LeVar Presents: The Very 1st TV Walrus REVEAL

Episode 1: "The Red Serpent"
Imagine the worst CGI you've ever seen, double it, and you're still not even close to this mess of a visual experience. It was like watching a bad video game for most of the episode. The majority of the acting was painfully bad too, although there were some legendary actors introduced in the second half of the episode that made everything significantly better. I am of course talking about the always wonderful John Hannah and Lucy Lawless, and I bow down before their greatness. Manu Bennett also appears at the same time as them, and I'm a big fan of his from his time on Arrow, but he doesn't actually have any dialogue in this episode, so hopefully he has a bigger role going forward. Craig Parker was also pretty good throughout the episode. Andy Whitfield, the show's lead actor, I'm not so sure about, the jury is still out on him, there were so many bad actors around him, it was hard to gauge his performance. Despite the dodgy acting and vomit inducing visuals, there's a good story buried underneath all the crap, and if I can get used to the style (which I think I may have been towards the end of the episode) there's a lot of potential here. I simultaneously hated it and didn't hate it, and it was verging on so-bad-its-actually-really-really-good territory, but not quite there just yet, but on its way there.

Episode 2: "Sacramentum Gladiatorum"
A huge improvement on the first episode, this is kind of what I was hoping for based on the last third or so of The Red Serpent, it still has a low budget B-Movie sort of vibe, which is something I really love, but there's also a really compelling story, and the acting is far better overall ; I was unsure about Whitfield in the first episode, but thought he was really good here, with some more capable actors to bounce off of. Visually it was infinitely more appealing as well, there was a sh*t tonne of bad green screen in the first episode as they had to convey a lot of different locations, but this was all confined to the one place, so a lot less CGI in general. I thoroughly enjoyed this, thought it was great and am wholeheartedly invested in the series now.

Episode 3: "Legends"
Not quite as strong as the last one, but still pretty damn great, enjoyed this one a lot as well. A good bit more character development for a couple of characters too that I had been hoping for. Not much else to say on this that I haven't said in the previous two write-ups, so will leave it at that.

Final Thoughts:
Bounced back really well after a less than stellar first episode, and really loved the next two episodes, so will be continuing with this one for sure.

Episode 1: "Bad News"
I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive going into this, and my expectations weren't particualarly high for it. I've never really got the appeal and adoration have for Butternut Curtainswatch, aside from the fact that it's always fun to purposely get his name wrong. I had seen Sherlock and Doctor Strange, and liked them, so its not that I can't stand him or anything, I've just always found him a bit bland as an actor, but in fairness to him he's fantastic here and this definitely surpassed by expectations by some margin. Very enjoyable.

Episode 2: "Never Mind"
Bananabread Concubine took a backseat this episode and barely features as a flashback to Patrick's childhood takes up the entire episode. It was an uncomfortably tense episode, but also incredibly done, and brilliantly shot. The acting from everyone involved in the episode was superb, and it had me captivated throughout.

Episode 3: "Some Hope"
Don't know if it was the fact that Beetlejuice Cupcakeface was back front and centre or if the second episode set the bar so high anything that didn't come close to it would only be a disappointment, but it just struggled to maintain my interest. Wasn't a patch on the first episode either. The final ten minutes or so did pick up again and saved it a bit, but was a little too little too late.

Final Thoughts:
Only another two episodes to go, so will finish watching it, and hopefully the third episode was merely a blip and the final two are a return to the form of the first episode at least, if not the second.

Episode 1: "A Disastrous Affair"
Watched this for the first time not all that long ago, because so many people had told me it was the greatest crime drama of all-time and was better than The Wire. It's good, but it definitely ain't "greatest crime drama of all-time" good. At the time I thought having raised expectations may have tinted my opinion of it slightly, but on this re-watch I still feel the same way about it as I did the first go around ; it's compelling and intriguing, well acted, but not quite a top tier show for me.

Episode 2: "The Assault"
I find with a lot of these gritty BBC Police Dramas that even if 90% of the episode is pretty average, they end with an epic cliffhanger that will be enough to bring the viewers back for the next episode and have people talking around the watercooler about the show therefore drawing in more viewers via word of mouth, which is essentially what this episode is. I can appeciate that to an extent, it's a perfectly valid business model, but once you look past the smoke and mirrors of those big flashy endings, there's an awful lot of faffing about for most of the episode. The cliffhanger does drag this episode up a bit for me when it comes to rating, because overall it's not as good as the first, but then they knock it out of the park in the final few minutes.

Episode 3: "In The Trap"
All the action and drama ramps up nicely in this one, moving along at a breakneck pace now after all the meandering that went on in the last episode. I do remember from the last time I watched the series is that this episode and the final two episodes of the season were far superior to the first two episodes, which take their time to get everything set up and everything moved into place ; again not saying the first two episodes weren't good, this one is just a different level.

