TV Show Thread (Dark Crystal Prequel; The Witcher on Netflix; ABC, Fox's New Shows)

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TV Show Thread vol. 14

Welcome. This thread is for TV show news and discussion. Feel free to talk about your favorite shows in here as we have a lot of TV buffs who regularly post in here. You could also check in to see or ask around what new shows to watch or if they're good or not.

Note: Some of your posts might be copied and re-posted to the show's individual thread.

Tip: If you want to read the post relating to the thread title, go to the last page or use the "Search" function (magnifying glass icon on the upper right corner) because sometimes that particular post will get buried under all the news and discussion.



Link to previous thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/posts/126433691/
 
Dragonlord's Review of Netflix's THE OA

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Created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (remove 4 letters and he'd have the coolest last name ever), The OA revolves around once-blind Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling) who reappears after being missing for seven years and with her eyesight inexplicably restored. She then insists on obnoxiously calling herself "The OA" and what's more pretentious is how it is pronounced (The Oh-Ey or Oh-Whey).

Once she returns home, OA begins to sprout artsy New Age concepts and silly self-help-type nonsense like "invisible self," "reaching the border that is undefined" or "it's about you and Steve and the play cast of two setting classroom over many dimensions through time" that you can't help but think that the show is written by spoken-word poetry hipsters, produced by Gary Busey and funded by the Church of Scientology.

OA suckers convinces five people (Steve, Alfonso, Buck, Jesse and Betty) to leave their front doors open at night and to meet her in an abandoned house. The group clandestinely meet every night where OA recounts her life story and reveals what happened to her during the seven years she was missing.

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As OA begins to tell her story, the opening credits and Rostam Batmanglij's rousing theme music begin to play at the 57 minute mark. Probably the longest cold opening ever, the gimmick was very cool and pretty bold. It's here the show's story begins to shift from a grounded, psychological mystery to a slightly more fantastical science fiction nature.

Born in Russia, OA was once known as Nina, daughter to a rich businessman. Nina once told her father that she had nightmares of drowning, so her father took Nina out on a icy lake and let her bathe in the freezing waters. His logic is to beat the cold, you have to be colder than it. WTF. Good thing Nina didn't dream of dying in a fire then. On the other hand, she'd probably be a great MMA fighter in the future.

Nina drowned and died when she was 8-years-old but was immediately transported to a nebulous limbo afterlife where she was greeted by a gypsy-looking mystical guide named Khatun. Khatun returns Nina back to the living but takes away her eyesight because she "cannot bear for [Nina] to see what lies ahead. It's too horrible." Duh, of course it's horrible, you made her blind, dum dum. It's like, "I see great suffering in your future, so let me slice off your hands then."

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Nina's father sends her to the United States where she eventually ends up being adopted by an American couple. Nina's name was changed to Prairie Johnson. On her 21st birthday, Prairie ran away from home, believing her dead biological father is waiting for her in New York. There, she meets Hap (Jason Isaacs), a scientist who studies people who underwent NDE (Near Death Experience). Prairie naively goes with Hap to his remote house in the woods where he imprisons her in a glass cage alongside three other captives who are also NDE survivors.

What follows are a series of tense, disquieting moments and thrilling escape attempts by the prisoners. It's gripping and entertaining but some of the logic used weren't as airtight like how come Hap conveniently doesn't check his monitors to see his prisoners inhaling the scopolamine gas. Or how lame one of their plans were involving Homer, one of the captives, pretending for four years to be under the effects of the gas instead of trying to overpower Hap or find a makeshift weapon.

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Around the halfway point, the show answers a lot of the nagging questions and opens up the story to a whole new dimension. Prairie starts calling herself The OA, likely meaning "Original Angel," after her latest NDE. The other NDE prisoners are also angels according to OA. Khatun reveals that OA and the angels must work together to thwart a "great evil." The angels have to perform the Movements (more like interpretive dancing) to teleport to another world. The Movements can also heal people or bring them back from the dead. And the reason OA is telling the story to the five people in the present is she wants to teach them the Movements to help rescue her angel friends from Hap.

As the years go by while in captivity, OA and Homer fall in love. Hap brings Homer to Cuba to help abduct another NDE survivor, Renata (Paz Vega). Despite being inside a luxurious hotel filled with people within and outside, Homer still bungles up his escape plan and frustratingly chooses the least smart option which is to comply whatever Hap wants. SMH.

