Television round-up

[dbskyler]

Hello everyone, and happy new year!

I haven't posted for awhile, mostly because I haven't had much to say. I am not currently feeling very fannish about anything. But right now, I am in the mood to talk about how I am not in the mood to be fannish. So here, have a post. ;)

First off, Doctor Who. It was the fandom that brought me to Teaspoon, and then to LJ, and then here. (It hasn't yet brought me to Tumblr, though, which is a problem since that seems to be the place where most people are hanging out now. Oh well, I shall remain here with my charmingly old-fashioned typing words and expecting people to read them method of communication.) I was so incredibly excited to have a female Doctor, and I couldn't wait to see what they did with Thirteen. And then we got last season, and I really didn't enjoy it. Then I saw part one of "Spyfall," and don't even think I want to bother with part two. I am just not enjoying Doctor Who. It's a very sad feeling. The only thing that makes it somewhat okay is the knowledge that eventually I am likely to enjoy it again. After all, I stopped watching Classic Who in the Sixth Doctor era for pretty much the same reason, and look what's happened since. Also I did go back and watch "The Pandorica Opens" today to remind myself of what a great Doctor Who episode is like, and I can happily report that I still loved it to absolute bits. So it's not the show itself that I no longer enjoy, just the current era.

In other TV news, I am watching The Good Place, and they are winding down the series and I am finding it very disappointing. The show was great in season 1, and mind-blowingly fantastic in season 2, but it's been a lot more Medium Place ever since. So I'm not really caring now about how they decide to end it.

Also, I just started watching The Orville, which is an interesting show, but I doubt that I will become fannish about it. The latest episode I saw, "Majority Rule," was pretty heavy-handed social commentary, although it did make me feel nostalgic for Sliders, which is an old TV show that perhaps no one on my flist has seen. But the "Majority Rule" planet would have been an excellent alternate Earth in a Sliders episode.

But I did just hear about some new TV show coming out with Hugh Laurie in it called Avenue 5. Does anyone know anything about this? Apparently Hugh Laurie is again using an American accent, which I find amusing. It also looks like it might be something that I would really enjoy. It is, alas, on HBO, which I do not have, but maybe I should look into finally getting it? Here, have a trailer and judge for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Zr3f-_Ft8

Comments

[eve11]

I enjoyed Spyfall for what it was, although it's still not ignited the fandom spark the way the moffatt era did for me. But it's maybe rekindled it a little bit. We shall see. I hated the last season so maybe I'm just relieved in comparison.

I have watched the first 2 seasons of the Good Place but have yet to start watching season 3. Lately what I do is log on to Netflix, then watch a bunch of trailers and think, "okay, that's enough."

I did watch the first season of The Witcher, which was pretty good. Have not heard of the Hugh Laurie series, but it looks like it could be a good mix of fun and humor along with drama. Those are my favorite kinds of shows (like, eg Farscape) that will tell good stories but also not take themselves too seriously.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested to hear what you will think of "The Orville" after having seen season 2. Because it took till episode 4 of that season when I seriously and totally unexpectedly started with all the fannish things. I had watched and liked it in season 1, but then promptly forgot about it again when it stopped airing. I was not following any fan forums, nor was I eagerly awaiting for the next season to air. I certainly wasn't reading any fanfictions.

I don't know how you define "being fannish", for me the definition is that I want more of the universe so I start to seek out to read fanfictions, which I don't for every series that I watch. And that I eventually end up writing my own.

After some intense months I decided some days ago that I need an Orville break (as you can have too much of a good thing and I did not want to tire of it) and remembered that I never watched the last two seasons of "The Americans" which aired a while ago. Do you know it? I was two episodes in and was reminded again why I loved this series so much. Great actors, great suspense, no black-and-white storytelling. Highly recommended if you don't know it!

And this time I ended up searching for fics and, you guessed it, wrote my first one. Ooops! I never had done that before, despite really loving the series. Something just clicked.

I don't know, you can't force it. It either happens or it doesn't but when it does, it's wonderful. Literally butterflies in the belly. Although not good for the health, as I also ended up spending many nights till 2 AM, watching every available Seth MacFarlane clip on Twitter, singing and interviews. Really difficult to catch up with 20 years. Same like I did many many years ago when I discovered that John Barrowman can sing.

I actually started to watch "Sliders" some time ago, for the reason that it often was mentioned in Orville discussions! My brother watched it back when it aired. It is very - Nineties ;) And I know that it will change a lot in later seasons so I'm not sure I'll watch it all the way through, we'll see.

As for the "Majority Rule" episode, I forgot to ask if you have watched "Black Mirror"? Now THAT is an excellent series! Makes you really think after an episode, to the point that I could not binge-watch it as I needed time to absorb it properly. Some scary ideas that don't feel so far off from the technology we have today. And each episode is set in a different setting, so even if you don't like one, the next you might love. Has 5 seasons so far but some of them only have 3 episodes per season and others just 5 or 6, so it's not too much to go through. And episode 3x01 has a similar concept, so people thought the Orville writers had stolen it, but Seth says he came up with it individually, as the scripts were written long before it aired. Maybe you'll enjoy the BM version better? It's one of my favorite episodes.

They also linked the Avenue 5 trailer in the Orville forums but I can't say I understood much of the jokes. I'll see. Some were reminded of the Doctor Who episode with Kylie Minogue though ;)

Other (short) series I really enjoyed in the past year were "Chernobyl" (just 5 episodes but so intense!) and "The Boys", both highly recommended. Maybe nothing to become a new fandom but certainly a great watch.

Finally, have we ever talked about "Stargate SG-1"? That was my first proper fandom, I was not even a sci-fi fan before. I only watched for Richard Dean Anderson. But like in "The Orville" what drew me in very quickly were the wonderful characters and actors and their chemistry and relationships, and the good mix of drama and funny one-liners. Although I probably would recommend going straight to season 2 after the pilot. Seasons 2, 3 and 4 are my favorite with lots and lots of great episodes, but in season 1 they were still finding their feet and it made for some odd stories. I only watched it after already having become a fan, I might have stopped otherwise.

[paranoidangel]

I know Avenue 5 is done by Armando Ianucci who used to do some really funny stuff, but I haven't liked his more recent stuff. Plus I really can't get on with Hugh Laurie doing an American accent, despite the premise sounding interesting. But then it's also on a channel I don't have so perhaps that's just as well.

[avon7.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of hanging in there with DW partly because it is my last link really with fandom, partly because I actually do like the current Doctor and partly because I like Graham and the whole not just having one pretty female companion. The writers though...errhhh.