The TV Thread (Spoilers)

[xsphat]

They are quick reads, and fun if you have 104 of them all at once. I started reading them in the spring and after a month I was caught up and pissed off at waiting a month for the next 25 page part.

Agreed about Tyresse. Michonne's storyline will be different without that. But I can see doing the treatment. Mad Men had a scene with that subject matter, and look how far they go with Breaking Bad.

But I have to say, I keep messing up the locations in my head. When the second phone call happened I, knowing what was going on, though, "It's the Hillside!" Then I gave myself 20 lashes for being so stupid.

[YoungMichael88]

I'll read the comics until I catch up to the TV show. Just to see the differences and not ruin/spoil my positive feelings about the TV version.

[Lanx]

yea on the subject of tv michone vs comic michone

without tyresee, the governor and the raid(where everyone breaks off at the end), i highly doubt michone will even be a full character, right now she's nothihng to me, while the comics gave her a built up character, i mean she quite literally has the most growth along with rick, now that issue 100 has happened. Tho i often ask myself, is it because the comics spoiled the tv for me, and no, i actually like tv glen and maggie more than the comic versions. Maybe it's cuz glen is a real character and maggie, is less annoying on tv than the comics (so far).

[xsphat]

Don't forget, in the comics Michonne took a year (our time) to say anything personal to anyone except Tyresse. She is still a big mystery woman, and that is something that is easier done in a comic book than on a TV show, much like a gang rape. Or the Hunters part, or Glenn, and so many other examples.

I like the TV Glenn and Maggie better too. Maggie is hotter and less chickish and whiny. Glenn is still a go getter, but has been skinned out much more effectively.

But how to you feel about the show just sort of swapping Hershel and Dale? I was confused by that. What, didn't they want to have 2 old men? The Dale in the show was a constant source of annoyance to me while in the books he was more fatherly and less of a bi-otch.

[YoungMichael88]

Normally I get really upset when main or main-ish characters get killed off. To me that's the reason boardwalk empire got so slow. I didn't feel that way in this case. Because he did come off as a bit of a "bi-otch". Actually no, not a bit. A lot.

[xsphat]

I am ok with it, but a fiction writer I have killed off several lead characters in my time, and there is always a reason. I think the reason here is that an old man was humping a young woman and that is taboo in the church of America.

And remember, deaths don't equal a good show. The Shining, one of the best horror movies of all time, had one violent death in it. Think about that next time you watch a modern horror flick where everyone except the hottest chick dies for no reason other than being there.

[jeroplane]

How was the phone portrayed in the comic book? Never read that far, but from watching it was pretty obvious to me what was real by the second call.

... Watch the episode again, then I'll tell you.

I get that the phone thing was all in Rick's head.

I'm just wondering how they executed it in the comic as opposed to the show. Was it more drawn out/less obvious, etc?

[Lanx]

How was the phone portrayed in the comic book? Never read that far, but from watching it was pretty obvious to me what was real by the second call.

... Watch the episode again, then I'll tell you.

I get that the phone thing was all in Rick's head.

I'm just wondering how they executed it in the comic as opposed to the show. Was it more drawn out/less obvious, etc?

on comic phone
the phone served a multitude of purposes, 1 it made superman rick vulnerable, at this point ppl believed in rick like a meissah, but the second time he picked up the phone, he knew, it was not connected, and he knew it was his own kryptonite and yet he knew he could not live without it so he takes it with him.
much like how someone turns to the bottle in times of stress, he would turn to the phone, he would take it out and talk to dead wife,
just when you think he will keep this to himself, he tells others of his weakness to let them know that they themselves aren't crazy, and he understands that it sounds crazy but even he can't help himself.

[jeroplane]

How was the phone portrayed in the comic book? Never read that far, but from watching it was pretty obvious to me what was real by the second call.

... Watch the episode again, then I'll tell you.

I get that the phone thing was all in Rick's head.

