Philotic Web

Am I the only one who dislikes: Fraiser, Seinfeld, American Dad, Friends, The Office, Everybody Love Raymond, King of Queens, and I'm running out of steam here.

I didn't find any of those funny, either.

Relevant.

Not necessarily the reason you guys don't find it funny, but always fun to put out there.

Another classic sitcom: Malcolm in the Middle. We never watched it when it was actually on, but in later years I watched it and thought it was hilarious. Something about dysfunctional families in fantastic situations is awesome, and there are too many absolutely hilarious moments that are impossible to describe.

You might also try Arrested Development and The League. (Eastbound & Down has some good moments, but isn't necessarily always funny and definitely isn't for everybody.)

I'll give these a try, never heard of them before. Except Arrested Development.

Malcom in the Middle was a great suggestion, though not new to me. I used to watch that show all the time during High School.

Same with That 70's Show. I still watch that when it comes on every Sunday.

Do any of you have any for the epic/intense plot category? (To replace Game of Thrones)

Do any of you have any for the epic/intense plot category? (To replace Game of Thrones)

The Wire. Don't know if I've talked about it much on her (pretty sure I have), but the most intense police procedural I've ever watched.

You might also try Arrested Development and The League. (Eastbound & Down has some good moments, but isn't necessarily always funny and definitely isn't for everybody.)

I LOVE the League. Its definitely not for everyone though.

Some brief thoughts on USA's skilled-character-in-unusual-circumstances dramas.

Burn Notice is, I believe the original, and still the best. I can't say how accurate any of the spycraft and knowledge in the show is, but it does a good job of selling it as authentic and keeps things fresh. Having Jeffery Donovan essentially play a new character every week with his cover identities helps keep things fresh, and of course it has Bruce Campbell which counts for something.

Covert Affairs is newer, and struggling in my opinion. The acting is rough, but that's not necessarily the actors fault. The show tries to straddle being a cloak, dagger and motorcycle Bourne-esque action show, an office spy procedural, and a character driven drama. The characters which are contained in one part of that are alright, but they're all necessarily secondary. All the main characters suffer because it's hard to watch someone go toe-to-toe with an enforcement squad for a Turkish human trafficking syndicate and then be caught off guard by forgetting they had to babysit.

Royal Pains is awkward at times, caught between wanting to show off the glamour of life in the Hamptons while keeping it's main characters as relative everymen. The week-to-week medical emergencies aren't particularly engaging, but the seasonal arcs with Boris, the boys' father (gotta love the Fonz), and Divya's family are well executed.

Fairly Legal is fairly forgettable. I've only watched a few episodes of this series, because that was all I could manage. The drama is turned up to 11 and the main character's magical ability to force reconciliation is horribly executed regularly. The show really needs a professional negotiator consultant or some other source of more gripping stories. Frankly, I'm surprised it got renewed considering it's got competition in Suits.

Suits is among the newest crop, along with Necessary Roughness. It actually has the potential to be a really great series based on its premise, but it probably won't turn out to be. High stakes legal wrangling would be interesting to watch unfold over a season, but it looks like we'll be treated to weekly human interest cases, running gags about the main character's lack of basic legal procedural knowledge, and strictly in house character tensions building. Meh.

I haven't watched Necessary Roughness except for two separate 10 minute scenes in the opener, both of which made the main character seem a decently acted, but horribly cliched premise. I expect lots of Hollywood Psychology awkwardly executed single mom tropes. Pass.

Last is White Collar which pulls off the harder-than-it-sounds feat of not making any big mistakes. The characters are endearing, the week-to-week cases interesting and the seasonal intrigue dramatic and suspenseful. Just seems to lack any direction or driving motivation which makes it lose some of its appeal as time wears on. The style-porn of Matt Bomer's suits makes up for it, though.

After hearing about the Weeping Angels from the Dr. Who series, on another forum, I decided to watch the two main episodes about them.

Disclaimer: SPOILERS

This being the first time I've seriously watched Dr. Who, aside from catching glimpses of it.

Watched The Time of Angels and the next one after it.

