Matricians: What are you watching?

[ASR]

Louie is in the "cringeworthy" category of comedy, like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras, and the original UK version of The Office. It grabs that almost-depressing sort of comedy genius out from extremely awkward moments. The main difference is that Louie also gets really absurd and silly at times, like the episode with the helicopter or the extremely tiny cup of water.

[Chron]

I'm at a loss as to how I forgot about House.  That is a good, good show.  The Office is also OK... even if the US version is pretty dumb (aside from Dwight).

Actually, mentioning House reminds me that I should be watching more of the Black Adder DVD set I have.

[Johncarllos]

Internet.
That's my TV.

[Fatso]

Same here, although that doesn't work for people that view television as a social activity (which is a surprising number)

[Johncarllos]

What is social?

[Fatso]

Dunno, some sort of thing with lots of people and stuff

[Johncarllos]

Oh, is that like facebook?

[ChaosVortex]

You don't know what you're talking about, Kayoos

Of course I don't. It's not like you've ever sparred with a bear.

[Johncarllos]

I have. They are almost as tough as me.

[Chron]

Eh, depends on how you cook it.

[Majikn]

You don't know what you're talking about, Karoos

What is social?

What is hand

[Johncarllos]

"And stop hitting yourselves!"

[Majikn]

DEXTER SEASON 5 HAS BEGUN

I got to watch it today. I'll be a day late to each episode, probably.

[spoiler]I thought it would be an episode or two longer before Dexter discovered he loved her.[/spoiler]

[ASR]

Loved the premiere. I've already talked too much about it in other venues and I don't feel like talking more, but I really enjoyed it and I'm excited for the rest of the season.

[Majikn]

I just laughed so hard at the latest episode of Dexter that I almost threw up.

AS FOR THE WALKING DEAD.

I was angry at the main character, telling him "AHHH DON'T DO THAT." But I guess I can't say he's stupid. He's just new.

I think I'd watch the next episode.

[ASR]

The Walking Dead isn't really so much about those "WATCH OUT! DON'T GO IN THERE!" moments - it's not that kind of horror. A lot of it's more about character drama and the human condition.

Going by the comics, at least, and the show is clearly following closely in those footsteps.

[Majikn]

Well let me be clear, I think the episode was good. I enjoyed the good aspects of it.

I still think the zombie kid picking up the stuffed toy was really lame, but that was probably from the book anyway, and of course it didn't really take away from the show.

[Mikero]

Yeah I'll bring this back, and yea, Walking Dead was pretty dope.

Anyway I'm super into Community right now, but I'm an ep or so behind since I don't my home computer fixed.

Finally got around to starting Peep Show series 7 with my girlfriend and only two episodes in it's been great.

Been rewatching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles with my girlfriend (don't make that face, she loves it and hadn't watched it before) and I've still got downstairs feelings for that lovely show.

Great new show this year was An Idiot Abroad, where they send Karl Pilkington (of The Ricky Gervais Show fame) to the seven wonders of the world. I've listened to all the The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts, audiobooks, and XFM Radio shows multiple times and the preview episode for this show alone was enough consider Islam. BENEVOLENCE.

[ASR]

I really have to check out An Idiot Abroad. I used to listen to the Ricky Gervais podcasts back in high school and laughed out loud to myself like a loser in the cafeteria.

Also have to get around to the new season of Peep Show. Really looking forward to it.

Community is aces and I figured you'd love it. So great.

There's a couple new shows that I've just started watching which are really great, and they're both on Showtime. Shameless is about William H. Macy as a drunk, absent father to a large family of lower-class kids. Wonderful.

Then there's Episodes, which at first glance is just a Matt LeBlanc comeback vehicle but then you realize he only has about a minute of screentime in the pilot, and when his role becomes bigger in the second episode you realize he's great in this. He plays a fictional version of himself hired to star in a much-tampered-with American version of an award-winning British sitcom. The main characters are the British writers of that show trying to deal with the network changing everything for American audiences, in particular forcing them to cast Matt LeBlanc.

[Mikero]

OK so, like, Episodes sounds awesome.

