Thoughts on Cult (non-spoilery)
The good stuff:
IT MAKES ME HAPPY TO SEE ROBERT KNEPPER PLAYING A CHARISMATIC BAD GUY ON TV AGAIN. I always hesitate to say that I like the character of T-Bag because, well, he's a pretty fucking nasty piece of work. But Robert Knepper really made me love to hate him. He made T-Bag more than just the villain, the one that every character will team up to hate, more than just a caricature (which I think T-Bag easily could have become). Robert Knepper made T-Bag a fucking awesome bad guy. His character (or should I say, the character of Billy Grimm) in Cult looks like he will be going in a similar direction, so I'm really excited to see that character develop. I do miss the accent though XP
Seeing Alona Tal on TV again is also pretty awesome, although I don't think the Kelly look works that well on her (but more on that later). And Jessica Lucas looks absolutely gorgeous. If only the scenes in the "real world" weren't so badly-lit *sigh*
THE WALL. I have a thing about walls. IDEK. But remember The Wall on Prison Break? The Wall in the SPN pilot? I think it speaks to the obsessive need to organize inside of me.
The whole "show-within-a-show" concept isn't as confusing as I thought it would be. It did take me a bit to understand, but I think they managed to keep the two universes quite distinct. Although I wonder if they'll be able to manage that as the plot becomes more complicated.
I did like the chance to see a fictional version of the behind-the-scenes of the TV show. There are some crew members that I think could turn out to be really interesting characters.
I liked the little detail they did by adding a 14th episode to Nate's recorded episodes of Cult. I thought that was cute, and it'll be interesting to see if they tie that detail into the finale.
I thought Jeff's backstory was pretty interesting. It's a nice little twist from the usual reporter who "will stop at nothing to uncover the truth". The way they revealed it to us was really clunky though.
And of course, the fact that the show is filmed in Vancouver gets bonus points from me ;D
The not-so-good stuff:
JEFF'S HAIR. It didn't bother me so much in pictures, but on film it's really obvious that they must've used like a whole bottle of hairspray on him because his hair just doesn't move. It's a minor issue, but kind of a pet peeve of mine.
The volume is weird. I understand that when they're showing us the fictional Cult, that they want to make it sound more tinny, like it's coming through speakers, but it makes it a little difficult to hear at times. Also, the volume seems to fade in and out at (what seem to me) like weird times. One part that stands out is when we get the first good long look at the show, and there's a kid playing with the paddle-toy-thing? I found the continuous thwacking noises to be distracting and confusing. And another is during the scene where they used the song "Crystalised" by the xx. Putting aside the fact that I don't think it was a good song choice for the scene, the way they faded the music in and out was also distracting to me.
To add onto the point about the fictional Cult (and geez, is writing about this show going to be confusing or what!), I'm not sure how seriously I'm supposed to be taking it. The colours are really vivid, whether it's outside and sunny or inside and mysteriously dark. That, along with the costumes, and the oh-so-obviously fakeness of it all, the stiff costumes, and OTT acting made me feel like I was watching a soap opera at times.
Tl;dr:
I think the biggest potential problem for Cult (the real one) will be on how it decides to portray the fans. I know that the whole concept of the show is built on the idea of some deluded/overly-obsessed fan(s?) (or at least that's how I interpreted the promos). Which is fine, as long as they manage to balance that out with some positive, more realistic portrayal of fans. Otherwise I don't know if the show will be able to build a loyal fanbase.
The writing is clunky at times and heavy on the exposition, but that seems to be an issue with a lot of pilots. In addition, there seem to be some technical things (like sound, directing, the ridiculously dim lighting) that I don't like. I'll be giving Cult a few more episodes to find its footing, but I hope it can step up its game quickly.
IT MAKES ME HAPPY TO SEE ROBERT KNEPPER PLAYING A CHARISMATIC BAD GUY ON TV AGAIN. I always hesitate to say that I like the character of T-Bag because, well, he's a pretty fucking nasty piece of work. But Robert Knepper really made me love to hate him. He made T-Bag more than just the villain, the one that every character will team up to hate, more than just a caricature (which I think T-Bag easily could have become). Robert Knepper made T-Bag a fucking awesome bad guy. His character (or should I say, the character of Billy Grimm) in Cult looks like he will be going in a similar direction, so I'm really excited to see that character develop. I do miss the accent though XP
Seeing Alona Tal on TV again is also pretty awesome, although I don't think the Kelly look works that well on her (but more on that later). And Jessica Lucas looks absolutely gorgeous. If only the scenes in the "real world" weren't so badly-lit *sigh*
THE WALL. I have a thing about walls. IDEK. But remember The Wall on Prison Break? The Wall in the SPN pilot? I think it speaks to the obsessive need to organize inside of me.
The whole "show-within-a-show" concept isn't as confusing as I thought it would be. It did take me a bit to understand, but I think they managed to keep the two universes quite distinct. Although I wonder if they'll be able to manage that as the plot becomes more complicated.
I did like the chance to see a fictional version of the behind-the-scenes of the TV show. There are some crew members that I think could turn out to be really interesting characters.
I liked the little detail they did by adding a 14th episode to Nate's recorded episodes of Cult. I thought that was cute, and it'll be interesting to see if they tie that detail into the finale.
I thought Jeff's backstory was pretty interesting. It's a nice little twist from the usual reporter who "will stop at nothing to uncover the truth". The way they revealed it to us was really clunky though.
And of course, the fact that the show is filmed in Vancouver gets bonus points from me ;D
The not-so-good stuff:
JEFF'S HAIR. It didn't bother me so much in pictures, but on film it's really obvious that they must've used like a whole bottle of hairspray on him because his hair just doesn't move. It's a minor issue, but kind of a pet peeve of mine.
The volume is weird. I understand that when they're showing us the fictional Cult, that they want to make it sound more tinny, like it's coming through speakers, but it makes it a little difficult to hear at times. Also, the volume seems to fade in and out at (what seem to me) like weird times. One part that stands out is when we get the first good long look at the show, and there's a kid playing with the paddle-toy-thing? I found the continuous thwacking noises to be distracting and confusing. And another is during the scene where they used the song "Crystalised" by the xx. Putting aside the fact that I don't think it was a good song choice for the scene, the way they faded the music in and out was also distracting to me.
To add onto the point about the fictional Cult (and geez, is writing about this show going to be confusing or what!), I'm not sure how seriously I'm supposed to be taking it. The colours are really vivid, whether it's outside and sunny or inside and mysteriously dark. That, along with the costumes, and the oh-so-obviously fakeness of it all, the stiff costumes, and OTT acting made me feel like I was watching a soap opera at times.
Tl;dr:
I think the biggest potential problem for Cult (the real one) will be on how it decides to portray the fans. I know that the whole concept of the show is built on the idea of some deluded/overly-obsessed fan(s?) (or at least that's how I interpreted the promos). Which is fine, as long as they manage to balance that out with some positive, more realistic portrayal of fans. Otherwise I don't know if the show will be able to build a loyal fanbase.
The writing is clunky at times and heavy on the exposition, but that seems to be an issue with a lot of pilots. In addition, there seem to be some technical things (like sound, directing, the ridiculously dim lighting) that I don't like. I'll be giving Cult a few more episodes to find its footing, but I hope it can step up its game quickly.