TheRPGSite

A thread for talking about how much other peoples' favorite shows suck.

The new Battlestar Galactica sucked!
There. I said it. You happy now? :o

TV is a wasteland.

I think.  I mean, I haven't watched anything live since the early seasons of Castle or True Blood... in fact I was shocked to learn just how many seasons went on AFTER I stopped watching.


Then again, my TV watching has been pretty spotty since Full House.   I missed (Gratefully?) the apparently amazeball phenomenons of both Power Rangers AND Saved by the Bell, among other shows that seem have taken over the pop culture landscape.

I may, or may not, be the actual Unabomber. That Kazinsky guy was just staying at my crib for a little while.

Recent TV shows I consider excellent and of interest for gaming: Fargo (Fiasco obviously), Legion (superheroes) and Taboo (not sure what system but it would be awesome).

I got one.
While watching the new Voltron on Netflix, I thought of a specific idea about multiple players, playing a gestalt combiner robot. Normally, I would be concerned about who gets to decide what the big robot does each turn.
Each Lion in the show had a specialty weapon and power.
Each pilot takes a turn controlling the combined robot. When it's a specific player's turn, if they use their component's special ability, they get a bonus of some kind.
So, I don't think in most systems we want to give the combiner thing 5 "actions" per turn (unless the system is designed for it) but this gives each player a turn at running the big robot, and encourages them to use their specific component's ability during their turn.
It's a very rough idea that I haven't fleshed out yet.

Samurai Jack, final season.

I pretty much liked it. Moving to Adult Swim allowed them to do some things that they couldn't do in the original time slot.

I have one major nitpick though.

Spoiler

I don't have a problem with a sad ending like this,  but if Aki disappeared because Aku did not exist to "create" her, then Aki did not exist to send Samurai Jack back in time to destroy Aku.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;965107Samurai Jack, final season.
I have one major nitpick though.

Spoiler

I don't have a problem with a sad ending like this,  but if Aki disappeared because Aku did not exist to "create" her, then Aki did not exist to send Samurai Jack back in time to destroy Aku.

Responding to myself because I'm crazy like that.

Spoiler

On reflection, I think the contradiction can be reconciled with the idea of alternate timelines. Though I tend to dislike alternate reality time travel stories. If Aki "travelled" to Jack's alternate reality where he defeated Aku, then she might cease to exist, because the original timeline still exists for her to exist and to send Jack back in time. :/

I like Taboo, Frontier too, although Taboo is stronger so far.

The Expanse and Dark Matter are decent Sci-Fi.  The Expanse is better, Dark Matter is a little more of a guilty pleasure/Sy-Fy class show.

Vikings and The Last Kingdom are good, especially if you like Bernard Cornwell.  Vikings has a much better lead though.

Benedict Wong is amazing as Kublai Khan in Marco Polo.  Season Three is going to have Prester John, how can you not love it?

Black Mirror of course is the best show of it's kind since the original Twilight Zone.  Watch S03E01 Nosedive, you'll never "like" or "+1" anything again.

Seems like there's 17 Borgia/Medici shows on right now.  Watch the one with Jeremy Irons.

Penny Dreadful is kinda sorta League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Series, but done really well.

If you feel like binging great old shows do: The Wire, The Shield, Deadwood, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Breaking Bad.

Hand of God is a downright bizarre show that rests solely on the ability of Ron Perlman to sell, and he's just killing it.

So many recommendations for Black Mirror but I got to finish Taboo first. Got one episode left.

Magpie Games has an interesting game, PtbA I believe, in their pipeline called Cartel that is inspired by shows like The Wire.

Quote from: Omega;964541The new Battlestar Galactica sucked!
There. I said it. You happy now? :o

I seriously thought it sucked. But more that that, they changed so much I wonder why they didn't just steal the bits they wanted and make it something new.

I'm about five episodes behind but I really enjoy The Americans and it always makes me want to get out my James Bond 007 game and start a campaign set in that era. Unfortunately no one I know seems interested in playing that.

One thing that always tickles me is that I lived in Falls Church at exactly the time in which the show is set and my mom worked for the FBI in D.C., so I see a lot of familiar things when I watch.

