shadowkat | 7 Question Curiousity Poll on New TV Shows, Book REC's and Buffy Comics

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7 Question Curiousity Poll on New TV Shows, Book REC's and Buffy Comics

This is a rough poll - because I'm curious. Tried to add categories for Music that you'd recommend and movies - but there are too many and I'm sadly out of the loop on what is good and what isn't at the moment. Also tried to do a rec list for the tv shows...to see what everyone was watching, but ran out of ticky boxes - so chose not to. If you are so inclined feel free to include "music" and "movie" recs in the comments, along with book and comic book rec's. If not, that's fine too. Please be respectful of other's opinions, even if they seem like insane troll logic. No bashing of people. Also keep in mind it is impossible to edit polls and I'm always going to leave something out. Oh and if you don't know what to answer for a question? Just skip it. I certainly will. Thanks!

Hope more than ten people do this. Always tricky doing polls.

[ETA: Sigh. I don't know where my brain's been lately - no, wait, at work in stress hell..that's where. Re-read the poll and somehow I left off Nikita and No Ordinary Family (two shows I actually watch, and one, Nikita - that I actually adore - even more than Terriers). I also put Mr. Carrol instead of Mr. Norrel for the Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel book option. Sorry about that. Brain is deleting entertainment files as we speak to make room for new database info.]

[Poll #1656246]

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The comics started going astray for me in issue 1, and not for any of the reasons people usually list - the helicopters and the guns and whatnot. If I were fighting demons, I'd take helicopters and guns too, if I could get them. What bothered me was that that very first arc, the one that was supposed to hook new readers and entice old ones, kicked off by putting the main character in an essentially passive role, and focused not on any of the things the audience was interested in, but on the not-so-burning question of who Buffy's secret admirer was. Not only was the emotional thrust of the story boring, Amy and Warren were pointless and annoying villains, whose plan was just plain dumb. I mean, what WAS the point of bringing back Warren?

Sadly, the disappointment I felt in that first story proved prophetic. :/

I agree that things were just off from the very beginning. They lost me when Buffy said "Great Muppety Odin!" (honestly, who but Xander or maybe Andrew might say that?!) and though I kept reading, I should've run far and fast.

They lost me when Buffy said "Great Muppety Odin!"
Oh Lord, I remember trying to analyse that line, since it was so odd - clearly that indicated some kind of deeper meaning? I was quickly cured of any such foolishness. Which reminds me that I rather love (because I'm twisted like that) how Jeanty and Allie in their interviews always go out of their way to dispel any notions of anything beneath the surface. What you see is what you get.

Nikita is easily the best new show, I've seen.

No comics for me, thanks.

I'd recommend Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. I'm more ambivalent about her latest, Blackout/All Clear.

I agree that Doomsday is better than Blackout/All Clear. I do also like her "To Say Nothing of the Dog"

Agree with you on Nikita. That's surprised me. It's actually much better than all the other versions and by far the closest in tone to the original French film. But for some reason that I can't for the life of me explain - I left it off the list. Maybe I relegated it to last year? Possible. (Shrugs)

Doomsday Book is quite good. Rather enjoyed that last year.
Doesn't she have two sequels to it out? Or is that Blackout/All Clear?

Doomsday, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Blackout and All Clear all exist in the same universe inasmuch as they're all time travelling historians from Oxford and they all report to Mr. Dunworthy. But each novel is a different historian or groups of historians and any overlap is coincidental (for example I'm reading "All Clear" and one of the historians in that remembers that the historians in "To Say Nothing of the Dog" also appear (briefly) during the Blitz. But they're basically all separate stories (except that Blackout and All Clear are really the same book split in half and released as two books).

Edited 2010-12-14 03:04 (UTC)

I'm a little more ambivalent and a little less positive than in my poll responses--e.g. I wouldn't say "nothing went wrong for me, everything works" but I also didn't have a personal jump the shark issue. But I'm going to keep reading.

Thanks for answering the poll. ;-)

You're welcome. :)

Some of the new shows you mentioned might be worthy, but I have only basic basic cable and so can't comment on some and there are some others I haven't seen.

Of the new ones I have, I'm still enjoying No Ordinary Family, although it's a tad slow at times. But the basic premise is being handled far better than I expected it to be, and the characters are likable. Buffy S1 was a bit strange at times too.

