What's the last TV show you watched?

[BlueRibbonCommittee]

Yeah, I think there's some confusion here. I am the one who was discussing a preschool show. Little Charmers is the preschool show, not Sonic Boom. And despite being 27 years old, I still love it. I'm sure no one else here likes it, but I do, and I like to review it for that very reason because I feel like it makes me stand out from the crowd. I love talking about things that very few people here enjoy. And it doesn't even have to be kids shows - I mean, I don't think anyone here likes Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, but I still frequently discuss it because I feel it makes me stand out. Once I finish Nat Geo's Mars I'll review that, and I'm probably going to get back to New Girl soon, both of which also most of us are in the target demo for and I love them, but the rest of us don't.

And well, a lot of us constantly rag on Friends and The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, as well as, of course, modern Simpsons despite having strong disgust for them and yet they continue to watch them. And I'm sure it's the same thing - for completionism and hope for good episodes. It's why I still watch The Suite Life on Deck. Yes, I don't like it, but I do want to see the graduation episode and I feel like I won't have earned it if I don't see the rest of the show.

And now the conversation is going in a different direction. You're now attacking Egg just for liking Pokemon. He's watching a show he likes and reviewing it. If he wants to watch it and review it, let him, whether he likes it or not. It's really none of your business.

[kupomog]

Eh people here watch Last Week Tonight and even Sam Bee's show and junk but TV show discussion on this board can be highly stagnant lately so I mean...that's probably partly why this thread ends up being so active. It's easy to run by and just drop something in here than try to type up a legit review in a main thread to get people talking about an airing season of something, or even something that ended. People simply don't discuss shows like they used to. It's hard to keep my own Gotham and Agents of SHIELD threads active with just one or two people giving a shit despite knowing more than two people watch it. I post in the SU thread like a maniac because I WANT people to watch and discuss. Same with the JJBA thread no one ever looks at.

Watch whatever you want otherwise. I mean I just wrote up a whole post nobody read in some other thread about Toad Patrol. Stand out, do crunches, eat pizza, whatever. It gets pretty tiring to see the same person rag on the same kids show over and over again though so people are gonna express their frustrations just like people express their criticisms of shows. And everyone is free to because that's how shit works.

Respond to the frustration, ignore it, or report it like you're doing here. I'm not about to tell people "you can't discuss ______" or "you can't respond to _____ "

But I mean yea personal attacks are not necessary~

[OldSchoolerSimpsons]

Family Affair - Jody & Cissy: 7.5/10

The previous episode was about taking care about Buffy, who was introduced into these two single mens' life. Which then ended with them having to take care of not only her, but also Jody and maybe Cissy. Well, maybe. The future for her looks uncertain.

It continues from the cliffhanger the first one left, whether three kids is too much or not.
I like how Jody is written, he seems like he's gonna be a fun character. The way he reacts to things, especially the stuffed lion he has in his room, is humorous in a subtle manner. It's like the Bart and the scary clown bed of its time, although not as crazy really. And he's adorable when asking Uncle Bill if he's afraid of the dark, just to make sure he won't have to sleep lonely. Cissy seems like a sympathetic character too, and I felt bad for her when she's worried about not getting accepted into the family since she's much older than the other kids. And intrigue is created when Bill is unsure whether to keep her, since he has two other kids to take care of already and thinks she can be set at another place. But Cissy doesn't want to leave at all. The two contrasting mindsets play off each other well in a pivotal scene where she accidentally overheard him sending her away to another country. It is sort of jarring since it's a bit too alike when he was going to send Buffy away to another country the previous time. Why does it have to be so far away? Doesn't he want to easily visit them from time to time? It's not that big of a deal though, as you are so invested into these characters trying to make the best of the matter for both. Cissy pretends she doesn't want to stay long, which makes Bill react and urges her to stay a few more days. This is an intricate piece of character development, since it took more for him to be convinced to keep Buffy, and demonstrates how his heart has been softened so much by getting used to living with kids.
And of course, Mr. French steals the show as usual, who is still the main provider of comedic moments. Him standing up to someone who doesn't believe he's a butler (which he says to him just since he dislikes being called a nanny), how he's behaving when he learns both Jody and Buffy will stay and panicks, and yes they even reference Winnie The Pooh. If you're wondering why this is funny, it's because Sebastian Cabot (who plays him) was a narrator in the old Winnie The Pooh movies from the 60's and 70's.

