Monday, October 6, 2014

TV Discussion: Week of 10/5/2014 - 10/11/2014

Hello fellow TV Addicts!  As always, this is our place to discuss all weekly non-recapped shows.  Walking Dead returns Sunday 10/12, so recaps will presumably resume then too!  See you in the comments!

34 comments:

Mike V. said...

ONCE: Maybe it was a surprise but I had no idea Elizabeth Mitchell was cast in Once Upon a Time this year. So, she'll play a rival ice queen??? Interesting. Certainly looks like she's ready to chew some scenery in the coming episodes! This whole frozen plotline continues to be awkward due to its closeness to the movie story. Of course, now they're tying more of the Once Upon a Time characters into things so it's getting a little different. But, I watched while my son was awake and he certainly recognized Anna and Elsa! lol

Homeland: Welcome to rebootland and may we give Carrie the award for Mother of the year?? lol Favorite moment of the 2 part opener was when Quinn said "I speak dumbass" before bashing the guy's head into the table. lol I had heard the majority of the season was filmed in south Africa so I didn't think Carrie would be staying home. I was also curious how they'd tie in the death of the actor that played Carrie's father into the plot. For now, he's just unavailable to help with the baby (that eerily looks like Damien Lewis lol). How about Corey Stohl competing in the ratings against himself last night with his guest stint on Homeland vs. his leading role on the season finale of The Strain?? (which I haven't watched any of yet) That guy is everywhere!

Plot is certainly interesting this year for Homeland. And definitely a departure from where we've been the past 3 years, but that's the point. We'll see how many people are crying for more Chris Brody before the end of the season! (Or maybe even worse, Dana)

Anonymous said...

Hell on Wheels--so much happening on a great show. Got a break now for a while.

Grimm, saw where it's coming back on I think the 24th.

SNF--Patriots answered the bell.

Richard

Anonymous said...

The Strain--finale was pretty good. Would have been awesome had they not been so lame in trying to kill the master. The deal with Zach's Mom was predictable. Eph drinking was sad. The turf war I think makes this show too complicated/confusing. That there are good vamps vs bad vamps is a bit hokey.

Richard

Leslie said...

Was catching up on last week's post and posted there without thinking, so here it is.....

Bones - MJ, Yep, I watch. Couldn't believe they killed off Sweets! It was a shocker, but I think his show has run its course.

Gracepoint - Watched first episode this weekend. Stayed with the Broadchurch script so far. Didn't know Nick Nolte was in it! The lead detective has it easy. He already knows his lines, but just has to use an American accent! lol

LOST - I also found you in season 2 or 3, but not from EW. Earlier this year when I was explained to my boyfriend about your blog, I said that since I had been following you, you got married and have had 2 kids! WOW!

mj said...

Homeland - watched finale fr last yr but not new one. I had forgot she was taking the Istanbul office and that Saul was out

Once -2 behind now. sigh

Bones - i was so shocked too. And that Daisy is preggers

Gotham - finally watched. Who is Jada Pinkett supposedto be?

Twd - omg it comes back opposite the giants/eagles game. I'll have to. Watch it after i watch my team humiliate themselves. lol

mj said...

Scandal - i was assuming harrison not dead cause we did not seeit. Didn't know there was issueswith the actor though. Huck actorpolice chief fr movie Speed? Didn.t know

A to Z - glad you got to see the end then. was funny

Mike V. said...

@Leslie - It is pretty crazy how much has happened!

@MJ - Olivia's Dad was the police chief in Speed. lol

Gotham - She's a made up character for this show. So I guess we can assume she won't make it to when Bruce sports a cape. lol

I have more things to comment on...just a busy day (week)!

Anonymous said...

Gotham--the key thing is that Fish(JADA) is supposed to be loyal to Maroni. But, she's not really and other criminals getting ready to break out from under Sal Maroni--that's a big theme running right now. As Maroni said, you need cops to have organized crime, that without a strong police force things would just be chaos.

Blacklist tonight.

Richard

PJ Carz said...

Supernatural - Tonight is supposed to be a recap of the first 9 ? seasons in anticipation of the premiere coming up. So says my tv guide. Hope some of you can make use of this.

Anonymous said...

Blacklist-and yet another great ep. I think Naomi was angry and hit Red hard. It looks like we now have a sniper guy who may be there to protect Liz or kill her. I tend to think that he's there to protect her and is replacing apple guy?