I'm just wondering how they executed it in the comic as opposed to the show. Was it more drawn out/less obvious, etc?

on comic phone
the phone served a multitude of purposes, 1 it made superman rick vulnerable, at this point ppl believed in rick like a meissah, but the second time he picked up the phone, he knew, it was not connected, and he knew it was his own kryptonite and yet he knew he could not live without it so he takes it with him.
much like how someone turns to the bottle in times of stress, he would turn to the phone, he would take it out and talk to dead wife,
just when you think he will keep this to himself, he tells others of his weakness to let them know that they themselves aren't crazy, and he understands that it sounds crazy but even he can't help himself.

Wow... and they've just put all of that to bed within the one episode...

[YoungMichael88]

^Well we don't know that yet. Maybe we will see more phone stuff this Sunday.

EDIT: after all Hershel knows. I don't think it's over just yet.

[xsphat]

And I thought Hershel did a really good job of hiding it and playing along.

[YoungMichael88]

^ agreed

[Lanx]

i don't get it, are they really just making glen that much of a bad ass? he's x10 tougher as tv glen than comic glen, and maggie too, it's like they're trying to create the ultimate tv couple. i'll reserve judgement on walking dead for now.

broadwalk empire is just owning tv now (besides sons of anarchy) i don't have much to look foward to, but tv nights are getting crazy, man the guy that plays fat al capone is good, and oh man i hope harrow goes all badass next episode, it''s like i've been waiting all year just so they can unleash the harrow, glad they got rid of more scenes of the horrible shroeder family, god i hope they get blown up.

[Lanx]

bleh, arrow is getting long in the tooth now, just when it was getting good, btw battlestar galactica blood and chrome is very watchable, keep forgetting it's young adama.

[jeroplane]

i don't get it, are they really just making glen that much of a bad ass? he's x10 tougher as tv glen than comic glen, and maggie too, it's like they're trying to create the ultimate tv couple. i'll reserve judgement on walking dead for now.

broadwalk empire is just owning tv now (besides sons of anarchy) i don't have much to look foward to, but tv nights are getting crazy, man the guy that plays fat al capone is good, and oh man i hope harrow goes all badass next episode, it''s like i've been waiting all year just so they can unleash the harrow, glad they got rid of more scenes of the horrible shroeder family, god i hope they get blown up.

Maggie seems soft though... That episode showed more of her weakness that we hadn't really seen before, IMO. Also you can tell by the way they've shot the episodes that they're playing her up to be more and more the weaker "pretty female" stereotype as opposed to the more hardened character she has been up til now.

[hashbaz]

I'm glad to see that this thread is mostly about Walking Dead.  Season 3 has been great so far.  I actually liked how they handled the phone, though I liked where and when it appeared better in the comics.  Maybe Rick's not done with it though, like he wasn't in the comics even after he found out it wasn't real.  I agree that the way Herschel handled it was great and really well-written.  I also really, really loved the little moment where Daryl prepared to take out zombified Carol.  Daryl is such a boss.


Carl is approaching his comics level of badassity.  Love what they've done with him this season.  Andrea annoys me on every level, which is distressing since she is my favorite character in the comics.  I also like the different take on the Governor.


Hate Michonne's permanent Ice Cube scowl.

[jeroplane]

Andrea annoys me on every level, which is distressing since she is my favorite character in the comics.  I also like the different take on the Governor.

I completely agree. I get annoyed every time she's on screen these days. She used to be a a bad ass.

[YoungMichael88]

I agree. Staying in that town was a ***** move. She owes her life to Michone. She should be kissing the ground she walks on. The world is not the way it used to be. Staying in a town like that only makes you weak and way to dependent on others.

[Lanx]

it's like... the writers meeting went like this.

andrea is HOT!
maggie is HOT!

we have to find some way to make a weird convoluted storyline so that we can get both of them on screen semi-naked!!!

yeah!

then we get last week's episode and all the writers high five.

i can't stand what they've done to michonne, it's true, scowly face one word killer is NOT what michonne is, it's like they've peeled away all the good layers of michonne and just created this "easy for tv" character.

i mean they can do... stuff, they created daryl, who woulda thought that they could create a country hick boy and make him cool, then they create his one arm brother and your like... eh they brought him back? why?

then they tried with t-dog, and were actually trying to give him some kind of background, and thought... nawww too difficult, lets feed him to the walkers.

women are just written so poorly in this show, still glad they killed off lori so early instead of saving her death for the end of the season.

