Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

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mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#106 Post by mkaroly »

I have been staying up late for a while now and have been trolling Fox late night TV shows. I gotta admit that MIKE AND MOLLY is hilarious for the most part - great characters and great actors/actresses. The only character I don't like is the Carl character; otherwise, despite being pretty ribald it's a funny show.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#107 Post by AndyDursin »

Agreed Michael!

Melissa McCarthy is terrific in this show, as she was on Gilmore Girls. People who only think she does the wacky R-rated comedy thing should give this show a try, because she's very good as is Billy Gardell.

The later seasons have given her more of a chance to do her comedic stylings so to speak. Good ensemble cast and writing too.

mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#108 Post by mkaroly »

I just watched half of season one of RENO 911...I had forgotten how wrong that show was in every way and ended up with a sore abdomen and a headache from laughing so hard...oh my gosh! Lol...the characters are so bizarre (I think Deputy Weigel is my favorite). Looking forward to going through all six seasons eventually.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#109 Post by Paul MacLean »

Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond

Excellent 4-part BBC series from last year (currently on Netflix), which tells the story of Ian Fleming's tenure in MI6 during World War II. I'm only one episode into it, but so far it is superb -- suspenseful, thrilling (and racy!). Not the most generously-budgeted series, but more than made up for in writing, directing, and (in particular) casting. Highly recommended -- particularly for those who were disappointed in SPECTRE!

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Eric Paddon
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#110 Post by Eric Paddon »

The season of viewing Christmas episodes of various TV shows which I started a few days after Thanksgiving is now over for another year. I started out with the light sitcoms and lesser dramatic shows so I could build myself up to the stronger episodes from my top ten list I made in this thread a year ago. The Season 1 "Dr. Kildare" episode and the "Dragnet" Christmas episode remain the two best and the ones to save for the end of the run to signify the power of the season's message.

mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#111 Post by mkaroly »

This week I finished up all FUTURAMA episodes...I had the final set of shows (volume 8) for a while and just couldn't pull the trigger on that final episode as I knew it was THE final episode. Lol...having just watched it, it was one of the most moving episodes in the whole series and extremely well done AND it made me cry. Lol...great "guilty pleasure" show for me. I miss the show!

I also finished watching RENO 911 season six, so I have been though all the episodes of the series. It looked like the cast was having a lot of fun in season six (Tom who played Lt. Dangle was smiling and laughing a lot); that show is so wrong on so many levels but when it was funny it made me laugh really, really hard.

Finally, I finished up ST:TNG season four and started in on season five. The Blu-Rays are amazing.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#112 Post by Monterey Jack »

mkaroly wrote:This week I finished up all FUTURAMA episodes...I had the final set of shows (volume 8 ) for a while and just couldn't pull the trigger on that final episode as I knew it was THE final episode. Lol...having just watched it, it was one of the most moving episodes in the whole series and extremely well done AND it made me cry. Lol...great "guilty pleasure" show for me. I miss the show!
BIG Futurama fan, here...you can tell that this became Matt Groening's "baby" because The Simpsons started falling to pieces around the time Futurama premiered in 1999. Great characters, writing and animation. So much better than the inexplicably popular Family Guy and all of its clones. :?

mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#113 Post by mkaroly »

Monterey Jack wrote:
mkaroly wrote:This week I finished up all FUTURAMA episodes...I had the final set of shows (volume 8 ) for a while and just couldn't pull the trigger on that final episode as I knew it was THE final episode. Lol...having just watched it, it was one of the most moving episodes in the whole series and extremely well done AND it made me cry. Lol...great "guilty pleasure" show for me. I miss the show!
BIG Futurama fan, here...you can tell that this became Matt Groening's "baby" because The Simpsons started falling to pieces around the time Futurama premiered in 1999. Great characters, writing and animation. So much better than the inexplicably popular Family Guy and all of its clones. :?
Family Guy has its moments but the humor tends to be extremely (and purposefully) "hurtful" IMO which is why I never became a fan of the show. However, I have to admit that moments and episodes here and there made me laugh really, really hard. My brother loves the show and whenever I visit him he shows me a few episodes. No one around here among my friends watches FUTURAMA so I was on my own with that show. While I still like The Simpsons, I only watch it now on DVD. It is way past its prime but I find it amazing that it continues to run.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#114 Post by AndyDursin »

I'm sorry, but Stewie running naked through the Quahog Mall exclaiming "help! help! I've just escaped from Kevin Spacey's basement!!" -- that's NOT funny? lol. I laugh out loud EVERY TIME I think of that moment!

