the killing

[effigyc]

Anybody watch it last night and like it? After all the hype I gave it shot, but I thought it was pretty boring. Mostly just 2 hours of that redheaded tgirl talking on her cell in the rain. I hope it gets better.

[Quiet Reflections]

it sucked

[robertlouis]

it sucked


Stick with it. Best thing on UK telly this year so far. Now replaced by the equally good 3rd series of the French crime thriller Spiral.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

Boring and very poorly produced. It wouldn't even make a good "B" movie. If this is what you consider quality entertainment in the UK, you've got issues.

[robertlouis]

Boring and very poorly produced. It wouldn't even make a good "B" movie. If this is what you consider quality entertainment in the UK, you've got issues.

Did you like The Wire?

[Quiet Reflections]

Stick with it. Best thing on UK telly this year so far. Now replaced by the equally good 3rd series of the French crime thriller Spiral.maybe, it just seem to move so slow. I might be to impatient for it.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

Did you like The Wire?

No...can't say I did.

[robertlouis]

No...can't say I did.

Took me three or four episodes to tune in to the Wire, but then I loved it. The Killing is the same slow burn. On the other hand, I couldn't see what the fuss about Lost was. Takes all sorts, I guess.

[altarica]

Wanted to see it but didn't, might get it on dvd, got rave reviews. Spiral looks good too.
As for The Wire, up there with The Sopranos, Deadwood and Dexter as some of the finest Television ever produced.

[Prospero]

You are watching the US remake. The Danish version was much longer - and by all accounts- much slower. It was however utterly brilliant - and has subtitles. The US programme makers figured that 20 hours of subtitled drama would never play to the mass US market (hence the remake). The qualities of the Danish version are many. For instance, I have never seen as powerful a portrayal of grief as this offered in either the cinema or on TV. It is even better than the brilliant Swedish cop series Wallander. (Did that play in the US? )I suspect that too many americans have short attention spans. You have only to watch things like those CSI or NCIS franchises to see that wholly superficial wham-bam shot-em-up is the genre that wins through. The Sopranos, The Wire, Madmen,Six feet Under, The West Wing - those are among the best things US TV has done in drama in years. But none were huge box office were they. But this is all a matter of opinion.

[Richctdude]

have it on my tivo... i hope it gets better

[CORVETTEDUDE]

You are watching the US remake. The Danish version was much longer - and by all accounts- much slower. It was however utterly brilliant - and has subtitles. The US programme makers figured that 20 hours of subtitled drama would never play to the mass US market (hence the remake). The qualities of the Danish version are many. For instance, I have never seen as powerful a portrayal of grief as this offered in either the cinema or on TV. It is even better than the brilliant Swedish cop series Wallander. (Did that play in the US? )I suspect that too many americans have short attention spans. You have only to watch things like those CSI or NCIS franchises to see that wholly superficial wham-bam shot-em-up is the genre that wins through. The Sopranos, The Wire, Madmen,Six feet Under, The West Wing - those are among the best things US TV has done in drama in years. But none were huge box office were they. But this is all a matter of opinion.

Yes, it is, like everything else, a matter of opinion. I'm not complaining about the story being told. Rather the production of said story. It's the direction and production that is lacking. It's quite possible I might better enjoy it better in the original package. However, Prospero...your evaluation of The Sopranos and West Wing is out to lunch. Both however, had run their respective courses. It's not Red Skelton or Benny Hill.

[Prospero]

Corvette - what does "out to lunch" mean in this context?

and the relevance of the dreadful Benny Hill?

[CORVETTEDUDE]

Corvette - what does "out to lunch" mean in this context?

and the relevance of the dreadful Benny Hill?


Out to lunch means incorrect. The reference to Benny Hill, as well as Red Skelton, in that both have long-standing properous careers. The Sopranos and West Wing were very popular but, their stories came to an end or, had run their course.

[Quiet Reflections]

You are watching the US remake. The Danish version was much longer - and by all accounts- much slower. It was however utterly brilliant - and has subtitles. The US programme makers figured that 20 hours of subtitled drama would never play to the mass US market (hence the remake). The qualities of the Danish version are many. For instance, I have never seen as powerful a portrayal of grief as this offered in either the cinema or on TV. It is even better than the brilliant Swedish cop series Wallander. (Did that play in the US? )I suspect that too many americans have short attention spans. You have only to watch things like those CSI or NCIS franchises to see that wholly superficial wham-bam shot-em-up is the genre that wins through. The Sopranos, The Wire, Madmen,Six feet Under, The West Wing - those are among the best things US TV has done in drama in years. But none were huge box office were they. But this is all a matter of opinion.The Sopranos, The Wire, Madmen,Six feet Under, and The West Wing were all hugely successful award winning shows over here. But in a country this size it only takes 7%
of the people to make something successful which leaves hundreds of millions that don't watch it. Shows like CSI, NCIS, hell American Idol are not indicative of Americas attention span. Its indicative of how stupid the producers think we are. Literally only a Fraction of the people here watch it and it seems to be what identifies us. Yet everyone knows only 20 odd million tv sets are tuned in to either of them a week. Thats actually a drop in the bucket. Numbers wise that means less than 1 out of every 10 people has seen the most popular show(s) of the week. Those same numbers over there would translate to almost half your entire country tuned into a show. Its just easier to be popular in smaller countries.

