Monday, February 22, 2016

TV Discussion: Week of 2/21/2016 - 2/27/2016

Hello fellow TV Addicts! This is our weekly place for discussion of all non-recapped shows. See you in the comments!

40 comments:

MJ said...

Vikings - damn Rollo ! I should not have been shocked that he would kill all of his own men but I was. LOL So now he's going to do what ? Train a bunch of frenchmen who he can't speak with to fight against Ragnar when he comes back ? And ragnar knows it too - he said as much to his son about leaving Rollo in France. I really didn't get Ragnars anger at his son for accusing Floki either. yes Floki is his friend but so was Athelstan. Speaking of Athelstan over the last 9 months I'd forgotten that it was Floki who killed him.

MJ said...

Vikings - went back to read your comments - hey it's a brutal world and for Lagertha to 'bobbit' him was symbolic of showing he's not a man. LOL I agree it seems out of left field for Anslaugh to suddenly be wondering of a Woman will ever reign - at first I thought she was worried that lagertha would be that person but it was clear later that she's looking for it to be herself.

I did notice that they seem to be showing less violence against women. In the first season we saw women being raped in the towns they pilaged. This time they only took slaves. Ragnar sure was interested in the one Anslaugh bought. She seems asian to me so how she was in France I don't know. But Anslaugh seemed odd when she saw her too.

Anonymous said...

Rollo is learning French. He started in last seasons finale. Interesting that Rollo didn't force himself with new wife. He's kind of like his brother looking at the long game. And I think that's one of the parts of leadership Ragnar wants Bjorn to learn.

Richrd

MJ said...

Vikings - I know in the fnale that Rollo spoke a few french words - didn't think of that as a lesson though. Was surprised he let the wanderer go too. And as you said last week that the kid was riding around in a wagon.

Will be back later to comment on Scandal and Colony and others. Have to run now.

Mike V. said...

Vikings - Funnily enough I forgot Athelstan even died until they brought it up...then I remembered the whole Floki drama. lol You guys pretty much covered everything else.

I'm caught up on Shameless and Scandal. Still have to watch BCS from last week. These 2 hour Agent Carter episodes aren't helping me (there's another 2 hour ep this week...I get it they have to fit it all in before SHIELD returns but it's a lot!!)

Colony is a lost cause for me...I don't see catching up on it anytime soon. lol

Mike V. said...

Movies: Finally saw Spectre this week. (Bond used to be appointment opening weekend movies for me...but we had to choose our movie wknds wisely this holiday season! lol) Anyway, I know the ratings were okay...but I enjoyed it. It tied together the Daniel Craig movies together pretty well which is something Bond films really didn't try to do prior to this "reboot". I'd rank them 1.) Casino Royale 2.) Skyfall 3.) Spectre 4.) Quantum of Solace. We'll see if he fulfills that last movie on his contract!

MJ said...

Vikings - meant to say the kid in the wagon was odd. LOL Left off the 'odd' part.

Was behind on much but caught up this weekend

Sleepy - is it me of is Pandora's husband a total jerk ! LOL He treats her like crap - why does she want him !?! She's pretty unhappy - think she will turn on him. But how odd was the whole Kindred wanting a mate ?

Scandal - got both watched this weekend as I was behind. So yeah - Liv back with Jake but really in just a hook up kinda way. Laughed about Abby being Fitz's work wife. Even better was Liv and Mellie hanging out. Not happy with what David is doing to the VP. Jake working with Rowan again ? Makes no sense to me - his character hates Rowan. I do get Cy's frustration with Fitz and like that he is looking for his next candidate. And Olivia really did not help her client very well at all, and not happy Jake killed this guy ? Just so he can become the Director of the NSA for Rowan ? And really - Fitz just wants the next woman who walks into his office - and it's a reporter ! That won't go wrong in some way.

Colony - they certainly know how to keep the tension going. All that running around hiding Snyder from room to room. Guess I knew that they could not leave their zones but did not realize they don't know what the other zones are. Funny that Quayle thinks Katie is the double agent - I think it's Broussad. He's been acting funny.

Grimm - I believe this is not on next week. I can't think of a warmer conversation I've ever heard like the one Trubel has with Eve - lol. too funny. Love that they are bringing books back for research. And some weapons. And even the keys !

