NOS4A2

[Prepuce of Doom 21112]

New show premiering on AMC tonight based on a book by Stephen King's son. Looks like a creepier version of a Tim Burton movie based on the previews. 

Mike Patton of Faith No More was supposed to score the whole show but just ended up doing the theme song instead. 

Might be good, might be terrible, but figured that a heads-up might be appreciated. 

[CurlyDumps 4504]

I watched.  Seems interesting. Didn't know King's son was a writer, but it makes a lot of sense.  I very much got an "IT" dark fairy tale /parable kinda vibe from it.

[Prepuce of Doom 21112]

Agreed. A little ham-handed here and there (which is to be expected when laying the groundwork in a show like this), but nothing to criticize. It definitely has potential. 

The worst part about it was the prevalence of Chris Hardwick and his fucking breathless emotive bullshit about the upcoming episode of Talking Dead during each commercial break. I fucking hate that guy. 

[Delta Charlie 150]

 The novel is pretty good, so I'm hoping this show will match it.  I liked episode 1, so I'm going to stick with it. Zach Quinto is a good choice for Manx.  In the novel, Manx was just a downright terrifying figure.  I think Quinto can do the character justice.

[Prepuce of Doom 21112]

We just made it through. 

Acting was distractingly bad, plot holes and "why don't they just do a/b/c obvious superior alternative instead?" frustrations throughout, and multiple unlikable characters really worked against it. 

It had its moments, and it certainly had potential, which I think is part of why I'm as annoyed as I am about it. It could have been a lot tighter, sensible, and streamlined with a bit of editing and care. 

It filled the summer void, but I won't commit to watching Season Two until I know what else I have to watch at the time. 

Meh. 

[Ricky Butler 2735]

13 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

We just made it through. 

Acting was distractingly bad, plot holes and "why don't they just do a/b/c obvious superior alternative instead?" frustrations throughout, and multiple unlikable characters really worked against it. 

It had its moments, and it certainly had potential, which I think is part of why I'm as annoyed as I am about it. It could have been a lot tighter, sensible, and streamlined with a bit of editing and care. 

It filled the summer void, but I won't commit to watching Season Two until I know what else I have to watch at the time. 

Meh. 

Did you like the pilot?

[Jerry Callo 8781]

I stopped with 4-5 episodes to go.  Just not that interesting and the acting was terrible.

[Prepuce of Doom 21112]

1 hour ago, Ricky Butler said:

Did you like the pilot?

It didn't blow me away, but I overlooked its clumsiness and liked it well enough to stick with it, which was my general attitude through the first 6ish episodes. Around #7 (of 10) I found myself annoyed more than entertained, and #8 was the bottom of the barrel. If the pilot (or any episode before the halfway point) had been that bad, I wouldn't have stuck with it. 

I'm not angry that I watched it, nor do I necessarily feel like it was a waste of time, but as I mentioned earlier, my greatest annoyance is due to the sense of "close, but no cigar"-ness of it all. 

I wouldn't necessarily definitely recommend against watching it, but I would make sure to temper any expectations before recommending it (and "recommending" is too strong of a word - maybe passively not objecting?) I absolutely wouldn't argue with anyone who quit watching it, however. 

I can't say for sure whether I would watch it if I knew then what I know now. 

I spent a fair amount of time having internal debates with myself over which actor was the worst, and trying to determine which character was the most flimsily transparent trope. 

It's a bit too on the nose to say, but it was a lot like an early Stephen King story that still needed a few rounds of revision, and which was turned into an underwhelming made-for-TV movie. But that's about how I see it. 

Still, I hope that as disappointing as all this was (and while I haven't sought out any other reviews, I would be astonished if they were this kind...) I hope it doesn't prevent Joe Hill from getting back on the horse and giving it another shot. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Prepuce of Doom

[Prepuce of Doom 21112]

I just read a couple of reviews by people who had also read the book (I haven't) and I was surprised by two things - that we've only apparently covered about the first third of the book, and by how excited the two writers were about what awaits us in Season Two. 

I may be more likely to stick with it, knowing that this was all just setting the table and it apparently really cranks up in the remainder of the story. I had no idea that there was to be a second season until seeing "season finale" (and not "series finale" as I had assumed) on the little graphic in the corner, which I'm sure also contributed to my dwindling patience. 

[Halohal 506]

Finished S2 (S1 > S2). I give the series a thumbs down, overall.