The Official Good Television Thread

[WorldObliteration33]

Never made it past the fifth season. Michael C. Hall's performance is great but I couldn't stand the supporting cast for the most part. Debra in particular is an insufferable character imo. Did have its good points ignoring that stuff though so maybe I'll return to it one day...

 

[CiG]

Yeah. From memory the first series covered 2 or maybe 3 books and Jeff Lindsay hadn't written any more than that when they got the go ahead to make S2 so they used their own writers.

Yeah the instant drop in quality is still whiplash-inducing. Season 1 is so great.

 

[Slammed]

Never made it past the fifth season. Michael C. Hall's performance is great but I couldn't stand the supporting cast for the most part. Debra in particular is an insufferable character imo. Did have its good points ignoring that stuff though so maybe I'll return to it one day...

I didn't mind Deb, awkward and off beat but kind of fitted with the brother sister act quite well.
The little Asian guy who worked in Dexter's office was just fucking strange. Dukes (I think it was, the cop who ended up dying) he was a good psycho but a bit over the top. And I don't think the female boss fitted. But Dexter's wife did pretty good, Bartista was good in his role. And what we saw of Harry was how Haryy should be.

Yeah the instant drop in quality is still whiplash-inducing. Season 1 is so great.

In the books towards the end the kids play a much bigger role. Not like the kid when he turned up in the last series, but his kids as they grew and it really added depth to Dexter which I don't think the TV series found. They certainly didn't get it when his kid turned up in the snow.

 

[CiG]

I actually think the entire supporting cast is fine, and as the show goes on it's their side plots that become better written compared to Dexter's main plot.

As much as I like Hall as Dexter I actually think he's ultimately the weakest performance because the subpar writing hurts his character the most. He quickly becomes a parody of himself and his ruse strains credulity.

Like you say, the kids probably should've been more involved in the show. I'm on season 7 now and it's already more interesting than 5 and 6.

 

[Slammed]

As much as I like Hall as Dexter I actually think he's ultimately the weakest performance because the subpar writing hurts his character the most. He quickly becomes a parody of himself and his ruse strains credulity.

Yeah I agree. I think he started out well but the writers struggled to replicate what Lindsay created. The struggle between Deb and Dex wasn't bad towards the end, but his character as a whole was loosing touch before that happened.

New Blood Dexter just wasn't Dexter and I don't really have much interest in following the son as they claimed in coming in the future. However I think I might give Resurrection a go if it's made as Hall suggested it would be a few months ago.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I clearly like the series more than most of you, though the way the writers have treated the fans make me wish I didn't. It's so compulsively watchable because they usually nail the procedural stuff (at least if you don't think too hard about it, which I don't), it's always a thrill watching Dex at work & finding ways to juggle his professional life with his serial killer hobby. Yeah the supporting cast is abysmal, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of seasons 1-4, even on rewatch. 5-8 are various levels of bad, whereas New Blood was a mixed bag; the setting was cool and Clancy Brown's villain was amazing, but the ending was a disaster.

Don't really care about this prequel thing but I guess I'll check out Resurrection when it comes out, hoping against hope that they finally manage to make another halfway decent season of this fucking show. And please, for the love of god,

Spoiler

Let Batista confront Dexter this time!

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Almost done with my rewatch of Hannibal.

It's incomprehensible to me that this show got cancelled. The writing, production value and cinematography are just incredible. Only thing I can think of is that the third season was too avant-garde compared to its more procedural beginnings for a wider audience.

I never actually saw the third season back then so it's all new to me, outside of the first couple episodes. The last 5 eps are dedicated to the Francis Dolarhyde storyline and they knocked it out the park. The visuals are fucking insane.

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I wish more horror television were on its level. I plan on checking out Bates Motel at some point, but I don't really know too many others

Alright cig you've convinced to check this out. Big fan of all the hannibal related movies, in particular manhunter. So with your high praise I'm going to check it out

 

[CiG]

Yeah the supporting cast is abysmal

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I mean, one of the things that's so frustrating about the later seasons of the series is that after s02 they spend six seasons completely failing to establish any kind of foil for Dexter. They finally introduce a competent detective that could actually threaten Dexter in s06 only to cut him from the show before he gets to do anything.

 

[Slammed]

Not that it's an excuse for poor writing but I remember reading somewhere that they dragged it out hoping Lindsay would finish the books and they could use his ending, or follow it to some degree. But as Lindsay had refused to work at their pace from the end of the first season he had no intention of finishing his series before them.

 

[CiG]

You're talking about Mike right? That was definitely some lame premature shit. I appreciated the randomness of that death after Dexter's writing had become all too convenient, but they wasted Mike's potential badly.

They were flirting with Joey Quinn as the foil for awhile there but they kinda just lazily gave that idea up.

 

[Slammed]

At first I liked Jimmy Smits chracter and thought he might go a bit further with Dexter but I don't remember what happened to him.

The other one that didn't do too bad was John Lithgow.

 

[CiG]

 

[CiG]

At first I liked Jimmy Smits chracter and thought he might go a bit further with Dexter but I don't remember what happened to him.

The other one that didn't do too bad was John Lithgow.

Smits' character Miguel Prado gets Dexter'd lol.

Lithgow fucking rules as the Trinity Killer. Some of the most perfectly placed uses of "cunt" ever in TV! That season is so solid because of him.

Season 7 is a lot better than 5 and 6 so far, Ray Stevenson as the main antagonist Isaak Sirko was a good choice.



Rest in peace to Big Ray.

 

[Slammed]

There was some talk awhile ago about doing a spin off with the Trinity killer but I'm not sure where it got too.

 

[CiG]

I'm not usually crazy about blondes but Yvonne Strahovski is a babe.



Season 7 is definitely the best since season 4 imo. Probably because there's a lot of tensions going on all over the story. Deb's moral conundrum, María LaGuerta's secret investigation to clear Doakes' name, Quinn trying to save a sex worker from the Ukrainian mafia, Big Gay Ray collaborating with Dexter, The Phantom Arsonist killer giving us some grizzly crime sets, the roidraging Minotaur Slayer who builds mazes for his victims. Big improvement for me, feels a lot less autopilot-y.

 

[Slammed]

I first saw her in Chuck, which was a bit of a silly show. But I watched her in a show called Stateless a few weeks back. She did a good job in that too, I think it was her first role back here on Aussie soil for about 10 years.

 

[CiG]

I know she's a mainstay in The Handmaiden's Tale but I've never started that show.

 

[Slammed]

She could be my hand maiden!
She's the lead in Stateless where she ends up in a Detention centre and plays both the upper society Sydney chick and the beaten down victim of a fucked up system. It's inspired by true events but not specifically based on any one event. However it shows how fucked up some of our detention centres are.