The TV thread

Binging it right now. Pretty damn good. Ray Romano is hilarious in it.

I would actually say it's Casino set in NYC. Scorsese influence is clear. Similar lighting and music on the scenes at night in bars and clubs.

Doesn't hurt that Mad Men and Casino are two of my 5 favorites in TV and movies so I'll probably watch it all.

 

So Billy and Billie just ended tonight. I had no idea it was supposed to come back tonight, but Season 2 ended up being a one-hour episode in documentary form.

I loved this show's 10-episode first season. It got strong reviews. Apparently they couldn't get all the relevant actors back for Season 2. So they shot a one-hour "documentary" wrapping up all the plots. Sad.

And finding any news stories on it is damn near impossible, too.

 

Binge watched Narcos over the past couple of weeks. A perfectly serviceable show with some decent actors and some middling ones, but overall nothing special .

I'm also working my way through Justified and up to the beginning of the third season. The second season was excellent but I can't believe that there are four more seasons of the same type of story.

 

Good way of putting how I felt about Justified after binging the first 3 or so seasons. Some shows just weren't made to be watched like that.

 

As Justified goes on it gives some seasons a different feel. It's one of my favorite all time shows, though I'm not sure they ever quite match the quality of Season 2. Wynn Duffy becomes a bigger character, which is great. Season 4 is more of a season-long mystery story and if you liked Deadwood there's some great reunion stuff.

The show is definitely worth sticking out if only to see the whole story of Raylan and Boyd.

 

'The Americans' started last night.
Have not had a chance to watch yet. Might not be able until Sunday.
Best show on tv

 

I didn't like the Raylon/Boyd confrontation that ended the series. It felt forced. It was kind of lame.
Ava's ending was a great payoff to me.

 

SPOILER ALERT:

Yeah, finding Ava was the better part of the ending. But the little boy having his top button buttoned was so on the nose it was funny.

 

I read Pronto, which Raylon book do I read next?

10 episodes in on Daredevil and I'm beginning to dislike Matt/Daredevil. Spoiler kind of:















When your enemy reappears, again and again, maybe it's time to start killing them? I get the literary device of not killing, it's the moral high ground and it keeps good characters around. But as a continuing narrative, how smart can you be if you have to fight the same battle over and over again?

And this unified Universe of characters makes no sense sometimes. If The Punisher is truly that much of a problem, where's Spider-Man? Jessica Jones I can see not wanting to participate in getting Frank, besides being out of the game, she's probably sympathetic.

 

I'm about halfway through and I like it.
I can see your point and it's apt. If he really wanted to selflessly make the city safe he'd take same approach as the Punisher.
He wrestled with it a bit in S1 and it's a touch point this season. Probably come up again and again.
The hero code is something I'm just accepting, like super-powered senses.

 

Fire In The Hole is the short story that's the Justified pilot. It's worth a read.

 

Some quick TV thoughts from this season:

Not sure how they hell Galafinakis/Louis C.K. made a show about an aspiring clown work, but they did, and Baskets ended up being one of the best shows I saw all year. Just wrapped up the season on demand last night. Louie Anderson seriously killed the role as the Baskets' matriarch. There was a weird, cinematic poignancy about the entire season that make it easy and fun to watch. Very curious to see where they go from here.

Togetherness on HBO got canceled, which is a shame. It's typical Duplass brothers, but really well done. Awesomely shot. Emotionally powerful. I feel like I'm the male counterpart of Amanda Peet's character, which is probably why I'm so drawn to the show. Really good use of music as well. I'm going to miss it when the run ends in a couple of weeks.

Broad City on Comedy Central continues to slay. The Blake Griffin cameo this week was fantastic.