I’m inclined to agree with seemingly every TV critic that there is value to more episodic television rather than ten-hour “movies.” But I wonder whether this is something that audiences generally care about or desire, or if it’s exhausted TV critics trying to make their jobs more manageable since you don’t need to watch five episodes to understand / accurately critique an episodic show.
My parents and I rarely watch the same thing, but we are all watching this. It is decent enough. But I just can’t with Hong Chau’s wig. It is so distracting.
I also saw the Shazam movie. I was one of two people in the theater. Ant Man is a masterpiece in comparison. There’s a fucking Skittles commercial in the middle of the movie. They literally say, “taste the rainbow”. Twice.
This is an excellent piece. I listened to that podcast interview with Shawn Ryan and was riveted. I really enjoy meat and potatoes television but it has to be elevated. I can’t tolerate the usual fare on broadcast but I also really miss good broadcast shows. So I am happy some writers see this as an important genre to pursue and get right.
I've watched four episodes of The Night Agent at my wife's prompting, and it seems I'm alone in this comment thread (and the Netflix viewerbase at large) in thinking it's absolutely terrible. It's profoundly charmless with dull pacing, forced performances, stuttering dialogue (that can't even make small talk natural), and perplexing decision-making that calls into question every character's agency and blatantly forecasts underwhelming twists.
I have sworn off watching any more after the two leads, on the run from assassins potentially in indirect employment with the White House, decide to _drive together directly to said assassins' last known location with the barest tactical backup from a pal, immediately after designating themselves the only people who can actually investigate the conspiracy, because they stole the evidence from a White House supercomputer and refused to share it with the only person there who even knows what they're up to._
Meanwhile, those assassins just took a call giving them a new task, which was obviously going to be offing the old spy lady said couple had just visited it. So not only are the two leads unforgivably STUPID, but their actions were also completely POINTLESS.
I'm shocked that this show has been received so well. It's insulting to watch. Even 24's even-numbered seasons were better than this absolute crap.
I've been enjoying the story of Night Agent but the casting in general has felt off to me. I googled Hong Chau just now and was surprised to discover she was nominated for an Oscar recently. Maybe I'm being unfair or maybe that terrible silver wig is throwing me off but in the 5 episodes I've seen so far it very much seems like she's dialing it in. Most of the rest of the cast aren't particularly standing out, either. None of it's bad acting, to me, but nothing particularly compelling either. Maybe that's a component of Dadcore--keep the focus on the mystery, which I am quite liking, rather than the characters.
EDIT: Props for actually shooting the Metro bombing scene in a real Metro station, though. The second I saw the tile I said "that's quality." As for the woman who boarded a Metro train during a busy travel time *with a full paper bag of groceries*... unrealistic.
Me enjoyed Poker Face for same reason (and for many other reasons). It not trying to be "10-hour movie," it trying to be Columbo: old-school detective show where killer get comeuppance every week without being as rigidly formulaic as, say, Law & Order. It very satisfying, and me wish we lived in era where we could get 26 episodes instead of 10.
I watched the fairly charming musical comedy Up Here, which has been completely buried by Hulu/Disney+ as far as I can tell. I only know it exists because of John Hodgman promoting it on podcasts, and even then I had to click through the Disney+ carousel six times before it came up on the day of release.
It's not a great show, and the title is terrible, but I'm happy to see Mae Whitman get work and Carlos Valdes gives a performance that gives me hope he'll have a decent post-Arrowverse career. There's a few charming songs from the Lopezes, but it's yet another streaming show that doesn't feel like it needed to be a TV show (it was originally a stage musical, back in 2015: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-up-here-la-jolla-playhouse-20150802-story.html).
The show doesn't do all that much with its 90s setting, possibly as it was conceived at the time the show is set, and written a few years later, so probably became a period piece retroactively, and all of the business vs follow your dreams stuff is fairly basic.
