I find myself enjoying Poker Face less and less. I mean I will watch next week, but I don't find myself excited by a renewal. Guess I am just too far from procedurals after all of this "golden tv"
I do still enjoy the episodes and am glad it was renewed. But I can understand what you and Ron Ozer mean. It's still a bit jarring to me that Charlie just randomly shows up in places with usually little or no explanation. I probably wish there was just a hint more of serialization to give some more connective tissue between episodes.
That said, they've done a great job of not making things feel too formulaic. For example, nobody dies in this episode.
I was just as moved by TLOU ep 5 as I was by ep 3, but in a different way. Ep 3 was beautiful and moving and actually very hopeful. Ep 5 ripped my heart out! And then ep 6 a few nights ago did it again! I started off seeing this show as probably a lesser version of Station Eleven but I no longer feel that way at all. The performances are all stunning and the writing is incredible and they manage to get some humor/LOL lines in every episode. I'm just blown away.
God I am just loving Poker Face so much and was thrilled at the renewal (though it was much later than I anticipated!) I too thought the Katy being out of her coma talk was just a ruse by Charlie by the way it was shot, but I guess we'll never know for sure. But I gotta say I was impressed with the chemistry between Natasha Lyonne and Charles Melton and it made me want a romantic tryst episode for Charlie!
I love Tim Blake Nelson so I was kinda sad at how under-utilized he was here, but I also love Charles Melton and this was a nice showcase for hum. They really know what they're doing with guest stars.
Sorry to ask a boring, mundane access question but... So original "Party Down" episodes are on Hulu - but the new shows are exclusively on Starz... and there's no crossover? (Apologies; I can no longer keep track of who owns who; who partners with who, etc.) I mean, I assume they may eventually wind up on Hulu, I guess - but for now, it's Starz or bust?
For now, yes. I *think* you can pay for the Starz app without having the cable bundle, though. So that's an option either weekly or in early April after the whole season has dropped.
I didn't comment at the time, but I was clearing out old e-mails and saw this and wanted to say that three episodes in I'm very pleased being pandered to. Worf's reveal was rewatched so many times the day that episode came out that it started to feel like the Zapruder film.
"You see, his sword goes back and to the left. AGAIN. Back and to the left..."
I wouldn't. I think the best ones are better at different things. Peak TNG is probably the best, just because of Stewart, but Deep Space Nine was more consistent, TOS more thrilling, Strange New Worlds more empathetic, etc.
I feel like Ellie's being written with an unrealistically broad range, from exuberant joy to leathery stoicism. Much more so than any one person would/could encompass. Years of PeakTV have left me accustomed to story-serving-characters rather than vice versa.
Bella Ramsey (who I was late to identify as Lady Mormont from GOT) is a capable enough actress to sell the "Ok, they're all dead, let's swallow our feelings and get moving" stoicism of the final scene. But while it's believable that such a kid might be so hardened and calcified, that's just not the emotionally open character we've been watching (and who had to be written that way to counterpoint Joe's numb crustiness). I get that the writers want to inject complexity into a familiar sort of onscreen relationship, but IMO it should flow more organically.
Again, Ramsey sells it, but it leaves a 90s-style TV taste in my mouth. When writers view characters as pliant chess pieces, I feel disrespected as a viewer. Contrast with the way characters are written in, say, "Better Call Saul" (fwiw I reject the notion Action ought to be broader and more plot-driven)
I don't know that I agree! Ellie had, until the moment of Sam's turning, believed that she could save him. While Joel is talking about how kids don't have to worry about protecting others in another room, Ellie was leaning into protecting Sam. When it fails - when she feels that she fails - her exuberance is understandably deadened (at least for now, we'll see what happens in Episode 7). She's just processing the trauma of her sudden (and now lost) hope, the loss of a new friend, and her failure to protect/save him when she believed she could.
I disagree that her reaction at the ending of the ep is off or doesn't fit but I would agree that I've had a hard time getting a grasp on who Ellie is and what her life has been like prior to meeting Joel. Her baseline for normal is post-infection dystopia but she's still a teenager, and life in the Boston FEDRA QZ was apparently significantly better than life in the Kansas City FEDRA QZ. I'm not surprised by her personality given her age, but I am thrown that she doesn't really seem aware of the potential danger that lurks everywhere outside the QZ, which is a marked difference from girl we meet in the pilot. Granted, that girl was essentially a prisoner of the Fireflies, and we don't really know what she thinks of that group. I'd prefer having a better grasp on what Ellie's life was like before she met Joel, what life is generally like for those living in the Boston FEDRA QZ. It might inform the characters better, because so far I'm still trying to understand who they both are.
I find myself enjoying Poker Face less and less. I mean I will watch next week, but I don't find myself excited by a renewal. Guess I am just too far from procedurals after all of this "golden tv"
I am starting to lose interest. I can’t really place it but something is off with it.
