#i miss tv shows with 22+ episodes so much

[londyboobs]

rewatching gen v one more time because i’m mentally ill and can’t focus on anything else

[fishyartist]

So mad about me just realizing the color pallet despite being in Sonic mode for the past like week

[writergeekrhw]

Can you tell us a bit about what the current climate is like for screenwriters in regards to the WGA strike?

ISSUES FOR WRITERS THAT ARE DRIVING THE WGA STRIKE:

I wrote about this when I ran for the WGA board, so this is mostly a cut and paste from my candidate statement. That said, some of the most pressing issues as I see them:

DECREASES IN WEEKLY PAY

Many TV writers are suffering financially due to shorter episodic orders. Twenty years ago, show orders were for 22, 24, or even 26 episodes per season. For producer level writers paid by the episode, this guaranteed a comfortable wage. Now season orders, especially on streaming, can be for as few as 6 episodes and are commonly for 8 or 10 episodes. Yet writers are still employed to work on these shows for months at a time. As a result of pro-rating episodic rates for a reduced number of episodes over a significant span of time, many mid-level writers now earn a fraction of the wages they would have gotten 10 or 20 years ago. In other words, per-episode pay rates have become outmoded and disadvantageous to writers.

STAFF WRITER SCIPT PAYMENTS

Little known fact: Staff Writers (the lowest ranking writers on a tv show) don't get paid extra for their scripts, which are charged against their overall pay. With shorter orders, Staff Writers often get hired for many less weeks, and sometimes they have to repeat Staff Writer multiple times before getting promoted. Staff Writers need to get paid script fees to shore up their salaries.

LOW STREAMING RESIDUALS

Streaming services currently pay much lower residuals than networks or traditional syndication, both on features and television episodes. This practice undermines the financial stability of writers and also reduces payments to our pension and health funds. When I started in this business, writing several episodes of a successful show, or writing a successful movie, guaranteed years of future income, helping plug the gaps between jobs. Streaming has greatly reduced this income source.

The Guild is fighting for significantly higher streaming residuals, to bring them closer to parity with traditional network reruns.

LACK OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE FOR NEW WRITERS

Twenty years ago, a lower level writer might work on several scripts a year, supervising and rewriting freelancers in addition to writing or co-writing episodes of their own. Today, lower levels on streaming shows are lucky to write a single script a season. Often this script is shared with a senior writer. As a result, these writers are missing out on valuable writing experience as they rise through the ranks.

Unfortunately, this lack of opportunity extends to all aspects of production. In streaming, lower level and mid-level writers are often no longer with the project by the time prep begins. This means they get no experience in vital aspects of production, including rewriting for production and working in post. As a result, up-and-coming writers are often underprepared when they reach upper levels or sell their own shows. Compound this with a rise in “director driven” streaming shows, and the power and authority of television writers is under significant threat.

The Guild made several proposals to ensure that the future generations of writers get the skills they need to thrive, steer their own creations, and continue our success as a union. The studios rejected them all.

PROLIFERATION OF FREE WORK

This has long been an issue for screenwriters, and it’s increasingly becoming a concern for television writers as well, especially in streaming. More and more, producers secure established intellectual property as source material, then engage in protracted audition processes during which dozens of writers are asked to pitch their takes on I.P. they do not control, often over the course of multiple meetings for months on end.

Even for the winner of a pitch sweepstakes, actual payment can be months or even years away, and it’s almost always contingent on a network sale or securing financing and distribution. Which requires more pitching and more unpaid work. In short, writers are spending enormous amounts of time developing pitches, often paying for visual materials out of their own pockets, all just to secure if/come deals, many of which never bear fruit.

Finally, writers that do win sweepstakes pitches are often only paid for a single draft, while having to execute multiple unpaid "producer drafts. This is driving down writer wages in features and development.

MINIROOMS

Over the past few years, the companies have institute a practice called "mini-rooms" wherein they hire a handful of writers to start working on a show before it's greenlit or picked up for another season. Mini-rooms only pay scale, meaning a pay cut for most writers, and they come with no guarantee of future employment. The WGA wants the studios to pay a higher rate for mini-rooms.

TEXT GENERATING PROGRAMS

Falsely labelled "A.I." Text-Generators like ChatGPT could become a fundamental threat to human writers. These programs are essentially plagiarism machines. They are programed on our writing, then chop it up and spew it back out in a kind of algorithm driven version of the proverbial infinite monkeys with typewriters. We need to restrict the use of Text Generators and to protect human writers.

Hope that helps! Please note I am not a WGA board member and am not part of the negotiations. These are the issues as I see them. Opinions expressed are solely my own.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/11/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast&Crew Sightings; Rhys; Wee John Wondays; Rosie; Vico; Kaimana; Vico & Samantha Rei; Claudia; Articles; S2 Rewatch; Relax I'm From the Future Watch; Articles; People of Earth Season 1 Watch Party Reminder; Apple Tv Valentine's Video; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= Rhys Darby =

Our favourite Captain attended the 28th annual Art Directors Guild Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on February 10, 2024. He announced 2 of the winners and both those people weren't there to receive it! "This feels personal. What's so bad about meeting me?" NOTHING RHYS EVERY ONE OF US WILL COME MEET YOU DON'T WORRY. Thank you to @rhysdarbinizedarby for all the pics.

==Wee John Wondays==

Wee John Wonday's are back tomorrow! 10.30 PM GMT (5:30 PM ET, 1:30 PT) Looks like there's a Mystery Special Guest! Could it be Nathan? Or Matthew Maher perhaps? Someone cute!

== Rosie and Vico and Kaimana ==

Rosie also attended the Them Fatale last night! She got to meet up with Vico and Kaimana and it looks like everyone had an amazing time! These three are so adorable together.

Vico also met up with Samantha Rei! Check out their Live IG here

= Claudia O'Doherty =

Not OFMD related, but it's nice to see our lovely Claudia (Mary) out and about and being a goofy fun lady as usual.

== Articles ==

The Best New TV Shows to Stream on Max This Week

== Today's Rewatch Party / Relax I'm From the Future Watch ==

= S2 Rewatch Party =

Our friends @adoptourcrew had a Rewarch party with Q! today in honour of Season 2 being on iPlayer. Just some highlights for you folks not on twitter:

= Relax Im from the Future Highlights =

== Watch Party Reminders ==

Feb 12 - Feb 16: People of Earth Season 1

People of Earth is no longer on any streaming platform, but it is available for digital purchase (ex, on Amazon). If access is an issue, DM Me @gentlebeardsbarngrill (@iamadequate1 may be indisposed so I have access if you need it).

Season 1 watch next week from February 12th to February 16th. 

Skipping the week after in case people want to participate in the next Palestine strike. 

Season 2 watch from February 26th to March 1st 

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST. Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each. Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags: 

#PiratesOfEarth 

#SaveOFMD 

#AdoptOurCrew

== Apple TV Valentine's Video ==

Some of the crew put together this lovely video for the Apple TV #WooAsACrew event! Check it out!

Vocals: twitter.com/ferventrabbit Video: twitter.com/Giulianaazr & twitter.com/ragsandmuffins

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SaveOFMD Crew (@saveofmd_crew)

== Love Notes ==

Alright lovelies, it's that time again. Covid brain is still pretty strong with me tonight so I hope I don't sounds like a raving lunatic. Over here in the US it's Sunday night. For those of you on the other side of the world it's already Monday. I hope you all got some good rest this weekend, you deserve it. You've been working so very hard at just living lately. It's tough I know, and it can really wear on you over time. You're doing great though, you really are. It's so hard to see how far we've come when we are living in this constant state of survival, but you know what's really cool? There's a past version of you right now that is so incredibly proud of you. If that you could see yourself right now, they'd be in awe at how far you've come, and how much you've grown. Where you are today will be that same person in a few months or a year, marveling at your progress. You are doing so very well, even on tough days. Remember that. The crew and I are so very proud of you lovelies, and we know past you is too (and hopefully present you, but I understand if that's harder to do). Get some rest and keep at it, you got this. <3

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

So for tonight, I have a serious question. How the HELL did I miss that Taika did a TED talk, in a goddamn suit vest? Holy Frijoles, someone please make him wear these more often, it's uncomfortable how good he looks in that. Ted Talk Src.

