The TV thread

I used to like him when they started Talking Dead. Now, I can only stomach the first 5-10 minutes of that show.

 

Hell, the only time I watched all of Talking Dead was after the premier this season. I don't know what it is about the show that makes me hate it anymore, but it was must watch for a while there.

 

I saw Hardwick's standup on Comedy Central, and it was pretty good. But damn, is he getting over-exposed.

 

Watched the first episode. It was like Jeopardy meets Plinko. I was sucked in and actually felt invested in the contestants.

 

It's rigged.

 

His podcast is still good, and he's gotten better as an interviewer over the years on that. Less shameless sucking up (although still some of it) and more getting stories and gags from the guests. I finally circled back to some good ones with Fred Savage and Patrick Stewart.

 

Netflix added the latest entry in CNN and Tom Hanks's series on each decade (it started with the Sixties).

I was born in 1981, but I have vivid memories of the Eighties, the subject of the latest 8 episodes. I often ask my parents about those days (and find out my memories are usually spot on after about 1985...I must have been an observant child). I'm fascinated by the whole decade and how things kept changing so fast.

The first two episodes are about the TV landscape, from the action shows, the primetime soaps, and the new sitcoms. Who shot JR?

There's an episode on Reagan, which I thought was a fair look at his presidency, good and bad. An episode on the Cold War and his summits with Gorbachov. An episode on the tech boom. An episode on music and MTV. An episode on the Wall Street and other fianancial scandals (remember the televangelists? Jim and Tammy Faye were the highlight of that portion, but I think Robert Tilton was always my favorite. I used to watch just because he could crack me up with his shit.) Trump was featured a bit. One interviewer from the time asked if he had political ambitions. "No." I guess you can always change your mind after 30 years.

 

Fortitude on Amazon Prime is must-see, spine-tingling TV. Especially every scene with Stanley Tucci.

 

Has anybody watched Emerald City? I hadn't planned to, but apparently it made Dorothy from my hometown, so I might have to check it out.

 

I would have never guessed it, but I've come to like "Superstore" on NBC. An ensemble cast that plays off each other well. It would have to go a ways before I compare it to "The Office," but it does have that kind of vibe.

 

I watched it. Can't say I loved it. It was so out of the realm of the source movie. It's like they took the Wicked books and brought them to life and even made Glinda a bitch (and I wasn't a huge fan of that book series either, I did really like the musical though).
And the Latino Dorothy is a 6.

 

That show kind of flew under the radar a couple years ago when it first came out, because it was on some bizarre network. (Wikipedia says Pivot, whatever that is.) A second season premieres Jan. 26.