[Jericho]

Its just easier to be popular in smaller countries.

Now lets adjust that for population...or shall we just keep massaging the figures? :geek:

[Dino Velvet]

Anybody mention OZ, Deadwood, and The Shield? Some great American TV right there.

[Quiet Reflections]

Now lets adjust that for population...or shall we just keep massaging the figures? :geek: Massage all you like the truth is the truth

[robertlouis]

Ok, I'll just mention the entirely unnecessary (and vastly inferior) US remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In and rest my case....

[effigyc]

New episide this week was better, I thought.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

New episide this week was better, I thought.


Ehhhhhhhh....:loser:

[Klinghoffer 660C]

Boring and very poorly produced. It wouldn't even make a good "B" movie. If this is what you consider quality entertainment in the UK, you've got issues.



You're funny. It's like you're not even trying! LOL! :)

[robertlouis]

To be fair to our American cousins, one of the things I've always found infuriating with US TV is the fact that the commercials pop up, often unannounced, every six or seven minutes.

Even someone with the concentration skills of a chess grand master would find it hard to follow a programme of any complexity in those conditions. It would certainly ruin a show like The Killing.

In the UK we're blessed in having currently seven free public channels without any commercial interruptions whatsoever. And when it comes to sport the commercials only come on at the half-time interval during, say, a soccer game, even on the commercial channels - that's 45 minutes at a time.

I was stuck in a US hospital for a few weeks some years ago (pneumonia) and really got into The Closer, but couldn't stand all the ad breaks, so I bought the DVD sets when I got home.

Good news here in the UK is that BBC4 has bought both series 2 and 3 of The Danish original of The Killing.

[Azanti]

Anyone who thinks this is 'poorly produced' has no concept of what makes good drama.

This is one of the best, well written and most naturally acted dramas in a long time, with more twists and turns to come than a rattlesnake. You should stick with it, if something with subtitles isn't too demanding for you.

To elaborate on Prospero's points, one of the shows strenghts is that it focuses in on many of the raw emotional moments you wouldn't normally see in any other drama show. The scence where the parents have to tell their two sons that their sister os not coming back is positively heart breaking, and rarely covered in a drama of this genre. This maybe a slow burner and is all the better and more real for it, superb and unlikely to be equalled in a long time.

[robertlouis]

Anyone who thinks this is 'poorly produced' has no concept of what makes good drama.

This is one of the best, well written and most naturally acted dramas in a long time, with more twists and turns to come than a rattlesnake. You should stick with it, if something with subtitles isn't too demanding for you.

To elaborate on Prospero's points, one of the shows strenghts is that it focuses in on many of the raw emotional moments you wouldn't normally see in any other drama show. The scence where the parents have to tell their two sons that their sister os not coming back is positively heart breaking, and rarely covered in a drama of this genre. This maybe a slow burner and is all the better and more real for it, superb and unlikely to be equalled in a long time.

You've made the same wrong assumption I started out with, Azanti. The Americans aren't talking about the superb Danish original, but yet another crappy and unnecessary US remake of something that should have been left alone.

Maybe we need a poll on whether folks in the US would prefer to see the original with subtitles.

[effigyc]

People in the US dont do subtitles. Its why they're remaking The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as well

[robertlouis]

People in the US dont do subtitles. Its why they're remaking The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as well

Just got the DVD of the final part of Stieg Larsson's trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Can I please urge all US posters to watch the DVDs of the superb Swedish original before the unnecessary Hollywood fuckover comes out?

[partlycloudy]

something must have gotten lost in translation cause this shit is boring as hell. i wish some white walkers will just pop out of nowhere and cut their heads off.

anybody watching game of thrones?

:whistle:

[onmyknees]

Anybody mention OZ, Deadwood, and The Shield? Some great American TV right there.

The Shield...best series ever... other than perhaps the Sopranos or Sons of A.

[SammiValentine]

The Shield...best series ever... other than perhaps the Sopranos or Sons of A.


oooo i have got the full box set of shield sat here to dive into at some point. if it is as good as sopranos or the wire... i be a v happy bunny ;-)

[robertlouis]

The French series Spiral that replaced the killing on BBC 4 is brilliant too.

I've got the first two series on DVD and the third series is every bit as good. Oh, and because it's French, the sex is pretty hot for prime time!

[effigyc]

something must have gotten lost in translation cause this shit is boring as hell. i wish some white walkers will just pop out of nowhere and cut their heads off.

anybody watching game of thrones?

:whistle:


I am! Its awesome. Oddly enough, I still watch the killing after out of some weird sense of comitment