What new shows are any good?

Ghost Whistler · September 21, 2012, 08:56:36 AM

The Guild Season 5 was quite funny. But now every other recommendation on youtube has felicia day in it.

Sacrosanct · September 21, 2012, 09:53:52 AM

Quote from: Simon W;584210I've seen "Hatfields & McCoys" is coming to the UK this autumn. Was it any good?

Are you talking about the mini series with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton? Yes, I thought it was pretty good, and I'm no fan of Costner. It sparked my interest enough that I had to go look up the actual historical accounts and compare them against the movie. But it was a good series.

John Morrow · September 22, 2012, 06:57:25 PM

Quote from: danbuter;583868I just watched the pilot episode of Revolution. It was pretty good. They established a bunch of characters very well. Parts of it were a bit goofy or maybe over-simplified, but I think this show has some real potential.

I thought it was kind mediocre, myself. Good enough that I'll keep watching it but it shares a lot of the naïveté of life without electricity and other infrastructure and a less civilized social order of shows like The Walking Dead and Falling Skies.

I have Copper on my TiVo but not sure if I'm going to watch it or delete it.

Of all the new shows, I'm most curious what they are going to do with Last Resort. Not sure how well the premise is going to sit with the audience and if it's heavy-handed with the messages, I can see it sinking pretty quickly.

Other genre shows coming up in the next few weeks are Elementary, 666 Park Avenue, Beauty and the Beast, and (next year) Defiance on SyFy with an MMO tie in.

Ghost Whistler · September 26, 2012, 03:08:05 PM

I'm watching ep2 of Revolution and the cartoony evil bad guy is ridiculous.

deleted user · September 26, 2012, 03:38:08 PM

Quote from: One Horse Town;583836Vikings by the BBC is pretty good. Only 3 parts, mind. Presented by the same guy who does Coast (which is also very interesting if you haven't sought it out already).

Yes, Vikings has been excellent.

danbuter · September 26, 2012, 09:39:11 PM

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;585937I'm watching ep2 of Revolution and the cartoony evil bad guy is ridiculous.

The show is definitely a bit over the top. The acting is generally good, though. It's just amazing how stupid that girl is, and how many problems she's causing (though this is standard fare for TV, unfortunately).

Ghost Whistler · September 27, 2012, 08:49:36 AM

It's too oppressive: in the post electricity world everyone is a rotten child punching scumbag who will steal your food. The Militia, as somehow founded by what would appear a mere seargant with his initial tattooed onto his forearm (and the forearms of his secret agents!) and are torturing monsters and psychos. Meanwhile Miles is a fucking ninja!

Interesting premise, but I'm unconvinced. I can see the show having a lot of filler.

Sacrosanct · September 27, 2012, 10:17:24 AM

Quote from: danbuter;586108The show is definitely a bit over the top. The acting is generally good, though. It's just amazing how stupid that girl is, and how many problems she's causing (though this is standard fare for TV, unfortunately).

I was talking with my wife yesterday about that show and I said, "You know what the girl really needs? A therapist. Think about it. So far she's seen her mom shoot someone in the back, had to deal with the grief of not only not being there like she was supposed to when her father died, but let her brother who she was supposed to be watching get captured. And then, for most likely the first time, had to kill two people. That has 'therapy' written all over it."

danbuter · September 27, 2012, 11:31:34 AM

I think anyone who'd managed to survive till the start of the show probably needs therapy. If you look around, out of the billions of people who existed only 15? years earlier, only small groups are left. That's what I find hard to believe. How could this girl still be alive and not had to deal with anything before now?

Sacrosanct · September 27, 2012, 12:17:54 PM

Quote from: danbuter;586278I think anyone who'd managed to survive till the start of the show probably needs therapy. If you look around, out of the billions of people who existed only 15? years earlier, only small groups are left. That's what I find hard to believe. How could this girl still be alive and not had to deal with anything before now?

Yeah, I imagine for a "realistic" version, over that past 15 years the majority of the population died from starvation and infection due to no access to antibiotics. You figure she would have had to seen plenty of people fall to those two things.

John Morrow · September 29, 2012, 10:01:24 AM

Quote from: Sacrosanct;586312Yeah, I imagine for a "realistic" version, over that past 15 years the majority of the population died from starvation and infection due to no access to antibiotics. You figure she would have had to seen plenty of people fall to those two things.

Given the amount of empty space shown in that show combined with how difficult it is to grow enough food using pre-modern agriculture, I would estimate that around 90% the people would have died off. The 1850 census put the US population at around 23 million, which doubled to 50 million in 1880. So I'd expect something in that range, down from around 312 million now.

John Morrow · September 29, 2012, 10:05:47 AM

I thought that Last Resort was better than expected and worth watching. You can still watch the full pilot (at least from the US) here. The plot is that a nuclear missile sub given questionable orders to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan goes rogue. This could be a great series but also has serious potential to go off the rails given the conspiracy theory-like story elements.

The Butcher · September 29, 2012, 10:36:36 AM

Quote from: danbuter;586278I think anyone who'd managed to survive till the start of the show probably needs therapy. If you look around, out of the billions of people who existed only 15? years earlier, only small groups are left. That's what I find hard to believe. How could this girl still be alive and not had to deal with anything before now?

This is why Call of Cthulhu is the best RPG for a post-apocalyptic game. I used it for a zombie apocalypse scenario, but it might be worth using it (or at least the SAN subsystem) for any sort of gritty early PA game.

Ghost Whistler · September 29, 2012, 11:07:19 AM

Just watched ep1 of the new series of the Big Bang Theory.

Funny, but Howard's mother is getting tedious now.
Raj's creeping (and creepy) homo-but-not-sexuality is uncomortable.
Sheldon is now just an asshole, although the line about the Kraken was funny.

I'm sure Penny marries Lenny in the end and we move on....

Ghost Whistler · September 29, 2012, 11:11:00 AM

Quote from: danbuter;586108The show is definitely a bit over the top. The acting is generally good, though. It's just amazing how stupid that girl is, and how many problems she's causing (though this is standard fare for TV, unfortunately).

Quite honeslty her and her brother are asshats. I couldn't help thinking the best thing would have been for Daddy to go with badass black cowboy militia dude and just give Monroe the mcguffin. Then there would be POWER and stupid children don't need to be stupid and get everyone shot.

I like the way the town doctor woman decided it would be ok to just leave all the gunshot victims to die a painful death when they needed her the most.

Ok, I get that Monroe getting the secret of electricity would be a bad thing. But surely that would be better than noone having it? He would still need a powerbase of people which means having to share his new toy. Either that or he's so comically evil that the whole thing falls down.