The one show I would recommend that people check out started last season, last spring I think-- Human Target. Far, far better than I ever expected-- very intelligent, clever plots within a very old and normally very tired concept. Great, albeit fairly unknown actors taking their roles seriously and not winking at them. Treats its female characters exceptionally well for the genre, and does so pretty much every show. If you're interested, suggest viewing the show from the first eps this season (I assume you can viddy them online, haven't checked.)

Detailed thoughts on BtVS S8 will be forthcoming after #40 is out this January. I'll make a quicky prophecy right now though-- Faith will be the Slayer in Charge at the beginning of Season 9.

Edited 2010-12-13 04:38 (UTC)

Yeah, I forgot to list No Ordinary Family - I've no idea why. Most of the ones I listed I don't watch. (The only ones I watch are Raising Hope, the Event, the recently cancelled Terriers (dang it) and The Walking Dead.)

I'm not familiar with all the shows/books you listed, so I picked what I knew.

Before #34 there was #33 - the glow that influenced the characters.

I'll be reading/interested in anything that has Spike in it.

I don't think I've watched any single episode of the listed shows all the way through, except for Sherlock.

I lost my faith with #25, when Dawn is expected to apologize to the asshole who's been keeping her from her own body for years because she didn't sleep with him. Blergh. Before that is was goofy and pointless, but fun.

I'm studiously not thinking about the comics, but like Ubi, I might be swindled into reading things with Spike in them.

Jonathan Strange is interesting, though rather earnest, but Discworld is big fun, if you go in for that sort of thing! My top picks: Feet of Clay, Thief of Time, Night Watch, Going Postal, and Thud! For entertaining Christmassyness, there's also The Hogfather.

I might be swindled into reading things with Spike in them.

Sigh. yes. Me too. Unfortunately for both my peace of mind and my pocketbook. (But it depends on who the artist and writer and editor are.)

Am tempted to swipe your icon just to use it for my review of issue 40. (grins evilly)

I guess most beef I have with the comics was there from the get go, but it wasn't until the P&P arc that I stopped giving them the benefit of the doubt and accepted that it really was that bad.

I couldn't answer on the Spike comic because I'm not reading it. I planned on getting after it was complete but I'm not sure any more. After 40 is over I might be happy to leave them behind as a whole.

one little thing about the books, it's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I really loved it.

Out of curiousity - which issue in the P&P arc threw you out of the story?

Yeah, I screwed up on the title of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - no clue why. I was literally looking at it while typing.

I guess the final straw was Faith and Giles in 19th century Germany. Thing is I had very high hopes for TOYL and it was disappointing. Afterwards I thought that maybe if they got the story rolling now it would make sense retroactively and then there came the arc of stalling where nothing really moved and this incredibly badly executed "vampires are popular" storyline came up.

Makes sense. I remember fanwanking that issue and being slightly disappointed it wasn't better. I wanted the Emma Peel/Steed exploration with Faith/Giles and a bit more on Faith's journey to help people like herself. But they dropped it completely and went with a cliche story.

Was ambivalent about the comics from issue 1 - esp because of Warren. And the castle. And the outfits. And the GAPS! Oh Lord, all the gaps! - and when we discovered how he was rescued (Joss: Oops, I forgot he was dead dead!), I realised that the comics would probably never be remotely what I wanted, plus it was all so... unengaging. This was only confirmed with the Faith arc (She's on a mission to kill? Wtf? And she and Buffy are fighting like S7 never happened?). Then of course came the bankrobbing reveal and I knew for sure that this person walking around pretending to be Buffy could never ever be her. Kept reading out of curiosity until 'Swell' at which point it stopped being funny and was just awful. Wouldn't have picked them up again if it hadn't been for that essay.

ETA: Re. the Spike comics, then I generally like them but probably won't get the latest one thanks to the change of artist.

Edited 2010-12-13 08:04 (UTC)

Stephen Mooney may be better than Zanni...or so I hope. At least his cover for issue 5 isn't bad.

The new show I have most liked is Lost Girl; it's cheesy but it has charm.

I gave up on the Buffy comics around the point when the opponent in the Fray crossover turend out to be FutureWillow - there were a lot of things that irritated me earlier, notably the faux British gentry stuff, but I had liked the GilesFaith/SteedEmma insight.

Pratchett? Small Gods and anything with the Guards in, especially Night Watch. But you have to read some earlier Guards books to appreciate NW.

Edited 2010-12-13 09:04 (UTC)

Rather liked Giles/Faith - Steed/Emma insight as well and was disappointed that was never fully developed. They certainly had enough time to do so. One of many interesting subplots that were brought up and then summarily dropped. While other less interesting subplots and highly irritating not to mention offensive ones - were overdeveloped. (shakes head in dismay).

