TV Stuff 2018
Normally this time of year, I'd try and do a post about my fandom activities of the year before, including any fanfic I'd written, but since I wrote no fanfic last year and didn't do anything fannish, there doesn't seem much point. ;)
So here instead is a post about TV stuff I really enjoyed in 2018.
Where returning series are concerned, the ones I enjoyed most were Legion, which outweirded its own season 1 weirdness while looking absolutely stunning, and Westworld, which only really sucked me in in season 2 anyway (was not enamored of season 1). With both of the above, I seem to be swimming against the tide, in that (so I'm told) most fans preferred season 1 of both shows - and certainly the plummeting ratings for Legion would suggest this is true.
Very late in the year, The Last Kingdom season 3 was also really good, as - earlier on - was The Good Fight season 2.
I enjoyed - in a bittersweet way - the final season of The Americans, one of the best TV dramas I've ever watched. I'm glad to know that, at last knockings (this year's Golden Globes, was it?), it finally - finally won the award for best drama that it's deserved to win every year since the first season but never won before. About time.
Versailles ended too. It didn't deserve to win any awards, but I liked it anyway. Oh well.
And I continued to love Lucifer (despite knowing on an intellectual level that it's a load of facile nonsense, and despite season 3 not being as good as season 2 and much hampered by guest star Tom Welling's resemblance to a block of very dull wood). One of the TV highlights of the year for me was the determined fan campaign after Fox cancelled the show that eventually saw it picked up by Netflix for season 4.
The Expanse was also cancelled and picked up by Amazon, but for whatever reason, I just haven't got around to watching season 3 yet, and it's now so long since I watched the first two seasons I think I'll have to watch them again before I watch season 3. Oh well.
Where new shows are concerned (new to me anyway), there was lots of good stuff last year, including The Marvellous Mrs Maisel and The Good Place, both of which I came across for the first time, and both of which I loved. I've just started The Marvellous Mrs Maisel season 2 and am trying not to rush through it. Then there was Altered Carbon, which really was new in 2018, and which I liked enough to watch twice (I understand that again I'm in the minority here?), and Sacred Games, Netflix's first Indian drama, which was so, so good. Must watch that again too.
There were some good BBC series also, my favourites of the ones I watched being Black Earth Rising and The Informer.
A few shows disappointed me, chiefly Star Trek: Discovery, which should have been much better, The Gifted, which should have been less boring, and The Bodyguard, which should have been good enough to justify the hype, and wasn't. I will continue to watch Discovery, though, in case it improves.
I gave up on a couple of shows:
Jessica Jones, because season 2 bored me so much that, despite having slogged through eleven episodes of it, I couldn't (and still can't) be bothered to watch the final two.
The Man in the High Castle, because I'm sick to death of Nazis.
I've probably missed a few things out. If I remember them, I'll come back and add them.
Speaking of Amazon Prime (which we sort of were), I discovered the other day that all seven seasons of BtVS are now available on it. So I've started watching. Only got to the third episode of season 1, but am sucked in enough again to go and re-read what I thought about those episodes back in 2015, when we were doing the (sadly, never completed) re-watch on
fantas_magoria. I think I was too kind to the first two episodes. They really are not good. However, I still love Witch, the episode which first made me sit up and take notice of the show way back when.
This entry was originally posted at https://shapinglight.dreamwidth.org/3784973.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
So here instead is a post about TV stuff I really enjoyed in 2018.
Where returning series are concerned, the ones I enjoyed most were Legion, which outweirded its own season 1 weirdness while looking absolutely stunning, and Westworld, which only really sucked me in in season 2 anyway (was not enamored of season 1). With both of the above, I seem to be swimming against the tide, in that (so I'm told) most fans preferred season 1 of both shows - and certainly the plummeting ratings for Legion would suggest this is true.
Very late in the year, The Last Kingdom season 3 was also really good, as - earlier on - was The Good Fight season 2.
I enjoyed - in a bittersweet way - the final season of The Americans, one of the best TV dramas I've ever watched. I'm glad to know that, at last knockings (this year's Golden Globes, was it?), it finally - finally won the award for best drama that it's deserved to win every year since the first season but never won before. About time.
Versailles ended too. It didn't deserve to win any awards, but I liked it anyway. Oh well.
And I continued to love Lucifer (despite knowing on an intellectual level that it's a load of facile nonsense, and despite season 3 not being as good as season 2 and much hampered by guest star Tom Welling's resemblance to a block of very dull wood). One of the TV highlights of the year for me was the determined fan campaign after Fox cancelled the show that eventually saw it picked up by Netflix for season 4.
The Expanse was also cancelled and picked up by Amazon, but for whatever reason, I just haven't got around to watching season 3 yet, and it's now so long since I watched the first two seasons I think I'll have to watch them again before I watch season 3. Oh well.
Where new shows are concerned (new to me anyway), there was lots of good stuff last year, including The Marvellous Mrs Maisel and The Good Place, both of which I came across for the first time, and both of which I loved. I've just started The Marvellous Mrs Maisel season 2 and am trying not to rush through it. Then there was Altered Carbon, which really was new in 2018, and which I liked enough to watch twice (I understand that again I'm in the minority here?), and Sacred Games, Netflix's first Indian drama, which was so, so good. Must watch that again too.
There were some good BBC series also, my favourites of the ones I watched being Black Earth Rising and The Informer.
A few shows disappointed me, chiefly Star Trek: Discovery, which should have been much better, The Gifted, which should have been less boring, and The Bodyguard, which should have been good enough to justify the hype, and wasn't. I will continue to watch Discovery, though, in case it improves.
I gave up on a couple of shows:
Jessica Jones, because season 2 bored me so much that, despite having slogged through eleven episodes of it, I couldn't (and still can't) be bothered to watch the final two.
The Man in the High Castle, because I'm sick to death of Nazis.
I've probably missed a few things out. If I remember them, I'll come back and add them.
Speaking of Amazon Prime (which we sort of were), I discovered the other day that all seven seasons of BtVS are now available on it. So I've started watching. Only got to the third episode of season 1, but am sucked in enough again to go and re-read what I thought about those episodes back in 2015, when we were doing the (sadly, never completed) re-watch on
fantas_magoria. I think I was too kind to the first two episodes. They really are not good. However, I still love Witch, the episode which first made me sit up and take notice of the show way back when.
This entry was originally posted at https://shapinglight.dreamwidth.org/3784973.html. Please comment there using OpenID.