They were pretty brilliant. The whole concept of the angels is awesome. As well as the creative ways he outwits them. As first impressions go, this was a pretty good one. I might just start watching the series, because I enjoyed it despite not knowing much about the characters or general context of the episode.

My only confusion was about the whole picture thing: An image of an Angel becomes an angel. Does it become the same exact angel, like a different manifestation? If I quantum-locked an angel by having it look at another angel, and then took a picture of it, would the picture be unable to move - even when I'm not looking at it - because the original is quantum-locked? I guess so. So a picture of an angel doesn't become it's own unique entity, because then - at the end of the episode - even though the angel's never existed - the one that Amy remembers would still be alive in that manifestation.

Oh, and with the angels falling into the time wave, that means they never existed right? And since they've lived since nearly the beginning of time, that means that all those people in the past that they touched and stole energy from - by sending to the past before they were born - never got displaced in time. The potential energy of their unfullfilled lives were never stolen? I don't know, while I dont know how rewriting time works in the Dr. Who universe, it seems like this would cause too many ripples and rewroven threads in time. After all, these beings were said to be almost as old as the Universe, how many countless people did they each affect/send to the past?

Furthermore, the bishop and all the men that they killed during the episode should all now be alive. Of course, the show didn't indicate they were dead...and I guess theoretically the time wave could have got them as soon as their death never happened and they were still alive - so I won't question it.

Last, ah, the scene where Dr. Who is trapped between the light crack(time wave) and two group of angels(one to the leftish, one to the right) looking towards him. The exit to the forest was to the right, if I remember correctly. I came up with an intricate plan for how he could get out.
He did...the stupidest thing. Looking left, then right, giving each on the opposite side the chance to move. That was retarded. He should have looked forward keeping them in his periphial vision.

THEN, he should have jumped to the right, past those angels, while looking at them. And then immediately looked past them at the angels that were on the left.

Since the angels to the left had the oppurtunity to move, they'd now be facing him - with the group of angels(that were prior to the right of Dr. Who before he moved) that Dr. Who were just looking at - in between them and Dr. Who.

That means that he could focus on those angels that were prior to the left of him, keeping them still and staring, and they themselves would be facing the group of angels directly closest to Dr. Who - keeping them still.
(If you can't picture that in your mind, consider looking at a mirror of something. You're indirectly observing it, and you're observing the mirror to. Now pretend this mirror is something that can't move when you observe it, and it's reflecting something that can't move when you observe it. Ta da!)
I shouldn't have to think this up, Dr. Who's supposed to be a genius!

-ramblings

*facepalm*

You watched those before you watched "Blink"?!

Gah.

(Also, do you mind marking spoilers? Not everyone will have made it that far.)

*facepalm*

You watched those before you watched "Blink"?!

Gah.

(Also, do you mind marking spoilers? Not everyone will have made it that far.)

Yeah, what's the problem?

I'd already knew all about them.
Also, if Blink is the episode where they SPOILERS AHEAD
send the Dr. to the past/get quantum locked in a circle around two main characters who's name I don't know - then I already saw a clip of that on youtube. And that got me more interested in them, enough to watch the full episodes.

My best friend watched it that way as well; he has no interest in any of the Ten episodes for some reason but then went back and watched Blink because one of his friends in his study abroad program forced him to.

"Blink" introduces them. It's like reading Xenocide before Speaker for the Dead* - all the mysteries are already solved, so when you go back to read/watch the original, a lot of the tension is gone. You never get to experience the thrill of discovering along with the characters.




* I did that. Nine years later, I still regret it.

...the tension was already gone because I already knew all about them.

Even before I even watched the youtube clip that I assume was from Blink.

Where that young man forgot the fact that he could keep both blink and keep staring at it, by blinking one eye at a time. (Fail)

Have some relevant comics.

Lol, I missed Community so much, I went back and rewatched the Debate episode.

And then, for the lols, I recreated the debate as a thread at another forum - arguing from the side of "Man is Good" - and have almost said the exact same thing as the crippled guy in the two posts I've posted.
They actually fit perfectly with things the the things the two people that have replied have said... I don't think they realize I'm simply quoting a tv show. Lmao.