Shameless - tonight.

Bond - only seen some of those. Never a huge fan just a casual one.

New Girl - gave it up. Been annoying me more and more lately (last year too) and realized I'm not really laughing all that much.

Haven't watched the ABC birthday or the Burrows thing yet - will probably watch them in like 10 minute increments when I have time.

Carter - yeah went to watch that last week and was surprised it was two hours. Thing is - thought they had scheduled it better so that it ended and Shield started. Guess not if they are doubling down on it.

Mike V. said...

Oh right...forgot I was caught up on Sleepy and Grimm too..duh!

Sleepy - Definitely seems that's the way it's headed with Pandora and the husband. lol The Kindred mating thing was bizarre. I think I forget the whole kindred storyline. Half the episode I just thought it was the headless horseman. lol (and yes, I know this guy had a head...lol) So do we think they just cleared the path for Crane to be paired up with the other FBI agent? seemed like they were heading that way in the past couple weeks.

Scandal - Yeah I didn't think David would stoop that low...but surely he's going to fall for the VP and it's going to be the She's All That storyline but in the White House instead. lol Once I saw the actress playing the reporter I knew she was getting paired up with Fitz. lol (She was on SOA's last season and has been in other stuff) But yeah there's some stretches in these storylines but it's always been a bit over the top ridiculous. I'm getting stories mixed up a bit between the 2 episodes you're talking about. I barely remember the one 2 weeks ago (which I'm guessing is when Olivia had a client besides Mellie). But yeah the Liv/Mellie hang was a good time.

Grimm - Yeah...all the key/book stuff was a good time. The trubel/eve conversation was pretty funny agreed. Wouldn't surprise me if it's not on next week. lots of shows take a break the week after February sweeps. Then again...Grimm has only aired 9 episodes this season so far. I wonder if it's a shorter season? (i.e. less than 22)

New Girl - It's been interesting this season so far since Zoey is out for her maternity leave. They shortened the season and started it late to try and make the time without her brief. Right now Megan Fox has been on in her place. I still find it funny, but I don't think I've laughed as much as I used to. I'd agree with that.

Disneyland 60 - Watched most of that...we stopped to put the kids to bed after they did the Star Wars stuff. So have about 30 more minutes.

Burrows - We'll probably fast forward through most of it.

Carter - I think these 2 hour weeks were planned as part of fitting it all in before SHIELD. Not sure if you recall but 24 used to kick off their seasons in January with 4 hours in one week, then 1 or 2 2 hour episodes throughout the season to get all 24 in by May Sweeps. Same concept but with a smaller order of episodes. They only have so much time between January whatever and March when SHIELD comes back. And Shield has to fit all its episodes in before May sweeps and I'm sure they have episodes designed to air right around when Captain America: Civil War hits theaters too. It's all one giant DISNEY Strategy!

Anonymous said...

Colony--I really didn't want to like it that much. But with them opening up the story line to the bigger story it's still keeping me interested. The wife is just boring with the same ol stuff and laughably undependable and just as laughable is Sawyer's inability to find out his wife is a spy.

Richard

Anonymous said...

XFiles--I was telling my wife when watching--why don't they just track Mulder's phone? About 15 minutes in, they started doing so. Kind of weak for FBI agents. And really, she can make enough IV fluid for 330 million people within hours let alone distribute it. It was a weak storyline too. Then the ending. Just after mentioning William the terrestial ship(don't call it a space ship since the show doesn't allow current day aliens-lol) shows up with the light beams. Making you wonder all kinds of things such as they're all going to be killed, they're all saved, it's William up there in that ship, who knows. You get a sense that all will live, but it could easily go in all kinds of directions. Leaving me with a frustrated shoulder shrug for the finale. Getting confirmation of the smoking man's people's plan and methods was great, ie to depopulate and then repopulate the Earth. And needing alien DNA to live. Now everyone will be a bit alien--there is humor in that of course. And I love the show puts in snipits of humor in unlikely places.

BTW, since I live in Greenville, it was kind of neat seeing the highway signs. But, seriously, the Spartan bug--lol.

Richard

Mike V. said...

