Not Worth a Thread: TV Edition

[nacho]

Oh...my...god...

Hunted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunted_(2015_TV_series)

So ordinary citizens go on the run and have to survive 28 days to win a cash prize. Simple enough...except they're in the UK, which is easily the most monitored population on Earth these days.

Hunting them is a team of spies and cops and they have the full powers of state behind them. One guy who managed to survive two weeks pissed off the hunters so much that they put out a radio announcement offering a reward for his capture and a wanted poster in the newspaper. Sure, they said it was part of a TV show so people didn't try and kill him or beat him up, but the effect was the same.

Trying to do that with another fugitive backfired, though -- people harbored her. But then the hunters, on her trail, viciously interrogated those people until they broke down.

The captures are full on police action captures, broken down and explained to us.

No film crew. Each fugitive has a companion with them doing the filming, and the companion is technically on the run as well.

[RottingCorpse]

[nacho]

Yeah, pretty much.

[nacho]

I love Maggie Q trying to surreptitiously follow people on Designated Survivor.

I think I'd be like: "Pssst. Is Maggie Q following us? Wow. This is awesome."

[Sirharles]

Emerald City

A modern re-telling of Wizard of Oz.  Except it's not, but it is.  It's weird.  Admittedly the only story of Wizard of Oz that I remember is the original movie, and of course Michael Jackson's version...but let's not talk about that.  So that being said, if there is a book, or play, or illustrated comic about it I'm not aware of it.

First episode in and you've got Dorothy coming to Oz in a cop car via tornado which is how she gets her cop dog german shepard.  "Toto" means dog in native Oz apparently.  So a highly trained dog now responds to a name it's never heard before...le sigh.  And the cop car has very little in the way of supplies.  I thought all cop cars now had a trunk full of machine guns, vests, ammo, etc.  Which would have been awesome.  Dorothy kitted out like Rambo.  But apparently this one only has a 9mm one clip and the first aid kit you'd find in the bathroom of a truck stop. 

To avoid spoilers I won't say more, but suffice to say it doesn't follow what I remember from the movie except in the most basic terms.  Which could be good.  It's weird, and yet I want to watch more.

[nacho]

For the record, the only link Emerald City has to any of the Oz canon is: "Dorothy Gale is transported to Oz and has an adventure." They're intending this as a "true reboot" of the Wizard of Oz. Sigh.

So I'm going into this (haven't had the time to watch it yet) with the idea that it's a standalone show with no background. It's getting ruthlessly panned by the geek-o-sphere, though.
 

[nacho]

Emerald City

A modern re-telling of Wizard of Oz.  Except it's not, but it is.  It's weird.  Admittedly the only story of Wizard of Oz that I remember is the original movie, and of course Michael Jackson's version...but let's not talk about that.  So that being said, if there is a book, or play, or illustrated comic about it I'm not aware of it.

First episode in and you've got Dorothy coming to Oz in a cop car via tornado which is how she gets her cop dog german shepard.  "Toto" means dog in native Oz apparently.  So a highly trained dog now responds to a name it's never heard before...le sigh.  And the cop car has very little in the way of supplies.  I thought all cop cars now had a trunk full of machine guns, vests, ammo, etc.  Which would have been awesome.  Dorothy kitted out like Rambo.  But apparently this one only has a 9mm one clip and the first aid kit you'd find in the bathroom of a truck stop. 

To avoid spoilers I won't say more, but suffice to say it doesn't follow what I remember from the movie except in the most basic terms.  Which could be good.  It's weird, and yet I want to watch more.

Whew... So... It's no worse than the other attempts to reboot Oz. In fact, it's very much like them with the darker Oz motif, the attempt to create a more sinister Wizard, and delving into the weird politics of Oz (which are surprisingly complicated even in the books).

But, yes, the police car with no supplies is odd. And there's also another problem -- it's informed more by Game of Thrones than Oz. They're using the Wizard of Oz as a point of familiarity so they can make GoT without having to write the backstory or pay attention to the narrative. I'm always worries when these shows try to be too much like each other (which may be something that, in hindsight, Westworld had going for it -- it wasn't trying to be something else.)

Anyway...I do not want to watch more!

[nacho]

The Young Pope.

Amazing, actually. But also very challenging. They've been playing it very close to the vest -- is it a satire? Is it a commentary? Is Jude Law actually Satan? We don't know! (Well, we do, sort of, because  it aired a year ago in the UK.)

Jude Law is a young American pope who wants to turn Catholicism on its head. Episode one sets the stage rather well -- he's dreaming of naked girls and telling people to jack off and fuck more while he goes through his first days of being Pope. The internal (and external) politics of the Vatican are lampooned wildly. The audience has about a million questions.

[Sirharles]

Anyway...I do not want to watch more!

Removed from the first episode by a week and now I'm "I'll work on photos while Mrs. Sirharles watches this".  If she wanted to.

[nacho]

Time After Time.

So the pilot episode is just a riff on the movie...which is fine. Without Warner and McDowell, we kind of lose all the pathos and power of the two main characters...but...they do a fine job for 2017 primetime. The guy playing Wells has the easiest role -- he's doing his best mousy McDowell and that's easy enough. Stevenson suffers the most. The stalking calm of David Warner is replaced with a pretty young guy who's like every update of Victorian characters everywhere -- Elementary, Sherlock, etc.

Steenburgen is replaced by the curator of the Wells exhibit, which is a much more sensible way to do things instead of having them try to scam money from the bank (Stevenson just pawns all his stuff).

So! The chase is on... And with the time machine at the center of it (which anyone can use but it'll always return to Wells as long as he has the key), there are some pretty good possibilities here.

There were actually several funny and cute moments throughout. Somehow, and I can't believe I'm saying this, they've captured the movie's basic charm.

[nacho]

Time After Time.

"How did he know we'd be in 2017?" Asks the time traveler who invited a time machine with an infinite power source that anyone can use.

That said, the show is still going strong. I'm debating starting a new thread, but they have the 12 Monkeys-style Illuminati conspiracy thing going on which, frankly, is exhausting at this point. If I want complicated time mechanics controlled by a secret society, I'd watch...Timeless! Or 12 Monkeys!

My complaint with 12 Monkeys is the same as Timeless -- you have a time machine, you have interesting characters. Let's stop copying 12 Monkeys and just have a time travel show!

[nacho]

Wow... Time After Time got grudge canceled. Off the air immediately and remaining episodes not being aired.

[RottingCorpse]

Can we talk about the genius of Ric & Morty? My L.A. friends forced me to watch the first four episodes and I can't believe how great it is. What's great is that it's not only genius satire, It's actually amazingly crafted inter-dimensional sci-fi. It respects the rules of time travel/alternate dimensions that it's ruthlessly skewering.

[nacho]

I...Haven't watched it! But now I will.

[RottingCorpse]

The pilot is meh, so start with Episode 2. It's the best Doctor Who parody you'll ever watch.