kenberg Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 I'm still fine with Homeland. I find the general setting plausible. I find the characters actions to be consistent with their personalities. But maybe this season should be the last. There comes a time to say a fond farewell. Or there can come a time when we all get tired of it and go elsewhere. The young Brodie girl is developing well, as an actress and as a role on this particular show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 I'm watching The Blacklist. It's got some interesting twists, although the bit about treating Reddington as an "enemy combatant" is a bit annoying. He is, as he says frequently, a criminal. He's not Hannibal Lecter, either. He's a broker, not a doer - although he is ruthless. I think James Spader does a pretty good job with the character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 I'm watching The Blacklist. It's got some interesting twists, although the bit about treating Reddington as an "enemy combatant" is a bit annoying. He is, as he says frequently, a criminal. He's not Hannibal Lecter, either. He's a broker, not a doer - although he is ruthless. I think James Spader does a pretty good job with the character.I must admit Spader is a good character actor. However I watched one episode and found severe credibility problems. This guy is so dangerous that they keep him in a fancy facility, and even in his own little special box. But then they just let him go out to dinner. He (of course) promptly escapes, they have lost him, but instead of going away he just gets back in their van to talk and return to custody. Hmmmm. I guess every show has unrealisms, and we generally suspend disbelief if we like the show enough, but this time I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 The character has an agenda, clearly. That agenda involves a list of people he thinks the world would be better off without (and he's probably right). It also involves FBI agent Elizabeth Keene for some as yet unknown (though I have my suspicions) reason. The whole "enemy combatant, lock him up on a container ship, keep him in heavy chains, keep him in an isolation chamber in a heavily guarded facility" thing I just dismissed as Hollywood bullshit. Or maybe they're trying to indoctrinate us to accept that this is a reasonable way to treat people. Either way, I just ignore it. But I grant that if you can't do that, the show becomes much less interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Yes Blacklist has 2 tricks, the villain and pretty good ones of the week and just who the heck is fbi agent liz and her hubby and what are they up to? Spader makes the show. I will keep watching but the comments above are on target. Long wait for Homeland season 2 on Netflix...I wait. btw it is filmed around where I live. I watched Newsroom....I guess this season was a bit better than last. Again I recommend Spiral, French Paris cop show for anyone on Netflix. It shows the very gritty side of Paris and French justice system. Very different from USA/UK/CAnada Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Props for a fine episode of Castle last night. I think that show is back on track. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Yes Blacklist has 2 tricks, the villain and pretty good ones of the week and just who the heck is fbi agent liz and her hubby and what are they up to? Spader makes the show. I will keep watching but the comments above are on target.I also find Liz very interesting. She's not just a pretty face. Spader is just doing the same kind of schtick he's done in the past. It's not detrimental, because he does it so well, but I wouldn't watch if I weren't curious about the Elizabeth Keene mystery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I also find Liz very interesting. She's not just a pretty face. Spader is just doing the same kind of schtick he's done in the past. It's not detrimental, because he does it so well, but I wouldn't watch if I weren't curious about the Elizabeth Keene mystery.Let's see. Reddington is particularly interested in her, to the point that he voluntarily remains in custody just to talk to her. She has some mysteries about her father. Hmm what could it be ... <darth vader voice> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Let's see. Reddington is particularly intereted in her, to the point that he voluntarily remains in custody just to talk to her. She has some mysteries about her father. Hmm what could it be ... <darth vader voice> that would be pretty boring outcome, how about she is his Mother, his sister, his mother? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Props for a fine episode of Castle last night. I think that show is back on track. Yes, probably. Somehow I missed how Beckett got her old job back. The new guy that replaced her seems to be gone, she has her job, was there an explanation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Yes, probably. Somehow I missed how Beckett got her old job back. The new guy that replaced her seems to be gone, she has her job, was there an explanation?The feds fired her. I missed one episode where (I assume) she got rehired at NYPD. Don't know about the fill in guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 The feds fired her. I missed one episode where (I assume) she got rehired at NYPD. Don't know about the fill in guy. Right, the reds fired her. While she was in D.C there was a guy in NY at her old desk and he was a real slob, driving everyone nuts. After getting fired she was back in NY, helping with an investigation but w/o the official capacity to lead it. Not that that really stopped her. I thought that there was a comment about it being too bad that there was now no opening to take her back. As of the last episode, she is back with her old job. I think that the writers, producers, etc got an earful about the new split D.C/N.Y setting and decided to undo it. They couldn't really figure out just how, so what the hell, it's tv, they just did it. And I am glad that they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Here's what happened. In last week's episode "Number One Fan", the woman who took the hostages turned out to have been given up for adoption, and her birth father was a prominent businessman who is also golf buddies with the Police Commissioner. Castle and Kate cleared her of murder charges, and proved that it was actually the businessman's son-in-law who did it to frame her so she wouldn't get a trust fund. The businessman then called in a favor and got the Commissioner to reinstate her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 I think that the writers, producers, etc got an earful about the new split D.C/N.Y setting and decided to undo it. They couldn't really figure out just how, so what the hell, it's tv, they just did it. And I am glad that they did.My nickel says they planned it that way from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarabin Posted October 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Yes Blacklist has 2 tricks, the villain and pretty good ones of the week and just who the heck is fbi agent liz and her hubby and what are they up to? Spader makes the show. I will keep watching but the comments above are on target. Long wait for Homeland season 2 on Netflix...I wait. btw it is filmed around where I live. I watched Newsroom....I guess this season was a bit better than last. Again I recommend Spiral, French Paris cop show for anyone on Netflix. It shows the very gritty side of Paris and French justice system. Very different from USA/UK/CAnada When I miss an episode of Homeland I can see it on tenplay.com.au. It's the website of one of our local(ie not cable) TV channels. It may not work for you - when I've accessed similar sites in US I've been told the facilities only apply to locals - but it may be worth a try. