It's Only People Pretending: New TV thread

[Nick Ink]

We watched the first 3 episodes of the Swedish/Danish murder mystery "The Bridge" last night. A bit gruesome, a bit derivative, but a lot more interesting than 90% of this type of thing. Anyone watching that?

[dieblucasdie]

How can you can Dan Harmon? He IS Community, I thought?

Yeah, I can't see how the show could really be the same without him, especially given that his replacements are the two guys who did "Just Shoot Me".

Yeah, this shit makes no sense. Why not just cancel it? But yeah, both Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase are terrible people.

[elpollodiablo]

This frees Harmon up for more prestige work with Sarah Silverman.

[dieblucasdie]

Oh man, after reading a little more about it, it seems that, in addition to Harmon's shitty personality/managerial style, part of NBC's beef is that they've always wanted Community to be a more straightfoward show about wacky hijinks on a college campus. And it's not just Harmon; it will be an almost entirely new writers' room. How awesome/hilarious would it be if Community comes back, gets shittier, and becomes a modest King-of-Queens-style hit that runs for 13 seasons and then in perpetuity in syndication? hahahaha

[elpollodiablo]

D is watching Girls while she packs, and I kind of passively caught most of two episodes. Whatever else she may be, Lena Dunham ain't much of a comic actress.

[jebreject]

Oh man, after reading a little more about it, it seems that, in addition to Harmon's shitty personality/managerial style, part of NBC's beef is that they've always wanted Community to be a more straightfoward show about wacky hijinks on a college campus. And it's not just Harmon; it will be an almost entirely new writers' room. How awesome/hilarious would it be if Community comes back, gets shittier, and becomes a modest King-of-Queens-style hit that runs for 13 seasons and then in perpetuity in syndication? hahahaha

Oh god, this would be far, far worse a fate than it being cancelled

[peacocks]

Girls is funny

I watched a couple more episodes at my dads house the other weekend and liked it better although thinking back to them I feel like they were pretty dumb, mainly the abortion one. Since they are on hbo and I would have to really like it to download it I can't ever watch it really so whatever. What Lena dunhams character says while getting tested for stds is really close to what went through my mind when I got tested last, too. But jees, was that not the darkest dr.'s examination room?

[nonotyet]

Oh man, after reading a little more about it, it seems that, in addition to Harmon's shitty personality/managerial style, part of NBC's beef is that they've always wanted Community to be a more straightfoward show about wacky hijinks on a college campus. And it's not just Harmon; it will be an almost entirely new writers' room. How awesome/hilarious would it be if Community comes back, gets shittier, and becomes a modest King-of-Queens-style hit that runs for 13 seasons and then in perpetuity in syndication? hahahaha

NBC is only ordering 13 episodes for next season, which from what I understand is less than the amount you need to get syndication, and it is going to air on FRIDAYS. After WHITNEY. Which either means it will be dead after next season or will continue on Fridays forever.   

[elpollodiablo]

The last two episodes of Veep have been a bit stronger! Surprisingly, JLD might be my favorite part of the show.

[jebreject]

Last night's Girls was really bad, all the way up until the parents sex incident and then the last scene, all which was pretty good.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I was wondering if anyone not working in politics thinks this show is funny.

The last two episodes of Veep have been a bit stronger! Surprisingly, JLD might be my favorite part of the show.

[edison]

Veep continues to bore me

[elpollodiablo]

I was wondering if anyone not working in politics thinks this show is funny.

The last two episodes of Veep have been a bit stronger! Surprisingly, JLD might be my favorite part of the show.

I wouldn't think working in politics adds much to it, since it's not very specific to its idiom. Very little of the humor is insider-y enough that it would be lost on the casual viewer, I think. It could easily take place in another type of working environment--you could probably drop a lot of these jokes into a similar sitcom about a corporate executive or entertainment mogul, for instance. That's actually part of the weakness of the show, I think; The Thick of It was much more particular to the world of British politics.

[edison]

That's actually part of the weakness of the show, I think; The Thick of It was much more particular to the world of British politics.

Yeah, Veep kind of seems to... float, I don't know? There's definitely not enough meat to it.

[milly balgeary]

Last night's Girls was really bad, all the way up until the parents sex incident and then the last scene, all which was pretty good.

I dunno man, I enjoyed the strange, hopeful, wistful beginning of romance with the pharmacist. That show continues to to be the one I look forward to each week when it comes to TV

[milly balgeary]

D is watching Girls while she packs, and I kind of passively caught most of two episodes. Whatever else she may be, Lena Dunham ain't much of a comic actress.

If you mean a comic actress like something on aTim Allen sitcom, point is sound. For the purpose of Girls, she's totally charming and does a great job.

[dieblucasdie]

I was wondering if anyone not working in politics thinks this show is funny.

The last two episodes of Veep have been a bit stronger! Surprisingly, JLD might be my favorite part of the show.

I wouldn't think working in politics adds much to it, since it's not very specific to its idiom. Very little of the humor is insider-y enough that it would be lost on the casual viewer, I think. It could easily take place in another type of working environment--you could probably drop a lot of these jokes into a similar sitcom about a corporate executive or entertainment mogul, for instance. That's actually part of the weakness of the show, I think; The Thick of It was much more particular to the world of British politics.

Sure, but that's why Iannucci picked the Office of the Vice President! The komedy stems from the fact these people are vaguely important on a cosmetic level, but utterly, utterly unimportant on any real institutional level. So they get hammered for their fuck-ups immediately, but they are the only ones who even notice their victories.  The show lets you laugh at people who give world-historical import to the most banal shit, but also lets you sorta root for them, because at least they aren't the assholes upstairs. It's only going to get better as they learn which notes work and which don't.

[jebreject]

Last night's Girls was really bad, all the way up until the parents sex incident and then the last scene, all which was pretty good.

I dunno man, I enjoyed the strange, hopeful, wistful beginning of romance with the pharmacist. That show continues to to be the one I look forward to each week when it comes to TV

Yeah, I'm actually liking the episode more in retrospect. I just thought the blond girl/dancer character rang really false to me and was kind of a mean-spirited characterization. I also like the show better as an ensemble, and I really missed the other characters. It was nice to see Adam as someone that's actually charming and nice sometimes. It's good to see what Hannah sees in him.

[coldforge]

The little Veep I've seen, the difference seems to me that the British are much more comfortable ascending to ianucci's brand of verbal virtuosity for the purposes of humor. The strains of humor that these Americans trade in, they immediately seem palpably uncomfortable engaging in his trademark unrealistic flights of fancy, 'fuckity fuckity yes' or whatever it is, where Malcolm Tucker would have completely sold that same line. If only because Matt Walsh, tony Hale and JLD are all great, lifelike performers—what they essentially traffic in is in some way fundamentally different from the cruel intellectualism that British comic actors can tend to aspire to. 

[elpollodiablo]

D is watching Girls while she packs, and I kind of passively caught most of two episodes. Whatever else she may be, Lena Dunham ain't much of a comic actress.

If you mean a comic actress like something on aTim Allen sitcom, point is sound. For the purpose of Girls, she's totally charming and does a great job.

If you threw her line readings in a river they'd float around for a while until beavers made a dam out of them

[peacocks]

burn! Her comedic style is based in blog culture. watching girls is like reading thehairpin.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

burn! Her comedic style is based in blog culture. watching girls is like reading thehairpin.

yeah this is why i can't watch it

[elpollodiablo]

burn! Her comedic style is based in blog culture. watching girls is like reading thehairpin.

yeah this is why i can't watch it

[milly balgeary]

Oh come on! She's not that bad....is she?

[jebreject]

I don't think so