[ASR]

Yeah, check it out. Only three episodes in.

[Mikero]

I'm gonna put this here because whatever.

THIS IS MOSTLY DIRECTED AT ALEC BUT IS REALLY FOR ANYONE WHAT LIKES COMEDY WHICH I IMAGINE IS ALL YO'ALL SO DON'T BE TURNED OFF BY THE INFORMAL NATURE, OR THE SPECIAL AND UNIQUE WAY ASR AND I USUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER YOU GUYS AREN'T AROUND/WITHIN EARSHOT.





My dearest Alec,

How are you on this most tepid and furgalicios evening? Are the socs still keeping up with their madcap adventures, or has the recent local instability darkened them into old corrugated visages? Has that ruddy skinflint Ewan been stealing rhubarb again, that codger? Things are peaceful, in the north. I imagine the snozberry crops will grow quite tall this junely, if I say so myself. Quite tall indeed.

But I, with the undulating air of , move on to more pressing matters, I am afraid. However I do not write this post with a heavy heart, but rather a much more lissome one for I have discovered something I suspect you will love... if you have yet to discover it yourself, that is.

You see old chum, last night at The Orphanage we partook of a comedic "Home Box Office" special entitled "Talking Funny". T'was a talkie which included four titans; Ricky Gervais, of course, along with the boorish Louis C.K., the moor-ish (aha, pardon my cheap lark) Chris Rock, and of course the ever imitated never duplicated Jerome Seinfeld. All of them focused and hard working individuals in their field before their fame, had pooled together to chat about comedy on stage and screen. As a dedicated gent yourself I feel you would enjoy this quite a bit as it offers differing opinions and wisdom.

But alas, I must take my leave for I have many ventures on the go at this moment.
Fare thee well, and please tell our daughter I miss her and her flibbertigibbetous stories.



Yours aye,

Michael

(dictated but not read)

[ASR]

My close friend Mr. Collymore,

I confess you have caught me in the midst of a most terrible thyme - a storm looms on the horizon, far in the distance where the kindly riverfolk spend their days. I'm afraid there is not much time (or thyme, for that matter) before the torrential downfall washes away my crops. My crops are baby corn. You must partake in their scrumptious beads of flavor on your next passage through these parts, assuming the harvest hath not been laid to waste. In other news, I admit you stand ever correct in your astute assumption that Evan, ever bursting with youthful mischief, has once again taken to theft of our rhubarb, this time building his home from it. And three full stories with two bedrooms, would you believe!

But never mind, good friend, my troubles. I write you back in the hopes you will learn that I have indeed viewed the SHlT out of the very same "Home Box Office" laughmovie of which you speak. "Talking Funny" was just that, ha! Were it not for the apt title, know I not what I might've been expecting! Mayhaps talk of politics? I am always keen to hear of the goings-on in our lands. (How are the politics in the North? Do you have an African leader yet? We have found it most exhilarating.)

I felt privileged to have my ears (of the biological sort, you silly man! I speak not of my baby corn) be privy to the talkings-on of these four kingly men. Which comedic minds better to share an intimate stage for "Talking Funny?" Surely I was not the only of my village to burst into fits of giggles when mention of "Sitting on a cock 'cos I'm gay" came up. The Good Jewish Lord knows I am not an easy one to please. I have much more to speak of, so please make haste with your response!

Ever brothers,

Alec

P.S. If you see Evan, that scampy wriggler, forget not to scold him with a slap on his knobby wrists!




Anyway, yeah, that special was amazing. Hilarious, entertaining, and unbelievably insightful. I could've watched hours of that conversation. I loved that they all seemed to argue with each other on everything, further driving home the fact that comedy is something that literally nobody can agree on.

[Mikero]

Yeah it's definitely gonna be one of those specials I hit up all the time and really absorb. The one where Ricky Gervais interviewed Larry David is like that for me.


Anyway, I just watched the first episode of Boardwalk Empire tonight and I think I might end up loving it.

[ASR]

Apparently they're doing more of these Talking Funny specials - Conan said something about being asked to do one, so we'll see who the other guests end up being. Oh, and Boardwalk Empire is great but I never finished watching the first season. I'll get on that.

