Take Two - General Discussion

[TWP]

I also thought it was a strong episode.  My one negative was the closet scene.  Both actors did everything the director told them to do, and may have included even a bit of their own improv, but there was no chemistry, not even a slight spark.  I put the blame for that more on Cibrian than on Bilson.  He is so wooden sometimes (and I'm not talking about that gun ;-) ).  Of course, I may be biased.

I thought the case was kind of fun although the convolutions went on for too long.  We need some back stories, people.  I like the supporting cast and I hope Milmar have learned their lesson on relying too much on the leads and will give the side players more interesting things to do.

As long as the story lines stay this entertaining, I'm in for the summer.

[dubbel zout]

2 hours ago, TWP said:

I thought the case was kind of fun although the convolutions went on for too long. 

The lobby shenanigans got excruciating.

I thought the judge putting Sam into Eddie's custody was a clever way to keep the conceit of them working together going. It was organic to their relationship.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I recognized Aliyah O'Brien (the main cop) from the CBC sitcom Men with Brooms (which I may have been the only person who loved it; it only lasted one season).

[SallyAlbright]

Really enjoying this show. It has cheesy moments, but it's a perfect light summer show and Bilson is charming and funny. With all of the very serious dark dramas on TV lately, I find this refreshing. 

[statsgirl]

It's interesting how some blame Cibrian for the lack of chemistry, and some blame Bilson.

I thought the story was interesting and the twist was unexpected.  I also think that Cibrian is really trying to put some nuance into his character and the reactions to Sam, although there's damn little of it in the text.

My problem is with Bilson. She's so peppy and perky that she pulls me out of the story all the time. No real person is that sugary hyper.  It reminds me of the later seasons of Castle when Fillion stopped trying for even limited subtlety and just went all out on the "aren't I amazing".  It also contributes to Sam seeming far too young for Eddie, a pairing they are rushing to like a speeding train.

I'll try it one more time but for light summer fun, I think Carter is a much better show. (Jerry O'Connell as an actor on hiatus teams up with his childhood friend now a cop.)

Edited June 30, 2018 by statsgirl

[Jacks-Son]

Besides the obvious two, Eddie Cibrian, who played Russell Varon, in one of my favorite Syfy shows, "Invasion" (and hundreds of other shows) and the perrennial cutie-pie, Rachel Bilson, who played Zoe Hart, in "Hart of Dixie", which I will unabashedly admit I watched until the year before it was cancelled.  She was also in "Jumper" and had a semi recurring role as Zachary Levi's girlfriend Lou, in "Chuck", one-time "Must See TV" for me. Oh, I just realized that English dude, is the brother Felix, to the "Orphan Black" clones.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Jacks-Son

[OoogleEyes]

Max Douchman? C'mon now..

[shapeshifter]

19 hours ago, statsgirl said:

My problem is with Bilson. She's so peppy and perky that she pulls me out of the story all the time. . . It also contributes to Sam seeming far too young for Eddie, a pairing they are rushing to like a speeding train.

At least IRL they're only 9 years apart. I appreciate that EC is letting his hair gray naturally, but if this show is going to make the two leads a OTP, they probably should've dyed his hair, especially since both Rachel Bilson and her character are is so preternaturally "peppy."

[break21]

Marlowe is a one and done.  He is embarrassing himself at this point.  He got lucky with Filllion and Katic - they could cover in the later years when the writing was bad.  He is trying to put lighting in a bottle instead of creating something new,  Fillion could cover up bad writing - Cilbrian, not so much. 

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

“Taken” – When a popular nightclub owner and one of Eddie’s old nemeses hires Eddie and Sam to track down his club’s missing DJ, Eddie balks. Meanwhile, Sam remembers her party days at the club and clashes with Eddie over the case. As they dig deeper, Sam and Eddie learn that the missing young man was kidnapped and soon realize his abduction may be part of a plan to ignite a mob war that only they can stop.

[shapeshifter]

Urgh. I knew when I saw episode 3 was a different writer (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Two_(TV_series)#Episodes ) that it would be beginner's night.

