Television

Indymisanthrope said:
I remember that there have been criticisms on that site for years that "this writer is just summarizing plot without offering any actual analysis," and I used to roll my eyes for the most part. But the steep dropoff since the G/O purchase is stunning every time I revisit the site. Atlanta is admittedly a very nuanced show with layers and layers of commentary and surrealism and subtlety and and and and, but the guy who recapped the third season just...ignores most of what's interesting about the show. What's the point of even writing up a show if all you have to say about it is variations on "man, isn't this great" (it's a paycheck for a freelancer who's trying to make rent and doesn't have time for thoughtfulness, to your larger point).

The problem is endemic to the whole site, but shows like Atlanta in particular are works that deserve entire semester-long discussion courses at small liberal arts colleges. To just summarize the events on screen is to do a disservice not only to the readers but to the creative team itself. A sad whimper of an end to a site that was once the flagship for regarding TV as art worthy of serious criticism.
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wokeupnew said:
After I finish watching something, I sometimes think "ah I wonder what the AV Club thought of this episode!" (see: This past Sunday's Bob's Burgers) but then I remember how they've gone to shit. I learned about and watched SO MANY shows because of them back in the day. Community, Happy Endings, Suburgatory, Pushing Daisies, Broad City, You're The Worst, etc... I might have eventually come around to watching those shows, but The AV Club turned me onto them early which made me and them feel like we were in the cool club.
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Yeah, it really was excellent. In their prime AV Club was not only doing fantastic TV coverage of the ongoing Peak TV but they were also doing amazing season long, show-by-show recaps of series that had already gone off the air in their TV Club pieces. I rewatched Cheers and The Adventures of Pete & Pete for the first time as an adult mainly because of those write ups, they just did a brilliant job ap creating worthwhile content.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Honorable mention to the Disqus comment sections pre-Kinja. You might not always get a review that discussed what caught your eye, but you were almost guaranteed to find dozens if not hundreds of insightful comments and observations to continue the conversation. Kinja suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks
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Completely! I was more of a lurker (mainly because my work at the time really didn’t allow for me to participate in the conversation) but like you stated, sometimes the conversations were just as good as the write ups and lots of times the writer of the piece would join in on the conversation which added to the discussion.
 
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yeah I think the AV Club reviews are terrible now. I used to read them all the times for shows I was watching. But the things they do criticize in reviews often confused me and doesn’t seem like legit criticism. Mostly though I just think they are super bland these days. Sometimes I go there for movie/tv news, but even that is spotty.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Speaking of AV Clubs sad current state…
www.avclub.com

The 50 best HBO shows of all time

The 50 best HBO shows of all time
www.avclub.com www.avclub.com
This list is chocked full of recency bias and just kinda weird overall.
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Also 50 is kind of a big number; that leaves the list feeling like they just named shows and ordered them by which they remembered first.

And a slideshow…ffs.
 
Bull Shannon said:
Also 50 is kind of a big number; that leaves the list feeling like they just named shows and ordered them by which they remembered first.

And a slideshow…ffs.
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The full list:

