What was the last TV show you watched?

[Touchofevil]

I enjoyed this season's premiere. Bohannan and "The Swede" are incredible antagonists - they have their own Holmes / Moriarty thing working.

As much as I want the Swede (I know, he is Norwegian) to die, he is too interesting to kill off just yet. it was a good season opener, but as usual, I wanted one more hour. Quite often, we will wait and watch two episodes at a time just to appease ourselves.

 

[Zombie_61]

As much as I want the Swede (I know, he is Norwegian) to die, he is too interesting to kill off just yet...

I couldn't agree more. The Swede could easily have been just another over-the-top character, but there's a sincerity to Christopher Heyerdahl's performances that manage to make him deliberate and anti-social without being a parody. Despite his "evil" actions he's really a tragic character, and one of the most interesting ever created for television.

 

[Fading Fast]

I couldn't agree more. The Swede could easily have been just another over-the-top character, but there's a sincerity to Christopher Heyerdahl's performances that manage to make him deliberate and anti-social without being a parody. Despite his "evil" actions he's really a tragic character, and one of the most interesting ever created for television.

I couldn't agree more and I can't explain it. He has done some incredibly evil things, yet somehow he seems more broken than evil. It is as if something, some event broke his core humanity. He lives, not so much with an internal struggle of good versus evil, but as someone whose morality is completely shattered. Now it seems, each day, he just randomly picks up pieces of his former belief system and stares at them in confusion.

 

[Touchofevil]

And yet, The Swede still must die. What makes him human is that he is not just pure evil. We are suckered in when he appears to show some kindness or goodness. I do not buy that his actions are for the betterment of anyone other than him. He is playing a game of Cat-and-Mouse with Bohannan, nothing more despite what he wants us/Bhanna/others to believe. Remember all who he has killed and in what manner; he is a bad bad man.

 

[Zombie_61]

...He has done some incredibly evil things, yet somehow he seems more broken than evil. It is as if something, some event broke his core humanity. He lives, not so much with an internal struggle of good versus evil, but as someone whose morality is completely shattered...

You have to remember part of The Swede's backstory is that he was imprisoned in Andersonville during the war, which was one of the most horrific prisoner-of-war camps to ever exist. Nearly 13,000 men died there, mostly from scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery; not exactly the garden spot of Georgia in 1864-65. If I remember correctly, in an earlier episode it was implied that his experiences there changed him, and clearly not for the better.

...What makes him human is that he is not just pure evil. We are suckered in when he appears to show some kindness or goodness. I do not buy that his actions are for the betterment of anyone other than him...

And that's what makes him so interesting. It would have been easy for the writers to have created a character that was just evil, but every once in a while The Swede reveals (albeit briefly) a little of the humanity that still exists within him. He's clearly self-serving, but he believes whatever he's doing is the right thing to do under the circumstances to gain a better position in life for himself, regardless of how obviously wrong it is to everyone else.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Penn & Teller: Don't Try This At Home

[video=youtube;pUcAido2x4I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUcAido2x4I[/video]

 

[Touchofevil]

Dominion and UFC Unleashed

 

[Gregg Axley]

Stingray-There is a traitor in Marineville and Troy Tempest has to find out who.
I'm riveted to my chair!

 

[Touchofevil]

Defiance and I Love Lucy

 

[Wally_Hood]

Two episodes of The Lieutenant from the early 1960s, with Gary Lockwood as a peacetime Marine lieutenant dealing with issues both within the Corps and without. Closing credits note that the show was "Created and Produced by Gene Roddenberry." From the Warner Archive Instant streaming service.

 

[Touchofevil]

The Bridge

 

[Harp]

Chicago Bears v. Philadelphia Eagles pre season game.

Great game after Fox fixed its broadcast technics.:eusa_clap
Would like Chicago to lock and bullpen three pitchers this season but it ain't even gonna happen.

