What Was the Last TV Show You Watched? Volume 2

Discussion of non-Disney entertainment.
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PeterPanfan
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Post by PeterPanfan »

Lazario wrote:
PeterPanfan wrote:Laz, just wondering where you got the star ratings, and could I please use them? :P
You sure may.

And I Googled around looking for them. Found them back about 2 years ago. Google gave 'em to me. :D
Ah, okay. Cool, and thank you! :)
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Post by Lazario »

You're welcome.
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Season 1, Episode #2: "And All Through the House"
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I don't know if this is supposed to be so obvious (the tire-swing / window sequence), over-the-top (Mary Ellen Trainor's entire performance), or silly (her boyfriend's answering machine message)- but this is the pure definition of fun. It's just cliche after cliche after cliche done speedy, tense, nasty, and funny. A beautiful tracking shot done to a Nat King Cole song unbroken as a fire poker (one of my favorite and underused movie-murder instruments) murder is commited. And then, the always entertaining Larry Drake (Dr. Giggles) as a loony-eyed, black-toothed, ax-toting, grease-faced killer santa looking like he just escaped from prison. And, of course - Mary Ellen Trainor's face. I don't know what shocked her more: the killer climbing up the ladder to her daughter's open window or getting hit over the head by a clump of snow fallen from her roof. It's also worth mentioning (the blonde connection), that there's a dolly shot that looks like it was stolen from Fatal Attraction- when she drops the phone and runs to the other side of the house (I think it was when she looked out the window at a dead body to see the ax was missing).


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Season 3, Episode #14: "Yellow"
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Sorry Oliver Stone (actually I'm not sorry- though we both lean to the left, I find him one of the most boring filmmakers alive), but this is the best war-related piece of filmmaking I've ever seen. It's tight, concise, and absolutely spine-chilling. War films never before saught to change my mind about what war is - a necessary evil in life (much like abortion). I never once flinched on my personal convictions watching crap like Glory or The Alamo (2004). This is the kind of thing that sort of shoves the words of both sides down their throats. For example, I always clapped whenever Michael Moore would accuse the politicians who supported war of purposefully not sending their own kids into the military. But when you watch this, you have to agree- Martin's no better than any of the other soldiers getting torn to pieces. What makes his life any more important? And, when Dan Akroyd's character suggests his father's being hasty by condeming Martin to the firing squad- wouldn't he do the same to any other lieutenant showing "cowardice in the face of the enemy"? This episode has an ugly streak that forces us to accept, in a situation that can't be changed, the consequences for everyone's actions- even if we would have done the same things.

Then... we have the whole issue of father versus son. Kirk Douglas is such a bastard to his son (naturally). The son gave his whole life to make his father happy and his father never gave him anything in return. This pattern obviously set a precident in their relationship leading the father to always take and expect the son to give. The one thing Martin fights him on is not wanting to go to war and wanting a discharge. He also lies and manipulates Martin into behaving the way he wants too. As though always complying with his demands wasn't good enough. This episode perfectly illustrates the expectations of complete-sacrifice on the part of pro-war zealots (that are at least secretly present in them). Most importantly though, this relationship is so typical to parental manipulation. Martin just wasn't smart enough to see through his father's lies. Why would he be? He grew up to be the man his father wanted him to be. That's one of the reasons why I'm always skeptical of my brother, when he calls my father a hero in his life. One of the obviously suspicious things about that is that we were both physically abused as children, and you know how one kid always gets it worse than the other / others? He got it worse than I did. No surprise to me then that he turns out to be the one who was less anxious to leave home.


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Season 6, Episode #15: "You, Murderer"
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I enjoy almost anything with people in suits or high heels hurriedly walking over incredibly slick or polished hard floors. Here- it's Isabella Rosselini and Sherilyn Fenn clicking all over the place trying to help or hurt Humphrey Bogart, and the very theatrical John Lithgow being more reserved than usual (which still means he's flying into a rage of body movements compared to his co-stars). In a very cool-looking gangster-era posh American apartment. Like the kind Sal the Shark would have, only not ground-floor and with fewer dead animals on the wall. Another fun novelty here is the "you-are-the-main-character" point of view shot. So, everything is one big continuous jump-cut. I don't know if this is trademark to any Bogart films (I've never seen one). Though Trailers from Hell informs me that this device was used in Lady in the Lake (1941). So clearly, with me style goes a long way. Apart from how cool this is (and how much I thought Rosselini made the right choice, dumping Lou for the quite sexy Lithgow - I have a thing for funny guys), I thought it loses a little steam when they get to the apartment. And, well- Isabella Rosselini isn't exactly a great actress. Her little "I'M LEAVING YOU!" tirade is just awful. Also, Lou is an annoying character after more than 10 minutes.
Last edited by Lazario on Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by PixarFan2006 »

I watched the new South Park last night. I thought it was kind of amusing. I also watched King of the Hill last night before I went to sleep.