[bace]

I'm really into the walking dead tv show but I just started to read the comics. I'm only on chapter 10 but I'm surprised by how different it is.

[Lanx]

TWD- TYREESE! omg i didn't know guess i must of missed previews.

OK I am going to be totally observant, the writers are really really really racist, i just have to say it, i mean it's like they can't have a main black guy, it's the big elephant in the room.

they kill t-dog to bring in oscar... in the same episode

then they kill oscar to bring in tyreese... in the same episode

i mean i've read the source material, so i know more than most, and trust me there are literally characters that get killed back to back... but killing one black guy, to replace with another black guy, to replace with tyreese.

tyreese is one of my favorite characters in the series, and i'm sure ppl who've read the source material will agree with me too, but, we have to address TWD's issue of not being able to have more than one black guy on screen.

ok i can see how some would say, i'm over-reacting, or i'm looking for something, or it's just a coincidence, but it's not here's my real theory, and i'm sure the comic readers will back me up.

oscar was supposed to be the bad guy in the prison when they first meet everyone, rick was supposed to have killed oscar, instead they made thomas (the spanish guy with long hair) be the de-facto villian of the prison.

i mean at first i thought t-dog was supposed to be the poor man's tyreese, then when they insta-swapped t-dog with oscar, i was like ok, oscar is the poor man's tyreese.

then they have real tyreese, i'm like yes!

but i'm so confused...

they really really really made maggie a bad ass, let's remember, she's basically a home schooled, farm raised, bible belt girl, and she straight up shanked a guy, NOT a zombie in the throat serial killer style.

i mean i don't mind, but they're really pumping the bad ass on glen and maggie and making them the super power couple (speaking of race, there are 1billion chinese in the world today, with untold other asians, but only one makes it alive on TWD, come on!)

but every other character they are basically taking a big poo poo on. ugh, what they've done to andrea is just stupid, she's the skank in command to the govenor. Michonne isn't winning any prizes either, scowly mc growly either really sucks as an actress or the writers are horrible.

spoilers for comic readers only
i really hope they stop killing black guys! i mean this is where tyreese, bites it, and they're painting michonne like a silent infiltrating ninja, she's a freaking lawyer it's just supposed to be a bit ironic that the silent one used to talk for a living, not learning ninjitsu all her life, it's not like she decided "oh i'ma gonna have to storm the govenor's house cuz i can hide in the shadows" no we all know why she did that

broadwalk empire:
yes! harrow goes all harrow, that was the only thing worth watching, but i was like kill, kill all the women, they've all become annoying, kill incenstuous mom!, kill that annoying shroeder lady! oh but keep harrows girl alive, he's gotta have something.
capone let me down this episode, thought he'd be good, bleh all talk, whatever, this episode was just a whole season's built up to letting harrow loose.

dexter:
just sucks, ugh i hate watching it, i'd really really really rather watch american x idol factor...

[hashbaz]

Yeah, just lol at TWD writers swapping black guy for black guy.  "Racist" is not warranted, but seriously, why would they do that.  Also eye roll at the Governor throwing around the word terrorist so many times, and the double convenient, unmotivated last-second entrances of the Governor and Andrea in the fish tank room.  Sloppy.

I agree that Michonne is too ninjesque, and the direction TV Andrea has gone just makes me weep.

That said, I do actually like how the show is taking shape.  Feels more interesting and nuanced than the equivalent part of the comic.  The Governor holding his dead zombie daughter with glass in his face was awful and sad and somehow authentically emotional for me.  And then you've also got some really fun, bad-ass moments like the zombie bone-shank.

[YoungMichael88]

You know... The only racist part of this show and many other shows is the way people dissect them and try to attach racist labels. I'm sure it's not your intention, but trying to look for racism and drawing conclusions like you have is the only racism I see.

EDIT: I'm not trying to call you a racist. I hope I didn't come off like that. I just think that to trying find things like this to label as racist only calls attention to racism. 

Eg. During the summer games a black person happened to win a metal in gymnastics right before they cut to a commercial for a show about strange animal behavior that depicted a monkey doing gymnastic type things(as they do) Everyone called racism when they should have called coincidence.

