I have watched and rewatched too many bad anime for the purposes of the podcast. It burns to see a moe girl now.

The Dexter ending was bullshit. There has been far too much bullshit in that show the last few seasons.

I’ve only watched 10 episodes of this season of Dexter but it’s been great from what I’ve seen. Easily one of the best seasons of the show (5 and 6 being awful and the worst of course)

It did start off much better than the previous two (which I agree were awful). Then it went weird. Then it got a bit better again. It’s been really up and down as far as quality and believably in my opinion. But the end of the finale went beyond my suspension of disbelief because I don’t think it was true to one of the characters.

EDIT:
I’m also tired of people defending everything Dexter does like he’s a hero. He may be the protagonist, but he’s not the good guy. He kills because he has an uncontrollable (so he says) urge to do so and happens to channel it into killing bad people. That doesn’t make him a hero. Plus he’s done a lot of questionable things as well that shouldn’t just be hand waved away.

^^See, I don’t think that the whole seasons has been great, though. I think parts have been quite good and other parts not so much. I actually think Hannah is different than Lumen, though perhaps not different enough.

Spoilers for why I think they’re different:

I still can’t accept Sean Bean as Ned (I just keep wondering why Boromir is hanging out in Westeros)

It took me a while to get used to it too, but he looks so much older now it wasn’t so difficult for me.

Really? So far I feel like I’m glad I read the books first… I feel like I wouldn’t able to follow it half as well.

I finally finished Dexter. That was one of the best seasons of the series by far, maybe the second best.

This is the season we SHOULD have gotten 2 years ago.

I torrented all of King of the Hill.

King of the Hill

This was a good decision.

Oh, South Park, you make me giggle. Even when I really shouldn’t.

Dear God, The Proud Family.

The Proud Family is the pinnacle of children’s entertainment.

rivaled only by mister T

Downton Abbey Season 2 Spoilers

Edith’s the only character I’m that vested in any more

ME TOO. Willow and I were having a prolonged whisper discussion about this.

But maybe I’m not a true DA fan because I got fed up with the overly soapy writing in S2 and never looked back.

I’m just so disappointed with where they chose to take NCIS as of last week, well, and this week too, since it was a two-parter.

...Really, I shouldn’t be, because this season’s been weak anyway, and also is determined to be a soap opera. But they do so well as your generic ensemble crime drama! And they don’t even worry as much about characterization than a soap opera would.

I’m thinking, this episode especially, they just hired a bunch of fanfic writers. Not that there’s anything wrong about fan fiction, but they just covered the screaming nightmare scene, which doesn’t really work. And the illogic and inconsistencies…it’s just so melodrama for the sake of melodrama and I’m not that invested. But even the writers will forget by next week (they don’t do arc storylines well) and I can enjoy it again.

Oh, me, NCIS was still on when I posted…because so much of it was lame fan service. Sorry for ending up in the middle of your conversation! I need to catch up on DA; I only got through maybe half the first season.

As for soapy writing, why is that the easy answer? I think television writers may not appreciate how difficult proper soap opera style is and just take elements of it that don’t fit with the source material. /mock analysis

That much I grant you! Most shows it works for me, too.

Like last night I was watching Bunheads, and they had a number of high school scenes which were ridiculously over the top, and yet was some of the most convincing high school drama I’ve seen on tv. Because it was how the drama felt back then, instead of boring reality. Also, clever writing.

I’d never seen Malcolm in the Middle before, but can I just say that Bryan Cranston looks much more intimidating with his revamped mustache/goatee/bald look?

Does this mean you’re watching BrBa?

That’s a reasonable strategy to avoid the horrible pains we regular BrBa viewers are enduring as we wait for the last half season.

...In other TV news, Archer comes back tonight. Hell yes.

Uh oh.
Supernatural is on Netflix.
I clicked on Season 1, Pilot.
What am I doing this is so not gonna end well…

You mean it’s going to end AWESOME!

Dude! Spoilers!

Crowley Mark Sheppard is amazing.

Fixed it for you.

(seriously, WHY DOES THAT GUY NOT HAVE MORE WORK??)

@Nate

That is amazing.

EDIT:
squints

Is Dean still wearing the amulet there?

Dean tosses the amulet.

that never happened

Dean tosses

that never happened

In fanfic it did. Somewhere.

So apparently My kitchen Rules, which is this Australian cooking show where pairs of so-called “Ordinary Australians” are grouped up and compete for the best “instant restaurant’ as judged by their fellow contestants and two host judges, and then do a bunch of other food-related things afterwards, ois the number-one show right now.

... stuff the free-to-air telly, I’ve got the Blackadder DVDs.

I saw a J-Drama based off of The Brothers Karamazov. The rest is self-explanatory.

what

A Japanese series named Karamazov no Kyodai. Seriously, I was just as confused as you.

what
why

That makes me feel bad for laughing, but laugh I did.

Other TV related shit: Watching Freaks and Geeks in 2013 is a weird, weird experience.

e: Also I watched Luther this weekend and enjoyed it because Idris Elba.

Okay, I’ve seen every episode of The Following and I have to ask – where are the stupid/weak-willed members of this cult? I can accept that the leader and a lot of the important members are going to be pretty smart, but so far most of them have been borderline diabolical. There’s only been one guy who’s actually been stupid, and he was in the first episode. If these people are so smart, why are they in a serial killer’s cult?

