"Late To The Party: Shows You Caught After Their Water Cooler Peak"
Hopefully this can spawn fresh discussions about shows that have passed their zeitgeist moment. I’ve gone through a lot of shows after the fact, and missed out on good discussions as a result.
Post a show you’re on, recently went through, or are about to start.
Spoilers are a risk but hopefully that can be alleviated with a little tact.
-Sig-
“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"
-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.
I just started a couple weeks ago and I’m early in season 8.
Apparently, it’s booming right now.
The general:
at it’s best moments, it’s a relatively light, fun show with a healthy bit of intrigue. Frankly, my favorite moments are when it’s more of a “case of the week” procedural, and/or focuses on particular character dynamics:
Mike/Harvey Harvey/Jessica Louis and anyone he’s paired with
I think the show shines with above-board conflicts between mentors and mentees, because nobody pulls their punches and yet the reverence everyone has for each other remains glaring.
Watching Jessica take shit from Harvey, or Harvey from Mike are golden moments because that’s where the bonds are most apparent. It’s a beautiful piece of the show.
Spoilerish:
Louis is probably the MVP of the series, since we get so many layers from him. He’s equally fun when he’s sadistically abusing the associates as he is when he’s bonding with Donna.
All in all it’s one I’m glad I waited for. It’s fun discovering these characters and relationships now.
-Sig-
“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"
-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.
13. "I've also recently started Suits...i'm only a few episodes in" In response to Reply # 1
and i love it...
d
"i do more for both our communities than you'll ever know." - Heinz "But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly
3. "I have watched so many YT clips of P&R during the pandemic." In response to Reply # 2
Peacock put the shit behind a paywall, so I'm not sure where I'll ever see the full series. I keep wanting Comedy Central to swap it out for The Office (Another series I didn't watch during its original run).
8. "my favorite sitcom of all time" In response to Reply # 2
it definitely finds its footing when Ben and Chris show up and Brandanoquits leaves. That character was just dreadful. Its like the Simpsons with its crazy cast of town people who you just love over time. From the animal control guys, sewage Joe, Kyle, and even the guy who starts the chants at the town halls. Its also very rewatchable. Its my go to for background noise while scrolling my phone.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
17. "Some of the show's best moments are town hall deleted scenes" In response to Reply # 8
My great hope is that as we creep up on a 15th anniversary for that show, they crack the dam and let it all out. Not only because by all accounts Harris Wittels (one of the pest control guys who also popularized the #humblebrag) let alone all the community theater guys in those rooms cut loose for full shooting days and nobody complained because it was always an improv masterclass...
But Parks always got closest to the absurdity of Veep when Leslie and Jeremy Jamm were trying to either appease or shut down the people of Pawnee, and I could definitely watch a hole episode of them jockeying for control of those dweebs if enough footage exists.
As hopeful as its portrayal of local government ultimately was, I'd also be so fascinated to see what a similar show would look like now. Veep did its thing, but it was already cynical, so it's easy to imagine a contemporary reboot. How clever would a writer's room have to be to capture Parks & Rec's clear distaste for bureaucracy without sacrificing its belief in good intentions and community given the last seven years of most local governments?
Shit, there I go rambling. Love to quote, talk and think about that show. One of Leslie's most prescient jokes: "I have the most valuable commodity in America: the blind belief that what I'm doing is right." Damn!
4. "I blasted through Heroes when I was laid off a few years ago." In response to Reply # 0
What I've noticed about binging shows after their prime, they're not as bad as the original online banter makes them seem. Like, not having to wait a week/holiday break/following season for a cliffhanger is a totally different experience.
Not that some of Heroes wasn't completely stupid, but not having to wait 4-5 months for it to come back from break kinda eased the sting.
5. "The dropoff from Season 1 to 2 was immense though." In response to Reply # 4
Now, obviously...it's harder to stay on board when shows fall off. But back then, it felt like we were just waiting for it to get better because we were so invested...and it just didn't.
It's probably at least partially attributed to the writers strike, but honestly...the first season sorta petered out ("Save the cheerleader, save the world...but not REALLY.")