Lost Girl - I haven't heard of. Assuming only available on BBC??

Lost Girl is actually a Canadian show...

I lost interest in the Buffy comics some time around the first ten issues. But the characters felt so wrong and made me lose whatever love I still had for them from the show almost immediately.

As fot Terry Pratchett, anything involving Death*g*, love him, the guard is cool too.

I would also heavily recommend the Harry Potter books to anyone.

I had issues with the comics right from the start, but they were never more than mildly amusing/irritating until the Fray arc. With that one, it really struck home to me yet again that what interests Whedon about his 'verse and what interests me are entirely different and I could never be anything but disappointed with how the story panned out. And that has indeed turned out to be the case, though it didn't go completely down the toilet until the Meltzer arc.

I'm afraid I can't help with the TV shows. I've been watching The Event, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's pretty stupid. I also think that Sherlock is very overrated.

My favourite Terry Pratchett is Small Gods. I think it's excellent. Monstrous Regiment is also lots of fun.

Edited 2010-12-13 09:50 (UTC)

I also think that Sherlock is very overrated.

Sigh. So do I. Loved the first episode. The next two? Not so much.
Sherlock was played way too over-the-top. And the writing was a bit of a mess in the next two episodes. But the first one written and directed by Stephen Moffat - was really good. Now if he could just write and direct all of them...(at least I think he directed it). It's not that many...

With that one, it really struck home to me yet again that what interests Whedon about his 'verse and what interests me are entirely different

This is an apt observation I think. And I'm starting to think the same thing. It used to be the reverse, but not so much now - now what interests me and Whedon appear to be very different things.

And thanks for the Prachett recs.

I'm pretty much with

flake_sake on the Season 8 comics; they were so-so, with some huge flaws but also some really interesting ideas, up until the "Predators and Prey" non-arc, and then they just kept heading more off the rails with each new installment until they got completely unreadable somewhere around #36.

My favourite Pratchetts are probably Reaper Man, Small Gods, and Soul Music.

One book recommendation: William Gibson's Bigend Books - Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History. Often brilliant trilogy (so far) where he pretty much drops all notions of writing sci-fi and just writes modern novels slightly dressed up as cyberthrillers since, hey, we're all living in a virtual reality these days.

"The pop star, as we knew her" -- and here he bowed slightly, in her direction -- "was actually an artifact of preubiquitous media."

"Of--?"

"Of a state in which 'mass' media existed, if you will, within the world."

"As opposed to?"

"Comprising it."

Oh, and people who like Pratchett should read Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series as well (starting with The Eyre Affair). Smart, hilarious metafiction.

they were so-so, with some huge flaws but also some really interesting ideas, up until the "Predators and Prey" non-arc, and then they just kept heading more off the rails with each new installment until they got completely unreadable somewhere around #36.

Thanks for this. I was admittedly curious as to when it started to fall apart for you. Out of curiousity - which issue of Predators and Prey was it? Hello Vampire Kitties (Swell)? Harmony? The animated one? Buffy/Andrew on Island of Misfit Slayers? Giles/Faith in a German village masquerading as Romania (Safe)? Or all of the above?

One book recommendation: William Gibson's Bigend Books - Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History. Often brilliant trilogy (so far) where he pretty much drops all notions of writing sci-fi and just writes modern novels slightly dressed up as cyberthrillers since, hey, we're all living in a virtual reality these days.

Hmm. I've read Pattern Recognition - which I loved. Haven't been able to get into Spook Country - but that may well be a mood thing. (Brain is overloaded at the moment with work crap.) Is the above quote from Spook Country or Zero History? Didn't know he had a third one out.

It's a great quote.

Well, I'd say the five issues had two decent ones (Italy and Japan), one that wasn't awful in itself but set up a ridiculous arc (Harmony), and then the Giles/Faith and Dawn issues were just... urgh. Plus, the whole thing just gave off a feel that they were supposed to be huge gamechangers but didn't really know what they were changing from what to what; it was the point where the story just gave up all pretense of making sense and just started telling us to accept it or get out, and then the two following arcs built on that.

Is the above quote from Spook Country or Zero History?

Spook Country, but the same characters are leads in Zero History too. TBH I thought Pattern Recognition was the best of the three, but the two others are still very good follow-ups. Plus it's fun to track how quickly things change - he notes at one point how the stuff that sounded a bit science-fictiony in the first novel has tons of iPhone applications by the third one. You don't need jetpacks and teleporters when everyone has Twitter and everyone can take an express train from London to Paris.

