The Sofa (General Chat Thread)

Spon Farmer · 12-11-2018 3:38pm

I haven't seen Season 8 of The Walking Dead yet so no spoilers please.

The blu-ray has extended episodes. Is this a blu-ray exclusive or are the also extended on iTunes in the UK and US?

Is it violence and gore that had been cut from the TV broadcast or significant extra footage?

Are the episode commentaries on the blu-rays good?

I'll trying to decide if I'll wait for Prime to get it or go for the discs.

pixelburp · 12-11-2018 7:27pm

Hmmm, do you think it's possible to jump straight into Parks & Rec. season 2, avoid that awful first season altogether? Was going to recommend it to someone, but point them to just go with the second season.

Tom Mann Centuria · 12-11-2018 10:49pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Hmmm, do you think it's possible to jump straight into Parks & Rec. season 2, avoid that awful first season altogether? Was going to recommend it to someone, but point them to just go with the second season.

I rewatched series 1 the other day, still chuckled a few times, though virtually all the characters, apart from Leslie, are much less likeable.

I'd tell them to watch a couple of first series, with caveat that it jumps in quality ten fold after that season.

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 13-11-2018 12:04am

pixelburp wrote: »

Hmmm, do you think it's possible to jump straight into Parks & Rec. season 2, avoid that awful first season altogether? Was going to recommend it to someone, but point them to just go with the second season.

Considering the first season is only 6 episodes @20 minutes a piece, they may as well just go ahead and watch it, as long as they know it's a rough 2 hours to wade through, but that the show becomes infinitely better after that slog.

pixelburp · 13-11-2018 1:53pm

I just watched some clips of season 1 and man, the characters came off differently to those we grew to love. Leslie actually comes off a bit of an idiot really. Might suggest the pilot, then just straight into Season 2

Watching those clips did remind me how fantastic the show was: best sitcom of all time, or just one of the best?

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 14-11-2018 3:16am

Don't know if any of you caught Tabú, TG4's new documentary series, last Wednesday, but it's worth having a watch on the player. As per usual, TG4 documentaries are head and shoulders above what RTÉ are putting out.

This first episode, Foréigean Gan Choinne, is the episode I was most looking forward to seeing, as it's the issue that hits closest to home and I'm glad to see it being addressed. Myself and three lads I was working with at the time were hopped by a gang of 9 or 10 at the bottom of Capel Street a few years back, after leaving work, for no apparent reason. My brother and a friend of his were attacked on Harcourt Street three days after that. Luckily we all walked away from the respective attacks relatively unscathed, when a lot of other who are victims of random attacks aren't as fortunate. I'm sure some of you here have similar tales.

Anyway, figured I'd leave the link, if anyone's interested in giving it a watch.

https://www.tg4.ie/ga/clair/tabu/

Mr E · 15-11-2018 6:22pm

The new John Lewis Christmas ad came out this morning. I think they've done better, to be honest.

This one was only OK, but saved by a lovely moment right at the end. You'll know it when you see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNbSgMEZ_Tw

Basq · 15-11-2018 6:25pm

As I've said elsewhere.. it's grand.. but it does really make me want to see Elton before "retiring". So I can assume he's going to come out of this happy regardless.

Tom Mann Centuria · 15-11-2018 6:31pm

Worst John Lewis ad they've done, since John Lewis Christmas adverts became "a thing".

Agent Coulson · 15-11-2018 7:17pm

I’ll be honest I thought it was the trailer to the Elton bio pic.

A film I’d pay to see.

Basq · 15-11-2018 7:22pm

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A film I’d pay to see.

Yep, looking forward to that myself..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpOGT3GTO84

Agent Coulson · 24-11-2018 9:34pm

I don't know why this popped into my head today but whatever happened the Dennis Lehane US remake of Love/Hate.

The Black Oil · 25-11-2018 9:16pm

Well, the supposed Borgen US remake went nowhere, not that it was likely to.

The Black Oil · 29-11-2018 11:02pm

Just the 480+ shows that air in the US. Link.

brian_t · 03-12-2018 4:27pm

I see that Comedy Central is reviving Blockbusters with Dara Briain.

Two series, each comprising 20 half-hour episodes and including two celebrity specials.

