TV/Movies Megathread

[Iormlund]

Don't be so self-hating...

It's not really self-hate, as I have nothing to do with it.

And yes, there might still be some decent TV being made amongst all the dross (¿Redes?), but you can hardly argue against the overwhelming majority of it being simply abysmal. There's a reason why I never bothered to buy a TV set since I moved out. And I'm validated in my decision every time I'm at someone else's place and something like Aguila Roja is on (prime time TV if you can believe it) -- all I want to do is gouge my eyes out.

[Neil]

Don't feel bad.  True Detective was the last really good show I've seen on proper TV in a long time.

[Eddie Teach]

Do you mean first? Considering it ended its season last week.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, stuff made my Americans and Brits is usually better for a number of reasons (mainly market size and foreign market penetration that allows them to make more niche programming that it's still commercially viable, plus the BBC), but there's some good stuff.

Cheers for the suggestions.

I think Sky Atlantic bought Grand Hotel to try and jump on the foreign language drama bandwagon, but it didn't work.

[celedhring]

Don't be so self-hating...

It's not really self-hate, as I have nothing to do with it.

And yes, there might still be some decent TV being made amongst all the dross (¿Redes?), but you can hardly argue against the overwhelming majority of it being simply abysmal. There's a reason why I never bothered to buy a TV set since I moved out. And I'm validated in my decision every time I'm at someone else's place and something like Aguila Roja is on (prime time TV if you can believe it) -- all I want to do is gouge my eyes out.

Águila Roja wouldn't exist if people didn't (massively) watch it. Actually I know first-hand that La1 would have loved to drop it, and they are aware it's shit, but it's so successful they just can't.

If you look at the most watched American shows, they're pretty lame and uninteresting, just shinier due to more money being thrown at them. The really good TV is actually pretty niche - thing is that with such a huge market it's easier to make a show that will only interest a 5% (or less) of your potential audience and still make money out of it, and even get a big budget to hire good writers and actors. The True Detective finale was watched by less than 1% of the American population - I'd get my arse on the street if I ever wrote a show with such abysmal ratings, but there it has been considered, legitimately, a hit.

We can't do that in Spain (Canal+ tried and failed), so most programming is the kind of lowest common denominator fluff to try to please the masses so the numbers add up. But there's still lots of (cheap) decent stuff in the niche networks like La2 or the Catalan C33 (don't know if other regions have similar channels). Muchachada Nui was extremely brilliant. Like in the UK, public networks should be the ones filling the void of the market (and they did in the past, Spanish TV in the 80s was pretty great), and at least La1 is slowly heading into that direction again. Isabel has been successful, and they're ordering similar ambitious quality programming. We'll see.

[celedhring]

Yeah, stuff made my Americans and Brits is usually better for a number of reasons (mainly market size and foreign market penetration that allows them to make more niche programming that it's still commercially viable, plus the BBC), but there's some good stuff.

Cheers for the suggestions.

I think Sky Atlantic bought Grand Hotel to try and jump on the foreign language drama bandwagon, but it didn't work.

Grand Hotel tried to ape the blueprint of the British costumed drama, I'm not surprised it didn't work in the UK since it's like trying to sell Pizza Hut to a Neapolitan. It had its strong moments though.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. It was even sold as a Spanish Downton Abbey.

There's some interesting stuff on British TV now that's been far more influenced by Scandinavian dramas than American ones, I think because of the budget. So shows like the Fall (with the wonderful Gillian Anderson) and Broadchurch, which are now being sold to Americans to remake

[celedhring]

Yeah. It was even sold as a Spanish Downton Abbey.

There's some interesting stuff on British TV now that's been far more influenced by Scandinavian dramas than American ones, I think because of the budget. So shows like the Fall (with the wonderful Gillian Anderson) and Broadchurch, which are now being sold to Americans to remake

The Fall is utterly fantastic. My favorite show of 2013.

[celedhring]

The girl in charge of programming was oh so insanely hot too.

You mean Tommi's wife? 

No!

She was the head of Canal+ fiction programming. She was, I think, 27 at the time, and had the body of a Playboy centerfold. I loved how she would show up at markets and instantly get the longest line of people (90% men) trying to sell stuff to her.

She was smart too, dunno where she ended up once Canal+ pulled the plug on self-produced fiction. I, hum, can't remember her name 

[Sheilbh]

For Brits or people who trick iPlayer into thinking they're British:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections

An early favourite, Kenneth Williams looks at Bloomsbury:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00rzw1v/going-places-12

[Ideologue]

Got a chance to see the first episode of True Detective.  Pretty sweet.  I don't understand why everyone is so mean to Rust.

[Grey Fox]

Got a chance to see the first episode of True Detective.  Pretty sweet.  I don't understand why everyone is so mean to Rust.

Same reason than you.

[Eddie Teach]

I missed the part where Rust gave a bunch of bad movies "A" grades. 

[celedhring]

Actually...

[spoiler]The murderer seems to be a Hitchcock fan, going by the show's last ep[/spoiler]

[Ed Anger]

Watched Downfall again. I cried.