This Just In: New, Cancelled, Returning, And On-Hiatus Shows News

[Chaos Theory]

I got rid of the expensive cable channels (HBO/Showtime/Starz)  a couple years ago.  Thought I'd miss them.  Iiked showtime shows like Shameless, The Affair and Homeland and Starz) is shaping up to be an interesting network but honestly.....not sure I miss them that much.  So I guess it's official I dropped me Showtime.  Never liked HBO.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Chaos Theory

[selkie]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Omigosh!  You solved a mystery for me!  I had a flashback of a tv show that I could not place, with John Ritter as a minister in a tennis outfit.  Swings tennis racket and says, "bride on my forehand, groom on my backhand."  That was Ted and Georgette's wedding, right?  Whew!  Mystery solved.

Yep. I liked it more than the more famous 'Chuckles the Clown' episode.

[joelene]

New shows already finished I've liked: Damned (UK), Deep Water (AUS), Black Mirror, Goliath, High Maintenance.

New shows I like and keep up with: The Good Place, Better Things, Insecure, Divorce, The Exorcist, Midnattssol/Midnight Sun and Svartsjön/Black Lake (both Swedish crime/thriller). 

New shows I plan to watch/binge that might be up my alley: Westworld, Channel Zero, Crazyhead, The Crown, Falling Water. 

Returning shows I'm watching: The Missing (pretty good), American Horror Story (pretty great), Scream Queens (pretty underwhelming), Walking Dead (pretty boring), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (pretty wonderful), Rectify (pretty terrific), You're the Worst (pretty funny).

Old shows I'm currently rewatching: Oz, 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Yeah, I don't have much of a life. The only new show I've watched and ditched is This Is Us, and possibly Paranoid as I'm two eps behind and it's not really holding my attention. 

Edited November 8, 2016 by joelene

[BigBlueMastiff]

This is fun!

New Show(s) That Had Me Interested and I'm Still In: Pitch, Westworld

New Show I Heard Nothing About (Seriously) And Watched Anyway and Will Keep Watching: The Exorcist

New Show I Haven't watched yet but want to: Insecure

New Show I Tried but ditched: Frequency

New Shows I Haven't Watched and Don't Plan To: Bull

Old Shows I'm Returning To:  Supernatural, The Strain (grudgingly), Power

Old Show I'm Ditching: Grimm, Sleepy Hollow. -- No Abbie? Then you gets no Topanga, and no BigBlueMastiff either, harummph.

[Haleth]

These days I cannot handle watching the news (sorry, Lester Holt, love you but it's too painful) so I started watching Pitch.  I'd been hearing good things about it but hadn't had time to check it out.  What a delightful show!  The lead is adorable... smart, talented, courageous.  Very uplifting to see a woman scrap her way to success in a male dominated field.  I love, love the relationship she has with the catcher; their chemistry if off the charts.  (I know a lot of people think they'll go there, but I don't see it.  At least I hope not.)  The whole cast is wonderful.  Very entertaining even if you are not a baseball fan.

[GinnyMars]

I didn't really list my "old" shows, but I'm also still watching The Magicians, a pretty cool show that goes much darker than you'd expect (only caveats: a few parts feel like they were written by a teenage boy, some violence against women and children).

Anyway, if anyone wants to catch up before season 2 premieres on January 25, Syfy is airing a marathon of season 1 tomorrow (Saturday, November 12) from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Edited November 11, 2016 by GinnyMars

[Chaos Theory]

Lethal Weapon  and Notorious are fun empty calories shows.   I am enjoying both of them more then I thought I would.   Timeless is also fun.  I haven't really gotten into Frequency and will probably drop it.     

Although usually not my thing I am so far enjoying This is Us. It is sappy and sweet but the characters are largely likeable which goes a long way to making me like the show more then I ever liked Parenthood which was full of unlikeable characters.