All the actors are really good and they have some unpredictable writing, too. Much better than the usual "spy show" full of shootouts and over-the-top stunts and cheesy "revelations."

I think the first season of BG was awesome. After that things were a bit uneven but it was only its terrible lack of payoff regarding The Plan and the bungling of Baltar's visions that really hurt the series. I know there are those who hated the 'angel' subplot but the series was so clearly edging towards the mystical and transcendent (like Childhood's End or 2001) that the sudden turn towards a banal 'rational' explanation was far more harmful.

Taboo was absolutely dynamite. Apparently the second season will be shot in the Pacific Northwest so they're likely to skip the trans-Atlantic trip. I expect some amazing visuals of the indigenous people, perhaps akin to Valhalla Rising?

Yes, Battlestar Galactica's remake turned me off with the mysticism and religious nonsense. Killed it for me. That, and breeding with toasters.

Did the mysticism of 2001 turn you off? I thought it was what made it great. Despite its surface rationalism a lot of sf is mystical (Clarke, Dick, Heinlein).

Quote from: Voros;969733Did the mysticism of 2001 turn you off? I thought it was what made it great. Despite its surface rationalism a lot of sf is mystical (Clarke, Dick, Heinlein).

Yes. Plus I thought it was boring as hell and then sitting through 30 minutes of rainbow psychedelia was also not for me. I think it's a lousy movie aside from some interesting bits here and there and good special effects.

Quote from: Voros;969733Did the mysticism of 2001 turn you off? I thought it was what made it great. Despite its surface rationalism a lot of sf is mystical (Clarke, Dick, Heinlein).

I agree. I love 2001. Visually it is amazing. I can see why it puts some people off. But I think if you read the book by Clarke (or if you are familiar with that concept from his work which he repeats a bit) it makes more sense.

Quote from: Dumarest;969700I seriously thought it sucked. But more that that, they changed so much I wonder why they didn't just steal the bits they wanted and make it something new.

The whole "Lets do a sci-fi movie in our street clothes" gag didnt thrill me either. And yeah Its another one of those "We kept the title and a few names." remakes that are getting really old really fast. The Prisoner remake was pretty bad.

Heres a blast from the past.

Finally got to watch a few episodes of the Green Hornet TV series. Was definitely not what was expecting. The series has quite a body count and plays the whole thing very seriously overall. Even when dealing with some of the odder villains.

Quote from: Omega;970536The whole "Lets do a sci-fi movie in our street clothes" gag didnt thrill me either. And yeah Its another one of those "We kept the title and a few names." remakes that are getting really old really fast. The Prisoner remake was pretty bad.

They remade The Prisoner? As in the classic English series?

Quote from: Omega;970541Heres a blast from the past.

Finally got to watch a few episodes of the Green Hornet TV series. Was definitely not what was expecting. The series has quite a body count and plays the whole thing very seriously overall. Even when dealing with some of the odder villains.

I have it on DVD and it's quite good. Too bad it only lasted one season. They're rerunning it on some cable channel. Even though I have the DVDs I still tape it for some reason and watch that way.

I just got done watching season 2 of Killjoys.  Seems pretty clear to me that between the two seasons (a span of what? Three years? I dunno, I'm too lazy to look it up) they spent a lot of time brainstorming and trying to answer the questions they raised about the setting in season one.

So very tired of crap like that, but I saw that writing on the wall back in season one with all the ad hoc/made it up on the fly bullshit.  Now the unkillable badguys bleed green goo? Eh. At least the recognized the ginger asshole boss figure was the best they could do for the RAC team and brought him back strong for this season with even more fabulous hair than before, and they did quite a bit less dress-up dolly with the lead, though not entirely absent.

What is still lacking is setting building, especially in the 'science' portion of science-fiction.   McGuffin Tech keeps showing up, but the thing about technology is that it is replicable, and if someone out there in the unexplained galaxy of the setting has better technology that shit will spread and be copied. Thats sorta what Technology means (as compared to, say, Magic).  Whatever.  The Green Goo change to teh setting has invalidated about half the macguffins that came before, so who cares, eh?

I started watching Glow for some reason. Actually enjoyed it. Not usually into these kinds of shows (I think the people who did it also wrote stuff like Orange is the New Black which I could never get into). But they do a good job of recreating that time period and the characters are all pretty interesting.