At this point I was getting ready to dismiss the show as a pretty good series but filled with infuriating moments. Then something miraculous happened. OA and Homer brings back one of their friends from the dead by using the Movements. It's a beautifully moving scene and nicely staged from the very start. Though the lyrics doesn't really totally fit the scene, Majical Cloudz's melancholic "Downtown" song was amazing for that segment.

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Having his love for her spurned, Hap leaves OA in the middle of the road and tells her he's moving the other NDE prisoners to a new secret location. (All of this could have been avoided if OA gave Hap an iPad) OA's story comes full circle back to the beginning of the series. And just in time as OA's nightly storytelling sessions are busted by the kids' parents and school principal.

The show does a half-hearted Keyzer Soze twist with Alfonso discovering several books OA brought from Amazon which suggests that her entire story was just make-believe. The OA session group are disheartened to learn this and disbands. Betty gets fired from her teaching job at school. The OA's parents move to a new house and puts her back in medication.

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Several weeks have passed, everything is relatively back to normal at school and the OA session kids are hanging out with their respective group of friends at the cafeteria. Out of nowhere, a lone gunman walks on school grounds and starts shooting. It's an absolute gripping scene as the terrified kids are trapped in the cafeteria. The gunman is now inside the cafeteria. The OA peeps give each other a nervous look and all five quietly understood what they have to do. They stand up to confront the gunman.

At this point my mind was racing through the different scenarios, with one of them being that some of the five or all of them will die trying to overpower the gunman. Incredulously, they perform the Movements. The gunman is perplexed with the synchronized choreography which allows a cafeteria staffer to overpower the attacker.

The dancing finale will polarize viewers. Most will probably hate the dancing and think it's laughable which are totally understandable. For me I thought the ending was an awesome, inspirational piece and even got teary-eyed at the grand, heroic moment. Rostam Batmanglij's stirring theme was magnificent in that scene.

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An hour later and still buzzing from that moving finale, I realized something. Those sneaky bastards [the writers]. They just did a freakin' Star-Lord dance-off distraction maneuver.

The gunman managed to fire off a few rounds before he was tackled. One of the bullets hit OA on the chest who just arrived after getting a premonition and standing outside the cafeteria. OA is taken inside an ambulance and it is implied that the Movements worked and she has left this realm.

The show ends in ambiguity and left to the viewers if OA's tale was true or not. I believe she was telling the truth (otherwise I just wasted 4 hours of backstory for nothing). Aside from the strange or supernatural events following OA when she returned home, my main proof is the fact that OA kept on searching for Homer at the very beginning and how she reacted emotionally looking at Homer's video on YouTube.

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As for the books found in her room, something does not add up. She ordered the books on Amazon and, at most, it takes 1-2 days for the order to arrive. She gained internet access on the same day as her first storytelling session. A fan theory on the internet is that the books were planted by the FBI which is possible considering the circumstances.

Based on the narrative structure, the show is obviously originally meant as a feature film. Same with Stranger Things, it's probably for the best The OA ended up as TV series on Netflix as it gave the show access to a much wider audience compared to Marling and Batmanglij's previous movie collaborations (Sound of My Voice, The East). The duo also seems to be rehashing similar themes, images and ideas from their previous works.

A significant portion of the show is spent on OA's session group and their individual lives but most of their character arcs don't really lead anywhere or pay off tremendously at the end. On one hand, these character could have been more fleshed-out which would have added more substance to the show. On the other hand, I enjoyed the subtle changes some of the characters went through getting to the end and I appreciate the fact that, just like in real life, not everyone is going to get a grandiose Hollywood life-altering conclusion.

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Looking back, some of my complaints about the NDE captives' actions were not so bad and the show made an effort to justify or to give an explanation to why some of the characters acted the way they did. (Yeah I drank the Kool-Aid)

All in all, The OA is an entertaining sci-fi thriller drama blending uneasy, disquieting moments with intriguing metaphysical elements with splashes of pretentiousness and brilliance, including two of the most powerful and moving scenes I've seen on television recently.

Clearly the show is inspired by Gary Busey, who suffered a near-death experience when he had a motorcycle accident and emerged as a philosophical genius and creator of Buseyism.