For flaws, I would say that it's not really as funny as the pilot. It's more serious, and the comedic bits are more here and there than last time. And I didn't really care for the story until we get to the point where Buffy overheard Bill, which is when it gets very interesting. Before that, I'm entertained but there's not much of a plot to hold onto. Also, there's not much of Buffy. She's in the episode, but not a lot. Thankfully, she does get a good moment near the end, but slightly bigger screentime wouldn't have hurt.

So yeah, I liked this just as much as the premiere. I'm ready for more family affairs.

[Bart's treehouse]

Family Affair is for dead people it doesn't need a critical eye from a 20 year old

[OldSchoolerSimpsons]

Now you're stretching it.

[comeau]

the only thing on tv worth watching is the nfl and nba. though admittedly i haven't been watching much basketball lately, that'll change once the nfl season is over.

[D DEBBS]

Donut Showdown on Cooking Channel

[BlueRibbonCommittee]

Little Charmers
"Sing Song Pox"

So "Sing Song Pox" is kind of a ridiculous concept, I mean, it makes you sing everything? That's what it says on the label. I guess it gives you good rhyming skills as well. It kind of reminds me of a Futurama quote: "I can't believe the Devil is so unforgiving / I can't believe everyone's ad-libbing!" But I did like how Hazel didn't just go ahead and try to magic Seven's toy back together - we know how she is with magic. It's a bit interesting how Mr. Charming caught it because of nightingales, but eh, I'm used to those kinds of concepts.

I did like how the Enchantress was going to settle an agreement between the gnomes and the ogres. It's really great how it didn't paint either of them as the bad guys, but just a different race or group of people. It's also another thing I've loved about this show - the Enchantress is treated like a job, just the way humans settle disagreements.

Unfortunately, Hazel looks right at her dad and catches the Sing Song Pox, against her mother's warning. But I do like that this time, she did so because she was worried about him rather than just out of her own selfish desires. I like careless but caring Hazel better than selfish and reckless Hazel. But she learned from her mistake, and doesn't want to see Posie and Lavender, so she puts on a disguise.

Here we get a scene where Posie and Lavender and trying to figure out what Seven is saying. So Hazel can't tell them or just sing to them that she has the SIng Song Pox or they'll catch it? Even though she's not looking at them and wearing her disguise, and was looking directly at them just now? Not to mention Hazel and the Enchantress didn't catch it from Mr. Charming even though he sang to them through his door. But I'm not going to read too much into that. It was a nice way to have Lavender and Posie do the "To the charm house!" speak.

After the Charm House song, we get a scene where Posie and Lavender create a protective bubble for Hazel so people can talk to her and not catch the pox. What great friends! Unfortunately, the window blows open, taking Hazel with it. "Probably should have closed the windows," Posie says. "Simpsons did it! Simpsons did it!" I say. So they follow Hazel on their Broomies (huh, no sequence this time. Guess they only do that if Hazel is with them) and accidentally ram her with their Broomies, causing her to fly off, and turn it into a game of Keep Away... er, Hazel-ball. That looks like fun, but wouldn't Hazel get seasick from that?

And then, of course, Parsley comes by, and for once, ruins things without trying to. He wanted to play Hazel-ball with them and sent her flying once again... into a tree that popped the bubble. Posie and Lavender approach her, but they get the Sing Song Pox too, and here comes the gnomes and ogres that the Enchantress was supposed to be settling! So it's time for them all to be in bubbles... more seasick movements... until they crash the meeting... literally. And of course, Hazel owns up to her mistake... in song of course. "Please, Mom, let me explain / I peeked in on Dad, not using my brain.." but they pop on the gnomes' hats, giving the Enchantress and everyone in the meeting the Sing Song Pox. "It's all just an accident, no one's to blame / In fact I kinda like looking the same / So let's use this chance to all get along / Sharing the park and singing our song." So that's how it's resolved? By having everyone covered in Sing Song Pox and they all just sing a happy ending? I guess Hazel ended up being the accidental hero when she peeked in on her dad and infected her friends.

And then it just wears off at the end of the day? They were all worried about something that was going to just wear off? And they all lost it the same time Hazel did despite Hazel having it for longer? I did like them all singing at the end, even though they lost the pox.

This also raises a question: So were Seven, Treble, and Flare immune to it just because they can't talk? I mean, they followed them around throughout the episode, and... none of this makes any sense! But yet somehow this all made me smile. That's why I like the show - the concepts are beyond ridiculous, but I still find them enjoyable. Plus, they didn't do the "We wave our wands / We play our wands / We pour our special potions" motions this time. I guess with Hazel under the Sing Song Pox influence there was no time.

