Tag: tv

Media is Shit These Days #media #OldGuard #Netflix #streaming #OldDays #tv #movie

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it (Twitter/X), boost it (Mastodon), repost it (MeWe), or repost it (BlueSky).

Here’s something that in part is completely uncontroversial, but I still want to say it because I think some of it might encourage disagreement.

Old Guard was released 5 years ago. The sequel was released recently. I have zero recollection of the original beyond the basics, so I don’t fully appreciate the context, and I didn’t enjoy it. Releasing the sequel 5 years later is just fucking stupid. There’s far too much content we absorb to expect us to clearly remember the detailed context from a prior film that isn’t worthy of multiple rewatches over the years, and I’m not going to rewatch the original just to make sure I appreciate all the subtleties of the sequel that make it worth watching. And that’s for a movie. For a TV show, this is even dumber.

I saw a meme recently that I didn’t save, so I can’t reproduce it here. It pointed out that in the old days, there were 20-something episodes per season, with only a summer break between each season. Now it’s 10 episodes (or fewer) separated by at least a couple of years. In the age of the internet and streaming where release schedules should be more relaxed, this represents a massive failure by the creatives. I’m sure they, along with the suits in control, win with this arrangement: less work for more pay. In the meantime, people can be distracted by all the other content available.

I get the notion of Abe Simpson yelling at clouds. I’m very much self-aware of how I’m not part of the new culture when it comes to a lot of things. Unlike many people my age (57), I’m 100% fine with that. All of you do you, and don’t worry about the guy that isn’t in the most important demographic. But this is fucking stupid, and on this, I don’t know why the currently generation tolerates it. Maybe they don’t feel they have a choice, or perhaps ignorance is bliss, but if they’ve given this any thought and still think this is a reasonable option, then I really don’t get what the kids are thinking these days. In this narrow regard, it was much better in the old days. Considering we had only three viable channels, that’s crazy.

Note well that I’m not criticizing the content itself. Most people my age do, but that’s not what this is about. To the extent that I don’t like the creative direction of modern media, that’s generational, and my opinion should be ignored. I’m talking about something far more objective than personal taste. This is about structure, and the structure is shit.

Or maybe I’m just yelling at clouds.

Follow me on Twitter/X @gsllc
Follow me on Mastadon chirp.enworld.org/@gsllc
Follow me on MeWe robertbodine.52
Follow me on Blue Sky @robbodine

“Historic” Watch: HBO’s Rome @StreamOnMax #GoodWatch #HBO #Rome #RayStevenson #tv #television #RIP

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it and/or boost it. For other entries in the Good Watch category, click here.

Ray Stevenson’s death has inspired many articles on his career. I read a couple and saw that he had starred in HBO’s Rome. It’s a show I’d (somehow) never seen, so I decided to binge it this past week leading into the Memorial Day weekend.

Despite strong liberties taken with actual history, it’s a pretty good show that, as far as I can tell, reflects Roman life accurately and is both well-written and well-acted. So, it’s surprising it lasted only two seasons. One article explained that: It was simply too expensive for its time; they couldn’t afford to make more episodes.

As always, YMMV. R.I.P Ray Stevenson

The best part of the show was the name of season 2, episode 4: Testudo et Lepus. Go Terps!

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow me on Mastodon @gsllc
Follow Max @StreamOnMax

Nostalgic Watch: Soap @Tubi #GoodWatch #Soap #Tubi #vlog #tv #television #70s #80s

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it. For other entries in the Good Watch category, click here.

I finished binging Soap, a sitcom from the 70s and early 80s. Here’s my report.

Does it hold up?

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Tubi TV @Tubi

Ending Another Streak @IronMaiden @themandalorian #TV #music #StarWars #IronMaiden #UpTheIrons

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it.

Sundays are lazy days for me. Sometimes I post other people’s work. Sometimes, something silly. Usually both. Well, there’s nothing sillier than this. I post today only because this will become my 200th consecutive daily post. I’ve pulled this shit before, posting just to say that I’m continuing what would become a 374 day streak, but I post this to say my streak is ending. Very meta.

