[Streaming] Max (né HBO Max)

[hepcat]

At times the show plays like a horror film. It has that same tension that saturated almost every scene and bit of dialogue in Mad Men. You know it's never going to end in a supernatural serial killer rising up out of the sea and murdering everyone....but the back of your mind keeps thinking "well...it COULD happen!" based on how much dread they add to some scenes.

I agree with your assessments. But I think they're going to throw us a curveball when the bodies start dropping.

Spoiler:

I have a feeling that F. Murray Abraham is going to be one of those bodies. He was WAY too quick to step in when they thought Lucia was in trouble...even though I still think that guy Lucia refers to as her pimp is probably just in on the scam and isn't really dangerous.

Albie's about to have his youthful optimism about people either destroyed, or seriously damaged. Portia is about to learn that wanting danger in your life isn't the same as getting danger in your life.

What happens with Harper and her gang is still a huge damn mystery for me. That can go so many ways at this point.

As for Tanya, she either gets out alive and stars in season 3, or I'm writing verbally nasty notes to HBO. This show's star is, and has always been, Coolidge. Everyone else is great, but she's on a whole different level.

By the way, that reveal at the end of the last episode? Was that her husband in the cowboy hat pictured with the swindler? In other words, that story about his unrequited love for a cowpoke that he told Tanya was all about her husband? Or was that just a drug addled illusion on her part?

[Smoove_B]

Regarding the Harper group:

Spoiler:

I was reading something this morning suggesting that Daphne is the behind it all - that she knew Cameron would do exactly what he did if left alone, so she intentionally "kidnapped" Harper for a night away to set the wheels in motion. There was a throw-away line I'd forgotten about how much she loves watching TV shows about how wives plot the murders of their husbands. Between that and the likely reveal that her kids are from her trainer, it definitely fits - that she would manipulate the situation to have Ethan murder her husband.

Regarding Tanya:

Spoiler:

I think that's what we are supposed to believe she believes, yes. Whether or not it's really him or it was just part of her coked-up fantasy, that is definitely unknown. It also seems to fit - that the entire experience with Quentin is all a long con for her money.

Regarding Lucia:

Spoiler:

That's a good guess. I'm pretty sure the guy she left with is just someone helping her with the con, regardless. I don't think she's in any danger at all.

I did go back and watch the S2 opening again and my original guess about what happens with Harper group might be wrong:

Spoiler:

It looks like Daphne runs into the arms of Cameron. We never see his face, but a quick blurry shot kinda looks like him. Maybe Ethan tries to kill Cameron and it's Cameron that ends up killing Ethan? What's weird is she runs into the arms of a guy wearing squids on his bathing suit, but in the followup shots, there's no man with squids on his bathing suit to be seen. It's a mystery!

[coopasonic]

Loving discussions with no mention of the name of the show. I wonder if there is a way to organize such a discussion in a manner that makes clear to observers what show is being discussed, like some way to thread those posts together...

[hepcat]

Hmmm...that theory about the Harper group is...intriguing.

[Smoove_B]

It's White Lotus, with S2 ending this weekend. I did toy with an idea of starting a dedicated thread, but every time I do, they die.

[hepcat]

Sorry

[McNutt]

I know it's been said before, but I think we should discuss shows in their own threads. I really hate looking through catchall threads to see if a show/movie/thing has been discussed already. I don't think we should be worried about having too many threads.

[hepcat]

Sorry

[Kraken]

Loving discussions with no mention of the name of the show. I wonder if there is a way to organize such a discussion in a manner that makes clear to observers what show is being discussed, like some way to thread those posts together...

I had the same thought.

White Lotus is on our short list of Next Series to Watch. I want to squeeze in a couple of movies before we start another serial.

[hepcat]

Sorry

[Smoove_B]

Starts streaming today. I suppose if it's good enough, we'll do the dirty work for HBOMax and create a dedicated thread to help make sure it's not cancelled?

[Carpet_pissr]

Wow, I might actually watch that. Laughed out loud at a few of those scenes. The saxophone player self-defenestrating was the best!

[Smoove_B]

It's getting destroyed in reviews and for two different reasons. The first is what you'd expect, but there are also plenty of people saying the writing is bad. I'll probably give it a try but there is just *too much* content to get through. I'm so far behind from shows from the Fall but all I can manage to motivate myself to watch is Bob's Burgers; mentally it's where I'm at.