So, uh ya, tonight's vest themed, IDK it just needed to happen, I suppose.

[lexisnotasimp]

Welcome home movie idea!

Note: It would be placed in 2010

Main Character: Blaye dills. She is a 10 year old girl with brown hair and blue eyes.

Blaye just moved into a neighborhood in Texas.

She is lonely since all the people living there are older people. Blaye's parents moved in because it was cheap, which is suspicious to Blaye. As Blaye unpacks her stuff into her room, she sees a dresser with an old tv on it. She thought, "Maybe the last people gave it as a gift for us.. Or mom and dad bought it, and I didn't know...." Then she looked through the drawers and found some cassettes that say: "Welcome Home" on it. Blaye was confused, so she put the cassettes on her bed.

Time skip a day later:

Blaye was just chilling and decided to search up the show that was labeled on the cassettes. She found a website all about it. She was amused and decided to look through it.

She looked at it for a while and then decided the next day while her parents were gone, she would look at it.

Time skip another day later:

Blaye's parents left her home alone for the whole 24 hours since it was a safe neighborhood, and they were going to a one day hotel stay. Blaye was watching tv, eating, and doing normal stuff. Then she decided to watch the cassettes. She put the cassettes in the player on the old tv. She saw the show introducing the main characters in the theme song. Wally Darling, Howdy Pillar, Eddie Dear, Poppy Partridge, Sally Starlight, Barnaby B. Beagle, Frank Frankly, Julie Joyful, and home. The whole episode had parts with the characters (like crafts with Eddie, shows with Sally, Ect.). Blaye was so intrigued, so she watched more. Then she got a text from her mom saying, "Me and your dad are staying a second day hun. Please be safe." Blaye then sighed, It was obvious her parents didn't care for her that much. So she kept watching the episodes. The weird part is that every episode it gets more fuzzy. Blaye just brushed it off, though, because she was certain it's because they are just old.

1 hour time skip:

Blaye went into the basement to get paint to pant a drawing. And then she saw something weird. It was the real puppet of the Mailman from Welcome Home: Eddie Dear. Blaye saw that it had dirt all over it and looked old. She then picked it up, and Eddie Dear stared at her as he said, "Stop playing the tapes...". Blaye was shocked, so she threw it on the ground in fear. Blaye then brushed it off as a hallucination.

1 day time skip:

It was 11:00 pm and the next day her parents were coming back. She kept watching the tapes and she saw one that was named "Homeworming". Blaye turned it on. She watched the whole 22 minutes (insert her watching the awayfrompryingeyes.net video). She was so scared at the part where Eddie was in fear that she turned it off. Blaye then heard talking outside. She walked outside and saw that she was in the Welcome Home neighborhood. She knew she was not sleeping because it hurt when she wit herself. Then Eddie Dear the mailman grabbed her and went into her house with her. He then said, "I told you not to watch anymore of the tapes!!! It's dangerous.. Stay in your house with me.." Blaye was in fear and started crying. Eddie hugged her. "As long as Wally ain't here, we will be fine.." Wally then comes in.. "Hello, Neighbors.. It's nice to meet this new face.." Wally says,"Go away!" Eddie says in anger

Wally then snaps his finger, and they appear in a dark room.

"No! No!" Eddie screams. Blaye then curls up in fear. The room goes dark, and Eddie screams in pain... The room lights turn back on, and Eddie's legs are missing... Blaye screams in shock. "I'm okay, kiddo... I'm just a puppet. A sentient one.." Blaye sighs and keeps crying. Eddie pats her head. "It will be okay, kid.. I hope.." Eddie says. Then Wally comes in with a knife. Eddie stands in front of Blaye. "MAKE A RUN FOR IT!!!!!" Eddie says as Blaye then runs out, and Wally chases her. "Get back, neighbor!!!" Wally says manically. Blaye then runs into her house, and just before Wally can kill her, she turns off the tape, and then Wally dissolves into nothingness. Blaye looks out her window and sighs in relief when she sees her normal neighborhood out the window. Blaye immediately hides the tapes back in the drawer. She then rushes to the basement and sees the Eddie Dear puppet.

"Keep me in a box in your closet, and when you ever want to watch those tapes again, please tell me first!!! I can tell you how to watch them without getting transported to Home.." Eddie says in a calm but firm tone.

"You're actually alive!!!" Blaye says.

"I've always been.. When you saw me get hurt, that was a hallucination.. But home is a real place.. you were transported to another world.." Eddie says.

Blaye then puts him in a box and takes him to her room.

"Untill your parents come back just keep me on the bed so I can protect you if Wally somehow gets out..." Eddie says looking at her.

A day later:

Blaye's parents come back and Blaye hugs them but her parents obviously don't care about her. Blaye goes back to her room, sighing. She puts the puppet of Eddie Dear in the box and puts him in the closet.

The end.

[you-fuckers-are-asses]

ICYMI We dropped "Jackass: The Naughty Cuts" on the discord a couple days ago!

We were recently given permission to share a completed restoration project of the Jackass TV series completed by online users SpaceDougMan & Lawful. Jackass: The Naughty Cuts is a superior remastering of the show than the previously released and highly regarded "TURD edition."

The restoration uses multiple sources available of the show to piece together a superior restoration of the show than previously avaliable through TURD or official sources like paramount + or MTV.

You'll find it on the Vault server in our #content-links channel.

Here's some more information provided through a text file from the original project runner...

Jackass: The Uncensored Naughty Collection (restoration)

Author SpacemanDoug Date 18-Dec-2022, 5:22 PM

Some of you may be wondering “wait didn’t someone else attempt to restore this show?” and yes while that is true, there were unfortunately some major missteps in the wrong direction and some oversights made as well by the person who made the initial “Turd Collection” batch. But first I’m going to go into a bit of how I made my versions. It turns out that, a fact that apparently a lot are unaware of, that Paramount+ returns the show to its original TV format for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately there are still some major issues with these versions like censorship and a ton of music replacement. What ended up happening this time around was whenever a sketch from an episode would be cut, most of the time to fill in the missing minutes, MTV would use a repeated version of a sketch from a previous or future episode. There was even one instance where a sketch was repeated twice in two censored episodes. Either way, you won’t find any of that here. There were also several episodes where the MTV audio sounded better than the Paramount+ audio, so in music instances of those episodes, despite not being replaced I still used the MTV audio.

Another topic I wanted to go into and one reason why I decided to make entire ground up restorations is the framerate. For an unknown reason, the versions from the Turd Collection were rendered at an incorrect framerate (576i which is PAL and not the native NTSC framerate), de-noised, and deinterlaced. All of these are major red flags if one wants to properly restore taped material, because whenever you watch his versions, the framerate is all janked and jumpy, so in my versions I just left everything “as is” (video noise and all) and to me it gives off a MUCH smoother framerate than what was there before. The turd version was also still missing footage in every episode, namely the “coming up next” segments and the fade-ins, though I don’t entirely blame this person for this issue either as he clearly didn’t have all of the same sources I did because the old TV captures he used were missing all of them and I had alternative TV sources that restored all of them (though the Paramount+ versions had almost all of them intact anyway, only a few were missing fortunately). As a result, every episode will on average be about 30 seconds longer than what the Turd Collection has to offer (the Gumball Rally special is a damn near minute and a half longer though). There was also another oversight which was they were seemingly unaware that the “WARNING” skull that was present in the opening and fade-ins of episodes was different in the first season and the first four episodes of the second season, so I restored the versions originally used here as well. Also other minor oversights like additional “don’t try this at home” texts added to stunts after the original broadcasts that he accidentally included in those versions were addressed here as well.

