FTA-TV Which TV shows are you watching now (2)

[Jatz]

Halfway through The Wire season 2. It feels like this is moving pretty slowly, however, the death at the end of ep 6 certainly piqued my interest again. Always thought it was possible, still didn't expect to see it there and then.

Watched the first season of Fisk this last week as well. Doesn't reach any great heights but pretty amusing from a low budget Aussie show.

Got 2 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm left as well. Savouring each episode there.

 

[Saint12]

Breaking Bad. Excellent choice.

Just finished CYE...loved it.

 

[PhatBoy]

On Ozark I was disappointed with one aspect that

Spoiler: My disappointment

was when his Wife became the key player. Yeh sure it might have happened but it flipped the early seasons and for that it wasn’t as good.

Agreed. The dynamic of the best two characters or performers at least in the show was diluted a bit by that change. Less focus on them. It was still fantastic though.

 

[PhatBoy]

Never thought I would say this but I binged Cobra Kai and for all its stupidity I loved it.
It was unashamedly proud of its cheesiness and reliance on its heritage and it was repetitive, unrealistic, and over the top. And magnificent. Johnny Lawrence is one of the most inherently likeable tv characters I’ve seen in years.

Also, season 5 of Fargo is f**king incredible having finally watched it. Dark in a completely different way to the previous seasons. Juno Temple is excellent. The token ‘weird malevolent extremely dangerous wildcard’ character is fascinating and the main villain is as bad a man as there has been across the seasons.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Cobra Kai is one of the best shows ever made.

 

[Beerfish]

Cobra Kai is one of the best shows ever made.

It’s not even fit to tie the shoes of the best shows ever made.

 

[PhatBoy]

It’s not even fit to tie the shoes of the best shows ever made.

It’s one of the highest rated shows (as in critically) in the history of television. I think you’ll find a lot of people disagree with you

 

[Jatz]

It’s one of the highest rated shows (as in critically) in the history of television. I think you’ll find a lot of people disagree with you

Is it? Where are you seeing that?

 

[Beerfish]

It’s one of the highest rated shows (as in critically) in the history of television. I think you’ll find a lot of people disagree with you

Cobra Kai? I doubt that very much.

 

[PhatBoy]

Is it? Where are you seeing that?

Depending on what metric you’re using, it’s first season rated 100 per cent on rotten tomatoes and every other season was about 90 or above.


Yes of course that just means that literally every review of it could have given it 3 out of 5 stars etc. And there are plenty of seasons of tv that have had 100 per cent.

But its overall score is 94 per cent which for perspective is higher than The Sopranos. So whatever metric you’re using it can’t be doing too badly

 

[Daniel6]

Cobra Kai is one of the best shows ever made.

It’s very good for nostalgia with the story lines and characters, but the acting, especially by the kids was rotten tomato level 1 stuff.

 

[JackOutback]

Depending on what metric you’re using, it’s first season rated 100 per cent on rotten tomatoes and every other season was about 90 or above.


Yes of course that just means that literally every review of it could have given it 3 out of 5 stars etc. And there are plenty of seasons of tv that have had 100 per cent.

But its overall score is 94 per cent which for perspective is higher than The Sopranos. So whatever metric you’re using it can’t be doing too badly

Metacritic, a much more reliable indicator, has it at 70 per cent, which seems about right. People obviously like it, it must be a pleasing watch, but let's not pretend it is in the same stratosphere as some of the great shows of all time. The Sopranos, for comparison is 94.

Thor: Ragnarok has a Tomato score of 93 per cent but we're not comparing it to the Godfather.

 

[PhatBoy]

Metacritic, a much more reliable indicator, has it at 70 per cent, which seems about right. People obviously like it, it must be a pleasing watch, but let's not pretend it is in the same stratosphere as some of the great shows of all time. The Sopranos, for comparison is 94.

Thor: Ragnarok has a Tomato score of 93 per cent but we're not comparing it to the Godfather.

I didn’t say it’s one of the best shows of all time, I said it’s one of the highest rated. It literally means it just has to do its job and it does in almost every episode. Asterix books aren’t the same as the Mona Lisa but I’d probably rather look at them 9 times out of 10 if given the choice. Which makes it a great show by most measurements if it’s doing what it sets out to do. And the general consensus seems to be that it is, or was, a great show.