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Your The OA review is spot on.

My beloved Supergirl is coming back this week, I believe.
 
Iron fist leaked title names gotta say I like most of the title names
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/0...m-and-why-the-dvd-will-be-18-rated-in-the-uk/
Episode 1, Snow Gives Way directed by John Dahl
Episode 2, Shadow Hawk Takes Flight directed by John Dahl
Episode 3, Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch directed by Tom Shankland
Episode 4, Eight Diagram Dragon Palm directed by unknown
Episode 5, Under Leaf Pluck Lotus- directed by Uta Briesewitz
Episode 6, Immortal Emerges From Cave directed by unknown.
Episode 7, Felling With Tree Routes directed by Farren Blackburn (18 for strong bloody violence)
Episode 8, The Blessing Of Many Fractures – directed by Kevin Tancharoen
Episode 9, The Mistress Of All Agonies directed by Jet Wilkinson
Episode 10, unknown
Episode 11, Lead Horse Back To Stable directed by Deborah Chow (12 for mild violence)
Episode 12, unknown
Episode 13, Dragon Plays With Fire directed by Stephen Surjik
 
So, Supergirl wasn't bad, but it had its cheesy moments.

I almost cringed at Alex's attempted breakup with Maggie at the very not secure DEO (where literally anyone can just walk in the door), but I'm glad that they didn't and that Maggie knows about Supergirl. "The glasses don't help." Indeed.

Also, why the fuck did Alex leave Winn alone by the Stargate without any backup? It's simple logic that your only non-field agent, and only person capable of bringing your team and rescue targets back to home, should be guarded by at least a small team of agents.

Winn was the star of the episode, IMO. Basically all of his scenes were great. I liked his anger at James for not even coming to check on him after having a gun pointed at him. Both had ground to stand on too, IMO. For sure, James should at least have checked on him after Winn's first near death experience on the field, but James was also right in that basically all of his friends have near death experiences on a regular basis and he needs to sack up. The "I am not a red shirt!" chanting was hilarious. I do like that they're back to teaming up.

@Dragonlordxxxxx Kara continues to be the only Kree on this entire show. Literally everyone else has gotten laid except her, and she's the one pining after Mon-El.

btw, are they ever going to address that he has the same last name as Kal? Is "El" the Smith of Daxam and Krypton?
 
Does anyone else think that Rick and Morty is overrated? I've heard alot of hype about it but I've been disappointed.
 
Your The OA review is spot on.
Thanks. Didn't realize you also watched The OA since I don't think I've read you commenting on it before.

So, Supergirl wasn't bad, but it had its cheesy moments.

I almost cringed at Alex's attempted breakup with Maggie at the very not secure DEO (where literally anyone can just walk in the door), but I'm glad that they didn't and that Maggie knows about Supergirl. "The glasses don't help." Indeed.

Also, why the fuck did Alex leave Winn alone by the Stargate without any backup? It's simple logic that your only non-field agent, and only person capable of bringing your team and rescue targets back to home, should be guarded by at least a small team of agents.

Winn was the star of the episode, IMO. Basically all of his scenes were great. I liked his anger at James for not even coming to check on him after having a gun pointed at him. Both had ground to stand on too, IMO. For sure, James should at least have checked on him after Winn's first near death experience on the field, but James was also right in that basically all of his friends have near death experiences on a regular basis and he needs to sack up. The "I am not a red shirt!" chanting was hilarious. I do like that they're back to teaming up.

@Dragonlordxxxxx Kara continues to be the only Kree on this entire show. Literally everyone else has gotten laid except her, and she's the one pining after Mon-El.

btw, are they ever going to address that he has the same last name as Kal? Is "El" the Smith of Daxam and Krypton?
Agree with everything you said.

I think Supergirl is a... Kreeptonian. <45>

I'm still meh-watching on Supergirl but I think Mon-El is the best thing that happened on the show for season 2. His charming, politically-incorrect character is a good fit with Kara and they have great chemistry.
 
Does anyone else think that Rick and Morty is overrated? I've heard alot of hype about it but I've been disappointed.
I've only watched the first episode a long time ago. Though it didn't immediately click with me, I could see how the show could be a hit to many.
 
I gave up on Supergirl for the season. It has just been painful. At least when the other DC shows lack on story, they keep their action tight.
 