Today, the last show I watched was Malcolm in the Middle on FX.
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Post by Lazario »

I watched a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I hated that show with a passion when I started checking it out. But... when they really dial up the drama and pile on the tragedy, it mordibly becomes a little more watchable. Cliched and obvious as all hell. But, you put into it what you bring to it. And I'm a very deep person so...even if the show is shallow and stupid, you can forgo that in your mind.

On a side-note, when the whole T.R. Knight discussion was going on here and people were flashing pictures of him, I didn't get what all the fuss was about. Watching the show now, I do. He's absolutely beautiful.
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Post by PixarFan2006 »

I watched some of the hour-long The Office episode last night I was mostly busy trying (but in the end failed) to reorganize my dvd collection (guess I need to buy more shelves soon).
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Season 1, Episode #4: "Only Sin Deep"
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This one is such a fun flashback to cheese cinema of the late 80's / early 90's, a lot of it featuring trendy visions of the high-cheese big-money lifestyle of the city rich. Lots of white women's dress-suits with huge buttons and art-gallery apartment parties. And of course, a hooker as a main character (this being the same era as Pretty Woman, around half a year earlier) who gets a makeover and becomes accustomed to the high-life. And with music that sounds like the twin brother of Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (except for the horrible stuff at the apartment party). And, naturally a plot about the horror of aging is a good change from the typical slashers and monsters. There are a couple of little problems here, though. Lea Thompson's accent is one. She sounds like a man. It's that simple. She's trying to channel some deep New York / Brooklyn thing, and failing miserably. Then, how fast she hooks her blond beefy rich husband. And is he Mr. Perfect or what? Direct, generous, complimentary, and still as interested in her after the wedding and months of marriage as he was at the start. It just feels phony at times. He'll read a couple of lines like he wants to strangle her to death- both times he's asking her questions ("what are you- a psycho?!" and "what is this- the make-up counter at Macy's?!").


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Season 1, Episode #5: "Lover Come Hack to Me"
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This one had me hooked fast. The Crypt Keeper intro has him chopping a meat-cleaver (another favorite movie-murder instrument of mine) into a pile of gore. Then, the story kicks in with stark insinuations of greed and a "you'll be sorry" warning - both great story elements. Then, a very Dolls-like storm and big old haunted house that looks empty. Unlike Dolls though, this house is empty (ala- perhaps, Hell Night) and that makes it creepier. Not to mention the blue-lit storm outside is amazing with these production values. This little TV show ends up lasting better than feature films of the time (After Midnight for example). And then, the amazing Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction, Needful Things, Freeway). You've got a one-woman horror show right there. She could easily have been the Karen Black of her day. But even though this looks great and gets me into it fast... there's no ascension to the next level. You know? The opening 8 or so minutes just leads to an overly-long sex / seduction scene (these really work better in vampire horror tales, where you expect a lot of sexuality and or elements of romance) and a couple murders that are cool but come abruptly on the heels of the awful performance of Stephen Shellen as the ultra-buff gold-digging husband. Just when you think his performance couldn't get worse...he starts talking to himself (trust me, if you see this later and haven't already- you'll wince). And a really way too bizarre twist (this might be a lot more satisfying if she were Cinderella or Repunzel or something - someone you'd expect would be sexually repressed - doing this to the charming Prince who would come to rescue her). But, it's kind of worth sitting through. Even at its' worst, Amanda is still creepy. And, a scene of Stephen Shellen stripping is... well, let's just say: that's probably the reason they hired him in the first place.


