Television

[Kathy Li]

... there is a dwindling of the episodic nature. What I mean by this is that older shows (and to an extent many 'crime' dramas of today) are what I call episodic shows. They introduce the characters, set up the story, expand the story, conclude the story, and end the show, with each episode. It's almost like the producers were afraid of 'What will people think if this were their first episode?' so they made each episode very similar with slight changes and no real continuity between them. However, many shows now days take into account that the viewers have already watched all the shows previously, or if they hadn't there are ways to catch up and not be left behind (Netflix, season DVDs, Hulu, Amazon+, etc.). And this is the change I love.

Actually, I think it's a pendulum swing. Back in the '80s and early '90s nearly EVERY show I watched was "arced". And I saw that mostly disappear. It's coming back a little right now, but it's nothing like the glory days of Buffy or Wiseguy. The "watch it all collected together" also does something odd to the rhythms, and the fan discussion. Back in the days before streaming and DVRs (yes, I'm a dinosaur), you watched one episode a week--and most people hadn't mastered their VCRs, so you watched it when it aired or you missed it.

But to me, where the biggest change is currently happening with television is that we're getting a plethora of short series in the 8-12 episode length, and there's been a lot of experimentation with busting up the older traditional fall-to-spring season into four separate fall, winter, spring, and summer seasons. This last year some shows have been starting up at what I consider to be wackadoodle times. Like Hannibal having its first season run begin in April, and its second season run begin in February. We've had summer cable shows (Homeland, The Newsroom) move from summer to the fall season, and shows that typically took a break over the fall to do summer/winter split suddenly moved off the calendar (Warehouse 13, Burn Notice, Leverage, White Collar).

And then, there's The Legend of Korra. [headdesk] Began its 13 episode 3rd-season run on July 4th. Nickelodeon was burning off two episodes per week, and started with the first three episodes on the 4th. Abruptly decided to pull it from broadcast on the network around episode 7 and begin showing them exclusively online. My head is kind of spinning with these types of decisions--I need to know where/when to find my shows, and it's getting weirder and weirder.

Being able to watch a show and to see the characters grow, adapt and change to situations that are thrown at them really interest me. I'm a huge character fan. I can watch almost any kind of show regardless of the genre as long as I enjoy the characters. There are some shows I watch that I normally wouldn't just because I like the characters and want to see how they would react to 'such and such'.

Yeah. To me, plots that are character-driven beat characters who are plot-driven every time. I tend to call the latter "puppet writing" and it drives me nuts.

My list is smaller. Congrats! I never thought I'd find someone else who had a bigger premiere list than me!!

Mine goes:

9/15 - Syfy, 9pm.
High Moon (pilot only. Bryan Fuller--of Hannibal and Pushing Daisies fame couldn't sell SyFy on the series. Luckily, he and Neil Gaiman are now working on American Gods for Starz. But I do still occasionally mourn Mockingbird Lane and The Amazing Screw-On Head never getting past pilot, either. Sorry. Fuller fan since Dead Like Me became my methadone for getting off my Buffy habit).

9/22 - Gotham, Big Bang Theory, Sleepy Hollow
Gotham (Fox, 8pm). Well, yay, not in the Friday night slot'o'death. And the showrunner is Bruno Heller (Rome so the sensibilities might be a good match. I'm slightly more gung-ho on The Flash, but anything superhero comic book based is gonna suck me in.

9/23 - Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Person of Interest, Forever (ABC, 10pm)
Forever. Well, you gotta give props that at least this time the immortal being in law-enforcement is an ME rather than a Cop (Forever Night, New Amsterdam, etc. etc.) And it's Ioan Gruffudd which always makes for fun. I don't know the showrunner, though, so that isn't making me particularly sanguine about it.

9/28. OUaT.

10/5. Bob's Burgers. Homeland. (wow. That's a weird combo)
10/7. Flash assuming that basically, if one likes Arrow, one is liable to like Flash, given how they backdoor piloted (i.e., introduced the characters/setup as an episode on a different show) this one on Arrow.
10/8. Arrow.
10/22. The 100
10/24. Grimm, Constantine (NBC, 10pm)
Constantine. Saw the trailer for this, and am impressed that at least this time the folks adapting Hellblazer realized that Constantine is British. But still reserving judgment. The showrunners are Daniel Cerone (The Mentalist, Dexter, Charmed) and David S. Goyer (Da Vinci's Demons).