Suits is among the newest crop, along with Necessary Roughness. It actually has the potential to be a really great series based on its premise, but it probably won't turn out to be. High stakes legal wrangling would be interesting to watch unfold over a season, but it looks like we'll be treated to weekly human interest cases, running gags about the main character's lack of basic legal procedural knowledge, and strictly in house character tensions building. Meh.

But... it has Gina Torres!

Game of Thrones has such a ridiculous amount of sex scenes; I'm kinda shocked it was recommended to me by a 16 year old female friend. Though, she did warn me about that. I assumed it wouldn't actually show anything. Or maybe I'd just hear noises, or see ruffling under some covers. Alas, I'm an HBO noob. (never had it and Im watching the show online)

disagree, Actually, compared to the books, there's significantly less nudity on screen, the filmmakers are using nudity and sex for character moments rather than sheer titillation, the Littlefinger scene was one of the best moments of the season: Littlefinger is teaching two whores how to best fake sex, how to best lie, his entire life is based around deception and he is the master manipulator and deceiver of the show. Varys lies by necessity, Littlefinger lies for the art of it.

I actually find the violence much more gratuitous than the sex, they definitely linger on the blood and guts--but no one seems to be upset about watching a person spurting blood, rather people are getting upset that a whore out-of-focus in the background washes her genitals after sex, sex that we don't see, as the scene starts after its over. That's terribly unsexy, but also a fairly real moment about sex that is always cut out of typical hollywood romantic sex scenes.

Here's a pretty good article that expresses my sentiments pretty well on how Game of Thrones intelligently handles sex and sexual dynamics in the show.

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/f ... nd_nudity/

I just find it grimly amusing that, for whatever reason, sex and nudity must be handled with special care, and must always be "necessary" and utterly unimpeachable in their presentation, yet profanity and violence are rarely held to such such standards. This is America's Puritan mentality coming home to roost in criticism. Closeups of throats being slit and limbs being lopped off are an expected part of R-rated entertainment aimed at adult viewers, and not even worthy of comment. But nudity and sex must be "justified."

I just may get sucked back into the boob tube this fall. The Walking Dead is tentatively scheduled to air again in October (I should probably try to get on that graphic novel series before then...I even have a lot of it on my computer) and NBC is going to be premiering a show called Grimm, which is part cop/crime, part fantastical that sounded an awful lot like Fables. ABC will be doing something similar to the Grimm thing but theirs, just from what I saw a preview of, looks tackier somehow, so I probably won't try that one. Or maybe I'll give it a one show attempt to win me over. I'm kind of excited and TV doesn't tend to have that affect on me, so wooo?


This is, of course, assuming I remember to be on the look-out.

I am excited about the return of The Walking Dead. I think we're also going to give Terra Nova a shot. Although, nowadays I expect every new show to be canceled within the first season.

Terra Nova looks legitly exciting. Please give a review here after you watch it. (I forget when it's starting, but it's most likely during the start of my new school year where I barely watch tv)

New Torchwood is, well, better than the first two seasons and better than a lot of drama shows out there, but not quite as good as Children of Earth so far. The manage to fill up lots of time with very little plot or information. The acting's good though, and I was a little off put by Mekhi Phifer being cast, but he's actually been really solid. If the next episode continues to drag its feet, though I'll be sorely disappointed.

Suits. I enjoyed it.

I only wonder how realistic the depiction of working at a law firm is. Assuming I can make it, is this a glimpse into my future life?

Oh, and I wish Jeff Winger was on the show.

This is a real thing. This is a real thing! This is not a fan creation (anymore)! I've been having trouble for the past hour believing that I am not imagining this! (Also, Neil Patrick Harris is the voice of Prince Bugglebum)

**BUMP!**

I am practically wriggling with excitement about NCIS beginning again!

Also, I am loving the idea of being pregnant along with Emily Deschanel.

And now that I've gotten into HIMYM, I'm excited for new episodes!

What's everyone else looking forward to in the new TV season?