As for old shows the only one I have given a hard drop to is Criminal Minds.   I am on the verge of dropping Blacklist it has gotten way to coy about its mysteries for my tastes.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 10/11/2016 at 4:14 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

It feels like this television season is way better than other recent ones.  I tend to watch a LOT of pilots.  

Finding Prince Charming - 5.  I'm obsessed.
This is Us - 4.5.  Very likeable and fresh.
Pitch - 4.  Very likeable.  Zach Morris is an angry catcher.  I'm hooked.  I also really like Ali Larter and basically everyone in the cast.
The Good Place - 4.5.  When the show introduced the Filipino dude, THEN I became hooked.  At first I was really on the fence.  I'm excited to see where this show goes, now.  It's quirky and weird and original. I can only compare it possibly to "Pushing Daisies".
Atlanta - 4.  I always forget about this one.  I think because it's so dreamy and subtle.  There is nothing on television like this show.  The plot doesn't "Urge" me to see what's next, kind of how I felt about Stranger Things (no offense intended.)

<snip>

My top 5 shows are still my top 5 shows.  I like all of them even better than I did before, although Finding Prince Charming kind of fell off towards the end, but it's a reality show so that's to be expected.  

I'll go ahead and declare This is Us as the best show of the new season.  I haven't experienced a phenomenon like this in years.  My friends and family all unanimously like it, even those from other countries.  It's quite something.

Change:  I like Divorce a lot better now, and I will be sticking with it.  

I abandoned:  Bull.  Notorious.  Conviction.  Empire (this one took me a long time!).  

I want to abandon Secrets and Lies, but I won't.  Same with HTGAWM.  The Night Of was pretty damn good.  

The pilot of Westworld was soooooo violent for me.  But there's so much hype surrounding the show I know I'll at least try Episode 2.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[tenativelyyours]

My viewing week looks like this:

Sunday: Westworld. Insecure.  Last Week Tonight*

Monday:  People of Earth.  Full Frontal with Samantha Bee*. The Daily Show*

Tuesday: The Great Australian Bake-Off. Atlanta. The Daily Show*

Wednesday:  The Daily Show*

Thursday:  The Big Bang Theory.  Superstore.  Project Runway**.

Friday: Googlebox.  Googlebox Ireland.  The Graham Norton Show***

Saturday: Dirk Gently.

I also watched the first season of The Crown and will watch the second when it comes out and have just started Medicis Masters of Florence but am having a hell of time with Dustin Hoffman.  I'm not sure if he is just so bad with phoning it in or it is the direction or what. 

*I'm not watching my usual politically oriented shows but am still archiving them.  When the urge to start a bucket list and put on it "defecate on _________'s grave" I know I need to just go into denial mode and get used to it before indulging in anything that prompts my fury and despair.

**I think I'm only watching this because Top Chef isn't on but Masterchef UK just started and I will binge the first week (this week) this weekend.  As it is I watch the runway to see what hot messes are made and how delusional the judging is.  I have no interest in the dramatic shenanigans at all.

***Actually I usually Fast Forward through this because it is rare anymore that the couch doesn't have someone I loathe on it.  It seems my ability to loathe almost anyone out of Hollywood these days or is hugely famous in entertainment in some other way has become vast beyond compare. 

We need to have a "Is Anyone Watching ______________?" thread to see if non-forum shows have any mutual interest.

[Popples]

19 minutes ago, tenativelyyours said:

The Graham Norton Show***

***Actually I usually Fast Forward through this because it is rare anymore that the couch doesn't have someone I loathe on it.  It seems my ability to loathe almost anyone out of Hollywood these days or is hugely famous in entertainment in some other way has become vast beyond compare.

I miss Graham Norton, but that's the reason why I stopped watching. Like Matt Smith and Claire Foy were on to talk about The Crown, but they were on the sofa with Ben Affleck. NOPE. I also stopped watching because they overcrowd the sofa and I miss discovering British comedians and actors that are little known in the US, but now it's damn near always the easily unlikable "Hollywood elite."

