Shows that I’ve been watching recently

[frelling_tralk]

I get the impression that Dickinson is not getting as much attention as some of Apple TV’s other originals like The Morning Show and See, it doesn’t seem like many people are talking about it at all which is a shame. I found it to be such a charming and funny coming of age tale, and there were some genuinely heartbreaking moments too when it came

Comments

[honeymink]

I absolutely loved Dickinson. And I must say I was reluctant and still think it was kind of medicore but For All Mankind grew on me... no it was not For All Mankind... but like I said some of the characters made it worthwhile watching. But yes, Dickinson was my favourite by a longshot. I didn't try any of the other Apple offerings. They didn't seem interesting to me.

[frelling_tralk]

That’s how I feel about most of Apple’s content at the moment tbh, See never interested me at all as I’m not into fantasy shows, and I’m debating at the moment whether to check out For All Mankind or The Morning Show or not. Both shows sound a bit dry to me, although I should probably watch a few episodes and see for myself I suppose!

Otherwise the only forthcoming shows they have that really interest me are the ones that are based on books, but I do wish they had a bit more variety and comedy shows to go with all of these prestige projects. Dickinson was an enjoyable watch for me partly because it was a bit lighthearted and fun at times, but some of their other shows just sound like they would be a real slog and you have to be in the right mood for them

[honeymink]

I admit I haven't really checked out what they have coming up. I thought the premise for "For All Mankind" sounded really lame and the pilot was really really lame but then they introduced all the female characters in episodes 2 and 3 and suddenly it got a lot more interesting.

I will have to check out what else they have to offer. I haven't really found anything lately I was terribly excited about. I'm glad "Burden of Truth" is back.

And yes, I find you have to be in the right mood for a lot of things or they are a total slog. Like I finally made it through all ten seasons of Smallville. And I have so many feelings but since fandom is dead on LJ and I'm 10 years late who do I talk to? Go figure. (And of course now I need a Lex/Lana icon but where to find it...)

[frelling_tralk]

I would love to hear your thoughts on SV! You might be surprised by the response if you post about it, there was a pretty big fandom for it at one point, and I’m sure there will be people wanting to discuss it with you as it’s always interesting to hear what new viewers think. I keep thinking about having a rewatch of SV at some point actually, it’s just so hard finding the time to keep up with all of the new tv coming out, let alone rewatches as well XD

And yeah For All Mankind never particularly excited me either, it was only after I heard some positive responses to it that I considered that it might be worth checking a few episodes out to see what I think. None of the upcoming show descriptions for Apple Tv have been really drawing me in so far either, it’s really only the ones based on books that I’m a little curious about

[honeymink]

I feel like most people on my f-list apart from you and may two other people do not post about fandom anymore. In fact it seems to have been almost a dirty word. Yes people watch telly but heaven forbid someone wants to write fanfic or discuss the finer details, especially with all these people self-publishing their own stories. So I mostly shut up even if I have all these things where I'm like "OMG, you guys

[frelling_tralk]

I was actually feeling the exact same way about fandom almost becoming a dirty word after I came across a LJ friending meme today where it seemed that so many there were specifically not interested in friends who talk about fandom :( I don’t know why people wouldn’t be interested in discussing shows and books with others, and that’s basically what fandom is to me? Honestly I frequently found meta to be interesting even when it’s about shows that I’m not watching, I personally love finding out what people are reading and watching each week and coming across reviews on my flist, and so it does make me a little sad to come across such a disinterest in fandom. It seems like it’s really mostly only active these days with the younger people on tumblr and Twitter, and I try and get involved there when I can, but I do miss the fannish community and discussions that LJ once hosted

[honeymink]

I had to delete my tumblr when I renewed my U.S. visa --- they asked about all my social media and wanted my handled etc. ... fortuntately LJ wasn't among them and it's not like I ever posted anything but Reign, Once Upon a Time and the other odd fandom picture series on my tumblr but it felt so bloody invasive? Also I hadn't used it for five year, so I though I should probably either otherhaul it or get rid of it. I always found it hard to have proper fandom discussions on tumblr. And then where OuaT was concerned I stumbled into fandom wars again and it felt like I was back on Roswell circa 1999

[honeymink]

I agree, I didn't care for the Jimmy/Chloe romance but I liked Jimmy as Clark's and mostly as Lois's sidekick. There were some great scenes in there which I really appreciated. Maybe another reason why I had wished that they could have got more of Lucy. After all in the comics Lucy and Jimmy were a couple and I loved it when Lois and Lucy could finally resolve their issues. Erica Durance and Peyton List were so extremely well cast as the Lane sister in my opinion and I would have loved to have seen more of them.

But yes, I agree... it was a bit painful these mid-seasons when neither Lois or Clark had a proper job and it was Chloe with the career at the Daily Planet. It wasn't right.