So I missed all of season 7 of Grey's, and I was hoping to catch up on it this weekend (meaning sunday, monday, tuesday) since it came out on dvd. But it's sold out and the season premier is thursday. That actually means nothing to me, since I don't have a tv and would be at work, anyway. But still. I want to watch it online!!

ok, so i'm not a fan of 2 and a half men, but i watched the premier to see how they were going to make the move from charlie. it started strong... but it fizzled. it was a bit hard to watch. it was forced, each line from kutcher seemed like it was awkward. and like he would pause before the line, and then after, the whole thing was weak.

i enjoyed 2 broke girls a bit though. i don't think it will last.

castle was fantastic.

A weird season premiere of NCIS. I don't know. I feel a bit disconcerted with the whole conspiracy thing they have going on at the end. It just seems a bit disorienting to me. Guess we know what the big season arc is going to be. Also, so many characters got short-shift in this episode. And, really, I never grew to love EJ's team enough, I guess. Or, at least, I didn't remember any love I had for them. An episode to make me fond of them again might've helped.

Also, I worry about Ziva and CIRay.

yay fringe! boo commercials. seriously like every 7 minutes. makes it hard to get terribly engaged in the show.

We just started watching the first season of Fringe.

My thoughts on the current shows:

The ending of the season opener of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES was all sorts of perfect.
The new show UP ALL NIGHT starring Will Arnett ("Gob") and Christina Applegate is a little too painful/cringeworthy/awkward to watch.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER is still hi-freaking-larious.
On PARENTHOOD, I keep wanting to thwap Hattie, and can never really understand what Alex sees in her.
30 ROCK needs to come back like yesterday.
THE NEW GIRL is Zooey Deschanel doing Liz Lemon: The Early Years. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

And SHERLOCK? More, please.

My thoughts on the current shows:

The new show UP ALL NIGHT starring Will Arnett ("Gob") and Christina Applegate is a little too painful/cringeworthy/awkward to watch.

THIS. Oh my gosh. We watched it, thinking it would be relevant to our situation. No. Not at all. Plus, the whole time we were going, "Is this supposed to be funny, yet?" I mean, I usually give shows a second chance, but I just cannot see it for this one.

Holy crap I watched all of Archer over the past week. So hilarious. It's like if you took Frisky Dingo, Arrested Development, and James Bond, stuck them in a blender, and put it on "sassy".

New season of The League starts next week.

I really like Two Broke Girls and The New Girl. I thought Up All Night was decent, as was Whitney, neither of them that great, but good enough to watch another episode.

Modern Family remains the greatest comedy/sitcom ever. Ever. It is the Firefly of television comedy.

Biggest Loser has one new interesting trainer. I am out of ice cream to eat while watching biggest loser.

My Direct TV receiver died on Tuesday morning. I had it 70% full, including the rest of last season's boardwalk empire, every tv movie HBO has done in the last year that I hadn't yet seen, all of Game of Thrones (which I was going to rewatch this fall) and a variety of classic films in HD that I wanted to watch with Renee. And I missed all of this week's television.

I can finally post in this thread because we're getting caught up on TV.

Raising Hope and Modern Family are both as brilliant as ever. I laugh out loud at both of these shows more than any others.

How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory are still solid shows.

Wilfred won me over, even though I was late to start watching it.

We have episodes of The New Girl, Up All Night, and Whitney recorded, but based on reviews I think I'll probably only like The New Girl.

Community started again, hooray! It seems just as fun and dumb as it's always been so far.

Holy crap I watched all of Archer over the past week. So hilarious. It's like if you took Frisky Dingo, Arrested Development, and James Bond, stuck them in a blender, and put it on "sassy".

Oh man, season 3 started weeks ago! I'm not sure if I should try watching it as it goes on, or watching it in large chunks as I've been doing.

I've sometimes wondered if I should try watching Frisky Dingo. I saw a few episodes of it a while back, but it just seemed to get so... bizarre. It didn't seem like something I'd like all that much, but I do like Archer...

I also don't really get Modern Family. I've seen a bit of it at a friend's house, and I'll tolerate it, but it's... eh. The best part just seems to be the hot Colombian girl, and the fact that Al Bundy is in it (not that I necessarily like him in the show, but I just like the fact that he's in it).