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I dunno if I'm gonna be able to get this all done by the deadline. Is it okay to submit a partly completed list and then work on filling out some of the details over the next few days?
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Dec 31, 2021 05:24
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 07:32 |
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Jerusalem posted:Deadline is the 31st of January, you have a month! Whoops, wrong thread. I meant the decade one.
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Dec 31, 2021 06:18
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Apple TV+ and HBO Max are the two streaming channels I find are the most reliable. I appreciate that Apple, for the most part, are concentrating on new shows and ideas, rather than developing existing IP. And HBO does a lot of that too, plus their DC content (which, for whatever reason, i like more than the Marvel stuff, i think because there's more of a diaspora).
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Jan 18, 2022 23:06
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gently caress, I thought for sure I'd done this. Sneaking in at the last minute: 10. The Bite. By the Kings (The Good Wife / Fight, Evil, BrainDead) operating solidly in their comedy horror mode, AKA BrainDead mode, satirising government response to Covid by depicting government flailing in response to both Covid AND a virulent zombie outbreak. I wonder if there are parts of this that will read as too tame in retrospect, or just a dumb projection made by people who were at the other end of this thing not knowing exactly how stupid and horrible everything would end up becoming. It was also filmed during the pandemic, under lockdown conditions, meaning that the show looks a bit weird and has to make concessions for casting etc -- all the typical covid compromises. That said, it's probably the best and most creative sustained attempt to do anything under these conditions, and it levies everything with a lot of effective comedy and drama. It also brought me a lot of comfort when I was in the middle of three month isolation from people, which is perhaps why it's placing so high on this list. 9. Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 / Season 7A So the narrative goes: Legends was a bad CW show, that realised it was particularly loving terrible. However, unlike The Flash/The Arrow/Supergirl (delete according to personal belief) it decided to capitalise on that, leaning into its dopey, frivolous tendencies. This was also about the same time that it decided to be a well written show, and the results have been paying off for quite some time -- basically it went from being some terrible (and blatant) attempt to capitalise on the success of RTD / Moffat's Doctor Who revival to a live action American cartoon version of Blake's 7. It also, to extend to Blake's 7 comparison, started to take aim to various stripes of fascism, while embracing a soft pseudo-anarchist take on heroism -- the episodes I'm here to praise saw the leads take on Franco's fascists, American law enforcement, and took several potshots at Disney's corporate entertainment culture, an insane level of criticism from a show that's airing free-to-air on American television. Season 6 decided that it was finally time to tap back into its serious side, and it worked reasonably well, particularly in the first half the season, delivering moving pulp action drama in the stripe of Buffy, Angel and Agents of SHIELD. (This season, in particular, seemed to be taking cues from Buffy season 6). Season 7, meanwhile, has done my absolute favourite thing a time travel story has done in quite some time -- it's making the argument that the cliche of not changing history is actually an inherently conservative standpoint, and the series has basically completely given up on the idea of maintaining much congruence with real-world history. Cool stuff, if very silly and dumb. And maybe that all sounds super dumb to you guys, but I know I always have a blast watching it every week with my friends. 8. Kevin Can gently caress Himself Season 1 It's magical realism + genre blending + structural experimentation + dark comedy + heightened social realist themes + actors I really like. It's my catnip. 7. Genera+ion It's a cute drama about (mostly) queer teens, all of who have too much money and too many loving opinions. I liked its sprawling structure, the characters generally felt fresh and well realised, and the finale had a shout-out to Veronica Mars which my TV nerd heart ate up. 6. The Underground Railroad Probably the single most accomplished piece of art on this list, but I found this utterly, utterly enervating to watch. It's on my list because I can't deny how loving good this thing is, or how beautiful it is -- it's dementedly gorgeous, if you haven't seen the show you should look it up -- but it's so miserable and raw that I can't actually put it higher on my list. For me, television is a communal activity, about shared experiences with the people in my life or on the Internet, and this isn't something I could really share with anyone -- partly because no one I knew was watching it, partly because it's hard to recommend to people, and partly because Amazon decided to dump the entire thing in one weekend, effectively burying all discussion. And that's a shame, because I think it's one of those shows, like Twin Peaks 3, that basically required that kind of conversation for me and my stupid arse to make much headway with it. So here it sits at number 6. 