I loved The Crown it was gorgeously shot and the acting was fantastic. I want season two NOW!

[GinnyMars]

20 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'll go ahead and declare This is Us as the best show of the new season.

Will have to try it again then, I only watched two episodes but was feeling pretty meh about the characters...

A family drama I've really come to love however is Queen Sugar. Probably my favorite new show after Westworld!

20 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

The pilot of Westworld was soooooo violent for me.  But there's so much hype surrounding the show I know I'll at least try Episode 2.

I found the pilot very *stressful*, to the point where I tried not to watch any subsequent episodes right before I went to bed. But that one was by far the worst, and the show is really worth sticking with!

[zxy556575]

Two new half hour comedies I'm settling in with:

Stan Against Evil on IFC, featuring an exasperated retired sheriff who begrudgingly assists his replacement to battle angry demons who are haunting their small New Hampshire town. John C. McGinley fans should rally around.

People of Earth on TBS about a support group for alien abductees. The aliens are real, and sarcastic.

[amaranta]

Purely because I like Episodes so much I gave Man with a Plan a try.  I lasted 10 minutes.  Ah, LeBlanc, what were you thinking?

[bmasters9]

I'm very definitely not seeing the current Five-0, which, IMO, is far too much like Miami Vice was on NBC from 1984-89 (it seems so much so that one could probably refer to it as "Hawaii Vice").

[Chaos Theory]

Despite my better judgment and intentions I am watching the new MacGyver.  Now it's. Pure Friday entertainment and anything else it would be awful but as end of the week fluf.....it's not completely aweful and has its charms.  

[topanga]

On 11/12/2016 at 8:11 AM, GinnyMars said:

Will have to try [This Is Us] again then, I only watched two episodes but was feeling pretty meh about the characters...

A family drama I've really come to love however is Queen Sugar. Probably my favorite new show after Westworld!

This Is Us is one of my must-see shows.  I suppose I see myself in the characters: siblings who don't always get along, an emotionally neglected child, someone struggling with weight-loss, black people, and stressed-out parents.

And I love Queen Sugar, but sometimes the pace is a little slow for me. I watch every episode on my TiVo, but sometimes I'll only watch half the episode at at time. 

 

On 11/12/2016 at 8:50 AM, lordonia said:

People of Earth on TBS about a support group for alien abductees. The aliens are real, and sarcastic.

I keep hearing good things about this show. I have to check it out. 

On 11/13/2016 at 7:27 PM, Chaos Theory said:

Despite my better judgment and intentions I am watching the new MacGyver.  Now it's. Pure Friday entertainment and anything else it would be awful but as end of the week fluf.....it's not completely aweful and has its charms.  

Action dramas are the foundation of modern television. You go, girl. (boy?). 

[proserpina65]

I'm still watching Timeless, and I check out the occasional episode of Speechless, but other than that, not a single new show appealed to me this season.

[kieyra]

Is anyone watching Paranoid on Netflix? I thought I could do with some generic British crime drama, but I'm not sure I need to watch this when I already watched Marcella. And Indira Varma's role seems particularly thankless. Why are these female detectives always utterly dysfunctional? 

[DearEvette]

On 11/17/2016 at 10:38 AM, topanga said:

And I love Queen Sugar, but sometimes the pace is a little slow for me. I watch every episode on my TiVo, but sometimes I'll only watch half the episode at at time. 

I love Queen Sugar for that very reason.  Not every show I can deal with slow pacing, but this one I can.  It is almost like a too rich meal, you have to sit and savor, from the family drama, the complex characters, and visuals -- there is almost too much to take in.  But it is the one show I'll just sit and take my time with.

OTOH, there are some shows I just like to mindlessly consume like Lethal Weapon, Legends of Tomorrow, Flash -- these are fun shows like popcorn or potato chips.

