| Author | Message | ||
     Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Is anyone watching this? I've seen the first two episodes of this new (American) TV series, that's getting very decent ratings, which means it'll be sticking around... though it's mystifying to see how it can, when it basically blows itself up after these two eps. The show is just a glob of absurdities. Every bad cliche and convention - hell, every stale style in direction! - is all mushed up together in a cuh-razy, uh... mush. It's heavy-handed, it's ludicrous, and characters act totally unrealistically, even for horror. The whole thing's a nutty spectacle. And yet - I'm addicted! I don't want it to ever get cancelled! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Okay, seriously? Nobody here is watching this but me?!? Is it not on over there in the U.K.? God is it loopy... but it's just such entertaining looniness! 3 eps in (2 more ready to see this week), and I have but one prayer: it never ever ever goes away.... See if you can catch it online. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Yay!!!!!! http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/fx-renews-american-horror-story-for-second-seaso n/ | ||
| Matt_cowan (Matt_cowan) Username: Matt_cowan Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 68.58.73.80 |
I'm watching and although it definitely has problems, I love the fact that there's a weekly haunted house show on tv. I enjoy some of the weirdness, like the maid who looks gorgeous when seen by the man but elderly to the woman at the exact same time. I also want to learn more about the weird little creature in the basement with the IT teeth. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.158.58.183 |
Well no one seemed to watch the Fades - and that was directed by Tom Shankland - who's made a couple of horror films that most people here agree are very good indeed... | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.102.179 |
The first episode supposed to be on FX Canada tonight, so I may give it a shot. | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.102.179 |
After watching the first episode and reading the recaps of the next three, I'm going to wait for DVD release on this one. I have trouble watching shows as they air when they aren't more or less done-in-one stories; I need the resolution. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Jamie, I'd stick with it: the second has a done-in-one story as part of it, for one. So far it's just bonkers-looney all-mashed-together logic-less-half-the-time nuttiness, and I LOVE IT!!! | ||
| Lincoln (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 124.176.156.91 |
Started down here (Aus) last night, I'm going to record a few episodes before committing - the network showing it has a track record of shafting viewers of poorly rating shows. (ie. anything non reality-tv) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.150.101 |
The Fades became rushed, sadly. Like the middle act was cut. But I like the cast, and the characters. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.150.101 |
Craig - have you not seen Glee yet? | ||
| Matt_cowan (Matt_cowan) Username: Matt_cowan Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 68.58.73.80 |
I found a podcast about the show the other day that I thought was pretty good. They spend a lot of time giving theories and discussing the strange things going on in the house. I've only listened to the most recent episode so far but it was good. It's free on i-tunes and they have it avialable from their website as well which I posted a link to below. http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/10/american-horror-cast-s01e04-halloween.html | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I thought the last 3 episodes of the Fades were the best of the lot - OK so his powers were coming on a bit fast, but... the fact that I really couldn't tell by the end if Neil (the beardy angelic) was one of the good guys or not is IMHO a sign of great writing and acting. there were several great moments in those last episodes - the ending of episode 4 was stunning, as was the climax of the show. I can't wait for the next series (if they make one) | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
No, Tony, I've not seen Glee. It never looked like something I'd be interested in watching. I dvr-ed the 2nd part of the AHS Halloween episode last night, so now I can watch both back-to-back, like a movie - yay | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I think the Glee comment may have been a joke Craig... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.150.193 |
Glee is great. Like sweets for the mind. series one is classic tv. Honestly. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Weber: "Do'h!" I guess I'll dvr that one now, Tony.... | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.102.179 |
It's also from the same creators as AHS. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.149.14 |
And Nip/Tuck. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Last night I watched the first episode of American Horror Story and I'm with Craig - it's wonderful, like a big daft panto written by Stephen King. Much better than the tedius, po-faced bilge that is The Walking Dead. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
It is fun, isn't it, Zed? It gets zanier. And more intelligent, too; or at least, I think I'm starting to see what they're going for in this. The creators apparently have said it's a horror series that revolves around the theme of "infidelity." So has the series just started running over there, or has it been running all along? | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
"Just watched the first episode. I think Frank's gone a bit hyperbolic (is he Stevie in disguise?), but, yep, despite a dodgy first few minutes, this was very good stuff. It has that quality a lot of modern horror films lack: soul. I'm in for the long haul with this one." Comments someone made about the walking dead... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Yeah, Weber, the first episode. Before it turned into a big, boring, steaming pile of shit. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Actually, if you're sad enough (which you clearly are) you can track my comments and see exactly how my mind changed regarding The Walking Dead... so much promise, wasted. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
I kinda sensed it would be that way with "The Walking Dead," but then I cheated, because I read the first few comics - and it started off, Wow, awesome!... Until you realized it really was treading no new ground, just a dullish soap-opera pasted over zombies. I assumed the series would wax the same, so I didn't even bother. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