10/30. Elementary

November ? - The Newsroom

Sometime in late 2014: Dig (USA). Because I like Jason Isaacs (probably better known as Lucius Malfoy to you lot), and because the showrunners are Tim Kring (Heroes) and Gideon Raff (who wrote and ran Hatufim, the Israeli show that Homeland was originally based on, and is now also showrunning Tyrant).

12/7 - The Librarians (TNT). I enjoyed the cheesy "The Librarian" TV movies that were done on TNT, but wasn't all that excited about a series--until I found out that John Rogers was joining his buddy Dean Devlin on this one. And I loved Leverage The addition of Christian Kane and Rebecca Romijn (probably via Devlin's days on King and Maxwell) to the cast were just the icing on the cake.

midseason (probably December) Galavant (fantasy musical with Alan Menken tunes? I don't care how awful it looks. I'm there.) Marvel's Agent Carter (which I dread, given that I know Fazekas & Butters also did Reaper)

And big guess of Winter-sometime: BBC America getting the BBC 7-part adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. And I'm really hoping that either BBCA or PBS manages to snag Our Zoo.

Of what I'm currently watching, well, Intruders hasn't grabbed me as I hoped it would, but it's sustaining interest. And I was extraordinarily happy to see Alex Diakun, one of the old X-Files character actors of note, turning up to get a regular role.

Legends is killing me. I want to like it. I love the hell out of Sean Bean and always have. But ugh. Six writing credits on an episode? With a rewrite on the story by two different teams? s'what?! Those are like sitcom credits! I hate to say it, but I think I'd prefer seeing Josh Pate write the scripts all on his lonesome (I loved what he and his brother Jonas did on GvE--a show nobody saw or has ever heard of).

Doctor Who, of course, is knocking it out of the park. I'm loving Capaldi, and still kinda amazed at how many people had no idea who he was, given that I've known his name since Local Hero. It's kind of like all those folks who didn't know Hugh Laurie as comedian when House started up.

I think the best-written show on TV right now is probably Masters of Sex, but as it's a TV-MA show and about sex, probably not appropriate to recommend on this board.

[EricG1793]

Gibby, interesting point about continuity. Many of the shows my mom and I watch together are pretty continuous. I enjoy that in that it gives me something to look forward to in the next episode, to find out what happened and close up the loose ends from the previous episode.

Having said that... Forever is canceled!! Gaaaahhh, and now we'll never know how Jo reacts to Henry's secret, how Adam endures his paralysis (he'll obviously come back to haunt Henry after the next time he dies but Henry's pretty safe for now), etc. etc. etc.! This is a case were continuity really sucks... show gets canceled and the story dies.

Perception was also canceled... another bummer.

Kathy, I watch Grimm, too. And you are not a dinosaur (unless I am, too...)! I remember the pre-DVD/streaming days all too well. Even worse: no cable TV. Just antennas. Fumbling with the rabbit-ears on the TV to get a "good" signal, or adjusting the dial to turn the motorized antenna on the roof. 4 channels at best. And that moment of letdown when you put a VHS in the player that hadn't been rewound. The Dark Ages, eh?

[Kathy Li]

Forever is canceled!! Gaaaahhh, and now we'll never know how Jo reacts to Henry's secret, how Adam endures his paralysis (he'll obviously come back to haunt Henry after the next time he dies but Henry's pretty safe for now), etc. etc. etc.! This is a case were continuity really sucks... show gets canceled and the story dies.

I hate to say it but I'm kinda meh about Forever going bye-byes. I mean, I've already been through New Amsterdam. I mean, yeah, it was fun, and I enjoyed it, but honestly, they should've clued Jo in about half a season ago, dangit. And for me, while I may never see Adam again, I see the actor who plays him every week on Turn: Washington's Spies, so I'm not quite so devastated (hell, I remember when he was on Torchwood). I was positively jubilant that Revenge got axed. Frees me up for another new fall show. And I remember the highs of when Gruffudd was playing Hornblower, and the lows when he was on Ringer, and I'm certain he'll land somewhere else fun.