3.5/5 or 7/10

[Sniper Squirrel]

I recently watched the first season of Veep which I really liked

[D DEBBS]

One of those police-chase-bad-guy-driving-car shows on Spike TV

[Storm]

Steven Universe, watched the leaked episodes. This is a pretty rare show that starts off strong and somehow gets better and better as it keeps going. Too bad we'll be waiting months again before more episodes, I'm sure.

[BlueRibbonCommittee]

I'll probably catch up on Steven Universe soon, after all, I did say in the Discord chat that I'd do so when I caught up on Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, and here I am.

Last one I watched was "Barn Mates", I think.

[BlueRibbonCommittee]

Steven Universe
"Steven Floats"

Well, here I go, reviewing a show that everyone else here talks about. Lame, I'm following the crowd

It was really nice for Steven to be home at Beach City and looking all around. And that was nice of Sadie to promise him the donut (I love how he said he was "only slightly hungry" and pretended he was dying). He sets his alarm clock too, and... he can fly? I kinda knew he'd nail Amethyst with his shoe the second time, but it got her attention. Unfortunately, no one could get him down and it's already past 7:20. No donut for him!... so Rose could float like that too by thinking of things she loved? Nice... but he doesn't know what to do... and starts falling flat on his face! I love the subversion of "The Power of Friendship" trope, and I loved even more that Garnet told him to try for the donut anyway... and Pearl's "I wanted a hug!" I can totally relate to the stores opening late on Sunday... and he got his donut!

See, things can be super ridiculous and still be great!

5/5

[Torrens]

Star Wars: Droids. It's an animated kid's TV show from the late '80s that only lasted one season (13 episodes). So far I'm just starting the second episode.

It's actually not too bad; Anthony Daniels comes back as C-3PO and he does as good a job in here as he did in the regular movies. The episodes are all set before the events of the OT so there's no Luke, Leia, or Han, just the droids getting different owners and having different adventures. The theme song is by Stewart Copeland of The Police and the soundtrack is kind of an '80s rock/pop thing, which is sort of weird in the context of Star Wars. The animation reminds me enough of Heavy Metal that I keep expecting Devo or Dio-fronted Black Sabbath to pop up on the soundtrack and for Taarna to fly into frame and blast some mutants, which is an amusing idea.

[D DEBBS]

TV's Funniest on TRU TV

[LosTickaToeRest]

Star Wars: Droids. It's an animated kid's TV show from the late '80s that only lasted one season (13 episodes). So far I'm just starting the second episode.

It's actually not too bad; Anthony Daniels comes back as C-3PO and he does as good a job in here as he did in the regular movies. The episodes are all set before the events of the OT so there's no Luke, Leia, or Han, just the droids getting different owners and having different adventures. The theme song is by Stewart Copeland of The Police and the soundtrack is kind of an '80s rock/pop thing, which is sort of weird in the context of Star Wars. The animation reminds me enough of Heavy Metal that I keep expecting Devo or Dio-fronted Black Sabbath to pop up on the soundtrack and for Taarna to fly into frame and blast some mutants, which is an amusing idea.

I could swear I saw some of that on TV years ago and thought the same thing about the animation. Bummer it's not properly available on DVD. The whole thing sounds slightly surreal and the fact that the droids evidently go up against folks like Boba Fett and IG-88 sounds hilarious, and the other connections it has to the movie series are just... huh.

http://www.starwars.com/news/from-bo...-wars-prequels

Anyway...

Seinfeld - "The Pilot"

Mixed feelings about this one. I like the continuation/wrap-up of this whole TV writing arc; as funny as it was seeing Jerry and George procrastinate and never fucking write anything whenever they sit down and attempt to, it got to feeling like the writers weren't really sure what to do with the plotline at times. There's an awful lot going on in this one, a lot of which is kind of superfluous, so it feels sometimes like the 44-minute runtime on this might not have been totally necessary. The Kramer enema subplot and the thing with the large-breasted waitresses don't really feel like they belong; they aren't especially funny, they don't figure into the rest of the episode's plot the way you'd expect them to, and they feel like padding that distracts from better things they could be focusing on. Like for example the Crazy Joe Davola payoff. That was a whole lot of nothing and almost offensive after the literal full season of buildup. The climax with the new executive deciding to cancel the series for no reason also felt too arbitrary, like the writers didn't work quite as hard as they usually do to twist the knife properly during the big screwover and just went with a quick shanking instead to get the arc over and done with.

