OT: Consolidated Entertainment Thread (TV, movies, books, games) part VI - use spoiler tags!

[TheBeerNerd]

After playing Civ VII for a while, I have to say the reviews are unfair. It is certainly a bit different and there's a learning curve with the redesigned mechanics. But once you get it, it's very fun.

Civ V and Civ VI were almost identical so I'm actually quite happy they changed the formula.

I'm not a Civ guy at all, but I sympathize with people for whom it scratches an itch. I've heard from fans that it's very buggy, but they get that fixed over time anyway (although it still gave the reviewer in this video a lot of trouble to actually play a full game). And it's formatted differently, but people hate change and it seems like a good attempt to shake things up.

No way I can defend the UI, though. Not distinct at all.

 

[Brodeur]

I've had to fight off periodic urges to play Civ II. Perhaps thankfully my old PCs don't boot up any more otherwise I'd be happily spending hours building railroads and irrigating. My cousin bought me Civ III back in the day and I left it at his house on purpose since I figured I didn't need the distraction in college.



I had a video about the 1986 Transformers animated movie pop up in my feed which always makes me laugh about how I saw it for the first time.

Growing up my family didn't really go to the theater so I had to wait for the movie to come out on VHS. ~1987 we're finally able to rent it but I get home only to discover that somebody taped over it. In those days we only had one video store in town so I was SOL.

Spoiler: They killed off many of the main characters just so they could introduce new toys. So naturally young me was very confused when I was watching the regular afternoon cartoons and all my favorites are missing. By 1988, Ninja Turtle mania would take over and my interest in Transformers quickly faded.

Fast forward to the late 90's and I discover eBay. One night I wondered if any of my old toys were worth anything. To my delight my crown jewel Transformer was worth $500+ since my parents made me keep the box. I brought it back with me to college and it was sitting in my dorm room for a few days while the auction was ongoing.

My roommate had a friend visiting and he geeked out when he saw the box. I told him about how I had never seen the 1986 movie. He excitedly grabbed his backpack and proceeded to pull out a copy of it.

I was equally stoked that I was finally going to watch it but equally weirded out that this guy traveled with a VHS copy of Transformers.

 

[Brodeur]

SNL50 show is tonight. I always enjoy telling my younger friends how SNL almost got cancelled in 80s and was on thin ice in 1995. To the point where the other networks developed their own sketch shows thinking it was time to knock SNL off the pedestal.



MadTV on Fox ended up having the most traction. But Fox also tried out a Roseanne Barr one that had a pretty awesome musical guest list despite its short run.



CBS 'called up' The State from its sister station MTV for a single (poorly advertised) prime time episode in October 1995. I loved The State and had no idea they were going to be on CBS. Unfortunately for them, the show got poor ratings and CBS scrapped the idea of them going directly against SNL in 1996.



ABC tried The Dana Carvey Show in primetime in early 1996. The show featured not yet famous versions of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert plus guys like Robert Smigel and Louis CK on the writing staff. But they badly misjudged the audience and got cancelled after eight episodes. Carell got to show off his hockey goaltending in one sketch.

I didn't know until recent years that The Ambiguously Gay Duo originated on The Dana Carvey Show. When Smigel got rehired by SNL, they would import it over. Which explained why Carell and Colbert continued to voice Ace and Gary despite never being on the SNL cast.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

will ferrell's old characters are the best.

 

[My3Sons]

will ferrell's old characters are the best.

I think it’s an age issue. In its day the original cast had no equal. As a kid the coneheads or Steve Martin’s medieval characters or Cheeseburger Cheeeburger or thr Blues Brothers were all thr hirght of comedy.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I think it's funny how viewers (at least viewers under 50) often think about the 90's as the golden age of SNL based on the cast and many classic sketches. But behind the scenes it was a disaster the whole time, obsessed with ratings and firing their best guys for no real reason.

After the Ferrell years things got pretty lean for a while. Other than Tina Fey, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, and Bill Hader there really hasn't been much to be excited about since like 2004. I'm glad to see the Nate Bargatze George Washington sketches have blown up, hopefully they turn things around.

 

[TheBeerNerd]

SNL has always been mostly forgettable, let's not kid ourselves. 30 Rock was a show based on the premise that most of what they were made to put on SNL- and, by extension, much of what was put on NBC- was complete shit that no sane person would ever ask for.

 

[HBK27]

I still have a soft spot for SNL. Early on when we were dating my now wife was in the page program at NBC and used to do crowd seating at SNL, so I had a chance to go see the show live several times back in the early 2000's. It somehow fortunately worked out that the shows I attended had an attractive actress as host and a rock band as musical guest, which was a bonus.

I actually enjoyed seeing the dress rehearsal more than the live show itself. The dress rehearsal goes from 8:00-10:00 and then they cut down 30 minutes of the show before going live at 11:30. Was cool to see some of the sketches that didn't make the air. Would love to get back one day, but I think it's extremely difficult to get tickets if you don't know someone - used to estimate maybe 5% of the crowd didn't have some type of connection.

I did watch SNL 50 and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I still DVR current seasons, but only really check it out if there's a host or musical guest I'm interested in or will occasionally toss it on in the background.

 

[My3Sons]

SNL has always been mostly forgettable, let's not kid ourselves. 30 Rock was a show based on the premise that most of what they were made to put on SNL- and, by extension, much of what was put on NBC- was complete shit that no sane person would ever ask for.

I think that’s true of most comedy. It’s subjective and can be subdivided by style some of which will appeal more or less to any individual. No sketch comedy is consistent. The hit rate may be a bit better or worse than any other troupe but the best they do is pretty impressive.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I know everyone has their opinions on the shooting situation but I think mostly everyone can agree that making a reality show talking about the tragedy and now making money off it and forcing all your kids on an awful reality show is absolutely gross. Alec and his wife are disgusting...

 

[NjDevsRR]

I know everyone has their opinions on the shooting situation but I think mostly everyone can agree that making a reality show talking about the tragedy and now making money off it and forcing all your kids on an awful reality show is absolutely gross. Alec and his wife are disgusting...

Seems like $$$ is all that matters these days in this country so this show is not surprising at all, sad

 

[NjDevsRR]

Huge Ralph Fiennes fan, and I finally got to watch The Menu tonight.

What an absolute egregious plot and script…

I LOVED it

 

[Satans Hockey]

Huge Ralph Fiennes fan, and I finally got to watch The Menu tonight.

What an absolute egregious plot and script…

I LOVED it

I enjoyed that a lot too, definitely a movie that's even better to just watch without seeing any trailers for it.

Fresh is another one that sorta reminds me of The Menu that's also better going in not knowing anything. The guy who plays winter soldier is the main guy in it.

 

[My3Sons]

Huge Ralph Fiennes fan, and I finally got to watch The Menu tonight.

What an absolute egregious plot and script…

I LOVED it

I wasn't sure what it was supposed to be until the dessert where the patrons are all decked out and it made sense at that point. The darkest of comedies. Lots of fun and as always, Voldemort delivered a great performance.