Quote from: Voros;970546They remade The Prisoner? As in the classic English series?

They did. I recall one UK news review calling it an "atrocity". Which isnt too far off the mark really. Its got the title and a Number 6. And thats about it for the connections to the original. Same with the V remake.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;971354I started watching Glow for some reason. Actually enjoyed it. Not usually into these kinds of shows (I think the people who did it also wrote stuff like Orange is the New Black which I could never get into). But they do a good job of recreating that time period and the characters are all pretty interesting.

Orange is the New Black starts off rough, improves significantly and then goes into decline. It can be very heavy handed and is best when sticking closer to comedy rather than drama. Some excellent actors in the cast lift up the material too. One major flaw is the main character and her romance are the least interesting thing in the show but the rabid fans insist on that relationship, when the show tried to move beyond it they got blowback.

Glow looks cool, I remember the real deal from when I was a kid.

I just started Dark Matter, season 1.  I'm... well, I'm about a minute in, and its rough going.

So... ship floating, empty in the void, life support down, dude wakes up out of cryosleep and runs for what I presume is the bridge.

Then a girl wakes up from cryosleep (I get, btw, that the premise is five amnesiacs out of cryosleep...), follows him the bridge and immediately attacks him, kung fu style.

Guess who wins?

Anyway, life support is restored, dude asks girl why she went all kung fu on him.

Her response?

"You were in the way".

Oh.

God.

If the writing doesn't improve by the end of the first episode I may ritually burn the discs to exorcise the evil of them from this realm.






Yes: I found that so obnoxiously bad that I actually stopped watching, pulled up le internet, just to make a fucking post about it.  I've never wanted a main character to die painfully so very, very quickly into a show before.  I'm having flashbacks to my worst ever D&D experiences, usually at conventions, with strangers.

Ugh. 15 minutes in and the writing is no better.  The ONLY upside is that it really does seem to fit some terrible RPG game.

Let's look at the characters:

One: The Serious Roleplayer. Seems to be pretty much useless, chickenshit, and incompetent at anything related to survival, but might be some sort of bard or scientist type.
Two: The GM's Girlfriend, who almost always has all the answers being fed to her and for no apparent reason gets to be the leader, but also helps keep the plot moving forward (if only to reveal her specialness...)
Three: The Gun Guy. In true 'Hollywood'* fashion, he loves guns, is pretty stupid most of the time, and never, ever kicks any ass.  Hmm.. a bit like D&D 3e fighters, exclipsed by the god damn thief in asskicking!
4: The Wise, silent Kung Fu dude, who naturally shows off his mysterious kung-fu powers against the Serious Roleplayer.  
5: The Kid, who is just there to hang out and scam some doritos, mostly. Won't do much of anything useful, but occasionally the GM will throw this player something interesting to do to keep them involved... and probably they'll wind up handing it off to someone else as quickly as possible
6: Yeah, htere are six. So far I got... he's the utility player? He's clearly the pilot, seems to be at the center of much of the action, but never seems to do much but comment/bounce off the other characters.

And the GMPC/Android/Plot Dispenser: I saw a youtube compilation of her action scenes. The actress seems pretty competent, physically, but her voice is a bit... thready.  The choreography of the action is... typically Kanedan, ergo, weak-fu.




* I believe Dark Matter is from Kaneda.  I've yet to hear a term other than 'Hollywood' for Kanedan cinema.


EDIT:::: Great, the Monk has a puzzle box. Now I'm expecting Pinhead to show up and tear his soul apart. Well, not really expecting, but at least hoping.

EDIT::: OMG!!!! 20 minutes in and Gun Guy has managed to... get this... KICK HIS OWN ASS!!!!   Fuck me, I AM going to enjoy this series... or die of alcohol poisoning, one of the two. Drinking Game TIME!!!!!