I used almost all of the same sources the Turd Collection used to try to achieve the least amount of upscaled TV footage as possible. Unfortunately I didn’t have access to their Amazon source or what’s listed as the “CDVD” source, so as a result, there were a few small instances where I still ended up using their work because it looked better than the TV footage. So credit goes to them as a direct result of this. However, fortunately of the 7 stunts in those versions that required upscaling from the MTV recordings, only 2 required that here (not counting instances of when I used MTV footage for a missing moment or one of the “small” sketches) and both were in the first season. One thing I also did was on Paramount+, every episode had a “this show is airing in its original form with outdated social norms” screen on it in the openings that I also decided to remove and so you won’t find it in my versions anywhere.

Said stunts and the sources I used are: -Human BBQ (MTV sourced) -Up in Flames (was intact on Paramount+) -The Poo Hug (MTV sourced) -Taxi 1 (was intact on Paramount+) -Hockey Check (was intact on Paramount+) -Night Monkey 2 (was mostly intact on Paramount+) -The Abduction (was provided as a special feature on one of the DVD releases so I used that source)

Another thing I have to go into is the sources I had access to. If it wasn’t for the OT.com user “lawful”, this restoration wouldn’t have been possible one bit. He provided me with everything outside of the TV captures and helped me achieve the best restoration possible for this series. So big giant thanks to him for making this project possible. Also gotta give credit to the creator of the Turd Collection restorations, since as I said earlier I did use some of their work (in those instances, their work will be labeled as the Turd source) still I gotta give credit to them and also I used their cut report to figure out where I could find sketches at (like if they were on The Lost Tapes DVD or the Volume 1-3 DVD versions). I decided to make a cut report of my own as well, to get an idea of how much work was exactly needed to be done to get the show back to its original state compared to what’s available officially on Paramount+

If interested, please either reply here or PM me.

Season 1: This season was definitely the most butchered out of all of them, almost every episode was missing at least one stunt/sketch and had the most re-assembly required. Even the intro was censored where a shot of a woman puking was replaced with Knoxville covering himself in tomato juice (I restored the original puking shot to every episode before you ask). I’d dare say the second and fourth episodes are the most butchered of the entire series, they required the most work alone. This entire season also originally aired with an alternative silent version of the opening “WARNING” screen (which was also used for the fade-ins) so I restored that to every episode as well.

-Episode 1: 0:00 - 0:11: original “welcome to Jackass” intro (taken from The Lost Tapes) (replaced with a repeat from episode 2) 0:34: brief amount of MTV footage used to restore original fade from the intro 0:35 - 0:42: “WARNING” screen restored to its original spot along with the original variant used unique to the episode 0:42 - 2:55: original song 1:37 - 1:42: small amount of footage of clerk playing on guitar (taken from the re-edited episode 2) 3:20 - 6:45: three different songs restored to three different scenes 6:45 - 6:52: original “coming up next” segment restored (footage taken from the re-edited episode 2) 7:08 - 9:20: original song 9:38 - 11:31: original song 11:39 - 13:02: Wee Man Oompa Loompa skateboard parody restored (footage taken from the Lost Tapes but MTV audio used due to sounding better) 13:23 - 14:47: original song 14:57 - 16:37: original song

-Episode 2: 0:48 - 3:07: original roller jump sketch restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 3, taken from The Lost Tapes, MTV audio used due to sounding better), no music replaced 1:23 - 1:34: MTV footage mixed in due to the bar covering the doctor’s face differing from the lost tapes version of the sketch 5:03 - 5:12: original “Naked Dave” scene restored using the Turd source (replaced with a repeat from episode 1) 5:13 - 6:07: original Bam Margera trampoline stunt restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 3), no music replaced (taken from The Lost Tapes, MTV audio used) 6:22 - 6:32: original “coming up next” segment restored (replaced with a repeat from the original version of episode 1) 6:50 - 7:26: music wasn’t replaced surprisingly, but the MTV capture was a lot better quality audio wise than the Paramount+ version so I ended up using the MTV audio 7:27 - 10:36: original “human barbeque” segment restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 1) 10:45 - 11:21: original Dave England segment restored (taken from the Volume 1 DVD), (replaced with a repeat from episode 1, funnily enough this was the cut “Oompa Loompa” parody by Wee Man, though of course the song audio is altered) 11:23 - 13:49: original song restored 14:08 - 14:12: original naked run segment restored using the Turd source 14:13 - 15:03: again surprisingly the song wasn’t replaced but I still used the MTV audio because it sounded a lot better than the Paramount+ audio 16:39 - 17:40: ditto 20:08 - 20:16: original “on the next Jackass” segment restored 21:02 - 21:30: MTV audio used due to sounding better than the Paramount+ audio 21:19 - 21:26: original credits footage restored (taken from the Lost Tapes bonus disk)

-Episode 3:

4:51 - 5:23: original song 7:07 - 7:18: original song 7:57 - 9:57: original song 10:02 - 10:19: original song 10:20 - 11:18: original song 11:35 - 11:52: original song 17:02 - 17:30: original song 18:48 - 19:50: original song

-Episode 4:. 1:16 - 1:23: Bam Margera segment restored using MTV footage (the Turd source footage actually looked worse in this instance) 2:01 - 3:59: original song 4:00 - 4:36: no music altered but MTV audio sounded a lot better 4:44 - 4:50: Turd source footage used to take out a warning text that was added to the Paramount+ version 4:51 - 5:28: again, no music altered but the MTV audio sounded a lot better 5:29 - 7:12: original poo hug segment restored (replaced with a repeat segment from episode 1) 7:47 - 8:04: original song 9:07 - 9:31: original song 9:07 - 9:27: missing fight footage restored (taken from The Lost Tapes) 9:32 - 9:54: missing Ryan Dunn segment restored (partially taken from The Lost Tapes, the last portion from the MTV recording, some additional restoration work done to restore name text and skull logo) 9:55 - 12:42: original Poo Poo Platter segment restored and used MTV audio due to the music slightly differing (taken from The Lost Tapes) (replaced with a repeat segment from episode 1) 15:02 - 16:05: MTV audio used due to sounding a lot better 15:58 - 16:03: missing footage restored 16:05 - 16:29: original Dave England segment restored (taken from The Lost Tapes) 16:30 - 20:20: original egg eating contest footage restored (footage taken mostly from the volume 1 DVD) (replaced with repeats from episodes 1 and 3) 16:48: small bit of footage restored using the MTV recording (no the jump cut was not an error on my part, it’s actually part of the source) 20:12 - 20:20: original “on the next Jackass” segment restored 20:21 - 21:23: used footage from the Lost Tapes bonus disk for the credits sequence, audio is from the MTV recording

-Episode 5: 3:14 - 3:50: original Chris Raab segment restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 1) (taken from The Lost Tapes) 5:37 - 5:41: brief amount of footage restored (taken from the Volume 1 DVD extras) 10:34 - 11:38: original song 11:38 - 11:44: original naked Dave segment restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 3) 13:18 - 13:26: original “coming up next” segment restored 17:45 - 20:05: original poo dive segment restored (replaced with a repeat from episode 3) (taken from the Volume 1 DVD)

-Episode 6: 2:59 - 3:22: original song 3:29 - 3:37: original song 6:46 - 7:13: original song 7:39 - 7:44: “coming up next” segment restored 8:36 - 9:39: original song 9:58 - 10:18: original song 10:36 - 11:01: original song 11:10 - 12:13: original song 13:04 - 13:36: original song 15:30 - 15:48: original song 17:04 - 17:35: original song 18:04 - 20:06: original song 20:07 - 20:17: “on the next Jackass” segment restored 20:43 - 20:59: original marching band audio restored

-Episode 7: 3:13 - 3:18: original Bam Margera segment restored (footage taken from The Lost Tapes, MTV audio used) 7:30 - 7:42: restored Ryan Dunn segment (footage taken from The Lost Tapes, MTV audio used) 12:34 - 12:40: restored Bam Margera segment (footage taken from The Lost Tapes, MTV audio used)