6. "Watching the highest rated K drama, "Crash Landing On You"" In response to Reply # 0 Tue Aug-08-23 07:11 PM by Castro
It came out four years ago, but it broke records in Korea and Japan for a Korean drama, and it was on the top ten for Netflix in Korea for 60 plus weeks.
Story is about a South Korean businesswoman/heiress who crash lands her paraglider on the north side of the DMZ. She is saved by a military officer who happens to be an amazing concert pianist...obviously they fall in love, but in between, there is the most realistic portrait of everyday life in North Korea that has ever been attempted and broadcast. Based on what I read, its not entirely accurate but according to several defectors who were consultants to the production or reviewed it for South Korean media, they claim its a pretty good depiction outside of glamorizing the Military.
I love Korean films and shows because of the food, and this has great cooking scenes, and its actually pretty damn funny too. Lots of 'fish out of water' type comedy for the heiress and her love interest. And seeing the day to day lives of North Koreans as depicted, even with the generalizations is still both entertaining and fascinating.
glad I watched it, will likely never watch it again, probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen it described as the best TV series of all-time but even shedding that pre-bias it wasn't my favorite
14. "had to be somebody white that said that cuz" In response to Reply # 10
The Wire holds that spot for me.
d
"i do more for both our communities than you'll ever know." - Heinz "But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly
15. "great post. just started Swarm and its brilliant" In response to Reply # 0
i'm about 4 episodes in
i hate that i let people erase the work that CLEARLY Black women put into this show. its not all Donald Glover AT ALL. He literally only wrote one episode.
d
"i do more for both our communities than you'll ever know." - Heinz "But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly
This was a weird one to finally get after because I had read and listened to enough TV crit that I knew why contemporary viewers found it so curious years before, and for that reason I'd dodged a show or two in the past (Lost is the obvious one) but when I finally got into it, leading into watching its final season in real time, I realized that no matter how clever its gimmick was, what really made that show was how each season subverted that initial framing without completely discarding it.
And despite binging most of it, it's one of the only bulk-consumption shows I felt a twinge of jealousy for people who got to see it week-by-week, year-by-year.
It might not even crack my ten favorite comedies, because so much of its humor depended on serial context (though that also highlights how impressive its writing was) but if I were gonna say something insane (especially given what I just wrote) I might argue The Good Place is some kind of The Wire (or Homicide?) of network comedies. All the pieces mattered.
Or, that's how it felt during my binge watch anyway. I extremely felt like I'd missed a moment, only taking solace that it seemed like many others did too.
19. "I agree with everything you said about The Good Place" In response to Reply # 16
I also think we give "the moment" too much weight when it comes to TV shows...you either recognize the quality of a show like this or you don't. There were many "in the moment" that didn't so what does it matter?
d
"i do more for both our communities than you'll ever know." - Heinz "But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly
18. "The Sopranos WILL be one, SOME day" In response to Reply # 0
I've seen when Meadow goes to college, I've seen when ol'girl has a REALLY bad day (this is the best spoiler cover I could think of for a big one) and I've seen "Pine Barrens" as much as some movies I really love.
But I've never seen the whole of it, despite relatives and girlfriends insisting on it. Maybe it's because I already have that weird pockmarked history with the show, maybe it's because my parents would send me out of the room when Sopranos came on only to pay no attention to The Wire (eventually making me the most aggravating white kid in 9th grade social studies classes) but no matter how many pledges I make to myself, year after year, I never get to it.
Watched season one last month. Skipped season two. Have two episodes left of season three. Really, really liked season one. All I have to say about season three right now is holy hell, Mahershala Ali. Incredible.
24. "Dorff too. Young men never seemed so old." In response to Reply # 20
For what it's worth, if you've enjoyed the first and third seasons I really think you should go back and give the second a shot. It deserved a decent amount of the backlash it got, but it's also such a tonal departure from the first season that I think it just became easy to beat up on it.
Farrell and Kitsch are pretty magnetic, McAdams might've never had a more complex role (nor looked better) and no matter how many recaps gave Vaughn shit for his whole thing, every time an episode cut to his whole mess I couldn't look away. On the occasions I think about a rewatch, it's usually because I want to see his highwire act without the weight of the first season obscuring how comically committed he is to the lines he's delivering.
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