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What TV SHOWS are you watching?
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Wiseguy is about a federal agent who infiltrates organized crime, and it was was my favorite tv show on the air during the first season. But that was in the late '80s, which was a cultural wasteland compared to the mid-'80s or the early '90s. So the show hasn't aged entirely well. Women of that time period were mostly doing terrible things to their hair, and star Ken Wahl was an early adopter of the mullet, though not until after two great story arcs in the first season. Even so, Wahl really rocked the Italian-American '50s greaser look, like a bigger and better-looking Fonzie. He also frequently dazzled in a suit and tie, or even tuxedo. The writing was ambitious but just okay, though Stephen Cannell (better known for The Rockford Files and 21 Jump Street) does have a knack for tough guy repartee. However, the show had a knack for getting some great acting out of at least one actor per story arc, usually the main villain. Kevin Spacey in particular had a breakthrough role on this show.
Two standalone episodes impressed me. One episode featured the star playing his character's own deceased father in period piece scenes filmed in black and white, with good attention to details of the early '60s. The other episode brought back a surviving bad guy from the first story arc, now enduring a hateful life in the witness protection program.
One major disappointment with Wiseguy was the recurring absence of the star. He suffered some kind of real-life leg injury early in the second season, and the showrunners turned that into a plot point. But after one more episode of him limping around on crutches, they brought in a very bland replacement character. The new guy looked, sounded, and acted like an accountant, and it just didn't work. In the third season, they dumped the star off into a minor role in a b-plot and brought in a first season character to feature in the main storyline. Halfway through the short fourth season, there is still no sign of the star, and other characters attended his funeral even though they have no proof that he is even dead. Also, the fourth season of the show was blatantly trying to grab old fans of Miami Vice, and featured a former Miami D.A. now fighting organized crime alongside the same agency featured in the first three seasons.
A particular disappointment with this boxed set is the absence of one of the best story arcs. It featured a fictional record company (who could forget a name like Dead Dog Records), a real star (Blondie), a delightful villain (Tim Curry), and some great plot twists. Unfortunately, tv shows of that time were uninterested in paying for music rights that would carry over to vhs or dvd or any other kind of format. So there is no legal way to re-watch that story arc, just low-quality bootlegs by fans of the show.
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- Colorcrayons
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- Wiz-Warrior
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If I was forced to compare this show to another and give it an analogue, I would say that this could be the ASMR version of Adventure Time without the implied backstory. Just a child and its companion (along with a creepy disembodied adult male voice) having adventures.
I think if you have young kids or would like a more innocent change of pace from the usual fare, then I believe this could be a nice diversion.
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- ChristopherMD
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- ChristopherMD
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- Michael Barnes
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- Mountebank
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Watched all of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Netflix strikes again. It's great. Much better than the film was. The writing (by Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket himself) is excellent- sharp, witty and full of Smart People jokes that will make even folks of average intelligent feel like Smart People. Totally captures the Edward Gorey-ish tone of the whole thing, deadpan and earnest but whimsical and light-hearted. The production design is terrific, the cast is uniformly outstanding, and Neil Patrick Harris may be giving the performance of his career here. His Count Olaf/Yessica Haircut/Captain Sham/etc. has me rolling. I also really like how they've divided up the books into two shows each...hopefully they'll do them all, can't wait for The Hostile Hospital.
I'm halfway through Channel Zero - Candle Cove, a Syfy channel based on all that creepypasta jive. It's pretty good, quite understated for the most part and well-made. The concept is that there is this mysterious, creepy puppet show that some kids saw but there is no evidence of it ever existing. Parents saw just static and assumed kids were being imaginative. That's sort of where the internet story ends and the show elaborates on it quite a bit. Well, quite a lot. It's written into a very Stephen King sort of story about middle aged folks getting together in a small town to confront a past tragedy. Yeah, like It. Quite a lot like It.
Unfortunately the show completely blew it in the first episode. At first, they don't really show the show (which is called Candle Cove). Kids' heads are blocking the TV so you can just kind of see some of it and it looks super weird and possibly upsetting. I was hoping that this would continue, but nope, we get full-on multi-minute exposure to the show and it loses the mysterious, unknowable aspect of it. Hearing it and barely seeing would have been more than enough.
Three episodes in and it's veering toward more conventional territory, coming across like American Horror Story or something like that. It's well made and overall I'm enjoying it, but I almost wish it had been just a single episode of an anthology.
The Tooth Child is pretty funky though, very cool idea. Not really scary though.
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- Colorcrayons
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The first episode is a fire hose of the stuff, that tapers off in later episodes. Enjoyable and laughed out loud, very loudly, at a few parts.
It has quite a few bigger names as well, some of which only get a few moments of air time before never being seen again.
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- Cranberries
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