Topic: What's your favourite TV program of the moment?

[6pairsofshoes]

Chernobyl is like a horror movie, only it's real.  That's what makes it all the more compelling.  I can remember being in Europe the year after it happened and there was still widespread anxiety about eating plants and the effects of the fallout in Germany, Hungary and Greece.  Totally creepy.

[8ullfrog]

Russia intends to make a counter series and blame everything on American spies.

[6pairsofshoes]

It's obvious that this is a vast melodrama and that several characters are just made up to satisfy Hollywood's idea of what will sell to the American public.  I think it says more about the US government at this time than the Soviets in the 1980's.  There's plenty of lying and obfuscation to go around here and while there may have been a pressing need to minimize the terrible situations surrounding/following this accident, it's believable that there would be an attempt to avoid widespread panic and to maintain calm and order while things got sorted out.  It makes me think more of the Trump administration than the Stalinist USSR that the producers of this show seem to confuse with Gorbachev's incipient Glasnost period.

[6pairsofshoes]

So I'm watching Preacher and like it pretty well but the whole business of soul extraction is problematic for any number of reasons.  First, the idea that it's corporeal.  That you can take it out and put it in a test tube is basically ridiculous.  It also messes with the Cartesian mind body dualism on which much of Western philosophy is based.  The commodification of souls is a bit of a stretch.  The vampires are pretty funny though.  And I like the general moral ambivalence of most characters.  Hitler expounding his ideology at the fast food counter and the receptive audience is another witty touch.  This sure beats most of what's on network tv.

[8ullfrog]

"Soul Happy Go Go" is Japanese. It is based in Osaka.

Also weird you chose that point to be a stickler on, considering Humperdoo. Maybe you're not up to Humperdoo yet.

Additionally, there are vast conspiracies involved in the show. Soul Extraction would be one of the things they would prefer not being public information, thus, they'd support Carteasian mind body dualism. People who supported opposing viewpoints would be suppressed, brutally. Probably killed.

If Soul extraction were possible, you know the Health industry would get in on that.

Funny enough, the Foreign competition managed to edge out domestic soul business.

Also interesting, HEAVEN is running a con game, as shown in the S1 finale.

I feel like, without the baggage, or nowadays, even WITH the baggage, Hitler would likely find it fairly easy to build or supplant a movement. He's also learned quite a bit in hell. Eugene really bent up.

[6pairsofshoes]

I just finished Season 3.

The cloned humperdoos were odd and comical (I liked the tap dancing part) but did not make a great deal of sense in that it's hard to imagine that the church could keep control over the bloodline of Christ for over 2000 years.  Nor is there any evidence that Christ had sex.  But even if he had, his son would have had to have had sex with someone else and his son, likewise, and so on, so that there would be a significant watering down of the initial genetic information, right?  Like your ancestor from 2000 years ago would not be expected to share huge similarities with you, would he/she?

As for the Church or its affiliates running a con game, well the minute the Roman imperium got involved with the church (Constantine's mother converted, as did many high placed women under the Empire, and he converted on his death bed), eventually adopting it as the state religion (a real departure from the multiple faiths that were practiced without interference so long as they paid taxes) the potential for corruption on all levels was there.  The big father who explodes near the end of season 3 is an incarnation of sloth, gluttony, greed, anger, pride, envy, nearly all of the 7 deadly sins (lust appears to have been missing).  I apologize for the long parenthetical inserts but I'm lazy today.

What is sort of comical is that everyone seems to be running a scam:  vampires (Les enfants du sang), granma (Angelville), and the church/private corporation combo behind the Grail.  You get a guy who has something genuinely supernatural and it is not isolated goodness, but a divine reflection of all those earthly bodies that are purportedly there as beneficial agencies but actually busy either stealing worldly goods or worse from the marks who subscribe to them.  Where this all leaves our preacher remains to be seen.

I kind of don't get the whole "I borrowed my satan suit from the wardrobe of the Stephen King "The Stand" miniseries strain though.  Satan makes deals to drag the living into hell because God is on the lam?  and why is God in a dog suit, unless he's decided to reverse the spelling of his name and thinks it would be cute?  And why is he focused on Tulip?  The anus faced guy is just annoying.  Hitler is funny, but where they are going with that is beyond me.

[8ullfrog]

God is afraid of Jesse Custer. Hence, Dog suit. Also why he's contacting Tulip. Tulip is close to Jesse. Also for that callback mindfuck, but that's spoilertown. I did make a thread for that.

Humperdoo is retarded because he's super inbred. Presumably, keeping the line of Christ a secret would lead to a shallow pool of potential suitors.

Grail MAY have been a church organization, Starr just likes power. Allfather is disgusting.

The two angels, Fiore and DeBlanc, intended to use the Saint of Killers to kill Jesse. His guns can kill ANYTHING.

Satan specifically sent the Saint out like a bounty hunter to get {the hell escapees}. Then he got Ambitious.