A new show I like that I just discovered on Netflix is Crossing Lines it is a crime show that follows the International Criminal Court's special crime unit. It is based in The Hague and has an international cast.  it is also easy to consume an easy to binge.

[praeceptrix]

16 hours ago, kieyra said:

Is anyone watching Paranoid on Netflix? I thought I could do with some generic British crime drama, but I'm not sure I need to watch this when I already watched Marcella. And Indira Varma's role seems particularly thankless. Why are these female detectives always utterly dysfunctional? 

I just watched all 8 episodes today, and was wondering whether anyone else were watching. I don't know Marcella (should I watch it?), but there were a number of things about Paraniod which irritated me.  Poor Indira Varma deserves better, as do most of the cast. I liked the "hands across the water" stuff, but hated that it was one

Spoiler

huge "big pharma" conspiracy

. The underlying theme that most mental health issues are made up by big pharma and that drugs are bad really pissed me off.

Edited November 27, 2016 by praeceptrix
To hide spoiler. Sorry!

[kieyra]

10 minutes ago, praeceptrix said:

I just watched all 8 episodes today, and was wondering whether anyone else were watching. I don't know Marcella (should I watch it?), but there were a number of things about Paraniod which irritated me.  Poor Indira Varma deserves better, as do most of the cast. I liked the "hands across the water" stuff, but hated that it was one huge "big pharma" conspiracy. The underlying theme that most mental health issues are made up by big pharma and that drugs are bad really pissed me off.

Marcella has a similar "Nordic noir" feel (and is also available on Netflix from this year). Flawed female detective (seriously flawed) played by Anna Friel of Pushing Daisies. I found it a lot more engaging, and it does the psychological "WTF" moments much better. I'd give it a shot--you'll probably see why I drew the parallel. 

I'm on episode two of Paranoid and halfway falling asleep (don't feel bad about your mild spoilers, I'd already skimmed Wikipedia to try to find a reason to go on). Don't care about the characters. Marcella had some problems, but it pulled me through it pretty quickly on the strength of the characters and performances, and I only figured out the "whodunnit" quite late in the show, so kudos to them.

Edited November 27, 2016 by kieyra

[zxy556575]

I watched Paranoid, if "watching" means "trudged through." I didn't care about the case itself but was interested enough in the detectives to keep going.

Spoiler

I was glad Bobby got a happy romantic ending. Nina did, too, but she was so needy and annoying that I mostly felt bad for Alec.

OTOH, I seriously loved Marcella. It wasn't the typical police detective and I'm still thinking about it a couple of months later. The Guardian did recaps and the very British comment section is fun to browse.

[GinnyMars]

15 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I love Queen Sugar for that very reason.  Not every show I can deal with slow pacing, but this one I can.  It is almost like a too rich meal, you have to sit and savor, from the family drama, the complex characters, and visuals -- there is almost too much to take in.  But it is the one show I'll just sit and take my time with.

If you enjoy that, you should give Rectify a try. It's the slowest show I've ever watched, yet also one of the few during which I never hit the fast-forward button...

[kieyra]

11 hours ago, lordonia said:

I watched Paranoid, if "watching" means "trudged through." I didn't care about the case itself but was interested enough in the detectives to keep going.

  Reveal hidden contents

I was glad Bobby got a happy romantic ending. Nina did, too, but she was so needy and annoying that I mostly felt bad for Alec.

OTOH, I seriously loved Marcella. It wasn't the typical police detective and I'm still thinking about it a couple of months later. The Guardian did recaps and the very British comment section is fun to browse.

I made it through 1.5 episodes of Paranoid and fell asleep. Poor Indira Varma.

Tonight I've ended up re-bingeing Marcella to cleanse my mental palate. Knowing how it ends this time around makes me realize how carefully they set all the pieces up. Dare I call it underrated? 

Thanks for the heads up on recaps.

While we're on this particular category, any thoughts on River? I generally like Nordic Noir (which it looks to be?) although at this point there should be a "credits featuring dreary raindrops on car window at night" drinking game. 