-Episode 8: 0:50 - 2:00: original song 2:14 - 2:22: MTV footage used to remove a “don’t try this at home” message that wasn’t in the original broadcast 3:35 - 5:29: original song 5:42 - 7:03: original song 7:18 - 7:32: MTV footage used to remove a “don’t try this at home” message that wasn’t in the original broadcast 9:40 - 10:29: original song 11:01 - 11:10: Lost Tapes footage used to remove a “don’t try this at home” message that wasn’t in the original broadcast 17:16 - 17:45: original song 17:52 - 20:28: original song

Season 2: This season didn’t require nearly as much work as the first season did though some major censorship still happened. However, similar to the first season, a shot of Dave England puking was censored in the intro of these episodes (replaced with a shot of one of the guys rolling down the street on a toilet), so I restored the original shot to every episode as well. Also the first four episodes had an earlier, alternate version of the “WARNING” crossbones screen (which includes an alternate voice over for it) compared to the one seen in the second half of this season and the third season. Unfortunately the source I had for it wasn’t nearly as good as the alternate skull variant in the first season, so I had to do a tiny bit of reconstructing to restore it, but needless to say it’s back in the first four episodes now. Two episodes of this season though have the most baffling edits I’ve seen of the show, which is that both episodes for whatever reason have their proper season intros replaced with the season 1 intro, which makes 0 sense to me but either way I restored the correct intro to those episodes.

-Episode 9: 7:48 - 7:56: original song (very sloppily replaced in the Paramount+ version I have to say) 7:57 - 8:03: original “coming up next” segment restored 8:52 - 10:12: original song 11:37 - 13:45: song wasn’t replaced but the MTV audio sounded a lot better so it’s been utilized 14:13 - 15:34: original song 15:35 - 17:55: MTV audio used due to sounding a lot better than the Paramount+ audio (the latter even has some missing sound effects)

-Episode 10: 3:32 - 4:10: original fire extinguisher segment restored though some restoration work had to be used to restore the crossbones skull logo (primarily taken from The Lost Tapes, replaced with a repeat segment from episode 3) 3:43 - 3:48 some MTV footage had to be used along with the aforementioned crossbones logo being restored 10:20 - 10:32: original Bam Margera segment restored (mostly taken from The Lost Tapes, replaced with a repeat segment from episode 3)

-Episode 11: 3:04 - 3:17: original song 3:45 - 6:00: music specific moments used MTV audio due to sounding better than the Paramount+ audio (music itself remained unaltered) 6:29 - 7:46: original song 11:30 - 12:04: MTV audio used due to sounding better than the Paramount+ audio (music itself remained unaltered) 15:40 - 16:39: original song

-Episode 12: 7:04 - 8:34: original song

-Episode 13:

1:57 - 3:28: original song (funnily enough the replacement is a cover version of this song) 3:05 - 3:13: MTV footage used to remove a “don’t try this at home” text not in the original broadcast 4:26 - 5:00: original song along with Phil’s singing and whistling are restored 11:45 - 12:19: original Raab Himself segment restored (taken from the Volume 2 DVD, replaced with a repeat segment from episode 15) 12:29 - 12:33: footage from the Turd source used to remove a “Tony Hawk is a professional” text not in the original broadcast 13:53 - 14:01: original “coming up next” segment restored 17:51 - 20:07: original Milk Challenge segment restored (taken from The Lost Tapes) (replaced with a repeat segment from episode 15) 18:03 - 19:52: original song 21:10 - 21:15: original credits footage restored (taken from The Lost Tapes special features)

-Episode 14: 3:23 - 3:40: original Dave England segment restored (taken from the Volume 2 DVD) (replaced with a repeat segment from episode 15) 7:31 - 9:24: original song 9:25 - 9:43: original Steve-O segment restored (taken from The Lost Tapes) 10:38 - 10:42: brief amount of footage restored using the MTV recording 11:35 - 11:36: very very brief amount of footage restored using the MTV recording 11:35 - 13:48: original Human Raft segment restored (footage taken from The Lost Tapes) (replaced with a repeat segment from episode 1) 11:35 - 13:48: original song 13:56 - 14:34: original song 18:01 - 19:25: music not replaced but MTV audio used due to sounding better 20:26 - 21:30: original unaltered credits footage restored (taken from The Lost Tapes special features) 20:52 - 21:30: MTV audio used due to having the audio for the unaltered footage and sounding better

-Episode 15:

0:36 - 1:00: proper season 2 intro restored (replaced with season 1 intro) 1:41 - 3:46: original song 4:00 - 5:03: original song 7:21 - 8:04: original song 8:05 - 10:14: original song 16:38 - 17:10: original song 18:29 - 20:13: original song

-Episode 16:

0:24 - 0:49: proper season 2 intro restored (replaced with the season 1 intro) 1:02 - 2:04: original song 2:31 - 2:44: original song 3:08 - 3:26: original song 4:22 - 5:28: original song 5:36 - 6:56: original song 11:07 - 13:31: original song 15:37 - 16:23: original song 16:41 - 17:23: original song 17:26 - 18:52: original song 19:26 - 20:26: original song (the altered song ended up bleeding into the “on the next Jackass” segment so that got fixed too) 20:35 - 20:42: original song

Season 3: This season was the least edited in terms of censorship, but some censorship still occurred. Like for example, almost all references to Brad Pitt were removed in the episodes he appeared in (to the point of covering his face with a black bar in shots with his face). However, this season was the absolute worst with music edits because every episode pretty much had almost every single song removed. Also similar to the second season, a few episodes for some unexplainable reason replaced the season 3 intro with the one used in season 1. Also similar to the first two seasons, a shot of Dave England puking has been replaced with a shot of Johnny Knoxville falling down stairs while naked (which is actually the version used for the rest of the episodes for this season), but it’s fortunate that this only affected the first episode of this season. I also chose to utilize the DVD version of the Gumball Rally special because the audio sounded much better and for another unexplainable reason, the Paramount+ version is severely zoomed in on all four sides while the DVD was not. Neither was completely uncut, but they didn’t have cuts in the same place, so no TV footage had to be upscaled to make the complete episode. (funnily enough the DVD was less cut than the Paramount+ version)

-Episode 17:

0:43 - 1:06: proper season 3 intro restored (replaced with season 1 intro) 0:59 - 1:02: alternate/differently edited shots restored to the intro (taken from their native episodes) 1:09 - 1:25: original song 2:10 - 2:39: original song 2:45 - 4:40: original song 5:03 - 7:11: original song 7:53 - 10:43: original song 10:44 - 10:57: original song 11:40 - 12:01: original song 12:11 - 12:23: original song 12:50 - 13:05: original song 14:31 - 14:53: original song 14:54 - 15:07: original “coming up next” segment restored 16:30 - 16:52: original song 16:53 - 20:21: original omelette segment restored (taken from the Volume 3 DVD) (replaced with repeats from episode 15) 20:22 - 20:30: original “on the next Jackass” segment restored using the Turd source 20:30 - 21:21: original credits footage restored (taken from The Lost Tapes special features) (funnily enough the audio remained unchanged), a hilariously sloppy edit was a single frame of one of the “original” shots that was altered still snuck in the Paramount+ version

-Episode 18:

2:41 - 4:20: original song 4:49 - 6:21: original song 6:21 - 7:40: no music replaced but the MTV audio sounded better 7:44 - 7:48: MTV audio used because Paramount+ audio cut out too early 8:13 - 8:29: no music replaced but the MTV audio sounded better 9:01 - 9:31: no music replaced but the MTV audio sounded better 10:08 - 11:00: original song 14:04 - 14:12: MTV audio used because Paramount+ audio cut out too early

-Episode 19: 0:37 - 1:01: proper season 3 intro restored (replaced with season 1 intro) 1:29 - 1:59: original song 2:48 - 4:37: original song 4:38 - 6:10: original song 9:39 - 10:57: original song 12:35 - 13:45: original song 14:10 - 15:24: original song

