The last time I tried watching a post-Stabler episode I didn't even recognize it as a Law & Order spinoff anymore. It's just a super generic women's crime drama (heavy emphasis on the drama) with a few remaining familiar faces and names. Like, the crime aspect was barely even there, mostly it was in the precinct and about that blonde woman's personal life.
I put a lot of the blame for the craptastic post-Stabler status of the show on that dipshit Warren Leight. He fucked up the formula of the show by adding too much emphasis on their personal lives and for turning the guy from Cold Case into another Stabler instead of trying to make him his own character. He's also responsible for running Criminal Intent into the ground with similar storylines (like why should I give a shit about Goren's manipulative, mentally ill mother or druggie brother or him suddenly bring attracted to Eames? Wasn't he supposed to be this brilliant detective that can read people?)
Also, we now have fans who think SVU was the first L&O series or who think it's the only one worth watching (that's their opinion, but real talk, you think a show about raped, molested and murdered women and children is the only "quality" show in the franchise??)
I would just like to say the The Magicians is the most blatant example I've seen of a show going from dope to woke to nope in very little time. The early episodes were fun, like an edgy Harry Potter written by a neurotic, chain-smoking ghostwriter but holy crap do they ramp up the degeneracy quota later on and the main character is such a spineless pussy, it's enraging. The only reason I ever watched it is tits and they even managed to ruin that.
Also, WHY THE FUCK IS NCIS STILL ON? Even Supernatural realized it was time to bow out, even if they shat the bed while doing so, but NCIS keeps shitting the bed over and over with no end in sight.
The outright abortion subplot really pissed me off. Early on, Roslin convinced Adama that humanity "needed to start having babies," which he reminds her of in that episode. Then she goes on about how she was pro-choice and thought that she was smart to write an executive order prohibiting abortion after it took place. When the real Solomon choice would have been to put the baby up for forced adoption. It's not like the mother wanted her child.
I give a pass towards women in combat, as Kurdish women proved. They only had about 45,000 people left, so finding qualified people in general is pretty tough. In general though, they should have more a Gears of War society where noncombatant women HAVE to give birth ASAP. I don't mean Cylon half-breeds either like the show stresses. Giving Cylons motivation for doing things is what makes the show not make sense, especially when they're on the planet. It doesn't cost Cylons that much to have a base star or a droid control ship in orbit, but they have to be unprepared so that the plot of that season can happen. It also doesn't help that by season 3, characters in the show can tell the difference between human and infiltrators on sight, which negates the point of having infiltrators.
The shitshow that followed in the fandom following that abortion episode was hilarious though. It was probably the earliest example I've ever seen of progressive thought having a meltdown when confronted with a less than ideal hypothetical situation. Women in combat was still stupid though, as even in modern, relatively safe life, nobody really uses them on the front lines (that includes Kurdish propaganda - you think those "pretty women with guns" photos were actually real shit? It was basically copying IDF photo ops techniques). I don't care how little your population is, even the biggest soiboi numale would get showed out onto the frontline before the most combat capable woman in such a dire situation.
As for Cylons, wasn't it a plot point or something at the very beginning of the show that they started glowing or some shit when having "sex"? All I remember is thinking that it was supremely stupid that Cylon infiltrators weren't getting busted by the assload when they had so many easy giveaways on how to detect one, so it might've been something even stupider.
I guess the point is that Battlestar Galactica was a dumb show from the beginning and everything from episode one onward was slapping a bandaid on a festering wound.
The last time I tried watching a post-Stabler episode I didn't even recognize it as a Law & Order spinoff anymore. It's just a super generic women's crime drama (heavy emphasis on the drama) with a few remaining familiar faces and names. Like, the crime aspect was barely even there, mostly it was in the precinct and about that blonde woman's personal life.
I stopped watching House because it wasn't a plot of the week structure, it was all the drama and personal lives of the doctors. I am so autistic about my TV needing a plot of the week structure and not overarching boring plotlines.
Post-Stabler SVU is like House but with cops. I give no fucks about the blonde lady's gambling problem or junkie sister, she's a mess and shouldn't have been hired. And Amaro's way too pretty. And I also don't give a fuck about Olivia adopting some baby.
The shitshow that followed in the fandom following that abortion episode was hilarious though. It was probably the earliest example I've ever seen of progressive thought having a meltdown when confronted with a less than ideal hypothetical situation. Women in combat was still stupid though, as even in modern, relatively safe life, nobody really uses them on the front lines (that includes Kurdish propaganda - you think those "pretty women with guns" photos were actually real shit? It was basically copying IDF photo ops techniques). I don't care how little your population is, even the biggest soiboi numale would get showed out onto the frontline before the most combat capable woman in such a dire situation.