And was it the director's choice to have the cheesey background music in the car when Sam was getting Eddie's backstory?

There was also a moment where Rachel Bilson semi-flubbed her line. Why not reshoot? Maybe that was the moment when the show runners figured this was just going to be a one-and-done summer show?

[MoreCoffeePlease]

Who played the Hollywood producer? What has he been in before?

[dubbel zout]

Jonathan Silverman, best known for Weekend at Bernie's, probably.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

OMG. Thank you so much! That was driving me crazy.

[notcreative enough]

I don't mind this show because honestly what else am I going to watch during the summer. But damn was this episode annoying AF. I don't know if it was the show or my TV but when it kept reading the ( I'm sure this is the wrong term but I can't think of try right on) stage directions. "Eddie sat in a chair." "Sam texts so and so." That type of thing. Maybe it was my TV random channels changed the language to Spanish.

[KaveDweller]

6 hours ago, notcreative enough said:

I don't mind this show because honestly what else am I going to watch during the summer. But damn was this episode annoying AF. I don't know if it was the show or my TV but when it kept reading the ( I'm sure this is the wrong term but I can't think of try right on) stage directions. "Eddie sat in a chair." "Sam texts so and so." That type of thing. Maybe it was my TV random channels changed the language to Spanish.

I didn't have that here.  Are other channels doing that for you? It sounds like you were hearing the visual descriptions that the embed for people who can't see.

This is a fun enough show for the summer, but I have an issue reconciling Sam's perky attitude with an addict just out of rehab. 

[Jacks-Son]

9 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I didn't have that here.  Are other channels doing that for you? It sounds like you were hearing the visual descriptions that the embed for people who can't see.

This is a fun enough show for the summer, but I have an issue reconciling Sam's perky attitude with an addict just out of rehab. 

Nor did I have issues with the closed captioning, and I use it routinely. Perhaps KaveDweller is right, notcreative enough, you may have had audio descriptions on. It describes everything for the blind.  Anyway, I'm enjoying the show, Rachel is just so bubbly and cute that her character overshadows Eddie Cibrian's.  I like her assistant, Monica, as she's pretty astute and seems to anticipate Berto's actions. Nice office dynamics. However, I don't think Sam was a full blown addict. From what I gathered, she was a party girl who had a string of bad luck (e.g. boyfriend dumps her the same day her show got cancelled), it's enough to send a party girl on a bender just to blow off steam.  She just happened to be caught by the Paps as she was falling apart, it threw her career in jeopardy. Her perky attitude could just be the result of a new lease on life.

[notcreative enough]

13 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I didn't have that here.  Are other channels doing that for you? It sounds like you were hearing the visual descriptions that the embed for people who can't see.

This is a fun enough show for the summer, but I have an issue reconciling Sam's perky attitude with an addict just out of rehab. 

Yeah. It's my TV. It happened on another channel. It's just so random what it happens. We didn't change anything the TV just start to act wonkie.

[tennisgurl]

So, I know this is all light and fun and summery, and I shouldn't think about it too hard, but, I feel like Eddie and Sam were kind of a bit too sympathetic to the kidnapper guy. Yeah he has a sympathetic reason for what he did, and the mobster guy was clearly a bad guy, but...he still kidnapped, drugged, and might have murdered an innocent person whos only crime was being a guys son. He didnt even know who his dad was! I can see them not wanting to turn this guy over and let him be murdered, but, they were acting like what he did was totally justifiable because the mob guy was a villain, totally ignoring that he probably scarred this poor random guy for life, and had no regrets about it. No one even said something like "you taking your anger out on an innocent person is a bad thing, dude" or something. And, did it not occur to this asshole that, in the gang war he wanted to start, innocent people would probably die in the crossfire? Like civilians...cops...firefighters...how did no one mention this to him? Yeah Sam and Eddie know that, but we couldn't get a moment when they call this guy out? 

Maybe its just me, but it seemed like he should have gotten a bit more of a comeuppance than having to leave LA for kidnapping a person because he wanted to get back to someone else. At least a stern talking to? 