It's really hard to debate sense of humor. It's probably the one aspect of the creative world that's not worth arguing about. What you find funny I might not find funny, but that doesn't make it "wrong" or "better" to have a dissenting opinion.

FAMILY GUY has run its course but there are many episodes that are utterly hilarious. It has no pretensions or aspirations other than being a joke machine. Some people hate it for that, but the series has loads of fans and it rates highly in reruns on cable to say nothing of new episodes. We've had this debate before -- MacFarlane is up and down with me, I find him talented (and has great, legitimate interest in film music), but his ego gets in the way at times and I've never been a fan of AMERICAN DAD or the other spin-offs. On the other hand, it's become markedly less "mean" -- Stewie morphed into a lovable Felix to Brian's Oscar, and stopped trying to "murder Lois" -- over time.

While I've been mixed on the show over the last few years, my sense of humor is much more in tune with MacFarlane than Matt Groening. It's just one of those things. I've never found FUTURAMA funny and I've also never been a fan of THE SIMPSONS either. The humor never appealed to me, not even when it was in its prime. Treehouse of Terror? Whatever. Same with BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD. Lukas used to call me up and quote episodes, and I'd be like, "I don't care pal." Did nothing for me.

On the other hand SOUTH PARK has become markedly funnier and more satirical as the years have passed, and I've literally laughed so hard I've cried at times on certain episodes. Not all of it hangs together -- the end of last season was a disappointment after a great start -- but when it's on the mark, there's nothing funnier....except SILICON VALLEY, the best live-action comedy on the air right now. Writing at an unbelievably high level.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#115 Post by Monterey Jack »

AndyDursin wrote: While I've been mixed on the show over the last few years, my sense of humor is much more in tune with MacFarlane than Matt Groening. It's just one of those things. I've never found FUTURAMA funny and I've also never been a fan of THE SIMPSONS either. The humor never appealed to me, not even when it was in its prime.
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The Simpsons in its 90's prime is basically my Monty Python...it essentially formed my entire sense of humor. Yes, it started off as "Bart Mania", when it was just this faddish thing about catchphrases, but NO comedy program -- animated or live-action -- of the period had better writing and acting. To this day, I break down crying when I hear or even think of the line, "My eyes! The goggles do nothing...!" There's essentially a Simpsons quote that's appropriate for any situation you could possibly think of.

Family Guy, in comparison, is just swill. It's ugly, mean, lazy, racist and does nothing but reflect back the 80's junk pop culture upbringing of MacFarlane without making any sort of commentary upon all the crap he watched as a kid. Just mentioning things like The Snorks or The Herculoids is not amusing in and of itself...it's just Nostalgia Porn for those of us old enough to "get it". Good satire will underline the inherent absurdities of whatever you're sending up, the MacFarlane brand of satire is just to replicate the source material VERBATIM and maybe add a fart or some vile, "edgy" rape/AIDS joke at the end. But that's the "genius" of his particular approach to comedy...just standing on the shoulders of people who actually did create things that were funny and memorable, point to them, and go, "Hey, remember this? And this? And that?"

It's like that Simpsons episode where Homer is accused of sexual harassment, and sees a clip on late night TV where he's being made fun of, and groans, "Ohhh, I liked it better when they were making fun of people who aren't me!", then sits up and says, "Wait, the all stand-up comedy channel! They never go beyond the 1980's." We then cut to a clip of some "comedian" going, "I think of weird stuff...like what if E.T., and Mr. T, had a kid. Well, then you'd have Mr. E.T., wouldn't you? And I think he'd sound a little something...like this." [Mr. T voice] 'I pity the fool who doesn't --' [E.T. voice] '--phoooooone hooooooooooooome!''. And he just stands there, grinning like a schmuck and making "c'mere" gestures with his hands as the audience gives him some anemic chuckles, and Homer laughs and says, "I wouldn't want to be Mr. T right about now...!" :roll:

mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#116 Post by mkaroly »

