I need The Studio to let me know right away if someone is playing themselves or a character because it took me a while to realize Rebecca Hall wasn’t “Rebecca Hall.”
It's not recent, but The Negotiator has at least one scene (and a callback during the climax) where Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey argue about the ending of the movie Shane and whether the main character is dead or not, leading to a reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid too:
Spacey: He doesn't look back because he cant. Shane's dead.
Jackson: He slumps because he's shot. Don't mean he's dead.
Spacey: You think Butch and Sundance live too?
Jackson: You never see them dead either, but they're surrounded.
That being said, maybe you just placed the thought in my head but I feel like I vaguely recall a more recent TV show or movie doing this too. For a moment I thought it might have been Clooney and Pitt in Wolfs, but while the ending rips off BCatSK the characters don't appear to actually discuss the movie (though I could totally imagine them arguing about it).
Not a gamer but I knew what was coming in the TLOU and I admit I've had a few moments wondering if I can continue - zombies aren't my thing AT ALL - but ultimately decided I trust Craig Mazin as a showrunner to tell a great story and that Bella Ramsey can sell it. They are really terrific in this so I'm continuing. I remain heartbroken about the doings in episode 2 though.
I'm similar, but I am already a step out of watching more. For me, the first season worked entirely because of the relationship and chemistry between Joel and Ellie. Without that element, I am not sure why I'm watching. It's a completely new narrative about seeking revenge and (I assume) the merits thereof. It's basically a new show/story/premise. This is where I think a videogame source makes a TV show suffer. The point is to be going somewhere and shooting zombie things and/or people.
I also personally found episode two's writing pretty rough. It felt like Abby was a character in a high school play in both quality of acting and the extreme exposition of the writing in her monologue to Joel.
I never played the game and was quite shocked by Last of Us, but I am definitely going to keep watching. Bella Ramsey is fantastic, and I always love Kaitlyn Dever. I am eager to see where it goes from here. It's a big loss, and I'll miss Joel, but there's still plenty to like about the series.
I am not as fond of The Studio as everyone else seems to be. It's fine. Good cast and some good laughs here and there, but some episodes have fallen completely flat and I'm very glad they are all very short.
When an episode doesn't work — like the one where Matt's two lieutenants competed to make their own horror movie — "flat" sounds exactly right. But sounds like I enjoy the parts that work more than you.
That episode was really bad. I didn't like the most recent one much either, or the Olivia Wilde episode. The others I have liked a lot. So I guess it's been very hit-and-miss so far. And I like it enough to keep watching.
Holy shit I recall a conversation about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s ending being in something recent too but I can’t remember what. This is gonna kill me.
I find it humorous that Tony Gilroy keeps talking about "writing 8 movies in 5 years" with these two seasons of Andor, because the "movies" that open both seasons are slow and somewhat meandering affairs. The episodes were good, I was entertained and am looking forward to what's next, but it wasn't easy jamming through three hours of TV. Like all binge viewing, discussion/critique of the nuance and joy of individual scenes and character moments tends to get trampled by major plot elements and larger arcs.
Disney better get some Emmys out of this approach, otherwise what was the point?
I can't recall anyone arguing over the ending of Butch and Sundance but the film has been referenced in movies and TV quite a few times. My favorite is CJ Cregg on the West Wing discussing a particularly huge revelation in the Bartlett presidency, telling Josh that, like Sundance, they're all worried they shouldn't metaphorically jump off the cliff into the river because there's a chance they might drown. CJ surmises "It's the fall that's going to kill you." I think about that scene often.
It’s not a perfect source but I checked the connections page for Butch & Sundance and didn’t find anything about two characters arguing about the ending….just homages to the final freeze frame.
What I immediately thought of when I saw your bullet point was fans arguing about the ending of “Angel” which is the same. (And now it’ll be interesting how it’ll be addressed in the Buffy revival.)
The Studio is the best comedy going right now. The cast works so well, Ike Barenholtz is SO GOOD, and it’s just a lot of fun with plenty of opportunities to laugh. The long tracking shots can get a little tiresome, but it’s almost part of the meta aspect of the entire thing. It’s a show made by film and cinematography lovers about films and cinematography. It’s a circle jerk, but an enjoyable jerk at that.
Oh, and I was happy to be back in the world of The Rehearsal. The line of what’s staged and what isn’t is so blurry it’s probably all staged. That doesn’t take away any of the enjoyment though, just makes me eager to see how it unfolds.
We’re a couple of episodes behind on The Studio, but as much as I can appreciate a oner there was a moment in the Olivia Wilde episode where we got a good old-fashioned wipe and I almost cheered.