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, notcreative enough said:

Yeah. It's my TV. It happened on another channel. It's just so random what it happens. We didn't change anything the TV just start to act wonkie.

It sounds like it’s playing the SAP, check the audio inputs on your remote and you should be able to clear it.

[Jacks-Son]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

And, did it not occur to this asshole that, in the gang war he wanted to start, innocent people would probably die in the crossfire? Like civilians...cops...firefighters...how did no one mention this to him? Yeah Sam and Eddie know that, but we couldn't get a moment when they call this guy out? 

Collateral damage is never a concern when one wants revenge. That's why it's a "dish best served cold" neither Aram, nor the kidnapper thought about the consequences. Did Aram intentionally set out to kill the brother-like person of the kidnapper? No, he was a firefighter who died in Aram's arson. He (Aram) neither felt guilt nor remorse. Did he deserve some sort of payback, well, yeah! Were the kidnapper's motives justified? To him they were. It was a no-win situation, like Eddie said, sometimes there's no good solution. His solution was a life-lesson for both Sam and the viewers. The kidnapper did not intend to murder the son, he just wanted Aram to hurt and feel the pain that HE felt. Of the two, the kidnapper felt more pain than Aram.

As far as mentioning the consequences of a gang war to the kidnapper, Eddie had that discussion with Sam, so it was out there and he probably had that same discussion with the kidnapper, they just didn't show it.

Edited July 7, 2018 by Jacks-Son

[SomeTameGazelle]

It strained credulity to imagine that anyone would believe that the pizza commercial would be confined to Italy with Sam's celebrity and modern technology. 

[Jacks-Son]

I don't see how the pizza commercial could potentially damage her "Brand". I'm sure someone on set will leak photos arnd sell shots to the Paps  Going by the current trend, I've seen worse commercials by bigger stars.  She's just being overly dramatic and slyly trying to pique Eddie's interest, which worked.  Just like Monica is playing games with Berto; disinterest while the pheromones work their magic.

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

“Ex’s and Oh’s” – Sam’s ex-fiancé, Dylan, who dumped her live on national television, unexpectedly shows up asking for help after his laptop is stolen. Sam is reluctant to have anything to do with her old flame until she discovers something even more embarrassing may go public if it gets into the wrong hands. Faced with potential public humiliation, Sam, Eddie and Dylan race to find the laptop before the pair’s most intimate moments become a viral sensation, on “Take Two,” THURSDAY, JULY 12 (10:00–11:00 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand.

[AnimeMania]

I liked the episode, but I didn't like that the kid got paid to return the things that he steals from people. Do Private Investigators really just pick locks and go anywhere they want or are there rules?

[biakbiak]

I realize this is a summer series that will never be seen again but I really liked how they played his friends with benefits cop in a way that clearly illustrated no jealousy and wasn’t ambiguous about her not being romantically attached, it’s so rare on tv to allow a woman to view sex that way even though it happens all the time on in real life.

Edited July 13, 2018 by biakbiak

[Jacks-Son]

I liked this episode. It was fun and there is palpable chemistry between the two leads. Not enough Monica as I like watching her yank Berto's chain. The media savvy kid who tracked Dylan's movements and robbed his house was a bit much and I didn't appreciate their cavalier and complying attitude with regards to him. He committed crimes and was going to Blackmail Sam and Dylan or offer up her sex-tape video for publication thereby ruining her still shattered reputation even more. I hate the culture that this behavior is tolerated in today's society.

Of course a lot of what Berto and his IT buddy working within Dylan's ISP service pulled up was conveniently ridiculous and borderline Deus ex machina. He was able to bring up logs and web browser history and keystrokes complete with passwords and routing numbers, I call bullshit. It sounds nice but I'm sure unless Dylan had a keylogger malware installed on his laptop, I doubt an ISP tech can pull up that info. Sure, ISP's can provide visited web sites but the Full Monty?? That kind of data is usually obtained by keylogger programs or sniffer software.

It look me awhile to place Dylan and then it hit me, he played Clayton, the werewolf teacher on Syfy's TV show "Bitten".

Once again, this show relies heavily on the impossibly cute and borderline unbearingly bubbly Rachel Bilson.  Need more backstory on the other half of the crime-fighting duo.  While they're at it, the show can up the intelligence level of Berto or give him another skill besides computer backdoor hacking. Don't make him another Cisco or a Felicity Smoak, just up his game a bit so that he brings more to the table than Monica's future Boy-Toy.

I actually look forward to this show and would like to see it picked up for another full season. Both stars could use the work as they are both good actors.

[TWP]

It was a cute and entertaining episode, although they really need to stop with the distracting Castle vibe background music because it gets tiresomely distracting when the actors aren't as strong.

I think Cibrian's character and his cop friend have far more chemistry than Bilson and Cibrian.  I honestly don't care if the PI pair get together, and in reality, would rather that they didn't.  Their budding feelings for each other are far too thrown together and forced.  I almost wish they were a brother/sister duo, which would introduce comedy of familiarity, rather than no-chemistry forced LOOOOVE.  I don't know..

[dubbel zout]

I knew it was the agent/manager as soon as Dylan denied the $43 million in the offshore accounts. I had to LOL when they semiseriously discussed whether that punk kid would sent a tactical team to retrieve a laptop. Sex tapes can make a lot of money, but it's not as if either Sam or Dylan were A-list actors. (They both seem a very solid B to me.)

And yeah, that punk kid deserved a lot more consequences than getting $35,000 (was that ever paid, btw) and a high five for stealing back the laptop from the police.

[Raja]

I have never seen Castle, but this office situation is taken directly from Remington Steele.  I wonder if the characters made a reference to it that I missed?

[Jacks-Son]

59 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

And yeah, that punk kid deserved a lot more consequences than getting $35,000 (was that ever paid, btw) and a high five for stealing back the laptop from the police.

The arrogant punk kid was paid by Dylan when he handed him the bundled manilla envelope and complained about the kid breaking into his home, which to me deserved a nice smack upside the head from Dylan and definitely NOT a High five. He didn't steal the laptop back from the police, he stole it back from Dylan's agent, Brock, while Eddie and Sam were stalling him outside trying to get him to give up the laptop and admit that he was behind the whole theft.

[dubbel zout]

Thanks for the clarification, @Jacks-Son.

I wish someone had slapped the punk kid when he said he loved Sam but, "business is business." UGH.

[Jacks-Son]

Welcome! This is the same kid who stole a laptop, with incendiary sex video and some watches from Dylan's home and sold it ALL back for $35,000 to the star he "loves" without asking for an autograph OR a selfie? On the one hand business is business yet he doesn't even try for a selfie from the star he loves? His mom is lucky she didn't hear strangulation sounds from upstairs. Now I'm advocating violence, shame on me.  :=)

[Raja]

"The List" to scare the security guard was a good bit, I could see Rockford pulling that one. Going back to her TV show plots is reminding me of The Grinder. 

[statsgirl]

Ricardo Montalban pitched "Cordoba leather", the great Orson Welles hocked mediocre wine and George Clooney is selling Nespresso. Sam's antipathy to doing the commercial gave me "get over yourself" feels.  Enjoy the 'cheese'-iness.

Edited July 14, 2018 by statsgirl

[dubbel zout]

14 hours ago, Raja said:

Going back to her TV show plots is reminding me of The Grinder. 

I MISS THAT SHOW SO MUCH.

11 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Ricardo Montalban pitched "Cordoba leather", the great Orson Welles hocked mediocre wine and George Clooney is selling Nespresso. Sam's antipathy to doing the commercial gave me "get over yourself" feels.  Enjoy the 'cheese'-iness.

Welles got a lot of crap for doing those wine commercials. I think Sam's dismay mostly was that she was dressed as a pizza slice, not that she was doing an ad for pizza.

[Raja]

On 7/12/2018 at 9:10 PM, AnimeMania said:

 Do Private Investigators really just pick locks and go anywhere they want or are there rules?

