Whatchu Watchin?

[Jumpin]

• For All Mankind, finished I up S3 (I’ve watched S1 three times and S2 twice). The show is probably my favourite thing on right now, replacing Better Call Saul and The Witcher. For anyone not familiar, it’s an alternative history about the space race, asking the question “What if the space race didn’t end in 1972?” the show begins with a certain event in the 1960s (I won’t spoil it, and I recommend going into the series without spoiling it), the show moves into the 70s by episode 3, and then S2 is in the 80s, S3 the 1990s, and S4 begins in 2003 (in the real world this was when the US invaded Iraq). Technology, politics, and even the nations of the world, are quite a bit different than the real world, but some events repeat themselves, but in different and interesting ways. The further we get from the change in timeline, the more different things become, so S2 was a departure, but S3 was a much bigger departure as we’re already ahead of the 2020s by 1992 in terms of space tech: computer/phone technology is also about 15 years ahead (like ~2005 level), everyone is using iPhone-form factor smartphones by the early 1990s, likely based on iPhone prototypes, flat screens, etc… so I’m looking very forward to S4 which will be out around Summer 2023.

• Better Call Saul, I have yet to see the final portion of it, but I will once it gets to streaming services.

• The Boys, another one of my favourites, I’m currently rewatching the whole series before getting into the latest episodes released earlier this year. Anyone not familiar with this, it’s a story about what super heroes would probably be like, and takes the focus from a super hero group and instead puts it onto a rebel anti-super hero group—led by Billy Butcher, a British badass played by Karl Urban who calls everyone a cunt—one of the gags is how he switches it up as a term of endearment and an insult through the series, and this confuses the hell out of some of the characters. If you liked the tone of the film Watchmen, you’ll probably love this—it’s a little bit different as Watchmen is heavily film noir inspired and the Boys is more In Bruges, but has a similar kind of grit.

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, hands down my favourite comedy show currently on. Currently in the middle of a long rewatch. Up to S6. It’s one of those shows where I have so many favourite episodes I can’t choose, unlike say The Office where it is clearly “Dinner Party” and that IMO is like an average Always Sunny episode. Just me, this type of crass and “offensive” humour isn’t for everyone. :)

• Rings of Power, is my current “show I’m most excited about” because it’s just starting, going to watch the new episode tonight, loved the first two. Right now, it’s definitely taking place in the middle of the second age unless they crunch the timeline - which IMO makes the most sense to get all the notable characters in the show because it doesn’t look like they’re going the anthology route. So, right now they’re just before canon stuff, Galadriel canonically is the only one who seems to be doing anything about what happens - also, expect a romantic story between her and Celeborn, Elrond also gets with Celebrian around this time. Celebrimbor, much like his grandfather Feanor, is an arrogant prick who falls head on into Annatar’s trap. Speaking of Annatar, I believe the meteor man is either Annatar or Gandalf - both are spirits of fire, one is sent to combat the darkness of Sauron, the other is tricking the elves into thinking he is a giver of gifts. It sounds like it’s possible Celebrimbor has already met Annatar by the hints. Will be watching the episode later.
Stranger Things will be in October for me.
Witcher Blood Origin in December.

There’s a lot of great stuff on right now, and I’m not even into the HBO stuff yet. I used to only watch films, and very little TV, but I’ve been switching it completely around in recent years. TV has got so much better! Not to say there aren’t any brilliant films/filmmakers out there - I’m a big fan of Robert Eggers (The Witch, the Lighthouse), Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice, Don’t Look Up, Anchorman), Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), and others - but I don’t really like most blockbuster films, and I feel TV show makers have really stepped it up. I see Ronald D. Moore (For All Mankind) and Vince Gilligan (Better Call Saul) as two of the pioneers… Vince broke in with X-Files, and Ron with Star Trek The Next Generation - but it was really their shows Battle Star Galactica Remake and Breaking Bad that really broke in… in my opinion, the major pioneer is JMS (J Michael Stranczynski) who created Babylon 5 back in the 1980s years before it got to TV in the 1990s. Babylon 5 was also a massive influence on Ronald D. Moore who was on the writing team for Deep Space 9 - which is heavily based on B5 - they came out around the same time, but the Star Trek guys were looking at the B5 package years earlier when JMS presented the show to their production company.

Of course, there was soap operas, which were ultimately the main inspiration, but they’re a bit different in nature since they’re much like pro-wrestling (also based on the soap opera model) where they generally go back to status quo in the fourth act, while the JMS model is more like a novel where things keep increasing until hitting a major climactic moment. The difference between JMS and Moore/Gilligan is that JMS unveiled his universe with episodic work with only a single thread connecting them, before adding in more strands and getting into the story proper by the end of S1. This became the general model for sci-fi (Stargate, Farscape, etc…); the Moore/Gilligan model goes full into novel mode by the end of episode 1, and the universe sort of expands from there. Gilligan was originally a lot better than Moore at this, but Moore has really sharpened his craft since BSG and Caprica.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 09 September 2022