Matricians: What are you watching?

[ASR]

You just don't normally get to see all those notes on the characters and it was nice.

In my recent Office spurt, I started watching the US commentaries (I don't remember if the UK DVDs have commentaries, I'll check later) and they're actually some of the most entertaining TV show commentaries I've heard.

The US Office is a lot easier to appreciate when you understand that it really just grew off of the original in its own absurd direction and is now kind of like an overgrowth that popped off and is now living its own seperate life. And there's a lot of good people working on the show. B.J. Novak genuinely seems like an awesome guy. They're also all great actors and actresses on the show, and I'm not saying they actors on the original WEREN'T, it's just that the US cast is considerably larger and every cast member IS truly talented and has a lot of input and views on the show at a very personal level, even those with very minor characters that get very little screentime.

[Mikero]

Finished Spaced.
Now I miss it.

I hate when I get into something after it's been finished, like when I finished Dead Like Me I felt the same. Sometimes it's the same with books too. It's because you end up missing the ride, you skip over the waiting time to the next episode and that makes it all a shorter experience.

Been trying to catch up on My Name Is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris online, to mixed results. Not all episodes are still on and Megavideo puts a cap on how many minutes of video you watch for a certain amount of time (lame).

[ASR]

Well, at least Spaced is done. It wasn't cancelled, it just finished. Makes it cleaner. I like it better all as one package.
But I know what you mean. When I rewatched Entourage in its entirety not too long ago, it was weird because I we watched the whole series in just over two days, and I actually watched most of it on the air spread out over god-knows-how-long. It's just a very different experience.
Same thing with the first two seasons of The Office US.

Oddly enough, Lost so far seems to work a lot BETTER without weeklong waits in between during my current re-watch of the series. I'm really enjoying it in huge clumps of episodes.

Though, to be honest, so does The Office, but it just feels like there's a lot LESS.

Never seen Everybody Hates Chris. I like My Name Is Earl but, well, I just like it. Not much more. I don't think I've EVER made an effort to watch it, and every time I've seen it, it's just because someone else wanted to watch it or it was on in the background.

[Mikero]

They are both excellent, but I find it best to watch from the start.

OK I say that about most shows, but with Earl (and Chris, to a lesser extent) picking up who the characters actually are or what they're about doesn't really work out if you catch an episode. Maybe.

[Lunchebox]

So I caught up with Heroes on Fancast.

I was so happy to see Sylar stop being such a puss... And then he went right back to being a whiney little maggot.

I'm glad [spoiler]he's dead...ish.[/spoiler]

Hiro got awsome again, and so did Ando.

Hate the Parkman/Speedster Girl romance, since I was expecting Hiro and her to hook up.

I was sad to see [spoiler]Arthur die[/spoiler], as he was shaping to be one of the few good characters.

The pacing in the show really bugs the hell out of me.

Nathan is really annoying, and so is Claire.

And that's that.

[TheRedPriest]

Just finished all 13 epps of Slayers Revolution.  Pretty good all in all and MUCH better than the #####fest that was Try.  I look forward to Slayers Evolution-R in January.

[ASR]

Recently rewatched the original 80's Hitchhiker's Guide BBC show since I got it on DVD. I don't know how I can keep re-watching/reading/listening to Hitchhiker's Guide and NEVER get bored of it.
The show IS infinitely better than the movie, and reminds me why even though I love Mos Def, he's a terrible Ford Prefect.

Currently rewatching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I like a recent description of the show: "Seinfeld on crack." Though it really doesn't do either show the justice they deserve.

[Shawn]

I'm watching all of the Spider Man 90's TAS episodes that have Venom in them.

[Johncarllos]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,474385,00.html

Viacom threatens to pull Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and others from Time Warner.

[Mikero]

Foxnews dot com?

Really, John? Really?

[Johncarllos]

Not EVERYTHING is a lie....

[ASR]

I read the article. Childish. It sounds almost, but not entirely, unlike something that would ever happen.

I mean, I don't doubt that such a thing is happening, I doubt that those channels will be pulled.