Oh, I agree on the Predators and Prey arc. While I liked the Harmony one for its satirical elements - the plot-arc it set up (ugh). Thanks for the explanation.

Plus it's fun to track how quickly things change - he notes at one point how the stuff that sounded a bit science-fictiony in the first novel has tons of iPhone applications by the third one. You don't need jetpacks and teleporters when everyone has Twitter and everyone can take an express train from London to Paris.

Hmmm. Interesting. It sounds like a good information age novel - that dissects and comments on what the effects of the information revolution. Will have to check them out. Thanks for the recs.

I will be buying the season 9 of BtVS, but I'm not excited about it.... so I left that question blank.

And I loved 'Hunger Games' but found it a little dark and depressing (not to mention violent) so I hesitate to recommend it to a lot (most) of my friends....

In reading above I do want to say that I really enjoyed a couple of the stand-alone BtVS comics (#5 'The Chain' was brilliant) and I enjoyed the Fray arc, and the Faith arc, and actually I loved the Harmony arc too.... So I haven't felt that the comics were a waste, just mostly disappointing and confusing. And I REALLY agree w/whoever above said they hated the Dawn arc! There is no way Dawn owed that guy anything in particular, and he certainly had no right to interfere with her life (he could have killed her with that turning her into a doll thing, and talk about reverse female empowerment!! grrr argh).

I had sent you the Terry Pratchett I thought you'd like, but what I should have sent you was 'Omens' which was co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (no foot notes, I'm pretty sure) because that is hilarious and interesting....

Thank you for clarifying. Was admittedly curious if you were still loving them or....

In reading above I do want to say that I really enjoyed a couple of the stand-alone BtVS comics (#5 'The Chain' was brilliant) and I enjoyed the Fray arc, and the Faith arc, and actually I loved the Harmony arc too....

I enjoyed those issues as well, more or less.

I REALLY agree w/whoever above said they hated the Dawn arc! There is no way Dawn owed that guy anything in particular, and he certainly had no right to interfere with her life (he could have killed her with that turning her into a doll thing, and talk about reverse female empowerment!! grrr argh).

It was

rebcake (rebcake). And I agree. At the time, I tried to find another interpretation, but the issues that followed have more or less done nothing but underline that interpretation, and emphasize it.

I had sent you the Terry Pratchett I thought you'd like, but what I should have sent you was 'Omens' which was co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (no foot notes, I'm pretty sure) because that is hilarious and interesting....

Glad you didn't. Since - I read that one three or four years ago. (Can't quite remember exactly.) It was good. But I couldn't care about anyone...which was an issue. That's my problem with Gaiman and Prachett - they create wonderful worlds, quirky characters, and are quite punny at times, but I can't connect with their characters. I don't quite know why. Trying to figure it out. Could just be a mood thing, I'm an admittedly moody reader. ;-)

Well when I started reading Pratchett I really found him funny in both a satirical and silly/puny way... but then after reading quite a few I found that I had actually come to love several characters (it took several novels before I'd grown attached, they had to grow on me... like mold), and then I had to go back and reread every novel with those characters I loved so that I could really enjoy them more fully. It was fun going to the Discworld Convention last year, because it seems like all the Pratchett fans are weirdos like me! lol

Hardly weird - did you read the comments above yours? Over half have Prachett recs. I've been told to start with Guards!Guards! and move over to DeathWatch...or that appears to be the consensus of Prachett obsessed flist. ;-)

Well 'Guards! Guards'' slowly but surely became one of my favorites... I fell in love with Captain Vimes, but I didn't love him immediately... but over time he revealed himself to be my ideal man.

Oh and BTW, you clearly got WAY more than 10 responders on your poll! Everyone loves a poll, it doesn't matter if you leave out a show or two, it is just fun to respond to a poll. Thanks.

I have too many books to read. ;-) (My kindle has Game-Change, The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, Hunger Games, and samples of Guards!Guards! and The PAssage. And this is not including all the paperback and hard back books I own. But does this stop me from getting more, no.)

Oh and BTW, you clearly got WAY more than 10 responders on your poll! Everyone loves a poll, it doesn't matter if you leave out a show or two, it is just fun to respond to a poll.

Thanks. But leaving Nikita out bugged me. Since I actually love that show and would have been interested to see how many others actually watch it. So far Sherlock is winning, with Walking Dead and Terriers in a dead heat - which is interesting.

