Well, Amazon announced a while ago that they were creating a LotR TV series, and it seemed like they would focus on Young Aragon (which probably would have sucked), but now we know that's not the case: After a series of maps that contained lots of hints, the official twitter confirmed that the show will take place in the Second Age. And now I'm super hyped. I'm hoping that each season (there will be at least five) will explore a different time period: The Rise of Númenor, the Forging of the Rings, the War of Sauron and the Elves and the Destruction of Eregion, the Downfall of Númenor, the Last Alliance... There a so many awesome stories to tell, and because this seems to be a prestige project for Amazon, I have hopes that this won't suck.

Anyway, this is the final map:


Release is apparently scheduled for 2021.

On another note (not sure if this has been said before), Amazon will also produce a Wheel of Time TV series. Not much is known about this, and I can't really see how you would bring WoT to television (it might be super awful), but they hired Uta Briesewitz, who directed some of the better episodes of Westworld S2, to direct the first two seasons. Curious to see how this will turn out.

...And I might actually get a Prime subscription for this.

 

My response to LOTR and WOT?

Pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood....

 

Holy fuck. Second age? My body is ready for the Mairon version of Sauron.

 

Aww I was hoping for an earlier starting point, but I guess things might get a bit too crazy if they go far enough back to have to include the more metaphysical aspects of the world, they're probably angling for a more mysterious depiction of the higher powers instead of putting the viewer in a front row seat to the council of the Valar. But it'd still be pretty awesome to see the Lamps, the Trees, the Silmarillion and all the fuckery their creation brought, not to mention the wars against Morgoth that tore the world apart, The War of Wrath especially would be hella cool to see depicted with an amazon-sized budget powering it.

Not to mention the ridiculous span of time..

 

Haven't seen any Amazon shows (that I know of), so I'm not sure where their quality is at. Wish it was an HBO show instead, then I'd have no doubts.

Still, Amazon has all the money in the world, and LOTR would be unthinkable to fuck-up in terms of damage to your brand, so I have hope.

 

Amazon hasn't had many multiseason budget busters apart from Man in the High Castle (which is sadly pretty garbage), but they already dropped 250mil in the battle with Netflix for the LOTR property rights, and have made a few statements saying that they are expecting and prepared to spend a fat 1 billion on LOTR's lifetime five year production, meaning 200 million per season, making it one of the most expensive TV shows ever made.

It is going to have a Thrones level budget at the very least.

 

There’s also The Grand Tour, which was hugely expensive as well – somewhere in the region of $180m for three seasons, IIRC – and is set to move fully towards more elaborate, but on the whole probably cheaper specials in the future. Other expenses might be one reason for that.

 

Amazon quality is currently hit or miss.

Jack Ryan was amazing. Goliath is really solid. Britannia is meh.

 

Jack Ryan was very good, but that's the extent of amazon exclusives I've watched. My next point of hype with them though is The Expanse season 4. Hoping they don't screw that up too much.

The LOTR show seems like it's probably about the hardest thing to live up to possible hype ever made, far more than GoT. The source material for that age is... pretty hard to get into if you're not an obsessive Tolkein nerd, so you not only have to make it interesting enough for the people that saw the movies so far and think it's something to get into, but you also have to please one of, if not the most ridiculously exacting fanbase on the planet by making it true enough to canon. Whatever, I'm hyped.

 

Have to agree with @Arthellion and @Johnnyseattle in saying that Jack Ryan was really good.

That said, looking at other Amazon originals, they really lack the ability of hooking people in. For example, Arthellion mentioned Goliath. I tried watching it but couldn't because the beginning was absolute shit.

 

Amazon's best is Bosch. It's excellent.

 

A show I look forward to each year but it is more a moody standard production which mostly lives through its actors/characters/atmosphere. LOTR requires a production level far beyond that.

 

The Marvelous Ms. Maisel.

Thought I would hate it, but I loved it. Very charming and maybe even wholesome? It's far from perfect, but I was very invested in Midge's growth as a person and comic, the actual stand-up in the series is decent, and there is a solid supporting cast, with a great soundtrack and Zachary Levi (Chuck) guest starring in season 2.

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So, I'm nearing the end of The Order. I'm still not sure how magic works, whether anyone with the knowledge can use it, or if only some with the "gift" can put it to use. Skill with magic seems rather arbitrary.