Summer-wise, I'm watching all sorts of shows I can't discuss on a kid-safe board, like Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, Orphan Black, and Hannibal (and this season looks like it's gonna be a serious doozy as we get into Red Dragon-land, with Richard Armitage playing Dolarhyde, yet).

But fall-wise, I'm gonna be inundated with superhero fare, given that I'm probably going to be watching at least four of Berlanti's five show: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl are shoo-ins for me from the trailers. I'm also going to have The Player as my guilty pleasure (looks like a mini Bruckheimer flick every week. With Wesley Snipes, Philip Winchester, and Charity Wakefield. Showrunner is John Rogers, who did Leverage and is now doing The Librarians as well).

Still no word, alas, on American Gods, which probably means it's not happening (sigh).

Also curious to see the swan dive of CSI come the fall (they're doing a 2-hour series finale and no series, and the Ted Danson character moves to CSI: Cyber). And I'm still cracking up that Galavant got renewed.

Really looking forward to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell hitting BBC America this weekend. And Season 3 of Last Tango in Halifax and Poldark hitting PBS not long after.

Not sure how to feel about Heroes, X-Files, and Twin Peaks all getting reboots...

[The White Falcon]

I don't have cable, so for me, TV consists of Netflix.

Right now I'm working my way though TNG (about halfway through the fourth season), with The Andy Griffith Show as a palate cleanser. And of course, Top Gear reruns when I feel like it. I started Magnum P.I. but decided to finish up a series before I added a new one.

Oh, and Hogan's Heroes.

[EricG1793]

Anybody watch The IT Crowd? It's about 3 workers in an IT office. A stereotypical geek, a stereotypical nerd, and a stereotypical delinquent "IT director" (who is actually titled "relationship manager"), all comically exaggerated. It is on Netflix. PG-13 I believe. It has its ups and downs... some episodes are really funny and others are a bit too inappropriate for my taste.

[Kathy Li]

I don't have cable, so for me, TV consists of Netflix. ...

I am a newb to Netflix, but I ended up getting it because a) Daredevil (and the other three Marvel comics-based series they've got coming: Power Man, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones), and b) Dragons: Race to the Edge (I kind of hate they dropped the "of Berk" naming from seasons 1 (Riders of Berk) and 2 (Defenders of Berk)) and c) they've got the deal for Peter Mogan's upcoming series, The Crown. Daredevil was great fun, but much darker and more violent than I was expecting. Once I realized they were completely infatuated with Frank Miller's run on the comic, though, it all sort of slotted into place. But definitely more TV-MA-ish type fare. Happy to hear it's been renewed.

The problem for me with Netflix is that now I am getting addicted to Korean drama, which is kind of like live-action anime stuff, only with a lot more romance, soap-opera type action, and crying. I sorta got hooked on Coffee Prince. Which tells you I'm desperate for any television. I may have to go back to Crunchyroll and rewatch all of Yowamushi Pedal (my other addiction--it's a bicycle racing anime).

I am sad that NBC has declined to pick up Hannibal for a fourth season, but it's really a miracle that they carried the show for three seasons, as it was. Hoping that Fuller finds it a new home. But if not, the good news is that Starz has greenlit American Gods, so that's happening, at any rate. I also am happy that Suits has now returned to the airwaves, and brought along Mr. Robot with it. I was completely knocked over when they started showing the UNIX commands on screen that were, y'know, REAL UNIX commands, instead of pseudocode or made up graphics stuff, as is the usual with computer wizardry on television.

Oh, and Star Wars Rebels got James Earl Jones to voice Darth Vader for them in the second season premiere. That was fun.

[Kathy Li]

Ok, so while I would love to natter on about Fall shows I think look like fun, I realize that they're either HBO TV-MA series (Westworld) or TV-14 serial-killer time-travel-shows-based-on-old-movies (Frequency, Time After Time), neither of which are exactly appropriate to discuss here on a kid-friendly board.

BUT.

I have some cartoon addictions which ARE kids' shows. So I'm gonna talk about those.

If you have Amazon Prime:

Thunderbirds are Go!

Is an updated CGI version of the 1965-1966 classic Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" show, Thunderbirds! Which I am slightly too young to remember, except in the odd repeat. It's about a family of brothers (named after the Mercury astronauts) who form a group called International Rescue. Each brother has a Big Machine, a Thunderbird, numbered 1-5, and they rescue folks in disasters. The action is a combination of cgi animation and practical miniatures, both done by WETA, and it's bleeping gorgeous. And not at all creepy like the puppets were. I find myself seriously loving it, and seriously annoyed with Amazon for only giving us the first half of Season 1 (I believe all 26 episodes of season 1 have aired on ITV in the UK; and that ITV has commissioned two more full series of the show, which makes me happy). There's enough for the old geezer who know the old show to love, and enough for those brand new to the franchise to have fun with it. Highly recommended.

BTW, here's the new title sequence:

NEW:

Compare to the old classic one.

Show #2. If you have Netflix.

Dragons: Race to the Edge

This show actually started up on Cartoon Network, and had two 26-episode series there, until Netflix grabbed it, starting with the third season. The first season was called "Dragons: Riders of Berk", the second season "Dragons: Defenders of Berk" and on Netflix, it's now called "Dragons: Race to the Edge". And annoyingly, each 13-episode half-season batch is being called a season on Netflix. So, Netflix is calling the new batch of episodes "Season 3", when in reality, if we start counting by the Cartoon Network run, it's really the first half of Season 4. Whatevs.

If you like How to Train Your Dragon, or How To Train Your Dragon 2 this is the tv series. It's set between the two movies, so Stoick's around in the show. I actually think the series may be stronger than the second movie, and the animation is much stronger than I've come to expect from Dreamworks animated tv tie-ins. Highly recommend it.


And, also on Netflix:

Dinotrux

Actually based on a book series, but feels like it should be nothing more than a heartless exercise in marketing trends. This show combines big construction machinery, dinosaurs, and robots in equal measure. It's like Bob the Builder meets the Dinobauts or something. And against all the odds, I'm kinda loving it. Classic gang-of-five format, and simple adventures, but with some really fun characters. I find I enjoy this show despite the odds.

on Disney XD:

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

Not as much fun as the movie (but then what is?) but still pretty fun nonetheless. Currently airing new episodes.

Star Wars Rebels

I never much got into Clone Wars, but this one I got into. The fact that they managed to get James Earl Jones to voice Darth Vader, Billy Dee Williams to voice Lando, and Anthony Daniels to do C3PO just made me all kindsa happy. (This one's been put to bed, but can still be found on some of the VoD/streaming services).

[dorotheia]

I'm not usually a television person, but my mom has got me hooked on the The Goodwife, even though I started late into the fourth or fifth season or something. Try as I might to avoid the genre, there is some corner of mystery that interests me, but I can't stand detectives and I dislike episodic series. My mom likes thrillers and spy stuff and all that (I do like spy stuff too), but I've gotten to the point where I can't handle constant tension and nerves, and I tune it out. So shows like Broadchurch or The Goodwife strike a balance that interests us both. And I get to learn more about politics and lawyers for a change!

We call the Goodwife

[Kathy Li]

A Series of Unfortunate Events and other upcoming tv things.

While i'd love to burble about my newfound passion for HBO's Westworld, that would be age inappropriate. However. There is one series that's completely fine to post about here on the YW board, for those of you with Netflix.

And, for those of you who are fans of Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events is coming next January. It's executive produced by Barry Sonnenfeld (Addams Family, Men in Black) and Daniel Handler (aka, Lemony Snicket and accordion player for The Magnetic Fields). Neil Patrick Harris is playing Count Olaf. And Lemony Snicket's being played by.... well, you'll see...

Yup. That's Patrick Warburton. Better known to folks my age as the guy who played The Tick.

