tv_talk | Saturday Social Post

Name colls

What TV have you been watching? Sense8, The Expanse

Any recent season finale knock your socks off? Sense8 season 2 finale was SO FAST PACED and the cliffhanger is killing me.

Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? I watch SO many shows that are adaptations of books - The Expanse, Longmire, Justified are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
I really like how the story shifts - sometimes entire plots - and how the characters are familiar but not entirely the same.
It reminds me that not every reader or viewer comes to the story with the same filter and we all interpret things with a variance, sometimes the variance is minor, sometimes not. In book to television, it's not just the writers who are transforming a story from page to screen but directors and actors and all that shifting around is fascinating to me.

Longmire! I hardly ever see anyone talk about Longnire! The only other person I know who watches it is my mom lol. How excited are you season 6?

I did a 'Primer' on the show here a long time ago - haha!

I'm not caught up at all, but am excited they got a 6th season. My understanding is it'll be the final, so if they knew that going in I'm hoping they are able to make a satisfying ending. So many shows have horrible endings because they aren't sure if the series will continue or not.

Name DEWLine
What TV have you been watching? The Expanse, Doctor Who, Agents of SHIELD
Any recent season finale knock your socks off? Agents of SHIELD went well enough for me, tying together a whole bunch of plot threads that had no business in the same fictional universe, let alone the same TV series or comic book...but this is Marvel.
Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? See question # 3.

Have you watched all of season 2 of The Expanse? And have you read the books?
If so, how did you feel about the the season 2 finale and where it takes place in the books?
I found the title of the season finale episode rather premature and felt we missed out on a pretty good chunk of the narrative, but it's been a while since I've read the books and I'm wondering if I'm remembering it right

1. Not yet. I came in about halfway through season 2.

2. Finished books 1-3 after seeing the end of season 2, and working slowly through book 4 as I type this.

3. It seems like a smart move to not try to match one book per season. I've read enough second-hand reports about Game of Thrones.

I haven't started book 4 yet, so am just a tad behind you. :)

I agree it seems a smart move, it also serves to highlight how much they're altering things. I really like reading/watching because it's just different enough to keep my guessing but similar enough to make me feel a lot for the characters.

Name layla | delacourtings
What TV have you been watching? Lucifer, Designated Survivor, Speechless, The Mick, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Master of None
Any recent season finale knock your socks off? Speechless' finale was one of the greatest I've seen from a sitcom, especially one in its first season. I may or may not have cried. Multiple times. It didn't exactly knock my socks off but I was surprised by The Mick's finale and am intrigued with how it affects the show in its second season.
Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? I used to watch Shadowhunters but I got behind and I plan to watch The Handmaid's Tale and Big Little Lies. I think these adaptations are great! I prefer them to movies but I think that networks/showrunners should realize that some books should really be a miniseries and not a multiple season show. *cough* 13 Reasons Why *cough*

Edited 2017-05-21 03:09 (UTC)

I'd like to watch The Handmaid's Tail as well. There was a movie done for the book, but I did't think it was very good - the series looks like it could be amazing.

I really enjoyed Big Little Lies, but I hadn't ever read the book. I'm really looking forward to Handmaid's Tale as well, everyone seems to love it.

Name Phaeton

What TV have you been watching? progressed to season six of NCIS: LA

Any recent season finale knock your socks off? got spoiled for the NCIS: LA season eight finale, which I'm not happy about. Not the spoiling part, but what they actually did with a character. :(

Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? Yeah, I used to wish for more book-to-television stuff than book-to-movie. More time to develop the characters, more time to go into the finer parts of the plot, etc. I used to be kind of a purist, but by now I'm more lenient, and open to new versions or interpretations.

I think it's hard to be a purist with adaptations because the creators are almost always going to have their own vision and things alter a lot when you can't show much of a character's inner dialogue and have to rely on visual clues.

I'm not spoiled for season 8 finale and don't know which character you're talking about, but am sad for you. I hate knowing what's coming and knowing I'm going to dislike it. Makes me lose momentum sometimes. :(

Yeah. Teenage me had a hard time wrapping her head around that, but I've learned a lot after almost two decades in fandom. *g*

Same for me, although in this case I haven't allowed myself to really think about it, so I haven't lost momentum yet. Meh.

Name Grac

What TV have you been watching? Currently watching Elementary, American Gods, iZombie, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Sense8 and Master of None among other things.

Any recent season finale knock your socks off? The first thing that came to mind was The Good Place, which I really didn't see coming. It's going to be interesting to see how things develop in season 2, now that we as the audience know what's really going on and (most of) our protagonists don't.

Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? Do graphic novels count too? Recent series based on a graphic novel that I've watched include iZombie, Preacher and Legion but I haven't actually read the original source material so that probably doesn't count for me this time around.

