Big Blue Huddle

Finally, I have finished 'The Rings of Power', the 8-part sort of prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga.
I have very mixed feelings about this show. It started out very slow and confusing. By the end of chapter 3 it really picked up steam and I fully got immersed in it and really liked it. But, this last episode really was a downer. You might think that a series would end with a really great finale, but this was a dunce, a complete talk-filled chapter that made me just as confused as I was as with the original 2 1/2 chapters.
You have to understand, my memory is a bit weak at times, and I really have a hard time remembering characters' names (I really struggled thru Game of Thrones. I know all the characters and who they are and what they do, but their names just never click). So same here, they go thru names I just can't place those names with characters. Some yes, but some characters that haven't appeared in a few chapters, I'm lost.
 That is MY problem, but I'm sure others would have the same reaction. Anyway, a decent enough series, but if one is comparing it to any of the 3 movies, forget it, it doesn't even come close. They have set up the next chapter, and I would assume, it will happen, and again, I will probably watch, but a bit disappointed overall.

So now on to the next 'can't wait' series, 'House of Dragons' on my new HBO Max.

As I have said many times, I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of Game of Thrones, and consider it one of the top 5 (maybe even 3) shows ever made, it is THAT GOOD. (I guess, only if you are a fan of these types of shows).  I got into this series early and wormed my way about to see it all, as I never did have HBO, but I managed and watched, and couldn't wait for the next chapter, year after year, and sometimes those years were more than a year in between.

Anyway, I have started House of Dragons and though I have only watched episode one, I think, and hope it will stand up to all the scrutiny it will get, compared to GOT. My son watched the series so far and said it was just too talky compared to GOT which was never that talky and always had action and surprises galore to feast on. But I am satisfied enough with the opening episode to look forward to the rest.

Is anyone else watching this, or fans of GOT?

On browsing thru some of the things on our new HBO, my wife noticed a new addition to an old show. Maybe one of her favorite shows EVER, Sex In The City, has been sort of redone, with new episodes. What more is there to say, she had to watch, and myself, also. At the beginning of Sex In The City, I really wasn't a fan--a woman's show, anti-men, but after a while, I really did come to enjoy this show and the 4 main characters, each having their own quirkiness. Carrie was the hero, and Charlette, Miranda, and Samantha were all great in their own way. The show really conquered many, many taboo subjects along the way and when it finally ended, my darling wife was in tears. They did make a couple of movies to follow up, but they really weren't that good. But now, here is another NEW season of SITC, with older Carrie, Miranda, and Charlette (Samantha didn't want to participate so they wrote her out). OK, we sat down to watch episode 1, and right from the get-go, we saw it was forced. Yes, all the regular characters were there, but here are now 3 upper middle-aged ladies, trying to recapture what they were 20+ years ago. The show had no, well let's just say, no nothing. In every prior show, it had a subject, something Carrie wrote about or pondered about. Here we had nothing.
Yes, it is only episode 1, but the way this one ended, I don't know if there will be an episode 2, 3, or whatever. What a downer. If I know my wife, we will stay with it a bit longer, but if this is the way it is going to go, I know I'll never make it to the finale.

Some things are better off left alone, like Sex In The City

Quote from: LennG on October 17, 2022, 07:02:24 PMOn browsing thru some of the things on our new HBO, my wife noticed a new addition to an old show. Maybe one of her favorite shows EVER, Sex In The City, has been sort of redone, with new episodes. What more is there to say, she had to watch, and myself, also. At the beginning of Sex In The City, I really wasn't a fan--a woman's show, anti-men, but after a while, I really did come to enjoy this show and the 4 main characters, each having their own quirkiness. Carrie was the hero, and Charlette, Miranda, and Samantha were all great in their own way. The show really conquered many, many taboo subjects along the way and when it finally ended, my darling wife was in tears. They did make a couple of movies to follow up, but they really weren't that good. But now, here is another NEW season of SITC, with older Carrie, Miranda, and Charlette (Samantha didn't want to participate so they wrote her out). OK, we sat down to watch episode 1, and right from the get-go, we saw it was forced. Yes, all the regular characters were there, but here are now 3 upper middle-aged ladies, trying to recapture what they were 20+ years ago. The show had no, well let's just say, no nothing. In every prior show, it had a subject, something Carrie wrote about or pondered about. Here we had nothing.
Yes, it is only episode 1, but the way this one ended, I don't know if there will be an episode 2, 3, or whatever. What a downer. If I know my wife, we will stay with it a bit longer, but if this is the way it is going to go, I know I'll never make it to the finale.