Shotgun Axe.......



Serious though I don't like this whole plot on Agents of Shield with the LMDs. The first half with Ghost Rider was awesome but this new plot is terrible.
 
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Thanks. Didn't realize you also watched The OA since I don't think I've read you commenting on it before.
I super binged it because I thought it was amazing and couldn't stop watching. I was going to comment on it until I got to the last episode and raged.

Then I watched Westworld, Humans, and Crazyhead and all was forgotten.

Agree with everything you said.

I think Supergirl is a... Kreeptonian. <45>

I'm still meh-watching on Supergirl but I think Mon-El is the best thing that happened on the show for season 2. His charming, politically-incorrect character is a good fit with Kara and they have great chemistry.
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I like Mon-El too. They do have great chemistry.

One thing that's pissing me off though is that they kinda just glossed over that Lena Luthor just saved the entire city's alien population, and they didn't even address it? They can't even give a small one minute "thanks" scene or something?

Ofc, part of my ire is because Katie McGrath is nice to look at, but I mean... c'mon?

I gave up on Supergirl for the season. It has just been painful. At least when the other DC shows lack on story, they keep their action tight.
I specifically watch it because it's mostly lighthearted and easy on the neurons. It's my "turn off the brain" superhero show.

Also, as far as drama goes, it's the one CW show that doesn't make it largely forced. Look at Arrow and Flash, where they literally manufacture their own interpersonal conflicts. If there's no reason for the team to be fighting among themselves, oh they're definitely going to find some bullshit reason for that to change. Whereas in Supergirl, any interpersonal conflicts among the core cast are largely justified. It doesn't feel forced or downright stupid.

Look at the "best teamup ever" 4 part crossover. Oliver tried his Arrow-level drama manufacturing by telling Kara to sit one out because she's an alien and "an unknown quantity." It was fucking dumb. It was also something that wouldn't happen in SG.

Shotgun Axe.......



Serious though I don't like this whole plot on Agents of Shield with the LMDs. The first half with Ghost Rider was awesome but this new plot is terrible.
Yeah, I was surprised at how well the integrated GR into AoS.

I'm still willing to give the LMD thing a shot. If anything, it makes Radcliffe's characterization more believable, as he's finally acting in the same manner he used to when he was first introduced.
 
I've only watched the first episode a long time ago. Though it didn't immediately click with me, I could see how the show could be a hit to many.

Not sure it's your thing but I absolutely loved it.

Watch a few more episodes.
 
It's Official: Fox Orders Matt Nix's Live-Action X-MEN Drama to Pilot

X-Men-James-Jean-012417-Dragonlord.jpg


It's official: Fox is moving forward with its highly anticipated live-action X-Men drama. The network on Tuesday handed out a formal pilot order to its untitled Marvel action-adventure drama, THR has learned.

From Burn Notice grad and APB showrunner Matt Nix, the drama focuses on two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.

Diehard X-Men fan Nix will pen the script for the "action-adventure" project and serve as showrunner on the potential series, which hails from 20th Century Fox TV and Marvel TV. Nix exec produces alongside X-Men franchise veterans Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg as well as Marvel's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.

Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Nix said the Fox drama — unlike Noah Hawley's upcoming X-Men take Legion is connected to the larger X-Men universe.

Fox Orders Live-Action 'X-Men' Pilot From Bryan Singer, Matt Nix and Marvel TV
 
I gave up on Supergirl for the season. It has just been painful. At least when the other DC shows lack on story, they keep their action tight.
The most infuriating thing about Supergirl show is when she fights less than powerful foes (like thugs with laser guns) is her lack of Fight I.Q. There's always going to be PIS (Plot Induced Stupidity) but at least make an effort to make it more believable.
 
Shotgun Axe.......



Serious though I don't like this whole plot on Agents of Shield with the LMDs. The first half with Ghost Rider was awesome but this new plot is terrible.
If you watched the other current CW shows (Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow), Agents of SHIELD: LMD is still far better than any of them.

Same with what Ippy said, I'm still interested in where they go with the LMD storyline. So far, Agents of SHIELD storylines always pay off big time near the end.
 
Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80

marytylermooreshow002b-h_2017.jpg


Mary Tyler Moore, whose roles as a perky housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and as a spunky, single working woman in her eponymous ’70s sitcom made her America’s sweetheart, has died, her rep Mara Buxbaum confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 80.

"Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," Buxbaum said in a statement.

Moore played opposite her TV persona and received an Oscar nomination for her performance as an icy mother struggling to connect with her son in Robert Redford’s best-picture winner Ordinary People (1980).

The six-time Emmy Award winner had elective surgery in May 2012 to remove what is known as a meningioma, or benign tumor of the lining tissue of her brain.

Moore starred opposite Dick Van Dyke as suburban stay-at-home mom Laura Petrie from 1961-66, then played Mary Richards — a hard-luck loser in love who moves across the state to Minneapolis and gets a job at local TV station WJM for the 6 o’clock news — from 1970-77.

The latter represented a bold move for a series’ main character to be an independent, never-married woman, and Moore became an icon for the feminist movement.

Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80
 
Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80

marytylermooreshow002b-h_2017.jpg


Mary Tyler Moore, whose roles as a perky housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and as a spunky, single working woman in her eponymous ’70s sitcom made her America’s sweetheart, has died, her rep Mara Buxbaum confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 80.

"Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," Buxbaum said in a statement.

Moore played opposite her TV persona and received an Oscar nomination for her performance as an icy mother struggling to connect with her son in Robert Redford’s best-picture winner Ordinary People (1980).

The six-time Emmy Award winner had elective surgery in May 2012 to remove what is known as a meningioma, or benign tumor of the lining tissue of her brain.

Moore starred opposite Dick Van Dyke as suburban stay-at-home mom Laura Petrie from 1961-66, then played Mary Richards — a hard-luck loser in love who moves across the state to Minneapolis and gets a job at local TV station WJM for the 6 o’clock news — from 1970-77.

The latter represented a bold move for a series’ main character to be an independent, never-married woman, and Moore became an icon for the feminist movement.

Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80
Sad, she had spunk. RIP.

I grew up watching shows like Dick Van Dyke and MTM Show - I even watched Rhoda, the spin off.
 
It's Official: Fox Orders Matt Nix's Live-Action X-MEN Drama to Pilot

X-Men-James-Jean-012417-Dragonlord.jpg


It's official: Fox is moving forward with its highly anticipated live-action X-Men drama. The network on Tuesday handed out a formal pilot order to its untitled Marvel action-adventure drama, THR has learned.

From Burn Notice grad and APB showrunner Matt Nix, the drama focuses on two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.

Diehard X-Men fan Nix will pen the script for the "action-adventure" project and serve as showrunner on the potential series, which hails from 20th Century Fox TV and Marvel TV. Nix exec produces alongside X-Men franchise veterans Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg as well as Marvel's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.

Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Nix said the Fox drama — unlike Noah Hawley's upcoming X-Men take Legion is connected to the larger X-Men universe.

Fox Orders Live-Action 'X-Men' Pilot From Bryan Singer, Matt Nix and Marvel TV

If it's on FOX, if it's any good it will get canceled.
 
Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80

marytylermooreshow002b-h_2017.jpg


Mary Tyler Moore, whose roles as a perky housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and as a spunky, single working woman in her eponymous ’70s sitcom made her America’s sweetheart, has died, her rep Mara Buxbaum confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 80.

"Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," Buxbaum said in a statement.

Moore played opposite her TV persona and received an Oscar nomination for her performance as an icy mother struggling to connect with her son in Robert Redford’s best-picture winner Ordinary People (1980).

The six-time Emmy Award winner had elective surgery in May 2012 to remove what is known as a meningioma, or benign tumor of the lining tissue of her brain.

Moore starred opposite Dick Van Dyke as suburban stay-at-home mom Laura Petrie from 1961-66, then played Mary Richards — a hard-luck loser in love who moves across the state to Minneapolis and gets a job at local TV station WJM for the 6 o’clock news — from 1970-77.

The latter represented a bold move for a series’ main character to be an independent, never-married woman, and Moore became an icon for the feminist movement.

Mary Tyler Moore, Sweetheart of American Television, Dies at 80

Damn you 2017!
 
Sad, she had spunk. RIP.

I grew up watching shows like Dick Van Dyke and MTM Show - I even watched Rhoda, the spin off.
Crazy thing is, Valerie Harper is still kicking years after the brain cancer diagnosis.
 
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