[Mikero]

I'm only two episodes deep, everything's slow while I'm getting all of Deadwood, but I'm real into it.

Just watched the first episode of Game Of Thrones. Originally I thought this was literally a 'game' based show, since it's called Game Of Thrones and when people at work were talking about it someone said "It's DnD."

It is not DnD. My girlfriend likes it and I told what I'd heard, so she gave me a new rundown instead, which was a paradigm shift in how I perceived the show. So later one I decided to check it out, and that brings us back to 'Do'. Just watched the first episode of Game of Thrones. I thought it was pretty good, and plan to check out more. It's cool that Sarah Conner is in there, though she's blonde (and I'll get to that in a sec) and... The dad from Still Standing. It's weird to see him not be a mediocre sitcom staple, but I'm down with it. Anyway it's cool so far, and I hear it gets better. Plus there is wolf cubs. One thing the first episode taught me is this; 4:5 blonde people are terrible.


With all the stuff I'm going to be watching in the off-season, I think I'm going to get HBOverload this summer.
(I don't mind.)

[ASR]

Oooh, Deadwood! Nice. Ian McShane is the manliest badass ever to grace television sets.

Considering checking out Game of Thrones, since everyone wets their panties talking about it. I've seen tons of people reading the books it's based on all around campus.

[Mikero]

I've only watched the one so far, so I'm not mega hooked. I've got the second episode waiting for me right now. Seems like it's pretty good. I mean... It's pretty "HBO", but that's alright.

[Majikn]

I'm almost at the end of Lost.
Yeesh, what a ride.
Anyone who says this series is confusing is dumb, though. I've found that they dumbed it down considerably, explaining ##### to me multiple times probably in order to address the criticisms like "You can't miss an episode."

Given that I am near its end, it's definitely watchable. Not bad at all.

I think the most entertaining thing about it was predicting the nature of acutely strange events before they were revealed. Sometimes I did this within moments of the reveal, sometimes after the very first clue.

[Mikero]

Yeah, Lost isn't confusing at all. I don't know where people got that.
But the ending sucks enough I dont want to rewatch the show for a loooooong time.




I'm in season 2 of Deadwood.
I #####ing love this show.

[ASR]

Lost is fun, but ultimately disappointing. Can't tell you how wrapped up in it I got, though. I could not have been more invested in that #####. Still a fan, but in retrospect I don't like it as much and wouldn't really recommend it.

Now Deadwood... that's my song.

[Speed Racer]

Apparently the guys from American Pickers were a mile from my apartment today.

[Johncarllos]

I have finished the first 3 seasons of Breaking Bad.

Holy hell I love that show, yo.

Also, The Legend of Korra! I'm super excited to see where it goes!

[ASR]

Watch Season 4 of Breaking Bad now. Absolutely nuts. By far my favorite show on TV right now, although Mad Men is always giving it a run for its money (and its the better show - BB is just more fun overall.)

And Legend of Korra is great so far.

[Johncarllos]

Legend of Korra season finale tomorrow, 1 hour event!

Also, GENERAL #####ING IROH. There are so many cool theories about who and what and where.

[Majikn]

Would this show be at all interesting to someone who hasn't seen the original cartoon?

[Johncarllos]

It still would be, but not as much.

Really good season finale, btw. Excited for another season next year.

[Majikn]

Okay, I gave it a shot. There seem to be some inconsistencies with how they use their magic, but none that can't be explained away. It's pretty dang good for a cartoon, actually.

I found it interesting that they polarized an issue that seemed so morally grey. Is magic inherently evil? No. Is equality inherently evil? Also no.

About the finale:
[spoiler]Regarding the fact that Amon is a water/blood bender changed people's opinions of him: he can't control what he was born with. The fact that he treated his outing as a lie was the wrong decision. He should have went with the truth and explained that he would remove his own bending once he was sure that he had "cleansed" everyone else. He might have lost SOME support for having lied in the first place but he wouldn't have completely been undermined as a villain. I'm not saying that as a criticism of the writing, but I think the guy made a huge mistake.
And I say villain, but I totally don't think he was. I think he was just an antagonist more than anything. I'm not biased for or against magic users by having watched the original show, so he didn't really seem all that horrible and they didn't seem to show that he had any evil ulterior motives.