-Episode 20: 1:10 - 3:31: original song 4:12 - 5:46: original song 8:54 - 10:02: original song 10:16 - 10:57: original song 12:09 - 12:18: original song 12:32 - 15:03: original song 16:33 - 17:35: no music replaced but the MTV audio sounded better

-Episode 21: 4:28 - 6:42: original song 7:00 - 8:13: original song 13:43 - 15:14: original song 15:40 - 17:14: original song

-Episode 22: 0:56 - 2:48: original song 2:49 - 3:26: original song 4:37 - 5:17: original song 13:59 - 14:37: original song 16:16 - 16:41: original song

-Episode 23: 3:53 - 4:39: original song 7:52 - 8:09: original “coming up next” segment and commercial fade-in intro restored using Paramount+ footage 8:37 - 9:14: original song 10:24 - 11:10: original song 14:46 - 15:41: original song 15:42 - 16:02: original “coming up next” segment and commercial fade-in intro restored using Paramount+ footage 24:49 - 25:27: original song 25:28 - 25:50: original “coming up next” segment and commercial fade-in intro restored using Paramount+ footage 26:25 - 27:37: original song 28:59 - 29:08: brief amount of Steve-O footage restored using Paramount+ footage 28:59 - 29:19: song restored to its original spot 35:15 - 35:35: original “coming up next” segment and commercial fade-in intro restored using Paramount+ footage 39:47 - 40:23: original song

-Episode 24: 0:25 - 0:48: proper season 3 intro restored (replaced with season 1 intro) 1:10 - 1:40: original song 1:45 - 3:07: original song 3:19 - 4:37: original song 4:38 - 6:29: original song 4:43: uncensored Brad Pitt credit restored (taken from the Volume 1 DVD special features) 6:08 - 6:12: brief amount of extra footage restored 6:59 - 8:03: original song 8:26 - 9:56: original song 11:53 - 13:18: original song 13:51 - 15:06: original song 16:11 - 16:59: original song 20:50 - 20:58: original uncensored Brad Pitt footage restored which had a face bar added in the Paramount+ version (taken from the Lost Tapes bonus disk)

-Episode 25:

0:13 - 0:17: extra intro footage restored (taken from the Lost Tapes bonus disk) 1:01 - 1:23: proper season 3 intro restored (replaced with season 1 intro) 1:24 - 2:31: original Brad Pitt abduction segment restored (taken from the Volume 1 DVD special features) 2:31 - 2:40: original Chris Pontius segment restored, MTV footage used due to the Turd source having an extra logo not in the original broadcast 2:41 - 3:02: original song 3:12 - 4:00: original silence restored 4:00 - 4:21: MTV audio used due to the Paramount+ audio being edited to remove the song playing in background 5:01 - 5:43: original song 6:15 - 6:24: original song 6:51 - 7:04: original song 7:34 - 7:46: original song 8:24 - 9:40: original song 9:50 - 11:04: original song 11:04 - 11:22: original song 13:20 - 13:50: original song 14:08 - 15:22: original background silence restored 16:23 - 16:57: original Totem Pole segment restored using the Turd source, audio taken from the MTV recording 17:26 - 18:38: original song 18:39 - 18:54: original song 19:05 - 20:00: original song 20:49 - 20:50: original unbleeped audio restored 21:01 - 21:03: uncensored blackface footage restored (taken from the Lost Tapes bonus disk) 21:15 - 21:27: uncensored Brad Pitt footage and audio restored (footage taken from the Lost Tapes bonus disk), audio from the MTV recording used

[merlincersei]

Merlin BBC UK TV Show - Opinion Piece Part 3 - Deciphering The Ages Of Merlin, Arthur and Morgana and It’s Possible Implication To Their Character Arc

I have used a quite modern interpretation of their ages, but it’s not like this show was ever particularly historically correct.

Arthur’s Age:

The Great Purge started directly after Arthur’s birth as confirmed by Uther in the very first episode of Season 1 when they celebrated the capture of the Great Dragon “20 years ago”.

In Season 1 Episode 9 Arthur is named as the crown prince in the coming of age ceremony.. So we can assume he turned 21.

Therefore Arthur’s age could be:

Season 1 - Age 21

A Year Passes

Season 2 - Age 22

Another year, We know it’s been a year because Uther says, “it’s been a year since Morgana’s been missing”.

Season 3 - Age 23

About 2 more years pass. Arthur says something about 2 years of peace before Morgana shows up again.

Season 4 - Age 25

Two more years pass. Morgana states that she was trapped in a hole for 2 years.

Season 5 - Age 27

Merlin’s Age:

GIF by aclanswoman

Merlin is described as a “young boy” in Series 1-3 and as a “young man” in Series 4-5 by Kilgharrah.

So it is safe to assume that Merlin is less than 18 in Series 1-3 and at least 18 in Series 4-5.

Therefore Merlin’s age could be:

Season 1 - Age 15

Season 2 - Age 16

Season 3 - Age 17

Season 4 - Age 19

Season 5 - Age 21

Morgana’s Age:

GIF by emryslastbraincell

Here is a leaked image from the script from the first episode that describes Morgana thus:

Therefore Morgana’s age should be the same as Merlin:

Season 1 - Age 15

Season 2 - Age 16

Season 3 - Age 17

Season 4 - Age 19

Season 5 - Age 21

So if my deduction is correct then, it clarifies certain plot points in the series:

1) Uther did not cheat on Igraine. Igraine died birthing Arthur. Morgana being younger than Arthur means Uther’s affair with Morgana’s mother Vivenne happened after Igraine’s death.

2) The young ages of Merlin and Morgana help us understand the huge number of mistakes they both made. Nobody that young can cope with the huge responsibilities and turmoil these two faced.

3) Arthur being condescending to Merlin to a certain extent now makes more sense as he is that much older than him, instead of Arthur just being a CLOTPOLE.

[vineofroses]

I'm going to actually keep up with TV shows this year. This will be my running list of the shows I'm watching.

First up: Echo

Notes:

I haven't watched a Marvel property in years. I think the last full one was WandaVision. Hopefully I won't be too lost.

Will edit this post with final thoughts after I finish it.

REVIEW:

I really liked this but it's definitely another candidate for the Bring Back Longer Seasons campaign. The easiest show to compare it to is obviously Daredevil -- imagine what this show could have done with 13 episodes. I miss those days, but just know that when I say bring back longer seasons, I mean the 22 episode ones. But the Daredevil days was the bridge between the 22 episode seasons and the bullshit 5 or 6 or 8 episode seasons. Echo sitting at five episodes is a travesty.

But even though I did feel a little behind on some Marvel information, I enjoyed what was there. Everything is there to make it one of the best Marvel things, but it just doesn't feel lived in. There's not a lot of exploration for the audience to do within both of Maya's worlds, which makes some of the emotionally engaging scenes fall flat.

Particularly with Wilson Fisk. That's the other issue. How does Wilson Fisk fit in here? I know he was in two episodes of Hawkeye in 2021 (which I didn't finish) but Echo feels like Vincent D'Onofrio's true return as the character -- which I'm grateful for! But it's been six years (omg!) since Daredevil on Netflix was cancelled -- he's feels so out of context here. Is he the same man from that Netflix show? How much of his story from the Netflix show should I be bringing into his Disney+ era? These same questions go for Daredevil/Matt Murdock. The absolute scream I screamed when he appeared was so loud my dog fled to her crate. Oh, how I've missed Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. But it's a double-edged sword, isn't it? Even if they confirm these are the same characters from Netflix, they are going to be different in some way. They will be a strange mix of the Netflix DNA and the Disney+ DNA and even after five episodes, I'm still not sure what to think of Fisk right now. Didn't we last leave him in prison (again) at the end of Daredevil Season 3? (perfect season of television). All of this context-less world building is just another casualty of the show's short season.

