything her evil step-grandmother says, and loses all hope in the future. Thinking her mother is in love with Nick (who is her fake father), her real father is Henry. (I actually like Nick aka this verse's version of Jack in the Beanstalk portrayed by Nathan Parsons. I like Nathan Parsons as an actor. But wish they'd made him a different character. The previous version's Jack was far more interesting.) Anyhow - he was formerly with Ella's best friend, but in the land without magic thinks he is Lucy's father and Ella's ex. Once she loses all hope, she cries, and Rapunzel takes her tear drop, preserved on the book - Once Upon a Time - to Ana to wake her up.
It does.
Lucy collapses into a coma. That's the price. The only one who can undo this is Ana, who is the Guardian, who can take custody of Rumple's Dark One Daggar freeing Rumple to join Belle in heaven.
She can use it without harming anyone. And with it save Lucy and possibly break the curse. (Although a lot of people seem to be happier in the land without magic, just saying.) Anyhow, before she can do so...Gotheb and Droodzilla take custody of her and she's entrapped in a circle -- Gotheb appears to want to use Ana, who now has Droodzilla's magic as well as her own, to awake the coven and bring them back from the darkness.
It's not real clear what her attentions are.
The plot is rather wack-a-doodle. And the characters seem to plucked randomly from various tales.
Not sure if I'll stick with it much longer.
3. Good Behavior -- Finished the second season of Good Behavior. Although I think the first season premiered in 2017. Rather good. Highly recommend. Although rather dark in places, and
very much a femme noir. More so than anything else I've seen on television. At the end of this season, the heroine has just killed two people and she asks her boyfriend/the hero how many people he's killed. "More than 20?" He's silent. "More than 50?" Still silent. "Probably 100s." He responds, dead-pan. "I'm not going to tell you."
4. Riverdale -- think Veronica Mars meets Twin Peaks by way of Archie Comics. It's actually better this season than last. With some excellent new additions to the cast. The cinematography is amazing -- I'd say this is one of the best shot shows on at the moment. The cast is good, the writing is good, and the production is wonderful.
Best teen drama on. (Which granted isn't saying a lot.)
Next up? I'm planning on trying Handmaid's Tale and Chance, if time permits. Somewhat busy this month, so maybe not.
Back to work tomorrow after a two week break. While I like working for the most part, I'm not looking forward to getting up at 6am, dragging my ass out into the cold, and doing the whole commute. Also I have to be aggressive in my job, which is exhausting. And I keep getting criticized by men (not women just men) for being too aggressive. The last one was my 82 year old father. Old guys have problems with aggressive women, yet we have to be aggressive to survive in the world they created. (Can we say, double-standard? Yes, we can. I called my father on it.)
1. Runaways -- streamed on Hulu. I am doing a free 30 day trail on Hulu. I picked the cheap one with the commercials. It's similar to watching shows "On Demand" -- you can't rewind or fast-forward during the commercials and the commercials are repetitive and annoying after a while. I don't know if they think watching the same commercial every twenty minutes is going to subconsciously get you to buy something or what -- but news to the wise, I'm more likely to boycott the product.
The series reminds me more of Riverdale than The Gifted. And while it's fun in places, and the teens are rather well-played, the adults...are a bit on the stiff side. Lots of B and C class actors. (That said, this possibly the most well-rounded and best role that I've seen Marsters in since Buffy. But like everything else I've seen him in since Buffy -- he's not that appealing or attractive, making me realize that I was never a fan of Marsters, so much as the character he'd created. Unlike ASH, who I was a fan of, regardless of which character he played. Actually the only two actors from those series that resonated for me as actors long after the series stopped are ASH and Amy Acker. Everyone else?
Meh.)
Riverdale is much better, as is The Gifted -- both in production value, writing, directing, set design, costumes, and acting. Not to mention plot.
Runaways feels a bit silly. (But I wasn't exactly a fan of the comics either, and am not a fan of Brian K. Vaughn's writing. This in some ways is more interesting than the comics were.)