  1. 50. True Blood
  2. 49. Band Of Brothers
  3. 48. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark
  4. 47. Big Love
  5. 46. Industry
  6. 45. House Of The Dragon
  7. 44. The Righteous Gemstones
  8. 43. Eastbound & Down
  9. 42. The Kids In The Hall
  10. 41. True Detective
  11. 40. Boardwalk Empire
  12. 39. Our Flag Means Death
  13. 38. The Rehearsal
  14. 37. Enlightened
  15. 36. Mr. Show With Bob And David
  16. 35. The Jinx
  17. 34. Search Party
  18. 33. Harley Quinn
  19. 32. Los Espookys
  20. 31. The Night Of
  21. 30. The Flight Attendant
  22. 29. I May Destroy You
  23. 28. Mare Of Easttown
  24. 27. Curb Your Enthusiasm
  25. 26. Hacks
  26. 25. Flight Of The Conchords
  27. 24. Euphoria
  28. 23. The Leftovers
  29. 22. Lovecraft Country
  30. 21. Station Eleven
  31. 20. Silicon Valley
  32. 19. The Larry Sanders Show
  33. 18. Insecure
  34. 17. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
  35. 16. Chernobyl
  36. 15. The Other Two
  37. 14. Girls
  38. 13. Six Feet Under
  39. 12. Sex And The City
  40. 11. Watchmen
  41. 10. Big Little Lies
  42. 9. The White Lotus
  43. 8. Veep
  44. 7. Deadwood
  45. 6. The Comeback
  46. 5. Game Of Thrones
  47. 4. Barry
  48. 3. Succession
  49. 2. The Sopranos
  50. 1. The Wire
I'm a pretty big fan of The Other Two, but to put it (and Girls, and Sex and The City) ahead of Curb, Larry Sanders and Silicon Valley? Indefensible.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Speaking of AV Clubs sad current state…
www.avclub.com

The 50 best HBO shows of all time

The 50 best HBO shows of all time
www.avclub.com www.avclub.com
This list is chocked full of recency bias and just kinda weird overall.
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My Top 25

01. The Sopranos
02. Deadwood
03. The Wire
04. Band Of Brothers
05. Succession
06. The Leftovers
07. Game Of Thrones
08. Curb Your Enthusiasm
09. Larry Sanders Show
10. Barry
11. Mr. Show
12. Veep
13. Girls
14. Flight Of The Conchords
15. Silicone Valley
16. The White Lotus
17. Treme
18. Tales From The Crypt
19. The Deuce
20. True Detective
21. Luck
22. Eastbound & Down
23. Vice-Principals
24. Righteous Gemstones
25. Station Elevon/Watchmen (tie)
 
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Jeff Lerner said:
The full list:

  1. 50. True Blood
  2. 49. Band Of Brothers
  3. 48. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark
  4. 47. Big Love
  5. 46. Industry
  6. 45. House Of The Dragon
  7. 44. The Righteous Gemstones
  8. 43. Eastbound & Down
  9. 42. The Kids In The Hall
  10. 41. True Detective
  11. 40. Boardwalk Empire
  12. 39. Our Flag Means Death
  13. 38. The Rehearsal
  14. 37. Enlightened
  15. 36. Mr. Show With Bob And David
  16. 35. The Jinx
  17. 34. Search Party
  18. 33. Harley Quinn
  19. 32. Los Espookys
  20. 31. The Night Of
  21. 30. The Flight Attendant
  22. 29. I May Destroy You
  23. 28. Mare Of Easttown
  24. 27. Curb Your Enthusiasm
  25. 26. Hacks
  26. 25. Flight Of The Conchords
  27. 24. Euphoria
  28. 23. The Leftovers
  29. 22. Lovecraft Country
  30. 21. Station Eleven
  31. 20. Silicon Valley
  32. 19. The Larry Sanders Show
  33. 18. Insecure
  34. 17. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
  35. 16. Chernobyl
  36. 15. The Other Two
  37. 14. Girls
  38. 13. Six Feet Under
  39. 12. Sex And The City
  40. 11. Watchmen
  41. 10. Big Little Lies
  42. 9. The White Lotus
  43. 8. Veep
  44. 7. Deadwood
  45. 6. The Comeback
  46. 5. Game Of Thrones
  47. 4. Barry
  48. 3. Succession
  49. 2. The Sopranos
  50. 1. The Wire
I'm a pretty big fan of The Other Two, but to put it (and Girls, and Sex and The City) ahead of Curb, Larry Sanders and Silicon Valley? Indefensible.
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Barry is good, but 4th? ALL TIME?