Okay, fine. Because you’re here, I should probably give you a stupid meme. Here’s one.

Nice mashup of two things I love. It’s not as if I had something important to say for most of the 199 before it (short of some of these).

Now it’s time for another break.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Iron Maiden @IronMaiden
Follow the Mandalorian @themandalorian

“That Doesn’t Seem Fair” #MCU #TV #movie #science #Falcon #WinterSoldier #ScarletWitch

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it.

This meme popped up in my Facebook feed last Wednesday.

I’ve already (re)shared it to all of my social media accounts, but I find it funny that just one year later, Wanda’s line in Doctor Strange 2: The Multiverse of Madness.

Like all things, it’s probably the fault of the Darkhold, but it’s still hypocritical of her.

The MCU is so meticulously planned out that I wouldn’t be surprised if this was intentional.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc

Another Random Memory from Late Night TV: A Late Show with Joan Rivers Interview #TV #DavidLeeRoth #VanHalen #music @VanHalen

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it.

Last week, I shared a random memory of a Tonight Show interview. Today is an interview from Joan Rivers’ Late Show. The link should take you to the relevant part, which is at 5:35. Here, Dave discusses the split with Van Halen and the fallout from it.

Side note: The fact that Rivers took this gig created a personal rift with Johnny Carson.

What I remember about this is that Van Halen — Eddie in particular — was deeply critical of Dave in the press, and Dave always took the high ground. For a while anyway. A couple months after this interview, I heard a snippet from another interview on the radio. Paraphrasing to the best of my recollection (which, based on these posts, is pretty good), Dave’s response to Van Halen was, “Well, I’m out here forging the future, and Van Halen is still living in the pasture.”

Still, I took Dave’s side in the mess because he didn’t fight back until Van Halen pushed him over the edge. Of course, I don’t know any of these guys, so I never really cared about their personal battles. I just knew that they were both producing music I loved, so the breakup worked out great for me.

As a reminder, one of only 14 concerts I’ve ever seen was Hagar and Roth’s joint tour.

Memory can be funny thing.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Sylvester Stallone @TheSlyStallone

Star Trek Sunday Memes @WilliamShatner @GeorgeTakei @GineokwKoenig @JeriLRyan @StarTrek #StarTrek #StarTrekSunday

FrylockLeave a comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it.

Sundays now are lazy days for me. I either post something silly or other people’s work. Usually both. Today, I return to Star Trek Sunday. (Are any of the kids saying that?)

I found these memes on MeWe’s Star Trek group chat.

I guess that’s funny. This one might be better.

Meh.

Creepy.

But better.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow William Shatner @WilliamShatner
Follow George Takei @GeorgeTakei
Follow Walter Koenig @GineokwKoenig
Follow Jeri Ryan @JeriLRyan
Follow Star Trek @StarTrek

Random Memory: A Tonight Show Interview #TV #Stallone #Travolta #TonightShow #science @TheSlyStallone

Frylock1 Comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it.

Everyone insists they have a good memory, but our brains form fake memories all the time. I’ve used YouTube to test my memory quite often and found that my long-term memory is pretty accurate. The weird thing about my memory is that I sometimes remember things as a mirror image of the way they were. That is, if I remember footage from a TV show where person A is on the left and person B is on the right, their positions are swapped. However, I remember incredible detail about everything else in the footage. Here was a random memory that popped into my head when my cousin shared some footage from Saturday Night Fever. It’s an interview on the Tonight Show with Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta promoting the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive.

And part II.

I remembered almost every minute detail of this interview, and because it’s the Tonight Show, I didn’t reverse the image in my head. The host is always on the right side of the screen, and it’s impossible for a healthy brain to forget that.

Unfortunately, my short-term memory is beginning to suffer, and I sometimes have trouble getting words out when speaking. I also have some difficulty forming new memories. As Kareem Said said on Oz, “Life is balance.” I guess I had this coming, but you can imagine how frustrating that is for someone who historically forgets nothing. While I could stand to lose a lot of childhood and young-adulthood memories, I hope the cognitive decline remains slow.