While I'm compelled enough to watch the next two episodes, I'm not compelled enough to get Hulu in order to continue with it. It's very..."tween", and I think I may be the wrong demographic for it.
The story is about a bunch of teens who have split apart due a friend's death two years prior. One of the teen's decides to bring them back together to commiserate, while his parents host a charity organizing dinner with the other teens parents at his house. The charity is called "Pride" which seems to help fund various charitable acts around their community -- sort of similar to United Way.
Each parent is successful in their field.
Chance's Dad, Victor Stein, portrayed by Marsters, is genius scientist who invented the self-driving car among other things. Including many weapons. He's also a class-A asshole, and abusive parent. Marsters isn't as believable at playing these sort of roles as David Boreanze, Alexandar Starsgard and Vincent D'Ornitho. Mainly because he's such a short man that it is hard to buy that his six-foot tall, muscular son is terrified of him or his wife, who towers over him. He was even shorter than the boy's coach, who he manages to throw up against a wall and intimidate, making me wonder if someone is feeding him a super drug. (Being a big woman, I can tell you for a fact that small men do not intimidate me. I know I can overpower them.) This would have worked better if Chance had been smaller, or they hired someone like Alex Starsgaard or the guy playing Jonah. His mother, played by Ever Carradine, is actually more compelling -- she's a frustrated scientist who took a back seat to her genuis and abusive husband.
Alex (the hacker), parents are a real estate mogul and top-notch attorney. Who back in the day convinced an innocent man to confess to a crime to get his father out of jail.
Gerdt (who has a pseudo-telepathic link with a dinosaur), parents appear to be bio-engineers, who specialize in the making of various pharmaceuticals. They are wacky, and a bit irritating to watch. I've seen both actors somewhere before. I rather like Gerdt.
Molly (who has super-strength) is adopted by Gerdt's parents after hers died tragically in a fire (or so we were told.)
Karolina (who can turn into a being of light energy and fly) -- parents run a church, which worships aliens. Turns out the alien in question is Jonah, who is also her biological father. And in order to re-energize him -- the Pride has been sacrificing runaway teens for several years. Each teen is dematerialized into pure energy, which is transmitted into Jonah. If they don't do it -- Jonah will expose them to the authorities, and/or sacrifice them and their children. They made this deal with Jonah, not realizing what the price was, in order to obtain power.
At the party, the kids discover their parents killing a teenage runaway. And spend the next seven episodes trying to obtain proof, while at the same time trying to avoid detection. (With mixed results.) It's sort of mystery-thriller/sci-fi action/teen family soap -- think the OC and Gossip Girl meets well...a Marvel superhero show.
There's a cut dinosaur puppet. And the kids are great. It's fun. Not very deep.
I recommend watching Riverdale instead, much better written. OR for that matter The Gifted, Legion, Supergirl, and Arrow. Hulu's show is fun, but not worth spending money for.
2. Once Upon a Time
This has become insane crack-fic. Okay it was always crazy crack fic. But now, Captain Hook and the Witch from Rapunzel's daughter is Alice (from Alice in Wonderland). And Alice is in love with the daughter of the Wicked Witch of the West and Robin Hood. See? Sort of takes the whole AU cross-over fic thing to new levels doesn't it?
* Wish-Verse Hook (which is the version of Hook that did not meet Emma and was not transported to Storybrook after a curse, because said curse never happened) has a daughter by the evil witch in Rapunzel. The daughter is Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
* Alice has fallen in love with the daughter of Robin Hood and Selene (yes, she's all grown up now).
* Meanwhile Rapunzel through a long sequence of crazy events, becomes Cinderella's evil stepmother.
The long series of events -- includes Rapunzel making a deal with the Witch Gotheble (I think that's her name), to save her family. But in exchange she is kept captive in a high tower for years. Growing out her hair, Rapunzel escapes and follows lanterns lit by Anatasia to find her family. Only to discover that her husband has remarried and had a new step-daughter, Ella, explaining why she's older than the other two girls. Rapunzel who is a bit put-out by this turn of events, gives in to the evil witch again -- and poisons Cecilia, Ella's mother's drink, causing the woman's heart to be poisoned - so she runs away. Which results in Rapunzel remarrying her husband -- but alas, Ella goes out onto the ice and worried, Anastasia tries to stop her. Both fall through and their father saves Ella but not Ana, much to Rapunzel's horror. Rapunzel blames Ella, and asks the witch to save her daughter. The witch places Ana in stasis -- because she believes Ana may be the one the witch has been looking for. Rapunzel gets the upper hand and imprisons the witch.
