2015 Fandom Year in Review

[pocochina]

Happy new year, everyone!

I'm slowly catching up on fandom reading and comments. My old laptop recently sad-tromboned its way into obsolescence (tbh it was obsolete LONG before that but I put things off) and now I'm more or less adjusted to the new one. Before that, though, the annual retrospective:

Comments

[obsessive_a101]

HI! I still have yet to get around to watching... any of these really. ><" (Yes, I am still stuck on episode... 3? of season... 5? of SPN, and I've only watched the pilot for TVD. I have however, apparently, suck myself deeply into the blackhole that is procedurals - because they are neat and tidy and fit well with a brain that's been mostly occupied by school and reading. :)

I marathoned the first six seasons of CSI:NY with my dad relatively recently and am now... slowly but surely, episode by episode, making my way through Criminal Minds (much to the joy and amusement of my little sister who has been pushing me to watch for a while now). I still ned to finish BtVS - I still haven't watched anything, really, after S1. :3

Of the new 2015 shows you've listed, the following are already in My List or in my doc of shows to eventually watch: Empire, Jessica Jones, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt... Anything you particularly recommend? I may go look up Mr. Robot, out of curiosity's sake. :)

[pocochina]

Hey you!

Of your list of shows, I'd go with Empire. It's a fun story, great music, and Cookie is just fabulous. It is serialized, but it's made for a mass network audience so they're pretty good about telling you what you need to know from episode to episode. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is funny, but kind of a tonal oddball, with a lot of bright sunny characters and jokes but a very dark premise.

Of my list of shows, iZombie might be something you'll enjoy? The main character is a medical examiner (slash ZOMBIE!!!!) so the episodes are in that case of the week format. It's a cute, fun little show.

I may go look up Mr. Robot, out of curiosity's sake.

In terms of quality, innovativeness, and sheer entertainment value I recommend Mr. Robot unequivocally. That said, it is definitely a close watch kind of show and might be worth holding off until you can give it a little bit of mental real estate and savor it.

[obsessive_a101]

LOL - Thanks! :) I usually rely on friends to help me with my semi-regular list cleanup. :3

I knew about iZombie due to multiple encounters with its trailer, but despite its certainly compelling and right-up-my-alley format, my continuing zombie!squeamishness has prevented it from joining my list actually (though I know the zombie is the GOOD gal/crime solver in this). (^_^)"

I'll add Mr. Robot to my list then but hold off on watching until... well - WELL after this spring. ;P

[abigail_n]

I've had an ambivalent relationship with Supergirl, which has slowly grown on me even as I remain convinced that it's just not for me. You do need to accept that it's basically a YA story, and committed to a gentle, kindhearted tone. That's not necessarily a bad thing (in fact I increasingly prefer that attitude to the kind of nihilism you get from supposedly adult entertainments), but it doesn't leave you with much to grab on to. The thing I most like about the show is that it's really interested in relationships between women. I particularly like the mentoring relationship that develops between Kara/Supergirl and Cat Grant, which is something you really wouldn't guess from the pilot, but which the show starts leaning into within 2-3 episodes, the producers having clearly realized what they have in Calista Flockhart. A lot of it is pretty basic, second wave vs. third wave, hippie vs. millennial stuff, but some of it cuts pretty deep - on how many other shows, and particularly ones as candy-colored as this one, are you going to

[pocochina]

My problem with Supergirl wasn't necessarily the lighter tone. I'd agree that on its own that's at least as enjoyable a vibe as the more grimdark kind of series. The tradeoff, for me at least, is that when something doesn't live up to a grimdark tone then it just rings hollow. But a narrative that presents itself more optimistically but doesn't live up to it grates on me as false sentiment. Cat's little finger-wagging lecture at Kara about how a grown woman being called "girl" is totes empowering definitely grated. Kara was completely right! A 40+ year old woman self-infantilizing and slapping infantilizing labels on other women in order to benefit herself and her own corporate success is buying into a sexist worldview, and Kara stating the obvious doesn't make her THE REAL PROBLEM HERE. It makes her correct. But of course the show has to justify itself being called Supergirl, so it had to inform me why that was uplifting rather than actually doing anything to appeal emotionally. I'm encouraged to hear that it gets better than the

[abigail_n]

Definitely agreed about the "calling a grown woman a girl is empowering and if you disagree then you are the problem" line. That on its own nearly soured me on the whole show, not least because it was so obviously aimed at me, not at Kara. I mean, I can understand the show being stuck with the name and having to live with it, but there are more and less gracious ways of doing that. Instead of the writers trying to get me onside with something that made it clear that they were aware there was a problem but promised to work within their limitations to make a show that is still feminist (which, to be clear, is something they've gone on to do) they tried to preemptively make me out to be the bad guy for not being OK with something that is clearly not OK. The fact that it was a male writer putting these words in Cat's mouth is just icing on the cake

[lokifan]

I actually assumed Cat is meant to be wrong there? IDK sometimes she's the mentor but she's just as often the antagonist.

