Black Mofoin' MIRROR. And other UK shows.

Bakerman on 28/2/2013 at 01:33

Seriously, no love for Being Human? I quite liked last season. This season is a bit rough around some edges, but I reckon the main three are great.

SubJeff on 28/2/2013 at 08:53

I've never seen it. Isn't it another vampire borathon?

faetal on 28/2/2013 at 13:13

I found Being Human to cheap and cheesy, but then I have a very low tolerance for production values / hammy acting (unless of course it is intentional, a la Garth Merenghi's Dark Place).

[EDIT] Just watched S1 E1 of Black Mirror. Genius.

[EDIT] I notice Brooker doesn't write / direct all of them though.

Bakerman on 1/3/2013 at 03:10

Quote Posted by Subjective Effect

I've never seen it. Isn't it another vampire borathon?

Depends on what you mean by that :P. I've not really watched your Buffy or your Vampire Diaries, but this series just seems to have great characters. Can't really compare how innovative they are when it comes to supernatural tropes. And I actually find Being Human can be consistently hilarious when it's trying.

Quote Posted by faetal

but then I have a very low tolerance for production values / hammy acting

Can't say anything about previous series but I reckon these last two have had pretty fantastic acting... though there is a bit of ham going on sometimes. Definitely deliberate in some cases.

Thirith on 1/3/2013 at 07:44

Quote Posted by Bakerman

I found Being Human consistently sub-Buffy stuff. When it's good, it's pretty good, providing laughs, scares and poignancy, but too often it seems to think it's funnier, scarier and more poignant than it really is, plus it keeps retelling the same stories over and over, with minor changes. My main beef is with the writing (they're simply not good enough at managing the balance between comedy and drama all that well, much of the time) and the acting (especially Crichlow, who's usually grating, but also the other two leads either tend towards sameyness or over-the-top comedy). If we hadn't got seasons 1 to 3 as a gift, I don't think we would've watched the whole thing.

Thirith on 2/3/2013 at 15:00

@Subjective Effect: Have you watched the third episode yet, "The Waldo Moment"? What did you think of it?

SubJeff on 2/3/2013 at 16:55

Yeah, I've seen them all.

S2E3 isn't as hard hitting as the second episdoe, not straight away anyway. It's much more subtle but just as horrifying. This whole series is such a downer really, good as they are. Its such a criticism of the human race in general, and it offers no solution only saying "Look, look at this shit. This the world we live in and this is how it goes. Its fucked isn't it? Eat it, eat it all, its all we've got".

I don't know how Brooker sleeps at night.

Thirith on 2/3/2013 at 17:17

I'll have to think about it some more, but it's the episode I like least of all the ones they've done so far, perhaps also because it seemed to have least of a place in the series. (If I'm not mistaken, Brooker used ideas he'd had for another series altogether.) The new tech aspect of it was secondary - which in itself I don't mind, but the character work also wasn't all that great, compared to the other episodes. The one scene I loved unconditionally was the one with the Yank from "the Company", which was both funny and deeply chilling.

faetal on 4/3/2013 at 14:04

Quote Posted by Bakerman

Can't say anything about previous series but I reckon these last two have had pretty fantastic acting... though there is a bit of ham going on sometimes. Definitely deliberate in some cases.

The thing which puts me off of Being Human (and most sitcoms) is the overtly-conscious exposition of the humour. The way the funny lines / moments are delivered is so punctuated against the natural flow of any narrative that you can almost hear the canned laughter, even if it's not there.

[EDIT] Have now watched all of Black Mirror. Astounding, brilliant stuff. Hauntingly close to the knuckle. Brooker has taken satire up a very dark notch. Here's hoping for more.

frozenman on 29/3/2013 at 18:20

Watching through Black Mirror on this threads recommendation, pretty sweet- it very much reminds me of the new series of Outer Limits, except only the technology ones, not the alien ones. And way better production quality, and not filmed in Canada.

Edit: Also, the genre information on this likely shady site I'm streaming from is glorious mis-translated: "Genre: Wildlife Horror/Supernatural Western Puppets"