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarabin Posted October 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Yes Blacklist has 2 tricks, the villain and pretty good ones of the week and just who the heck is fbi agent liz and her hubby and what are they up to? Spader makes the show. I will keep watching but the comments above are on target. Long wait for Homeland season 2 on Netflix...I wait. btw it is filmed around where I live. I watched Newsroom....I guess this season was a bit better than last. Again I recommend Spiral, French Paris cop show for anyone on Netflix. It shows the very gritty side of Paris and French justice system. Very different from USA/UK/CAnada When I miss an episode of Homeland I can see it on tenplay.com.au. It's the website of one of our local(ie not cable) TV channels. It may not work for you - when I've accessed similar sites in US I've been told the facilities only apply to locals - but it may be worth a try. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 My nickel says they planned it that way from the start.Most certainly. Lisa Edelstein was only signed for 3 episodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 When I miss an episode of Homeland I can see it on tenplay.com.au. It's the website of one of our local(ie not cable) TV channels. It may not work for you - when I've accessed similar sites in US I've been told the facilities only apply to locals - but it may be worth a try. :D After long wait I get to start to watch homeland season 2 next week...I cant wait....though I hear rumors that many are not happy. agree with above castle comments.I enjoy watching old Poriot shows..I understand one more season has been made...but I only hope with captain hastings, ms lemon and inspector japp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarabin Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 After long wait I get to start to watch homeland season 2 next week...I cant wait....though I hear rumors that many are not happy. agree with above castle comments.I enjoy watching old Poriot shows..I understand one more season has been made...but I only hope with captain hastings, ms lemon and inspector japp.We're on homeland season 3 but presumably you meant that :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarabin Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Been watching "The white queen", a British TV series based fairly closely on the war of the roses. We're a bit behind you - I think your series ended in August - but it's enjoyable. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 We're on homeland season 3 but presumably you meant that :D thank you but no.......season 2 on Netflix is a year late.....most of us don't get showtime. I hear season 2 had many problems and not that hot but I wait. I wait for season 2 next week. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Spoiler alert, Homeland details discussed below: I do get Showtime so I am on season 3 of Homeland. The current episodes and the current news, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ex-fbi-agent-who-went-missing-in-iran-was-on-rogue-mission-for-cia/2013/12/12/f5de6084-637b-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html, seem related. But it seems to me that the writing in the last few episodes has become weaker. They get Brody back to the states and he has to get off heroin. Moreover it has to be done quickly so they give him a drug that has hallucinatory side effects. During this tme he is in a room with no padding on the walls and a wooden table that can be broken up into weapon sized pieces of wood? Unlikely. And then there is this Iranian that they have turned. I forget his name, call him X. So X is interviewing Brody in Iran and helping to arrange a meeting between Brady and the man Brody is going to kill (and now has killed). The plan is that X will then be promoted into the job of the guy Brody kills. Seems more likely X would be shot. I still like the show immensely but I had always thought of the writing as very tightly done. They seem to be getting a little lazy. And Carrie just wanders around Tehran, unwatched, chatting with Saul on a cellphone? OK, I suppose it is a "secure" cellphone, if such a thing still exists. It's not just NSA that knows how to intercept communications is it?But I do still like it, I like it a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted December 14, 2013 Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 Years ago, in connection with science fiction, I read something about "the willing suspension of disbelief". The principle is that you must be willing to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the story. The same principle seems to apply to most, if not all, TV drama. Perhaps the question of tight vs. loose writing is a different issue, I don't know. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted December 14, 2013 Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 Years ago, in connection with science fiction, I read something about "the willing suspension of disbelief". The principle is that you must be willing to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the story. The same principle seems to apply to most, if not all, TV drama. Perhaps the question of tight vs. loose writing is a different issue, I don't know. :unsure: I think it is tricky. Take Pretty Woman, a movie that I and just about everyone enjoyed. A guy stops to ask for directions and ends up in bed with Julia Roberts. Sure, and we should all get lost more often. But given the initial assumptions, the later actions of the characters are not outside the realm of possibility. Problems arise when, moving from scene to scene, we find the actions not plausible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted December 14, 2013 Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 Suspension of belief usually is applied to the basic premise or necessary prerequisites. E.g. you have to ignore the fact that FTL travel is impossible, and that aliens (if they exist at all) would not likely be remotely humanoid, when watching Star Trek or Star Wars, because we wouldn't even be able to have a show without these elements. The problem is that sometimes the creators take liberties with reality beyond those necessary for the story's existence. If these get too absurd, it can detract from the story. One of the issues I've seen raised about this season of Homeland is about Carrie's stay in the asylum in the first few episodes. It was revealed that it was just an act, and she and Saul were doing it to make the bad guy think that Carrie was in a bad situation with the CIA. That's fine, conspiracies like this art part of what this show is about. But the problem is that Carrie was acting insane even when no one was around. They did that so that the audience wouldn't know about the ruse, but after we find out, it sticks out. If you're going to pull a twist like this, you have to be more careful in the writing and staging. Think about "The Sixth Sense" or the Twilight Zone episode "In the Eye of the Beholder"; if you go back and watch everything before the big reveal, you can see that they never did anything to contradict the revelation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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