As for Cylons, wasn't it a plot point or something at the very beginning of the show that they started glowing or some shit when having "sex"? All I remember is thinking that it was supremely stupid that Cylon infiltrators weren't getting busted by the assload when they had so many easy giveaways on how to detect one, so it might've been something even stupider.
I guess the point is that Battlestar Galactica was a dumb show from the beginning and everything from episode one onward was slapping a bandaid on a festering wound.
Finally up to season 4 of BS:G remake. I might have forgot to mention that I didn't see it when it first aired and watch it with my Dad when I come to visit. It's better than season 3 simply by virtue of using familiar sets, but it's pretty bad on a structural level. To address it, I have to pretend like I'm covering historical events to show causality of a TV show, so go ahead and cringe all you want. My spergery is fresh in my mind.
I'll start with the coup as I suspect the episodes got shuffled out of order.
The coup was exciting because it was the climax of a season's worth of bad leadership, both civilian and military. Roslin's administration was suffering from unresolved labor disputes caused mostly by her blasé attitude towards it... until Tyrol went on strike and forced her to give him a token position to deescalate that episode's conflict. Given how this show is, those problems are unresolved before and after the coup. Adama also fucked up bigly by authorizing the Demetrius mission and assigning Starbuck to be the captain after she pointed a gun at the President. Unlike the Arrow of Apollo in season 2 where Adama had no reason to think Starbuck would act egregiously out of line, he absolutely did have reason to not trust her at this point, much less assign a ship+vipers+raptor and about half of his senior crew. Despite her inability to command, Starbuck won due to plot fiat* and Gaeta lost his leg in the process. Meanwhile, Zarek got snubbed because he's not Roslin and irreparably damaged the relationship between the military and the civilians in the process. The official casus belli was Adama forcing integration of Cylon technology onto every ship in the name of improving their gas mileage, which led to Zarek and Gaeta to start the coup attempt by ordering the tanker ship to flee and finally led a general mutiny that ended with Zarek, Gaeta, and the Quorum dead. All the leaps of faith taken to get to Cylon Earth led to massive demoralization and a serious crisis of faith that also contributed to the coup.
Okay, now to actually examine what went wrong with the plot itself and how it could have been made better without rewriting these episodes due to the writers' strike. The coup functions as the climax of this season and the falling action is to serve to tie up loose ends. The key problem is that there's still six episodes left and those episodes need to have a plot. Except those episodes now are part of the falling action of the entire season and thus, have low energy. The Oath and Blood on the Scales needed to be moved to just before Daybreak with Starbuck's piano scenes in between those episodes to connect the finale and serve as the last, real vision of Earth. As I pointed out in the spoiler section, integrating Cylon tech was the cause of the coup and it would logically follow that the Cylon resin fucking up would serve as more evidence that Cylon tech can't be trusted.
Instead of Anders awkwardly delivering exposition in Galactica's sickbay, cut those scenes and immediately transfer him into a Hybrid bed on the Rebel Baseship. Also, don't even mention the change between the old Quorum and the Ship Captain's council. As far as the audience is concerned, they're the same group of civilians complaining about how the military is handling affairs. They can still get gunned down, but replacing them doesn't really help the story all that much.
I don't remember Cylons glowing when they fuck. It's more like after living on the planet, they can tell who the Cylons are after being their conquerors for about a year. I do like the show and I do think it's the pinnacle of Gen X storytelling, flaws and all. After all, it did the binge-watching, long story arc years before Breaking Bad. It's just that the Gen X sensibilities often contradict the Old Testament references. While faith was real for the Jews despite them straying away, BS:G makes it clear that getting to Earth is a false hope from the beginning. Unfortunately, the lies don't become the truth later on like in season 2 and by season 4, Roslin burns her bible and everyone gets a crisis of faith that they can't dig themselves out of. They got to Cylon Earth and it sucks. Instead of trying to make the most of this planet, they have to get more awkward exposition and visions when these characters no longer believe in anything. Nothing can be real, dreams don't come true, and nihilism is the only philosophy that makes sense. Except the story has to end with them getting to the Promised Land regardless of how burned out they are.
*She does not qualify for Mary Sue status due to people criticizing her to the point of committing mutiny.
Finished Invincible and it's very good however I am flummoxed that people apparently found Omni-man being evil to be a surprising twist. Maybe I am jaded and I knew that Masculine Patriarch Man had a good chance of being villainous but I can only assume that nerds didn't realize his wiping out an entire planet was not a good thing, but the coolness of it flattered their power fantasies I suppose. Moreover Omni-man was so overpowered he simply had to be the villain by the end. Otherwise there's no tension.
I guess nerds are either very credulous or very disturbed individuals.