Liz making the call to let the doctor continue breaking the law was weak to me. REssler's the senior agent and should have made the call and would be responsible if something went wrong. Last year she killed a doctor who was basically doing the same thing for a child with an injection. So, it was an artsy way of showing her continual change and as is usually the case to me, artsy TV runs contrary to real life.

Glad to see Red at work in one of his businesses. So, will running the ports in Indonesia come into play later in the series? I wasn't impressed with the peewee actor except he made me laugh at the end.

Richard

Anonymous said...

Gotham--a great ep and really liked the shock of the penguin at the door. Does Gordon know that his girlfriend had a girlfriend before him and/or if that girl is what's her name in the major case squad. Seems that he would know? We get the point of that old relationship, I'm tired of seeing that girl tell Barbera how bad Gordon is and simultaneously trying to get back with her. Unless in the long run Barbera will go back to her and hurt Gordon. Which is getting to be way too much like a soap opera!!

Anyway, I liked the deal with Selina Kyle. It will be interesting if Wayne does something for the orphans as per prior productions and if that something helps Kyle.

Things are starting to unravel in Gotham and so get interesting.

Richard

MJ said...

Sleepy - Sam Adams would never roll up his sleeves ! And Benedict Arnold turned on us due to a coin. LOL I love this show.
We even had some Biblical Judas talk. And he was horrified by the hat indoors rather than the men holding hands ! And he watches Glee. Glad they were able to warn Irving to not trust Atty Parish. And - is Katrina the worst eavesdropper ? Henry has caught her twice now. Very funny when the mental ward assumed Abby was bringing Ichabod in. They really seem to be focusing on Abby and Jenny's mom alot - I'm sure that there is a reason for this as well as the miniature Sleepy Hollow that henry is building.

Once - watched the first ep. Giant eveil snowmen ? LOL Regina's love thwarted yet again and will she won't she go evil ? I'm remembering why I quit this show. Bringing Mirror Man back is interesting though.

Strain - wasn't a bad finale. Knew Master wouldn't die obviously. So the master is really a rogue and the guards of the ancients are there to stop him. I think the vamp soldiers (as I was calling them) are interesting and now that we know they are guarding the 'ancients' I think it will make it more interesting. How crazy was it when the healed man (name escaping me - Palmer maybe) pushed the head of Health and Human Services over the balcony ! Tried to get the name of actress who played her cause she looked familiar but could not find that info. But the voice of that one soldier was very familiar.

Speed - oh ! LOL yes that is right. He's been in so much stuff that I can't even remember.

Gotham - ah! Couldn't figure out who she was supposed to be so thanks for saying no one. Laugh that Gordon's firlfriend is Barbara cause doesn't his daughter "Barbars gordon' later become Bat Girl ? Guess they will have a daughter named Barbara eventually

Supernatural - I am def going to watch the retrospective. And tonights premier !

Blacklist - didn't get the chance to watch again.

Mike V. said...

Whew rough night last night...I watched Sleepy and Blacklist but I won't admit to being awake for all of both of them. It was so late when I watched! Kids wore us out. lol

Blacklist - Considering I have no idea on anything you're talking about Richard I'm guessing I slept through or don't remember! lol I'll have to read a synopsis to fill in the missing pieces.

Gotham - Really falling behind. We started episode 2 but again...was late one night, so we need to go back and watch. My wife is almost getting to the "watch this one without me" point. lol We'll see.

Sleepy - Definitely tune into this one for the "fish out of water" comedy with Icabod. lol The show is consistently good too! Good points on the Mom and Parish's miniature sleepy hollow. If the trend continues with these type of shows...we'll probably find out the mom is still alive in some sense. Maybe some supernatural sense. lol

ONCE - The snowman...is from Frozen. There's a lot of things that are directly from the film. They are creating the biggest homage to the show within their own show that they can. Trolls too. lol But yeah...the show isn't really that great story-wise. I keep watching though! lol

Speed/Other movies - Yes he has. I just didn't recognize him as the same guy in Scandal until I looked it up!

SHIELD - Hail Hydra. lol I'm knee deep into the hydra plot now. Ward has been a sleeper agent this whole time? Hmmm, I'm sure there's more to that coming. At this point, I'm just trying to fly through these episode while falling behind on others to catch up. Gotta love a binge watch!

Anonymous said...

Scorpion--another good ep. Great entertainment. This ep almost seemed like it could have been the 2nd ep?

Richard

Anonymous said...

