I finally got around to watching S5 of The Wire and wished I had not bothered, on a more positive note both the Deadwood and Ray Donovan films that they finished the stories off with were very good
So, what you’re saying is, after season 6 it started to drag-on a bit?
No, the opposite – they wrapped it all up in two short seasons, in the rushed manner that an 8 year old might wrap up a story that they were getting bored of writing.
Happy Valley, by which I mean me and Mrs L2R settled down to see what all the fuss was about with the new series (had previously watched season 2). After binging it on iPlayer over the past few evenings, discovered we’d actually been watching (and thoroughly enjoying) season 1!
Update: I’m now four episodes into series 1 and all I can say is: Holy SHIT. I know the area is relatively local to me, so perhaps it feels too real, but I’ve not experienced a crime drama of that quality and adrenaline-producing anxiety before.
Fargo – only just started watching it (on s2 now), I’d heard a lot of good things about it but was always a bit worried it would be crap compared with the film and kept putting off watching it. It’s brilliant (so far anyway…)
No, the opposite – they wrapped it all up in two short seasons, in the rushed manner that an 8 year old might wrap up a story that they were getting bored of writing.
I don’t think it was quite as bad as some people made out, but it did feel after a while that it was barreling through set pieces towards a fairly inevitable conclusion.
The trouble with most of these dramas that run for so many seasons is eventually they just become a soap opera. Nothing develops they just churn along until eventually people stop watching and the budget gets cut. Much better IMO to finish them on a high and then go back and make other stories from the same universe if you really want to, than to keep dragging the same characters around in circles.
Wasn’t part of the issue with GoT that they started out quite aligned to the books so had a lot of content to work from, but then after Series 6 they got to the end of the books so the scriptwriters had to make stuff up for the last two seasons loosely based on some plot outlines that GRRM had written, and things suffered as a result. And back on topic, we eventually borrowed the DVDs after the whole thing had finished so binged the whole lot in a couple of weeks. And Ghosts – ignored that until late last year and caught up on iPlayer.
Same – I’m generally not into the whole Magical Dwarves thing (see also Tolkien). MrsDoris gave up on GoT somewhere around season 2/3 because she just got fed up of watching rape scenes
And yeah Season 5 of The Wire was definitely a letdown!
Really do need to get into Treme one of these years though. But since I only watch about an hour of TV a week it’ll probably be a while…
Really do need to get into Treme one of these years though. But since I only watch about an hour of TV a week it’ll probably be a while…
Ha, I also have a big backlog of TV shows to watch, many of which I’m sure I’ll like.
Watched Treme when it was current. Remember it being pretty good, but there was a whiff of self-indulgence about it (perhaps similar to the final season of The Wire).
Same – I’m generally not into the whole Magical Dwarves thing (see also Tolkien)
GoT is a lot less Magical Dwarves than Tolkien. To be honest, it’s pretty much a political drama, just one with occasional dragons.
Wasn’t part of the issue with GoT that they started out quite aligned to the books so had a lot of content to work from, but then after Series 6 they got to the end of the books so the scriptwriters had to make stuff up for the last two seasons loosely based on some plot outlines that GRRM had written, and things suffered as a result.
…and the scriptwriters/showrunners had been given the Star Wars reboot gig, so were keen to get it wrapped up asap so they could go and do that
…and the scriptwriters/showrunners had been given the Star Wars reboot gig, so were keen to get it wrapped up asap so they could go and do that
The more I think about it, the more I believe GoT needed a ninth series. While a lot of the character choices they made did make sense, decisions and their consequences which normally should have evolved over half a series were compressed into a single episode, while screentime was wasted on tedious one-dimensional characters like Euron Greyjoy, and endless drinking chats.
The more I think about it, the more I believe GoT needed a ninth series. While a lot of the character choices they made did make sense, decisions and their consequences which normally should have evolved over half a series were compressed into a single episode, while screentime was wasted on tedious one-dimensional characters like Euron Greyjoy, and endless drinking chats.
If you haven’t already, watch that Screen Rant Pitch Meeting ^
Sky started showing Ray Donovan from the start, so started watching it. It’s okkkk, not sure if I love it cos the character Jon Voigt plays is just so stupid! Unrealistically so at times. So I’ve got to get over that :D
Unforgotten, started watched the last series almost by mistake, went back and watched from the start (on DVD as at the time not available on catch-up).
I’ve just finished The Newsroom that was mentioned much earlier in this thread.
Simply magnificent. The detail and planning that went into it so small things from Season 1 had resolution in following seasons right up to the last episode.
Definitely the best thing I’ve seen on the box.
I’d have mentioned it in the TV shows that ended too soon thread except it was perfectly finished.
I’m sure they could have found a way to continue it, and I’d love to see what happens next to the characters but I think the three carefully planned seasons with no cliffhanger ends to each was a delight.
