DSP's TV Thread (with J.E. Magee) [OT]

by **philliesphhan** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:46:47

"I can't lift weights because....they're so dog gone heavy"

OMGZ BRILLIANT

by **Bill McNeal** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:49:06

NBC wants you to text in and for the cool price of 99 cents they will give you the punch line to :What did the tortilla say when it got to the end of the tightrope.

by **philliesphhan** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:51:43

this comics are so bad, i HAVE to watch

by **Bill McNeal** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:53:50

this guy looks like Shasta mcnasty

by **philliesphhan** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 22:56:15

only 3 go on?

so a white girl, a white lesbian, and a black guy?

sounds like they had to meet a quota
though the guy looks familiar
but ive seen maybe 3 good female comics before

by **Philly the Kid** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 03:53:48

dsp wrote:With The Sopranos now over, the 2006-2007 TV season is over. While the summer does offer good shows (Entourage, Rescue Me, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Weeds) and a lot of reality crap, me being the TV Nerd here, I'll throw out my mock Emmy nominations.

Drama:
Deadwood
Friday Night Lights
Lost
The Sopranos
The Wire

The Sopranos are basically a lock to win it in the real thing, which is sad considering that The Wire is a better show and had the greatest season ever for a TV show. Deadwood is off the radar now but it's 3rd season was superb. Lost, as we know, is quite awesome. FNL was the best show on network TV this year, you all should pick up the DVD.
Pick: The Wire

Well you have a nice list, the only show I didn't see on this list is Friday Night Lights, I caught a few moments here and there... didn't see anything to draw me in? Maybe I need to check it again...

For my money, Deadwood was the best thing going, with Wire and Sopranos running a close 2nd ... Lost is also unique but the acting and filming isn't on the level of the other 3, but the culture and mystery have been pretty good...

Ian McShane, I agree -- he deserves it.

Without Deadwood, Sopranos, and Wire after this final season -- what does HBO have left?

John from Cincinatti was underwhelming though I liked hte mood...
Big Love is ok, not brilliant...

oh well....

by **Philly the Kid** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 03:54:38

I can't say I find Sarah Silverman all that funny but I"m a tough sell. I like smart humor, not stereotypes... she is cute though...

by **MarkdlV** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 07:29:34

Rescue Me seemed like one big commercial for the upcoming FX shows.

by **Philly the Kid** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 18:36:44

Laexile wrote:
This didn't give any resolution to that tension, it was just kind of random. It was peculiar. Sopranos have had a wide range of moods and approaches to a given episode and this one just didn't feel energetically, editing wise and emotionall what I would expect from the end.

I think that was intentional. It wasn't the end. It was just the last episode. Chase didn't build everything up to a big crescendo here. He did resolve certain things (the war with Phil, Christopher v. Tony, Junior, Sil, Paulie, Melfi and Tony, where Meadow and AJ are headed), but he didn't resolve them with rising action leading to a big conclusion. (e.g. Godfather) I was listening to public radio and they had someone on that said the Sex in the City finale wasn't true to the show. Everybody paired off and adopted babies. Apparently that isn't what the show was about.

This show was never about the mob v. the Feds, NY v. NJ, the big score, or Tony retiring. It was about the family next door, who just so happened to be mobbed up. The episode was uneven because that was Chase's format. He didn't do a show that had a beginning, middle, and end with each episode about a story that built to the last ten minutes and was resolved. He could have given you Tony and Junior in the last minute, but he chose to do it in the middle of the episode. While Junior's fate is sealed, the thing that they discussed, the missing money, is not.

David Chase created a show that told the story the way he wanted to tell it. We enjoyed it. But he didn't cater. He told it the way he wanted to the end.

I rewatched it last night and I think I liked it a lot better. I think without the expectations of some kind of build up or big soliloquy or something dramatic, which kept making me restless when I watched it the first time, i felt like they were all over the place , but on second viewing it was actually pretty good and it did bring a kind of closure, just not a stream of consciousness one... "life goes on..." we stepped in, we stepped out... the ending wasn't so bad in a way...

It will be fun to rent it on DVD in a year or two and just watch the whole last 2 seasons or extended final season, however you view it, in sequence over a few days and see how that final episode feels then... I'm glad in may ways that they didn't kill Tony or have him retire, or have him have some fake epiphany, or go to jail, all possibilties to imagine but not spelled out...

I think your analysis nailed it pretty good actually...

by **Laexile** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 18:54:23

Thank you. This show has never followed convention. In one season, the Feds were building a big case against Tony and Adriana was an informant. She was killed. The Feds didn't drop their case, but it was rarely a focus. Chase built up the story with rising action and then... no payoff. Christopher's foray into Hollywood had kind of a beginning and middle, but no real ending. (Well, it did for J.D. Loved that shocker.) We never saw Finn and Meadow break up. In storytelling that would be necessary to complete the story. Furio's flirtation with Carmela? Furio leaves with no explanation. If you watch all the episodes of the series I'm sure you'll see more.

Chase has given a big "up yours" to the way stories have been told for thousands of years. He went in with the idea of a mob family as a normal family and decided he'd tell the story like real life instead. Most things that happen to us don't have a big rising action, a character arc, and a big third act with a long scene for a payoff. So it was a bold decision. While it clearly is one that frustrated people some of the time, the show was enormously popular.

by **pacino** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 21:42:27

MarkdlV wrote:Rescue Me seemed like one big commercial for the upcoming FX shows.

must mean they aren't selling commercial blocks well?

by **ReadingPhilly** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 22:30:20

just caught last night's traveler. it has been great so far, at least to me.

by **Wizlah** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 09:34:21

BBC finally showing second series of Rome over here. Quite excited, although I stupidly peeked on Wikipedia and found out what happened at the end.

by **The Red Tornado** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 09:39:16

Why do Romans have british accents in the movies and TV?

by **Wizlah** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 09:43:16

Quintus in Gladiator was a Yank. He just sounded British . . .

by **Woody** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 09:50:13

The Red Tornado wrote:Why do Romans have british accents in the movies and TV?

Because they have to sound proper, civilized and foreign, and not many people these days understand latin

http://ask.metafilter.com/23506/Why-sho ... nt-English

by **Houshphandzadeh** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 09:52:04

WHAT? Walsh wants to make Medillin in Spanish?! That joker.

by **Wizlah** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:39:30

It should be noted that Ciaran Hinds is not, to the best of my knowledge, British, being one of those lads from Belfast who preferes to carry an Irish Passport. The accent in his name is a dead giveaway as to his national afiliations.

by **Houshphandzadeh** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:23:07

Shows about hookers are always really boring. They usually don't even talk to good-looking hookers.

by **findAcure** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 16:56:36

ReadingPhilly wrote:just caught last night's traveler. it has been great so far, at least to me.

I agree - it's a pretty good storyline, very fast paced - good acting as well.. hope it lasts

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DSP's TV Thread (with J.E. Magee) [OT]