What happened in TLOU last week needed to happen because it was the catalyst of the second game and second/third season. It had to happen. When game 2 came out some people rage quit the game and were problematic online. This is a hard difficult story and needs to be watched in its entirety. As people have said, I trust the storytellers and this amazing acting.
In terms of a big character being killed off at the start of the second season, my mind immediately went to Kate Mara's character on House of Cards. Remember when that show was a thing? haha. Difference being in that case that Netflix released all episodes at once, so viewers could still watch the rest of the season soon thereafter.
I thought this season of Mythic Quest was it's best since season one. I'm disappointed with the cancellation and change in the final scene. I really thought they'd have another coming!
the one that TLOU reminds me of is Boardwalk Empire and Jimmy Darmody; I didn't immediately stop watching, but I stopped caring as much (and eventually dropped the show)
Wasn’t the Butch Cassidy debate in The Studio? I’m having a mental block too, but I think Ike Barinholtz character argues at one point Butch and Sundance didn’t die. Now I want to know for sure as well.
I don't think so. It's not in my notes for the episodes that have released already, and Myles McNutt (who's recapping it for his Substack, Episodic Medium) didn't recall it there, either.
While I share Alan's dislike of Mythic Quest's Poppy/Ian kiss, I don't like the revised ending very well either.
With this new ending, Poppy passes up the chance to see if things could work with Storm, instead choosing to prioritize her flawed, sometimes dysfunctional friendship/work partnership with Ian. That's rather depressing, notwithstanding the show's attempt to portray it otherwise. There's a mismatch between the upbeat tone of the revised ending and taking a minute to think about the actual consequences of Poppy's decision.
I need The Studio to let me know right away if someone is playing themselves or a character because it took me a while to realize Rebecca Hall wasn’t “Rebecca Hall.”
This is a reasonable compromise, rather than setting a level of fame above which actors always have to play themselves.
// How I Met Your Mother, where CBS posted an alternate ending to the finale where Tracy and Ted lived happily ever after //
I’ve somehow never heard about this until now. Maybe because once the finale aired I was completely, aggressively done with the show?
It's not recent, but The Negotiator has at least one scene (and a callback during the climax) where Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey argue about the ending of the movie Shane and whether the main character is dead or not, leading to a reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid too:
Spacey: He doesn't look back because he cant. Shane's dead.
Jackson: He slumps because he's shot. Don't mean he's dead.
Spacey: You think Butch and Sundance live too?
Jackson: You never see them dead either, but they're surrounded.
That being said, maybe you just placed the thought in my head but I feel like I vaguely recall a more recent TV show or movie doing this too. For a moment I thought it might have been Clooney and Pitt in Wolfs, but while the ending rips off BCatSK the characters don't appear to actually discuss the movie (though I could totally imagine them arguing about it).
Not a gamer but I knew what was coming in the TLOU and I admit I've had a few moments wondering if I can continue - zombies aren't my thing AT ALL - but ultimately decided I trust Craig Mazin as a showrunner to tell a great story and that Bella Ramsey can sell it. They are really terrific in this so I'm continuing. I remain heartbroken about the doings in episode 2 though.
I'm similar, but I am already a step out of watching more. For me, the first season worked entirely because of the relationship and chemistry between Joel and Ellie. Without that element, I am not sure why I'm watching. It's a completely new narrative about seeking revenge and (I assume) the merits thereof. It's basically a new show/story/premise. This is where I think a videogame source makes a TV show suffer. The point is to be going somewhere and shooting zombie things and/or people.
I also personally found episode two's writing pretty rough. It felt like Abby was a character in a high school play in both quality of acting and the extreme exposition of the writing in her monologue to Joel.
I never played the game and was quite shocked by Last of Us, but I am definitely going to keep watching. Bella Ramsey is fantastic, and I always love Kaitlyn Dever. I am eager to see where it goes from here. It's a big loss, and I'll miss Joel, but there's still plenty to like about the series.
I am not as fond of The Studio as everyone else seems to be. It's fine. Good cast and some good laughs here and there, but some episodes have fallen completely flat and I'm very glad they are all very short.
When an episode doesn't work — like the one where Matt's two lieutenants competed to make their own horror movie — "flat" sounds exactly right. But sounds like I enjoy the parts that work more than you.
That episode was really bad. I didn't like the most recent one much either, or the Olivia Wilde episode. The others I have liked a lot. So I guess it's been very hit-and-miss so far. And I like it enough to keep watching.
