Whatcha Bleedin' Watchin'?

[Avaitor]

Yeah, the show's glory years are 2-4. The next two have some great stuff, but they're not as strong, and yeah, the first season is pretty weak. At least it's only 6 episodes long, though.

I've considered watching Broadchurch for a while, so I might try to find time to get into it. I did watch Luther earlier this year, which is somewhat similar, and pretty good. It's hard to not be entranced by Idris Elba, though.

[Pharass]

I've only seen the first season of Luther, but I liked it a lot. I found the interaction between Luther and Alice to be the highlight of the show, both Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson were great in their respective roles.
Although Elba will always be Stringer Bell as far as I'm concerned.

[Avaitor]

I've also been watching ER on and off, and it's pretty noticeable that during the funeral for the chief of medicine's son, Jeanie Boulet sings "Good Riddance". And of course, that was around the same time the Seinfeld clipshow was made before the finale.

So yeah, NBC was very good to Green Day that year.

[No-Personality]

I'm pick-and-choose re-watching Saved by the Bell and a couple other shows. I want to watch Scrubs over again (the first 8 seasons) for a series review / overview... which I'd like to try posting somewhere and turning into a big thing. Though July has been the most chaotic, stressful month in the last few years of my life, I'd like to think August will be better somehow. Ehhhh.

Also, I felt like re-watching certain storylines of The Office and I'm now convinced "The Return" (season 3, episode 13) is the best episode of the entire show. Thanks in part to the episode directly before that, where Andy persuades Michael to be suspicious that Dwight is en-route to corporate, with intent to betray him again. If you feel like it sometime, watch those 2 episodes back-to-back and parallel the way that Angela looks in on Andy's conference-room interviews and Pam looks at the camera during Jim's conversation with Andy (as he brags about his acapella group). I almost got freaking chills when I realized what the camera's focusing out of the foreground and in on the background was suggesting. That is some damn masterful television.

[Avaitor]

I'm watching Hill Street Blues, and it is good. You can definitely see the blueprints for the Great Modern Drama Series^TM abound.

It definitely shows its age, and I don't even mean the show's obvious procedural roots. The Latino gang members are treated like almost complete caricatures, and are kind of hard to sit through. Not nearly as much as Furillo's ex-wife, though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I decided to get back into Bordwalk Empire. I re-watched the first 2 episodes and now just finished episode 3 (which incidentally featured Raritan, New Jersey as a location, which is where I live). Anyways, it's a really good show. I'll see if I can try and catch up before the new season begins.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just finished season 1 of Boardwalk Empire. It's really good, IMO. I wouldn't put it quite up at the level of something like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, but being just a notch below the best is certainly not a bad thing, by any means. And, for all I know, the later seasons could be even better. For now, though, it's a solid show with excellent acting to back it up, albeit some of the writing is questionable, at times. Also, Al Capone in this series feels a tad too much like a Joe Pesci wannabe in the beginning of the show, but he comes into his own later on in the season as his character arc progresses.

[Avaitor]

The general consensus on Boardwalk Empire seems to be that it's a good show, but not a great one. It does seem up my alley though, but I haven't had a chance to get to it.

Maybe if I get HBO Go, I'll finally get to sit down and try it and a couple of other series out, like Treme and Deadwood.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I find the first season great, at least, which is what I've watched so far. It's just that there are different levels of great. If I were to compare it directly to BB, GOT, The Wire, The Sopranos, and so on, then it definitely falls short of those insanely high levels of quality. Compared to almost anything else that I've watched, though, I find it to be incredibly well-written and entertaining, for the most part. If the rest of the series is as good as season 1, then I could see it being a personal top 10 for me.

[Avaitor]

Fair enough! Like I said, I can't speak from personal experience with the show, since I haven't seen it, so I'm just sharing what I've heard. And to be fair, it's never a great idea to stick to public opinion.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

We'll, if I stuck to public opinion, than Buffy and Angel would just be those crazy 90's/early aughts shows that were goofy fun but mostly a product of their time. I've literally encountered people with this opinion, while some others think that they are junk shows that were incredibly stupid.

Both are among my favorite shows ever, which just goes to show how much I give a rats ass what any consensus in anything is.

So, yeah, like you said, screw sticking to public opinion.

[Avaitor]

Don't forget the people who won't touch Buffy with a 10-foot pole because it stars a female!

Like Jonn. Y'no, he actually called all male MLP fans, and not just the crazy bronies, fags. I do not miss those chats at all.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh god, I can't stand those kinds of people. While I do despise the types of people who use sexism as a defense or attack of anything and everything, I do in fact despise the opinion (for any medium) that anything prominently staring or empowering female characters are inherently inferior. You might as well say that you only enjoy stories that glorify the stereotypical American white man, while you're at it.

What's funny is that I remember viewing and interview with James Marsters about how he ran into a guy who claimed that Buffy was stupid because women couldn't fight. James then commented on how the show used trained, black-belt female stunt doubles who could easily best the shit out of guys like him and the ignorant commenter. I just found that little quip from that particular interview of his to be amusing.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Season 2, Episode 2 had a scene that finally convinced me that Jimmy is a bad-ass. They tried to make him out to be one before this, but I never really bought into it until now. The difference here is that unlike other times, he was completely cornered with his back up against the wall, and came out of the situation unscathed, and what's particularly impressive is that this isn't a situation in which he beat a gun with a knife. He beat two guns with a knife. Even more bad-ass.

The plot for season 2, so far, does not look good for Nucky. It seems that all of his former allies are going to be at each other's throats, especially his own, both figuratively and literally, this season. I won't be surprised to see one of the main characters bite the dust in this season.

[Avaitor]

Is it worth sticking with Twin Peaks if I'm not really liking the first season?