All that said, I enjoyed it. It's almost acceptable in terms of quality. Right in the first episode, people had commented that there was just too many plot points, and that persists throughout the season. There's so many plot bunnies that are quickly resolved, and enough about the character's motivations revealed albeit in small doses, that I don't really mind the more retarded ideas. Magic is inherently dark and requires some sort of sacrifice (or at least, it is that way to The Order). There's some interesting/scary use of necromancy, and very little regard for human life, or morality for that matter.

A lot of cringe, however. Makes me wonder why they rushed this, because it could've been a solid show, with proper editing or I don't know, some kind of clear purpose. It's almost as if they tossed werewolves, dark magic, and young people with troubled pasts in a pot, and hoped for the best.

 

Deadly Class has been pretty good. I'm a little annoyed the Fuckface storyline isn't getting tied up. How long till they figure out the deal with Shabnam's parents?

The over the top violence and somewhat self-aware edginess is nice. Lots of The Cure and Joy Division. I think I liked the last 2 episodes more than the most recent one.

Thursday nights on NBC is pretty solid right now, with BK99, A.P Bio, and Superstore. Totally forgot the ending to A.P Bio, so episode 1 of season 2 threw me off a little. Not sure why Patton Oswalt felt the need to virtue signal by pointing out his distaste of Louis CK. Or at least, that's what it looked like. Anyway, looking forward to the new BK99 and moar Superstore.

I'm equal parts happy and sad about the amount of television I've been watching.

 

Gotham is finally finishing up its final season on thursdays.

it's been pretty good so far. The Penguin and Riddler are still the best parts of the show. Bruce needs a hair cut.

 

Gotham has had a lot of ups and a lot of downs. I enjoy the overall story of Gotham, some of the characters, and the references and clear plans related to the Batman series in general.

Spoiler

I don't know how the internet in general reacted to it, but god damn I enjoyed Bruce and "Joker" fighting in Ace Chemicals because that's one of the Joker's origins.

Then there's soap opera stuff and weird out of nowhere bullshit that brings it down?

But I don't even know if it brings it down, really. At this point, after getting so used to how weird the show's tone is, even the weird shit is enjoyable enough.

 

Gotham’s biggest strength and biggest weakness imo is the tone of the show.

Somehow, they have thrown pretty much every tonal vibe of Batman (from Batman 66 to Batman v Superman and everything in between) into this series. They even managed to give us ledger anarchist joker and Nicholson gAngster joker.

I’m somewhat disappointed the show is ending, but it’s time.

That said, I’d be down for an HBO Batman series with David Mazouz as Batman in a few years. Once he’s had time to really bulk up more.

 

Fleabag is great. Go watch it. End of message.


Now, to elaborate a bit, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, to the Star Wars crowd perhaps best known as that droid Lando Norris Calrissian was in love with, is the star in this little dark comedy. Her sardonic, fourth wall-breaking, constantly broke eponymous protagonist runs a guinea pig-themed café (Hillary <3) in London, and as we follow her exploits we gradually find out how she came to be the person she is now.

The show is funny, slightly embarrassing, heartwarming and occasionally heartbreaking, and the supporting cast is absolutely great, but I particularly enjoyed the performances from Olivia Colman and Hugh Skinner. Fleabag also requires very little time commitment with currently six episodes of ~25min available to stream on Amazon Prime. In the UK, where a second season is currently airing, I think the rights lie with the BBC. Said second season is coming to Prime on May 14, and the highest praise I can give Fleabag is that I was immensely disappointed when I found out that I‘d have to wait two months until the new episodes drop.

 

The Good Fight has commenced its 3rd season.

Christine Baranski continues to be fucking amazing. The role of Diane Lockhart is her opus magnum and it's properly magnum. Production is super slick--I really like it. Everything looks sharp and is pretty clearly set apart from the earlier seasons of the The Good Wife. This is a proper prestige show. I'm not a fan of some of the show's stranger choices* but it's something that's new and curious, and sets it apart from other legal dramas. Suits has completed its descent into mediocrity two seasons ago, TGF is my shining beacon. It manages to be dramatic, funny, and serious without being soap opera-like.

The biggest draw of the show (or maybe the biggest ick factor if you're not into it) is how openly political it is. The creators really don't like Trump and it's apparent in every episode. It doesn't always work and I regularly disagree with some left-leaning sentiments presented, but if a show has me this engaged, it's doing something right.

*

Spoiler

The NDA song and the Trump apparition on Kurt's bruised back in the S3 premiere were... bizarre. But at least Diane's monologue at the Trump apparition was good.