Final Thoughts:
I've only watched the first two seasons of this, so must get back into it again, it's a good show with decent characters, even if I do think people talk it up a bit too much. Good choice, but up against some stacked competition.

Episode 1: "Deadwood"
Had been meaning to watch this for quite awhile now, but just never seem to get around to it. This is a good introduction to the characters and the premise, and it had a lot of setting up to do which held it back a little, but I really enjoyed it and there's clearly a lot of potential for this to be fantastic. I know it's a fan favourite, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store once the wheels really get in motion.

Episode 2: "Deep Water"
Was hoping things might move along just a bit faster, because there's a lot of meadering about, as things are built up slowly. I'm sure once things really kick off with this show it'll be great, but I'm not as invested in it at this stage as I thought I would be. It's good, well shot, great actors involved, and certain scenes really pop, but it's not meshing together for me just yet.

Episode 3: "Reconnoitering the Rim"
Everything is starting to click into place for me now and I'm more invested in the characters and the politics of the camp this episode. The additions of Powers Boothe and Kim Dickens to the cast could also definitely have raised the stakes for me too, although the acting has been superb all along, and many of them I'm very fond of due to other projects. Sometimes it also just takes a few episodes to get the ball rolling and they had a lot of establishing and setting up to do in the first two, so this episode feels like they get to play with the characters a bit more and really start chewing into the fat of the story.

Final Thoughts:
It did take me awhile to get into it properly, but I'm invested now, so will be watching the rest of this once I've got a bit more time to watch what I want to and not what I have to for the purposes of a Walrus.

Episode 1: "The Crocodile's Dilemma"
Was a fan of the film so had wanted to watch this years ago, until I was at a house party one night, and this one lad had everyone driven mad because he would not shut up about Fargo, following people around telling people they needed to watch it because it was amazing and harping on about all the reasons it was great, and it just put me right off wanting to watch the show. He was right of course, because this was bloody fantastic, I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of watching it on account of his insistance. Anyway, this is hilarious, exciting, and the cast are all top class. Can't fault it in the slightest.

Episode 2: "The Rooster Prince"
Still very much enjoying this, it's really great, just didn't have quite the same impact on me as that belter of a first episode did. The pacing was a bit slower and less of the character interactions I really loved from the first one, but really only a minor quibble, because I can tell it's only a reshuffling of the board before they build back up to something even more amazing.

Episode 3: "A Muddy Road"
Things falling into place nicely again, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it all goes from here. I should probably mention the cast for this, because everyone is playing an absolute blinder. Billy Bob Thornton is playing an absolute blinder, Martin Freeman and Colin Hanks are brilliant as usual. Think I've seen Allison Tolman in an episode or two of something or other, but wasn't too familiar with her, and she's great in this. Kate Walsh is someone who just keeps popping up in loads of things in recent years and I think she's amazing in everything, so was delighted to see her in this. Everyone else is great too, but they were the ones worthy of a mention.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, obviously I'm going to keep watching this. It's great stuff and I like that every season is an anthology, so the story definitely gets wrapped up nicely each time.

Episode 1: "La llegada"
It's no secret that I'm not a soccerball fan, but there are certainly sports TV shows and movies, and sports documentaries that I really love, and that includes some soccer-based ones, so went in to this with an open mind. I really don't know anything about Diego Maradona, aside from his name and the fact that he's regarded as one of the greatest soccer players ever. There are a few comments about a history of drug use, but this documentary doesn't really give any of his backstory, and kind of plonks you right in to 2018 assuming you probably already know a lot about Maradona already, which is fair enough, but doesn't exactly give me a whole lot to invest in. It seems like its going somewhere along the lines of being an underdog story, or maybe there's a big twist coming and it ends up being something else entirely, but there was no big hook at the end of the episode or anything to draw me in or indicate what's on the horizon. I'm intrigued to see where it goes, but concerned that it will go nowhere, and I don't think I've ever been so on the fence about something before in my life. It's neither bad nor good, boring nor interesting, it's literally right down the middle of the road for me, so it's getting a right down the middle of the road rating.

Episode 2: "Uno de nosotros"
Okay, now I'm off the fence, really enjoyed that, loving the underdog story of it all, and looking forward to seeing what happens next. Looking back at the first episode with hindsight, I stand by my rating for that, it was very middle of the road, and they really should have just tacked ten minutes or so onto the beginning of this episode instead, and it would've made for a much stronger premiere episode. Hopefully, it's all killer and no filler in the third episode, and they keep this momentum up.