[Jaymann]

Watching 100 Foot Wave, a series on HBO. If you have ever surfed, know anybody who does, or have just dreamed about it, this show is the real deal.

[EvilHomer3k]

It's getting destroyed in reviews and for two different reasons. The first is what you'd expect, but there are also plenty of people saying the writing is bad. I'll probably give it a try but there is just *too much* content to get through. I'm so far behind from shows from the Fall but all I can manage to motivate myself to watch is Bob's Burgers; mentally it's where I'm at.

Oof. The audience reviews are really bad. 6%% at RT and 1.3 on IMDB. If the scores weren't bad enough reading the reviews paints an even worse picture. People really dislike this show.

[hepcat]

I haven’t watched it, but one of the bigger complaints is that it sexualizes kids.

Let’s hope they never find out about Big Mouth on Netflix.

[Kraken]

The review that turned me off said it suffers from two big flaws. First, excessive wokeness. The reviewer said "I watch to be entertained, not included." The second is that they couldn't get rights to the dog who was the star of the show, and watching the Scooby Gang without Scooby Doo is just sad.

I was a little too old to be a fan of the original cartoon so this reboot had to lift pretty hard to draw me in. It didn't.

[hepcat]

The review that turned me off said it suffers from two big flaws. First, excessive wokeness. The reviewer said "I watch to be entertained, not included."

“Not included”? What’s wrong with seeing other races represented in entertainment? I’m fairly certain that review was written by a white hand. I’m at the point now where if I see someone complain about something being “woke” because it changed the race or gender of a character, my knee jerk assumption is that the person is a white male who also writes about the Great Replacement Theory on extremist forums.

[YellowKing]

Yeah, I had a favorite podcast/YouTube show that got to the point where every single movie or television review was a critique of how "woke" it was. It got to the point that the diversity of the cast became the single overriding factor of whether the movie or show was any good or not. I wound up having to drop them and unsubscribe.

And yes, I think political correctness can go too far to the point it feels like pandering, so I get the frustration. But I think often the frustration with one egregious instance can bleed over into frustration with everything that includes diversity, which is unwarranted.

I read some different negative takes on the show - namely that the show insulted fans of Scooby-Doo and didn't understand the original characters.

[hepcat]

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely am not a fan of Cancel Culture in general (I think it’s often applied too quickly and without context or compassion due to its mob rule mentality…although I do believe there have been a few cases where it was warranted and even necessary); and I worry that political correctness lacks the subtlety to understand that a movie like Blazing Saddles doesn’t celebrate racism, but rather ridicules it (just an example off the top of my head). But the whole “woke” complaint just seems to be born out of racist bias.

[ImLawBoy]

I read some different negative takes on the show - namely that the show insulted fans of Scooby-Doo and didn't understand the original characters.

This is more along the lines of what I've seen. A review in the paper said that many of the jokes were funny enough on their own, but they suffered from being forced into the Scooby-verse.

[Zarathud]

Woke is the new “polite.” You used to be ostracized if you upset the conservative family values at church by being too liberal. Now you can be ostracized if you’re not liberal enough. Same human nature, different players and power.

[ImLawBoy]

I think it's helpful to consider that anyone using the term "woke" to describe something in other than an ironic manner in the Year of Our Lord 2023 is likely not coming from a place of good faith.

[Kraken]

The review that turned me off said it suffers from two big flaws. First, excessive wokeness. The reviewer said "I watch to be entertained, not included."

“Not included”? What’s wrong with seeing other races represented in entertainment? I’m fairly certain that review was written by a white hand. I’m at the point now where if I see someone complain about something being “woke” because it changed the race or gender of a character, my knee jerk assumption is that the person is a white male who also writes about the Great Replacement Theory on extremist forums.

This reviewer identified herself as a lesbian who resented the heavy-handed repetition of Velma's sexual orientation. Having not watched the show IDK how valid that is.

[hepcat]

Was her name Kitara Ravache?