X-Files - All good points. I didn't think about tracking the phone, but I certainly thought about curing the entire population in a short period of time. I love that she just went on the street and told people to go to the hospital. I guess the youtube report was supposed to help too, but they still need to produce that cure! Well the ship showing up paralleled it showing up in the premiere but yeah it certainly was a cliffhanger....but I think they did it that way because they do plan on returning to the story one day. I think Duchovny was quoted saying he does want to do more. And there is an interview with Chris Carter discussing the cliffhanger. Haven't read it but I'll link to it.

I enjoyed the 6 episode run...I think the middle episodes were certainly the strongest with the mythology story being okay.

But Gotham returns now that it's over! Hopefully, I won't fall the way of MJ. It is getting very difficult to keep up with all that's out there now. It's pretty much expected now that no one can watch EVERYTHING! I read somewhere that Netflix is planning 600 hours of content this year and HBO is ramping up its production to compete in the streaming space.

If there was less on right now there's no question I'd be watching Billions, Vinyl, would be caught up on Homeland. It's just a crazy time now!! We were looking at the DVR last night...kids asleep at 9. And there was just so much that we didn't know where to start. Finally, we put on an episode from a couple weeks ago of The Grinder. Then one of the kids woke up and our night was over. We pretty much threw our hands in the air and said "We give up on television!" lol (Of course, this is humorous coming from someone who has a blog about TV Addicts!)

Anonymous said...

Duchovney--well, he won't do it again I guess until he wants a bag of money. It was certainly intentionally left wide open.

Funny how I don't see an over abundance of good TV. But, I don't like a lot of drama. To be more precise, I like plotlines to drive drama vs drama overcoming plotlines.


Richard

Mike V. said...

Well that's just it...there really isn't that much on now that I'd consider APPOINTMENT television. Those shows I make sure to keep up on. And I consider them GOOD TV. Homeland used to have that categorization for me, but it lost it the last couple seasons in our household.

Meanwhile...we tried to watch Billions..but the first episode just didn't grab us and since a whole bunch of episodes have piled up because we haven't been able to get to it. (I've heard it improved since) The problem is the 1st episode is impossible to a judge a show by but people don't want to invest too much time into something now because there are too many shows to try and balance. It's almost like we're being forced to change our viewing habits. Watch a few episodes of one show and then see if you should stick with it...meanwhile you're stockpiling episodes of other shows to watch another time.

I wonder if we'll get to a time when the masses are just focusing on watching one show from start to finish before moving onto something else.

I think we're just at a point where there are so many options and delivery mechanisms (traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, streaming devices, streaming services, dvr) that it's impossible to really have a standard. So each viewer/household will just make their own decisions on how to consume content. It'll probably be generationally driven. The youth today probably don't even pay for cable and just watch all stuff on their phones, tablets and maybe streaming devices. If they can't watch the new episodes of a certain show, they'll just wait until it's available on whatever service they have.

Anyway, I'm just ranting. I would agree with you that with all of this television nothing I'm watching is really meeting the upper tier of the quality shows we keep up on a pedestal. But there sure are a lot of well made shows out there and there's no ability to watch it all. IF we stopped producing new content and just watched everything that exists that's one attainable goal. But, there will be more and more content coming every year and in exponential amounts. You'd think at some point we'll hit a threshold on quality, if we haven't hit it already.

Speaking of....this will be more of a guilty pleasure and nostalgia thing, but I'm totally going to watch Fuller House on Netflix! lol I know it'll be super corny, but I grew up on the original show and of course I'm going to check in on that crew!

MJ said...

Sleepy - Kindred was brought in/up to fight against headless. LOL Maybe about other chick - I think someone has some plans for Abby. Her capt told someone on the phone that their asset is gone after she quit.

Scandal - reporter I think was also last season of Xfiles.

Funny - I fast forwarded thru all Disney except Star Wars - and the rides look fabulous ! Burrows I am watching. Enjoying seeing the old clips and hearing the actors talk about it. I laughed so hard I cried on the one Taxi scene they showed. Probably before your time. Haven't got up to Friends yet.

Mike V. said...

Sleepy - ahhh okay on Kindred. That sounds familiar. Hmmm..might have missed that phone call with the cap.