I'm currently watching American Gods and the other most recent book-to-series I watched was Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so I guess casting can be the most difficult thing to get right, since everyone will have a mental image from the book of what characters look like and that can be really jarring if it's done 'wrong'. I'm trying to think of an example but nothing comes to mind at the moment.

In terms of doing it very right, I would use the TV adaptations of the Nero Wolfe books, starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton in an ensemble cast, which looked great and the casting (especially of those two as leads) was wonderful. I enjoyed every one of them and they are pretty true to the books as well.

Edited 2017-05-21 11:02 (UTC)

OMG Sense8
*clutches chest
Love that show so much.

I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but didn't watch the series. Mini-series? Not sure which it was off hand. In any case, that seemed like it would be a very difficult book to adapt. How did you like the series?

Casting can be tricky. For example, in The Expanse, Jim Holden isn't cast anything like I'd expect based on the books - but his more youthful casting helps flesh out the 'out-of-my-depth' sense that the books gave via inner dialogue vs. what sort of impression they can impart on screen.

I've never heard of the Nero Wolfe show and had to google it - the A&E network also did the Longmire book adaptation (although Netflix picked it up for additional seasons after it was canceled). That network seems to lean towards more drama vs. action and I think books lend themselves to that sort of thing pretty well.

JS&MN was a UK series, so would probably be considered a mini-series if made in the US! I think they had a pretty good go at it and certainly some of the casting was excellent (the guy playing Childermass was exactly as I'd pictured him and when I re-read the book I'll probably have his face in mind when he's about) but it's a very difficult, very dense book with lots of footnotes and of course that couldn't be recreated. For me, the footnotes give that book the whole period feel it's supposed to have and there's no way around it.

I wonder whether shows have a tendency to want to cast younger if the character concerned is meant to be a love interest? Or they can go the other way and do Hollywood-teenager, where everyone knows that the supposed high school student is actually in their mid-20's, hence the perfect teeth and skin.

Name: Alexander/Mr.Picard
What TV have you been watching? Still Star Trek: TNG. But I'm preparing for a "Dynasty" re-watch. The show gets a reboot later this year and I want to be ready, haha.
Any recent season finale knock your socks off? The only recent one I've seen was Walking Dead's and that... bored me. (The entire show bores me these days, I have no idea why I'm still watching it.)
Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? No, not really. At least I can't think of any right now. I remember having problems with this when they turned Stephen King's The Dome into a series. I didn't like it much (but I liked the book even though it was WAAAAAY too long).

What do you think of the reboot of Dynasty? I only know the original Dallas and Dynasty a little bit, but I really enjoyed new Dallas, so I was looking forward to Dynasty. But actually the thing I liked most about Dallas was the old proper Dallas people, and the trailer for new Dynasty looks just super boring to me.

Yeah Dallas wasn't exactly a real reboot, it was more a continuation. I didn't like that one much, the kids looked nothing like the kids we saw on the original show, I'd have expected at least SOME resemblance... but I also enjoyed seeing Sue Ellen and Bobby (and JR) again, definitely! But... I tried to watch the first season but couldn't get through it, the older folks just weren't enough to hold my interest. With Dynasty I feel differently, it seems to be a complete reboot and I love the trailer BECAUSE it's so bad, I can't tell if it's intentionally bad or not but Inlove it, lol. (I'm weird.) However, I've always been more of a Dallas fan than a Dynasty one, maybe this is why that trailer doesn't irk me.

Ah. Well even though I'm not a massive fan, I'm definitely more attached to Dynasty than Dallas, so the new Dallas didn't hit any emotional buttons for me and I just enjoyed it and I liked that it enjoyed itself, which a lot of tv doesn't really seem to any more. Whereas I'm already a bit ugh about the new Krystle and how she's not a patch on the real one lol. I can totally see the appeal of its badness though. I hope it's glorious.

I'm a sucker for the first nine Dallas seasons (I'm one of those folks who like the Dream Season haha) and I'm way too atttached to the characters and the setting and that continuation just didn't cut it for me. I didn't hate it or anything tho, I just could have done without it. lol Yeah the Dynasty reboot seems to put Fallon into the spotlight instead of Krystle? That's gonna be interesting. And I love the new Steven, I really hope they'll fix the issues the original one had (what with him claiming he's gay but then marrying Sammy Jo and whatnot,I get it that the show couldn't show the things it should have due to it being the 80s, he WAS groundbreaking as a character) but looks like as if they'll do just that. Ah we'll see. A lot of people are saying the show will be canceled just like Nu!Dallas was and I'm inclined to think the same thing but hey, until then we might as well have some fun, lol.

Name badger79

What TV have you been watching? Lucifer, NCIS, APB, Bull

Any recent season finale knock your socks off? NCIS another cliffhanger, can't wait till it's return

Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? Call the Midwife did this really well with acknowledging the material in the book then surpassing it in newer seasons

I hadn't thought about Call the Midwife, but I totally agree. I hadn't read it before I saw the show, but I think adaptations can be brilliant when they take the setting or the basic premises, and then make their own thing.