Shield--ok back to subpar eps I guess. Killing off the young super hero that was struggling was awful. They need some heroes whom aren't May or Skye. Those two are too weak to save the show.

To me, something big has to change to save this show from mediocrity if not worse.

Richard

Mike V. said...

Shield - I'm almost caught up! Had a crazy binge yesterday and am in season 2. Halfway into episode 2. Hasnt been too bad yet. I'm not expecting things to be crazy off the bat. They just wrapped up a huge arc. Gotta start s new one. I'll write more when in caught up.

Soa- watched and crazy!!!! I'll write more tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Legends--A great finale. It was as finales go one of the best as it really provided answers and in a way that verified clues along the way. But not in a too easy to figure out way. The show could end or go forward. I really hope it goes forward since it has turned out to be one of the better new shows. Loved that Sonya was CIA. And there was WMD in Iraq--that premise alone may kill the show though--lol. And Verax I'm wondering if they're trying to parallel Halliburton. BTW, I really didn't like Larter at the beginning but she got better.

Richard

Mike V. said...

SHIELD - Richard, I'm not sure what you're looking for in the show but this is a much better show than what I left months ago. Maybe the binge helped (watching them all consecutively), but it feels like they worked out the kinks and rebooted into a better version of the show that started. Ward being a prime example, adding depth to his character. Even Fitz and Simmons are more than just comic-relief now. And Skye is becoming more believable as "important". lol The team has gelled and they brought in new team members this year (along with Tripp last year) that are providing a nice change of pace.

They pretty much set up where season 2 would be going last season when Garrett released all of those captured enemies of SHIELD. It was just a new level for the "case of the week"....but there's a decent ongoing story going on with the Hydra plot...and we're still diving into character stories here with Skye and her father (The Captain from HIMYM, Orson from DH...otherwise known as Kyle McLcan'tspellit)...Simmons definitely has an interesting story arc going on...and I have to say she's been the sleeper member of the cast. More intriguing each week.

Anyway, I never thought I'd say it but I'm hooked on SHIELD! Glad I caught up. It's a fun show...and it ties well into the MCU movie-verse which I've seen all of the movies. Marvel has me hooked. lol

Legends - Only was able to catch the first hour. But I agree it was chock-full of answers and entertaining. Look forward to wrapping that up.

AHS - This will be next on my list. No way I'm getting to it this week. But now that I'm caught up on SHIELD, I have more time during the week to catch up on these shows.

SOA - No way Juice will kill Gemma...that will be so unrewarding to viewers. There needs to be a Gemma/Jax confrontation....and they need to tie the JT plot into it too, which has been an afterthought this season so far. They need to bring this stuff full circle by the end. Entertaining episode though!

MF - It was a good one last night and a great Phil plot!

MJ said...

SOA: How chilling was that with Jax just sitting on the couch surrounded by all those dead people. Chibbs was funny telling the Sheriff she might want to get dressed too. And Abel - Tara is rolling in her grave to see him. Though that cute little kid didn't quite pull off 'angry and scared' very well. LOL At least they are all finally getting to know the same info - false as it is - but now everyone knows that Lin had Tara killed and that it was Gemma who told Jax it was the chinese.

Tig seems to have recovered from being shot nicely. So - is the Indian Hills crew leader (the one who Jax killed his son) behind these guns getting taken ? Can't believe that Nero isn't more angry at Gemma for not telling him what was going on and her part in it - seems unrealistic to me.

What I did not get was why Juice reacted to the chinese man - Juice doesn't know the club is after the chinese so why would the site of the chinese man make Juice so scared ? Guess he's just scared of anyone these days.

Uncer inadvertantly stops Jax from killing Lin cause Uncer is the one who told Jarry to have cops tail Lin and his men. The drive by shooting was pretty dumb though - they are not even trying to hide who they were really.

Juice may have been acting like a sniveling idiot lately but he's no dummy ! So will he kill her ? That seems too easy for Gemma so I'm guessing no. But certainly if Juice lets her live he can't continue to trust her.



AHS - good lord ! LOL I'm not scared of clowns normally but that is one scary clown. That 'littlest Woman' kinda freaks me out though. And really ? That's how you put lobster claws to work for you ? This show is so crazy. the twin thing is awesome - watching one face react when the other is speaking. And what kind of accent is Bates trying to do with Ethel?
I think I am glad that we could not really tell what they had done to the candy stripper in that video. LOL


Still not Homeland and Once nor Legends. ugh. Am so busy right now no time to watch. And this weekend I have a wedding to go to.