This will be the fourth attempt since Bob Holness but I've not seen any of the others.

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/41822/dara_o_briain_to_host_blockbusters_reboot

Skid X · 03-12-2018 6:50pm

brian_t wrote: »

I see that Comedy Central is reviving Blockbusters with Dara Briain.

Two series, each comprising 20 half-hour episodes and including two celebrity specials.

This will be the fourth attempt since Bob Holness but I've not seen any of the others.

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/41822/dara_o_briain_to_host_blockbusters_reboot

I've seen parts of each of the other remakes - they were all quite dull and pointless. A straight faced recreation of the original show is never going to match viewers nostalgia for Bob's original show.

This seems to be a comedy version maybe in the style of 8 Out Of 10 Cats does Countdown, which might be worth a shot.

Any excuse to see Stephen Merchant do his thing on Blockbusters with Michael Aspel

Agent Coulson · 12-12-2018 11:50pm

I found Highlander the series on Prime a few month ago and have been watching it on and off just finished season 4 and I had forgotten how bloody good it got in season 3 & 4 going into season 5 I know goes down hill somewhere in that season.

Adrian Paul really should have found better than Z list films he had decent screen presence.

Also Elizabeth Gracen is a stunning looking woman I always wondered why she didn't go onto better things.

I wonder did her affair with Bill Clinton hold her back when it became headline news.

The Black Oil · 13-12-2018 11:37am

Watched the first episode of Ozark the other day. Six degrees of escalation, eh?

Mr E · 14-12-2018 1:40pm

Game of Thrones meets How to Train your Dragon. Very well done!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL9sgRLdR_E

Agent Coulson · 14-12-2018 4:42pm

Some interesting reading the cord is getting cut quicker than they thought.

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu & Apple Top TV For 1st Time; Broadcast & Cable Decline

The era of Peak TV hit a record-breaking peak in 2018 with the relative newbies of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Apple’s soon to debut small screen service beating out the broadcasters and cablers for the first time ever.

Though down by a notch from FX boss John Landgraf’s prediction earlier this year that there would be 520 scripted original shows in 2018, the 495 that the cabler chief’s research department came up with is still the most television that has ever been on the air. Up eight shows from 2017, the 2018 tally also finds “online services” in the top spot with 160 scripted original series this year.

That’s a 385% increase since 2014 and just before Landgraf started his bombastic warnings about the TV environment overheating, a warning that hasn’t proven true yet, it seems. Or put another way, a bit of Narcos: Mexico, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Looming Tower, Facebook’s just renewed Sorry For Your Loss, YouTube’s Origin and whatever Tim Cook’s crew end up putting out from Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu and many more goes a long way on today’s media landscape.

As a consequence of the increasingly crowned multi-platform world and the online on-ramp talent and creators are clearly taking, broadcast and basic cable were down from 2017, with the latter taking the biggest dive. Pay cable like HBO, Showtime and Starz saw an uptick of 32% over last year to its all-time high.

Dig a bit deeper in the charts that FX distributed today to see where the growth is and where the long term faultlines look to be. Also, as we await the Star Wars and Marvel series jam packed launch of Disney+ from the House of Mouse, check out the strength of the year-over-year increases across the streamers, streamers to come and more traditional TV, as it is for now – because, trust me TV is breaking the 500 original series barrier in 2019:

fx-2018-est-scripted-shows-chart-1.jpeg?w=630&h=450

fx-2018-est-scripted-show-distribution-pie-charts.jpeg?w=630&h=455

fx-2018-est-scripted-series-distrinution-towers.jpeg?w=630&h=455

https://deadline.com/2018/12/streaming-series-surpass-cable-broadcast-first-time-fx-study-1202519711/

pixelburp · 14-12-2018 5:20pm

Cutting the cable, but I'm waiting for the big victim of the Streaming Service glut; doubt anyone will make the mistake of Yahoo and launch with too little content, but the market will only allow / sustain so many services.

Agent Coulson · 14-12-2018 5:40pm

The top 4 will survive you would imagine.

Netflix is now the King of Streaming with the huge market share and putting the money into there own content globally to keep those markets if and when the content from other providers is pulled.

Hulu is now Disney or soon will be and will take the more adult content Disney streaming won't show.

Amazon and Apple both have the money distribution requirements needed.