Also, three quarters of its cast were kids. That alone makes it almost impossible for it to compete on an ‘artistic’ level with shows like Breaking Bad or whatever. It’s never going to be that kind of show.
They made it about as good as they could have made it I think

 

[Beerfish]

Good lord.

 

[Sinjin Smith]

Landman: How the **** did it take me this long to discover it. Season 1 just superb. Damn BBT is magnetic. Ali Larter still hot as hell, still remember the "bikini" in Varsity Blues.

 

[Seeds]

It’s very good for nostalgia with the story lines and characters, but the acting, especially by the kids was rotten tomato level 1 stuff.

The kids acting was fine.

 

[Seeds]

Originally thought cobra kai went down hill after season 3. But have simce watched it a second time all together and it holds up all the way through. One of the most entertaining shows of all time. And isnt that the point. To entertain.

 

[Daniel6]

The kids acting was fine.

That’s ok. You are entitled to your opinion.

I liked the series, it was very entertaining, but IMO it’s not Oscar level acting.

 

[Seeds]

That’s ok. You are entitled to your opinion.

I liked the series, it was very entertaining, but IMO it’s not Oscar level acting.

Cos its a tv show and oscars are for movies.

 

[Daniel6]

Cos its a tv show and oscars are for movies.

Semantics

 

[JackOutback]

I didn’t say it’s one of the best shows of all time, I said it’s one of the highest rated. It literally means it just has to do its job and it does in almost every episode. Asterix books aren’t the same as the Mona Lisa but I’d probably rather look at them 9 times out of 10 if given the choice. Which makes it a great show by most measurements if it’s doing what it sets out to do. And the general consensus seems to be that it is, or was, a great show.

Also, three quarters of its cast were kids. That alone makes it almost impossible for it to compete on an ‘artistic’ level with shows like Breaking Bad or whatever. It’s never going to be that kind of show.
They made it about as good as they could have made it I think

You did say it was one of the highest rated shows critically, but took a very specific measure that doesn't actually tell you how highly it is rated by critics. As you yourself pointed out, if every critic gives it 7/10, it gets a 100 per cent Tomato rating, but that doesn't make it critically acclaimed. It just makes it universally liked. To be acclaimed, it would need critics to be rating it near 10/10.

Just seemed like an overreach to me for what is probably meant to be a pleasant light entertainment show.

 

[PhatBoy]

Originally thought cobra kai went down hill after season 3. But have simce watched it a second time all together and it holds up all the way through. One of the most entertaining shows of all time. And isnt that the point. To entertain.

The Korea tangent got a bit much at times (not the flashbacks - I thought that was actually pretty good exposition of a fair complex background character in cinema history) but the present day stuff.

Other than that I don’t think it ever got too out of step.

I think the fact that its karate so it plays out with actual fights makes people look at a show like Cobra Kai with a fair bit of derision and the ‘all this drama over some kids martial arts competition’ aspect. Which is fair. But it’s a pretty good representation of amateur sport in general. I legitimately know guys in local cricket that treat it like this show in terms of how much behind the scene string pulling they do and all of that sort of shit to try and do nothing more than win some trophies that nobody in the wider universe cares about, often not even for them but for a former club etc. So those aspects as ludicrous as they often were, and hammed up, I could easily deal with. It was borderline self deprecating at times anyway and even one of the bad guys literally says ‘I mean what the hell was I thinking? A coked up 30-something making a teenager’s life hell over a karate tournament!!’

It did what it set out to do.

 

[PhatBoy]

You did say it was one of the highest rated shows critically, but took a very specific measure that doesn't actually tell you how highly it is rated by critics. As you yourself pointed out, if every critic gives it 7/10, it gets a 100 per cent Tomato rating, but that doesn't make it critically acclaimed. It just makes it universally liked. To be acclaimed, it would need critics to be rating it near 10/10.

Just seemed like an overreach to me for what is probably meant to be a pleasant light entertainment show.

Fine, ‘highly regarded’ then, as suggested by the fact that virtually everyone who has viewed it has liked it.

 

[Beerfish]

Semantics

Have you met Seeds?

Fine, ‘highly regarded’ then, as suggested by the fact that virtually everyone who has viewed it has liked it.

 

[PhatBoy]

Have you met Seeds?

That literally should have said ‘reviewed’