I'm hoping for 100. That's the most I've ever received.

Right now - I'm finding the book recs the most interesting in the comments. Some really good book recs. And good direction on where to start with Prachett.

Well, as popular as Pratchett is, I'm not sure you'll ever enjoy him: he always does that footnote thing that you hate in his books (you don't NEED to read them since they are usually a silly pun or something that isn't necessary to the story, but his fans love it...).

Good luck on getting to 100!

Well, got to the 50 mark. What I'm interested in - in regards to the poll is how many dislike the comics, how many don't. And I need a lot of people to respond to know that. Which is highly unlikely. Most of my flist didn't take the poll. The vast majority of respondents are people who came from elsewhere.

So far? 50% dislike the things, 25% are ambivalent and 18% like the things. IF this was a tv show - it would have been canceled.
But comics can survive a long time with a weak readership.

Well comics do have a lower bar than TV shows (no one really expects 10s of millions to be reading them... ) so you're right: they can survive for a long time with a weak readership... but also: most of the ambivalent and some of those who dislike the comics are still buying them (so the publisher considers that as all good... unless or until the sales drop dramatically). In your next poll you should ask how many are actually still spending $ on them.

BTW I wanted to thank you again (I know I thanked you years ago) for that wonderful knit hat you made, it is so soft and warm in the horrid frigid temperatures we've had lately!

most of the ambivalent and some of those who dislike the comics are still buying them (so the publisher considers that as all good... unless or until the sales drop dramatically). In your next poll you should ask how many are actually still spending $ on them.

As far as I know - I appear to be the only one who is buying them and dislikes the things. Everyone else is downloading them illegally online via file sharing. LOL!! OR sending them to each other. Even some of the people who actually like them.

So it's hard to know how many are buying and how many aren't. I know subscriptions went down - because people in the Midwest and outlying areas, such as Lincoln, Nebraska, can't find them anywhere and their stores stopped carrying them due to the weak readership. Places like NYC and London - not a problem.
According to stats - there was 50,000 to begin with and that's dropped. That's out of approximately 6 million who watched the series. So it's a small number. But to a small house like DH which barely sells, 50,000 is a lot. And Buffy is still in the top 40 or so.

I'm more curious to see what happens with the readership in S9, after it's clear that Whedon isn't writing the things and only lending his name and a loose plot. A lot of people seem to be in denial on that one. But Whedon made that clear in interviews and at comiccon. That he was busy elsewhere. And I'm pretty certain I read it in an Allie interview that Whedon would not be writing any issues in S9 and executive producing only. Due to other commitments.

BTW I wanted to thank you again (I know I thanked you years ago) for that wonderful knit hat you made, it is so soft and warm in the horrid frigid temperatures we've had lately!

Oh you are very welcome! I'm so happy you liked it and you are getting so much use out of it.

Yeah a nice warm hat is a God send on cold days (which is every day until I escape to California in January).

I've never found the download sites for the comics... but of course it is also true that comic book stores are going out of business all through the midWest and beyond (there used to be three near where my cousin lives in Texas, now there are none). Even by expanding into toys, collectables and gaming, a lot of stores cannot stay in business. The one near me has changed hands and is struggling (I hope he makes it, otherwise I'll need to subscribe... or figure out how to download online!).

Yep, having the same situation here - comic book stores are going out of business right and left. The industry is shifting because of the internet, I suspect. Better comics are being produced online and people can acess them for free. Same thing is happening with periodicals.

In a way Whedon did me a favor - by writing a story that I've come to really dislike, he's almost completely weaned me off of my comic addiction - which he got me re-addicted to with Astonishing X-men. (He's also, as a bonus, appeared to have successfully weaned me off of my Buffy obsession.)

I was essentially 'pfft' with the comics with the first arc, much for the reason rahirah mentioned. Buffy is way too passive in the first arc for no good reason. Then of course the odd dialogue such as oh balls and muppity odin, the attire and obvious use of shockplotting.

I kept up because everything about the issues just screamed "something isn't right here" and I figured they'd explain it eventually. You have Buffy outright saying things hadn't been right since Chosen, right? Gotta be something going on. Instead, nothing was ever explained and they just kept piling it on. I finally gave up and quit reading after the bankrobbing ridiculousness, but I came back around 33-34 just to catch the wank (which has been 100x more entertaining than the books).

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7 Question Curiousity Poll on New TV Shows, Book REC's and Buffy Comics

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