*The witch gets out by seducing Hook, getting him to get her a flower, and having a kid by him. Then she poisons the kid's (Alice) heart so they can't be together without Hook dying.
* Years later, Henry falls for Cinderella and Droodzilla attempts to poison his heart so he can't break the curse she wishes to enact, throwing everyone back to the land without magic. They foil her the first time, but not the second when with Gotheb's help and various witches, she manages to trap Henry and fatally poison him. (This is what happened in a blip at the very end of last season).
Regina is thusly forced by Droodzilla to enact the curse to save Henry's life, since he will die in the land with magic but not in the land without. (But Rapunzel is lead to believe she enacted it to save Ana. The whole evil stepmother routine is a huge mislead.)
* In the land without magic, Regina hunts down Selena who is currently an exercise guru and hippi in this version. Also on the verge of marriage. While Regina is a bar owner.
Lucy stupidly believes everything her evil step-grandmother says, and loses all hope in the future. Thinking her mother is in love with Nick (who is her fake father), her real father is Henry. (I actually like Nick aka this verse's version of Jack in the Beanstalk portrayed by Nathan Parsons. I like Nathan Parsons as an actor. But wish they'd made him a different character. The previous version's Jack was far more interesting.) Anyhow - he was formerly with Ella's best friend, but in the land without magic thinks he is Lucy's father and Ella's ex. Once she loses all hope, she cries, and Rapunzel takes her tear drop, preserved on the book - Once Upon a Time - to Ana to wake her up.
It does.
Lucy collapses into a coma. That's the price. The only one who can undo this is Ana, who is the Guardian, who can take custody of Rumple's Dark One Daggar freeing Rumple to join Belle in heaven.
She can use it without harming anyone. And with it save Lucy and possibly break the curse. (Although a lot of people seem to be happier in the land without magic, just saying.) Anyhow, before she can do so...Gotheb and Droodzilla take custody of her and she's entrapped in a circle -- Gotheb appears to want to use Ana, who now has Droodzilla's magic as well as her own, to awake the coven and bring them back from the darkness.
It's not real clear what her attentions are.
The plot is rather wack-a-doodle. And the characters seem to plucked randomly from various tales.
Not sure if I'll stick with it much longer.
3. Good Behavior -- Finished the second season of Good Behavior. Although I think the first season premiered in 2017. Rather good. Highly recommend. Although rather dark in places, and
very much a femme noir. More so than anything else I've seen on television. At the end of this season, the heroine has just killed two people and she asks her boyfriend/the hero how many people he's killed. "More than 20?" He's silent. "More than 50?" Still silent. "Probably 100s." He responds, dead-pan. "I'm not going to tell you."
4. Riverdale -- think Veronica Mars meets Twin Peaks by way of Archie Comics. It's actually better this season than last. With some excellent new additions to the cast. The cinematography is amazing -- I'd say this is one of the best shot shows on at the moment. The cast is good, the writing is good, and the production is wonderful.
Best teen drama on. (Which granted isn't saying a lot.)
Next up? I'm planning on trying Handmaid's Tale and Chance, if time permits. Somewhat busy this month, so maybe not.
Back to work tomorrow after a two week break. While I like working for the most part, I'm not looking forward to getting up at 6am, dragging my ass out into the cold, and doing the whole commute. Also I have to be aggressive in my job, which is exhausting. And I keep getting criticized by men (not women just men) for being too aggressive. The last one was my 82 year old father. Old guys have problems with aggressive women, yet we have to be aggressive to survive in the world they created. (Can we say, double-standard? Yes, we can. I called my father on it.)