AndyDursin wrote:I'm sorry, but Stewie running naked through the Quahog Mall exclaiming "help! help! I've just escaped from Kevin Spacey's basement!!" -- that's NOT funny? lol. I laugh out loud EVERY TIME I think of that moment!
Lol...I never saw that episode, but if I had I probably would have laughed at that too. Actually, I think Stewie is my favorite character on the show as a whole. I do thoroughly enjoy the STAR WARS parodies that they put out as well. The only couple of bits I can think of right now that I really laughed at was Peter's and Michael Moore's farting contest in neighboring stalls (yes, bottom of the barrel humor but dammit...it was funny!) and the bit where Quagmire discovers that porn is on the Internet; he is "missing" for a while and then comes out of his house shaking with one arm noticeably more "muscular" than the other arm...I about fell off the couch laughing at that. It has its moments!

Eric Paddon
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#117 Post by Eric Paddon »

I watched a few episodes of "Outer Limits" over the last couple days and I have to admit no matter how much I try, there is something about this series I find lacking compared to TZ. The big problem is that "Outer Limits" basically had a few fundamental problems compared to TZ that accounts for why it didn't last as long.

First, the hour long format often worked against it, making episodes mostly bloated in length. Second, their obsession with wanting to give us a monster style grabber most of the time meant most episodes would be about gimmicks rather than substantive character studies. And finally, the tone of the shows often come off as overly pretentious and lacking the subtlety that characterized many good episodes of TZ (though admittedly Serling could often get carried away with some unsubtle episodes).

For the most part, I can't think of any OL episodes that IMO measure up to the standards of the best TZ episodes. Even the much ballyhooed "Demon With A Glass Hand" is ultimately more a gimmick style episode than something substantive.

mkaroly
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#118 Post by mkaroly »

Just finished watching FRASIER season 2 (watched season 1 earlier this month). I remembered a few of the episodes from the first time I watched them but overall I realized I had forgotten a lot and have been enjoying getting reacquainted with the show. The cast is outstanding and has great chemistry, and the episodes keep getting funnier and funnier. From season 2 at least my favorite episode is Agents in America, Part III with Bibi - thankfully she is not in every episode so her shtick doesn't wear out, but that show is an absolute riot to me. They must have had a blast doing the show. Great fun with great performances, including Kelsey's odes to Jack Benny in his physical and vocal comedy deliverances.

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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#119 Post by sprocket »

I've been binge watching a South Korean show called You Who Came from the Stars (aka My Love from Another Star).

I guess you could say that it is about an alien who has superhero-like powers but who decides it's better to hide them than use them. (Us ungrateful mere-mortals are always trying to lynch him when we find out he is 'different'). So he whiles away the time, changing identities ever decade or so, waiting to go home (which only happens every 400 years, apparently).

Unfortunately for him, he meets a special someone a few months before he is to return. Unfortunately for her, he has no social graces, being distant and cold. The dynamic between the two, the cold-fish alien and the arrogant Korean superstar is what makes the show.

Jeon Ji-hyun, the actress playing the spoilt superstar love interest is just hilarious.

It is a comedy romance, but the story is pretty solid, with a creepy villain, a couple of TV detectives who actually detect, and various supporting characters who liven up the proceedings very well.

The range of emotions in this show is really broad - something it has in common with the South Korean films I've seen. Everything but the kitchen sink is in there, including emergency surgery sparking a family reunion, because the hospital has run out of that rare blood type that only an absent family member is able to donate. Not your typical Hollywood fare.

And you didn't think I watched superhero stuff!