[Lunchebox]

Recently rewatched the original 80's Hitchhiker's Guide BBC show since I got it on DVD. I don't know how I can keep re-watching/reading/listening to Hitchhiker's Guide and NEVER get bored of it.
The show IS infinitely better than the movie, and reminds me why even though I love Mos Def, he's a terrible Ford Prefect.

Currently rewatching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I like a recent description of the show: "Seinfeld on crack." Though it really doesn't do either show the justice they deserve.

The first time I ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I mis read Ford's name as "Ford Perfect", and so I always think that's his name, until someone actually points out it's "Prefect".

Also, Viacom and Time Warner are having a little spat, it's dumb, and Viacom even went so far as to post messages on it's channel, on New Years Eve, that Time Warner was pulling those channels that night, and that we need to call in to tell them not to.

It was bull#####.

[Mikero]

Not EVERYTHING is a lie....

A likely Foxnews.com story.

[Johncarllos]

Ohsnap TV airwaves are all digital now aren't they?

[ASR]

I misread it as Ford Perfect at first, too, but then I caught on to the joke pretty quickly. And since I knew very little about cars (and still don't), it wasn't odd to me that I didn't recognize the model name "Prefect," since I didn't recognize a lot of car names back then. Years later I found out it wasn't an American car or anything, or something, or whatever. I still don't think I fully understand.

And Viacom and Time Warner will be fine.

[Mikero]

The Ford Prefect line of cars was only produced for Britain, and at times some of the previous colonies (Canada, Australia, etc.), from the UK division of Ford in the late 1930's through to the early 1960's. It was popular for hot rod/car modification. It was never sold in the United States.

[ASR]

That's what I thought. With less specifics.

[Mikero]

Been watching Spaced commentaries and Flight Of The Conchords tv show episodes while I work.

[ASR]

Good man.

Posted on: 15 January 2009, 06:10:18

LOST PULLED THROUGH, GENTLEMEN.

LOST PULLED THROUGH.

It seems like they did away with Flashbacks and Flash-forwards, and now they're evenly progressing the two storylines of the Oceanic Six trying to get back to the island, and the survivors still left on the island trying to cope with the ##### going on back there.

There's a lot more apparent progression in the plot and it definitely feels like they're going somewhere now and they know exactly where it is that they're going. With only about 33 or whatever episodes left in the series to wrap everything up, I feel like they won't let down too much steam for the rest of the series.

This could be a great season.

[Mikero]

I really liked the episode after a bit I didn't like near the start (lame dialogue). I still have a kernel of something in me that wants to dislike the show, which is probably most likely based on how many #####ing times I've gotten really pissed off talking about the show with other people. I've said it before probably, but apparently the theories of random strangers on the internet are more valid to certain friends of mine than my theories from my flesh and blood in front of them head.

[ASR]

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's REALLY easy to dislike Lost, and it's a struggle for me when I haven't seen it in a while. But when I'm back to regular viewings of it, I remember why I keep at it because even when things dip down, they generally make it all worth it soon after.

[Mikero]

Yeah, I'm definitely more into the whole story than episode to episode stuff.

[ASR]

Yep. After all this, I just NEED to know what's going on, and all the answers to #####ing everything. That #####ing island. It really is some good stuff.

[Abominator]

Lost was pretty decent, they've got a lot of work to do though.

[ASR]

Just went and rewatched The Constant again from Season 4, probably my favorite episode of the series.

"If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant" still does it for me.

Using Desmond as a segway here:

Anyway, that Dead Like Me straight-to-DVD movie will be out soon, I guess mid-February.

I've been cautious about it because of Daisy's actress being replaced, and Rube's disappearance. BUT I just now learned who's playing the new character that replaces Rube:

Henry Ian Cusick, our very own Desmond. He's definitely the most talented actor on Lost under Michael Emerson (Ben.) So, this is some good news in that regard for Dead Like Me. We'll just have to wait to see how it actually turns out, though.

Posted on: 25 January 2009, 02:50:44

Good news, Conchords fans:

Episode 2 of this season is one of the best episodes yet.

The first song is so absolutely incredible.

I cannot stress this enough.

[MOX]

I just started watching Flight of the Conchords some weeks ago, I'll look foward to season 2.

[Mikero]

Been watching How I Met Your Mother while doing work.