[jeroplane]

I really enjoyed that episode. Was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Yeah, just lol at TWD writers swapping black guy for black guy.  "Racist" is not warranted, but seriously, why would they do that.  Also eye roll at the Governor throwing around the word terrorist so many times, and the double convenient, unmotivated last-second entrances of the Governor and Andrea in the fish tank room.  Sloppy.

I agree that Michonne is too ninjesque, and the direction TV Andrea has gone just makes me weep.

That said, I do actually like how the show is taking shape.  Feels more interesting and nuanced than the equivalent part of the comic.  The Governor holding his dead zombie daughter with glass in his face was awful and sad and somehow authentically emotional for me.  And then you've also got some really fun, bad-ass moments like the zombie bone-shank.

I agree that the repetition of the word "terrorist" was overdone. However I do get how the use of the word fits in with the Governor trying to make the people instantly hate Rick's group. It's an easy term for him to use to describe the intruders.

And good point about the entrance of the Governor/Andrea. The battle with Rick's group wasn't even over so they had no reason to return to the apartment. But the Michonne/Governor fight played on the emotions in a good way. They had me feeling sorry for the Governor for parts and somehow understanding of him despite the walker heads rolling around the room. And I thought his acting was really great, showing his love and grief for his daughter.

[xsphat]

Maybe they are anti-racist feminism activists since there are now 2 black chicks ... ON 1 SHOW!!! You don't see that outside of the BET or pr0n, so be happy.

[xsphat]

I thought his acting was really great, showing his love and grief for his daughter.

That scene made me realize I too would cry for my child with a piece of glass sticking out of my head.

But what happened to Michonne chopping off his arm and his binky-winky?

[Lanx]

Maybe they are anti-racist feminism activists since there are now 2 black chicks ... ON 1 SHOW!!! You don't see that outside of the BET or pr0n, so be happy.

comic bookers
what do you think about this source material ppl? i doubt this is going to go past one episode, the other black girl is tyreeses' daughter and if you remember, she did the suicide thing and it leads to the crazy tyreese scene, actually that was what rick did after lori died, so who knows if they're gonna keep tyreese daughter or basically she's another red shirt. they really should have had tyreese from the beginning imo, then you would have had the awesome rick/glen/tyreese trio.
I mean right now tyreese is so far behind on the "good pal" for rick that i have low hopes of him making it far and really they probably just have tyreese around as a way to see a bit of michonne skin, and then have michonne have some fun with morgan

[keyboardlover]

Soooo here's what I've been watching:
- The League
- Workaholics
- The Walking Dead
- Boardwalk Empire
- Parks and Recreation
- The Big Bang Theory
- The Wire

Also on my list to watch:
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Started watching Weeds.  Great show... and about one of my favorite things in the world!

[hashbaz]

Maybe they are anti-racist feminism activists since there are now 2 black chicks ... ON 1 SHOW!!! You don't see that outside of the BET or pr0n, so be happy.

comic bookers
what do you think about this source material ppl? i doubt this is going to go past one episode, the other black girl is tyreeses' daughter and if you remember, she did the suicide thing and it leads to the crazy tyreese scene, actually that was what rick did after lori died, so who knows if they're gonna keep tyreese daughter or basically she's another red shirt. they really should have had tyreese from the beginning imo, then you would have had the awesome rick/glen/tyreese trio.
I mean right now tyreese is so far behind on the "good pal" for rick that i have low hopes of him making it far and really they probably just have tyreese around as a way to see a bit of michonne skin, and then have michonne have some fun with morgan

I'm fine with Tyreese entering the scene now.  Daryl has been an awesome lieutenant for Rick.  I'm guessing the daughter, assuming she is his daughter, will not follow the same path as the daughter in the comics.  There is a white guy in their group, but it seems like he is involved with the woman that died rather than Tyreese's daughter. (Though maybe the woman who died is his sister?).  Regardless, the main story point of the suicide in the comic is to reveal that people reanimate even without being bitten, which the TV show has already revealed.

