Saturday Social Post

[colls]

Hello, television viewers! Welcome to the weekend!
Feel free to talk about any TV-topic you want, below is an optional texty to use.

Name
What TV have you watched this week?
What fall show are you looking forward to?
If you were creating your own show, what genre would it be and who would play the lead role(s)?


<B>Name </b> <B>What TV have you watched this week? </b> <B>What fall show are you looking forward to? </b> <B>If you were creating your own show, what genre would it be and who would play the lead role(s)? </b>

Comments

[shadowkat]

How is Halt and Catch Fire? I tried the first episode, but didn't give it a proper chance when it first premiered. (I like Lee Pace as an actor.)

Agreed on the Time Travel shows...none are told properly. I've tried several now. I think the only two I've really enjoyed were Sarah Conner Chronicles and Doctor Who..but neither rely solely on Time Travel. Outlander isn't bad in how it utilizes it, although I felt it should have done so more effectively. Quantum Leap disappointed me - although I did stick with all the way through. As did Timeless, also disappointing.

What I'd like is something closer to what Moffat sort of did with Doctor Who/River Song arc...which is explore how wonky Time Travel can be. I wish someone would adapt a Connie Willis Time Travel novel -- because that author does examine the psychological, scientific, etc effects of it -- albeit with less violence, than say 12 Monkeys.

[yourlibrarian]

It's a well written drama, very much like Mad Men only in a different industry at another key time (and less concerned with fashion, though given the industry that only makes sense). It's a strong cast. However, my own take on it is that it definitely helps to be interested in the history they're telling. I was pretty familiar with most of it so I found it fascinating to see how they fit their characters into the historical progression of computers and the internet.

And in that sense it's almost like a continuation of Mad Men, which showed the beginning of research computerization in the ad industry. During the mid 70s which is where the gap occurs, it was still mostly massive computer rooms and very little individual use. But it had already begun by the time the show opens and the current (final) season is taking place in the early 90s.

Yes, I wasn't expecting much of Timeless and was surprised when there was such a lot of fan interest in it. Do you have a particular Willis novel you'd recommend?

[shadowkat]

Do you have a particular Willis novel you'd recommend?

The Doomsday Book was the one I liked and read. It's a bit grim though. A researcher is sent back through time to the period of the Black Plague and gets stuck there for a while.

A non-time travel book, that I rather liked was The Bellweather about two scientists involved in weather predicting.

A lot of people like To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a bit of a satirical take on Regency England romances, with a researcher finding himself flung back to those times. I couldn't make it through it, most of the humor was based on word play or punnery, and I don't have the genetic disposition to appreciate puns.

[yourlibrarian]

It does seem to be a specific trait, doesn't it, the tendency to pun? I've never been fond of it either, especially as a primary source of humor.

[shadowkat]

I had a conversation once with my parents, brother, sisterinlaw and niece before they headed off to Hawaii. Apparently Hawaiians love puns and do it all the time. And my sisterinlaw was bemoaning the practice because her mind just didn't work that way. We realized after about five minutes that no one at the table liked puns, appreciated puns, or could pun.
My mother wasn't sure what a pun was...and it took a very long time until we could figure out an example.

Sisinlaw quipped that you either had a genetic disposition towards it or you didn't. We apparently did not.

I think this explains why Terry Prachett didn't work for me.

[jo]

Have you watched Travelers? Should be on Netflix.

[shadowkat]

Not yet. But you are the second person to rec this series.
I don't know if I'd like it though...it appears to be about people traveling from the future to fix the past..which, is similar to Sarah Connor Chronicles, Quantum Leap, and Twelve Monkeys.

[jo]

Well, IMO, it's way better than Quantum Leap (which I always found rather silly). I've never watched the TV 12 Monkeys (but loved the film), and while I enjoyed TSCC, I think Travelers is a significantly different type of show -- more serious, more psychological. No harm in at least checking out the first couple of eps, right?

[shadowkat]

Except for the fact that I have about 40 other shows I want to check out. LOL! There's not exactly a lack of tv shows at the moment...