No they don't break the law and there is about a 1% chance that a Los Angeles County Sheriff or police department  would issue a concealed carry permit to one, ex cop or not.

[dubbel zout]

Picking locks is a TV thing; I don't mind it. 

One thing I think the show hasn't gotten right from the beginning is the tone. One of my complaints about a big portion of the first season of Castle was that it couldn't decide if it were more of a Remington Steele–type of procedural ("the blood isn't real on Remington Steele" was its unofficial motto) or something grittier. We'd see Beckett and everyone all grim at a crime scene and then Castle would bounce in with some breezy one-liner, and I would record scratch. The show eventually settled on a more serious tone (though there were still many moments of humor), but it was a bit rocky for a while there. 

Take Two from the start is clearly on the lighter side, which I think was the right choice for this show.

[Jacks-Son]

23 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Take Two from the start is clearly on the lighter side, which I think was the right choice for this show.

You can't take Rachel Bilson as a lead and NOT choose a lighter tone. Her image, style, and persona, are totally different than a Stana Katic.  That's like casting Rhonda Rousey as Lorelai Gilmore in the "Gilmore Girls" or switching the Deschanel sisters from each of their shows. "Take Two" is a Dramedy with an emphasis on the comedy part. "Castle" is a police procedural with occasional humor. That's like comparing "Castle" with"Brooklyn Nine-Nine".

[dubbel zout]

IMO, Rachel Bilson is closer to Nathan Fillion than Stana Katic, as Sam is the civilian interloper the same way Castle was. 

I think Castle was a dramedy set in a police station, but YMMV. The main point I'm making is that Miller and Marlowe successfully set the tone for Take Two from the beginning, which I don't think they did with Castle.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

I think Sam's dismay mostly was that she was dressed as a pizza slice, not that she was doing an ad for pizza

Yeah. She was just a few dance steps away from being filmed like that outside a pizza place.

[Jacks-Son]

47 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I think Castle was a dramedy set in a police station, but YMMV. The main point I'm making is that Miller and Marlowe successfully set the tone for Take Two from the beginning, which I don't think they did with Castle.

Rick Castle was a buffoon in the beginning (To me, that's the only comedy except for Esposito and his partner). He was always coming up with outrageous scenarios to explain situations and doing them in a comical way. Sam is just bringing her experiences from 200 episodes of a show I can't even remember the name of.

I always enjoyed the series, "Castle", it was only when they broke them up and separated them when Kate went undercover to catch the serial killer, did the show began to lose me.  Once they broke up it no longer became "must see TV" for me and became a DVR watch while doing something else.  To me, "Castle" followed a natural progression, there was no change in the tone from the beginning to the middle, (for me) unless you're talking about Rick starting his own P.I. services, which was a bad choice.  What was the change in tone on "Castle" from your perspective?

[WendyCR72]

I gotta side with @dubbel zout. Castle may have been a procedural in terms of solving a case, but the crimes were much...er, "friendlier" in terms of the bodies/deaths than one would find on a serious procedural a la the Law & Order and/or CSI franchises. I preferred the latter, but I think Castle was closer to Remington Steele in terms of male/female investigators solve crimes and have will they/won't they...and maybe as light as Murder, She Wrote in terms of the crimes.

The only exceptions I recall were the episodes with the never-ending murder conspiracy crap with Beckett's mother when they would try to have Beckett go all "dark" and "badass" (which I think were cheesy as all hell and, sorry Stana Katic fans, horribly acted. That's JMO!). But Castle seemed like a "safe" procedural with a whole lot of goofiness.

To bring this on topic, I also agree that Take Two is as light as a soufflé, which actually seems to be the right tone to strike for a sort of comfort-food summer series. Just keep Eddie Cibrian away from dark conspiracies and any dead family members, and let the show play to its strength of wacky hijinx.