[Lanx]

weeds was great the first 2 seasons, then it just couldn't "do anymore". weeds to me, never recovered past season2 (maybe season 3) and just went downhill, much like dexter which continously sucks.

sons of anarchy was great for 2 seasons, sucked for the next 2 (i didn't and couldn't even watch the rest of season 3, gave up on season 4 and only had friends beg me to watch season 5 i had written it off) and recovered. weeds never did a recovery, imo and is the weakest show in the turn of the century drama's i've watched, with the best looking actress mary louise parker made weeds really watchable, but i couldn't stand to see the same character re-surface in RED (which was a comic book so i was like...)

[Lanx]

Maybe they are anti-racist feminism activists since there are now 2 black chicks ... ON 1 SHOW!!! You don't see that outside of the BET or pr0n, so be happy.

comic bookers
what do you think about this source material ppl? i doubt this is going to go past one episode, the other black girl is tyreeses' daughter and if you remember, she did the suicide thing and it leads to the crazy tyreese scene, actually that was what rick did after lori died, so who knows if they're gonna keep tyreese daughter or basically she's another red shirt. they really should have had tyreese from the beginning imo, then you would have had the awesome rick/glen/tyreese trio.
I mean right now tyreese is so far behind on the "good pal" for rick that i have low hopes of him making it far and really they probably just have tyreese around as a way to see a bit of michonne skin, and then have michonne have some fun with morgan

I'm fine with Tyreese entering the scene now.  Daryl has been an awesome lieutenant for Rick.  I'm guessing the daughter, assuming she is his daughter, will not follow the same path as the daughter in the comics.  There is a white guy in their group, but it seems like he is involved with the woman that died rather than Tyreese's daughter. (Though maybe the woman who died is his sister?).  Regardless, the main story point of the suicide in the comic is to reveal that people reanimate even without being bitten, which the TV show has already revealed.

just talked to a friend, he says that the girl is now his sister (guess i missed it and assumed daughter) but i think they can still work some kind of weird tie in, it seems like it was already tied in, in some way, kinda.

[keyboardlover]

Happy Holidays y'all!

[YoungMichael88]

Curse mid season breaks!!!

[YoungMichael88]

The season finale of Sons of Anarchy was just fantastic.

[Lanx]

walking dead this week,

so boring.
they really are hyping up glen
i don't think he'll be an issue 100 anytime soon
but it seems like they're gonna make some forced drama between glen/maggie/hershel

tv show TWD has turned maggie around for me, she's so silly in the comics, she's my least liked character, now on the tv show she's risen above all the females

i think we're actually handicapped by the "senior cast"

andrea is horrible
carol is blah
wth are they doing with beth, it's like she's become surrogate mom (the way she kissed rick was even creepy)

idk, i hate the baby, i really wish the baby would have died, there's still time (baby imo takes up too much screen time, and really begging for the sympathy vote)

daryl was the best non comic character, i hope they do something more with that storyline than 2 hillbillies on the road.

i'm not liking the way they're tyreese, he sounds too preachery, a little bit of tdog in him, where's the kickass tyreese from the comics?

now i'm pretty critical of tyreese, i think i've said b4 but he's my second favorite TWD character!
i mean when tyreese was made, they just said, fck it, he's the melee character, ALL THE WAY, they said he sucks at any kind of shoot, just give him a hammer and point! come on, that's too badass

ugh i hope this season doesn't suck, i think my friends will hate me if i complain!

[noisyturtle]

Off season:
Breaking Bad
Sherlock
Game of Thrones

The only thing decent on TV right now is Community and Workaholics, but where do I get my drama fix?

[Lanx]

sparticus, isn't bad actually

[hashbaz]

I'm not encouraged by this new TWD episode.  Andrea continues to be nearly unbearable.  The unruly Woodbury mob was cheesy and bad.  So far so good with Tyrese, I'm sure his gym scene is coming.  I like that Daryl left with Merl, I think it's true to his character.  I just hope he remains an important character on the show, though I fear he is being written off to make room for Tyrese.

Rick losing it at the end there actually worked for me though.  I'm glad to see the telephone was not a one and done thing.  It seems to have been totally forsaken in the comics.