@GinnyMars, I'm another person with a very short attention span (long scary dark hallway scene? FF!!) who nonetheless watches every second of Rectify while hardly even remembering to blink. 

Edited November 28, 2016 by kieyra

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 11/11/2016 at 11:49 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Change:  I like Divorce a lot better now, and I will be sticking with it.  

I abandoned:  Bull.  Notorious.  Conviction.  Empire (this one took me a long time!).  

I want to abandon Secrets and Lies, but I won't.  Same with HTGAWM.  The Night Of was pretty damn good.  

The pilot of Westworld was soooooo violent for me.  But there's so much hype surrounding the show I know I'll at least try Episode 2.

So I abandoned Secrets and Lies, and HGTAWM (some of you will know why.)  I'm happy about these decisions -- they've been a long time coming.

Oh, I went back to Bull and I'm gonna stick with it.  Haha.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[proserpina65]

Quote

A new show I like that I just discovered on Netflix is Crossing Lines it is a crime show that follows the International Criminal Court's special crime unit. It is based in The Hague and has an international cast.  it is also easy to consume an easy to binge.

NBC ran the first season back in 2014 (I think).  I enjoyed a lot of it and had hoped they'd run more, but no such luck.

[maraleia]

I gave up on Designated Survivor because they didn't even do the how you reconstitute a government correctly and Poldark because all of the male characters are awful people

Spoiler

(especially Ross raping Elizabeth).

Edited December 3, 2016 by Drogo
Spoiler tagged.

[possibilities]

So what's new for January; does anyone have a good list of "new shows" coming this winter?

[zxy556575]

20 minutes ago, possibilities said:

So what's new for January; does anyone have a good list of "new shows" coming this winter?

I use Metacritic's list of series premieres; it's updated daily. It's fairly comprehensive except it skips many reality/cable channel shows.

[Rosiejuliemom]

Old shows on notice: OUAT, The Walking Dead (both have until the end of the season to improve), Doctor Who

Old shows I still love: Lucifer (hands down favorite thing on television at the moment) and Sherlock (finally out of hiatus for more than one episode)

Shows I missed and want to catch: Poldark, Victoria, & Timeless

Show I dumped like a bad boyfriend: Sleepy Hollow is dead to me. The season 3 finale managed to knock HIMYM out of my "Worst Finale Ever" spot and retroactively ruin the rest of the show for me.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Rosiejuliemom

[TaraS1]

I wish I could pay you all to start watching Good Behavior with Michelle Dockery (Tuesdays at 9pm on TNT) because the ratings have been dismal, but it is seriously the best new show I've watched in years.  So, so freaking good.  

Michelle plays a thief/con artist/meth addict/alcoholic who's just been released on parole and she gets mixed up with a hitman in the first episode.  Great drama and sexy times and hilarity ensue!

I adored Michelle on Downton (Lady Mary was by far my favorite) but I never thought she had huge range as an actress, due in part to the fact that the writing rarely allowed her to do more than be snobby and bitchy.  I was wrong.  She is really amazing in this and runs the gamut from hilarious to heartbreaking and back again.

[proserpina65]

Quote

Michelle plays a thief/con artist/meth addict/alcoholic who's just been released on parole and she gets mixed up with a hitman in the first episode

This description right here?  Exactly why I have no interest in the show.  None of this screams must watch to me.  But I don't begrudge anyone else the right to watch it if it is their cup of tea.

[Chaos Theory]

I am still enjoying Lethal Weapon.  I am more or less done with Timeless and This Is Us.  I don't know why I am not enjoying Timeless I just got bored of it suddenly.   Maybe because during the winter I go to bed early and I have less patience for 10 shows.

Of all the new comedies the only one I am watching is The Great Indoors.  It is nothing spectacular or new but it is genuinely cute and funny.  

[Lady Calypso]

So, I guess out of the new fall shows, I've only stuck with This Is Us. All the others, I have either fallen behind on or quit because I didn't like them.