EDIT:: 30 minutes in and the GM's GF manages to hit the trifecta of 'look at me, I so sexah', 'you think I'm sexah? Silly boy, I'm giving you orders not seducing you.' and 'everyone to to the planet while I say behind so youse can watch mah ass sway...'.    But that's not why I stopped to post again. No, Utility Player FINALLY asks the android (and of course the GM's GF had to bitchslap Gun Guy with Nerd-fu over the difference between Android and Robot, because Reasons) what their ship's name is. She responds with the ship's class (Phantom Class Marauder, which, admitted sounds like a bad ass ship class... I want one, now...), and like a dumbass (because he's not the GM's GF?) he assumes the Ship is named Marauder.  I'm about to research who wrote this crap and find some Player Characters to assign a quest to hobo-murder them in the face.  On the other hand, I find myself giggling like a schoolgirl ( I do that alot, actually... don't judge me!)  every few minutes over the sheer density of the stupidity.


EDIT::: So, they land somewhere in Eastern Europe (if Hollywood has taught me anything, its to recognize abandoned Warsaw Pact industrial centers!) where they are promptly ambushed by... sweet bloody JEEBUS!!!! Its the Big Bad from Killjoys!   Hallelujah, motherfucker!!!!..... Should have kept the scene rolling for a few more seconds before posting, fake-out re-edit... guess who wants to parlay?  G'wan! Guess!!!    Serious Roleplayer!  DRINK!

EDIT::: Exposition city! Quest handouts! Alien Enforcers for Megacorps that no one has ever survived!!!  Pointless lying from Gun Guy, who totally punks Serious Roleplayer in the Parlay stakes!   Seriously, if I really was drinking every time I saw an RPG session I'd be in an ambulance right fucking now getting my stomach pumped.   That aside... the... ahem... plot being dropped in our laps for the last ten minutes of this episode is...

Miners on the planet have a subsistence level claim. Megacorps in orbit have a big asteroid strike motherlode and need a place to feed/house their workers. Apparently the planet isn't big enough for the grub miners and the Megacorp Mancamp, so the 'Raza', who are those mysterious alien enforcers, are coming to kill the grub miners.

The stupid, it burns. Seriously. Have the writers never left their small fog-shrouded coastal enclave, filled with weird fish-men?   The planet isn't big enough? The Mega-corps don't share? Share what? Real-estate?    The exposition dump explains, clearly and succinctly, that the dirt miners don't have anything the Mega corps want, and the big strike is in orbit, so this is about land for a mancamp (industry term, bitches)?  On a mostly empty planet?  

There better be a fucking twist. It better be epic.

EDIT::: So, we have A twist, sort of, in that the Amnesia Victims apparently are carryign the arms shipment the miners are waiting on to fight the Raza. Not much of a twist, seeing that the ship was originally headed to this world.  The Party wants nothing to do with the quest, but the Serious Roleplayer is using meta-reasoning (of course... they always do, for all their bullshit about immersion) to explain how they were meant to take this quest.

EDIT::: Eh. So I was noting to myself earlier that The Kid reminded me a bit of River Tam in general appearance and vaguely offputting mannerisms, while not being a direct rip-off. Now she's delivering unto the GM's GF dialog about how she just 'sees stuff, like, in her head, y'know?'.   Also, she appears to be the ship's mechanic, which seems fitting for The Kid's Player Type.   Fake=out EDIT two... should hav elet teh scene play out. She's also apparently prone to fits of murderous psychopathy?  River? Issat you?


EDIT:::: "Do we really have to have a vote to decide if she gets a vote?!"



EDIT::: !!!!!!  Epic Twist!!!  The Party ARE the Raza!!  

Ok, so pretty much everything in the exposition dump is still dumb as a box of rocks stacked on a box of hammers, but still. Epic Twist!   Also, I sorta guess that dumb shit about the ship name earlier is, if not forgiven, excusable, since it turns out that Raza is the ship's name, so I guess they needed to hide that.    Now, epic question: Do I continue with episode two? Can my liver take it?

Damn that show sounds so dumb I'ma need to watch it :)

I've been watching The Big Valley reruns on some channel or other. Young Lee Majors! Pretty good so far. Makes me want to play Boot Hill. Anybody else like The Big Valley?

Haven't seen it since I was a kid and they had reruns of old TV westerns like that, Gunsmoke, Bonanza and The Wild Wild West.

Quote from: Dumarest;979368I've been watching The Big Valley reruns on some channel or other. Young Lee Majors! Pretty good so far. Makes me want to play Boot Hill. Anybody else like The Big Valley?

