So what have you guys been watching lately?

[Michi]

Mom decided she liked Amazon Instant video enough to order it when it was down to $72 a couple weeks ago, so I've been taking advantage of that and watching some shows I missed out on or never had a chance to watch completely before. So far I've finished off Avatar: The Last Airbender and the first two seasons of Korra.

I caught a couple of episodes of Avatar while it was airing, but couldn't get into it since I'd missed most of the beginning and thus had no idea what was going on. What an enjoyably humorous and energetic show. I can see why it gets all the praise it does. I really enjoyed what I watched of Korra as well (part 3 and 4 aren't on Prime yet.) It may be a lot shorter and more serious (which I like), but the humor is still there and the action has been ramped up several notches.

My one complaint is that Avatar often feels like there's too much filler. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable filler and I'm glad that, by the end of the show, a lot of those early side-plots were brought back and wrapped up in the four part ending, but they still left a couple things left unfinished, most notably

what happened to Zuko's mother.

And no, don't tell me they wrapped it up in supplemental materials. If I have to look elsewhere for it that means you planned your time poorly and it doesn't count. If they had cut out the 'theatre' episode right before the four-part ending and turned the ending into five-parts, then they still could have fit the relevant parts of that episode into the show and wrapped up that one, glaring omission.

I realize I might be harping on something that many may deem trivial, but

they did spend a lot of time Zuko's relationship with his mother and how that influenced him, so leaving that one thing out felt like ignoring the giant, pink, drunken elephant in the room.

Korra might be shorter, and the middle of the second season really started to draaaaaag, but I felt they (so far) utilized their time more wisely. I look forward to eventually watching seasons 3 and 4


Next up: Veronica Mars.




Side note:

F*&^ Unalaq.

[noiseredux]

Hindsight is the only current show i am hooked on.

[Gamerforlife]

Mom decided she liked Amazon Instant video enough to order it when it was down to $72 a couple weeks ago, so I've been taking advantage of that and watching some shows I missed out on or never had a chance to watch completely before. So far I've finished off Avatar: The Last Airbender and the first two seasons of Korra.

I caught a couple of episodes of Avatar while it was airing, but couldn't get into it since I'd missed most of the beginning and thus had no idea what was going on. What an enjoyably humorous and energetic show. I can see why it gets all the praise it does. I really enjoyed what I watched of Korra as well (part 3 and 4 aren't on Prime yet.) It may be a lot shorter and more serious (which I like), but the humor is still there and the action has been ramped up several notches.

My one complaint is that Avatar often feels like there's too much filler. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable filler and I'm glad that, by the end of the show, a lot of those early side-plots were brought back and wrapped up in the four part ending, but they still left a couple things left unfinished, most notably

what happened to Zuko's mother.

And no, don't tell me they wrapped it up in supplemental materials. If I have to look elsewhere for it that means you planned your time poorly and it doesn't count. If they had cut out the 'theatre' episode right before the four-part ending and turned the ending into five-parts, then they still could have fit the relevant parts of that episode into the show and wrapped up that one, glaring omission.

I realize I might be harping on something that many may deem trivial, but

they did spend a lot of time Zuko's relationship with his mother and how that influenced him, so leaving that one thing out felt like ignoring the giant, pink, drunken elephant in the room.

Korra might be shorter, and the middle of the second season really started to draaaaaag, but I felt they (so far) utilized their time more wisely. I look forward to eventually watching seasons 3 and 4


Next up: Veronica Mars.




Side note:

F*&^ Unalaq.

IMO Korra is a much more uneven show than Avatar was, but it certainly has its moments. It just seems confused and unfocused at times, and there's one or two things that seemed done for shock value. It also featured one of the worst season finales I've ever seen in an animated show for its second season. I honestly thought it had jumped the shark it was so bad.

The whole thing with Zuko's mom is covered in the comics. People seem to forget that a lot of TV shows continue on in comic book form (Smallville, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, etc. etc.). These things are CANON. So it's up to serious fans to seek them out and read them.

I've only read The Promise so far and it is EXCELLENT. It's easily on par with the show's best episodes and it sets things up to explore the very issue you address, presumably in whatever graphic novel followed it.

EDIT: Korra peaked in Season 3 IMO, nicely bouncing back from that awful season 2 finale. The season 3 finale was excellent and should have ended the series. Season 4 was okay, but the show peaked in its 3rd season.