Some things are better off left alone, like Sex In The City

I used to enjoy the original Sex and the City. My wife loved it, and I grew to enjoy it. I found it amusing and sometimes pretty clever. Plus as a New Yorker there was a lot in the show I could relate to.

So when the new one came out we gave it a try, and man was it a disappointment. What a bunch of dumb, woke, garbage. We both found it unwatchable and quit before we were even done with the second episode.

In my opinion there is so much out there that is high quality or at least decent quality, that there is no reason to have anything other than a pretty high bar. This isn't like the old days when you might have watched something dumb because "there was nothing else on." The bar is high now. Crap like the new Sex and The City is a non-starter.

Spoiler alert for anyone who plans on watching this show.

Dave

SITC was a good show. Seems we both got into it from our wives and you and I both enjoyed it a lot. It was usually light and the problems they had in the original, we usually could relate to
Why in the hell did they go the drama route and kill off Big? WTF was that? For a show that is supposed to be a comedy, again WTF was in the minds of the writers. As I said, we only watched episode 1 and this upset my wife to no end, so who knows if we go back to it.
Do these actors and actresses need the money that badly to put this crap out?

Quote from: LennG on October 17, 2022, 09:00:12 PMSpoiler alert for anyone who plans on watching this show.

Dave

SITC was a good show. Seems we both got into it from our wives and you and I both enjoyed it a lot. It was usually light and the problems they had in the original, we usually could relate to
Why in the hell did they go the drama route and kill off Big? WTF was that? For a show that is supposed to be a comedy, again WTF was in the minds of the writers. As I said, we only watched episode 1 and this upset my wife to no end, so who knows if we go back to it.
Do these actors and actresses need the money that badly to put this crap out?

I'm not sure if you're aware but the actor who played big was accused of rape by multiple women shortly after the show was released. So I'm sure they're happy they killed him off, whatever the reason was.

I can't explain why it was so bad. I have to believe it was all new writers and some new producer that decided to take it in a different direction. Horrible decision. It's brutal.

Lenn

I'm terrible with names too!!

IMBD is an app that has every movie and tv show every and who the actors are for each show and the characters they play etc.

I use it to help keep track 

Also when you know you have seen an actor somewhere but can't remember - when you are in the actors "profile" it lists all their movies/shows they have appeared in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: Slugsy-Narrows on October 18, 2022, 09:03:32 AMLenn

I'm terrible with names too!!

IMBD is an app that has every movie and tv show every and who the actors are for each show and the characters they play etc.

I use it to help keep track 

Also when you know you have seen an actor somewhere but can't remember - when you are in the actors "profile" it lists all their movies/shows they have appeared in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am a huge fan of IMDB. I have actively used it as a resource for well over a decade. I find it incredibly helpful on multiple levels. Seeing upcoming projects, looking up actors, directors, etc is all great.

Most of all though I use it for the ratings. I find those to be incredibly accurate and helpful. Basically, every user rates a show or movie 1 out of 10, and then you can see the average, which gets to a "large numbers" sample size very quickly. When I go through different movies and shows I like versus not liking and check the ratings, I find they match up very well. So I feel like I can really trust the ratings.

The written reviews are good too. Some are better than others, but if something is great, you will see patterns in the reviews that are helpful. Same if something sucks.

Great site. Huge fan. I think I first started using it in 07 or 08. Everyone who likes movies and shows should be aware of it in my opinion.

