i've never even heard of this show. 2009 was wild - can't believe a Starz show that had Paul Rudd (potentially until I guess, Avengers/Ant-man came rolling), Jane Lynch, and Adam Scott in it right before Parks & Rec or Glee really took off.
But then again, 2009 was kinda the start (I mean, if you don't count anything from 1990-2008 as excellent television) of what I'd call the modern Golden Age of TV so it tracks that everything was in flux. Long-running popular shows like Scrubs and Lost were entering their last couple of seasons. Prestige TV was starting to make a come-back with stuff like Mad Men and Breaking Bad (really AMC did more work in bringing back good television than HBO ever did imo) and 2007-2009 was really the beginning of really popular non-gameshow reality TV like The Hills and Keeping up with the Kardashians too...
Damn am I nostalgic for 2000s television?? Lost, Heroes, that shitty Twilight Zone revival, Pushing Dasies??? god.
Party Down really captured the ennui of working in the service industry in the 2008 recession, even for those of us with no acting aspirations outside LA.
Season 1 still holds its own among the greats. That scene where Locke bangs on the hatch door in frustration and then it suddenly lights up is one of the best cliffhangers of all time. But once they introduced time travel, it was all downhill.
I'm in the gang that actually defends the ending. I always watched LOST more for the characters than the mysteries so it worked for me. There was shit I didnt like (Sayid ending up with Shannon instead of Nadia) and also looking back the focus on romantic pairings is a bit dumb but idk. It brought closure for me so it was fine.
(I'm also in the gang that thinks the vast majority of the mysteries were actually explained but you had to use critical thinking to figure them out, there was a tumblr blog that explained this to me I didnt use critical thinking myself because I dont have it!)
This reminds me of how my ex friend pissed me off by not understanding the LOST ending. She thought the ending meant they had ALWAYS been in purgatory, rather than the side timeline being a sort of pugatory-like-thing. She thought it meant nothing in the show ever happened and meant nothing. It blew me away because this is LITERALLY spelled out in dialogue. The worst was how when I said I liked the ending she smarily smirked and said "oh, you liked that they had always been in purgatory" and I wanted to slap her. God as shitty as it was that that friendship ended at the time the more that I think about it the happier I am that its over. But anyway.
I pirated it (it's in the spirit of the genre, it's ethical in this case) in the hopes of a fun time, and then after watching the first few episodes I decided that I didn't care what happened to anyone in the show, and stopped watching.
the first season kinda sucks tbh, i would have given up on it too if it weren't for recommendations from a couple people whose tastes i trust. starts out in the form of meh cable drama but quickly transcends it to become a more interesting study of power dynamics and otherizing, eventually culminating in an exploration of how narratives and metanarratives are shaped by systems of power to reinforce cultural hegemony. or something along those lines, been a while since i watched it
fwiw it helps to know it's meant to be a prequel to the Treasure Island book rather than a historically accurate depiction of pirates. and a sort of self-reflective story about stories
fwiw it helps to know it's meant to be a prequel to the Treasure Island book rather than a historically accurate depiction of pirates. and a sort of self-reflective story about stories
Huh, that sounds pretty interesting. I'll give it a second chance. Thanks!
sorry Starz - which is actually worse than the CW (name a single Starz show without looking it up, I dare you)
literally the only show i'm thinking of is Party Down but I could easily be completely wrong
if i'm right, it's only because I thought to myself "what the fuck is Starz lmao"
But then again, 2009 was kinda the start (I mean, if you don't count anything from 1990-2008 as excellent television) of what I'd call the modern Golden Age of TV so it tracks that everything was in flux. Long-running popular shows like Scrubs and Lost were entering their last couple of seasons. Prestige TV was starting to make a come-back with stuff like Mad Men and Breaking Bad (really AMC did more work in bringing back good television than HBO ever did imo) and 2007-2009 was really the beginning of really popular non-gameshow reality TV like The Hills and Keeping up with the Kardashians too...
Damn am I nostalgic for 2000s television?? Lost, Heroes, that shitty Twilight Zone revival, Pushing Dasies??? god.
Paul Rudd helped write the show but he didn't show up in any of the episodes. I watched it about 5~ years ago and remember it being good.
Party Down was actually solid from what I remember.
But yeah I'm nostalgic for 2000s television too. I loved Lost and (The first season, though I kept watching lol) Heroes.
Party Down really captured the ennui of working in the service industry in the 2008 recession, even for those of us with no acting aspirations outside LA.
LOST is absolutely goated and i will hear no opinions to the contrary, regardless of how fucking terribly it ended
agreed. for the longest time i wanted a clock that looked like the countdown timer so badly lol.
Season 1 still holds its own among the greats. That scene where Locke bangs on the hatch door in frustration and then it suddenly lights up is one of the best cliffhangers of all time. But once they introduced time travel, it was all downhill.
Seen Dark? It's what Lost wished it could have been.
I'm in the gang that actually defends the ending. I always watched LOST more for the characters than the mysteries so it worked for me. There was shit I didnt like (Sayid ending up with Shannon instead of Nadia) and also looking back the focus on romantic pairings is a bit dumb but idk. It brought closure for me so it was fine.
(I'm also in the gang that thinks the vast majority of the mysteries were actually explained but you had to use critical thinking to figure them out, there was a tumblr blog that explained this to me I didnt use critical thinking myself because I dont have it!)
This reminds me of how my ex friend pissed me off by not understanding the LOST ending. She thought the ending meant they had ALWAYS been in purgatory, rather than the side timeline being a sort of pugatory-like-thing. She thought it meant nothing in the show ever happened and meant nothing. It blew me away because this is LITERALLY spelled out in dialogue. The worst was how when I said I liked the ending she smarily smirked and said "oh, you liked that they had always been in purgatory" and I wanted to slap her. God as shitty as it was that that friendship ended at the time the more that I think about it the happier I am that its over. But anyway.
In roughly descending order by quality, Black Sails, Spartacus, Davinci's Demons
does CW have anything that rivals black sails?
Oh I forgot they did Spartacus. That show kinda slapped but in a very slop way.
American Gods and The Pillars of the Earth are kind of up there, too?
Is Black Sails that pirate-themed gambo thrones knockoff that's a fantastic cure for insomnia?
no it's the gay pirate revolution show
I pirated it (it's in the spirit of the genre, it's ethical in this case) in the hopes of a fun
time, and then after watching the first few episodes I decided that I didn't care what happened to anyone in the show, and stopped watching.
the first season kinda sucks tbh, i would have given up on it too if it weren't for recommendations from a couple people whose tastes i trust. starts out in the form of meh cable drama but quickly transcends it to become a more interesting study of power dynamics and otherizing, eventually culminating in an exploration of how narratives and metanarratives are shaped by systems of power to reinforce cultural hegemony. or something along those lines, been a while since i watched it
fwiw it helps to know it's meant to be a prequel to the Treasure Island book rather than a historically accurate depiction of pirates. and a sort of self-reflective story about stories
Black Sails literally radicalized me, I started reading Marxist theory after the third rewatch
nice username lol
i'm about due for another rewatch myself, not many shows make me feel what that one does
Huh, that sounds pretty interesting. I'll give it a second chance. Thanks!
Gossip Girl
The only Starz show I can name is Masters of Horror from the 2000s, so fair point.
Hmmm, American Gods?
That's probably the only one I could tell you though