There are a lot of positives too. George losing it at his therapist's office and having his weird petty grudge with the guy who plays Kramer are great, classic Costanza. The nerdy meta humor was cute, as were the huge number of callbacks. I loved the montage of previous one-off characters commenting on the pilot (with Newman passed out watching something entirely different). I liked the subplot with the woman who plays Elaine, and I honestly wish it went on longer - it started up with a lot of promise and then just kind of stopped dead. I think my favorite thing was everything that happened with Russell. His irritation with George and Jerry is justified but he's such a jerk you still kind of relish seeing him decline into a total mental breakdown. Having him go missing and then die was pretty shockingly dark Larry Charles-ish territory. Still unclear on whether he was shot or just washed out to sea, but either way he's dead and I never, ever would have expected that, even from a modern-day sitcom. Also, Charles' and Larry David's cameos at the end there with him were great.

Overall... Still funny, but kind of an anticlimax and perhaps too long.

[Grifty McGrift]

Family Guy - Passenger Fatty-Seven. Really good.

The Simpsons - Pork and Burns. Fine.

Bob's Burgers - Ex MachTina. Really good.

[D DEBBS]

Match Game '77 on GSN

[LosTickaToeRest]

Freakazoid - "The Island of Dr. Mystico"

Freakazoid, Cosgrove, Steph, and Jones are transporting several of the show's captured villains to the remote prison colony known as France. Their plane crashes on a tropical island, which turns out to be the lair of a Dr. Moreau takeoff, and they all have to work together, along with fellow prisoner and completely-random guest star Leonard Maltin, to escape before they become test subjects.

I'm just about at the end of the series, which is pretty sad, especially since the second season got cut short by WB. This second-season format retooling where it's basically all full 22-minute stories has been kind of hit-or-miss, but then again so was the first season with its Animaniacs-style two-to-three-segment deal. It's mainly just issues with making the show's humor style compatible with that much storyline. This is one of the better full-22-minute episodes, though. It's an interesting enough story to carry itself for that long, and it has a lot of great jokes. It's nice to see Candle Jack again (I never realized how seldom he actually appeared considering his fan-favorite/meme status) and more Lobe and Cave Guy is always a good thing. As great as Ricardo Montalban was as Guitierrez, I almost wonder if they sort of edged him out as Freakazoid's archenemy in favor of Lobe just because David Warner is so fucking funny in the part. I love Jones and his assimilation into the 'team' through the season, as well as the continuation of the previous episode's running gag of Cosgrove taking every little opportunity to scare the hell out of him. I was a little wary of introducing another new sidekick, especially such a whiny prick, but he's grown on me and I still enjoy that it's Jonathan Harris almost literally just playing Dr. Smith dropped into the context of this show as a main character, complete with his "oh, the pain" shtick.

Tim Curry is a great guest star as the Blofeldian villain, and Leonard Maltin is pretty funny too if not a kind of confusing presence. He's always a funny guy when he cameos in stuff; his good-sport appearance in Gremlins 2 reciting his real-life extremely negative review for the first film before getting murdered is one of my favorite celebrity bit-cameos in any movie ever.

Like I said though, a lot of good jokes in this one. Lobe questioning whether he should rescue Freakazoid leading to a cutaway of a talk show with Henry Kissinger discussing grey morality was great. Cosgrove addressing the audience with a Sesame Street-esque PSA about the buddy system, with Ed Asner's monotone reading over stock footage of children, was also pretty darn funny. The whole running fourth-wall thing with the new production assistant was a laugh-out-loud highlight.

Anyway, definitely on the higher end of the rank list, and it makes me sad that the end is nigh.

[BlueRibbonCommittee]

I haven't watched any actual TV since before the week began. Been watching the Awesome Games Done Quick stream on Twitch.

[LosTickaToeRest]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - "Chicken & Beans"

A video of Meatwad throwing up from anxiety while trying to sing onstage goes viral, and he begins a wildly-successful music career.

Funny stuff. Meatwad with the hippie wig trying to sing his folk song is absolutely adorable. His suddenly becoming a pompous jerk is predictable but I still enjoyed it, and same for Shake's pitiful attempts to steal the spotlight. The Scorpions thing at the end was weird but I still got a big laugh from Shake's Gottfried Helnwein getup.

[Grifty McGrift]

Total Drama: The Ridonculous Race - Just the first four episodes.

Thank fuck that "wizard" couple lost first. Why were they in there to begin with? Would have really liked to see more of the tennis guys thouh, sad they lost we've seen tons of Owen and Noah already I wouldn't care if they left. Didn't care for the guniuses so uh, yeah, R.I.P I guess?