Scandal/X-Files - yep...makes sense since she was also on last night's episode too. (xfiles)

Disney/Burrows - The kids were enjoying the Disney thing and we love all that stuff so we watched the whole thing. SW rides do look cool! Burrows...we ended up watching a lot of it. The Taxi segment was really funny...."What does the yellow light mean?" lol Taxi was before my time but I've certainly seen my share of clips and I'm sure I've seen some reruns. And of course I know all of the actors from the show! But yeah...all the shows they covered are classics and it was nice to check in with the cast. Though the whole thing was highly edited and awkward. I had seen a clip of the friends interview on Facebook that wasn't as choppily edited and it was much better. Here they just cut right to the answers to fit everything into 2 hours.

MJ said...

Sleepy - that call was before she went into the tree so you probably just forgot. It was right after she quit.

Xfiels - still haven't watched but nice they brought her back since her and the guy who was the liquid terminator carried the show for the last season.

Burrows - yeah - I could tell the editing was a little tight at times.

Flash - wow ! We were all suspicious of Jay Garrent after last week. And lots of talk all season how poorly they were using Jay and how different he was from the comics - now we know why. They were setting us up ! LOL After last week I figured Zoom was really Jay or Iron Mask was Jay. But I had read a comic book tidbit that the name of the guy who is zoom on earth one was Jay's doppleganger's name so I kind of had an inkling. And to Joe's biological son I want to say - grow the hell up already ! he's a whiner. LOL

iZombie - I will say it again - you have go to Netflix this show this summer. ;-D

Saul - I just adore Mike. LOL So we can already see the eventual demise of Jimmy and Kim - she does not want to live outslide the lines - especially when it comes to risking her career. that will pull them apart. SO the guy plays guitar to de-stresss. Are they trying to say that's why Jimmy runs his scams ? They have now shown that Howard is not a total jerk but using Saul being there to get Chuck to come in was a little messed up. But Saul handled it.

Fuller House - sorry to hear that Mike. LOL J/K !

Billions - yeah the acting is superb but all the financial stuff and jargon gets in the way sometimes.

Yeah - old folk like me are not going to pay 4 different sources to watch my shows.

Top tier - I still have a bunch I call top tier some due to quality some are just faves. Supernatural, iZombie, Bates, Americans, TWD, Vikings, Flash, Shield. My criteria is that I look forward to them and miss them when not on.

Mike V. said...

Sleepy - Ahhhhh right...now I remember.

Xfiles - Yeah I remember Robert Patrick was in the final season. I forgot about her.

Fuller House - Oh I know it's going to be horrible. If I had to guess we'll watch the first episode and then eventually forget to getting to the rest! lol Thing about sitcoms is they are just more appealing when you see 13 of them sitting to be watched than 13 1 hour episodes!

Top Tier Shows - Agreed on the criteria.... TWD, Game of Thrones are at the top obviously. We love Shameless in our house and Scandal (I could take it or leave it). Modern Family is a staple. Then I have my morning shows that I stay on top of. (Americans, ONCE, Grimm, Vikings, The 100, Sleepy, SHIELD/CARTER, Gotham, REWATCHES, AHS, etc)

And of course we're watching Idol on the night it airs...one last time. lol

Then there's pretty much everything else....I just can't care that I'm falling behind anymore. It's one thing to battle the onslaught of more content, but my kids are just at an age where it's not easy to stay on top of everything anymore either. And it just doesn't seem as important! So I'm sure that's part of it.

Mike V. said...

Fuller House - Just saw EW gave it an "F" grade!! LOL My 1 episode and out theory might be right on this one.

MJ said...

Top Tier - dang ! forgot Gof T ! And Shameless, Sleepy and Grimm. I also adore Goldbergs - maybe cause it's set locally. It's not going to get any easier either as the kids get older.

Xfiles - I know her from - and I am dating myself - a charming movie called Mystic Pizza that also starred a not yet famous Julia Roberts. Another actress too who's name will not come to mind. I am soooo dating myself with that one

Leslie said...

Xfiles - MJ, You're not dating yourself in my eyes!! I thought the same thing when I saw Annabeth Gish! She's been in a lot of stuff. And, I just looked up the date (1988) and realized another connection to one of the lead characters in American Crime, Lily Taylor. I knew I knew her, but just realized she was one of the girls in Mystic Pizza! Too funny!

