Good TV (aka, the TV series spamthread), the second series

[Raid]

I really liked season 5 too, though the overall impression I've been getting is that many thought it was just "fine".

[Mantis]

It was serviceable enough, wrapped up most of the characters stories, the new kids (Holly and Derek mainly) were actually the best parts of the season. It has absolutely lost the magic the first season had and turned into a brain dead Netflix show where the character's just exposition dump every 5 minutes because the writer's know most viewers are on their phones and not paying attention, but I didn't dislike it overall.

Once you notice the "Hey what are we doing again?" "Ok, let me explain the whole plan step by step!" thing happening every time the scene swaps to a different bunch of characters you can't help but notice it every single time it happens and I started to absolutely loathe it. But we just took the piss out of it mainly.

The final episode was quite a big disappointment in how the climax panned out, particularly given all the time they wasted building up to it, but I liked the last hour that basically served as the epilogue where it wrapped things up.

[Animalmother]

I didn't notice that, probably because I actually was looking at my phone...

[Mantis]

It is supposedly part of the writer's brief that Netflix gives all their show runners that they need to account for divided attention so they have to spoon feed you the plot every five minutes.

I think it's a shame that actual good quality story telling is being compromised because they want to focus on a core audience of people who aren't really paying attention. It discourages producers from having the balls to put together something noteworthy that's actually compelling and grabs your attention.

We don't really watch anything on Netflix anymore. If they don't think their shows are good enough that people won't be able to stop themselves consuming other content while they have it on in the background then I can think of ten other things I'd rather do with my time than watch a show that's only designed to be "half watched".

[Wrathbone]

That's a large part of why Netflix buying Warner Bros worries me. Artistic vision and merit is being replaced with content that's designed to be disposable background noise. Even that term, content, should be a cause for concern, because movies are no longer works of art to be appreciated but content to be consumed. And yes, not every movie has to be art, but when you contractually dictate to filmmakers that they need to cater for the inatentive, that they must assume their audience is not engaged, then the opportunity for art has been removed. Cinema becomes a medium under threat.

Glad I cancelled Netflix back in October.

[Raid]

Jesus, that's depressing; quality of writing taking a backseat to engagement. I shouldn't be surprised I guess.

One of the bigger laughs I've had in the recent series of Rick and Morty was them subverting the "Here's the plan" trope. They had the voiceover of the planning phase with the actual events being shown, and something goes wrong immediately, leaving them describing a careful infiltration over shots of violent police chases and explosions. I can't help but think that should be done more often just to keep people on their toes, because just maybe it'll force people to actually pay attention like they bloody should be. I really do despair for humanity's future if we're already having to plan around peoples lack of attention span.

[Sly Boots]

My wife is a habitual phone-scroller while watching TV and it drives me crazy. It's the constant questions about what's happening, who people are etc, and heaven forbid if I leave the room for a few moments and come back and try to rely on her to tell me what I missed -_-

[Wrathbone]

I do make a point of actually watching what I've chosen to watch, unless I've specifically decided to put something on I've seen before as some background noise while I do something else, which I don't see as a problem. It's phone-scrolling while watching something new that I don't understand. If you're not engaged with what you're watching, watch something else.

Back to things I've been watching, I'm getting along well with original Star Trek, if only for the comedy of how every episode finds a way to shoehorn in a situation where Kirk can inappropriately fawn over a woman while Bones ticks off another death on his list of patients.

[Lenny Solidus]