As to the church, they are puppets of Grail, as shown when Jesse met with the Pope and Archbishop. The Archbishop seemed to have his poo marginally together, but the Pope was a bless'ed moron.

This was ALSO a power flex by Starr to show Jesse how powerful he is, but Jesse is too self absorbed or stupid to even get that.

[6pairsofshoes]

One basic problem with the show is the idea of an angel/demon hybrid.  These are heavenly beings without gender or sex.  They are messengers, intermediaries, between heaven and earth.  Of course that doesn't prevent TV writers from exploring the folklore.  The Catholic Encyclopedia has some rich articles that go into the background of these concepts.  Here's a couple of links.  Basically, there is no distinction between angels and devils.  They're the same thing.  One has forsaken divine grace and so has "fallen" from it.  There's no indication that there is a "super fallen angel" big bad devil like Satan, lord of darkness or that kind of thing.  You wouldn't know it from television, though.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04764a.htm for Devil.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm for angels.

And how could someone all knowing, all powerful who exists beyond time in eternity be afraid of anything?  Jesse or anyone else for that matter?  And I don't care how powerful the men in white are, they are pitiful flawed mortal human beings.  There's no reason for God to be afraid of them.  Tulip is not.  The actress who plays her is Ethiopian and Irish.  Good casting, that.  She used to be involved with Dominic Cooper in real life but they broke up a few years ago.  I know less about the vampire guy.  So it occurs to me that I've now run out of stuff to watch late at night.  Any suggestions?  I'll probably go back to The Handmaid's Tale, but given I can basically watch it any time I pick up the newspaper, it hardly seems necessary.

[8ullfrog]

Remember Fiore and DeBlanc? Pretty much indistinguishable from humans, Fiore and Cass probably boned in that tent.

For all we know, the Satan in Preacher is wearing a costume because it's expected of him. We also don't know if this version of God is omnipotent or omnipresent. If he wasn't, there wasn't exactly anything stopping him from saying he is. Sometimes I really do want them to stop and explain poo, like the Hell Prison structure. I know the Warden is playing fast and loose because that's explicitly shown, but we don't know much about the system behind it.

As to scripture, going to circle around again to the Pope being a puppet for Grail. Entirely possible scripture was written in the way of saying "Stop asking questions!"

I don't think God gives a flying poo about Grail. But he doesn't want Jesse Custer to kick his ass.

[6pairsofshoes]

The show is entertaining and creative, but it would be fun to see a little more engagement with the religious structures that they are referencing.  There's no effort to address Vodun, or the hybrid versions that people associate with its manifestations in the deep south.  The competing spiritual priestesses like Jesse's grandmother and her rival verge on these practices.  But the show is very superficial in the ways it touches on all this.  The vampires are like KMart L'Estat.  That could be much more richly developed.

Maybe they will broaden this in the coming seasons.  At any rate, I like the show and find it pretty fun.  You got any other suggestions?

[8ullfrog]

The therapy episode of Rick & Morty. Most people focus on the A story with Rick turning himself into a Pickle, but the therapist rips apart the characters.

Preacher doesn't really go out of the way to explain anything. Hell, Jesse and Jody had to steal "Transpoil" to resurrect Tulip, but that has NEVER been elaborated on. Jesse tried to cover up Cass being a vampire because TC and Jody seem well versed in executing vampires. Specifically, they hang them by their feet to make them greet the dawn. We know the vampires have fetish sites, but it's entirely possible there aren't secret vampire societies. I kind of got the impression vampires Do Not Like other vampires. Not like fighting dogs, but more like "get the golly away from me, piss soaked hobo".

There aren't coming seasons, they got hit with the "...and final season" by the network. The preemptive kiss of death. At least they are getting a 4th season, but that's it.

[6pairsofshoes]

Well, I'll be content with another season. 

We are getting pretty tired of Billions, which seems to have jumped the shark.  It's pretty ridiculous.  We are putting up with it until it ends this season, but stupid is the path of the future in that show.  It has such talented actors.  So what a shame.

[8ullfrog]

Seemed great for a limited series, but keeping it going would be difficult. I mostly just want to hold actual finance wizards heads in a boiling pot of water, so I passed.

[6pairsofshoes]

It's devolved into some girly soap opera.  People spending more time plotting against one another than actually doing something to make money or to secure a just America (the lawyers).  I constantly want to throw white bread at the tv.  With the good old cathode ray tube tvs that wouldn't have been a problem, but the flat screen won't take it so I just stew instead...

Last night I watched the last two episodes of The Man in the High Castle.  That show is really good and has not declined in quality despite having diverged significantly from the original novel.  That's encouraging.

[6pairsofshoes]

I watched the first couple seasons of Mary Kills People.  They were ok.  The 3rd season is up.  I started watching an episode last night.  The feed cut out in the middle but I felt no real urgency to open another one.  That's too bad.  It's sort of the same old same old with that show.  An interesting idea, but it just sort of grew stale.