"Special" is s cute little series! short 15ish eps
btw you're basically a scab if you watch episodes this short on Netflix
(17 mins is a good shape for a sketch show though imo, I can watch I Think You Should Leave while eating and then get on with something.)
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Saturday, 4 May 2019 22:15 (five years ago) link
About 4 eps into "Dead to Me" - the Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini comedy about grief, and it's pretty good so far? Funny and sad and messy and rage-filled in the best way.
― Roz, Sunday, 5 May 2019 08:43 (five years ago) link
wait why are you a scab? sitcoms are only 22 mini haven’t watched SPECIAL because that dude was one of thought. catalog’s worst
― maura, Sunday, 5 May 2019 12:55 (five years ago) link
I thought I would be meh about it, but I really enjoyed Someone Great. I thought I would hate the overly millennial banter but there were some pretty funny one liners.
― Yerac, Sunday, 5 May 2019 20:48 (five years ago) link
5 episodes into Dead to Me and also really enjoying it. It is somehow managing to subvert every emotional direction I think it is going to go in. And Linda Cardellini is just the best.
― alrakis morissette (tangenttangent), Sunday, 5 May 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link
wait why are you a scab? sitcoms are only 22 min
it's another way Netflix rorts writers, along with no residuals and cancelling shows after 3 seasons - pay rates are basically set at "web video" levels, not "tv episode" levels, when they're that short
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Sunday, 5 May 2019 23:12 (five years ago) link
I liked it too. also really good soundtrack, if a little too on the nose at times (Lorde's "Supercut" literally soundtracking a supercut of the main character's relationship was eye-rolly, and I love that song!).
― Roz, Monday, 6 May 2019 01:48 (five years ago) link
I had no idea. Jesus, there is absolutely nothing that can just be enjoyed any more. (Also, if you have some links to some articles about this, I would like to read those. I'm having trouble finding anything other than a list of short shows.
― trishyb, Monday, 6 May 2019 08:48 (five years ago) link
I wish i liked I Think You Should Leave more. I only found maybe 3 or 4 sketches genuinely hilarious across the whole run.
― Simon H., Monday, 6 May 2019 15:06 (five years ago) link
Will Forte on the plane was hilarious.
― DJI, Monday, 6 May 2019 15:13 (five years ago) link
― maura, Monday, 6 May 2019 16:31 (five years ago) link
I had no idea. Jesus, there is absolutely nothing that can just be enjoyed any more.
well, the good news is there was no way of ethically watching Netflix-owned content on Netflix streaming in the first place 😬
(renting or buying their stuff on DVD is OK, getting DVDs from the library if you're in the UK is probably OK and value-neutral in the US, watching on a foreign broadcaster's catch-up service or on TV if you're a ratings household is A+)
(Also, if you have some links to some articles about this, I would like to read those.
no, I've seen writers bitching about it over the last six months based on job listings and gigs they haven't taken and pitch meetings and whatnot. I guess there's not enough of a mass of these shows yet, and there is plenty enough other WGA-related news to write about rn, for it to be exposé-ready.
but! checking WGA minimums, it looks like part of the problem is that there simply aren't rules yet: "Initial compensation for an original new media program is fully negotiable between the writer and the Company. Contact the Guild Contracts Department for details."
if you're writing web videos that are an adjunct to a comedy/variety series, though, 15 minutes pays $470 plus 13 x $235 = $3525. A one-off fifteen-minute script for non-prime-time TV pays $8554, plus residuals and rewrite fees. A weekly show of 6-8 weeks (like Special or I Think You Should Leave) would pay $9295 a week plus residuals.
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Monday, 6 May 2019 21:10 (five years ago) link
I made it through 3 episodes of I Think You Should Leave. Instagram sketch was by far the funniest thing and it's like, legendarily funny, like, one of the funniest sketches I've ever seen on TV; it's so good it makes everything else on the show pretty bleh by comparison, except for Baby of the Year, which was also pretty good, though in a Mr. Show way.
Dead to Me: we watched this all in one go and I kept drifting off during the last three episodes but it's extremely good, both Christina Applegate and Lina Cardinelli deserve emmy nominations for it.
― akm, Monday, 6 May 2019 22:10 (five years ago) link
the instagram sketch is definitely the long term stand out in my mind too, so much so that I am embedding herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xS9Y_mjTjc
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 6 May 2019 23:33 (five years ago) link
however i do not know the ethics of embedding this here as it is on the Netflix channel. SIC SAVE ME!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 6 May 2019 23:37 (five years ago) link
"no coffin please just wet wet mud"
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 6 May 2019 23:38 (five years ago) link
Oh we're doing this? :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOguZfNJUo
― DJI, Monday, 6 May 2019 23:47 (five years ago) link
it could be this is true i have no expertise in this area except to note that a) Netflix has green lit plenty of 30m + 60m length shows and b) 15m programming has been done to tremendous affect before (adult swim uses this format a lot) and there are great reasons to use it that have nothing to do with trying to screw writer.
― Mordy, Monday, 6 May 2019 23:54 (five years ago) link
I said I totally endorse it creatively
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Monday, 6 May 2019 23:57 (five years ago) link
I finished all of I Think You Should Leave. There were a few good sketches but overall not my thing. A friend's gf was in one of the worst segments and I felt really bad.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 00:44 (five years ago) link
I feel like I often agree with the recs here especially the comedic ones but I got through 4 sketches and had to turn that shit off. If that guy said "mudpie" one more time I was going to throw something at the damn TV.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 08:56 (five years ago) link
Yeah, that's about as far as I made it too. I guess it's not for me.
― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 13:46 (five years ago) link
idk if you guys are charitable and wanna give it another shot, i'd skip to episode 5, which has 2 or 3 of the best sketches in the show.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 14:30 (five years ago) link
The third episode was my absolute favourite. The car pitching sketch was inspired and very weird.
Also, though I loathe toilet humour, the insistence of using the word ‘mudpie’ throughout the entire show somehow built into something almost endearingly desperate.
I didn’t love the whole thing, but the two or three good sketches every episode made it watchable.
― alrakis morissette (tangenttangent), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 15:42 (five years ago) link
I hate toilet humor, but I love Tim Robinson, so it's a tough haul for me.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 16:20 (five years ago) link
life in general I mean, because Tim's always all about toilet humor, but I'm not going anywhere.
well, the good news is there was no way of ethically watching Netflix-owned content on Netflix streaming in the first place
That is... good news?Anyhow, thanks for all that info. V interesting.
― trishyb, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 17:39 (five years ago) link
sorry if this was mentioned already but the excellent 2018 Korean movie Burning (loosely based on a Murakami short story) is up on Netflix. all three stars are amazing, including Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead (and the gift receipt sketch in I Think You Should Leave). highly recommended, especially if you don't mind leisurely-paced movies.
― na (NA), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 21:39 (five years ago) link
Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead (and the gift receipt sketch in I Think You Should Leave)
lol, I hope historians remember Steven Yuen as the guy from the gift receipt sketch.
Here lies Steven Yuen, he did the mud pie.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 22:14 (five years ago) link
Burning is great, yes.
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 22:14 (five years ago) link
i think you should leave seemed extremely variable. episode two was fifteen minutes i want back, episode three was pretty great. but i haven't much desire to see episode four. *shrug*
― imago, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 22:48 (five years ago) link
i watched burning last night! It's fucking amazing.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 23:54 (five years ago) link
Just started KINGDOM, the Korean historical zombie thing, surprisingly beautiful cinematography in parts, overall promising
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Wednesday, 8 May 2019 07:38 (five years ago) link
And hats
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 8 May 2019 09:07 (five years ago) link
He also voices Speckles in Tuca & Bertie
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 8 May 2019 09:09 (five years ago) link
THE WANDERING EARTH (流浪地球)
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 May 2019 09:16 (five years ago) link
outlaw / king was *pret-t-ty* deece(nt) ... better than modern day GoT, even
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Wednesday, 8 May 2019 22:29 (five years ago) link
Took me a few episodes to get into Tuca and Bertie but it hits its stride and is really funny by the middle of the series.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Thursday, 9 May 2019 09:16 (five years ago) link
Easy is like Rohmer catnip for me, so I'm really looking forward to the new season.
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:06 (five years ago) link
Tuca & Bertie is pretty great
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:14 (five years ago) link
yeah it really picks up. as much a follow-up to broad city as bojack. also reminded me of mtv's downtown
― imago, Friday, 10 May 2019 22:00 (five years ago) link
I enjoyed all of Wine Country except the awful, awful, green-screened inspirational scene on the hill, which made me retrospectively dislike the rest of the film.
― trishyb, Saturday, 11 May 2019 12:20 (five years ago) link
The trailer for that looked insufferable, like an improv-heavy Nancy Myers movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 May 2019 12:33 (five years ago) link
I thought it was better than the trailer. But hey, I am a 49-year-old woman who has been away on a lot of booze-heavy girls' weekends, so I am definitely the target market for it.
― trishyb, Saturday, 11 May 2019 14:46 (five years ago) link
Wine Country was not very funny which was weird considering how many incredibly funny people are in it and wrote it. It's def not terrible, just more serious and less funny than I hoped.
― akm, Saturday, 11 May 2019 15:25 (five years ago) link
I only saw it the one time but I was of the opinion that "Bridesmaids" would have been a much better drama, but instead it felt like all these jokes were just sort of shoved in there to will it into a comedy. Is this like that? Forcing in broad jokes, whether pratfalls or poop humor, doesn't always work imo when the material calls for a subtler approach.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 May 2019 16:21 (five years ago) link
Only got about half way into wine country, akm otm.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Saturday, 11 May 2019 21:53 (five years ago) link
I just rewatched Bridesmaids again a couple of weeks ago for the first time since it came out. It was funnier than I remember, the mass food poisoning in fancy dresses still a winner. I would've hated for it to be a serious drama. Mostly because everything about bridal party rituals is farcical
― Yerac, Saturday, 11 May 2019 23:08 (five years ago) link
Maybe my perspective is one of the half-empty variety in this case, because I thought in that movie Wiig gives a really impressive dramatic performance, but set pieces like the food poisoning seemed to be shoehorned in from a more standard comedy.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 May 2019 23:13 (five years ago) link
The entire movie has really silly parts. I forgot a lot of people were in it like Ellie Kemper and Melissa McCarthy.
I am halfway through Wine Country and it's reminding me of all those I think Adam Sandler? + Friends movies that were all set in tropical destinations, an excuse to make money while in a holiday location in exchange for a presentable movie. Add in the netflix handicap.
― Yerac, Saturday, 11 May 2019 23:43 (five years ago) link