I’m inclined to agree with seemingly every TV critic that there is value to more episodic television rather than ten-hour “movies.” But I wonder whether this is something that audiences generally care about or desire, or if it’s exhausted TV critics trying to make their jobs more manageable since you don’t need to watch five episodes to understand / accurately critique an episodic show.
My parents and I rarely watch the same thing, but we are all watching this. It is decent enough. But I just can’t with Hong Chau’s wig. It is so distracting.
I also saw the Shazam movie. I was one of two people in the theater. Ant Man is a masterpiece in comparison. There’s a fucking Skittles commercial in the middle of the movie. They literally say, “taste the rainbow”. Twice.
This is an excellent piece. I listened to that podcast interview with Shawn Ryan and was riveted. I really enjoy meat and potatoes television but it has to be elevated. I can’t tolerate the usual fare on broadcast but I also really miss good broadcast shows. So I am happy some writers see this as an important genre to pursue and get right.
I've watched four episodes of The Night Agent at my wife's prompting, and it seems I'm alone in this comment thread (and the Netflix viewerbase at large) in thinking it's absolutely terrible. It's profoundly charmless with dull pacing, forced performances, stuttering dialogue (that can't even make small talk natural), and perplexing decision-making that calls into question every character's agency and blatantly forecasts underwhelming twists.
I have sworn off watching any more after the two leads, on the run from assassins potentially in indirect employment with the White House, decide to _drive together directly to said assassins' last known location with the barest tactical backup from a pal, immediately after designating themselves the only people who can actually investigate the conspiracy, because they stole the evidence from a White House supercomputer and refused to share it with the only person there who even knows what they're up to._
Meanwhile, those assassins just took a call giving them a new task, which was obviously going to be offing the old spy lady said couple had just visited it. So not only are the two leads unforgivably STUPID, but their actions were also completely POINTLESS.
I'm shocked that this show has been received so well. It's insulting to watch. Even 24's even-numbered seasons were better than this absolute crap.
I've been enjoying the story of Night Agent but the casting in general has felt off to me. I googled Hong Chau just now and was surprised to discover she was nominated for an Oscar recently. Maybe I'm being unfair or maybe that terrible silver wig is throwing me off but in the 5 episodes I've seen so far it very much seems like she's dialing it in. Most of the rest of the cast aren't particularly standing out, either. None of it's bad acting, to me, but nothing particularly compelling either. Maybe that's a component of Dadcore--keep the focus on the mystery, which I am quite liking, rather than the characters.
EDIT: Props for actually shooting the Metro bombing scene in a real Metro station, though. The second I saw the tile I said "that's quality." As for the woman who boarded a Metro train during a busy travel time *with a full paper bag of groceries*... unrealistic.
Me enjoyed Poker Face for same reason (and for many other reasons). It not trying to be "10-hour movie," it trying to be Columbo: old-school detective show where killer get comeuppance every week without being as rigidly formulaic as, say, Law & Order. It very satisfying, and me wish we lived in era where we could get 26 episodes instead of 10.
Pretty sure the UK Traitors came before the US Traitors, and that both are based on a Dutch series.
I watched the fairly charming musical comedy Up Here, which has been completely buried by Hulu/Disney+ as far as I can tell. I only know it exists because of John Hodgman promoting it on podcasts, and even then I had to click through the Disney+ carousel six times before it came up on the day of release.
It's not a great show, and the title is terrible, but I'm happy to see Mae Whitman get work and Carlos Valdes gives a performance that gives me hope he'll have a decent post-Arrowverse career. There's a few charming songs from the Lopezes, but it's yet another streaming show that doesn't feel like it needed to be a TV show (it was originally a stage musical, back in 2015: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-up-here-la-jolla-playhouse-20150802-story.html).
The show doesn't do all that much with its 90s setting, possibly as it was conceived at the time the show is set, and written a few years later, so probably became a period piece retroactively, and all of the business vs follow your dreams stuff is fairly basic.