Personally I think its one of the better tv westerns made good characters good acting and writing.
Probably it's biggest problem is it came on the seen so late in the tv westerns life span. If it had come on maybe A decade earlier I think there's A good chance it would be remembered in the same vain as gunsmoke.
In hindsight I find it A little odd that Bonanza was As big as it was and The big valley is comparatively forgotten.

Has any one here ever watched Men into space (1959) it's an interesting look at what for the time was hard sci-fi .

Quote from: kosmos1214;982955Has any one here ever watched Men into space (1959) it's an interesting look at what for the time was hard sci-fi .

Yep, seeing in on comettv.com. pretty good show about what we could have done. It used real science usually as it was known at the time.

Quote from: kosmos1214;982955Has any one here ever watched Men into space (1959) it's an interesting look at what for the time was hard sci-fi .

Quote from: Omega;964541The new Battlestar Galactica sucked!
There. I said it. You happy now? :o

The airlock is that way.

Quote from: kosmos1214;982955Has any one here ever watched Men into space (1959) it's an interesting look at what for the time was hard sci-fi .

"The strain" is a damn good show mixing horror, vampires, zombies, dark conspiracies and post apocalypse themes. A rpg DEMANDS to be made. It is so much better than "the walking dead" I'm ashamed to mention it in the same post.

Quote from: Schwartzwald;983018"The strain" is a damn good show mixing horror, vampires, zombies, dark conspiracies and post apocalypse themes. A rpg DEMANDS to be made. It is so much better than "the walking dead" I'm ashamed to mention it in the same post.

Huh I have never that one I'll need to look it up

Find it online and start from the beginning. It's gone too far to jump into now.

I found The Strain uneven but it has improved a lot lately, next season should be interesting. I think the Helsing TV show is a more successful combo of apocaplypse and vampires but there's only been one season I believe.

Well I have recently started watching A remake of A show that I watched A decade ago.
That show being Kino's journey I am only about 2 1/2 episodes in but so far it has been interesting the the first 2 episodes where remakes the next 3 are all new content.
One thing that is very different so far is it seems to lack the surreal sort of over tone the original had and A lack of close fallowing of individuals and reasoning behind why these country's are the way they are.

Watched the last season of THE STRAIN and it was easily the strongest run of a rather poorly written show. At least they pulled it all together at the end.

On that note I'd say the latest season of NARCOS is also an improvement on the previous season. They figured out who should really be their protagonist for one thing, cut way back on the excessive narration and eliminated the extraneous and banal wife subplots.

The fun thing about The Strain (mind: I only saw one episode and that was some time ago), is that I picked up a book in an airport back in... 2013 maybe? 2012?, and it was 'book 2 of The Strain'.   I'm not a fan of... is it Del Toro? Sure, I'll go with that and risk looking like an idiot who can't google... Del Toro's take on Vampires... all those tentacle mouths and whatnot. I prefer a more classic 'fangs in the mouth' for my Vampires.

But I did think he had the most clever, new take on the secret origins of Vampires... though too... I'm just as happy to Not Know the secret origins of Vampires.  It was a real mixed bag of brilliance and stupidity. You think I'd watch the show just because of le book, but honestly? I'd have to have a TV first, and then I'd have to... ugh... watch it. Instead of rocking out with Rock Band on le xbox.

About the only shows I have time for are Better Call Saul and Narcos. I may continue watching the Bruce Lee bio series on Netflix, maybe not.

I'm certainly not at all interested in any of the Marvel shit that seems to make geeks' orifices wet. Walking Dead was OK, but now it's repetitive as hell.

I really wanted season 3 to be about Rick growing turnips.

Quote from: Headless;1006613I really wanted season 3 to be about Rick growing turnips.

It isn't just season 3, and I think it may have been peas (unless there is a turnip subplot I'm forgetting), but that plot arc spans two glorious seasons. In walking dead, you reap what you sow.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1006814In walking dead, you reap what you sow.

In that case, I suppose it is vitally important to know WHAT Rick was Sowing. Peas or Turnips?

Because obviously he won't be reaping the other one.... or WILL HE!!!!!

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;1006551About the only shows I have time for are Better Call Saul and Narcos. I may continue watching the Bruce Lee bio series on Netflix, maybe not.

