The TV Thread (GoT spoilers): Page 13 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

The TV Thread (GoT spoilers)

Timbob

If TV shows were footbll teams;

The Sopranos =Manchester Utd. Pure dominance.

Mad Men = Chelsea. Glossy and polished. Pretty flawless

The Wire = The Arsenal. Grainy, sometimes a little off but often genius. Best show on TV "on its day". Gradually increased it's budget season after season.

Battle Star Galactica = Liverpool. Started full of hope and quality. Fell away towards the end

24 = Spurs. Helter skelter, random nonsense. Delusions of granduer. Only ever get half a good season

Homicide = Everton. Once one of the elite, but now a bit outdated.

Pepe LeFrits

Dexter is about 10000000000000000000000000000000 times better than True Blood. Watch three or four episodes and I'll be very surprised if it doesn't start to claw you in.

Season 1 takes a few episodes to really get going but it is immense. The first two seasons are largely taken from the books and are the best. Though season 4 is quality too.

Burnwinter

Sorry. I have better things to do with my life, like hang out here.

I'm finding it hard enough to get through Boardwalk Empire. Media viewing begins to seem like a burden.

RocktheCasbah

Burnwinter wrote:
I'm with Tim. I've watched two episodes of Dexter and I think it's mediocre. It's about as good as True Blood.

Better than True Blood, but not by much really.

Burnwinter

I've seen more True Blood (all three seasons) to be fair. One among many shames.

Qwiss

Vampire Diaries is way better than True Blood.

USArsenal

have to agree with Pepe.. Dexter is just so much better than True Blood, its not even funny

goon

Before the last couple of pages I honestly didn't know anyone who watched Dexter and didn't like it.

Burnwinter

Ah well I've practically given up on TV anyway.

Timbob

Tonights Game Of Thrones was immense, yet again. Great little twist at the end.

Captain

Could have got that one last week mate. Bit pointless mentioning it now but it was available for download as part of HBOs special net promotion.

Series is amazing.

goon

Yeah, I saw it early too, quality wasn't fantastic though.

GoT is fantastic. That Aiden guy who plays Littlefinger is perfect for the role, he was a slimy little fuck in the Wire too 😃

George RR Martin wrote the next episode, should be good (looks it from the preview I've seen).

Klaus

Gotta say, I think Game of Thrones is pretty boring so far. Having a hard time trying to spot what's so different with Martin's story as opposed to your run of the mill fantasy tale. Peter Dinklage is a genius but I knew that already. There are few other actors in there with roles to match their talents.

Klaus

... oh, and the plot twist at the end of episode seven is possibly the worst one in history. Just saw it. What a fucking waste of time.

Burnwinter

Maybe it's just not for you Klaus.

I haven't watched it yet, but the books definitely have a few excellent twists, that may or may not have the same impact in a whole medium dominated by cliffhangerisms.

Klaus

Maybe not. Probably should have read the books instead, but I don't really feel like it now.

The Killing, on the other hand, is an excellent show. The last episode was probably the best one yet. The characters are amazingly well-crafted. HBO could learn a thing or two from AMC.

Burnwinter

Yeah, well thinking about it the strength of the Song of Ice and Fire books is that they bring TV-standard pacing and character plotting to fantasy. Bringing the fantasy content back the other way isn't necessarily going to product incredible results.

Klaus wrote:
HBO could learn a thing or two from AMC.

Does anyone really buy into that network loyalty thing? Surely the creators and the concepts are more important?

Klaus

It's not really a comment about network loyalty though. It's a comment on network production policy and adapting content to fit in with the aesthetic touch of their prominent creators. Several of the series share common traits since the people involved in the production are often the same to some degree. AMC in particular have focused on cinematography with a realistic feel and strongly character-driven storyarchs for years now with series like Breaking Bad, The Killing and the horribly underrated Rubicon.

Burnwinter

Couldn't it justly be argued that AMC inhabit a niche that HBO created with even better shows, even if their current lineup isn't so earth-shattering?

Also, after so much of it I'm starting to question the value of "character-driven" drama. It's basically a recipe for plotting circle-jerks, which are entertaining but are empty calories without strong intellectual and thematic content.

The Wire's socially themed seasons were significantly richer in that regard. By contrast, although season three of Breaking Bad was enjoyable it has practically disengaged itself from reality. Its depiction of border politics is a disappointing caricature hardly better than that in Weeds, for example.

Mad Men was preferable in that its project to recreate a specific milieu was quite meticulously executed.

Klaus

Burnwinter wrote:
Couldn't it justly be argued that AMC inhabit a niche that HBO created with even better shows, even if their current lineup isn't so earth-shattering?

Perhaps. Does it matter? It wasn't really what I was referring to anyway. It was just a short reflection over things in The Killing that I would like to see in Game of Thrones as well. I don't think it's invalidated by what HBO might or might not have done in the past.

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