I couldn't find a trailer, but there are sub-titled episodes here, which gives you an idea.

https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4325/1 ... ther_Star/

Eric Paddon
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Re: Rate The Last TV Show Episode You Watched

#120 Post by Eric Paddon »

The Eleventh Hour (Season 1, 1962-1963)

Warner Archive hasn't been releasing too many vintage TV series of late, but I'd been waiting for this one for some time. This was an indirect spinoff from "Dr. Kildare" (the backdoor pilot was shot as a Kildare episode that never aired and then that episode was reshot without Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey as the first episode of this series) centered on the fields of psychiatry and psychology with Wendell Corey (from "Rear Window" and other movies) in the lead as a veteran psychiatrist and the unknown, young Jack Ging as the psychologist (one of each needed since the two fields are not always the same). But unlike "Dr. Kildare" which gave us the strong anchors of Chamberlain and Massey week to week, "Eleventh Hour" was always more of guest star showcase in which the leads were generally carried along by events and not being front and center. This was a fatal weakness of the series that caused it to never gain traction (Corey was replaced after the first season due to his heavy drinking and replaced by Ralph Bellamy. It lasted just one more year) because this meant the strength of the stories had to stand out and most of the stories in Season 1 of "Eleventh Hour" are not very good. Dealing with themes related to psychiatry and psychology and mental disorders and problems is a hard enough subject, but they're the kind of things that don't lend themselves to pat endings and conversely when the subjects are handled in more "realistic" fashion the results are usually a downer and not pleasant to watch. And some episodes are just badly written for the sake of making a point like so many poor "social relevance" shows. Case in point is an episode with Inger Stevens as a new mother who flips out from post-partum depression and the demands on her. I was able to overlook the eeriness of her playing a role like this in light of her eventual suicide because I was furious at how badly written the story was! She is established as married to on-the-rise businessman Robert Vaughn who has no time to help her out, but the first question anyone like me was asking in the opening minutes, "Why are you too cheap to hire a nurse and why didn't you bring this subject up before???" When a story can't establish credibility in its opening act, it loses me completely. This also happened in an episode with Dina Merrill as a woman given a rude shock when sleazy husband Charles Drake (Commodore Stocker from "The Deadly Years") walks out on her in the teaser and the episode is all about her unable to cope and denying reality that her marriage is over. Meanwhile, as the absent Drake who is avoiding seeing her and letting her bills mount up makes her life more miserable, Corey who is treating Dina keeps focusing on "her" problem. The problem is that in the teaser, we learned that Corey *knows* Drake and the question is, "Why aren't you hauling this guy in to read him the riot act for what he's doing to your patient??" But the focus is all supposed to be on the issue of Merrill coping, that again story credibility is nil.

There is only one episode that really lands and that's because of the guest star. "Eleventh Hour" was the first TV series I know of to try and draw from the recent death of Marilyn Monroe so they gave us in effect a Marilyn Monroe story of a young woman thrust into mega-sex symbol stardom but who was always unhappy, always insecure, felt like a "commodity" etc. and who meets a tragic end that was likely suicide influenced by her misery. Julie London plays this part and she isn't playing a copy of Marilyn, she's basically playing her own singing image of the 50s-60s (those who know her only for "Emergency" probably have no idea just how much of a sultry sex symbol she was as a singer). She is an incredible presence to watch and there aren't many filmed shows that allowed her to do this. The story itself is structured like a "Citizen Kane" ripoff (complete with a dying "Rosebud" type last word) but Julie London's performance is the one reason to buy the set for a mostly ineffective early 60s series.


The Invaders-S2 episode "The Pit"

I recently read a book on the long-defunct Pacific Ocean Park (because of my broader interest in the history of the Disney parks and those built as a result of Disneyland's construction) and it made me better appreciate the fact that some 60s TV shows shot some episodes here (most notably the "Fugitive's" final episode). "The Invaders" filmed this episode after the Park had just closed forever so you're seeing the haunting images of a place that has seen its day but the wreckers have yet to come. If you know what the rides and attractions were this and other episodes of other shows shot there are fascinating for that reason.

Star Trek-S1 episode "Mudd's Women"

Probably been 30 years since I really watched this because as a kid I always found "I, Mudd" funny and this episode dull. It's admittedly a different kind of episode from its follow-up so you have to look at it on those terms. Watching it, I was struck at how this, being the second episode in production order shows a show still trying to find itself with Spock doing a lot of smirking and not being as emotionless as we would come to know him. The script I have to say doesn't hold up very well. The chief problem is that the script is really more suitable for a 19th century Western show like "Gunsmoke" than sci-fi if you had Harry Mudd as an outlaw with a group of mail order brides for a mining group being chased by Marshal Dillon. The Rigellian miners all look and dress and act like 19th century Frontiersmen and don't seem like they belong in any future society.

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