[frelling_tralk]

And yep, I liked when they used Jimmy more like his comic book equivalent with Clark and Lois, but the romance with Chloe just never felt right to me, I hated how much they played up his jealousy especially

Smallville definitely stalled for way too long at times, it was originally a five year plan and it was going to end sometime after Jonathan died, but then it just kept getting renewed and they kept stretching out Clark’s journey. Honestly in seasons 8-10 they may as well have just had it as a Metropolis spin-off and called him Superman, it was a stretch to insist on still keeping him at the farm and calling his alter ego the blur. And then Tess at the Luther mansion as well when it would have made way more sense to give her a sleek new office set in Metropolis

It always made me laugh how characters kept making these supposed quick trips back and forth to their homebase at the Talon, the timeline there frequently made no sense at all

[honeymink]

I hated how much they played up his jealousy especially Another thing that doesn't even seem to make a lot of sense within the show. So Chloe had her first time with Jimmy when she was a summer intern at the Daily Planet and then they basically didn't keep in touch and Chloe seemed rather down like that one episode where we got the sex talk after "don't throw your virginity away"... and then he resurfaces, suddenly his feelings are super strong and he is totally jealous of Clark then of Davis... it was too much

[frelling_tralk]

I agree, it felt like a retcon to suddenly make Chimmy an endgame ship when he had always been the intern that never called Chloe back in the past, and they never really explained what changed there and why they were suddenly into one another again.

And hmm I don’t remember people caring about Jason/Lana much one way or the other, his switch to being a villain definitely felt very abrupt, but even his whole romance with Lana as well happened way too fast for me to care about. From what I remember it was a network request for Jensen to be added to the show for season 4, and then (although they denied it and said it was all planned from the beginning) they quickly switched him over to working with his mother after Jensen got the pilot for Supernatural and obviously wasn’t going to be sticking around for another season.

[honeymink]

I had trouble shipping Chloe with anyone tbh and I admit my view is probably tainted because I watched it now and I had to work on separating the actress from the character. But look even when she was with Oliver, I was a bit like I don't understand why? Because comic book-wise Green Arrow/Black Canary are a thing and it wasn't like Justin Hartley had much of a role apart from overcoming his manpain post-Doomday so I had really hoped to see Alaina Huffman again and they would get them together somewhere background-ish. After all, she was already on his team of heros. I'm sorry if that goes against your ship by the way

[frelling_tralk]

I haven’t really watched SV since what came out about the actress, but yeah I think that it’s definitely going to be a little weird for me as well when I next have a rewatch, especially in seasons 7-10. And lol no worries, I did like the Oliver/Chloe ship all right, but it wasn’t my favourite or anything, it always felt really underdeveloped imo and like it was a bit of an afterthought to the writers. I think they just saw fan response to the ending of Oliver teaching Chloe to shoot with a bow and arrow, and so they ran with it. The Chloe relationships that I was more into were Clark/Chloe and Chloe/Davis, but of course everything with Davis then got a bit too sick and creepy towards the end! I thought they had great chemistry early on in season 8 though, and I was honestly rooting for them over Chimmy

[honeymink]

Putting my feelings towards the actress aside, I agree that in the beginning I thought Chloe and Davis were interesting. It was also that it had a journey for Chloe other than her just being Clark's sidekick that I appreciated to some degree and there was chemistry. But it definitely got way too creepy and sick towards the end. I guess yeah things with Oliver were always way underdelveoped and I only ever saw her and Clark as friends, because he never seemed to look at her with the same interest he looked at Lana, Lois or even Lucy that first episode she was in. Like I said before I wish Chimmy had not happened because I actually loved Jimmy in his scenes with Lois (and Clark). But with Chloe ... the whole thing was sucking the air out of the room

[frelling_tralk]

I think that season 4 was possibly the first time that the writers really tried to have an overall plot with the search for the stones leading to the Fortress, maybe that’s part of why it’s seen as a new era for the show, along with Lois’s arrival, but yeah I totally agree on how unplanned and messy it all came across. I remember actually that there was a LOT of frustration on LJ because of how much the increased high school focus meant that Lex scenes were cut back to five minutes an episode or less in a darkened mansion, someone used to record how many there were in each episode and call them the Lex minutes lol. It really wasn’t a great season for Lionel either, and that was a shame after season 3 had such great scenes for the Luthors, but all I can say about its popularity with some fans is that I think it really appealed to new viewers who came in for Lois Lane? There was also more of a comic book focus with episodes like Run introducing the Flash, there was Krypto with the dog from the comic, Clark flying in the premiere etc.

[honeymink]

Oh, I definitely appreciated Lois's arrival (I mean over the seasons she evolved into my favourite character). But like you said, I found it ironic how suddenly it was a much more highschool focused show than ever before with Martha, Jonathan and Lionel next to Lex not getting much screentime or interesting things to do. I totally also appreciated the less Clana thing because before and then also later that was a relationship that was shown to not work over and over and over again which is why not only while watching but now that I can draw a bottomline under my watch I have to say I much preferred Lexana (and later Clois). The funny thing is you say people perceived seasons 1-3 as cheesy but like you said I found season 3 much darker (suddenly everyone seemed to have a secret lab... that was continued later, Oliver had a secret lab, Lana had a secret lab... I honestly felt like... should I get a secret lab?).

Personally I’d argue that season 5 would be the more obvious cut-off from the high school seasons in factI agree, because