All that aside, Alaqua Cox was amazing. I vaguely remembered her from Hawkeye (again, never finished this show) but I'm so glad she gets a fleshed out story in Echo, even it's too short of one. While there's certainly too much exposition, the show's flashbacks are probably my favorite part. These are the emotional scenes and themes that work. Maya discovering her connection to her ancestors was beautiful; that final battle when Chafa, Lowak, Tuklo, and Taloa all show up to stand behind Maya gave me chills. And to see the power run through Bonnie and Chula was really powerful. The subtle genre breaks for these flashbacks were also really well done, especially Tuklo's silent movie flashback. I really loved that final battle scene being mostly silent since we were experiencing it through Maya's perspective. Very, very effective.

All I ask is for more Devery Jacobs. I'm still salty about The Order being cancelled, too.

--

Up Next: TBD

[thisismehappy]

Olivia's Apartment: A study with terrible gifs

Season 15/Early 16

Seems like the back door leads to a bedroom, but you never see it so that's debatable. Brian said it was a small apartment which would seem to imply one bedroom, but it's not explicit. When Noah has been with her for four months already, she had his crib in the living room which also kinda implied there was only one bedroom. When she opens the door for Melinda there are not big lights in the hallway which we'll look at more later.

Late Season 16

Partway though season 16 the crib moves so that it's visible through the back door which is a little confusing. Is that a bedroom? Is he sleeping in a little vestibule area? In this scene there are now the big lights in the hallway that we see when Elliot shows up in OC 2x03.

Season 17-19

Partway though season 17 the back door starts showing a shelf instead of a crib. We only ever see a bedroom in this apartment in season 19 and it's Noah's. It opens to a little hallway that has a couple of doors. The implication I assume is that one is the back door we've seen since season 15 and the other is Liv's room (never seen). When someone knocks at the door she goes through the one that seems like it's the backdoor to the apartment. But when she walks through it there's a chair and an end table but when she lets the lady in, it's the same shelf we've been seeing since season 17. (The Munch scene is from 18 and the scene with the lady is from 19 right after she walks out of Noah's room.) Also, when she lets the lady in, the door is brown instead of white like it is when Elliot shows up later, but I think we can say there were some upgrades over the years.

Season 22

As far as I can recall we don't see much of the apartment in 20 or 21 and if we did it wasn't much different. The apparent in this scene is pretty much the same as always, but I like that Liv's idea of decorating for Christmas is to just drape light over things. This looks like essentially the same furniture as when Elliot shows up. Same TV stand and couch I think and the same lamp the TV too, but there's a new giant fancy one in the next scene too which is maybe why it's brighter lol.

OC 2x03 (SVU Season 23)

Okay I thought this was a different apartment which is what started me on this whole road, but upon further review, it's the same one. The door is different (could have been upgraded) and as far as I know this is the first time we've gotten a full view of the hallway. But idk for sure about that. Someone let me know if I missed it before. Also, the walls seem whiter to me but it could be lighting or she painted. They were super white in season 16 though too. So if she painted, she's done it at least twice. I just realized it didn't make it into any of these gifs but the ugly brown chair Elliot sits in has been around since season 15. In the first shot we see when they're unpacking the apartment, it's there. I like to think it was Brian's chair that she adopted when he left. (No real reason except I enjoy the idea of Elliot sitting in Brian's chair lmao.) The lights above her kitchen island are a little different too I think, but again just could have been upgraded sometime. It's also just way cleaner, but maybe she was going through a phase. (Re: the brown chair. I thought I remembered seeing it in the new place but I only have 24x10 downloaded so far and I couldn't find it so I'm not sure if I imagined that or if it's in one of the other episodes.)

The 500th Episode (later in Season 23)

This looks like a completely different apartment to me. Now it is possible that the mystery door from Noah's hallway leads to an intensely long hallway that doesn't stylistically match the rest of the apartment, but it seems like maybe this is when she moved. Or the first time we would have seen evidence of it. I think this hallway could work with the new place as far as style and size. As far as I know, these are the most recent 3 times we've seen Liv's apartment, but I could be wrong about that so if anyone's still with me let me know if you've seen other things that support or refute this idea.

@rahleeyah - Just in case you're interested lmao. You were right about the apartment in OC 2x03. I think we were just seeing it from weird angles which threw me off lol.

[eoieopda]

thank you for the tag, @bintific my love! ✨ i am tagging @cordiallyfuturedwight @hopeinthebox @xjoonchildx @daechwitatamic and @jihopesjoint

last song? - “put that on my set” by a$ap mob ft. skepta! cozy tapes vol. 1 is *chef’s kiss*

favorite color? - it’s black, but in case that’s a boring answer, i will also say that i’m vibing heavy with mustard at this time.

last movie/tv show? - excluding k-pop variety shows, the last thing i watched was scream, which is one of my all-time, year-round faves.

currently watching? - right this absolute second, i’m rewatching the “let’s go” episodes of gose. catching up on that show was the worst thing that ever happened to me and waiting for new episodes is torture, so i started from the top again and am already zooming through. 1 RT = 1 prayer.

sweet/spicy/savory? - SPICY. if don’t break a lil bit of a sweat, it’s not hot enough. bring on the reflux, babeeeeyyyyy!

relationship status? - i’m still in my emily dickinson recluse era, lmao. i cannot express how much i do not want to be in a relationship rn.

current obsession? - troye sivan’s new album, which @/jihopesjoint turned me onto a mere 24 hours ago and has consumed my brain since then. i spent all day with my fam earlier singing and wiggling along to, “face card — no cash, no credit. yes, gawd — don’t speak, you said it,” and they somehow (??) didn’t kill me for it.

last thing i googled? - …….the 2024 dates for the mothman festival in west virginia because i’ve always wanted to go but missed it this year 👁️👄👁️ it’ll be 9/21-9/22, if anyone was wondering. lmaooooo.

[girl4music]

I loves me Tillow and me Calliette and me WayHaught. But Xabrielle will always be my NO.1 WLW PAIRING.

You just cannot beat a relationship like theirs because it was so grounded in the notion of a great romantic friendship. They always put the friendship part above everything. It’s like, yeah, they were actual physical lovers too - but the most important aspect of their relationship to them was their friendship and it’s never really ever played that way with any other WLW pairing in TV art/entertainment now because the romance and lovers aspect can be so explicit now that they just substitute all that strong and substantial emotional chemistry and emotional intimacy for more physical chemistry and physical intimacy. It’s honestly just too shallow that way in my personal opinion because I much prefer the former. I prefer the less physical way.

I’m not saying that I don’t like the fact that it’s clearly established that two women are in a romantic/sexual relationship if they genuinely are. I am not saying that I don’t like that representation of a romance for WLW. I just really prefer the camaraderie Xena and Gabrielle had because it couldn’t be explicitly represented as a romance on-screen. Because, to me, that relationship dynamic seemed much more romantic. Much more of an actual ‘women loving women’ representation than WLW is now. I know it’s because they were the only two main characters in the entire show (a show that ran as long as 6 seasons, 22-24 episodes per season) and so they had more than enough on-screen time as individual characters and as a relationship dynamic to set up and build up their emotional chemistry and emotional intimacy. And because there couldn’t be kissing or sex shown every other episode like there can be now, they really had to work so much harder to represent this WLW pairing as a romance on-screen. They had to show them more being friends than being lovers. That’s why it’s the greatest love story ever told.

Seriously guys, if you have never seen ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, I really recommend you go watch it because you need to know and see everything you’re missing for WLW representation in TV art/entertainment today because they just take the easy and lazy physical way when we know real life romantic/sexual relationships between women are so much more than just physical.

I love all my other WLW ships but Xabrielle is just better than all of them combined because it was EPIC what they did with them as opposed to all the others.

[orionsangel86]

Getting nostalgia for SPN fandom experiences is rare but I'm feeling it tonight. Back when the show was still on, and a new season would have 22 episodes, it would air weekly from October, with a couple of holiday hiatus's all the way through til the following May. 8 months of almost constant weekly new content. I miss that experience.

SPN fandom back then was great because after a new episode aired you had a week to discuss, write meta, analyse, speculate, make gifsets and fanart, and just generally thrive in the excitement of what was gonna happen next.

Yes SPN was for the most part a pretty crappy show with terrible plot holes and repetitive stories that made no sense half the time but that only added to the fun of it.