Star Trek as a franchise is autistic, retarded, and shitty scifi. It's fucking terrible. It's not deep, insightful, or even entertaining, it's been creatively bankrupt from the beginning and it's the pinnacle of bad writing. The only things worse than the media itself are the autistic fanbase and psycho cast.
Finished Invincible and it's very good however I am flummoxed that people apparently found Omni-man being evil to be a surprising twist. Maybe I am jaded and I knew that Masculine Patriarch Man had a good chance of being villainous but I can only assume that nerds didn't realize his wiping out an entire planet was not a good thing, but the coolness of it flattered their power fantasies I suppose. Moreover Omni-man was so overpowered he simply had to be the villain by the end. Otherwise there's no tension.
I guess nerds are either very credulous or very disturbed individuals.
A lot of talk shows are shit, especially "The Tyra Banks Show"
"America's Next Top Model" jumped the shark with the last two seasons where men competed with women with a girl with vitiligo claiming to be with a male contestant for clout before getting eliminated, another girl from North Carolina literally and openly cucking her black boyfriend with a black male model before finally literally getting gunned down.
A lot of talk shows are shit, especially "The Tyra Banks Show"
"America's Next Top Model" jumped the shark with the last two seasons where men competed with women with a girl with vitiligo claiming to be with a male contestant for clout before getting eliminated, another girl from North Carolina literally and openly cucking her black boyfriend with a black male model before finally literally getting gunned down.
ANTM is really fucking awful when you get a proper photographer's perspective on it. I completely took for granted that it really reflected the modeling world and didn't realize how degrading, humiliating, purposely provocative, inappropriate, and overall slimey the whole thing was. Of course I watched it when I was like ten or eleven, but still.
ANTM is really fucking awful when you get a proper photographer's perspective on it. I completely took for granted that it really reflected the modeling world and didn't realize how degrading, humiliating, purposely provocative, inappropriate, and overall slimey the whole thing was. Of course I watched it when I was like ten or eleven, but still.
In one episode as a tribute to Whitney Houston, models had to pose twice as her and Bobby Brown
Scared of heights? Fuck you, better pose!!
And in a fake commercial one model literally bit into a lemon and still lost the challenge
And in the Guys vs Girls challenge while gay black male models screeched at each other, a white deaf model stated "Good thing I can't hear their arguing 'cuz I'm deaf lol" He won the season. and was in Dancing with the Stars next year
I never saw Fringe, but you've reminded me of my own unpopular TV opinion that echoes your post: The X-Files's core mythology became a confusing mess relatively early in the show's run, and that stuff got worse the longer the show ran. In contrast, the monster-of-the-week episodes were usually great and, I believe, really defined the show as a classic for most viewers.
I know this is a old comment. But I always thought it was odd about X-files was that fact that some episodes were supernatural and others including the over arching plot of the show were sci-fi.
I know this is a old comment. But I always thought it was odd about X-files was that fact that some episodes were supernatural and others including the over arching plot of the show were sci-fi.
That's something I loved about it even if it doesn't make much sense.
A lot about The X-Files doesn't make sense because it's a situation drama (that's probably a real term I didn't just make up) where each episode is (more or less) a reset of the situation, just like a sitcom. Why is Scully always so skeptical after having countless encounters with the paranormal? Why is Mulder not endlessly frustrated with her about this? Because it's a situation drama. The situation is the setup necessary for the show to happen (two FBI agents investigate strange happenings; one is a believer and the other is a skeptic), so the audience just accepts it.
And the supernatural stuff usually had at least a half-hearted attempt at explaining it in a rational way by Scully, so I appreciated that too.
That's something I loved about it even if it doesn't make much sense.
A lot about The X-Files doesn't make sense because it's a situation drama (that's probably a real term I didn't just make up) where each episode is (more or less) a reset of the situation, just like a sitcom. Why is Scully always so skeptical after having countless encounters with the paranormal? Why is Mulder not endlessly frustrated with her about this? Because it's a situation drama. The situation is the setup necessary for the show to happen (two FBI agents investigate strange happenings; one is a believer and the other is a skeptic), so the audience just accepts it.
And the supernatural stuff usually had at least a half-hearted attempt at explaining it in a rational way by Scully, so I appreciated that too.
I can't remmber. Exactly but wasn't there a episode will they had to deal with a demon.
But I get what you mean. The shows whole purpose was how strange things happen to our characters each episode. Rather they made since with The over arching story or not really didn't matter each episode.
Me neither. I can almost see why they'd expect that because fiction nowadays is obsessed with tricking the audience so they couldn't take his slaughter of the Not Justice League at face value but after a certain point they were wishing for bad writing because he does too many indefensible and grotesquely brutal things as the series goes on.
I am gonna make a prediction though. Omni Man will be powerful even by Viltrumite standards, that way he can still stand out from his kin because he's so popular they can't let him fade into the periphery.
