The Television Discussion Thread

[parableproductions]

fantasia_kitty - Daredevil doesn't really fit in with The Flash and Arrow (I really like both of those series too). But, I guess the tone of if would be a little closer to them than it is to Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.

There are a few brief references to the first Avengers movie and the battle for New York.

It is violent, but I didn't think it was any more violent than Arrow.

[shastastwin]

We've just caught up on the last episode of ABC's Forever. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm glad they wrapped up the major storylines. I think it would have done well in a second season if it had had a consistent airing schedule and a little more solid writing in the filler episodes. It was still an enjoyable watch. I'd liked to have seen more development of the mythos, but what they introduced was about the level I'd expect in a first season.

I'm looking forward to a few returning shows in the fall (Once Upon a Time, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter , Gotham, Sleepy Hollow) and I'm interested to see if I'll like some new ones (Supergirl, The Muppets).

There are other shows coming back that I'm interested in, but will have to catch up on via Netflix like Arrow, The Flash, Bones, and Criminal Minds. The last of those has a new spin-off coming midseason this fall/spring, starring Gary Sinise, and I'm excited to see that one get its start. There are a few shows I am glad to see go (like Resurrection, which had a really uneven second season that showed the writers didn't know how to work with their show) and some I'm ambivalent towards their return (like Galavant, which ended on a very questionable cliffhanger after being touted as a one-off event).

[ValiantArcher]

I only caught a few of the later episodes of Forever (and one of the first ones) but I enjoyed it too, stwin, and thought it wrapped up well. I'd like to go back and watch the entire series once it comes out on dvd, though.

I'm really looking forward to Agent Carter coming back as well! Does anyone know if it'll be another mini-series, or a full (~22 episode) season?
After the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season finale, I'm incredibly nervous about what they'll do in season three; it feels like every time something good happens or someone has positive character growth, something terrible happens or it turns out to be a lie. But they have done some interesting things, and with the exception of the last two or three episodes, I've enjoyed it pretty well.

Supergirl looks like it could be really good, and I'm really excited that the main relationship looks to between Kara and her sister rather than a love interest. So, here's to hoping!

[shastastwin]

Valia, as far as I can tell, Agent Carter will continue to be the midseason break fill-in for AoS. I'm glad they're keeping it that way because they have shown they know how to make that shorter span of time work very well for the storytelling.

We've still not seen the two-part finale of AoS. It should be available on ABC.com now, though, so we'll be caught up by the weekend.

[stargazer]

I agree with your thoughts on Forever, shastastwin. I enjoyed watching it (as a sort of cross between Highlander and Sherlock Holmes) and thought they had interesting plot lines possible for season 2. I might get the DVD for a rewatch to look for extra details.

I also am looking forward to the next season of Once Upon a Time to find out what they do with the latest cliffhanger.

[Bookwyrm]

Agent Carter's second season will be two episodes longer than the first. If I remember right, season two will take place in LA. I'm hoping we get to see Howard and Peggy founding SHIELD this season or at least the groundwork for that.

[flambeau]

It's been a very long time since I was on the boards. But, I was wondering if anyone has watched "Daredevil" on Netflix.

*emerges from hibernation and pokes head out of the ground* I heard someone mention Daredevil. I binge-watched all thirteen episodes in two days back in April and it was definitely worth it. It's dark (yes, darker than Arrow, but also so much more worth it*), and the violence is extreme at times (there were at least three deaths that I was unable to watch), but the darker tone is in keeping with the comics. On the whole I thought the show was solid, well written, well acted (with a great cast), and the fight choreography was stunning. They also did a brilliant job of deconstructing some age-old hero tropes that should have died years ago, and I could not be more happy about that (the entire second episode was dedicated to (quite literally) throwing the Boring Invincible Hero trope in a dumpster, and the characterization of Matt's mentor, Stick, and the advice he gives (that Matt ultimately rejects) was a beautiful shot at the brooding hero characters who close themselves off from the world and refuse to let anyone get close to them).