Another great feature of Imdb is it will tell you where you can watch it if it's available.

Bill

One thing that just got released today that I wanted to flag here is "Unsolved Mysteries" on Netflix. As many of you will know, there used to be a show on TV back in the 80s and 90s called "Unsolved Mysteries", where Robert Stack was the narrator. I always enjoyed it. This is a remake of that, and the newly released series is the third season of it. The past two I thought were really well done, so I am looking forward to checking this one out. If you have not seen it yet, I recommend the first two seasons, which you can get on Netflix. Some of them are very creepy and interesting.

My understanding is they will be doing three episodes per week for three weeks in order to stretch it out a little. I'll definitely be watching all of them.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on October 18, 2022, 10:03:12 AMOne thing that just got released today that I wanted to flag here is "Unsolved Mysteries" on Netflix. As many of you will know, there used to be a show on TV back in the 80s and 90s called "Unsolved Mysteries", where Robert Stack was the narrator. I always enjoyed it. This is a remake of that, and the newly released series is the third season of it. The past two I thought were really well done, so I am looking forward to checking this one out. If you have not seen it yet, I recommend the first two seasons, which you can get on Netflix. Some of them are very creepy and interesting.

My understanding is they will be doing three episodes per week for three weeks in order to stretch it out a little. I'll definitely be watching all of them.

I'm not sure if I ever watched it when it was on originally. Is each episode independent of the others?

Quote from: LennG on October 18, 2022, 11:21:33 AMI'm not sure if I ever watched it when it was on originally. Is each episode independent of the others?

Yes, completely independent.

It's very well narrated and well-dramatized. Each episode focuses on a story that remains unsolved presently. They are usually very compelling and often rather eerie.

I think Netflix did the first one a couple years ago and got great feedback on it, so they have continued. I am definitely a fan of it.

Quote from: Slugsy-Narrows on October 18, 2022, 09:03:32 AMLenn

I'm terrible with names too!!

IMBD is an app that has every movie and tv show every and who the actors are for each show and the characters they play etc.

I use it to help keep track 

Also when you know you have seen an actor somewhere but can't remember - when you are in the actors "profile" it lists all their movies/shows they have appeared in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As said, I was a huge fan of GOT and knew EVERY character, background, and what was up with them but, for the life of me, if you asked me their names, usually I wouldn't know. I watched several seasons on DVD, which was great. You could pause it and there was a button you could press that told you who this particular character was, and once I knew, I was good to go.

Take 'The Hound' in GOT. I knew him by that name whenever he was on the air, but later they called him by his real name and I was lost. Same for other characters. I knew the main ones, but there were always several other characters, especially when they were talking about the 7 families and who was trying to get the Iron throne. I could never figure out who was who by their names, but once I saw them or the DVD told me who they were, all pieces fit right in.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on October 17, 2022, 09:04:37 PMI'm not sure if you're aware but the actor who played big was accused of rape by multiple women shortly after the show was released. So I'm sure they're happy they killed him off, whatever the reason was.

I can't explain why it was so bad. I have to believe it was all new writers and some new producer that decided to take it in a different direction. Horrible decision. It's brutal.

Gave my wife a choice to stop watching or stay with it a while longer. She said, let's try a few more episodes, which we did last night. Can't say it has gotten worse, as it's pretty hard to go anywhere from the bottom of the barrel. (But they are trying very hard).

One thing I did notice, is that of the 3 leading ladies, Charlette looks pretty good, while the other two, well are showing their ages well. Sarah Jessica Parker is a good-looking lady, no matter how old she is, but she just looked horrible, especially at Big's funeral and thereafter. I understand it is a funeral but she was always the epitome of fashion and with her hair pulled back, she looked like the wicked witch of the west.
 My wife watches many things for me, that she probably doesn't care for so if she wants to continue this (God, I hope not) I will watch more. The things we do to please our ladies.       

i could not start anymore of the star wars, got or lord of rings stuff. just too much. still watching rick and morty tho.