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Season 6, Episode #1: "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime"
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This is actually one of my favorite TftC's. Because I love Catherine O'Hara. She's beautiful, sexy, brassy, and always hilarious. And because, naturally, I love a good cold bitch type. Which one could argue she was already playing in Home Alone (she's much more sympathetic in the "New York" sequel). And of course, Beetlejuice. Who didn't love her there? Her and one hell of a supporting cast including the way too cute Kevin Cooney (Legally Blonde), the ice-slick Brit pro Joseph Maher (Sister Act), Wesley Mann (Disney's Adventures in Wonderland), and the always scary, even in comedic roles, Peter MacNicol (Addams Family Values, Ghostbusters 2). I don't know if this is funny but (with the exception of the stupid guilt-ghosts that pop up a couple times) it sure is fun. And really tense. If you thought stuff like Ghosts of Mississippi and JFK are intense- try doubling that here. In fact, it's a little too intense. I swear I felt like I was on-trial here. God knows people who take the law into their own hands and overzealous conservative judges are always scary (of course, I found the 1991 hicktown-court comedy Nothing but Trouble to be more outrageous). But it ends up being fun because O'Hara really does deserve what's coming to her. If only they had dialed down the supernatural stuff. I mean- why do the doors of this courthouse magically lead to rooms they're not connected to? This ain't Labyrinth.
Last edited by Lazario on Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by pinkrenata »

Having run my first 5k a few weeks ago, I just celebrated my experience by revisting The Office's "Fun Run" episode. Thank goodness I fared better than Michael Scott!
WIST #1 (The pinkrenata Edition) -- Kram Nebuer: *mouth full of Oreos* Why do you have a picture of Bobby Driscoll?

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Post by PixarFan2006 »

I watched an episode off of X-Men Volume 2 this morning.
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Post by Mason_Ireton »

Zorro: Season 1/Season 2

I recall watchin a few episodes of this classic show, never even seen the 1998 Zorro film either. So watching this with a clear mind really helped out.

The 1st season was fantasic, it foucsed more on Zorro's heroic side and how he tries duel both a soical/secrect life. He handles matters very firmly and with ease as Deigo. Yet durning the 1st season he never seemed to have interest in women except for helpin and being polite to 'em...which sorta gave me the impression he was not smitten with 'em.

When you arrive at the season finale, it's one of the best finale I've ever seen on a Disney show. I'd highly recommend Zorro: Season 1


As we arrive on Season 2, it starts off with excitment and fair decteive work from Bernardo and Zorro, some episodes plots are alil tame but worth watching, especially the Mountain Man storyline and The Rebatos storyline. during the 1st few episodes of season 2 Zorro borrows a white horse name Phantom durning his stay at Montery, adventure is abound in every episode and comic timing with Gene Sheldon (Bernardo) are perfectly well excuted.
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Post by ajmrowland »

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Entire series

watched it online, and I must say wow. just. wow. It's AWESOME!

Complex story, non-kiddie/teenie bopper themes and plots, well developed characters and excellent animation. 5/5
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Post by jpanimation »

ajmrowland wrote:Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Entire series

watched it online, and I must say wow. just. wow. It's AWESOME!

Complex story, non-kiddie/teenie bopper themes and plots, well developed characters and excellent animation. 5/5
Yeah, its the lone shining star in an otherwise very cloudy sky that is Nickelodeon. They used to make good shows (with maybe one or two stinkers) all the way up to Invader Zim, then all creativity left, and its been just one stinker after another. Even their new logo sucks.

Invader Zim - Great!!!
Action League Now! -POOP
ChalkZone - POOP
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - Decent
All Grown Up! - POOP
My Life as a Teenage Robot - POOP
Danny Phantom - Decent
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Great!!!
Catscratch - POOP
The X's - POOP
Mr. Meaty - POOP
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - POOP
Tak and the Power of Juju - POOP
Back at the Barnyard - POOP
The Mighty B! - POOP
The Penguins of Madagascar - POOP
Fanboy and Chum Chum - POOP

As you can see, Avatar is an anomaly, and its a wonder they were left so much creative control. To add insult to injury, Nicktoons Network no longer shows the good classics, but now this same crap that is found on the parent network (basically, we have no way of seeing the good stuff anymore). Rumor has it that Avatar was filmed in HD and widescreen. Can't confirm it but considering it started in 2005 and Disney's shows from 2004 (some even earlier) are in HD/widescreen, it may very well be true (I won't hold my breath).
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Post by ajmrowland »

i dont have nickHD, so i can't tell. All the online showings are the 4:3 format, no matter the site.
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Post by jpanimation »

I have Nick HD and its shown in 4:3. Both Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network have a bunch of shows filmed in HD widescreen but they keep showing the 4:3 cropped versions (for CNHD, they show the 4:3 mode and stretch it to widescreen instead of showing the 16:9 version). Disney is the only channel that does its programing right, showing the HD versions of all their shows in the right aspect ratio and they look fantastic. Some of the CN DVD releases show them in their correct 16:9 aspect ratio (Chowder and Flap Jack), while the TV broadcasts the cropped version, and some DVDs showcase the incorrect cropped version.

