tv_talk | Speak Up Saturday

Rewatched a bit more of Futurama on Tuesday night, then watched like 1/3rd of the Game Awards with some friends (after its VOD got saved because said friends all had work the night before last night).

I finally got around to starting the most recent series of Only Murders in the Building because I wanted something that would have slightly shorter (e.g. under 50 minutes) episodes. This was because I'd also attempted to start watching The Iris Affair but dozed off partway through the first episode and woke up again partway through the next episode, so was obviously too tired to focus on anything with a more complicated plotline. Will have to restart that one from the beginning. Anyway, getting back to Only Murders, I'm just over halfway through it. It's OK, but not as good as the early seasons.

Otherwise it was the usual weekly stuff.

Series 2 of Fallout drops this week, and I will be off work as of Dec. 17 though to Jan. 5, so am looking forward to finishing off/catching up with various series that I've either started or been wanting to start.

Martin Short is my least favorite character and I think it's too him centric this season. I stopped watching.

Fallout season 2 is coming out? YAY! I'm very excited.

Drops on Wednesday (17th)!

I started Heated Rivalry. It's like watching fanfiction and, especially the first episode, is filled with tropes. It is not the best show ever, the writing and acting is questionable at times, but I enjoy it. I was a little scared that the character's ages would put me off a bit, but the actors are clearly not teenagers anymore. I watched the first episode during my commute though and the sex scenes are a bit much for that. I prefer watching this show at home...

When I realized that I don't want to watch Heated Rivalry during my commute, I also started The Diplomat. I'm very happy that I'm completely unspoiled for this show. The first episode ended rather unexpectedly. I've only up to ep 2 right now, but it's off to a great start!

Something I completely forgot to add in my comment last week: I really don't get what Max and Billy added to the second season of Stranger Things. They were just there. I mean, there was some sort of mystery going on, but that wasn't resolved or mentioned much at all (like Max being the reason they are stuck in Hawkins or whatever their parents do).
I watched the first two episodes of S3, but the season already has a different vibe. It was also very obvious that the kids aged between seasons, but considering the release dates of the seasons, that shouldn't be a surprise. It also feels like the season has a bigger budget, at least for the pretty big mall set.

S2 of Fallout starts next week and I'm looking forward to the two Christmas episodes from Ghosts. I really liked the Christmas episodes last year!

It's been such a long time since I watched S2 of Stranger that I can't recall the plot that well. However your comment made me think that I also felt that there were too many cast members and that the show needed to do something with them but didn't necessarily use them well.

Yeah, I feel like they added Max and Billy to have some fresh blood and then had no idea what to do with them.

I wish I was the kind of person who could watch TV on their commute but I can't even give my attention to short-form video. So it was podcasts and books for me the last time I had to commute.

Heated Rivalry is really something. I honestly can't believe the sex scenes are this drawn-out. It's very, very rare these days. Well, actually I don't know if it's rare. Maybe all the k-drama shows are full of sex. I've also seen a ton of gifs from "Maxton Hall" that are mostly the two leads making out. Maybe all the sex is happening in shows I don't watch.

I likely haven't watched some shows recently, like Euphoria or Sex Ed, etc. What the discussion about the sex scenes has made me think of though, is the controversy over how sexual S6 of Buffy was considered to be. The writers talked about how the move to UPN was great because they had no censors for the shows yet, so they could try out a lot of things they couldn't do before.

It never seemed that boundary breaking to me, especially since being on broadcast TV there were a ton of things that wouldn't fly. But I think the fandom really responded to it.

By comparison, the most graphic TV show I saw, at the same time in fact, was Queer as Folk (US). But of course it was on pay TV.

See, I watched all of Buffy on German TV. On the same channel so the move to another network never affected my perception of the show. I never went back and checked if the German channel took some scenes out but IIRC the show had always been on in the evening, 8:15 pm.

I checked back when the show first aired in Germany. 1998 - 27 years ago. I'm going to take some time to digest this.

I love watching shows and movies on the train. No distractions. Then I have to take a bus and switch to books because the road is too bumpy and the train is just more comfortable for watching things.

Maybe all the sex is happening in shows I don't watch.
I feel the same. I was surprised by how many sex scenes this show has.

It is not the best show ever, the writing and acting is questionable at times,

I watched the first couple of episodes out of curiosity but yeah, if you take the sex scenes out of it, the show is totally meh. And I don't give a rat's ass about the sex scenes, so it's all rather meh for me. Not really worth watching, IMO.

I generally don't care that much about sex scenes, usually skip them in fanfics, but I feel like they actually serve a purpose on this show. Then again, the most recent episode had no sex scenes and was definitely the best of the season.

I started Heated Rivalry. It's like watching fanfiction

It is, isn't it? That's not a bad thing, to me. :D Getting gay fanfiction/books made into tv shows is one of the best things ever in my opinion.

I watched the first episode during my commute though and the sex scenes are a bit much for that. I prefer watching this show at home...