I miss it. I know there are still SOME shows on network TV that have these schedules but its rare to find an active fandom nowadays thats blessed with constant new content to bond over. Streaming shows get released in bulk, or the ones that are released weekly are at most 10 episodes long and so the fandom build up and excitement only ever lasts a few months at most (followed by a minimum 2 year hiatus in most cases!)

I wish we could go back to the pre binge watching days. Half the fun of getting into a new show should be getting to experience it weekly with the fanbase on Tumblr. Thats how people interacted and made friends.

The landscape on tumblr is so different nowadays, and I think streaming platforms are partly to blame for that.

Anyways this is me telling all my old spn moots still hanging around on Tumblr that I miss our weekly spn chats and long text posts sharing meta and speculation with about a dozen excellent additions to every post. I miss the episode reviews and the shit posts and how if there was even a tiny destiel moment it would instantly become the most gif'd and screencapped thing on tumblr for the entire next week. I miss the post episode fic drabbles that would immediately fix whatever crap the episode pulled that fandom decided it hated, and I miss the hilarious and yet ruthless way everyone would tear apart Buckleming after every single one of their episodes.

Those were good times on Tumblr. The golden days of SPN fandom. It was so much fun back then.

[wellntruly]

M*A*S*H - Viewguide, S5

Are you interested in the long-running anti-war situation tragicomedy M*A*S*H (1972-1983), but there are simply so many asterisks and so many episodes?

Well I can’t help you with the asterisks, but nor can I help myself: I started watching all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, and bringing back for you my viewing selections, chosen for The Qualities.

— — —

This season overall I'd say feels kind of, mild? Less low lows and less high highs. Just middley. I nearly included one episode almost wholly for the appeal of being maybe 75% set at night (something I would do), and secondly for the appeal of Hawkeye sleepwalking, when he's not waking from nightmares. But it's very I'll say "Season 5" in that despite this, it's just, I don't know somehow milder than I might want, especially when this set-up naturally recalls the much odder and eerier 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' from Season 2, with (and possibly even because of) its spikier swings between the antic and traumatic.

But it happened that a lot of the stronger stuff here lent itself to putting together something of a more focused character collection. So welcome to our Special Issue!, highlighting the previously maybe somewhat under-served Major Margaret Houlihan, and Captain BJ Hunnicutt:

M*A*S*H - Season 5 Recommended sequence

5x03 ‘Margaret’s Engagement’ - So fun to me that Margaret & Frank transitioning from “secret” lovers to “secret” exes is somehow the exact same mood while having the opposite content. Ending comes out of nowhere and on a pretty weak joke, but when it's just Hawkeye & BJ lounging on each other on Margaret’s bed as she hops around showing them her goofy little engagement ring, that’s the Margaret & The Boys ‘Silly Mood’ vibes I've been missing, baby. Loretta Swit is back!

5x06 ’The Nurses’ - This one made me cry??? It was written and directed by women. It’s about women having complex relationships with each other. Bechdel Test smashed, only took us four seasons! 

5x08 ‘Dear Sigmund’ - It's the context here that really has me like, haha totally. This is the first episode they’ve let Alan Alda write all himself in three calendar seasons, and he's like great, okay: can I just get down nothing but a bunch of character meta and headcanons for everyone and put that up as TV? Yeah Victor Hugo that sounds wild, please do.

5x09 ‘Mulcahy’s War’ - Father Mulcahy goes out to the front to experience the horrors (more), but amazingly the real reason I'm including this one is that Gary Burghoff’s distressed little straight man hilarity here made me laugh so, so much, and then have a staggering realization: the character of Radar O'Reilly is absolutely the progenitor of Guillermo de la Cruz.

5x10 ‘The Korean Surgeon’ - Would be worth it for Hawkeye & BJ talking to Radar in the mess tent ALONE (Gary Emmy-winning year). But also I love their kind weary surgeon friend from ~the other side~

5x15 ‘The Most Unforgettable Characters’ - At 10 minutes in I'd thought, alright this is probably just another middle sort of one, and then at 10 minutes and 30 seconds, BJ (BJ, baby??!) spontaneously proposes that he and Hawkeye spend the rest of the episode play-acting that they're fighting to entertain Frank for his birthday, inspiring Barbara Kruger four years later to go, y'know what, I'm gonna have to comment on this.

5x19 ‘Hanky Panky’ - You tell me “BJ episode where he cheats on his wife,” and I’m going to say, “hm well that’s not the kind of character development I think I want,” but I would be wrong about that! A) love her, she's great in this, B) there is one particular revelation BJ shares here that is just, exquisite information. I will say no more at this juncture (Watch Notes: Coming soon!), but in light of oh, a lot: oh my god.

5x25 ‘Margaret’s Marriage’ - Let’s bookend this! One thing I love about long episodic seasons, is that after Margaret somehow ever more hilariously saying the name ‘Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott’ for 22 episodes, the man finally appearing felt like forbidden Beckett. 

And also now say bye-bye, Frank [chorus: bye-bye, Frank!]

Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • To be continued

#M*A*S*H hours

[the-haunted-star]

My humble thoughts on

Series Review (Spoilers!)

With the completion of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now 22 films and 2 TV shows deep. It’s not often that Marvel Studios drops the ball. I think it’d be fair to say that while not all the movies may have been home runs, they've hit more often than they've missed. However with two small screen ventures now under their belt with many more to come, it’s disappointing for me to say that I feel they’re only batting one for two so far.

WandaVision may not have been everyone’s cup of tea due to its unique premise and deeper focus on character study over action but it was successful in what it was trying to accomplish. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier by contrast appeared to be a more traditional Marvel action/adventure while exploring equally heavy themes as WandaVision. However unlike WandaVision which was able to remain honed in on its themes and story, TFATWS story was often meandering in direction and mired in bad pacing and heavy handed dialogue scenes. Coupled with sub plots that were either rushed or just unnecessary contributed to the series overall feeling of being uneven and messy.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Netflix Marvel shows was that they perhaps had too many episodes and not enough story to fill them which often resulted in some episodes feeling like a lot of filler. TFATWS had six episodes each roughly just under an hour and in this case six may not have been enough to fully explore the characters in a more compelling fashion. Especially when too much precious screentime was devoted to less relevant material such as Sam trying to get a bank loan to fix his family’s fishing boat, or the many scenes of the Flag Smashers standing around discussing their crusade.

John Walker was the one character that I felt was very short changed in this series. His arc was extremely rushed as by episode three he was already becoming unhinged despite nothing all that traumatic having happened to him yet. One of the things I loved about the comic book storyline was that it showed Walker and Lemar Hoskins going through training and Walker having to learn how to use the shield similar to Falcon’s training montage in episode five. Walker and Hoskins also had several missions on their own which helped illustrate Walker’s more extreme methods and gradual descent into mania which culminated when his parents were killed by villains using them as hostages to get to Walker. This series didn’t have or provide time enough to include any of those sorts of explorations. Lemar’s death was substituted for Walker’s parent’s death to trigger him over the edge. While it provided the same result for Walker’s character it didn’t feel quite as earned as it too came quickly before we got to know Lemar or see him in action enough with John.

Another area this series struggled was with its villains. The Flag Smashers were incredibly bland and ultimately ineffectual in their purpose. They never felt like a legitimate threat and they spent more time sitting around talking about what they wanted to do rather than actually carrying out action to accomplish it. The comic book Flag Smasher was always a D-list villain and the actress chosen to portray the group’s leader was not imposing or interesting enough to elevate the character above that lackluster reputation.

Fans were extremely excited for the return of Zemo, the villain responsible for engineering the break up of the Avengers in Civil War. Unfortunately instead of returning to this series to be one of its antagonists he was instead used to form and uneasy alliance with Sam and Bucky to help track down the Flag Smashers and the stolen Super Soldier Serum. While Zemo, played brilliantly by Daniel Brühl helped elevate and invigorate every scene he was in with his sinister charm and dry wit you couldn’t help but feel like he would have benefited the series much better as its principal villain. Especially considering how blasé and forgettable Karli Morgenthau turned out to be.