Additional stuff to look out for:

10/21: PBS. Great Performances. 9pm. Hamilton's America. Yes, they made a documentary on the musical. Trailer on youtube here.

11/04: Netflix. The Crown. Peter Morgan expands on the audience between the queen and the prime minister that he began exploring with The Queen and the stage play, The Audience into a 10 episodes per 6 seasons tv show. Only without Helen Mirren. Claire Foy is playing QEII, Matt Smith is Prince Phillip, John Lithgow is Winston Churchill, Alex Jennings is playing Edward, Eileen Atkins is Queen Mary, Harriet Walter is Clementine Churchill, and Jeremy Northam's playing Anthony Eden. Should be a blast. Trailer on youtube here.

11/12. BBC America. Power of the Daleks. The Beeb has reconstructed a missing serial from 1966 (Second Doctor), and reconstructed it from audio and new animation. Trailer on youtube here.

11/14. PBS. Soundbreaking. (May have some age inappropriate stuff, but since it's a documentary your folks might not mind). It's a survey history of record production, and practically everyone you can think of has been tapped for archival and interview footage. The trailer's pretty breathtaking. It'll be 8 episodes, stripped Monday-through Friday, all in a row. Trailer on youtube here. Website here.

11/20. TNT. The Librarians are back.

11/24. PBS airs a new CBC adaptation (Canada got it in the spring) of Anne of Green Gables, penned by Slings & Arrows writer, Susan Coyne, and starring Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert. Trailer on youtube here.

11/25. Netflix: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Netflix also has the entire Gilmore Girls run. This will be four 90 minute episodes, and everyone's back, except of course, Edward Herrmann, who died in 2014. Announcement/teaser trailer on youtube here. Replies to said trailer here. Of course, they'd pick Black Friday (shopping!), and we'll find out what those final four words are that Amy Sherman-Palladino's been boasting she's known all along.

12/7. NBC. Hairspray Live! starring the original bookwriter and original Edna Turnblatt on Broadway, Harvey Fierstein, and well a cast of true amazingness. Promo trailer/cast announcement on youtube here.

12/11. PBS. The Hollow Crown, season 2 (giggle), or for those of you, like me, stuck on the formalities, Shakespeare's three Henry VIs condensed into two plays, and Richard III. Richard III, btw, is played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Clip on Youtube here.

12/23. PBS. Shakespeare Live! [from the RSC]. This aired on the BBC for Shakespeare birthday earlier this year. But it's worth the wait. Because it has that insanely fun Hamlet sketch starring just about everybody, as well as being hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Trailer on youtube here.

[Kathy Li]

My latest Netflix addiction

I have no idea how I missed this one so long ago, but must absolutely recommend to all and sundry, the following Netflix/Dreamworks animated fantasy series:

Trollhunters.

Yeah, I know. I'm the last one to find it. The showrunner is Guillermo del Toro (and he does the voices of the dentist and Gatto's Keep). One of the main writers on staff is Marc Guggenheim (whose work on Arrow doesn't do much for me, but whose writing on this show is cherce). It's straight-up fantasy adventure, and I haven't been this happy with dialogue of a show since Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[while tapping text on phone] "Good! You're alive! Happy face. Happy face. Send."

Highly recommended.

US netflix link: https://www.netflix.com/title/80075820

There was talk about whether or not there'd be a Season 2, since the actor who voiced the lead character, Jim, was the late Anton Yelchin. But del Toro has actually stated that they'll be rolling ahead, and there will be a Season 2. It will, however, only be 13 episodes vs. the 26 of Season 1. They've mapped the entire series out for 52 episodes, so that means the full arc will include a Season 3.

There are a few other Netflix/Dreamworks animated series I'm watching (like Dragons: Race to the Edge, and Dinotrux), but Trollhunters is the best of the bunch I've seen.

On b'cast, I'd also turn your attention to Disney Channel's Tangled: The Series. I didn't have super-high hopes for this, but it's pleasantly surprised me. Mostly by being 2D animation, instead of 3D. But they're also having a lot of fun with it.