Muahaha oh god no. Also, that first episode is *so dark*, watching it in normal daylight surroundings is not ideal.

I don't think it's a bad thing. It's different though. Even shows with queer couples never gave me that same feeling. It's the main reason I enjoy the show. If I wasn't a fanfic reader, I probably wouldn't care about the show.

Luckily, it was dark outside when I watched the first episode. But that's another good reason to watch it at home...

Have continued with current Jeopardy and also almost caught up on this season of The Floor. Have also started on the latest season of Christmas Light Fight.

We're trying to get through the latest season of Foundation in this next week. Currently on Ep. 5 We've also started watching (or re-watching really) the Beatles Documentary now on Disney+. About 3 or 4 eps into that. We've also started watching S1 of Maigret.

Finally finished the latest season of Gilded Age. Also should be finishing up Only Murders this week.

I watched what I assume was the ending of Down Cemetery Road, and hope there's another season.

Watched the movie Elio and finished Mustafa and the Mission Impossible films. Have started F1.

I really liked the first season of The Gilded Age. Couldn't get into season 2. Too bad because I love Carrie Coon. And she looked stunning in season 1.

Yes, it's always fun to see the costuming (as well as set design) in that show.

Still slowly going through The Long Ballad (42/43 of 48), and going awwwww whenever Ashile Sun is on screen. It could be worse. :D I'll enjoy the rest of the drama at a slow pace, I really don't want it to end.

I made quite a bit of inroads into Love on the Turquoise Land and am now on ep 7/32. I am ranting at how illogical all the vampire lore is (they're called Earth Fiends but everything screams vampire to me), and the setup of the two competing groups (vampires and hunters) is also riddled with logic holes. The horror stuff that was so very present in the first two eps has faded, and I am much happier with it now. The character interactions are really good! I love the bantering (and fighting) between the ML and FL. The family mystery sounds interesting on the surface, but I don't trust the book author to plot herself out of a wet paper bag, so I have lowered my expectations accordingly. (Now that I know who wrote it, I keep comparing it to Parallel World, and very much hoping it'll turn out better than that.) The little moments really are what make this show for me, and I'm going to stick with it for the romance.

I realized that To My Shore is airing now, a Chinese BL (one of those sneaky international China-Thailand co-productions), and I watched half an ep, but I think it's too dark for me right now. For whatever reason, they keep picking the non-con ones to produce. *sigh* I prefer my romance consensual.

One more ep of Heated Rivalry, the only non-cdrama I am actively watching right now. It's pretty porny - in fact, ep three almost put me off with the porn music - but otherwise good. It feels like reading fanfic, in a good way. I was very unhappy with the third episode being about a completely different pairing, but since I knew that going in, I waited until I was ready for it and just treated it like a different show. That worked for me. I'm still happy it got made and that it delivers on what fangirls like me want. Generally, male reviewer reactions are to be avoided, with this notable exception of the hockey podcast "What Chaos" reacting to every single episode with genuine enthusiasm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us7Pok5nDRc

You might find this discussion about Heated Rivalry of interest: https://www.tvguide.com/news/heated-rivalry-hbo-max-sex-scenes/

Thank you! It says right at the top that it contains spoilers for ep 4, so I'll keep it for later.

I only skimmed episode 3 of Heated Rivalry so I didn't even noticed the porn music. I think the music selection in the other episodes is stellar. Feist is really good.

But I'm intrigued by Ilya and Shane - I find them endlessly entertaining. I couldn't give a fuck about the two other boring dudes in episode 3. I guess this is how many people are feeling about the show. When you don't like the leads, it's of course very boring. But that's fiction for you.

I also avoided the comments of two male reviewers (whose commentary I normally like even though I don't always agree with them) about the show. I think it's very valid to say "this isn't for me" or "the conflict here doesn't interest me" or "I just don't like how the characters are written". My feeling is that many men see the show with a very critical eye because it is written by a woman for a mostly female audience.

I'm very happy that the show is successful.

Did you watch Boots on Netflix? It's about a gay marine recruit - comedy/drama with a lot of fan service but strangely very little sexual content. The show got cancelled which is a bummer because the first season felt like a lot of set-up for season 2.

I only skimmed episode 3 of Heated Rivalry so I didn't even noticed the porn music. I think the music selection in the other episodes is stellar. Feist is really good.

I found it noticeably different from the other episodes (where I liked the music).

My feeling is that many men see the show with a very critical eye because it is written by a woman for a mostly female audience.

Sadly, yes. At least it's produced by a gay man and hockey fan. :D

Did you watch Boots on Netflix? It's about a gay marine recruit - comedy/drama with a lot of fan service but strangely very little sexual content.

No I didn't. I might watch it someday.

I didn't notice the music, but I loved episode 3! Maybe it was having an older protagonist. But I think it's more likely that I was happy to get another fanfic dynamic within the same show. It kind a felt like an AU of the main story lol

Hee, I thought the music was noticeably different from the other episodes.

Once I could treat the third episode as separate/AU-like, I liked it, too.

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