EDIT: just noticed that Oz is nowhere to be found...

michaelscott-cproffice.gif
 
I’m actually not sure that I’ve seen Band of Brothers before. I don’t think so? My obsessive watching tv era was years and years ago and I watched A LOT of tv. I do know that I’ve seen The Pacific and loved it. The obvious answer to my question of “should I watch Band of Brothers?” Is “yes!” But are the two comparable? Is BoB better than The Pacific or vice-versa?

Edit: LOL I had no idea the Pacific was a companion piece to BoB
 
wokeupnew said:
I’m actually not sure that I’ve seen Band of Brothers before. I don’t think so? My obsessive watching tv era was years and years ago and I watched A LOT of tv. I do know that I’ve seen The Pacific and loved it. The obvious answer to my question of “should I watch Band of Brothers?” Is “yes!” But are the two comparable? Is BoB better than The Pacific or vice-versa?

Edit: LOL I had no idea the Pacific was a companion piece to BoB
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It doesn’t matter how many times I have seen BoB, it always makes me cry. It’s really a lovely show. I haven’t watched the Pacific but I’m not sure if it can top BoB.
 
wokeupnew said:
I’m actually not sure that I’ve seen Band of Brothers before. I don’t think so? My obsessive watching tv era was years and years ago and I watched A LOT of tv. I do know that I’ve seen The Pacific and loved it. The obvious answer to my question of “should I watch Band of Brothers?” Is “yes!” But are the two comparable? Is BoB better than The Pacific or vice-versa?

Edit: LOL I had no idea the Pacific was a companion piece to BoB
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BoB is terrific.
 
wokeupnew said:
I’m actually not sure that I’ve seen Band of Brothers before. I don’t think so? My obsessive watching tv era was years and years ago and I watched A LOT of tv. I do know that I’ve seen The Pacific and loved it. The obvious answer to my question of “should I watch Band of Brothers?” Is “yes!” But are the two comparable? Is BoB better than The Pacific or vice-versa?

Edit: LOL I had no idea the Pacific was a companion piece to BoB
Click to expand...
Pacific was good but Band Of Brothers is about 100 times better. I was kinda disappointed in Pacific when I first watched it because I was expecting a sequel of sorts but The Pacific Is an adaptation of a complete different source and was quite a bit more disjointed than Band Of Brothers. What makes Band Of Brothers so Excellent is that the story focus entirely on Easy Company of the 101st Airborne, each episode focuses on different members of the company but all of the characters stay fairly consistent throughout the show. I feel like The Pacific they jumped around a bit too much that you never cared about the characters in the same way. Don’t get me wrong I still think The Pacific is quite good it just pales when compared to Band of Brothers which in my opinion, is the greatest war story ever put to film, better than even the best war movies.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The yeah the top 3 for me could be in any order as long as they are The Wire, The Sopranos, and Deadwood.

TBH, I should probably Add Treme, The Deuce, and We Own The City, to my top 25 list.
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I've not watched Deadwood yet, so I can't speak to it, but fully agree with The Wire and Sopranos at 1 and 2. And fully disagree with Oz not being on the least at all.
 
I thought the execution of the overall theme of season 1 was sharper and the characters more grounded in their ridiculousness. BUT I liked the first half of season 2 better. IMO, the last 3-4 episodes kept hammering the same beats with barely any movement forward and hinting repeatedly at what ended up being their telegraphed resolutions. Jennifer Coolidge’s thread was the only one that had some surprises and it was also the most ridiculous and cartoonish storyline by a wide margin. I still enjoyed the ride though and look forward to season 3.

IMO, Ethan and Daphne didn’t have sex. I think they just let each other know that they could be in control and reckless, if they wanted to be. And knowing that he could score the hot girl/his frenemy’s woman seemed to be enough for Ethan to finally overcome his nerd/little guy complex and drop his nice guy facade and channel his Steve Zahn gorilla energy. Being hugely successful didn’t do it but feeling like he could bone someone else’s lady like a d-bag did the trick. I think the point is that both couples are more similar than either want to believe and it’s a big, gross, sexy, rich, sad ball of privilege, etc.
 
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