 

[Gregg Axley]

The Very Best of WCW Nitro.
It's a 3 disc set, covering the years 1996 until it was bought out by WWF in 2000(?).
Most of the matches (and stories) are the best they could have put on disc.
No bra and panty matches, just good story lines (until the end) and good wrestling.
Sadly no "loser leave town" or "hair" matches. [huh]

 

[1mach1]

Doctor Who (David Tennant) Series 3

 

[Zombie_61]

Hell on Wheels. So far it looks like it'll be an interesting season.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Catching up on Hell on Wheels. I like the Norwegian Swede, but I despise lazy writing. The writers keep squeezing him, and his situations, into corners, and they have no idea how to write him out of the jams. I haven't bought any of their remedies, and this latest, with Bohannon so easily sending him into mindless rapture, was far worse than him walking away from the bridge fall. I'm tired of it. It doesn't add to his mythos. It doesn't add to the character, and it certainly doesn't add to the overall story. Matter of fact, it subtracts a great deal from all of it (for me). Suspension of belief is part of the game, but that was slipshod. It's insulting to the audience. The HoW writers have become quite good at developing serious situations and then halfassedly slopping some grease on the square peg to pound it into the round hole. It's unfortunate. This show has a lot going for it...except things like this.

 

[Zombie_61]

Catching up on Hell on Wheels. I like the Norwegian Swede, but I despise lazy writing. The writers keep squeezing him, and his situations, into corners, and they have no idea how to write him out of the jams. I haven't bought any of their remedies, and this latest, with Bohannon so easily sending him into mindless rapture, was far worse than him walking away from the bridge fall. I'm tired of it. It doesn't add to his mythos. It doesn't add to the character, and it certainly doesn't add to the overall story. Matter of fact, it subtracts a great deal from all of it (for me). Suspension of belief is part of the game, but that was slipshod. It's insulting to the audience. The HoW writers have become quite good at developing serious situations and then halfassedly slopping some grease on the square peg to pound it into the round hole. It's unfortunate. This show has a lot going for it...except things like this.

I can't disagree, but I think we're coming to the same conclusion from different angles. With regards to the Swede, in my opinion the writers and/or producers haven't adequately shown how damaged he truly is, both physically and psychologically. For example, AMC's website states, "After barely surviving a fall from a bridge and being nursed back to health by a family of Mormons...", but there wasn't much more than a hint of that from watching the episodes; the Swede was simply traveling with them telling tall tales of the family he lost. And taking his current position as Bishop Dutson at the Mormon fort into consideration and the way he refers to Thor Gundersen in the third person, I think they were attempting to imply he was suffering from some form of multiple personality disorder (to a degree) and that at times he actually believed he was Bishop Dutson--perhaps as a way of protecting himself mentally and psychologically from the horrors Thor Gundersen had experienced in his life--but, again, they didn't quite manage to do so convincingly. Then again, Hell on Wheels isn't the "Cullen Bohannon and The Swede" show, and they have a lot of characters and story lines to deal with in a short amount of time, so realistically they can only do so much.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I find it absurd when shows, or movies, think dropping character development and/or backstory through social media or online is an acceptable substitute for doing the work in the program. They could be more efficient with time, dialog, and story. If they can't manage these things, it's unacceptable to excuse it because they have too much happening or too many characters to attend. Again, poor writing, directing, and producing. That isn't the responsibility of the audience to give them a pass because they heaped too much on the plate. That's their job. Boardwalk Empire has this problem as well.

 

[Stearmen]

Raining, so I watched Ice Road Truckers. I was going to say, it is getting dumber and dumber, but, I'm the dumb one for watching it!

 

[Zombie_61]

I find it absurd when shows, or movies, think dropping character development and/or backstory through social media or online is an acceptable substitute for doing the work in the program. They could be more efficient with time, dialog, and story. If they can't manage these things, it's unacceptable to excuse it because they have too much happening or too many characters to attend. Again, poor writing, directing, and producing. That isn't the responsibility of the audience to give them a pass because they heaped too much on the plate. That's their job. Boardwalk Empire has this problem as well.

I concur. I've seen this happen too many times, and all I can think is, "If it was that important it should have been in the movie/episode." And, as far as I'm concerned, if it wasn't in the movie/episode, it didn't happen. In the case of AMC's statement regarding the Swede that we discussed above, I have to wonder if the producers mistakenly think it was apparent in those episodes.

Raining, so I watched Ice Road Truckers. I was going to say, it is getting dumber and dumber, but, I'm the dumb one for watching it!

Yeah I have the same problem with Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch. Both shows are essentially the same thing episode after episode. "I'm driving onto the frozen lake now, I hope I don't fall through." "I sure hope we catch enough crab to meet our quota on this trip." But I still watch them. [huh]