Long story short, this show is easily one of my favorite things the MCU has produced so far, and I am highly anticipating season 2. The introduction of The Punisher and Elektra should be interesting, even though I am slightly concerned about the change in showrunners.

(*Arrow and I have officially broken up and I could not be more disappointed with how this show turned out.)

Shows that I'm anticipating this fall are Agent Carter, Supergirl, The Flash, and Person of Interest (which is probably on its final season and won't be returning until mid-season at the earliest. I'm not pleased.).

--- flambeau

[SnowAngel]

This week season 3 of When Calls The Heart was confirmed. The third season's premiere will be a two-hour Christmas special and then the rest of the season will start airing sometime in February. It will be a ten hour season like season 2. I am so excited for more WCTH! Although I am not sure about the Christmas special, how well that will tie into the end of season 2. I guess time will tell.

SnowAngel

[Bookwyrm]

Just finished watching the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell miniseries last night. I didn't get to see it when it was on BBCAmerica, but I snatched up the DVDs as soon as they appeared at work. It's been long enough since I read the book last that I mainly remembered the major plot points, so I enjoyed the miniseries more than perhaps I might have if it were fresher. I did notice they skimmed pretty heavily, but given the amount of material they had to cover in seven episodes, I suppose it's not terribly surprising. But I did think it was really well done and it just makes me want the sequel to the book even more.

[stargazer]

NBC has been promoting its upcoming reboot of Heroes, called Heroes Reborn. (I liked the original series at the beginning, but it stumbled in later seasons).

There's a trailer for the new show and a half-dozen short webisodes. Apparently it's 5 years after the end of the first series, which ended with Claire Bennett showing her special abilities to the world, and now "evos" must register with Homeland Security in a sort of dystopic future.

The new show combines the return of familiar faces from the original and some new characters. I'll probably check out the first few episodes and see how it goes.

[Bookwyrm]

I'm looking forward to Zachary Levi playing one of the antagonists this time around. With them bringing back Hiro, I'm curious as to how they're going to balance the powers. I think the massive power imbalance between people like Hiro, Peter, and Sylar and then people like Claire really crippled the show's ability to have a logical plotline. Well, that and the fact that Sylar didn't die at the end of the first season and eventually took over the show.

[Ryadian]

We've just caught up on the last episode of ABC's Forever. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm glad they wrapped up the major storylines. I think it would have done well in a second season if it had had a consistent airing schedule and a little more solid writing in the filler episodes. It was still an enjoyable watch. I'd liked to have seen more development of the mythos, but what they introduced was about the level I'd expect in a first season.

That's good to know. I've actually avoided watching the last episode because then that means I have to accept the show is over. Well, that and I was just busy and never got around to it.

So, the fall season begins and I realize that the only show I'm actively watching is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, because all the other shows I've watched (Arrow, Once Upon a Time) I'm very far behind on, or the new season hasn't started yet (Person of Interest - I'm also very far behind here, but at least now I have time to catch up). I have a rather tentative relationship with AoS right now - on the one hand, I think this season has started in an intriguing direction. On the other hand, I'm still rather mad at it for how last season turned out. The end of last season, sadly, kind of felt like they were making it up as they went along, some of the "plot twists" felt contrived for shock value, and I'm convinced

SHOW SPOILER "Late season 2/Age of Ultron"

that the TV show team didn't even know what they were going to do to tie into Age of Ultron until shortly before it came out, which is why the helicarrier thing was so completely out of nowhere

. But, that was last season - let's see if the show gets back into more adventures, less political drama that drags across the entire season.

I'm curious - can you easily watch Heroes Reborn if you haven't seen Heroes? I actually have it on my Netflix queue, but that doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of having seen it. I usually prefer to see things in order so I have a full grasp on the continuity, but Reborn looks interesting and I will have to play catch-up as it is.

