TV catch-all
I haven't updated in a week, so I thought I'd throw out a few thoughts on some of the things I've watched recently.
Like, tonight begins Game of Thrones on HBO. The Spousal Unit and I watched the 15 minute preview and declared it good, so we're tuning in and expecting it to become Must See! tv from here on out. I just hope I'm going to be able to keep up with what looks to be a cast of thousands. I don't know if there really are that many characters, but it certainly looks like a lot. What we saw was visually breathtaking, though, and put us in the mood and mind-frame of the universe pretty much immediately.
We watched the entire Mildred Pierce HBO miniseries that finished its run last week, and as a long-time fan of the Joan Crawford movie, I've got to be honest and say I prefer the movie. I'm sure the miniseries was more true to the novel, but I like the way things happened in the movie better, and I definitely had more empathy and sympathy for Crawford's character than Winslet's. Even Veda had a couple more layers to her in the movie compared to the utterly one-dimensional villainous Veda in the miniseries, both young and old. The Veda portrayed in the miniseries is so completely and openly vile every single second that it's impossible to believe anyone - even a mother or a father - could like this child, much less love her or buy a single word that comes out of her mouth.
The look of the miniseries was exquisite, but at the end of the six hours, I can't honestly say I liked it. And now I feel the need to go back and watch the movie again. Luckily I picked up a cheap copy at a Barnes and Noble dvd sale a couple months ago.
We're into The Killing on AMC which is very good, but after all the glowing reviews I'd been reading for months about this series, it's not quite as outstanding as I was led to believe. But that's probably because I went into it with overly elevated expectations. There is a bit of a Twin Peaks buzz to it in that you can't really trust anyone right now, even the murdered girl's parents. But, OTOH, it doesn't have that supernatural air to it that TP did. Plus, no dancing dwarfs speaking backwards, more's the pity.
I initially loved the fact that Callum has a guest-starring part in the series, but given the nature of his role as Sarah's already long-suffering and long-distance fiance that you just know she's going to continue to blow off to solve the case, his role is pretty thankless and I assume will end sooner than later. Still, he looks delicious. ;)
Both versions of Being Human (US on SyFy and UK on BBCA) finished their runs within two days of each other, and I'm already looking forward to each returning for another season - though given the way the UK version ended its third season, I think I'm anticipating the US version's second season more.
I admit I read a spoiler on twitter a couple months ago about Mitchell being killed off the UK version because of Aidan Turner's role in The Hobbit's 18-month shoot. I hoped, knowing this, that his demise would come with a caveat - some way for him to be brought back again if they got a fifth season. With the resurrection of Herrick, it looked like they were setting it up for just that possibility. But then it all went to crap, Mitchell decided he wanted to die for his part in the boxcar massacre and his fears that he'd do it again.
Given the pronouncement that staking a vampire is the ultimate death sentence without the possibility of resurrection - not to mention the fact that Herrick never coughed up the resurrection secret before Mitchell staked him anyway - our favorite resident vampire looks to be very much gone permanently from the UK series. And without him, the dynamic I initially fell in love with is no more. Now we have the two werewolves, with the impending werepup birth, and Annie the Ghost. Yes, there are other vamps running around, but it's not the same. That's not to say I won't tune in, because I will, but it's going to be different.
But if Mitchell was going to die, having George kill his friend because Mitchell asked him to and because George loved him was about the most heart-wrenching and loving way to go out. *sob*
Needless to say, I really hope this is a direction the US version doesn't take Aidan in. Hopefully Sam Witwer won't snag an 18-month movie shoot that forces the situation. *fingers and toes crossed*!
Both series ended their seasons with the bringing in of the ancients (aka the Dutch in the US version), and the killing of the series lead vamp's sire at the hands of his "child" (so Bishop's death is different from Herrick's first death in that Aidan killed Bishop instead of Josh, his werewolf buddy, doing the deed like George did to Herrick on the UK version - it's all so confusing trying to keep the two series separated). I do like the set-up with the Dutch giving Aidan the Boston territory that was once Bishop's. It should be interesting to see Aidan having to straddle being in charge with trying to play human.