5. The Good Fight Season 5 It's been fascinating to watch the Kings' career over the last few years, and their shifting political opinions, their willingness to embrace horror and wacky comedy and just get loose with things. This season has both of those things, plus some pretty aggressive formal experimentation, a running gag about space law (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE THIS A PROPER PLOTLINE), and -- for IMO the first time -- a serialised plot arc that the Kings didn't get bored with and abandon halfway through. Marissa's speech about crowds, from the finale, lives rent free in my head. 4. Mr. Corman Joseph Gordon Levitt's a bit of a weirdo, I suspect, but I liked his take on Middle Class People With Problems a lot. Mostly a character study about a struggling single teacher, but one that was unafraid to get weird with things, e.g. including a random musical number in one episode because it felt right to the story rather than because this is the kind of show that does musical numbers. Sadly cancelled. Also this did the parallel universe episode of Legion, but ten times better and in half the time. 3. Sonny Boy Yes. It's an anime, but it's the only anime I've straight up loved in years. It's weird, surreal, does clever things with budget while still having great design. It's strange and elliptical, and constantly surprised me with where the plot went and how it got there, but also surprisingly moving. It's one of the few shows I'd argue is directly influenced by Twin Peaks Season 3, but the thing that it most reminded me of was the kind of stuff Vertigo was putting out in the late 90's and early 00's. 2. Creamerie I wrote a huge effort post about this in the main chat thread which probably said all this better but I'm too lazy to find it. But essentially: it's a very well observed character comedy that also happens to be a subversive satire about TERF-y white feminism that's set in a post-post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. Everyone gives believable, specific performances, particularly Perlina Lau as the prickly, gawky and deeply earnest Pip. It's also plotted surprisingly well, slowly unraveling the exact implications of its sci-fi world-building while still keeping a surprisingly fast pace. 1. The Great Season 2 Chamber comedy that takes aim at well-meaning liberals and the fascists they insist on getting into bed with. Elle Fanning remains luminous in the lead, Nicholas Hoult is very, VERY funny as her sexy dumb nemesis, but I still think Belinda Bromilow steals the show as Elizabeth (comparing her performance here against her work as Jonquil in the Aussie drama Spirited is like night and day). But honestly the entire ensemble is good, delivering fun and witty putdowns while the show contemplates the uselessness of incremental change in the face of ingrained corruption and stupidity. I probably should write some more, but I'm tired and said enough cringe already. Sorry for the late reply Looten, you rock and I second the hope that you're well.
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Feb 17, 2022 17:56
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Looten Plunder posted:I've updated everyones lists into the spreadsheet and linked them on the second post of the thread. If you've voted and your don't appear on that list, please comment so I can fix it up prior to tallying. My username's missing from the post.
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Feb 18, 2022 12:52
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Man those are some good posters / key art. I'd buy a few of those and pin them to my wall.
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Feb 22, 2022 06:47
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nate fisher posted:I posted in the series binge thread that episode 7 was the best episode of TV in 2022 so far. It was intense chaos captured perfectly. hmm It's a late entry to the competition, but I'll second it.
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Jul 2, 2022 02:20
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Wouldn't not having the ten screw with the weighting?
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Oct 23, 2022 19:14
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Yeah, FWIW, I also like that it occasionally pushes people to watch a few more shows over the course of a year. (Shows are so short these days anyway, a list of top ten shows often takes less time to get through than two or three games ngl). I want to read Looten's top 45. Ninurta posted:White Lotus Sicily is off to a nice start. It's a penis, not a sunset. Please post nine more shows for this list to count. 
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Oct 31, 2022 09:44
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 07:32 |
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Looten Plunder posted:I'll get the new thread up soon. Sorry guys. Yeah, I assumed nothing would go up for a bit; I assume polls won't actually close until a week or two into Jan, right?
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Dec 8, 2022 09:47
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