[samsonlonghair]

Korra might be shorter, and the middle of the second season really started to draaaaaag, but I felt they (so far) utilized their time more wisely. I look forward to eventually watching seasons 3 and 4

Hey Michi,
http://www.nick.com/legend-of-korra/episodes/

Enjoy.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Hindsight is the only current show i am hooked on.

Shall I admit that I've been watching it too?

It's cute. I really dislike the whole time travel aspect though. They should have just made it set in the 90s straight up.

[Gamerforlife]

Exploring some new TV...

Found the pilot episodes of Galavant and Penny Dreadful pretty good, PD was better in its first episode than The Strain's entire first season. Galavant is light and fun like something along the lines of The Princess Bride or Men in Tights. It's 30 minute format works to its advantage. It doesn't have time to wear out its welcome.

Arrow has had a few misteps this season, though largely still a great show. My two gripes:

Laurel just doesn't work as the new Canary, her arc has been poorly written and feels forced. I also found Oliver's "resurrection" after his fight with Raz pretty lame. The highlights of the season so far have been the birth of The Atom and the Japan flashbacks. Ironic, since I often the island flashbacks to be tiresome. Felicity and The Atom have far more chemistry than her and Oliver. I still think Barry Allen is the one for her though.

Walking Dead's mid season premiere was pretty damn good by Walking Dead standards, better than I expected. It's rare that a Walking Dead episode feels genuinely smart and artfully done. There's still some things on the show that require you to seriously suspend your disbelief though

Better Call Saul is pretty good, but not at Breaking Bad standards so far.

Pro wrestling is both at an all time high and an all time low right now. I'm finding Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, and New Japan on AXS TV to be excellent, while WWE's product is an all time low. Seriously, they are in a truly sorry state of affairs right now.

[Michi]

The whole thing with Zuko's mom is covered in the comics. People seem to forget that a lot of TV shows continue on in comic book form (Smallville, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, etc. etc.). These things are CANON. So it's up to serious fans to seek them out and read them.

I'm well aware that a lot of series continue on in comic form, but I wasn't talking about the comics. I was judging the show based solely on the merits of the show and, in my opinion, they left out an important gap. My point was, that if they had planned better and cut the filler episode directly preceding the four-part finale they could have fit everything in and not left any loose ends. But for whatever reason, they chose not to do that. Whether the story was continued in comic form is irrelevant, no matter how good the comic may be (and I'll probably get to it later, anyway). That, in my book, constitutes a level of poor planning.

IMO Korra is a much more uneven show than Avatar was, but it certainly has its moments. It just seems confused and unfocused at times, and there's one or two things that seemed done for shock value. It also featured one of the worst season finales I've ever seen in an animated show for its second season. I honestly thought it had jumped the shark it was so bad.

I feel that the reduction of filler episodes makes Korra flow a bit more evenly than Avatar. With less time to work with, they had to 'cut the fat', so to speak and we end up with a stronger focus on the main plot and less focus on the side stories.

I'll agree with you on the ending for the second season of Korra, though. It started out promising, meandered a bit, started to pick back up and then... I don't know what happened. It felt everyone who worked on the show went "Oh s*&#! We used up all our good ideas for the last season. Now what?"

I give the shows I watch a hell of a lot of leeway, but when it got to the end even I was thinking, "Really?"

EDIT: Korra peaked in Season 3 IMO, nicely bouncing back from that awful season 2 finale. The season 3 finale was excellent and should have ended the series. Season 4 was okay, but the show peaked in its 3rd season.

Good to know

Hey Michi,
http://www.nick.com/legend-of-korra/episodes/

Enjoy.

On my Mac all I'm getting is the Evil Loading Circle of Doom. The consoles at least load the page, but then I just get a "Sorry! Can't find the page you were looking for." message when I click on an episode Are the episodes still up? Do I need to try it on a different computer?

[Jrecee]

The Americans just entered the TV Golden Age echelon with tonight's episode. Not that it wasn't enjoyable previously, but it's firing on all cylinders now.

[catnip]

I'm on the last episode of Twin Peaks. I honestly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I am. It's great. 10/10 would recommend.

[fastbilly1]

Five seasons into Parks and Rec. While it started out as a bad The Office spinoff (not helped by having Rashida Jones as a primary character), it grew to be its own show. Nick Offerman was the reason I started watching it and the reason I am going to finish it. It is also the reason I am looking at drill presses on craigslist...