[Jacks-Son]

I'm not disagreeing with dubbel zout, my original point was that there really was no choice in choosing a lighter tone with "Take Two" as opposed to "Castle". You cannot cast Rachel Bilson in a role written for a Nathan Fillion (my error was in choosing Stana Katic for comparison and that may have been sexist on my part).  Bilson's personality or persona has always been light and bubbly, even on "Chuck" or "Hart of Dixie", she was light and breezy. (Sorry, I've never seen "The O.C.", so I don't know what kind of character she played on that show. Nor have I ever seen Remington Steele nor that Bruce Willis show everyone uses as a standard for not going the WT/WT route)  Nathan played a likable rogue in "Castle" and "Firefly", sort of like Hans Solo; he doesn't do bubbly.  You cast the actor for the character or as writers say, "I wrote the part specifically for that actor". 

And yes, WendyCR721, I hope they don't go dark with Cibrian (Damn I miss "Invasion" and that other show that came out the same year, "Threshold") I like Cibrian's character in "Take Two".  As I said in the "Instinct" forum, this show is much better than "Instinct" and should be given a 2nd season. "Murder she Wrote" is what the Brits call a "Cozy". A "Cozy" is a murder mystery that takes place in the suburbs and doesn't show anything gruesome. I doubt a "Cozy" would rate highly here in the States.

Edited July 15, 2018 by Jacks-Son

[dubbel zout]

2 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Just keep Eddie Cibrian away from dark conspiracies

Unfortunately he has an ax to grind—something about drug dealers and dirty cops? a dead girlfriend or sister?—I zoned out during the explanation because I'm so tired of that sort of thing. Not every character needs a tragedy in their past to be "deep" or whatever it's supposed to do. 

[WendyCR72]

Just now, dubbel zout said:

Unfortunately he has an ax to grind—something about drug dealers and dirty cops? a dead girlfriend or sister?—I zoned out during the explanation because I'm so tired of that sort of thing. Not every character needs a tragedy in their past to be "deep" or whatever it's supposed to do. 

I missed that. God, so Edda and Marlowe really are one-trick pony hacks. Sigh. Pity.

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, Jacks-Son said:

A "Cozy" is a murder mystery that takes place in the suburbs and doesn't show anything gruesome. I doubt a "Cozy" would rate highly here in the States.

Ah, but it already did, in the '80s! I think the likes of, say, Moonlighting, Remington Steele, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King definitely qualified.  :-)  Castle seemed to be from their mold, mixed with the aforementioned Murder, She Wrote.

[Jacks-Son]

3 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Ah, but it already did, in the '80s! I think the likes of, say, Moonlighting, Remington Steele, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King definitely qualified.  :-)  Castle seemed to be from their mold, mixed with the aforementioned Murder, She Wrote.

Yes, almost 40 years ago. Back when Marcus Welby M.D. didn't do more than dispense medical advice or Dragnet never showed someone actually being shot and blood coming out. Networks have everything to do with that change and a more demanding audience who grew accustomed to the blood and gore of cable TV.  Now, those shows that you mentioned would more than likely bore an audience to death.

[WendyCR72]

53 minutes ago, Jacks-Son said:

Yes, almost 40 years ago. Back when Marcus Welby M.D. didn't do more than dispense medical advice or Dragnet never showed someone actually being shot and blood coming out. Networks have everything to do with that change and a more demanding audience who grew accustomed to the blood and gore of cable TV.  Now, those shows that you mentioned would more than likely bore an audience to death.

But, as I said, Castle was in that same mold - and ran for 8 seasons. And only ended about two years ago. So, clearly an audience of the throwback formula does still exist. I tend to think there is room for many different genres among the TV landscape. The sheer number of choices and show styles has grown exponentially since the 'net got in the TV business, is all.

[Jacks-Son]

27 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

I tend to think there is room for many different genres among the TV landscape. The sheer number of choices and show styles has grown exponentially since the 'net got in the TV business, is all.

Oh, I agree. I guess, I haven't seen an episode of "Castle" in so long I had forgotten how tame it was or at least never considered it tame.  Compared to the shows I prefer, like Robson Green's "Wire in the Blood", "Castle" can be considered a Cozy.