You guys watch a lot of things that I don't watch, and while I can't relate to kids changing my TV watching, oh wait, yes I can....I watch a lot more football now that I have a 18 year old stepson who watches football if he's not playing. But, my sweet husband usually gives me control of the remote, so I have him watching some of my shows now! Luckily, TWD is a must-see for both of us! And, he likes watching Idol with me!

Mike V. said...

I've heard great things about Goldbergs. That's one I wish I got on board with earlier. Wish it was on Netflix! So I've heard with the kids getting older! :)

Xfiles/Gish - I remember that movie. Never saw it but know the name. She also was in a favorite of mine called Beautiful Girls which has a very young and very talented Natalie Portman in it (pre-star wars).

I know some of Lily Taylor's old work too.

Wow...you control the remote, Leslie??? Impressive!! The sad thing is, I think if it wasn't for me my wife would've given up on Idol awhile ago. lol But it's the last season...we had an incentive to stick with it. I've been enjoying this final season too!

Leslie said...

Yep, I married well!! My husband likes watching movies more than TV shows, but he still has his favorites.

Mike V. said...

Xfiles - carter interview http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/24/x-files-finale-chris-carter

Anonymous said...

XFiles--I really liked the Q&A on William. It was a disappointment that he wasn't in much since he seemed so important. LOL on the smoking man and what he said about things possibly being a lie. Yes, if it looks, tastes and smells like JellO then it must be JellO.

Richard

MJ said...

Xfiles - I fell asleep during it. Oh well. Wasn't impressed with what I did see - agree about making a cure so quickly is ridiculous.

Richard - Plotlines driving the drama - you should check out Breaking Bad.

Last year I fell behind on Vikings that I would up marathoning it in summer. Which was actually a great way to watch it. But this year I will try not to - but I def won't get to watch on thursday night so will still be behind on discussions.

Mystic Pizza - Lily Taylor ! that's it. For such a small movie it had quite the cast. And I think one of the fisherman is pretty famous too.

Anonymous said...

Vikings is really the only show I watch "delay live" Almost everything else I record and watch if I have time.

I'm actually enjoying Perry Mason reruns a lot now.

Richard

Mike V. said...

X-Files - Yep, mythology episodes were weaker than the "stand-alones". That seemed to be the case with the show in general too right?

Breaking Bad - I don't think we can recommend it enough! One of the greatest rides from start to finish EVER. I just wish I could find time to rewatch it.

Summer - Yeah...I'm definitely going to have plenty of material to watch this summer should I choose! I'm sure I'll keep up on Vikings though. I see Daredevil returns in March. I think it was unveiled in April last year...maybe that'll give me more time before summer to fit it in!

Modern Family - Was pretty good last night. The return of Fizbo, Lily's party with the popular girl, Jay/Phil's Pub Drink in the garage, Manny/Claire's run-in and the fallout and Haley and her man drama. That show can still bring the goods!



Mike V. said...

GoT/Winds of Winter - GRRM confirms he will go through with a plot twist that the show cannot do because it involves a character killed off in the show. He had mentioned this months ago or maybe a year ago that he might go this way.

I say "whatever". From this point on they're going to be 2 different entities with some similarities. lol

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/25/george-rr-martin-game-of-thrones-twist-will-appear-in-books-not-tv-show

Mike V. said...

GoT - That said, I hope he's not changing things "JUST TO BE DIFFERENT" from the show and surprise people. If he truly has found a great plot twist, that's one thing. But just to change things out of spite or whatever you call it...I don't know about that! I'm going to just assume he has the best intentions with the change. But that doesn't mean I'm right. :)

MJ said...

Penny Dreadful - added to the list of coming back and being a top tier.

BB - was going to watch last summer and did not. I never even finished Kimmy Schmidt !

Daredevil - I think this and OITB I will probably wait til June to start. I watched Daredevil a little late and I think you watched even later then me

GofT - yeah saw they have a poster for this season with Rob Stark ! LOL Probably wil lsee old characters thru Bran.

MJ said...

Modern Family - yes it was good as always. It was actually a sweet moment when Phil and Jay shared that drink. Jay is so rarely kind to Phil

Xfiles - one thing that irked me was I never liked the sudden longing for the kid they gave up and now I kow why they did it - cause now pops needs him to cure himself. Isn't that warm and fuzzy ? Besides the lizard being turned into a man episode and the Mushroom one most have not been that enjoyable. They took 9 seasons of a show and basicaly threw it out the window saying none of it was true. I'll not be back if the get another shot.