Guess I should put this here…

Ok, I’ve watched all the Terry Pratchett adaptions. In order of accessibility:

3) the Color of Magic – Despite a strong actor pedigree to it (Tim Curry? Sean Astin? Jeremy IRONS??) there are just a lot of plot points and subtleties that do not come across to those uninitiated. Particularly it’s hard to grasp when something happens “just because” (aka, suspension of disbelief) and when there is an in story reason behind it.

2) Hogfather – Actually still kind of obtuse. I had the sf debris reviews to help out and there’s still some things I missed. Still, the best and most important stuff about it (like Death as Christmas) is awesome and carries one through regardless.

1) Going Postal – One that seems to have had less budget (and fewer famous names attached to it) yet I can’t help but admit I LOVED this one, plus it’s 100% accessible to the Pratchett n00b. Though there were some parts that I could tell must have been lifted directly from the book yet needed to be tweaked to make it fit in visual media. Still, a great one I think fans and n00bs alike can enjoy.

MLP:FiM S3 is being posted to Netflix. Hooray! If you care about that stuff.

Have I mentioned Legend of Korra is awesome?

Correct, I haven’t read them but hopefully someday I can.

And hence my above grading scale.

Hogfather was what got me into Pratchett’s stuff, interestingly. While I guessed from Susan’s reaction to the raven that it was based on a sequel book, that was really the only thing that confused me. Otherwise, it was great and funny and after reading the book, it’s a fantastic adaptation. I think it made the jokes a lot more “setup, punchline” than they were in the book, but it was still good.

Why I have I been seeing roller derby on all the tv shows over the past few weeks?

GoT Season 3 tomorrow. It’ll probably own bones again, but I’m not as excited about it as a I could be, since I’m still imagining a version of the show that has Jimmy McNulty as Mance Rayder.

So guess what I’m doing tomorrow? Going from home, which has HBO, to my dorm, which does not. Time is not on my side. :P

At least I can’t be spoiled about what happens.

Oh man, I totally forgot. I love it when a new season starts, because then I can throw my head back and laugh at all of the “theories” the peasants who haven’t read the book series come up with. What’s that? Dany is on a boat? HO HO HO

I love that. I forced my friend to borrow my DVDs a month ago so he could catch up, and hearing his speculation and theorizing in between episodes was delightful. Sometimes I wish I could forget the books when the show is in season so I could do it too.

So guess what I’m doing tomorrow? Going from home, which has HBO, to my dorm, which does not. Time is not on my side. :P

Well, at least it shouldn’t be that hard to track down at school, if you’ve got the inclination.

I finished the first season of House of Cards.

Man oh man. Once I started I just couldn’t stop. I wasn’t completely sure what to expect at first. The format of the show is a bit unusual, but it’s interesting and very well executed and thought out. Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright do an excellent job, as do most of the other actors. Really the only actor I don’t like is the one who plays that one reporter chick (who’s name is somehow escaping me at the moment.)

While Spacey and Wright’s acting is superb, I do feel like the writing is at times mediocre and leaves something to be desired. Spacey does a fantastic job of disguising his true character underneath his “Southern hospitality,” but I feel like the Shakespeare speeches and whatnot sometimes went a bit over the top.

The story sucked me in completely though. I especially found it interesting how it’s actually set in present day. Throughout there are references to events that occurred only months ago. It really helps with the sense of immersion. And as mentioned above, with the exception of the reporter chick, I found pretty much all of the characters interesting (yeah, I’m using that word a lot); They all have their own motivations and goals and are all playing the game with each other, unaware that each and every one of them is just an unsuspecting puppet to someone further up the food chain. The politics reminded me a lot of A Game of Thrones.

I will say this, however: Having Kevin Spacey as the “main character” of the show made the unfolding of the plot fairly predictable. I won’t spoil anything, but literally nothing came as a “surprise” to me. While the story is portrayed as a complex mess of relationships, it unfolds in a very linear and clean fashion. It does make the payoff a little less satisfying, and I can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed about the season “finale” because it was clear from the beginning how it was going to end.

Overall though it’s an excellent show. The acting is superb, the writing generally good, and it does a great job of hooking you in from the very first episode.

Other notes: Freddy the BBQ guy is Carcetti’s manager from The Wire. I’m glad to say he’s still as much of a badass as he was back then.

Also, I really like the soundtrack. It really brings some emotional weight to the show. It’s kind of hard to describe, but the soundtrack just contributes so much to the atmosphere of every scene.

Anyhoo, I’m off to bed

Yeah. You know one of the few good things about not watching a show like that when it’s on-air? You get to binge like crazy.

I’m caught up through season 6 right now, and going to start in on season 7 soon.

Sorry. I’ll avoid saying anything specific. Let’s just say, things continue to escalate.

That’s an understatement.

No kidding! Although I’m fascinated seeing the reactions from this side (and very glad I didn’t start watching until season 5 was already airing).

I stopped watching after season six though because really it should have ended with five.

@Karamazova- I’ve heard season 7 and 8 are actually really good, might want to give it a chance again sometime

Really? I heard that seven was awful but eight was better.

Supernatural whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. GODDAMMIT SAMMY.

Mystery Spot. I WAS TOLD IT WAS FUNNY. THEY LIED.

Same. It gets better. The characters are all unique enough that by episode 3 you should have no problem telling them apart.

Yeah, most shows that I have issues with clear up after a few episodes. It’s just generally irritating that they can’t bother to not cast two balding thin white dudes whose characters are both closely subordinate to the protagonist. Grrr

She is an… interesting lady. I would say cool, but I am unappreciative of how certain individuals were, shall we say, cast to the wayside once their usefulness was done.