Also, I feel I should mention a show I've been watching for a while but keep forgetting to mention here, which is Steven Universe. It airs on Cartoon Network, and I think Hulu has the streaming rights to it. And it's probably the best animated show out there at the moment. The design work is its own thing, and the voice of the showrunner, Rebecca Sugar, is unique, distinctive, and well worth listening to. What this show has to say about love and relationships is heartwarming, beautiful, and affirmative in the best ways. For a YW fan, it should seriously hit the spot. Even if the episodes are in 15-minute slots.

[Kathy Li]

So, once again I feel I should be posting TV that's cheered me up lately. I shall separate into two lists, of probably VERY not suitable for kids, and things suitable for kids.

Suitable for kids:

• Avatar: the Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra have both landed on Netflix.
• The Dragon Prince (Netflix), was done by the headwriter of AtLA.
• Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance (Netflix) is beautifully like the movie.
• The Witches (HBO Max) is a new version of the Roald Dahl classic. Netflix has the 1990 Henson version, if you want to comparative view.
• DuckTales (2017 reboot in Disney+ and Disney XD). Seriously awesome fun. David Tennant is voicing Scrooge McDuck, Lin-Manuel Miranda is doing Gizmoduck. And yes, most of the voicecast is at that level.
• The Mandalorian (Disney+). Baby Yoda!! S2 drops 10/30.
• The Owl House (Disney Channel, drops 10/30 on Disney+). Great Halloween fare, too.
• Tangled: The Series (Disney+, although "Tangled: Before Ever After" is the real pilot episode, it's listed separately in the catalog).
• Hilda (Netflix). Based on the Luke Pearson graphic novel series. Really good.
• The Imagineering Story (Disney+) Like going to every Disney Park in six hours. Showrun by Leslie Iwerks who is Ub Iwerks granddaughter.
• 11/20. Hulu drops their reboot of Animaniacs.

Not suitable for little kids, but not super TV-MA-y. The TV-14 zone.

• Infinity Train (HBO Max). More teen/young adult show, but more angsty ridden.
• Transplant (NBC). A normal medical drama. Ahhhh. The pitch is the main character is a Syrian immigrant to Canada (it's a Canadian show).
• Great Performances: NTLive's One Man, Two Guvnors. (airs on PBS Nov 6) James Corden before anybody in the US knew who he was. It's a magnificent stage play and really really REALLY funny if you can get through the setup. So happy it's on PBS.
• Last Tango in Halifax S5 (PBS Masterpiece). Sally Wainwright is one of my favorite tv writers
• Alex Rider drops 13 Nov. (IMDbTV; free w/ads version of Amazon Prime Video). Based on the Anthony Horowitz book series. Picks up with Point Blanc, since the movie did Stormbreaker.
• 11/16. HBO begins airing S2 of His Dark Materials.
• 1/8. Cobra Kai S3 drops on Netflix. S1 and S2 were Youtube Originals, but the series as a whole has since moved to Netflix. It's a sequel to The Karate Kid with the same actors. And it's extraordinarily well written and satifsying.
• 1/10. All Creatures Great and Small, the channel 5 reboot hits PBS Masterpiece. Our last chance to see Diana Rigg in something new.
• 1/25. Snowpiercer S2 begins airing on TNT. I really liked Season 1, but it was a very slow burn and took about 7 of the 10 episodes to get going. The showrunner is Graeme Manson, who did Orphan Black.

TV-MA stuff

• Staged (Hulu). BBC six-parter, 15-to-20 minute episodes. Stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen as mostly themselves. Brilliantly written, done entirely under lockdown. It felt so good not to have to ignore covid to be thoroughly entertained and laugh like a loon.
• 11/15 The Crown S4 drops on Netflix. At least we hit Diana (Emma Corrin) and Maggie Thatcher (Gillian Anderson)
• 12/16. The Expanse S5 drops on Amazon Prime. I so need to read the books.

And one warning, rather than a "oo goody look out for!"

Jan 3, The Watch hits BBC American, and the trailer makes us all pretty sure it's not really Terry Pratchett-based. Even Pratchett's daughter is saying it shares no DNA with the books.