[Lanx]

telephone
[spoilers]actually seemed to last about 20issues, nephews have my comics so i'm going off memory, but i don't like the way it's being used here,telephone actually seemed to make rick human, well only after he admits it to michonne, then we see that in the zombie world, everyone has their own telephone, but here they just make him psycho. it's too early for him to loose it, he should loose it much later on, when he is seen as more of a pillar[/spoilers]

andrea, wtf right? ugh, my theory is that since andrea and carol (the actresses) were brought on cuz of deramont (the original director) they knew they had some sort of standing, but now the writers are so confused with them, they'll just create crappy scenes to give them screen time, even if it doesn't make sense!

ugh the women are so poorly written, in the comics i only wanted lori to die, i was like, wow rick was married to that? that super bullet that killed both her and the bastard child, really was a gift from zombie god.

yea woodbury is just lost, they make it so crappy, only good writing for tyreese could save this series for me. god you guys who haven't read the comics don't know how awesome tyreese is!, i'm even keeping an open, even tho this TWD tyreese should be in a gears of war movie.

[hashbaz]

comic talk
Yeah I know the phone lasted for quite a few issues, but did it ever have a resolution?  Maybe I'm expecting too much of it, and Rick is just done needing it since finding the walled town.  But I hope Kirkman eventually revisits the "Rick is losing it" thread.

[Lanx]

i think kirkland wantd to use the phone as a symbol, that strong characters have to retreat somewhere. where normal characters like glen/maggie can just go about lives and do the chores needed, strong characters, of embodiment can't just bury themselves in that way.i'd wanna talk more but it's getting so late!

[hashbaz]

[Lanx]

it was funny, there'a new reality show out called the face, my wife and i watch a lot of reality tv, she's watched every season of top model, i watch along also. I said oh there's this new series, lets try it, i guess. It's a ghetto version of top model, she actually got bored half-way through the first episode. Mind you, she has watched every horrible season of top model, and this episode she couldn't even bear it, so we're like, damn let's go watch king of the nerds!

we're on episode 5 now, it's getting great, you'd think a show that has nerds s a reality tv premise would undermine them, but it doesn't. It's actually pretty good, now my opinion is important, cuz as i've said i've watch a lot of reality tv, so i can give an opinion on what's good and bad reality tv. (for the record, i don't watch the horribad reality tv, kardashinas, jersey shore, housewives or any of that crap, if you know reality tv, you know that all of that is made up situational producer crap) i should point out, it's competition reality tv we watch, and this is pretty good.

Now for king of the nerds, the nerd aspect made me very leary, and the 2 hosts are idiots, they're just the old actors from the nerds movies, whatever i guess it's more credible than having a hot chick. but king of the nerds, is pretty good the competitions are nice, and inventive and tests all aspects actually,
i mean last episode was a challenge to play tetris with a life sized rubics cube then do suduku with those numbers, and the next challege was a game of memory a 5x5 grid

the previous challege, i think was a bit unfair and didn't have merit, it was a debate on super heroes 1, judge was a debate professor, the other judge was kevin smith, so he has cred, the third guy was jason mewes, kevin's smiths druggie friend (jay of silent bob) he just sounds like an idiot and never seemed to have any real background with comic book knowledge beyond just druggie talk.

the challenge for that episode was a quiz on comic books, and this stuff was hard, but even i was able to guesstimate 3 out of 4 correct answers (if you know a lot of the subject you can make some good educated guess)

the episode b4 that was controller a quadracopter through a maze with an ipad (i think) and then after that was playing soccer with golf carts.

all very good challenges and they tested all different aspects of stuff, i really liked it.

the show is suspect to me tho, 80% of the nerdy girls are cute to good looking, that seems REALLY high of an average. i don't know how the guys look, my wife said just one guy looked ok, but typically nerdy.

give the show a shot if your bored, it's not bad.

[Lanx]

i give up on TWD, so snore...

side note spartacus is looking interesting story wise that is.

[Lanx]

TWD... i'm now playing smartphone games while my friends watch...

[noisyturtle]

Just watched the first 2 seasons of Boardwalk Empire. Pretty good, onto season 3!

[Lanx]

if harrow isn't your favorite character by now, he will be.

[noisyturtle]

I kept expecting Harrow to martyr himself in an effort to save James or Margret from an incoming bullet, but it never happened. I really want to see Gillian Darmody killed, she seriously skeeves me out.