Genuine surprises were also something this series lacked. The biggest mystery presented in the series was who the mysterious black market arms dealer, The Power Broker was. Unfortunately many fans including myself saw the reveal coming a mile away and the character revealed to be the Power Broker, Sharon Carter was a head scratcher. There are any number of other characters I would have liked better as the Power Broker which would have been far more interesting and made much more sense than Sharon.

The action and fight scenes left a lot to be desired. Almost all of them were very underwhelming and felt very much like typical tv show fights you'd see on any other random small screen series. The one fight that did manage to rise to the occasion was the three-way fight between Sam, Bucky and John Walker in episode five. It was fast, hard hitting and edited pretty well so you could see the action clearly. That fight felt more like the type action you’d see in one of the movies.

As I mentioned earlier the themes this series was attempting to explore were pretty complex as well as topically relevant. For the most part I feel they were successful in developing these themes even though often it was accomplished in very dry and exposition heavy manner resulting in many overly talky scenes. For example the backstory of Isaiah Bradley which is a tragic one, is related to Sam in a lengthy one on one dialogue scene. That’s not to say it wasn’t a well acted scene but it would have been nice if some of these types moments could have been shown in flashback rather than simply told. Better to show rather than tell.

All of these types of issues continued in the finale resulting is a very messy, poorly paced and ultimately unsatisfying conclusion. The lone bright spot was the debut of Sam Wilson decked out in his new awesome, comic book accurate Captain America uniform. Also as expected John Walker received his black and white uniform to officially become the U.S. Agent which was also a welcome throwback to a cool comicbook moment.

Overall while there were many elements in this series that worked it just wasn’t enough to gel into a cohesive whole. Unfortunately I don’t foresee myself revisiting this series too often if at all. The Loki series is up next and while I thought the trailers looked good, TFATWS has forced me to curb my expectations a bit. ⭐⭐½

[adultswim2021]

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #71: “Girl Hair” | October 22, 1999 | S06E03

One of the few nice things about getting old is feeling some sort of custody over cultural references that, as time hurdles forward, require explanation. I get to feel smart for having my consciousness crapped out into the universe at a particular time and place, ahead of others. Before I am consumed by the same void which I fleetingly sprang from, I get the wonderful prize of condescending to people who are younger than me. And all I had to do was watch MTV when I was in high school. 

Hanson were, unless I’m missing something obvious, one-hit wonders whose cheery and perhaps intentionally cheesy song “Mmmbop” was wildly popular (and widely mocked). They still make music, they are just not as hyper visible as they once were. In fact, they are probably most famous now for being in memes and on T-Shirts where they are cheekily misidentified as Nirvana. 

Hanson were a trio of beautiful boys who were frequently derided for looking like girls. Being assigned male at birth and resembling what traditionally could be called “girly” made you a bit of a target in the 90s, especially if you lived in a hick town in Northern California, and were a comedy fan. In the late 90s even if homophobia (and what could perhaps be considered transphobia, but only in hindsight) wasn’t your main thing, and even if you didn’t consider yourself to have hate in your heart for queer people, you still had to put up with a decent amount of the stuff in your comedy. Even if you liked the irreverent, envelope-pushing/anti-establishment alternative stuff. Gay jokes persisted, and it probably led to people like me casually calling people the f-slur or call something “gay” with varying degrees of supposed irony. People who rebelled against this paradigm seemed like a much smaller minority back then.

I’m not shaming the episode, which is only very lightly guilty of this. I’m just saying, insinuating Hanson were girls was a very popular, obvious, and inescapable joke to make around this time. Another thing that was inescapable: children who, after viewing an anti-Hanson joke or comedy sketch, would promptly start a rumor that they heard from somebody that Hanson saw the joke while watching TV at home and it made them cry. I actually remember somebody telling me this while we were watching this episode AS IT PREMIERED. Never mind that they PARTICIPATED in this episode, but somehow the news about Hanson had reached my friend and myself as both parties were watching it simultaneously.

The thing about this episode is: Hanson probably loved and watched Space Ghost. They were so enthusiastic to be there, and they wanted to get zapped by Space Ghost’s rays. They literally asked for it. Sure, I suppose that there’s a chance that they didn’t anticipate the slightly darker end they meet in the episode; being disappeared by Space Ghost after witnessing the apparent murder of the Tooth Fairy. And, to be fair to my friend, the ending is easily the freakiest thing Space Ghost ever did, though it didn’t involve Hanson-bashing. I am certain some kid saw this and cried at just the sheer terror of mutant Santa. 

The section with Hanson present is very light-hearted and wacky, with a lot of “random” humor type jokes. The uninitiated might think that this episode was intentionally courting a younger audience due to the guest. But then Space Ghost kills the Tooth Fairy by accidentally hitting her with his Phantom Cruiser. Space Ghost grimly casts Hanson out into space since they were witnesses to all of this. When Space Ghost returns to the studio, Santa Claus greets him and thanks Space Ghost for doing away with her. It turns out Santa has been jockying for her job for a while, so he can take all the human teeth and use them to build twisted toys for his own amusement. Santa eventually contorts himself into a creepy alien-like mutant being. The “real” tooth fairy shows up; turns out Space Ghost killed an imposter. It gets pretty intense. It’s almost like they were trying to traumatize Hanson fans, hilariously. 

Girl Hair is one of my favorites. The unusually uncartoony way he does away with Hanson is really funny. Mutant Santa left an impression on me for sure. Whenever they repeated this one, I’d see Hanson and immediately think “oh! This is the mutant Santa ep!”, causing me to have a positive association with the Hanson bros. This is the Hanson I’d like to remember: on Space Ghost’s monitor, full of life, and covered in long, bountiful girl hair. May they rest in peace. In space.

MAIL BAG:

snusuwiwjs asks:

Why was Moltar ragged on so much in the later seasons? I remember liking him the most, and it felt so weird to see him become the punching bag instead of Space Ghost.

I guess it's a function of Space Ghost's arrogance. Zorak is usually at odds with Space Ghost, so they clash. Moltar often tries to be helpful and gets shit on for it. I think anyone who isn't Space Ghost is going to take shit no matter what. Zorak piles on because he's the biggest bitch of them all.

In the writers room, probably it's the same reason why Lisa Simpson is underappreciated; it's bitterly realistic, and that's the cosmic joke of it all. Being exceptional makes you a lightening rod for criticism. Trust me on this. I'm the only person in the whole world who is right about everything, and literally every person on Earth is against me. It sucks, but you just gotta keep getting sucked.

[regardingjenmish]

murican shows, especially ones that still run on the 45 minute 22 episodes per seasons are so interesting because firstly they have a hiatus, which I guess is to give the actors etc a break mid season? But also I think we're so used to watching seasons that contain no more than let say 10 episodes max (I am kind of watching the originals on and off and I've noticed that the last two seasons have only 13 episodes) nowadays that it's always unusual going into a TV show such as Big Sky wherein the seasons are around 16-18 episodes (okay maybe not THAT much of a difference but I still feel like there are still a lot of US tv shows that are going for that 22 episode format).

I think the hiatus is usually because they're trying to get more views for the second part of the season. I could be completely wrong but usually the hiatus comes when actors are either still filming or are already finished. And honestly for me? The streaming services have spoiled people big time (including me at times). To be honest, I really miss the 20-22 episode seasons where some episodes are just fun filler eps. Those ones are usually my favorites. Plus I feel like with nowadays 8-10 episodes you can't do shit. There's barely any character/story development or sometimes stuff doesn't even get resolved and if it does, it all feels really rushed and all over the place. And if I'm fully honest, i also really miss the week to week episodes (which is weird bc usually i hated that). But i swear sometimes a show comes out on netflix at midnight and by 4 am there's already spoilers all over internet. I kinda miss the weekly theories and trying to figure out what's coming up next. Wait, I'm rambling now dhjsa sorry!