Kromm

Actually you CAN. It's just not considered polite to admit it if you do! Really Almost Human is less a story about the future and more a story about the present of network TV and how they fuck things up. But its not all on Fox. The showrunners have actually made excuses for FOX and made ridiculous claims like "it flows better" with the ridiculous episode reordering. And the WAY they ran with the reordering sucked too--they didn't seem to make any real efforts to fix the mess inside the episodes even AFTER they knew it was going to happen.

It's both the best of Aussie reality TV and the worst at the same time! Great setup for a show, but often so manipulative. Talk about Scotty, The Keithanator, that annoying Shelley, and the various couples and the work they do here!

Well also (whether or not the books did it--its been so long since I read them I don't recall) the "rapey" and female oppression aspects of it needed to be better addressed. We could roll with those things being present if the horribleness of them (coming from our heroes as much or more than our villains) was better acknowledged by more than Elena always whining about it. Her position needed a lot more bolstering somehow--not that we the audience don't see how wrong it is but that if the show insists on the pack not coming off as total lunatics, we need to see proof they're the good guys. Not with crushing the genitals of their opponents (who even though some of them are extra-rapey AROUND that have the benefit of being clearly oppressed), but with actual logic and us uncovering strong reasons stated ON SCREEN why being so heavy handed (stealing children, making life hell for all non-pack but limiting membership, killing people who discover their secrets, etc) was the right course. Yes, we suspect a lot of unharassed or outted wolves would lead to mass violence and war with the humans, but the show didn't connect the dots solidly enough. The pack came off as elitists, and cruel ones at that.

As I sit here reading this, I just watched (I'm behind in my viewing) the March 26 American Idol episode. Just got to the part where Country Boy Dexter does a horrible predictable job of singing something down-home that the Cheerbots in the live audience auto-like, but if they actually thought it through might realize they're going to forget about an hour later, then Harry points this out and the BooTrons (predictably) give it to him for daring to criticize one of the designated "must love or else" performers. Then even the judges grow so bored with this they spend several minutes talking about giant gummy bears.

The grand tale of a little bald guy, who will come to your crappy run down hotel (or better yet MOTEL) and tell you everything you're doing wrong. Oh. And give you a free makeover of a room or two and tons of free publicity. You know... the REAL reasons you let some jerk come in and publicly embarrass you!

Very glad to have a forum for this (even though the amount of Mars news is going to slow down a lot now that the movie is gone, done and out).

Is she still alive? Has she ODed yet? Has Oprah withdrawn all her support yet and left Lindsay to rot in the street? Has Dina been taken back home by her lord and master Satan yet? Have more of Michael's out-of-wedlock kids been uncovered? Does Ali Lohan show any signs of being a trainwreck too? Talk about the current juicy Lohan bits here.

Talk about the effect the live audience has--both on the performance, as well as the aftermath (the judges comments and reactions, and potentially how home viewers vote). Note that the Cheerbots occupy the same bodies as the BooTrons. It's all about predictable behaviors triggered by stupid glory notes, being aw-shucks "country", or one of the other many factors that are more about stuff other than actual technical prowess. The Cheerbots go nuts when someone hits those glory notes, or hits down home especially hard, or some other trigger of those natures, whereas the BooTrons are the manifestation which appears when a judge (usually Harry--in the past occasionally Simon when he wasn't simply being shallow, or once or twice even Kara) dares to point out actual technical mistakes and problems that disturb/upend the reactions of the Cheerbots.

He was always mock worthy--its nothing new. He's worse than useless. He's actively damaging to the show. An embarrassment they won't make/let go away.

It could have been so good, but isn't. I actually thought the first episode Edna couldn't get through was okay. A bit badly paced, but the acting wasn't TOO bad and the overall approach was enough different from other supernatural shows on the air to perk some interest. But its just gone nowhere since then. LOOONG episodes with nothing happening--no real plot movement. A really bad sense of how to cap off episodes--ending on boring "after" moments rather than on dramatic moments or cliffhangers. Horrible heroes who you can't empathize with. Just so much wrong. A Season 2 could turn this around (and we maybe need a topic specifically about how), but it would be a major uphill climb. The core of it (the look, general mythology, etc.) is still good. It's just the details that suck.

We can fanwank that he HAS to know that The Arrow is Ollie, because he DEFINITELY (at this point) knows that Sara is busy being a vigilante, that she's involved with Ollie, that he actively lied about her fate after the sinking ship, and that Black Canary pops up next to the Arrow all of the time now. And that Felicity also works for Ollie but is part of Team Arrow, and that he's vaguely aware that the Arrow HAS enough of a team to mount a duplicate to make himself appear to be in two places at once. So he knows--at least he has for the course of this season (at the very least since Sara first appeared)--and just doesn't acknowledge anything.

Isn't he "The Arrow" now? The way I recall the somewhat (admittedly dopey) progression is that he was "The Vigilante", then "The Hood", then "The Arrow". and potentially at some point they could go one step further to "The Green Arrow" (logical if Malcolm returned and went around the city this time in full sight of people in his Archer guise).

Is the topic title (via the use of the question mark) meant to be ironic?

She's not the overt hate-monster her disgusting bound-for-hell-if-it-really-exists brother is (because if God DOES exist he certainly would actually punish people like Kirk before innocent gay people). But she's not innocent either. She may believe on many levels she's right, and doing right, I have no doubts, but she's definitely complicit in any implications we see from the show (it can't all be editing, because so much is from her mouth) that she's the modest one, the saintly "Sweet" one, and that's there's a contrast between her and other women on the show. Thankfully there's no gay cast-member on the show this season, and that Bruno at heart is very unlikely to ever push buttons with an overt gay agenda. And that Kirk likely has been warned on pains of his sister being kicked off ASAP to stay away from the live audience.

I say that Season 2 could actually open right on the heels of what we saw in Season 1--or at the very least in the middle of the undercover operation. I think there are signs of a clear intent for the show to have Jake in his own little box, interacting with the main cast only on the sly, and milking humor from a mountain of existing "undercover" and Serpico-like "corrupt police department" cliches. This also sets up a natural barrier for a relationship with Amy (who I think if she hasn't already become single will be soon), but a pull as well as a push--the whole absence makes you grow fonder thing, along with the whole idea of stolen relationship moments (when he's undercover) being the most exciting.

I personally love the vagueness. It allows unfettered freedom to all of the 80s on the show. It's all about Adam's compound memories of the 80s, where he's mixed up the details based on thirty years passing, so things appearing right next to each other that shouldn't are just fine. He's no more accurate a narrator than Ted Mosby. Does he have to be? In addition to discussing that theme (the imperfection and how we feel about the sliding timescale), there are also the actual 80s references to be discussed and savored. Seems like this is a good place for all of that.

At the very least its the best comedy of the year--regardless of B99 getting the Golden Globe. B99 turned out to be a fantastic show, mind you (although with a stinky pilot), but The Goldbergs has brought it every single episode. Howlingly funny, touching, well acted, and satisfying. Beverly is one of the great comic creations of all time, anywhere, and Barry isn't far behind. The young version of Adam, the sister unfortunately not based on any real person, and the Dad all had a little growth needed, but got that (and got better) every episode. George Segal is perfect too.

It could be worse. It could be "Intelligence" (an even worse show)!