I'm certainly not at all interested in any of the Marvel shit that seems to make geeks' orifices wet. Walking Dead was OK, but now it's repetitive as hell.

Re: NARCOS. I have to admit to enjoying seeing the antagonists get theirs in the end.

Oh yeah, they're fucking dirt.

One thing I really like about the series, though, small as it is, is that many of the Spanish speaking actors speak with credible Colombian accents.

One thing that I could never get past in Scarface and Carlito's Way, great as they are, is the cuban and puerto rican accents by Pacino. In Scarface, it makes the movie veer into campiness for me.

Back in the 80's, when roughly half of all mindless action films involved Russians I couldn't watch a damn thing without my pop dropping in and commenting on the terrible misuse of the Russian language.

Though he oddly never commented on any of the other languages he spoke just as well...  No no... I think he may have commented on German once.  

But Russian? Every. Damn. Time.


Mind you: We were not Russian... or if we were he owed me a big fat explanation for why I wasn't doing cool spy shit every day.

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;1007000Oh yeah, they're fucking dirt.

One thing I really like about the series, though, small as it is, is that many of the Spanish speaking actors speak with credible Colombian accents.

One thing that I could never get past in Scarface and Carlito's Way, great as they are, is the cuban and puerto rican accents by Pacino. In Scarface, it makes the movie veer into campiness for me.

Scarface is camp unleashed.

The Orville has gotten better. It's essentially become Star Trek: The New Generation minus canon baggage plus some juvenile humor and less taking itself seriously. And I still think the first officer  is hot.

Quote from: Dumarest;1009347The Orville has gotten better. It's essentially become Star Trek: The New Generation minus canon baggage plus some juvenile humor and less taking itself seriously. And I still think the first officer  is hot.

I caught an episode over Thanksgiving dinner, and then watched the pilot when I got home.

...it's weird. I can't get over Seth McFarlane and the potty humor. It's not that I dislike potty humor, but it sticks out. Then again, I think the big draw of the show is that the crew are not shiny, polished people. They've got their quirks and issues and that makes them very human (even the non-humans) and relatable. We like them. So while I dislike potty humor in a TNG clone, I see the need for it... like I said, it's weird.

But it beats the fuck out of nuTrek. I don't even have any enthusiasm to try watching STD.

PS comparing the Orville beauty shots in the pilot to the shots of the Enterprise in Beyond, it's like night and day.

I'm about 6 episodes into The Orville. (We just watched the time traveler episode)

1. I agree with some of the interviews that McFarlane has done on the show. There's a sense of fun and optimism that sci-fi in general has missed, and The Orville is a breath of fresh air, ironically since it's returning to the TNG tropes to do it. I think it's a better take on where Trek could have gone instead of the current drama, angst, action stuff that bores me.
2. I am really starting to hate the ex-wife character. Not for anything she's done, but that it's the huge majority of the character. She's the ex-wife, we get it. Every goddamn episode. She seems to not have anything going for her except being his ex-wife. Give her something else to do once in a while, or get her off the show for fucks sake.
3. Building tension, pacing, all these things are handled really well in the show, compared to the nuTrek movies, which have awful pacing, and only rudamentary attempts to build tension. This is one of the big reasons why I've tuned out of Star Trek.

Good show. I have my complaints, but for a first season, and a huge risk, it seems to be paying off.

Just watched Majority Rule. I can see why the critics hate the show. :D

Watched the first few episodes of The Shannara Chronicles and I'm enjoying the teenage soap opera meets pacy science fantasy of it all. Also some good ringer character actors filling out the cast.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1009714I am really starting to hate the ex-wife character. Not for anything she's done, but that it's the huge majority of the character. She's the ex-wife, we get it. Every goddamn episode. She seems to not have anything going for her except being his ex-wife. Give her something else to do once in a while, or get her off the show for fucks sake.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1982[/ATTACH]
How dare you, sir.

Quote from: Dumarest;1009970How dare you, sir.

Hey, I'm saying they should give the character more dimension. :)
Since then, there were two episodes, that didn't beat on the ex-wife angle, Majority Rule and Into the Fold. If they hadn't had those two episodes before Cupid's Dagger, I probably would have punched the TV.