Blacklist - not sure I remember a sniper. PeeWee Herman was just creepy though - and a terrible actor. But yeah I laughed about not wanting to see the blood too. Def knew Red was setting up that guy who was pretending the other two were defectors.

Shield - Ward being a sleeper agent was so shocking at the time ! I'm enjoying season 2 so far.

Scorpion - yeah it did kinda feel like it could have been the 2nd one. I liked that the guy in charge admitted his job in on the line cause he brought them in and that he lost job stature years ago when working with the head nerd was a failure.

Forever - this is really a sweet show. I wish it's ratings weren't so horrible.


Mike V. said...

SOA - We kind of laughed at the kid trying to pull off angry and scared too. lol Yes, everyone is getting closer to the truth even if they still are only aware of a lie. All of the lies point to Gemma! Funny about Tig...yeah he recovered quickly!
I thought the same about Juice. It was a bit of a stretch for him to make that connection, unless Gemma told him about her lie. I don't think she did. I don't get why Juice would leave Gemma alive based on her attempting to kill him, but surely something will stop it from happening. It is a cliffhanger afterall! lol
Tomorrowland - I know I'm the big Lindelof fan here, but I thought this community might be interested in the update on this Disney project. Doc Jensen is a co-writer because of his involvement in LOST recaps and exclusive access to Damon/Carlton during that era. Movie is shaping up to be pretty interesting. My love for Disney World helps with my interest too. lol We're heading with the kids for their first time in December. Can't wait!

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/10/08/first-look-george-clooney-is-a-man-out-of-time-in-disneys-tomorrowland/

Time for shows - MJ, you still sound like me last year in terms of no time for TV! lol

mj said...

Tomorrowland - did not know thet were making it

Omg - so funny, husband and i going 12/15 thru 12/19. Gotta do new Harry Potter too. We are staying at Port Orleans

Anonymous said...

Forever--my wife really likes this show too.

Shield--so if you're a fan of Skye and May then it should be all good for that type of viewer. It's just that to me neither one of them can carry the water of a lead. There are a lot better strong female leads. I've never really been a Coulson fan, he's OK but not the reason to watch a show. So, for me that really only left Samual Jackson and Ward as reasons to watch. Also, the guy who was the head of Hydra. I mean even the lady who worked for Jackson but was killed off was better than Skye or May. Anyway,I think most agree with my assessment as it has about half the audience as last year? But, since you like it, I won't put it down--lol.

Richard

Mike V. said...

Disney - We wanted to do Potter, but the kids are just too young. Plus we're lugging the grandparents with us too! lol I saw the original potter park 4 years ago. We'll get back to do Diagon alley eventually! Anyway we're going the 8th-13th...we'll just miss you. lol

SHIELD - Richard, you are free to express your opinion! But, I don't think there was any question who this show's main characters were. Sure, the Ward twist changed things but it seems pretty obvious that he's not going to be chained up for all of season 2. you just have to be patient. They are planting the seeds now. But making him a plant added an extra layer that his character was severely lacking. They even made fun of it when Garrett said he wasn't a fan of his "straight edged" Ward cover. lol Anyway, while watching I thought it was very clear that Garrett and the other head of SHIELD were merely guest stars. I mean Garrett was Bill Paxton! He's a movie star. Sure, he did Big Love on HBO but that's not TV, that's HBO! lol The fact that he was involved made me suspect that they had an important arc for him...and I even suspected that he was working for Hydra, since I knew about the Hydra plot from Captain America.

I'm not a huge fan of the actress playing Skye, but she certainly has improved. And, I didn't know there was anyone that disliked May. You just gotta think big picture. They introduced conflict at the end of season 1 that needs to play out in season 2. Eventually the whole team will be back together but when they do there will be a whole new level of drama going on.

As for the ratings, they're pretty much down across the board. Networks are in bad shape...and there's still more DVR, Streaming, Offerings to deal with when considering live ratings. There are rumors that they're trying to work out some legal issues to get Robert Downey Jr. to appear in April/May prior to the Avengers: Age of Ultron. You can imagine that will give a boost to the ratings!

MJ said...

AHS - so we've alredy had 2 murders. Wait - three if you count the one the clown killed. The Twins mom and the cop. I was def caught by surprise to find that Elsa's legs were prostetic. Loved that they brought a tupperware party to the show - a very 50's type of thing.