I guess we'll see when the new batch of shows start up, if I stick to any of them. I predict I'll stick to one of them but that's it. 

[kieyra]

This is Us: binged the first ten episodes in the last week or so. I have a love/hate thing with it. I can see why the buzz for the show accumulated gradually and then swelled. It's extremely ambitious. It's got some amazing dialogue and performances. But it's also got a lot of very long treacly scenes set to Cat Stevens songs. And in the last episode I saw it appeared to be reaching for Shondaland-style plot twists, which just no. Heavy FF button use for me, but some scenes are riveting.

Westworld: on episode six of ten and I keep falling asleep, only to be told by my SO that I slept through stuff like mutilation and Gatling-gun fire. I'm not a person who falls asleep during television shows. I don't know. Good performances though. Unmotivated to watch the rest--unless I have insomnia, I suppose.

The OA: high-concept thingie that just dropped on Netflix. I made it halfway through. Read an entertaining article somewhere that amounted to "how the fuck did this show get made?". I'd say if you loved Donnie Darko AND Stranger Things AND you have the patience for slow, sideways storytelling, you should give it a try.

Happy Valley S2: dropped earlier this year. I barely made it through the first season because the gut-punches are just too real in this show. S2 was just a tad less brutal and I really loved it. Still received many punches in the gut, though. And it can be very, very funny.

P.S. Loved Rogue One.

Edited December 19, 2016 by kieyra

[maraleia]

Still trying to decide if I should binge the first 10 episodes of This is Us. I made it through the first episode but I have so many streaming shows to watch I don't want to add another weekly series to the mix.

Help me out here!!!

I highly recommend Netflix's Merli from Spain. It's a delightful show.

[kieyra]

12 hours ago, maraleia said:

Still trying to decide if I should binge the first 10 episodes of This is Us. I made it through the first episode but I have so many streaming shows to watch I don't want to add another weekly series to the mix.

Help me out here!!!

I highly recommend Netflix's Merli from Spain. It's a delightful show.

Trying to figure out how to describe it. I don't do so well with the sprawling family drama shows, mostly because I have never lived in that kind of family, but I understand it compares to Parenthood and Brothers and Sisters. There is a lot of flashback framing device in play, it's kind of the show's thing, and they are intentionally cagey about some mysteries set up in the flashback scenes. (For example, we know a flashback character is dead but we don't know how or when.) 

It takes on the challenge of themes like morbid obesity, blended families, racism, adoption, sibling rivalry, etc. and handles them pretty deftly.

It's good at setting up emotional punches but they mostly don't land on me because my heart is cold and dead. :)

The music is about 20 years out of date most of the time (I'm not referring to the flashback scenes, I mean present-day thirty-somethings being excited to listen to "Call me Al" by Paul Simon.) And I'd like to punch the next Cat Stevens song.

I adore the dynamic of one of the lead couples, and I could watch a show that was just about them. Flip side, I have to FF through a lot of the flashback stuff, so it's not perfect binge viewing for me.

All actors including Mandy Moore are bringing their A game, and Sterling K Brown is a phenomenon.

I worry their success will push them into placing "WTF" moments ahead of character work (hence my Shondaland comment upthread), but we're not necessarily there yet.

Edited December 19, 2016 by kieyra

[DearEvette]

7 hours ago, kieyra said:

It's good at setting up emotional punches but they mostly don't land on me because my heart is cold and dead. :)

Heh.  I have to agree with this.  I think they do land to some extent but I am not a crier so I receive them with more of a "hmmm, that is an interesting development' or "Man, so-and-so really killed that scene!"

7 hours ago, kieyra said:

I worry their success will push them into placing "WTF" moments ahead of character work (hence my Shondaland comment upthread), but we're not necessarily there yet.