[rogueslayer452]

Part of me wants to check out Outlander out of sheer curiosity, but another part of me feels like it may not be something I may enjoy, at least based off of what I've seen from fandom. I don't know, it's a mixed bag.

I was side-eyeing the Supergirl promo too, but that pilot really drew me in immediately because of how adorable it was. And if it makes you feel any better, the show gets a lot better as it has continued on. It is lighthearted and endearing, but also hits the emotional spots and isn't as heavy-handed as the pilot made it seem to be. It's certainly a nice contrast in the midst of the darker, pessimistic superhero stories these days.

I was hugely disappointed by that Pretty Little Liars mid-season finale. :/

[pocochina]

Cool, that's two votes for Supergirl improving. Maybe I'll revisit it when S1 is all out and I can skip around.

Can I ask what didn't work for you about PLL? Not like, there HAS to be a reason, lol, I'm just curious if there was something specific or if it just didn't land for you.

[sunclouds33]

Oooh, Rome! Are you finished? How do you like it? It's one of my favorites- but I've been burned before on reccing it to one set of grandparents (who thought it was perverse even though my great-uncle on that side of the family counted it as his favorite show going) and a friend who majored in Classics in college (who resented the historical inaccuracies and soapiness, even though chick recommend *I Claudius* which was good but so 1970s cheap looking and soapy

[pocochina]

Rome is really good! +1 on your recommendation track record. I'm about four episodes into the second season.

I got hit in the face with reviews/gifs accusing anyone with an instinctive dislike to the promos of inner sexism so I felt the preemptive guilt- but then, I read the reviews/gifs selling/defending the show a little closely....and still felt turned off. So I haven't really wanted to try it- and every histrionic post about the confirms my beliefs.

ahahaha. Like, it's perfectly calculated to enable fandom fauxmenism:

Kara: It's just, uh... A female superhero. Shouldn't she be called Super... woman

[sunclouds33]

Yay for Rome! Yup, I've been so burned by people not taking my recommendation that I'm stuck saying "GOOD BREAD THIS!" or "It's hotter than Vulcan's dick!" or "I could have had half the whores for Nabo for that price...AND THEIR MOTHERS" or "It's only hubris if I fail" or "I didn't know he existed...until he didn't" or "A large penis always welcome" and no one knowing WTF I'm talking about. Really for a show about ancient Rome, it's very applicable to how I see the modern world

[pocochina]

I don't think I do have a standout favorite, exactly. Caesar and Servilia are pretty great, I always enjoy a good megalomaniac. I also tend to feel for Octavia, even though she's basically the polar opposite of those two. Like, not everyone in a particular orbit can be a ~hard-bitten player. Some people just are tragically susceptible.

Come to think of it, I might have paused in my watch of the show because I was reading The Assassination of Julius Caesar and it was a little weird to have the two takes on him in my head.

I'd rather experience R-rated phrases as a fact of life than being preached how I must want specific G-rated words to describe myself.

LOL, exactly. I feel like over the last couple of years fandom's gotten very loud about insisting that ~realism doesn't have to be grim~ and ~complexity doesn't have to be dark~ and blah blah blah.....but it will gleefully laud cotton candy simplicity which somehow manages to be both banal and offensive as morally superior to messy, difficult humanism every time.

[pocochina]

I've actualfax started choosing which shows to watch, and when, based on, "I'll watch it if/when I hear about its fandom screaming about Bad Writing."

LOL, I will be stunned if this test ever fails.

What's the deal with From Dusk Til Dawn? What's it doing so right that fandom is yelling about it?

LiveJournal isn't dead! It lives!!!

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

I do think it would be better received if it aired now, but judging by the specific nature of the praise I've seen for Jessica Jones, I think Dollhouse would still be greeted with abundant hostility today, sadly.

Mmmm. It would definitely get more attention and there would be a lot more discussion about specific elements of the story, I think? But a lot of that would be drowned out by/in service of people yelling about how morally wrong the show is for saying the exact opposite of what it's actually saying.

Harry Potter kinda reminds me of Jane Austen in the sense that (for me, anyway) the writer's "line of sight/thought" is a huge part of experiencing the story and giving