Whatcha Bleedin' Watchin'?

[talonmalon333]

I watched The Mandalorian when it was releasing episodes regularly, and I really enjoyed it. I liked how it told a small story that just exists in the Star Wars universe. In many ways, I think it's the best thing Disney has done with the franchise yet.

Then, there is The Good Place finishing its run. This is legitimately one of my favorite shows I ever watched. Something about it just struck a cord with me. First is that it never dipped in quality, nor can I think of any real blemishes in it. In terms of comedy, I think it's just as funny as The Office or Parks and Rec (made by at least partially the same team). I love the story and how every seasons is different, and I love how high the stakes are despite it always taking itself fairly lightly. And I appreciated the themes of the show and how it addressed them without trying too hard.

Also, can I mention the Super Bowl here? Can't think of anywhere else to, so I'll just say I was very pleased this year. If the Eagles can't take home the win (and yes, the 2018 Super Bowl was my favorite football game I've ever seen), the second best thing is seeing Andy Reid finally get his time with the Chiefs. I swear I thought they were going to lose until those last few minutes, when they suddenly played some of the best offense I've seen. The halftime show was one of the best in recent memory, and we even got some fun commercials. It was a great game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I was just curious if you still keep up with wrestling, Talon?

I myself have VERY loosely followed the WWE over the past half year since only a handful of storylines have actually caught my interest (I will say that the most recent Royal Rumble was surprisingly good, though).

However, I've been really enjoying AEW since it's inception, though since I'm the only person I know who actually enjoys wrestling, I've never had anyone to discuss it with.

[talonmalon333]

I was just curious if you still keep up with wrestling, Talon?

I myself have VERY loosely followed the WWE over the past half year since only a handful of storylines have actually caught my interest (I will say that the most recent Royal Rumble was surprisingly good, though).

However, I've been really enjoying AEW since it's inception, though since I'm the only person I know who actually enjoys wrestling, I've never had anyone to discuss it with.

I actually stopped following WWE maybe a year or so after the brand split sometime around 2016. Not because it had gotten any worse, but because it got to the point where there was just so much material to stay on top of in order to properly follow it (too many hours to follow ever week, pay per views every other week, etc.). I eventually just burned out, and since the brand was far past its prime, anyway, I just couldn't make my way back to it. I do know a few of the stories that have happened (I was a big fan of Becky Lynch, and knowing she headlined WrestleMania last year is really cool), and that Roman Reigns left for a while dealing with cancer which is sad for sure.

As for AEW, I haven't really followed it, but a friend that likes wrestling has said it's apparently really good!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, that (among some really bad writing decisions for various story lines) is WWE's biggest problem: content overload. It's simply unfeasible to keep up with 3 different brands within the same company, especially when one of those shows is 3 hours a week. That's why I only check in with certain story lines and only ever bother with the major PPV events like Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania, and keep up with the rest through weekly recap videos that shorten it out to the gist of what happens in each episode.

AEW is such a breath of fresh air since aside from it's talent being allowed more creative freedom and not being tied down to awful scripts, it's all one unified brand with one show a week, plus a free weekly YouTube show of dark matches which are not usually tied down to the main story so it's optional supplemental content for some of the mid-carders to show off. The PPVs are also about every 3 months on average, so far, so it's much more manageable to keep up with.

[Mustang]

I also used to watch WWE (especially back with Attitude and WCW Nitro days). I tend to watch every now and then and I grow bored very quickly because a lot of these wrestlers are practically the same in my eyes. The only ones that actually get me pumped is Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns and the Usos' (Randy Orton every now and then). And then from the women division, Charlotte and Asuka are the ones I like (I haven't been able to catch NXT, but I heard that a lot of the women there are good). After that, it seems like everyone is trying to be a combination of Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels put together. I acknowledge the talent but do you really need everyone trying to be this badass tough guy but on the small side? And then I'm like, where are all the big men at to challenge Brock Lesnar? (I see claymore dude, and I hope he wins).

I haven't been able to catch AEW either. My brother tells me it's really good though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm actually really liking the Drew McIntyre vs. Lesnar angle, and that along with the Randy Orton vs. Edge angle (potentially, anyways) are easily the most interesting things that the WWE has going into Wrestlemania this year.

But I'm pretty much in agreement for the most part. The WWE roster is so dense and overpopulated with a lot of same-y feeling characters. That's not to take away from the talent of the professionals working for them, but it does feel like way too much of a crowd to really identify with real strong individual superstars that have some genuine staying power. On the one hand, it is good that there are so many more opportunities for people working in such an underrated and largely underpaid industry outside of a company as big as this one. On the other hand, it's also nearly impossible to get any new talent over these days when you have a ludicrous amount of wrestlers vying for the spotlight that only a few can reasonably achieve.