I don't know if I would necessarily characterize them as WTF! moments in the vein of a Shonda show mainly because I think hers are especially designed to shock and sometimes come off as inserted solely for the shock value.  Almost as if they are the thing that drives narrative.  At least with TIU, I can see how the storyline set in the past is being doled out in pieces into the present time and we are finding out stuff in dribs and drabs.  Some of it may seem shocking, like the first time  Rebecca shows up at Randall and Beth's house in the present day, but it makes sense from a story perspective because there are 36 missing years in the past storyline and we are seeing the just present day results.  A lot happens in 36 years.  If the story had played out in real time what we are seeing wouldn't be shocking because you'd see the linear progression of events, but since we are just getting present day moments of the 36-year old story it feels more shocking because we don't know how this person's life or situation got from point A to point Z.

[kieyra]

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I don't know if I would necessarily characterize them as WTF! moments in the vein of a Shonda show mainly because I think hers are especially designed to shock and sometimes come off as inserted solely for the shock value. 

Specifically, spoilers from 1x10 (the Christmas episode):

Spoiler

1) William is gay or bisexual. Something about it felt cheap, like it existed only as a 'gotcha!', and possibly one they decided to include on the fly. Maybe I missed some foreshadowing. I understand that there is no 'right' way for a gay or bisexual character to behave, but they did withhold this significant information (and his significant other) for ten episodes just to artificially ratchet up the impact. (And/or, as I said, it was a decision made mid-production*)

2) Toby keels over on Christmas eve and crashes into (anvil) a table full of food. Naturally this is a post-coital possible death. It just felt very Gray's Anatomy to me. 

(*I can tell they're changing SOME things on the fly, because there's an episode where someone point blank asks Kevin when his father died, and you can hear that they looped in an overdubbed line: "It was a long time ago" in place of whatever original answer was filmed. So they don't want to commit to a hard timeline yet, So they are doing the 'seat of pants' approach with some things, as opposed to having a clear plan/vision. JMO.)

I do love Randall and Beth though.

Edited December 19, 2016 by kieyra

[DearEvette]

7 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Specifically, spoilers from 1x10 (the Christmas episode):

  Reveal hidden contents

1) William is gay or bisexual. Something about it felt cheap, like it existed only as a 'gotcha!', and possibly one they decided to include on the fly. Maybe I missed some foreshadowing. I understand that there is no 'right' way for a gay or bisexual character to behave, but they did withhold this significant information (and his significant other) for ten episodes just to artificially ratchet up the impact. (And/or, as I said, it was a decision made mid-production*)

2) Toby keels over on Christmas eve and crashes into (anvil) a table full of food. Naturally this is a post-coital possible death. It just felt very Gray's Anatomy to me. 

(*I can tell they're changing SOME things on the fly, because there's an episode where someone point blank asks Kevin when his father died, and you can hear that they looped in an overdubbed line: "It was a long time ago" in place of whatever original answer was filmed. So they don't want to commit to a hard timeline yet, So they are doing the 'seat of pants' approach with some things, as opposed to having a clear plan/vision. JMO.)

I do love Randall and Beth though.

Ok, I concede the Toby thing, heh.  But I am gonna disagree on the William thing because for me that wasn't a WTF it was an interesting way to make me stop and question my own assumptions.

[kieyra]

4 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Ok, I concede the Toby thing, heh.  But I am gonna disagree on the William thing because for me that wasn't a WTF it was an interesting way to make me stop and question my own assumptions.

Fair. Honestly, I just worry that the success of the Shondaland shows + Empire must cause newer network dramas to have an immense amount of pressure to increase the OMGWTFBBQ twists each week, and too many of those make me stop believing in the characters. I'm probably worrying too much, though. 

[Neurochick]

14 hours ago, kieyra said:

Trying to figure out how to describe it. I don't do so well with the sprawling family drama shows, mostly because I have never lived in that kind of family,

I've never lived in that type of family either, but I don't think a person needs to have lived that way to appreciate a "sprawling family drama." 

