After a brief hiatus, we're back with another edition of TV.com Commenter Shout-Outs, where you—the few, the proud, the TV.com readership—get your voices heard. Did you make the cut this week? Read on and see!
The premiere of TNT's new alien-invasion series Falling Skies drew mixed reactions from some of you, but one response in particular caught our attention.
MiraTell was enthused about the show's possibilities, but it's an explanation of why he or she refuses to watch Game of Thrones that we really found amusing:
I really liked it. I'm not a huge sci-fi fan (unless it's one of Joss' shows), but I really liked the characters. The relationship between father and son was free of the general whiny teen/trying to hard-parent thing that seems to plague most shows. I'm sure Game of Thrones is a much better show, but I can't watch that because I get too invested in characters and GoT treats the ones I like horribly. I'm trusting Mr. Spielberg not to do the same.
Well, we suppose she has a point, but we can't help ourselves. We love Game of Thrones too darn much to stop watching. We were there for the first season finale—and so were you! It seems like many of you plan to spend the summer reading season with a copy of the George R.R. Martin's novels in hand.
But if you haven't started consuming the Game of Thrones universe in either TV or book form, here's a suggestion from knoffihoffi:
I just advised a friend of mine this, which is the best way I can think of to fully enjoy Game of Thrones: Watch one episode. After each episode, start reading the book until that episode's end. Then watch another episode and read on after watching. With this approach you will have the wonderful pictures and actors in your head and get the little details and backgrounds, which may not have found their way into the TV.
As for the other, buzzed-about finale this week, The Killing's elicited fewer "huzzahs!" and more "hell no's!"
Disappointed viewer 4Narow longs for the day of another, strung-out murder mystery set in the Pacific Northwest—albeit with decidedly weirder elements. Can you tell which show he's referring to?
I agree with the sentiment. I was frustrated when the Bennett angle turned into a dead end. If they had stopped the season then, I would have happily come back for Season 2 to find out who the "real" killer was. Nothing wrong with red herrings and leads that don't pan out, but they wasted half their season on this particular wrong turn... not to mention dropping hints about the main characters' pasts only to follow up several episodes later, after the hints were long forgotten, so that the character-building almost doesn't make sense. At this point, I don't care if Holder is dirty or if Aunt Terri is a hooker. Sorry, but "I won't be tuning in" for Season 2. I'd rather go back in time and watch Ray Wise's hair turn white overnight, and dream about a dwarf dancing in front of red curtains... Ah, those were the days!
tselliot suspects that even the writers don't know whodunit:
With the exception of it being loosely based on the Danish version, you do get the feeling they are making this up as they go along. Given that, I'm not even sure the producer knows who killed Rosie Larsen. Will be interesting to see how many people actually tune into find out next year. On a side note, one thing this show has been very successful at, at least for me, is making me miss The 4400. I'll tune in next year just on the off chance that Bill Campbell's character turns out to use some sort of telekinesis.
But not all of you hated the finale! We'll let Mar-Q speak for them all:
Seriously?!! It was a fantastic finale! How can you be pissed that they didn't reveal who killed Rosie? You knew there was going to be a second season! Did you really expect them to reveal her killer? What would they do for Season 2 then? There would be no suspense! You wanted a nice satisfying conclusion? What, like Richmond really did do it? How the hell would that satisfy viewers? That would be lame, boring, and pathetically obvious! It is the twists that keep the viewers interested. I would prefer a long, drawn-out series (multiple seasons) with many twists as opposed a short one season, flat/boring/obvious, cleanly concluded series any day! Sure, I hate the wait between seasons, but the majority of the time it is worth it, as I'm sure it will be here. It's what keeps people interested, keeps them coming back. It's good tv.
Amen to that. Hey, come to think of it, we were about to publish the VERY BEST comment of the week—but we'll leave that one for the next installment of Commenter Shout-Outs. You know, to keep you interested, keep you coming back. Until then, keep watching, and keep talking.
I agree about Game of Thrones; I'm the kind of person who can't watch an ep of "Touched by an Angel" without being reduced to tears and snot, and can end up in tears from a TV commercial - no way I'd survive even ONE episode of GoT!
I want happy-crappy violence, as drama-free as possible. Still worried about Falling Skies, but giving it a chance because I love the subject. Walking Dead got too much for me. :/
Watching the killing was like watching a movie thats over 100hr long and goes nowhere. Complete waste of time. Will not watch next year.
My love for the Killing stems from the fact I missed episodes 5-7. You know, the pointless ones.(Except for the scene where the camera pans to the White Board and it says "KILLER" in red marker. Brilliant.)
I thought The Killing got better as it went on, with the exception of one pointless episode in the middle. One of the central themes seems to be that people sometimes do bad things with good intentions. There have been very few truly "bad" people in The Killing - one of the things I like. If you believed the Bennett angle, I don't know that a mystery show is appropriate for you. I was also skeptical about Game of Thrones at first, but it has really blossomed into a great show as well.
I think The Killing just didn't have enough going for it to justify not revealing the killer. If these twists were supposed to get me interested in Season 2, then they failed. All they accomplished was making me realize how little I care about these characters and mysteries (including the killer of Rosie Larson).
The Killing. No disappointment here. It was a great first season and I'm looking forward to watching next year.Falling Skies. Not great but pretty good. Some holes but I want to give it time to find its footing.
"I was frustrated when the Bennett angle turned into a dead end. If they had stopped the season then, I would have happily come back for Season 2 to find out who the "real" killer was. Nothing wrong with red herrings and leads that don't pan out, but they wasted half their season on this particular wrong turn..." Maybe I misinterpreted it, but this doesn't make much sense to me. You criticize and complain that they "wasted half their season on this particular wrong turn" but you'd have been happy if they wasted the whole season on one wrong turn? I really don't get that.
Everything I was going to say, jaysturt already said, so let me paste his response:game of thrones was great all the way through, the killing was good at first and got progressively worse and worse, and falling skies was completely boring and so unimaginative.
Twin Peaks?
love game of thrones, and falling skies looks great too
I liked the finale of The Killing. Really think people are making way too much of a fuss over it. The Holder turn was surprising, but not as amazingly out of character as people suggest. Just because a show tells you something about a character, that doesn't make it true. Just because you can't sort the truths from the lies doesn't make it bad writing. They didn't just do this for shock value, there are reasons. People just need to be patient and stop dissecting perfectly good tv just because it isn't as amazing as something else.
Agree with jaysturt: Game of Thrones was amazing all the way through, and the finale with the dragons was particularly poignant (I'm happy the show's not spoiled with CG fantasy elements, but it's good it's fitting a little more into the genre). I can't say precisely why, but I got tired of the killing about half way through. It was BAD by any means (the beat the Ahmed Bennet angle a bit too much, but still), but I think they could have shortened the season by three or four episodes to keep people more interested. I'm torn on Falling Skies; it is merely the pilot, so I agree there is potential, but there were a lot of wholes (how do these superior aliens not see a mass group of people walking down the street -- slowly -- in broad daylight? I thought perhaps they are nocturnal, but in the scene when they climb the hill you can still see ships flying to and fro from the 'command center' in the background), and I'm not sure they can pull it off for more than one season, if that. On the one hand, along with having a bit of potential it fills the Sci-Fi void after a few failed shows and is one of the only shows running through summer. On the other hand that may be the ONLY reason why some tune in, and Noah Wyles is just too hammy in the role.moreless
game of thrones was great all the way through, the killing was good at first and got progressively worse and worse, and falling skies was completely boring and so unimaginative.