I liked that one, but mostly I don’t find it as funny as Alan promised! Although the Sarah Polley episode was perfection. I’ll keep watching though.
Holy shit I recall a conversation about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s ending being in something recent too but I can’t remember what. This is gonna kill me.
I find it humorous that Tony Gilroy keeps talking about "writing 8 movies in 5 years" with these two seasons of Andor, because the "movies" that open both seasons are slow and somewhat meandering affairs. The episodes were good, I was entertained and am looking forward to what's next, but it wasn't easy jamming through three hours of TV. Like all binge viewing, discussion/critique of the nuance and joy of individual scenes and character moments tends to get trampled by major plot elements and larger arcs.
Disney better get some Emmys out of this approach, otherwise what was the point?
I can't recall anyone arguing over the ending of Butch and Sundance but the film has been referenced in movies and TV quite a few times. My favorite is CJ Cregg on the West Wing discussing a particularly huge revelation in the Bartlett presidency, telling Josh that, like Sundance, they're all worried they shouldn't metaphorically jump off the cliff into the river because there's a chance they might drown. CJ surmises "It's the fall that's going to kill you." I think about that scene often.
It’s not a perfect source but I checked the connections page for Butch & Sundance and didn’t find anything about two characters arguing about the ending….just homages to the final freeze frame.
What I immediately thought of when I saw your bullet point was fans arguing about the ending of “Angel” which is the same. (And now it’ll be interesting how it’ll be addressed in the Buffy revival.)
The Studio is the best comedy going right now. The cast works so well, Ike Barenholtz is SO GOOD, and it’s just a lot of fun with plenty of opportunities to laugh. The long tracking shots can get a little tiresome, but it’s almost part of the meta aspect of the entire thing. It’s a show made by film and cinematography lovers about films and cinematography. It’s a circle jerk, but an enjoyable jerk at that.
Oh, and I was happy to be back in the world of The Rehearsal. The line of what’s staged and what isn’t is so blurry it’s probably all staged. That doesn’t take away any of the enjoyment though, just makes me eager to see how it unfolds.
We’re a couple of episodes behind on The Studio, but as much as I can appreciate a oner there was a moment in the Olivia Wilde episode where we got a good old-fashioned wipe and I almost cheered.
What happened in TLOU last week needed to happen because it was the catalyst of the second game and second/third season. It had to happen. When game 2 came out some people rage quit the game and were problematic online. This is a hard difficult story and needs to be watched in its entirety. As people have said, I trust the storytellers and this amazing acting.
When I simply saw the first teaser poster for TLOU 2 (angry Ellie) I knew where this was going, and was the only real way to go with a sequel.
In terms of a big character being killed off at the start of the second season, my mind immediately went to Kate Mara's character on House of Cards. Remember when that show was a thing? haha. Difference being in that case that Netflix released all episodes at once, so viewers could still watch the rest of the season soon thereafter.
The only other one I can think of is the whole “Valerie” controversy in the 1980s.
Alan actually discussed it on a podcast.
https://www.mobituaries.com/news/the-podcast/season-3/season-2/season-1/sitcom-deaths-and-disappearances/
I thought this season of Mythic Quest was it's best since season one. I'm disappointed with the cancellation and change in the final scene. I really thought they'd have another coming!
the one that TLOU reminds me of is Boardwalk Empire and Jimmy Darmody; I didn't immediately stop watching, but I stopped caring as much (and eventually dropped the show)
Wasn’t the Butch Cassidy debate in The Studio? I’m having a mental block too, but I think Ike Barinholtz character argues at one point Butch and Sundance didn’t die. Now I want to know for sure as well.
I don't think so. It's not in my notes for the episodes that have released already, and Myles McNutt (who's recapping it for his Substack, Episodic Medium) didn't recall it there, either.
Any chance a Severance discussion is getting mixed up in your head? I mentioned it on Blue Sky. That’s the best I got.
I saw it somewhere recently. Now that’s gonna bother me too.
ChatGpT says it was Severence Season 2 finale. I have not watched S2. So that’s not what I’m thinking of.
Chatbots are, once again, useless. There's a visual reference to the ending in s2, but no one talks about the movie.
While I share Alan's dislike of Mythic Quest's Poppy/Ian kiss, I don't like the revised ending very well either.
With this new ending, Poppy passes up the chance to see if things could work with Storm, instead choosing to prioritize her flawed, sometimes dysfunctional friendship/work partnership with Ian. That's rather depressing, notwithstanding the show's attempt to portray it otherwise. There's a mismatch between the upbeat tone of the revised ending and taking a minute to think about the actual consequences of Poppy's decision.