Ratings - I agree that ratings seem to be down on most shows. There is just too much to watch any more. I never watch live. Ever. When I had to watch something online recently it nearly killed me since it forces you to watch the commercials and it literally took an hour to watch an hour show. LOL

Mike V. said...

Ratings - Yep, I'm the same way. It killed me just to watch that last minute of A-Z online. i had to watch one commercial! lol I'd rather spend a few bucks on iTunes or Amazon if I miss an episode! lol We watched Scandal season 2 on hulu. The commercials were pretty rough but at least that wasn't 3-4 minutes for each segment.

But yeah...every year more and more channels and streaming companies are getting in the game. It's becoming a NICHE market. Marvel is NICHE too even though the movies sell well. If you do well in your niche that's a more powerful number than just mass ratings watching your show. Plus, SHIELD is just additional advertising time for Marvel Movies so there's built in profit there. Whether that means season 3 is a given, I don't know about that. But I think they'll continue it through the rest of MCU phase 2. lol

Mike V. said...

Tomorrowland - Exclusive EW (I wonder why lol) trailer released http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/10/09/george-clooney-tomorrowland-trailer/

Leslie said...

AHS - MJ, I had about the same reaction and thoughts you had! The twin thing was fun to watch, but it hurt my neck! lol I also wondered about Kathy Bates' accent. Definitely a creepy clown! I couldn't understand the little woman at all. They have some short interviews on the AHS Facebook page with some of the real people that are playing "freaks". Kinda interesting to hear their perspective.

Anonymous said...

Ratings--I checked and Blacklist has fallen off around 10% or less. But Shield is worse then half comparing S1 vs S2 premiere. However, overall it's down more like 25% and heading down more this season. You're right though, there is a lot more to watch these days and so the market slices get smaller and smaller except for rare shows. But, given how some of us really enjoy shows like Longmire, high ratings don't equal enjoyable entertainment. BTW, there are very few shows I watch live anymore too. Except Blacklist and sports.

Flash--just saw the pilot, not bad. Don't know how good it will be though. The lead seems weak to me.

Forever--wife and I really enjoyed last ep. Great info on background making him seem more real vs just a scifi thing.

Richard

MJ said...

A to Z - episode 2 not bad either.

Ratings - heard Amazon's new show Transparent was a big hit. I don't know much about it though

Homeland - finally watched. LOL on your Mother of the year award. I had not heard the actor playing her dad had passed. And yes - that kid really does look like Damien Lewis. Corey Stohl was in Homeland ?? Not Dana! Noooooo. LOL

Mike V. said...

SHIELD - That's not a really fair comparison. The S1 premiere to the S2 premiere. The S1 premiere had a lot of advertising and people were interested because of the marvel movies. Once they realized there wouldn't be Iron Man, Thor and Captain America showing up every week, you lost some of that mass audience crowd. A better comparison would be to the season 1 finale ratings. Shield lost a lot of viewers after the first couple weeks...but the tie-ins to the movies is still a big deal for them. And since phase 2 ends with Age of Ultron, I think they'll at least stay on the air for a full season 2. Long enough to do some cross-promotional tie-ins.

Transparent - I heard a lot of good things too. I have amazon but we just don't have time to watch right now. I know that Jeffrey Tambor plays a cross-dresser/transexual or something like that and it's emmy worthy. lol

Homeland - Kidding about Dana of course!! Corey Stohl, yep he was the agent that got killed in Afghanastan. He has hair in The Strain, but that's by design...supposedly he's going to lose it at some point. And of course, he didn't have hair in House of Cards season 1!

Flash - I forgot to record, but I doubt I would've kept up anyway! lol

SHIELD again - BTW...love that they kicked off the season promoting AGENT CARTER - their spinoff that'll be launching later this year/next year. lol

mj said...

Shield - its all about product placement. lol

Corey - wow did not recognize him at all

Ratings AHS is the first I am hearing with high return. TWD will be high tho. Every one I know dying to see it. Already renewed for next year. no shock there

Anonymous said...

Blacklist

One other element I would like to add cautiously to my theory is that Red may be intentionally or unintentionally training her to take his place. He is obviously educating/training/testing her. It would be an interesting ending for Liz to take over as the new Red? But, that’s so much speculation.

Richard

Anonymous said...

I think I've been posting some things in the wrong section.

Blacklist has 20Million with dvr.

Gotham--a good ep. is anyone else watching?

Richard

Mike V. said...

Richard you we're posting in the right section except this comment and your one blacklist comment. I responded to viewers comment and commented on my Gotham status in the latest weekly thread lol