[ASR]

I've been meaning to get into that show just for NPH.

[Abominator]

Acting is not making funny faces.

[ASR]

Well, not ALL of it is.

Posted on: 28 January 2009, 01:11:37

Found a new UK show to get into. I highly reccomend Green Wing. Hilarious.

It's cool that I'm starting to really recognize British actors and actresses in everything now. This show's got a lot, though: people from Spaced (Mark Heap!), people from The Office, people from Peep Show, people from Coupled, etc.

Anyway, it's fantastic.

[Johncarllos]

My girlfriend is gonna have me watch the first season of "House."

I've never seen a full episode of it. Not even 10 minutes.

HEROES RETURNS NEXT MONDAY.

[ASR]

You'll like House.

[Johncarllos]

I know I'll like House.

I tend to like what a lot of other people love.
I'm not sure if I'll be addicted though.

[Mikero]

Acting is not making funny faces.

Does he do that?

The laugh track in the show is my only problem with it.
It's 2009. Why do laugh tracks still exist?

[NovaMan XP]

Laugh tracks annoy the hell out of me...

It's as if the show is trying to tell you when to laugh.

[Mikero]

Yeah, it's very insistent. But if the show is legitimately funny you get used to it and stop caring.

Like in How I Met Your Mother.

[Johncarllos]

Laugh tracks piss me off.

[ASR]

It's not so much laugh tracks that piss me off, more how most of the shows that use them aren't funny and it's a cheap way to cover that up. When you don't have a laugh track, you have to actually be funny and you never get to say "that was a joke, so laugh now." It needs to really make somebody laugh.

If a show has a laugh-track and it's funny, I get used it pretty quick. I don't mind the laughing. I watch a lot of stand-up, so I'm very comfortable with the rhythym of "talking, joke, laughter... talking, joke, laughter..."

Acting is not making funny faces.

Does he do that?

He was talking about Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond.

[Mikero]

Ohhh OK. That is true.

And yeah, same here on the laugh track tip.

[ASR]

Heh.

So, I miss Lost on Wednesdays because I go to the Stand-Up Comedy Club meetings. I planned on watching it tomorrow when it goes up on ABC.com, but I somehow stumbled across a download already online at 1AM.

I mean, how quick are these guys?

Anyway, I meant to go to sleep hours ago.

But that was a REALLY good episode, so I'm okay with it.

I honestly lost all control of what little manhood I guess I don't have when:
[spoiler]We found out that Desmond and Penny named their child Charlie. I literally went "awwwww!"
And it gets worse. I put my hand over my heart and cocked my head to the side.[/spoiler]

I want to marry Lost. We will have little children that are half-human and half-awesome-television-show.

[Mikero]

I just said "Good."

More like half-hobbit and half-convoluted but weirdly entertaining psychodrama.

[ASR]

I just love the characters of Faraday and Desmond, so it was like candy to me.

And I'm not hobbit-like at all, tit-knuckle.

Just finished the first season of Green Wing. Highly reccomended, especially to you, tit-knuckle.

Oh, I'm sorry. I meant Mike.

[Mikero]

Yeah I'll check it out sometime, bitchtits.

I mean Bob.
Bob had bitchtits.

[ASR]

Just finished Green Wing.

Ordered the complete series of Friends on DVD for only $65, which is an amazing deal.

However, I've also downloaded Californication and How I Met Your Mother.

I'm probably gonna' start Californication now, then some Friends, take a break with How I Met Your Mother, then some more Friends, and hopefully by then I'll have something else.

[Johncarllos]

I'm going to watch the Superbowl tonight.

[ASR]

Way to be original.

[Johncarllos]

I'M GOING TO WATCH THE SUPERBOWL TONIGHT.
WHILE WRITING A PAPER AND STUDYING FRO A BIO TEST!

[ASR]

3D Episode of Chuck is a little annoying without glasses, but Dominic Monaghan (Charlie on Lost) is guest starring so I'm loving it.

[Johncarllos]

OH EM GEE NEW SEASON OF HEROES IN LIEK 15 MINUTES SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE


I bet this season is going to be better than 2 or 3, and not much worse than 1.

(bet=hope)