[BuyMyCereal]

Futurama - Naturama

So, I finally watched this episode and... yeah, it's just as bad as its reputation would have you believe. I'll give the show some credit for trying something different, but the way it was executed was just terrible. None of these segments are good and the plot for all three of them is about mating and most of the jokes tend to be either "lol these are Futurama characters except as animals." or bad puns. The fish one is the best segment. It's still bad, but at least it had a few decent jokes. The other two segments are just awful with the turtle one being the worst. This is easily one of the worst Futurama episodes. It may not be as awful as The Futurama Holiday Spectacular or In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela, but it's definitely up there. 2/10

[Grifty McGrift]

Wow, I'm literally the exact opposite. This is one of the, if not the best anthology episode. And the tortoise segment was the best. Bender as any kind of organic being is just weird though...

[LosTickaToeRest]

There are a lot of things I like about Naturama but I only see it as slightly better than Futurama Holiday Spectacular which is my least-favorite anthology ep. I also like them trying something different. The fact that it has an underlying theme of earnestly being educational is unexpected but interesting, and there are some good jokes. But yeah, a lot of it is either boring or gross and it feels out of place in the series anyway.

Anyhoo...

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - "Rocket Horse & Jet Chicken"

Meatwad shows off his new graphic novel about hanging out with his favorite superhero duo.

I love this one. It's in this cool alternative animation style where everything is in crayon. These experimental episodes can be a little hit or miss but this one works out great for me. George Lowe steals the show as Jet Chicken. His voice is perfect for this angry, caustic jerkass, and it helps make Jet Chicken easily one of my favorite one-off characters in the show. Lot of stuff that makes me laugh in this one.

[Walid]

I've been watching the current season of The Simpsons. Only seen Pork and Burns and that Christmas episode; both were pretty decent. I'm going backwards from the most recent episodes until I get to wherever it was when I stopped watching in s23. I've seen bits and pieces from seasons 24-27 but at this point a lot of them just blend together for me.

[D DEBBS]

My local news because I wanted to find out about the Chargers.....CURSE YOU DEAN SPANOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LosTickaToeRest]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - "Bookie"

Shake keeps making stupid bets that he can't cover and never even comes close to learning his lesson

Simple bordering on pointless but pretty darkly funny. A lot of other people seem to disagree. Maybe I'm some kind of sadist, but it's pretty entertaining watching Shake just stubbornly dig himself deeper and deeper for no apparent reason other than to be a know-it-all, despite his increasingly-brutal run-ins with his bookie every time he welches on a bet. His continuing ignorance towards the artful euphemisms for his methods of torture is amusing, and so is Meatwad's side story of turning out to be great at picking teams. I like the way it dovetails at the end, and Meatwad's conversation with the bookie at the end and his out-of-character intimidation of Shake is hilarious. Good ep.

[Torrens]

@LosTickaToeRest, Shake's easily the most unlikable of the three, so watching him get the shit kicked out of him is fun.

Watched some Star Trek: TNG last night; "Silicon Avatar". In a show that's largely episodic, it has a nice call-back to Data's evil twin brother Lore and how he killed off the entire population of Omnicron Theta's colony through the Crystalline Entity, a bizarre creature that may or may not be intelligent. Another colony gets hit and almost entirely wiped out; a famous xenobiologist who has spent much of her career studying (and hunting) the Entity after it killed her son on Omicron Theta, is brought on to advise the crew.

Picard, of course, wants to learn how he can communicate with the creature in order to try to get it to stop killing, without further violence. Riker, who just had a girlfriend die in the Entity's latest attack, is more for attacking the creature. And the xenobiologist, who is initially suspicious and hostile to Data because of Lore, forms a bond with Data because he has some of the last memories of her long-dead son.

It's a really good episode overall - there's the genuine dilemma of stopping the creature violently versus trying to communicate with it, expressed so that you can understand both sides of the argument. The Crystalline Entity is still mysterious and threatening, truly alien. And Ellen Geer delivers a powerful performance as a woman who's still profoundly grieving the loss of her only son - you feel pity and empathy for her, but it's still definitely possible to see that her grief has manifested in unhealthy ways. It's a good look at the flawed side of humanity that TNG didn't get into too often.

[LosTickaToeRest]

@LosTickaToeRest, Shake's easily the most unlikable of the three, so watching him get the shit kicked out of him is fun.

Definitely, "Bookie" is just rather graphic and turns some people off because of it; I've even seen it referred to as torture-porn. But when it's Shake it's funny.