I also like how the US version addressed the problematic werepup plot, having Nora get pregnant after her first encounter with Josh, then losing the baby just as she learned Josh's secret, especially now that the same "curse" will start happening to her next season. There's enough going on with this crowd that we don't need to throw babies into the mix. Don't get me wrong, I'm still interested in seeing how George and Nina are going to pull it off - and maybe having to kill off Mitchell spawned the decision for Nina to stay pregnant and keep the baby. But we don't have that problem on the US version, so let's move on to other things next year.
The last scene of the US version with the Oasis song Sally Can Wait as we flashback to Sally's death as her body is being carried from the house was perfection.
I can't believe how much the US version of the show grew on us. Both TSU and I really loved it - it's just a little mind-bendy when you're trying to watch both series at the same time. *snerk*
My disenchantment with Supernatural this season was to the benefit of Fringe as I like to think I was one of those new viewers who helped get it renewed for a fourth season. I don't feel qualified to really wax in-depth about any one episode, though, without the benefit of having seen everything yet. I'm still catching up. But I can throw out a few comments of amazement here and there - like how I LOVED last week's Brown Betty rerun since I'd never seen it before, and found their take on the musical episode very clever and witty, but with a metric ton of heart too. *swoon*
This week's LSD episode was even more trippy - and not just because of the acid drop. ;) I knew Leonard Nimoy was coming back, but as a cartoon? I sure didn't see that one coming! Playing half the episode in cartoon format allowed the producers to give the story a lot of heft and grandeur they couldn't get away with here on an end-of-the-season budget, for sure. Plus, I don't think they'd want John Noble and Josh Jackson to be hanging from a rope ladder in midair (yeah, I know, SFX). ;) But it really did open up the universe in Olivia's mind in a very twisty-turny way they couldn't portray in the real world.
The freakiest part of the episode, though, was that last line of Olivia's - the very matter of fact way she says that the unknown man in the cartoon 'verse is the man who is going to kill her, like she was talking about what to order for dinner. *shudder*
BTW, has the relationship between Walter and Belly always been that slashy?
Since the recent episode of Supernatural was relatively innocuous, I may throw out a couple of comments tomorrow - or whenever, or not. Fans can guess the one moment/line that made the episode for me, I'm sure. ;)
But right now I've got to take the doggies for a walk.
Like, tonight begins Game of Thrones on HBO. The Spousal Unit and I watched the 15 minute preview and declared it good, so we're tuning in and expecting it to become Must See! tv from here on out. I just hope I'm going to be able to keep up with what looks to be a cast of thousands. I don't know if there really are that many characters, but it certainly looks like a lot. What we saw was visually breathtaking, though, and put us in the mood and mind-frame of the universe pretty much immediately.
We watched the entire Mildred Pierce HBO miniseries that finished its run last week, and as a long-time fan of the Joan Crawford movie, I've got to be honest and say I prefer the movie. I'm sure the miniseries was more true to the novel, but I like the way things happened in the movie better, and I definitely had more empathy and sympathy for Crawford's character than Winslet's. Even Veda had a couple more layers to her in the movie compared to the utterly one-dimensional villainous Veda in the miniseries, both young and old. The Veda portrayed in the miniseries is so completely and openly vile every single second that it's impossible to believe anyone - even a mother or a father - could like this child, much less love her or buy a single word that comes out of her mouth.
The look of the miniseries was exquisite, but at the end of the six hours, I can't honestly say I liked it. And now I feel the need to go back and watch the movie again. Luckily I picked up a cheap copy at a Barnes and Noble dvd sale a couple months ago.
We're into The Killing on AMC which is very good, but after all the glowing reviews I'd been reading for months about this series, it's not quite as outstanding as I was led to believe. But that's probably because I went into it with overly elevated expectations. There is a bit of a Twin Peaks buzz to it in that you can't really trust anyone right now, even the murdered girl's parents. But, OTOH, it doesn't have that supernatural air to it that TP did. Plus, no dancing dwarfs speaking backwards, more's the pity.
I initially loved the fact that Callum has a guest-starring part in the series, but given the nature of his role as Sarah's already long-suffering and long-distance fiance that you just know she's going to continue to blow off to solve the case, his role is pretty thankless and I assume will end sooner than later. Still, he looks delicious. ;)
Both versions of Being Human (US on SyFy and UK on BBCA) finished their runs within two days of each other, and I'm already looking forward to each returning for another season - though given the way the UK version ended its third season, I think I'm anticipating the US version's second season more.
