Entry tags:
On the tv front
I'm still catching up with my tv shows.
After watching tthe finale of The Good Wife, I was left with the feeling that the show's best days are definitely behind us and I might drop it next season...*sigh*
As for Doctor Who, I'm usually a fan of Moffat's writing but I wasn't as excited by "The Name of the Doctor" as others were, even though I enjoyed the word-based twists it had, from beginning (when the characters misunderstood a certain message) to ending (when the viewers realised that the title of the episode didn't mean what they were led to believe it meant). I don't know, maybe you have to be British and to have grown up with the old DW series and the whole DW mythology to fully enjoy it.
I'm also all caught up with Mad Men. After a few strong episodes, "Crash" looked all over the place and poorly executed. It is as if the show itself has become the epitome of advertising: selling crap or poor quality stuff, either wrapped in an apparently good-looking package or sold thanks to a weird ad that is supposed to be the top of originality. But a good pitch, or good ideas on papers, or mere eccentricity don't necessarily make a good episode.
Besides the show often lacks subtlety, and sometimes the obvious is just so obvious (as Ruppert Giles would say "I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming, uh, text"!) to the point that it seems that the writers are just lazy and taking the viewers for granted, ready to buy anything they would sell.
Now, writing this, I wonder whether Weiner and Co weren't simply making a meta episode about themselves and the process of writing Mad Men! Of course, Don Draper is Matthew Weiner. BTW I second everything that Alan Sepinwall wrote on the episode.
So far, The Borgias is actually the tv show that is giving me the most satisfaction, especially "The Banquet of Chestnuts" that I have just watched and which was excellent. Jeremy Irons is simply magnificent, the supporting cast is good with memorable characters (Caterina Sforza!), the photography is often fabulous, the writing is clever, and I totally want to steal Lucrezia's earrings!
The series is, in my opinion, much better than Game of Thrones, no matter some historical inaccuracies (or rather the liberties it takes when it comes to historical accuracy and that I tolerate in the name of poetical licence!).
I find the latter entertaining at times, for sure, -- and definitely better than the books it is based on (I read the first four books on kindle and the writing turned me off)--, mostly thanks to a few characters and the actors who play them (Tyron, Jaime, Brienne, Margaery, Stannis...), but there's a problem of structure, focus and pace that has been there from the beginning and has not been fixed. Besides I often find the Wall/Jon Snow stuff boring while it's obviously there for the long run...It's probably the most overrated tv show of the moment, along with Homeland.
I miss Justified, its terrific dialogues, unforgettable characters and handsome hero.
Now bring me Copper and Longmire! While waiting for the best of all to come, for its final and most-expected eight episodes....
After watching tthe finale of The Good Wife, I was left with the feeling that the show's best days are definitely behind us and I might drop it next season...*sigh*
As for Doctor Who, I'm usually a fan of Moffat's writing but I wasn't as excited by "The Name of the Doctor" as others were, even though I enjoyed the word-based twists it had, from beginning (when the characters misunderstood a certain message) to ending (when the viewers realised that the title of the episode didn't mean what they were led to believe it meant). I don't know, maybe you have to be British and to have grown up with the old DW series and the whole DW mythology to fully enjoy it.
I'm also all caught up with Mad Men. After a few strong episodes, "Crash" looked all over the place and poorly executed. It is as if the show itself has become the epitome of advertising: selling crap or poor quality stuff, either wrapped in an apparently good-looking package or sold thanks to a weird ad that is supposed to be the top of originality. But a good pitch, or good ideas on papers, or mere eccentricity don't necessarily make a good episode.
Besides the show often lacks subtlety, and sometimes the obvious is just so obvious (as Ruppert Giles would say "I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming, uh, text"!) to the point that it seems that the writers are just lazy and taking the viewers for granted, ready to buy anything they would sell.
Now, writing this, I wonder whether Weiner and Co weren't simply making a meta episode about themselves and the process of writing Mad Men! Of course, Don Draper is Matthew Weiner. BTW I second everything that Alan Sepinwall wrote on the episode.
So far, The Borgias is actually the tv show that is giving me the most satisfaction, especially "The Banquet of Chestnuts" that I have just watched and which was excellent. Jeremy Irons is simply magnificent, the supporting cast is good with memorable characters (Caterina Sforza!), the photography is often fabulous, the writing is clever, and I totally want to steal Lucrezia's earrings!
The series is, in my opinion, much better than Game of Thrones, no matter some historical inaccuracies (or rather the liberties it takes when it comes to historical accuracy and that I tolerate in the name of poetical licence!).
I find the latter entertaining at times, for sure, -- and definitely better than the books it is based on (I read the first four books on kindle and the writing turned me off)--, mostly thanks to a few characters and the actors who play them (Tyron, Jaime, Brienne, Margaery, Stannis...), but there's a problem of structure, focus and pace that has been there from the beginning and has not been fixed. Besides I often find the Wall/Jon Snow stuff boring while it's obviously there for the long run...It's probably the most overrated tv show of the moment, along with Homeland.
I miss Justified, its terrific dialogues, unforgettable characters and handsome hero.
Now bring me Copper and Longmire! While waiting for the best of all to come, for its final and most-expected eight episodes....