[EvilHomer3k]

A lot of what I've read basically boils down to it's not funny, the writing is terrible, it has disdain for the audience, doesn't work with the original show, none of the characters are enjoyable, and the main character is rude, mean, and a terrible person who thinks they're better than everyone else. I've seen several comparisons to Harley Quinn as well (saying it's trying to imitate that show). I think you can chalk some of it up to 'anti-woke' backlash but there are just so many bad audience reviews. Even 2016 Ghostbusters has significantly better audience scores (49% vs 6% at RT and 6.8 vs 1 at IMDB).

[hepcat]

"Not funny" and "Not good" are perfectly valid reviews. I'll avoid.

[malchior]

My wife watched one episode (sorta) and I 1/4 listened. She turned it off 3/4 through and said I'll wait and see if people say it gets better.

[TheMix]

I think it's helpful to consider that anyone using the term "woke" to describe something in other than an ironic manner in the Year of Our Lord 2023 is likely not coming from a place of good faith.

Agreed. That's generally my stance.

[YellowKing]

Curiosity got the better for me and I took one for the team and watched the first two episodes.

I'm sure the creators would love to pin all the hate for the show on racists or an anti-woke agenda, but I think it would be just as hated without diverse casting.

Scooby Doo is a beloved children's TV show with a big fan base of adults who grew up on it. You can't take those characters, completely change them into different personalities, make them swear and talk about sex constantly, and expect everyone to think that's hilarious. Maybe if I was 15 years old I'd think it was hysterical, but I'm not, and that's obviously not the target audience for the show.

The show tries to be progressive and speak out against the anti-woke critics it knew would be coming for it, while simultaneously using dated sex jokes that would have been more at home in the late 90s. And the meta stuff is sooo tiring.

I don't think it's the worst thing in the history of television, it's just eye-rollingly bland and pointless. There's literally no reason for this to be Scooby-Doo - it could have been any non-IP and would have made just as much sense.

Just go watch The Menu instead.

[hepcat]

Scooby Doo is a beloved children's TV show with a big fan base of adults who grew up on it. You can't take those characters, completely change them into different personalities, make them swear and talk about sex constantly, and expect everyone to think that's hilarious. Maybe if I was 15 years old I'd think it was hysterical, but I'm not, and that's obviously not the target audience for the show.

It’s too bad they didn’t have the wit to create a reboot better than the original like Cartoon Network did with Space Ghost Coast to Coast years ago.

….god I loved that show.

[Default]

They should have titled it Mindy Kaling's therapy session.
It's an ugly show. It's tough to watch because it's basically Mindy vomiting her traumas at the audience and expecting people to enjoy it. I don't care about the race swapping, but I don't see the point of the show itself. My guess is Mindy wanted to do an animated show, and figured that no one would watch "Hallucinating Teenage Mindy".

It sure seems like they decided early on to alienate conservative fans, but the whole show is horrible to every character.

[Daehawk]

Doom Patrol is finished.

Titans, Doom Patrol Ending After Current Seasons on HBO Max

[hepcat]

I figured it was going to happen. Shows like Doom Patrol, Legion and other quirky gems that try doing something different are tough sells. I’m always surprised when they last as long as they do.

Titans though? It should have been cancelled after season 1.

[Kraken]

Four seasons is a decent run for such a quirky show. I'm sorry it won't be back but grateful for what we got.

[hepcat]

Ditto. Better to leave while it’s still good instead of lingering until it’s a shadow of itself.

[Blackhawk]

I figured it was going to happen. Shows like Doom Patrol, Legion and other quirky gems that try doing something different are tough sells. I’m always surprised when they last as long as they do.

Also, HBO.

[Daveman]

I just caught up on the first half of Doom Patrol season 4 and agree it's been a good run. I hope it comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Still upset that Raised By Wolves got the axe.

[hepcat]

I figured it was going to happen. Shows like Doom Patrol, Legion and other quirky gems that try doing something different are tough sells. I’m always surprised when they last as long as they do.

Also, HBO.

And Netflix, and FX, and....the list goes on. They're all adverse to airing things like this. I can understand though. At the end of the day, it's a business. And if you're not profitable, you either adapt or die. I hate it. But I understand it.

Still upset that Raised By Wolves got the axe.

Sometimes I just drop a ton of friggin' acid to simulate what a third season would have been like.

[Daehawk]

Better than Fox