Lately, my mom has actually been watching a lot of M.A.S.H., which means that I've been watching a lot of it too. I've never seen any of it before, but I'm actually really enjoying what I've seen. We're in season eight, which means the cast currently looks like: Hawkeye, BJ, Colonel Potter, Klinger, Winchester, Houlihan, Father Mulcahy - Radar just left . Aside from Radar leaving (he was my favorite!! ), I actually prefer the cast after all the replacements. BJ and Winchester are both better foils than Trapper and Burns, respectively - Winchester actually manages to make me like him on occasion, whereas Burns was a glorified plot device. And I just like having a strong but lovable leader instead of Blake - I mean, he was okay, but he was too wishy-washy for me. (Maybe it's a little weird to have spoiler tags for a show that's significantly older than I am, but I wish I hadn't known about some of the cast changes before I started watching it, so I won't ruin it for anyone else. )

[shastastwin]

I heartily ditto your thoughts on M*A*S*H, Rya. I watched a lot of it in syndication during high school, and you're in some of the best seasons, now.

Another character who improves after the cast changes is Margaret, because she gets to become her own character not just Frank's girlfriend.

[daughter of the King]

I'm curious - can you easily watch Heroes Reborn if you haven't seen Heroes?

I think so. I've only watched the first two or three seasons of Heroes and so far I've been able to follow along pretty well. They've done a good job of introducing new characters and when they bring up old characters it's usually explained how that character was relevant. However, I definitely recommend watching the webisodes Dark Matter. They bridge between the two series and set the stage for the start of Heroes Reborn.

[ValiantArcher]

I have a rather tentative relationship with AoS right now - on the one hand, I think this season has started in an intriguing direction. On the other hand, I'm still rather mad at it for how last season turned out. The end of last season, sadly, kind of felt like they were making it up as they went along, some of the "plot twists" felt contrived for shock value, and I'm convinced

SHOW SPOILER "Late season 2/Age of Ultron"

that the TV show team didn't even know what they were going to do to tie into Age of Ultron until shortly before it came out, which is why the helicarrier thing was so completely out of nowhere

. But, that was last season - let's see if the show gets back into more adventures, less political drama that drags across the entire season.

Yeah, last season (especially the end) was mostly a dark (like, theme-wise and lighting-wise) disaster. I thought they were getting better in the fourth-to-last episode, but then they took the last three episodes and basically destroyed all the good character development and such they'd done, especially for Ward and Kara Palamas (still upset about how they just threw everything away that they'd done with those two characters). Also, I think your spoiler makes sense---it did come out of nowhere, so they probably had no idea what was going on before. I think the mass bunk bed purchase was about the only hint beforehand.
This season does look a lot more interesting/hopeful so far, but I think that's got quite a lot to do with them bringing Jemma home! (Which I still can't quite believe they actually did; I was sure they were going to drag it out for a few more episodes at least ) They'll probably throw some monkey wrenches in soon, though, so I'm only hopeful very cautiously. I am hopeful that we'll get some little resolution of political drama with next episode where it looks like Coulson will talk again with the government nemesis/counterpart lady re:Inhumans, and hopefully they'll get some sort of Talbot situation figured out (though we haven't seen him in quite a while) where they can work around each other. So here's to hoping for some lighter weekly adventure stories, with some good character arcs!

Is anyone looking forward to Supergirl* starting at the end of the month? From the previews it looks like it could be quite fun and lighthearted (which would be reallllllly nice**).

*I think I asked about this show last time? Yeah. Oh well.

**For a while I've stayed away from superhero movies and shows because they usually are pretty dark and heavy. Marvel kinda hoodwinked me with Avengers and AoS by baiting the fluffy before springing everything else.

[Puddleglum]

I have been watching Agents of Shield, and can agree with the comments made.
While I can understand the producers wanting to connect the "Marvel Universe" with all the characters relating to each other in both the movies, and Television, much like the comics do, I think they should do better in making those connections.
I would also like to see a more weekly format. They can keep bringing up a backstory of some sort that slowly develops into a season ending cliffhanger, but the individual episodes need to be able to stand more on their own.