The first two or three seasons were fun, and then it started to get mind-numbingly ridiculous.
The only thing it has in common with the MJF film is the title and the main character/sidekick names, Scott and Stiles.
While both guys are still not part of the in-crowd at the start of the series, Scott is not a ‘trueborn’ werewolf who inadvertently gets ‘outted;’ instead he gets bitten, and the whole town they live in isn’t ‘in’ on the secret, even though it is plagued by all sorts of supernatural phenomena happening like all the time.
The presence and treatment of LGBTQ characters is pretty progressive, but the writing leaves a lot to be desired.
Like I said I got confused, and misunderstood what you were saying.
I really enjoyed True Blood to start with. It was like the books set in a slightly alternate universe, but with the same feel, so it wasn’t like they were ruining the books even though it was different. But they amped up the awesomeness so quickly that after a couple of seasons it kind of became a victim of itself and wore thin. Once ascending to godhood and defeating an army of immortal supernatural beings is just another typical Tuesday afternoon, it’s hard to keep things interesting.
If you liked Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy, you’ll probably enjoy Shameless. It has quite a bit of character. And the characters develop quite a bit through the series.
One that I keep meaning to get back into is Halt and Catch Fire. I watched the first 2 seasons but then had to wait for the 3rd and now I’m 2 seasons behind.
I had literally been reading the Southern Vampire novels for years before TB aired, and it took me about 6 months of overhearing ‘water-cooler buzz’ about the show to realize that the tv series was based on material I already knew and liked.
So I started watching it, and at first it was cool; the writing was never great, but there were enough interesting characters to keep me engaged. (Lafayette was a rare deviation from the novels which was actually a big improvement.)
Then, after the 2nd season it just went to complete shit, but I still hung in there, for the eye candy that is Joe Manganiello.
But eventually, even all the gratuitous nudity and violence in the world could not save it. Finally, I had enough and quit watching it before the last season aired.
(I quit on Dexter in similar fashion for the same reason; it just got too damn stupid to tolerate.)
I thoroughly enjoyed BrBa, but SoA was just okay.
(Props to Katey Sagal’s acting, though; I hated her character, Gemma, the way I should have hated Joffrey or Cersei, but don’t.)
My bestie (the same one who convinced me to watch one season of Once Upon a Time) has been telling me for years that I need to watch the US version; but I just haven’t gotten around to it.
Maybe it’s like police procedurals for me; a dramedy about indigent people perpetually struggling to get by just doesn’t hold much appeal for me as ‘entertainment’ because even in hyperbolic satire, it’s still too close to home.
I never got so much into the M stuff, but I know what you mean. There’s all these layers going on, and people misinterpreting things because of lack of cultural knowledge or whatever.
Teen Wolf is terrible, hands down terrible, soap opera teen smaltz.
I love it so.
Its on par with Supernatural.
Both with its ridiculous plots and bad guys.
And both with its ridiculously good looking men.
How about a comedy? Single mother raising her kids (Germaine, Aretha, Yoko, Mariah, and Wyatt). If you can find a copy, it’s hilarious. Subtitles strongly recommended.
Should I have said closed captioning? Is there a difference? (I really don’t know.)
I grew up hearing English accents, and they usually give me no problems, but the Wolverhampton accents and the fast-paced dialogue on this show defeat me. I miss at least half the lines. Some full episodes are available on YouTube, but YouTube CC’s are worse than useless. Episodes were available for streaming from CBC for a while, but no more, and I can’t convince the BBC that I’m British (must be my accent).
One of the problems of watching British TV, much of which I love, is that almost all the pop culture references go right over my head, including that one. You may have been commiserating, you may have meant it ironically, I have no way of knowing.
It’s not just Murrican ignorance or Gen X going deaf.
I can go back and watch OLD british TV and understand it fine.
As recording and broadcasting equipment has improved, I think directors and producers have decided that speaking clearly to be heard over the noise is no longer important. Decreased comprehension for the Anglophone diaspora is presumably an unintended side effect.