Comments on episode 4 "Yes, this episode was probably the best yet..." | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
although to be fair you were commenting on lack of originality as well... | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
 | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I do think that Walking Dead needs to increase the size of the cental cast - but make us care about them at the same time, so we give a damn when they pick them off one by one. The problem with a relatively small cast in show like that is that you can't kill them off so we get a series of smaller characters as zombie food... From the reports I've heard of the comics, the characters become more and more dehumanised as things move on, one scene in particular with a pair of preteen twin boys, if it's even a fraction as horrific as it was decribed to me, is more shocking than most horror novels around today (on a par with if not more shocking than the maggots in Hungry hearts). That's fairly unusual. In most zombie fiction, the lead characters stay sane throughout, regardless of the amount of carnage they endure. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
Watched the latest 2 episodes of The Walking Dead last night...I thought it was a complete and utter snooze-fest, apart from the final 5 minutes of the last episode, where a nasty character revelation at least bodes well for what's to come. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
That's fairly unusual. In most zombie fiction, the lead characters stay sane throughout, regardless of the amount of carnage they endure That's why I made the characters in Hungry Hearts complete psychos, Weber. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
Stephen King and Joe Hill are both writing episodes for the new series... | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.5.34.157 |
Class episode of AMERICAN HORROR STORY tonight. We had the punishment closet from CARRIE, the house-calling serial killers from THE STRANGERS, innumerable Bette Davis/Joan Crawford type poison cupcake references, a sexy, crazy, supernatural boyfriend a la TWILIGHT, and a bit of Ted Bundy mixed in for good measure. We've also now got two parallel pregnancy/abortion threads, and in Dylan McDermott possibly the most inept hero in the history of horror - never a threat arises without his first managing to mamouevre himself elsewhere. And yet somehow it makes for compelling viewing. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Isn't it great, Paul? And it gets crazier and crazier!!! Every episode I say, You can't continue this to another episode... and yet they do.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
It's amazing: a big, daft Stephen King panto. I'm loving it; can't wait to see where it goes next. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.5.34.157 |
Could you imagine having lived in that house even for the relatively short time that this lot have done, and still retaining your sanity? The events of each separate episode would be sufficent to shatter the mind of almost any normal person. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
I know; it's hilarious. A whole new genre: Camp Horror.  | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.5.34.157 |
I'm thoroughly enjoying Dylan McDermott's character. He clearly works out a lot - we can tell that because when he isn't wanking in front of the bedroom window, he sleepwalks in the nude - but what use are all those muscles going to be if he keeps ensuring he's not there whenever there's a ghost, demon, or serial killer to deal with? I also like the slutty maid, though it probably says more about me than it should that I also dig her when she's in old hag persona. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.78.35.175 |
I do rather like the new series Grimm. Charming and amusing, it reminds a bit of Buffy. I prefer it over American Horror Story of which I only saw the first episode. Best new series however is Homeland, in my opinion. | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.206.208.85 |
Allison and me are very much enjoying American Horror Story. So relentlessly mad and gleeful and creepy. And Jessica Lange is completely fantastic. Zed summed it up: "it's wonderful, like a big daft panto written by Stephen King" | ||
| Matt_cowan (Matt_cowan) Username: Matt_cowan Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 68.58.73.80 |
It's fast becoming my favorite show on TV. It sort of reminds me of how I was with LOST, where I was listening to everybody's theories and try listening to podcasts talking about it. It's already been picked up to have a 2nd season too! | ||
| Seanmcd (Seanmcd) Username: Seanmcd Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 193.113.57.161 |
I didn't get to see S1 of this show. But I have been recording S2 'Asylum' currently showing on FX. Am i right in thinking that there is no connection between the seasons? That each season is a self contained storyline ? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Yeah, Sean, this season has no connection to the last one; they're planning on doing each season as distinct storylines, nicely. There's some of the same actors, but most are different. I tuned into the season premiere, and loved it—been DVR-ing the rest, but haven't had a chance to visit them yet.... | ||
| Seanmcd (Seanmcd) Username: Seanmcd Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.179.220.19 |
Nice. I found episode 1 of 'Asylum' totally gripping. I'll have to catch S1 on a rerun then. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Well now that they're all on my dvr, I'm not having to wait a week for the next installment, and so am now going through "American Horror Story: Asylum" (i.e., Season 2). Ha! Absolutely brilliant! Anyone who's in any way a horror fan must slide all other TV shows off the table to the floor, and just wallow in this—skip Season 1, this one's so far even better (imho; the seasons are not connected, but independent storylines, so no worries about being lost). Imagine a bubbling broth of crazed wickedness, gleeful evil, and romping camp. Up will pop all sorts of horror conventions: a malicious ghost, then an extraterrestrial alien; ghouls, serial killer; the Devil, a Nazi war criminal; and on and on. Period detail is perfect (1960's), and characters are surprisingly nuanced and developed. It shouldn't make sense, it shouldn't work... but it does. And though I'm but three episodes in (I feel like I've seen half a dozen movies!), if Jessica Lange doesn't already win an Emmy for Best Actress, there is no justice in the world (James Cromwell and Chloë Sevigny are particularly fine, too).... And this song now sounds nothing but sinister: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHhyyRByuJ0 | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.147.152.95 |