I do still enjoy the episodes and am glad it was renewed. But I can understand what you and Ron Ozer mean. It's still a bit jarring to me that Charlie just randomly shows up in places with usually little or no explanation. I probably wish there was just a hint more of serialization to give some more connective tissue between episodes.
That said, they've done a great job of not making things feel too formulaic. For example, nobody dies in this episode.
I was just as moved by TLOU ep 5 as I was by ep 3, but in a different way. Ep 3 was beautiful and moving and actually very hopeful. Ep 5 ripped my heart out! And then ep 6 a few nights ago did it again! I started off seeing this show as probably a lesser version of Station Eleven but I no longer feel that way at all. The performances are all stunning and the writing is incredible and they manage to get some humor/LOL lines in every episode. I'm just blown away.
God I am just loving Poker Face so much and was thrilled at the renewal (though it was much later than I anticipated!) I too thought the Katy being out of her coma talk was just a ruse by Charlie by the way it was shot, but I guess we'll never know for sure. But I gotta say I was impressed with the chemistry between Natasha Lyonne and Charles Melton and it made me want a romantic tryst episode for Charlie!
I love Tim Blake Nelson so I was kinda sad at how under-utilized he was here, but I also love Charles Melton and this was a nice showcase for hum. They really know what they're doing with guest stars.
Sorry to ask a boring, mundane access question but... So original "Party Down" episodes are on Hulu - but the new shows are exclusively on Starz... and there's no crossover? (Apologies; I can no longer keep track of who owns who; who partners with who, etc.) I mean, I assume they may eventually wind up on Hulu, I guess - but for now, it's Starz or bust?
For now, yes. I *think* you can pay for the Starz app without having the cable bundle, though. So that's an option either weekly or in early April after the whole season has dropped.
You can buy any of the "premium" cable channels (Starz/HBO/Showtime/etc) as standalone services. I think the last holdout was HBO.
The biggest things you can't buy as a standalone services are the regional sports networks like YES and SNY.
I didn't comment at the time, but I was clearing out old e-mails and saw this and wanted to say that three episodes in I'm very pleased being pandered to. Worf's reveal was rewatched so many times the day that episode came out that it started to feel like the Zapruder film.
"You see, his sword goes back and to the left. AGAIN. Back and to the left..."
That small yelp from Ellie at the very end of the episode is worthy of an Emmy by itself
I loved your line - I’m a Star Trek fan and this fan service is very much for me.
How would you rank all the Star Trek shows (past & present)?
I wouldn't. I think the best ones are better at different things. Peak TNG is probably the best, just because of Stewart, but Deep Space Nine was more consistent, TOS more thrilling, Strange New Worlds more empathetic, etc.
I feel like Ellie's being written with an unrealistically broad range, from exuberant joy to leathery stoicism. Much more so than any one person would/could encompass. Years of PeakTV have left me accustomed to story-serving-characters rather than vice versa.
Bella Ramsey (who I was late to identify as Lady Mormont from GOT) is a capable enough actress to sell the "Ok, they're all dead, let's swallow our feelings and get moving" stoicism of the final scene. But while it's believable that such a kid might be so hardened and calcified, that's just not the emotionally open character we've been watching (and who had to be written that way to counterpoint Joe's numb crustiness). I get that the writers want to inject complexity into a familiar sort of onscreen relationship, but IMO it should flow more organically.
Again, Ramsey sells it, but it leaves a 90s-style TV taste in my mouth. When writers view characters as pliant chess pieces, I feel disrespected as a viewer. Contrast with the way characters are written in, say, "Better Call Saul" (fwiw I reject the notion Action ought to be broader and more plot-driven)
I don't know that I agree! Ellie had, until the moment of Sam's turning, believed that she could save him. While Joel is talking about how kids don't have to worry about protecting others in another room, Ellie was leaning into protecting Sam. When it fails - when she feels that she fails - her exuberance is understandably deadened (at least for now, we'll see what happens in Episode 7). She's just processing the trauma of her sudden (and now lost) hope, the loss of a new friend, and her failure to protect/save him when she believed she could.
I disagree that her reaction at the ending of the ep is off or doesn't fit but I would agree that I've had a hard time getting a grasp on who Ellie is and what her life has been like prior to meeting Joel. Her baseline for normal is post-infection dystopia but she's still a teenager, and life in the Boston FEDRA QZ was apparently significantly better than life in the Kansas City FEDRA QZ. I'm not surprised by her personality given her age, but I am thrown that she doesn't really seem aware of the potential danger that lurks everywhere outside the QZ, which is a marked difference from girl we meet in the pilot. Granted, that girl was essentially a prisoner of the Fireflies, and we don't really know what she thinks of that group. I'd prefer having a better grasp on what Ellie's life was like before she met Joel, what life is generally like for those living in the Boston FEDRA QZ. It might inform the characters better, because so far I'm still trying to understand who they both are.