Like I said, unless you talk to someone from the production team, its hard to know the intended aspect ratio, but I'm hoping they had enough sense to make it in widescreen. With no evidence of a widescreen version, I won't hold my breath, but lets just hope thats lazy Nickelodeons fault and that the widescreen masters just haven't been utilized yet.
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Post by ajmrowland »

Well, if they're smart, they'll excite fans with an eventual blu-ray release and show the correct ratio there.
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Post by Goliath »

The Sopranos, season 3 (episode 11)

This show has me hooked! The made the quality so good and set the bar so high, that episodes feel like mini-theatrical movies. Can't wait to see what season 4 will bring.
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Post by GloomyEeyore »

Last night I watched Glee and the Red Wings game which was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen.
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Post by Lazario »

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Season 5, Episode #16: "Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home"
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Since it's Roseanne, the greatest, most groundbreaking, and important television show of all-time, I think it's worth critiquing episode-by-episode.

And this episode is, when all is said and done, the single most personal. And deals with a subject matter I happen to know a lot about: child abuse. How growing up in an abusive family dictates a lot of how you live your life years later. And this hits the nail right on the head. In fact, frighteningly- I have the exact same relationship dynamic with my younger brother that Roseanne and Jackie have. With one exception- we were never close. We didn't stick together through the years of intense physical abuse and humiliation we suffered. But, everything else is right on the money. I, the older brother, strugged with weight problems while my brother was the thin one. I have serious control issues (as you all can attest to) and feel like I always have to be right, and he lets people walk all over him. I am overly critical of men, and have sex with very few. My brother had a long string of girlfriends and can't find one to stay with. Just like Jackie, my brother was the one who was closer to my parents- especially, just like Jackie, with my father. While I tried to always help my mother but realized it was useless. She was a hopeless alcoholic and was doomed to break all her promises to herself. Leaving me to wash my hands of both equally. Me and my brother, just like Roseanne and Jackie, ended up blaming our mother more than our father even though our father was the one who created the negative atmosphere in the house. Same sort of job between our fathers too. Our father had a job like their father, that left him traveling a lot, out on the road.

Is that enough hell to chew on? Because, there's more. Through it all, we were also made to feel like we were spoiled and that the reasons we were abused (even though my parents would never admit it was outright abuse) is that we didn't appreciate what we had enough and we didn't love our parents enough.

This episode truly presents a realistic, real life portrait of how abuse stays with you. A bad childhood is the hardest thing to forget... unless you're psycho, like a killer. Because no child is responsible for the violence they are exposed to, no child deserves violence handed down to them by the people they're meant to look up to. Try living with that and be expected to trust other people. Or turn out to be a healthy adult with no problems of your own. Moving on with your life, and forgiving the people who hurt you. Like an addiction, it never goes away. You have to try your best to deal with it day-by-day. Leaving you with the best memory of your father and this was true like Roseanne felt of her own father... the thing I'm most grateful for was his humor.

Last thing that's worth mentioning is how great the scene is of Jackie and Dan when they go to make the funeral arrangements and buy the coffin. In true Roseanne fashion, Dan sets 'em up and a funny woman, Laurie Metcalf- at her most brilliant here, knocks 'em down.
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Post by Mooky »

Just finished watching the final three episodes of "Harper's Island". I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not been stupid enough to look up online who the killer was somewhere around the middle of the show. Still, it was intense enough to keep me on the edge of my seat. Recommended for people who like (teen) horrors/thrillers of the '90s.
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Post by BelleGirl »

This Christmas I gave my parent a dvd-box of the mini-series Centennial from 1978 as a present, and we watched the whole series together. Very well done series based on the novel of the same name by James Michener. The story about the fictional town in Colorado called Centennial begins in te 18th century with the story of Lame Beaver en the white trader/hunter Pasquinel who marries Lame Beaver's daughter Clay Basket, and John McCeage (Richard Chamberlain), a Scottsman who becomes their close friend (and who also loves Clay basket). The story ends in the year 1978.
I first watched this series on TV as a kid and I remembered a lot of it, but there is just as much I had forgotten. So it was really exiting to see this series once more. Anyone interested in series about American history should see this one!
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