HBO Renews Westworld, Divorce, And Insecure

[Primetimer]

Took long enough.

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[TheOtherLibrarian]

Tara, I liked the first ep of Insecure a lot, but the second turned me off and I haven't been back. I ADORED Atlanta and Better Things, and Insecure at first seemed in the same vein, but then I wasn't so sure. So you're telling me to try again?

[phoenyx]

I'm definitely very happy that they renewed Westworld, this is one of my favourite tv shows of all time :-). Curious as to why you bailed after episode 2 of Westworld...

[ennui]

Well, I guess we'll be getting a cliffhanger season finale for Westworld. Oh well.

Edited November 14, 2016 by ennui
misread, misunderstood

[Tara Ariano]

1 hour ago, TheOtherLibrarian said:

Tara, I liked the first ep of Insecure a lot, but the second turned me off and I haven't been back. I ADORED Atlanta and Better Things, and Insecure at first seemed in the same vein, but then I wasn't so sure. So you're telling me to try again?

Without knowing what turned you off in Episode 2, I'd say yes. There's really smart, funny, well-observed stuff going on.

52 minutes ago, phoenyx said:

Curious as to why you bailed after episode 2 of Westworld...

The idea of cruelty tourism was not that compelling to me last month (and even less so now).

[ChlcGirl]

Divorce has laughs? Really?

[phoenyx]

37 minutes ago, Tara Ariano said:

1 hour ago, phoenyx said:

Curious as to why you bailed after episode 2 of Westworld...

The idea of cruelty tourism was not that compelling to me last month (and even less so now).

Oh, I completely agree on that point, I'm completely turned off by it as well, especially because the androids are so close to being human. The thing is, if you look at the gaming world right now, you'll find that a -lot- of games have violence in them. In many online games, for instance, there is simply no way of levelling a character up if you don't kill hundreds and even thousands of NPCs (Non Player Characters). Jonathan Nolan mentioned Grand Theft Auto as a good example where most people who play it engage in violent actions against NPCs. I think the creators of the show wanted people to reflect upon what they look for in video games, and how it would look from the perspective of an outside observer, or even the NPCs themselves. Is this really the direction we want our games to be going in, type thing.

One can also take a look at the show from a different perspective, one that is closer to my heart- that of the "guests" being a good portion of the 1% and many corporations in the world today. The thing they do is repelling, and we have a society that generally accepts them as a matter of course. Granted, it's not quite as clear cut as in the show, but I think there's a good case to be made that the U.S. has a very unhealthy addiction to war, and no one is disputing that a lot of wealth is being generated for certain weapons producers and the costs are measured in blood. To the weapons producers, it could just be seen as one big game, and if you look at Westworld in a certain light, it can be seen this way too.

I'm also a huge fan of the maze. I think it can be interpreted in many ways- like the Matrix, or perhaps finding enlightment/the meaning of life. And yeah, I'm a big fan of speculating on time periods, etc., though I know not everyone goes for that, and when I watch the episodes for the first time, I just let all of that go and just watch. It certainly has its hard moments, such as the violence, but also its beautiful moments (yes, I'm a huge fan of the romance between Dolores and William). And even if, in the end, William becomes MiB, I stand by the old adage: "Better to have loved and lost then not to have loved at all".

[magdalene]

I am happy for the people who are enjoying Westworld.  I have come to the conclusion it is not for me.  And neither is anything else they just renewed.

So once GOT ends the only reason for me to still be watching HBO are Bill Maher and John Oliver.   Sad.