[ByTor]

On 9/26/2016 at 0:26 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Quantico was dropped over halfway of last season and reading up on the premiere, I am so happy that I can cut that part out of my television life. My god, how did it get renewed for a second season? When you kill off probably one of the more popular characters at the end of season one and leave the most idiotic ones alive, then you probably can't come back from it.

You're not kidding, they are pure idiots in every sense of the word. I tried to come back to Quantico this year, made it though 2 episodes, then dropped it like a hot potato.

[kieyra]

44 minutes ago, Neurochick said:

I've never lived in that type of family either, but I don't think a person needs to have lived that way to appreciate a "sprawling family drama." 

Well, I wasn't speaking for anyone but myself. 

[possibilities]

kieyra, I hope you don't watch shows about murder. ;-)

The emotional effect of This Is Us reminds me a little of Everwood-- it's more adult than teen focused, but it has that similar extremely emotional quality. It also has a lot more surprises than Everwood. I like it a thousand times more than Parenthood or Brothers and Sisters. The Parenthood's Braverman family was too full of spoiled brats and tantrummers, and TIU has been doing a good job of making folks a mix of lovable and fallible behaviors. And B&S started interesting but became a crapfest of ridiculous plot contrivances and retcons and spent a lot of its run looking like there was a war going on in the writers' room. TUI so far seems to be written by people who are at least trying to make sense and who have thought about what they are doing and planned at least the most significant elements in advance.

[Chaos Theory]

The Man In The High Castle on Amazon is awesom.  Season one was slow in its plotting and its characters were often frustrating but season two (which dropped on Friday) fixed most of the tonal problems and all but one character motivation.   If you have Amazon Prine I would give the show a look.

[Lady Calypso]

For me, This Is Us is a good show, although it doesn't come without its flaws. It's really a good family drama, but it does tend to fall upon some regular TV cliches. They do have twists and some of them land, some of them don't. It's still a really good show, though, if you can put aside all the cliches. It has excellent acting moments and sometimes, they really do hit the nail on the head with the emotional beats. Every character has their flaws, and many do face consequences for their actions, which puts them miles above Parenthood (I liked Parenthood in its first two seasons until I realized that the Bravermans would get away with everything and a lot of their mistakes or dramatic moments were not followed through well). The Pearsons (I believe that is the family name) feel like they could be regular people with regular problems and on the This Is Us board, there's a lot of excellent discussions because these characters are somewhat complex. And by that, I mean that they do things that are in a grey area that people can choose sides for. It's actually nice compared to Parenthood. I've only seen a bit of Everwood, so I can't compare it to that show.

I will say as well that the William storyline in episode 10, without giving anything away, is something done very well. They end up not making his plot a big deal, unlike all other shows. It's actually very nice that it's woven in so naturally and only a couple of scenes that address the plot. But I will also agree with the Toby storyline.  

But I'd highly recommend watching the 10 episodes to give it a chance for yourself. It may not be for everybody, but I honestly think it's the best freshman show so far this season. Also keep in mind that it is part of the Big Three tv network (BIG THREE) so the writing isn't going to be amazing (at least, in my opinion) so definitely keep an open mind when watching it. But the acting, some of the twists, and it being a family show is what makes it worth it to watch at the moment. There are way too many cop shows, medical shows, superhero shows, and silly sitcoms, so having a rare family drama on a major network is a nice and refreshing change. 

[kieyra]

Never mind. :)

Edited December 20, 2016 by kieyra

[ChromaKelly]

I am trying with Westworld but it's just not holding my attention. I keep doing things like texting and online Christmas shopping and then my husband says I missed something and I don't care. It seems like it should be interesting, but I'm not digging it. I really want to like it because sci-fi Western and James Marsden. I'm also finding the player-piano Radiohead to be trying too hard instead of fun.

[kieyra]

For the other two or three Sense8 viewers out there, there's a two hour Christmas special that dropped today and is absolutely delightful. (And sad and sexy and scary.)