New TV Series to watch

[MattyFos.]

Anybody watch The Strain? Is it worth the $23 Amazon charges for season 1?

 

[SixPACK]

As with other shows, kind of like Gotham, it keeps you interested but definitely not worth $23.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Yeah The Strain isn't worth $23 bucks. It's a bad show.

 

[MattyFos.]

I need something to watch. I'll probably go through the Sopranos again

 

[SixPACK]

The Americans? The Following? Vikings? Better Call Saul? Mad Men? Sherlock? Blacklist? I am going to assume you have already been watching Game of Thrones.

I recommend Sherlock if you haven't seen them. I believe it;s only 3 episodes long per season but they are all 1hr 30min. Season 4 has an episode on Christmas day I believe? Then the 3 episodes following in early 2016.

 

[Adam]

The Americans? The Following? Vikings? Better Call Saul? Mad Men? Sherlock? Blacklist? I am going to assume you have already been watching Game of Thrones.

I recommend Sherlock if you haven't seen them. I believe it;s only 3 episodes long per season but they are all 1hr 30min. Season 4 has an episode on Christmas day I believe? Then the 3 episodes following in early 2016.

The sherlock Christmas special is outside of the seasons and takes place in Victoria England just for the he'll of it. Which is nice

 

[Simmy]

I'm actually midway through the first season of Arrow right now. I'd say I would have to choose Daredevil over it based on the ten episodes I've watched of Arrow. It's a decent show, but you can tell the CW made it. Everyone in this show looks like they stepped out of an Abercrombie ad. It's not a bad show or anything, but I think Daredevil was a lot more interesting, dark, and coherent.

Arrow, thus far, seems quite a bit less serialized than Daredevil. Yeah, they've got the plot with the list carried over from episode to episode, but by and large each episode deals with a different villain and is mostly self-contained from the other episodes. Daredevil, on the other hand, largely tells one story over the course of its first season. I greatly prefer serialized television over "monster of the week" style storytelling (which is prominent on network television).

One thing I really liked about Daredevil was how they focused on the physical and mental toll getting beat up every night took on Daredevil. He gets his ass kicked a lot on that show, even in the fights he wins. There are a couple of episodes that are focused on him recovering from said ass kickings.

Daredevil also gives equal time (at least in later episodes) to the Kingpin, and paints him as an interesting, deep villain with realistic motives and willing to do terrible things to accomplish them, all the while telling himself that he's the good guy trying to redeem his city. I haven't seen that at all from Arrow yet. All the villains are pretty much just evil for the sake of being evil, and the show doesn't spend enough time on them to give them any depth.

And yes, Daredevil is very dark. Much darker than Arrow. The body count in the first season alone was pretty staggering, especially since none of Netflix's brief promos really gave us much idea what to expect from the show. If you haven't read the Bendis run on Daredevil, or Frank Miller's "Man Without Fear" trade (you should definitely read both, by the way), that's about what you can expect from the show. The best non-Daredevil comparison I can come up with is some of the darker Batman stuff, like the Arkham video games. The main difference is that Matt Murdock is a lot more likable as a character than Bruce Wayne has ever been.

So yeah...watch Daredevil. It's a pretty good show.

Fantastic explanation - thank you for that. Do definitely agree with the lack of villain exploration/depth in Arrow. And I'm very similar to you in that I prefer season-arc story-telling over episodic television with an overlying theme.

Daredevil sounds like everything I'd want to see in a superhero show. Will catch a few episodes over the weekend hopefully and let you know my thoughts.

 

[Ohdang]

Anybody watch The Strain? Is it worth the $23 Amazon charges for season 1?

Not even close. It was barely worth the bandwidth to download for free. Talk about a show that took a good premise and botched it every chance they got.

 

[Cavalier Domer]

I'm shocked at the disappointment in The Strain! Really thought it was one of the best new shows of last year, and I looked forward to it every week. It was a nice take on the vampire genre, never took itself too seriously, and when you mix in a nazi story line... How can you go wrong? It was great entertainment, looking forward to next season.

Now, it's not worth $23. Really no 10 or 12 episode show is.

Would also highly, highly recommend Fargo. That show was a shockingly welcome surprise, had a great story, acting was top notch, and the attention to setting and detail made it worthy of the awards it won. It's not a continuation of the movie, it's its own story, but seeing the movie beforehand will help set the tone and dovetail with some details in the show.

 

[MD13]

Anyone a fan of The Americans? I tore through the first season in a few days, pretty damn good!

 

[spydy13]

Anyone a fan of The Americans? I tore through the first season in a few days, pretty damn good!

Some really cool stuff happening this season. Keep pushing along.

 

[MD13]

Some really cool stuff happening this season. Keep pushing along.

Oh for sure. Just taking a breather for a few days before I get on with Season 2. Which one's the best so far?

 

[spydy13]

Oh for sure. Just taking a breather for a few days before I get on with Season 2. Which one's the best so far?

Season 2 has a pretty crazy ending, but feels a little slow getting there. 3 has some great payoffs. I would say quality has been consistently great throughout.

 

[Tornicade]

I dont understand whats so dark about Daredevil. The violence is standard kung fu type of fodder .

if we are doing a comparison with Arrow. Arrow starts out killing people and then Changes his ways.

The first season of arrow is more about introducing you to the characters and getting you invested before fucking everything up. Arrow showrunners know they have time to set up the world before exploring it.. dardevil seems a bit more pressed for time
The showrunner for Daredevil is the same guy who set up angel. so its very well done.

CW at some point will have 3 or 4 dc titles going. I am glad they are invested.

but if you want a bad guy trying to rein-vision the slums . the Show Arrow has been there and done that

 

[Sebastian]

I dont understand whats so dark about Daredevil. The violence is standard kung fu type of fodder .

if we are doing a comparison with Arrow. Arrow starts out killing people and then Changes his ways.

The first season of arrow is more about introducing you to the characters and getting you invested before fucking everything up. Arrow showrunners know they have time to set up the world before exploring it.. dardevil seems a bit more pressed for time
The showrunner for Daredevil is the same guy who set up angel. so its very well done.

CW at some point will have 3 or 4 dc titles going. I am glad they are invested.

but if you want a bad guy trying to rein-vision the slums . the Show Arrow has been there and done that

Arrow is all about graphically stabbing people with swords the past couple seasons. All of Oliver Queen's family members have been murdered by swords to the chest. Is Daredevil as graphic?