[Avaitor]

So I'm only really more of a casual Star Trek fan. I've seen all of the movies, but only made it through a scattered handful of episodes of all of the shows. I came into Picard with a superficial understanding of TNG, but so far, I'm enjoying it. It definitely feels more like a contemporary sci-fi show than classic Trek, but that's what you get when the franchise has mostly been dormant on the small screen for about 15 years. The new characters are pretty decent so far, and it was nice to see Seven of Nine again.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Since we were on the subject of wrestling for a bit, I just watched AEW's Revolution PPV live last night, and my god was that event hype as fuck. The Kenny Omega & "Hangman" Adam Page Vs. The Young Bucks World Tag-Team Championship match was not just worth the price of admission alone, but is maybe one of the greatest pro wrestling performances that I've seen in my entire life. I'm still blown away just thinking about it. And this is literally just days after Omega's 30-minute Iron Man match with Pac, which was also considered a match-of-the-year contender.

If anyone ever had the slightest interest in pro wrestling and AEW in particular, now is literally the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon. The show has been on fucking fire this year.

[talonmalon333]

Hey, guys! Hopefully you're all safe during this pandemic. Weird era, right?

Even though we don't watch WWE anymore, and haven't for a while, a few of my friends decided to have a Zoom conference and watch the two nights of WrestleMania. Considering the fact that it had to be held in the WWE Performance Center with no life audience, I think it turned out pretty well. The highlight for me was Styles versus Undertaker. In a way, I almost wish they had done more cinematic style matches like that (and Cena versus Wyatt), being that the show as it was couldn't help but feel like it was missing that high energy of a massive stadium, effects driven Superbowl-esque traditional WrestleMania. Still, I enjoyed the event as a whole and like that they broke it up into two nights.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I personally feel bad for Drew McIntyre essentially being deprived of having his big first title win moment being held in front of a full stadium of cheering fans. It's especially disappointing when you go back and see how over he was during and after winning the Royal Rumble. I hope that he still gets a push that will last long enough for him to still be a top guy when people are finally able to go back to attending live events.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'm not completely sure how the show became so popular in so little time, but I watched Tiger King and thought it was great. Like those episodes of King of the Hill where a new guy shows up in Arlen and ruins Hank's day, except that guy's the main character and he brought friends.

[Avaitor]

I finally got around to watching The Mandalorian. I haven't had a taste for Star Wars in a long time, so I remained ambivalent about it for a while, until quarantine boredom hit.

I liked it, didn't love it. I like how every episode is its own story that fits into the bigger picture, which fits with the Star Wars structure pretty well, even if it primarily sticks to the same few characters. Mando's a surprisingly well-built character, and he's given a decent cast to balance out with. It has good energy throughout, and I feel that the episodes almost never overstay their welcome.

However, while I like almost everything individually, I just couldn't get that invested. It felt like more of a time waster than a must-watch to me. Maybe if I watched it every week with the rest of the country, rather than a few episodes a night, I'd be more gung-ho about it. But this is the first time I was particularly interested in a Star Wars project since the first season of The Clone Wars, so that says something.

I'll probably give Rogue One a shot someday, as well. I've also been interested in replaying KOTOR for a while. I doubt that I'll ever get to the sequel trilogy, though. But maybe if I'm bored enough, I'll watch all of The Clone Wars.

[Avaitor]

Was pretty surprised by Tales from the Loop. It's like a alt-Black Mirror, where technology gets to have its good and bad qualities and how we can connect with it, as opposed to Black Mirror's "derr hur science is bad and thomas edison is a witch" hot takes.

I also really like how small the show feels. Sometimes it feels like sci-fi is getting bigger and scaled up, while this keeps the stake personal and quiet, which I quite liked.

[Dr. Insomniac]

as opposed to Black Mirror's "derr hur science is bad and thomas edison is a witch" hot takes.

Brooker's milked the Black Mirror formula dry. How many times can the show say "Wouldn't it be spooky if your mind was in a computer?"

Anyway, What We Do in The Shadows is really fun. It's like a modern day Addams Family. A little drained on the mockumentary format, but this show handles it better than most.

[Avaitor]

as opposed to Black Mirror's "derr hur science is bad and thomas edison is a witch" hot takes.

Brooker's milked the Black Mirror formula dry. How many times can the show say "Wouldn't it be spooky if your mind was in a computer?"

Right. I did enjoy the first couple of seasons, but I don't think that I even finished the first Netflix run. I think that Brooker has said everything he needs to say by now.