OT: TV and Movies

[Ron Swanson]

I really enjoyed season 1 of House of the Dragon, but I have a sneaking suspicion that S2 is gonna go off the rails pretty quickly. I think one of the problems with the original GoT run was that you knew everything was eventually gonna devolve into CGI dragon fights, which kinda made all the fun political maneuvering and medieval war strategy, well.....meaningless.

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

Goddamn I laughed hard.

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

[jschligs]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

[ReasonablySober]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

That's been my rewatch at the end of the night lately. It's so good.

[Ron Swanson]

Probably way late on this but Prey was indeed awesome. Finally, they made another good Predator movie.

[Licensed to Il]

Probably way late on this but Prey was indeed awesome. Finally, they made another good Predator movie.

About a 6-8 of us here spent a few days last spring/summer when it came out complementing it. It was fun, had a retro reverence for the original but also didn't take itself way too seriously. It hit a lot of things, just right.

[Licensed to Il]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

I felt like there was a story line or character ark or two the final season that didn't go perfectly. And that just pointed my attention to how perfect everything was, all the other seasons. A really fun, funny show.

[machu46]

The cold opens in 99 were so good. Really great show.

Wife and I have started watching The Gentleman this week. I think this is my first time watching Guy Ritchie; very fun and I totally get why people talk about him as someone that sort of has his own voice.

[emunney]

Probably way late on this but Prey was indeed awesome. Finally, they made another good Predator movie.

About a 6-8 of us here spent a few days last spring/summer when it came out complementing it. It was fun, had a retro reverence for the original but also didn't take itself way too seriously. It hit a lot of things, just right.

In hindsight, it seems such an obvious move to just drop the Predator in different historical settings. Predator vs samurai, Predator vs pirates, Predator vs Continental Army, Predator vs Sparta, and so on. Keep it simple. I'd watch them all.

[lessthannick11]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

I watched the first 5-6 episodes and barely laughed, does it take time to build up

[Licensed to Il]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

I watched the first 5-6 episodes and barely laughed, does it take time to build up

I think like any sitcom, comedy is subjective. If you watched 5 episodes and didn't like it, I don't think you'll come around on it. I would offer the disclaimer that the tone and energy, like any ensemble show, take a season to find itself. The first season of Parks and Rec for example, are way off from what it eventually lands on. I think the actors in an ensemble need a while to find how to play the character, too.

[ReasonablySober]

Watch on YouTube

Looks utterly terrifying. I'm in.

[Ryan5UW]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

I watched the first 5-6 episodes and barely laughed, does it take time to build up

Sounds like the first season of The Office

[Licensed to Il]

Probably way late on this but Prey was indeed awesome. Finally, they made another good Predator movie.

About a 6-8 of us here spent a few days last spring/summer when it came out complementing it. It was fun, had a retro reverence for the original but also didn't take itself way too seriously. It hit a lot of things, just right.

In hindsight, it seems such an obvious move to just drop the Predator in different historical settings. Predator vs samurai, Predator vs pirates, Predator vs Continental Army, Predator vs Sparta, and so on. Keep it simple. I'd watch them all.

I am going to get Supreme Hustle's literary agent, and launch a second career adapting every single Steven Ambrose book and Ken Burns doc:

- Predator vs the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Predator vs the crews building the transcontinental railroad
- Preadator vs the Band of Brothers battalion
- Predator vs an early 1900s baseball team

[ReasonablySober]

I thought B99 hit the ground running. That said, once the show gets going Peralta does less weird physical comedy, Santiago is less of a kiss ass, Rosa's voice drops an octave, and Holt becomes absolutely hilarious. Seriously, Andre Braugher was incredible.

[emunney]

Did I mention Brooklyn 99 is a top 10 show for me? Watching again while working remote. Just amazing.

I watched the first 5-6 episodes and barely laughed, does it take time to build up

I think like any sitcom, comedy is subjective. If you watched 5 episodes and didn't like it, I don't think you'll come around on it. I would offer the disclaimer that the tone and energy, like any ensemble show, take a season to find itself. The first season of Parks and Rec for example, are way off from what it eventually lands on. I think the actors in an ensemble need a while to find how to play the character, too.

Yeah, The Office is another example of this. Abbott Elementary didn't click for me til half a dozen episodes or so in. Some of it is the writers getting to know the characters and the actors playing them, what works, what's funny about them, balancing comedy with humanity, etc. Community basically experimented continuously throughout the run of the show, but the first episode isn't really representative of the tone of the series or who they eventually decide the characters are.

That said, Brooklyn 99 is not in that category. Not that it doesn't grow, but that it kind of fell out well-conceived and fully functional. The pilot is tight and funny. It delivers a story, laughs, and an introduction.

[Ron Swanson]

Braugher and Joe Lo Truglio make the show for sure. Samberg's comedic style gets too grating and exhausting for me though. I've always found him funnier as a supporting guy. I would put 99 a tier below stuff like The Office and Parks and Rec.

[Licensed to Il]

I watched the first 5-6 episodes and barely laughed, does it take time to build up

I think like any sitcom, comedy is subjective. If you watched 5 episodes and didn't like it, I don't think you'll come around on it. I would offer the disclaimer that the tone and energy, like any ensemble show, take a season to find itself. The first season of Parks and Rec for example, are way off from what it eventually lands on. I think the actors in an ensemble need a while to find how to play the character, too.

Yeah, The Office is another example of this. Abbott Elementary didn't click for me til half a dozen episodes or so in. Some of it is the writers getting to know the characters and the actors playing them, what works, what's funny about them, balancing comedy with humanity, etc. Community basically experimented continuously throughout the run of the show, but the first episode isn't really representative of the tone of the series or who they eventually decide the characters are.

That said, Brooklyn 99 is not in that category. Not that it doesn't grow, but that it kind of fell out well-conceived and fully functional. The pilot is tight and funny. It delivers a story, laughs, and an introduction.

I think it is fair to say that Brooklyn 99 is more a finished product right out of the gate than the other examples given.

I do think the show finds a balance and the characters play off each other much better after a few episodes. Perhaps I like the characters better when the writers discover secondary identifiers... as RS and others have mentioned, at first Santiago is only an over achieving do gooder, Boyle is only a weirdo trying to get Jake to like him, Captain Holt is only the foil, etc. As the show goes on, obviously, the characters develop more and in the heist episodes for example, when they all play off each other and there is not a hierarchy.. that's when the show is best, IMO.

[MickeyDavis]

Never watched B99 but I'm going to give it a shot