My son got series 1 for Christmas and it's been a real grind. One episode left and it'll be a struggle to put it on.  | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
I enjoyed the 1st Season, Tony, but I admit it had its flaws. Mostly, it fell apart in the last couple of episodes—but this 2nd Season reflects the creators getting their sea legs and improving on things. E.g.: the grounding, non-fantastic storyline in Season 1 was passive: therapist is trying to regain the trust of his wife, and a family moves into a home to heal itself. This is no ticking clock, or frantic goal. Season 2 however, traps innocents in Sister Jude's asylum of freaks, and so you have this running "prison escape" storyline that keeps the tension ever on edge. I thought they overdid it on the ghosts in Season 1, too. Here, the horrors/storylines are so varied, they're maintaining their fascination levels. Obviously, only a few can take the fore in any given episode, but the others lurk on the sidelines, promising eruption (like last night's here-and-gone background radio newscast, reporting strange lights in the skies the local residents fear are UFOs... and drunk Sister Jude's glimpse of something wholly alien for one brief second, as she wanders the asylum....) | ||
| David_lees (David_lees) Username: David_lees Registered: 12-2011 Posted From: 92.16.241.233 |
Ian McShane was the standout performance in Asylum for me, though the whole cast were excellent. Kathy Bates is going to be a villain opposite Jessica Lange in season 3, which should provide some spectacular confrontations | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Bump—since "Asylum" beat every other show out for the number of just-announced Emmy nominations. Well-deserved. Just a couple episodes in, and I knew: Jessica Lange had to win Best Actress, or there was simply no justice in the universe.... http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/tv/la-et-st-emmy-nominations-2013- live-updates,0,543854.story | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Well, lazy me, I finally finished "American Horror Story: Asylum." Stevie-praise wouldn't do it justice. A Dickensian novel (i.e., sprawling, epic, detailed) that is more than the sum of its parts—that becomes more than just "horror" (which it nevertheless is, and never forgets). Jessica Lange and James Cromwell might never have been better; Lily Rabe has the potential for being one of the great American actresses of our time (if she can get the right roles off this one); Sarah Paulson puts in an exhaustingly strong and varied performance; and multi-episode cameos by Ian McShane, Chloë Sevigny, and Frances Conroy are intensely memorable. Well-wrought, satisfying, redemptive, and far too rich to summarize. I honestly can't see how the next installment can top this—it's smart to do a completely different story each season, but how does one top this?! It was head-and-shoulders beyond Season 1, which was itself pretty damn good. Can Season 3 hope to live up to this? The bar is set high indeed (and starts October 9!). Production quality, direction, cinematography, etc.—those alone.... Yes, there's a very good reason why it got the most Emmys noms. Must. See. T. V. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
You make it sound very appetising, Craig, and I've seen the Season 1 box set going very cheap. I may just take a chance on this one... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Save the money and go right for Season 2—you won't miss anything, because each Season is literally a completely different story, with no connections between them. And 2 is not to be missed. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
You should know me better than that by now, Craig!! Skip Season 1... the very idea!!!!  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
And I might add to that... money shmoney!  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Who here is in agreement with Kevin Spacey's recent declaration? In my opinion, he protests too much. There are things television will always do better dramatically than cinema (and always has done) and, likewise, there are things cinema is capable of that TV will never be able to aspire to. I'm coming round to think of cinema as the visual Artistic equivalent of a Great Painting and television as a graphic novel. Compare Romero's 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) to the wonderful 'The Walking Dead' TV show, as just one of countless examples, and you may begin to see what I mean... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
I don't know what Spacey's declaration was, but from what I glean from your post, Stevie—I'm absolutely on your side. TV is the realm of novels, graphic or sprawling or traditional. Movies are, even long ones, and oddly enough, more like short-stories or poems, at their best; or, yes, like paintings, like symphonies too—artistic experiences that must be had at one sitting; at once, in other words. We may have had "TV" before movies, too—Homer was the very first TV serial writer. Him, or the author/s of Genesis. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 212.183.128.65 |
Spacey made a highly publicised speech a few days ago declaring his abandoning of cinema in preference for long running TV series as the more dramatically demanding and satisfying medium. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Oh please. Like "movies" were scrambling to cast him, he had to turn aside, throwing up his hands like a beset heroine in a silent film. Bryan Cranston is coming off the TV role of a lifetime in "Breaking Bad," and he's leaping back to film, taking the same last role Spacey had in a big-budget movie, that turned out to be a flop (Superman Returns [2006])—that of Lex Luthor in the next Superman flick. When the big paying or best roles dry up... they all run to TV. I'm questioning Spacey's motives, being the ever-cynic... but here's where I agree: I do think TV, for what it does, is in a new golden age; whereas movies as a whole have fallen into disrepair—generalizing, of course, but it seems to be so (or maybe just in comparison). | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Those were might thoughts exactly, Craig. I love Spacey as an actor but he does seem to be a bit of a prima donna. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.134.106.74 |
Lets face it, where would Keifer Sutherland be if 24 hadn't come along? |