Memory can be funny thing.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Sylvester Stallone @TheSlyStallone

Paramount+ Has Overtaken Disney+ and HBOMax (for Me) @paramountplus @kingstown @TulsaKing @CBS #ParamountPlus #MayorOfKingstown #TulsaKing #BeavisandButthead #CBS #GoodWatch #television

Frylock1 Comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it. Other posts in this series can be accessed by clicking here.

Yesterday, I blasted a Paramount Plus offering, Scorpion. Today, I bounce back a little bit to tell you that Paramount+ has become my favorite streaming service. The content is just fantastic.

As you must know by now, I’m a Star Trek junkie; a complete apologist for the franchise. Even when I don’t like it, I like it. I just can’t help it. Perhaps there’s one exception, but that remains to be seen. Paramount+ has all the Trek I could ever want and more, so that certainly factors into my opinion.

That said, they have some pretty remarkable original content. Mayor of Kingstown with Jeremy Renner was a slow burn to (IIRC) episode 7 of season 1, but then it exploded, and so far, season 2 hasn’t let up. (Note: Episode 4 of season 1 was phenomenal.) Tulsa King with Sylvester Stallone is also superb. And then there’s these guys.

Perhaps a niche taste.

It’s CBS, so it’s unsurprising that there are also tons of shows and movies, new and old, that should pique your interests. There are some periods of time (e.g., law school) during which I couldn’t spend a lot of time on television. As a result, I missed a lot of series that people swear by as brilliant television. Paramount+ gives me the opportunity to watch many of them. Needless to say, my “My List” is huge on Paramount+. As always, YMMV.

Now, how can I get CBS to pay me for this advertising?

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Paramount+ @paramountplus
Follow Mayor of Kingstown @kingstown
Follow Tulsa King @TulsaKing
Follow CBS @CBS

Dwindling Watch: Scorpion @paramountplus #ParamountPlus #GoodWatch #television #science #math #computer #scorpion

Frylock1 Comment

If you enjoy this post, please retweet it. Other posts in this series can be accessed by clicking here.

Welcome to post #1,001!

I have a really annoying habit. Actually, I have several, but this one annoys me. I have to finish what I start. In the context of this post, it means that, once I’ve set my mind to binging the entire run of a television show, I can’t stop until I’m finished no matter how bad the show is. That’s what happened with Scorpion.

Scorpion aired on CBS from 2014-2017, and now you can watch it on demand on Paramount Plus. It centered on a team of underachieving, supra-geniuses who finally get their big break when the Department of Homeland Security designates them a contractor. It started off well enough, and the ratings were some of the best CBS enjoyed during its run. One executive referred to it as “our Big Bang Theory, but as a drama.” However, by season four, the ratings were terrible, and despite a cult following and a tense cliffhanger to end season four, the show was cancelled.

Good riddance.

The show was wildly unrealistic. As anyone with a physics degree, a first career in software engineering, and a current career as an attorney can tell you, most shows are. I have no problem with that. You have to enter into any television show or movie with a certain suspension of disbelief, and I’m happy to do so for the sake of drama. After all, despite not being a comics reader, I’m a huge fan of the MCU and DCEU. What could be less realistic?

I called a fair game today.

But this show dives into many different branches of science, and it gets them all terribly wrong. Moreover, while each episode presents a preexisting peril to be solved, while addressing the peril, the Scorpion team members always make things worse, and usually in the most ridiculous or unrealistic of ways. It’s terrible writing that eventually grates on the viewer. Sharks don’t act that way. Computers don’t act that way. Gravity doesn’t act that way. How is it that you’re always getting your jacket caught right before you have to make a getaway? You’ve been on a deserted island for three weeks; how are you all so clean, and why is Cabe still wearing a suit and tie?

As the charm of the show tends to wane, there’s little left to keep the viewer interested. But I have to say, if there were a season five, I’d have watched it.

Sometimes I hate myself.

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Paramount+ @paramountplus