Mike V. said...

Kimmy Schmidt - Only watched the first episode and never got back into it!

Daredevil - yeah I watched in the summer not sure when. But I remember you had started it before me or around the same time.

Penny D - Never started that one

GoT - There's posters of ALL the faces of dead characters and living characters....they're all in the Room of Faces (forget the actual name) in Braavos

Modern Family - I know...I almost welled up when Jay poured Phil a drink!

Xfiles - Yeah...that's the difference for me. I never religiously watched the show so I enjoyed these eps without much investment in the past. But I can see how that could be frustrating.

Anonymous said...

GoT-Mike,you're so funny re GRRM. Reminds me of your opinions of Lucas. Those who actually create are just different and not well understood.

Richard

Mike V. said...

Got - that's why I'm choosing to be optimistic lol

Anonymous said...

Blacklist--interesting on Katarina. I just don't see the wedding happening. It could open up all kinds of plotlines if they did. But, I think they won't let it happen.

Richard

Anonymous said...

Colony, really the wife is still not sure re the group killing people vs her husband.

The wierdo blonde wife is not someone to take lightly.

I wonder if Broussard will make it to a S2?

Richard

MJ said...

Kimmy - really ? I thought it was you who told me how great they all were. LOL Must have been someone else.

Colony - So for everyone who has been complaining that Will is clueless (which I did not feel - you never suspect the ones closest to you) Will is finally on to something. Once Mom left I thought the 'tutor' was going to cut that paper figure into some alien looking thing. Influencing the youth - more nazi shading.

Saul - did we even talk Saul ? I watched it days ago. I think I did mention something but not about the pie thing - Hoboken Squat Cobbler I believe ! LOL Can't believe he made that guy do a video of the pie thing. Of course reminded me of last season's Chicago Sun roof (or whatever it was called). What also struck me is that MIke has not been in ABQ that long and that he knew that Taco worked for Tucco.

Blacklist - see th ad for next's weeks 'Red' wedding. Too funny

I know a lot of shows are going on hiatus til mid march but something I watched last night said not coming back til April. Can't remember what now. Give me some catch up time I hope. LOL

Mike V. said...

Kimmy - I had heard they're really great so maybe I said that...but no we never were able to watch it. I'm sure it's great. That said, I've also heard Master of None is really good too. (Tom from Parks and Rec is the brainchild and star. I think Mike Schur of Parks and B99 is involved too)

Saul - I really need to get to watching these, but I just don't see when we'll actually do it!! I asked my wife if I should just go ahead and watch without her and she hesitated saying something like, "I mean....I know I'll regret it if I don't!" lol

The Hiatus might be just what we need to catch up!

MJ said...

Blacklist - hasn't the claim been made that Red does not lie to Liz ? So last week he asked somone where Rostova is - and then blatantly tells Liz she committed suicide. Is that not a lie ? I did not pick up on it but read elsewhere that the Caretaker taking the little girl and red taking Liz was a parallel. It was beyond ridiculous and stupid that Aram would not help diffuse the bomb til Ressler apologized to Samar - he would be fired. Considering Liz was recently on tv as a wanted fugitive how is it that Katerina can't find her ? So who did Gina Taco call ? This Major - or Red. Is Red still trying to get rid of Tom ? And is Tom really stupid enough to think they will let him go ?

EW.com has that stupid you must join to view thing going on again - which still does not work on my tablet. So not able to read that site for days now.

Master of None - I heard that too about it. Want to try to watch this summer. Also another Netflix from last year Frankie and something - which will be releasing season 2 soon.

Have a good weekend everyone !

Mike V. said...

Yeah...I'm still an EW subscriber so I can still access everything. But the site is getting worse all of the time. Quality of most stuff has dropped tremendously. They have a few relics of the past that do good work. Doc Jensen, James Hibberd (game of thrones), Anthony Breznican (doing the Star Wars coverage)....most of these new kids are millennial bloggers. So the big question is why are they getting paid to do that stuff and not me?! j/k

I think I heard of the Frankie one too.

Have a good weekend to you too!