I admit I read a spoiler on twitter a couple months ago about Mitchell being killed off the UK version because of Aidan Turner's role in The Hobbit's 18-month shoot. I hoped, knowing this, that his demise would come with a caveat - some way for him to be brought back again if they got a fifth season. With the resurrection of Herrick, it looked like they were setting it up for just that possibility. But then it all went to crap, Mitchell decided he wanted to die for his part in the boxcar massacre and his fears that he'd do it again.
Given the pronouncement that staking a vampire is the ultimate death sentence without the possibility of resurrection - not to mention the fact that Herrick never coughed up the resurrection secret before Mitchell staked him anyway - our favorite resident vampire looks to be very much gone permanently from the UK series. And without him, the dynamic I initially fell in love with is no more. Now we have the two werewolves, with the impending werepup birth, and Annie the Ghost. Yes, there are other vamps running around, but it's not the same. That's not to say I won't tune in, because I will, but it's going to be different.
But if Mitchell was going to die, having George kill his friend because Mitchell asked him to and because George loved him was about the most heart-wrenching and loving way to go out. *sob*
Needless to say, I really hope this is a direction the US version doesn't take Aidan in. Hopefully Sam Witwer won't snag an 18-month movie shoot that forces the situation. *fingers and toes crossed*!
Both series ended their seasons with the bringing in of the ancients (aka the Dutch in the US version), and the killing of the series lead vamp's sire at the hands of his "child" (so Bishop's death is different from Herrick's first death in that Aidan killed Bishop instead of Josh, his werewolf buddy, doing the deed like George did to Herrick on the UK version - it's all so confusing trying to keep the two series separated). I do like the set-up with the Dutch giving Aidan the Boston territory that was once Bishop's. It should be interesting to see Aidan having to straddle being in charge with trying to play human.
I also like how the US version addressed the problematic werepup plot, having Nora get pregnant after her first encounter with Josh, then losing the baby just as she learned Josh's secret, especially now that the same "curse" will start happening to her next season. There's enough going on with this crowd that we don't need to throw babies into the mix. Don't get me wrong, I'm still interested in seeing how George and Nina are going to pull it off - and maybe having to kill off Mitchell spawned the decision for Nina to stay pregnant and keep the baby. But we don't have that problem on the US version, so let's move on to other things next year.
The last scene of the US version with the Oasis song Sally Can Wait as we flashback to Sally's death as her body is being carried from the house was perfection.
I can't believe how much the US version of the show grew on us. Both TSU and I really loved it - it's just a little mind-bendy when you're trying to watch both series at the same time. *snerk*
My disenchantment with Supernatural this season was to the benefit of Fringe as I like to think I was one of those new viewers who helped get it renewed for a fourth season. I don't feel qualified to really wax in-depth about any one episode, though, without the benefit of having seen everything yet. I'm still catching up. But I can throw out a few comments of amazement here and there - like how I LOVED last week's Brown Betty rerun since I'd never seen it before, and found their take on the musical episode very clever and witty, but with a metric ton of heart too. *swoon*
This week's LSD episode was even more trippy - and not just because of the acid drop. ;) I knew Leonard Nimoy was coming back, but as a cartoon? I sure didn't see that one coming! Playing half the episode in cartoon format allowed the producers to give the story a lot of heft and grandeur they couldn't get away with here on an end-of-the-season budget, for sure. Plus, I don't think they'd want John Noble and Josh Jackson to be hanging from a rope ladder in midair (yeah, I know, SFX). ;) But it really did open up the universe in Olivia's mind in a very twisty-turny way they couldn't portray in the real world.
The freakiest part of the episode, though, was that last line of Olivia's - the very matter of fact way she says that the unknown man in the cartoon 'verse is the man who is going to kill her, like she was talking about what to order for dinner. *shudder*
BTW, has the relationship between Walter and Belly always been that slashy?
Since the recent episode of Supernatural was relatively innocuous, I may throw out a couple of comments tomorrow - or whenever, or not. Fans can guess the one moment/line that made the episode for me, I'm sure. ;)
But right now I've got to take the doggies for a walk.