Episode 3: "El sueño"
Not as good as the previous episode, but still pretty damn good. I'm definitely invested in what's going on, and I wasn't sure I would be when this one popped up in my PM's. It was always going to be a risky choice due to my antipathy to soccer, but I like documentaries, I like subtitles, and I love underdog stories, so it works for me.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, gonna finish it and see how this plays out, so nobody spoil it on me (it goes without saying I hope, but don't spoil any shows on me or anyone else because that's a d*ck move )

Irish Aris wrote: »

24 is class - it was my second choice for this round.
There was a lot of late night binge watching because I simply couldn't stop!

On one re-watch me and my friend did 24 in 24, where we'd watch the whole season in one day... Obviously the episodes are only 40 minutes, so we'd take breaks for meals and whatever throughout the day... Think we did it for the first 5 seasons, before season 6 premiered... Fun times...

Episode 1: "Episode 1"
I had read one of Harlan Coben's books many years ago and thought it was the biggest load of waffle that ever had the audacity to call itself a mystery novel, so I have tended to swerve any of his other books or TV adaptations, which means the bar was set really low going in to this one. It was alright, there is a good bit of intrigue set up and it was an easy enough watch, there's certainly potential for it to get better, but it's also a bit all over the place at times. There are plenty of characters, but none of them are particularly likeable or grabbing my attention in any way. Some good actors in it though, I've always enjoyed Richard Armitage, Shaun Dooley, Stephen Rea, and Hannah John-Kamen. It's not the disaster, but I wasn't exactly enthralled by it either.

Episode 2: "Episode 2"
This show doesn't have a lot going on in the way of style or substance, it's all very fluffy and the writing is basic at best, but it's easy to watch and I can't say I'm not enjoying it to a certain extent. Anthony Head and Paul Kaye both make appearances in this episode, which just adds to the list of actors I already like that I mentioned in the last write-up ; none of them are doing the best work of their career by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still fun to see them.

Episode 3: "Episode 3"
This show is awful, but it's awful to the point that it actually starts getting good again… well, maybe not good, but oddly piques my interest despite the fact I know it's absolute sh*te. Watching it is a bit like when you're in a waiting room, and your phone battery is dead, and the only other thing around is a copy of a crap glossy magazine like Heat or Closer, so you flick through it out of sheer boredom and then end up getting sucked in to the trashy articles and you're happy to keep reading.

Final Thoughts:
I really want to say I'll never watch another episode of this now that I don't have to, but there's a fair to good chance I will end up watching the rest at some point. It is bad though and if anyone ever brought it up and said they were thinking of watching it, I'd tell them to give it a swerve, and I hate myself for giving it any sort of credit, but it was mildly entertaining.

Necro wrote: »

Have only watched the first three seasons of 24, loved it at the time but then stopped. I think it got a bit *too* wild and out there but I am tempted to go back (have the full boxset on DVD so watching isn't an issue plus it's coming to DisneyPlus next month iirc)

It does, but in a Fast & Furious kind of way, where if you just lean in to it, you'll have a blast...

Episode 1: "Pilot"
I had such high hopes for this one based on cast alone. With the combination of Tom Payne, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Keiko Agena, and Michael Sheen this could've been a slam dunk, but Michael Sheen is the only one who is any way watchable in this, and even at that not even he is close to being at his best. The premise is a riff on Silence of the Lambs, with elements of Sherlock Holmes, and it also gives off a bit of a Dexter vibe, but it fails to come close to any of those, and is really just a big bland blob of boring. The dialogue was wooden and poorly written too. For one or two half decent elements, and Michael Sheen actually doing a decent job, I'll give it some credit though. There's been some crazy comebacks from other shows after poor pilots throughout the game, so I'll keep an open mind going into the next episode.

Episode 2: "Annihilator"
It was definitely better than the last episode, but not by much and I don't think there was a huge improvement in quality or anything, I just enjoyed it a good bit more for some reason. Not much more thoughts on this episode to be honest, it just is what it is.

Episode 3: "Fear Response"
There is some intriguing and interesting stuff going on in the overall arc, but that's only dripped in throughout the episode and a twist I could see coming a mile off at the very end, but it's stuff I could get investested enough in if that was the entire show ; it's not though. The case of the week wasn't particualrly captivating, thought the one they had in episode two was a lot better, so I didn't enjoy the episode as much overall.

Final Thoughts:
It's unlikely I'll watch any more of this, although of course as soon as I started watching it, I've started seeing articles and a lot of talk about Prodigal Son on some of the TV News sites I follow ; didn't ready any of them, just thought it was an odd coincidence. It's the type of show I could see having a following, and although I thought there was an improvement after the pilot, the show wouldn't really be my cup of tea.

ari101 wrote: »

Loving the bonus point maths!

I've decided there is no hope of me remembering all the shows I want to watch as a result of this thread, so I'm just gonna have to return when I need inspiration!

I would maybe have sent Broadchurch... but for now I'm just sending a hug.

I'll post an ordered and ranked list of all 104 shows at the very end after the Bonus Rounds, to make it easier for everyone to get their recommendations from...