It totally caught me off guard that firebenders could fly. I'd have to go back and re-analyze every scenario I've seen with a firebender and wonder why they didn't use that in each scenario. The worst one I remember was episode 6, where Korra was "in mortal danger" and Lin Beifong had to go back to save her, but apparently they could have joined in the attack on the ship by her simply flying and by Beifong simply giving credence to the fact that Korra is the Avatar and could have flown. This problem could have easily been avoided if one of those qi blockers had did one of those attacks on her before she fell, though, so I guess it's not a big deal.[/spoiler]

[Winged Warrior]

Iroh's voice didn't fit. At all.

I liked the finale, the fact that it had near 100% closure to the arch left me worried that there wasn't a second season, Research says there will be though, so hooray for that.

[Johncarllos]

The second season was confirmed after the first had been written. The season is standalone, but the series will continue.

Also, Majikn, you missed a lot about what certain benders are capable of partially dependent on lineage and some on training.

The problem with fire bending to fly is that it is an absolute expert move, it all other circumstances, the benders are steady while bending fire. To concentrate that much energy and raw power into such a small area that it actually produces lift is incredible.

This is also noted by his insane fire range on the ship.

Lighting is also an incredibly advanced firebending technique.

Something my girlfriend and I constantly noticed about the show is that the bending was incredibly toned down from the first series. Of course, the bending that is taught in republic city needs to be controlled or it would cause mass destruction.

Overall, a great show, which would be greater if it was aimed at TV14 instead of TV7.

And the whole murder suicide on Nickelodeon was like, whoa.

WW, Iroh's voice was Zuko's. Fan service, man.

[Majikn]

Well, I guess that pretty much answers everything.
Thanks, John.

The good thing about bending is that it simplifies the problem of destruction on that kind of scale. It seems like benders can just as easily reverse a lot of the damages done, though the city probably requires very high maintenance.

It WAS kind of weird to have "General" Iroh standing next to a fire-bending athlete with a much lower voice, though.

[Johncarllos]

He is his grandfather's grandson.

Zuko was Aang's arch enemy, then rival, then teacher. Excellent progression. 2-ish episodes of Iroh (named after Zuko's Uncle) was hyper-fan service.

Posted on: June 29, 2012, 12:27:59 AM

Also, I just started watching Game of Thrones.

I'm 5 episodes in with my girlfriend and hooked.

#####ing Lannister incestuous #####s.

[Speed Racer]

I've watched two or three episodes of it and I got bored. However, I want that damn blonde-haired kid to #####ing die. I hate him so #####ing much.

[Johncarllos]

The whiny little son of the king?

I hate that ass.

I haven't hated/loved characters like this for a long time.

Posted on: June 29, 2012, 07:00:17 PM

I got all caught up on Thrones, definitely something I will continue watching in the future.

Currently watching Dr. Who, starting with the 2005 Eccleston Doctor. I'm more interested in learning about the TARDIS and the time lords in general, but it's a silly and fun series. Just finished episode 5, with the green aliens things at parliament. I'm watching it with my girlfriend though, so we only get a few episodes in at a time.

[Speed Racer]

I'm watching the first episode of Bored to Death. I think I'm in love with this show.

[Johncarllos]

Watched like 10 episodes of Doctor Who this weekend.

On the 4th episode of the 2nd season.

[Speed Racer]

Arrow is the only scripted show that I manage to catch. I really dig it, and I know if I was 15 years younger I'd be nuts over this show.

[Mikero]

That show looks really awful.

American Horror Story, man.

And Fringe is almost done.

[Johncarllos]

I watched AHS: Murder House.

Haven't started Asylum yet though. Seems interesting, I liked the first season, the ending was [spoiler]freaking hilarious.[/spoiler]

[Mikero]

The first season is called "Murder House" now? I never knew it, it was just "American Horror Story" at the time.

Doesn't matter 'cause season 2 rocks a lot harder.