What TV have you been watching?

The thing I'm really loving at the moment is Wentworth. It's in season 5 and I think it's the best season so far. I love the thing that happened at the end of season 4. And I love the freak and I love Sonia and I love Boomer and I love Boomer and Sonia together.

Also prison break prison break prison break. I love that it just is still like it was, it keeps moving and doesn't stop, and I love everyone in it, and I really like this thing where they just bring back tv from the past instead of trying to remake it.

Any recent season finale knock your socks off?

It didn't exactly knock my socks off, but I am really properly impressed by Grey's Anatomy and how even after 13 years it puts together storylines and characters I love. I loved their finale, I love Bailey so much, and I love every time she gets a chance to be brilliant and in charge. I love her finally having enough with Minnick. I don't really think Minnick would be that blasé about failing to tell the police that someone was missing, I think that was purely a mistake she'd have felt awful about. But I think Bailey letting Edwards save that girls life was a very Bailey thing to do and on that level the whole 'we make doctors, not robots' thing made sense, and besides which I don't like Minnick, and I'm very committed to Bailey loving her mentor man and siding with him, so it was great for me. Also I love Meredith and I love that she's still recognisably the same character after 13 years, but also has been allowed to change and mature and stuff. I just think Greys Anatomy has aged incredibly well.

Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers?

I tried to write proper thoughts but I ended up in bullet points:

- I never watched an episode of Inspector Lynley because they cast an actor with dark hair, and Lynley is the blondest character that ever was. It's the most petty I've ever been about an adaptation, and they're not even books I care that much about.

- I don't think I've ever watched an adaptation of a book I really really loved. I think it would be most likely as terrible as all the people who try to remake television I really really love and turn out not to know the first thing about it. But generally I seem to quite like television of books I like but don't feel emotionally invested in.

- I am really enjoying the expanse, but I wish it had longer seasons and could tell its story more slowly, and with more room to breathe.

- On the other hand I think the short seasons work really well for Game of Thrones, even though they are also big sprawling books. And I don't know what the difference is for me.

- I think it's a dreadful state of affairs generally in tv that so much stuff is adaptations and remakes.

My coworkers and I were talking about Grey's and how amazed we are that it's still running. I"m glad to hear Bailey is still awesome.

Name entj
What TV have you been watching? American Gods, The Flash, Legion, The Originals
Any recent season ~~finale~~ premiere knock your socks off? The return of Twin Peaks -- I wept tears of happiness. I am still new to Dreamwidth, but I really, really hope we're going to talk about it in this community. :)

I have heard so many good things about American Gods, I've added it to my every-growing list.

Welcome to DW!!!!
Members are welcome to post directly to the community re: any show they'd like. We also have Primers that you could host if you wanted to use some sort of formal format. I'm sure you'll find a few who're eager for the return as well!

I was travelling all weekend, so I'll throw in a late post:

Name Tablesaw
What TV have you been watching? Doctor Who, Supergirl, Flash, Elementary, American Gods, iZombie, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Twin Peaks (mostly rewatches, I haven't gotten to the new stuff yet).
Any recent season finale knock your socks off? I can't think of anything that really liked since the finale of Bates Motel. (I assume that rewatching the Black Lodge segment of Twin Peaks doesn't count as recent). Supergirl hasn't been impressive in general, but the return of Cat Grant has been super fantastic.
Book to television. Do you watch any shows like this? What are your thoughts on how medium transfers? Setting aside comic books, I've enjoyed The Magicians, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Elementary, OITNB & The Dresden Files; I've disliked Game of Thrones, Sherlock & The Expanse; and I really love Hannibal, American Gods & A Series of Unfortunate Events. Of those, the only books I've read are the Holmes stories, A Song of Ice and Fire, some of the Dresden Files, and one Sookie Stackhouse book.

One thing that I really appreciate is when an adaptation focuses on taking themes and imagery from the source more than plot. I never read the Harris novels, but I was fascinated by the way the Hannibal team would create new stories for Hannibal and Will based more on vivid excerpts of the novels rather than actual plot progressions. It's certainly working with American Gods, too.

I think there are quite a few people here who've been watching The Magicians and while I didn't really love the first book, it's made me think I want to give the series a try.

I liked season 1 of OITNB and didn't care for the book - which is odd as typically if I like only one thing it'll be the book.

Are you re-watching Twin Peaks in preparation for the new stuff? How are you liking American Gods? (that's another one that's on my list, but I haven't watched yet)

Magicians is one of those shows that keeps me going by usually having at least one brilliant thing every episode, even when the overall arc drags. I thought the Season 2 finale was excellent, as well.

Re Twin Peaks, yeah, I'm trying to refresh myself to watch the new Season. A lot of these episodes I haven't seen since they aired, and I'm surprised at how vividly I remember them.

Saturday Social Post

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject