Good Omens

[frahse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

True. I'll have to continue to get by on my good looks and charisma

You and me too, bro.

I consider myself an inveterate ScFi fan, but Hitch Hikers never appealed to me, beyond a few "cute" spots. For that matter I never understood the immense appeal of Foundation either though I generally like Asimov.

But getting back to "good looks and charisma", as concerns liking one thing or another: I learned long ago that you don't have to have all beautiful women in love with you. A few will suffice.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd also make a distinction between TV series that tell a specific story (eg a book adaptation), and those which are simply episodic in nature. An adaptation of a book should tell the story in as few episodes are necessary to do the job properly, whereas an episodic series (eg something like "Death in Paradise" - a police series set on a Caribbean island) can essentially go on as long as it has fresh stories to tell.

I agree that if doing a book adaptation such as The Little Drummer Girl or Sharr Objects, you do it how it needs to be done and 6-10 episodes works. But some series are too short. 6-10 episodes for a show like Death in Paradise, Still Game, Mrs. Brown's Boys, or Still Open All Hours are too short.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by frahse

You and me too, bro.

I consider myself an inveterate ScFi fan, but Hitch Hikers never appealed to me, beyond a few "cute" spots. For that matter I never understood the immense appeal of Foundation either though I generally like Asimov.

I feel the same way.
Apache

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by frahse

For that matter I never understood the immense appeal of Foundation either though I generally like Asimov...

That makes two of us. I very much like Asimov's Robots. But I only read the first Foundation book and was bored by it. Maybe I need to give it a second shot. I dunno.

[Apache]

I tried many times, over the years, to read the Foundation series. I was never able to get into it.
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

I tried many times, over the years, to read the Foundation series. I was never able to get into it.
Apache

Different strokes for different folks. I really liked the original Foundation trilogy, which is actually a group of novellas that more of less fit together (back in the day when magazines were the primary revenue source for authors). It is rather dated though, but a lot of the SF books from the era are a bit dated. Of course, I liked most of what Asimov wrote. There are other masters from SF whom I never could get into.

[Apache]

I loved his Robot books and some of his stand alone books like Fantastic Voyage.
Apache

[HarryT]

I loved Asimov as a teenager, but now I find his characters rather uninteresting and two-dimensional.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It is rather dated though, but a lot of the SF books from the era are a bit dated. Of course, I liked most of what Asimov wrote.

The datedness of a piece of sci-fi doesn't usually bother me and isn't what bothered me with Foundation. I just never connected much with it.

There are other masters from SF whom I never could get into.

Most of the sci-fi masters from the pulp era were no great shakes as writers. Asimov's characters were definitely wooden as Pinocchio. I always thought his robots had more personality than his humans did.

The old master I'm not a fan of is Heinlein. He's probably the best writer of the biggies (not counting Bradbury), but I prefer Asimov to Heinlein. And I like Clarke best of them all.

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

On the whole it's because the entire series will be the output of a single writer or very small writing team, and all the episodes will be filmed and complete before the series is shown on TV.

So all the episodes of a UK TV series are essential, and there are no 'filler' episodes by guest writers, or the 'B' writing team that do not advance the plot or character development in any significant way.

Thanks I've always wondered about that too. I also appreciated the UK writers and actors as well. I'm definitely going to watch Good Omens on Prime.

[drjenkins]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

6-10 episodes for a show like Death in Paradise, Still Game, Mrs. Brown's Boys, or Still Open All Hours are too short.

Mrs. Brown's Boys is down to just two episodes a year.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

6-10 episodes for a show like Death in Paradise, Still Game, Mrs. Brown's Boys, or Still Open All Hours are too short.

Disagree. Six to ten episodes is just about perfect in my opinion (for thirty- and 60-minute shows). Two to three for shows that have feature-length episodes is just about right for a natural arc, as well. I'm all for letting good actors have time to work on other projects.

Another thing I like about British shows is that they don't tend let to the loss of a character/actor (even a main one) bring a show to its knees. Slap someone new in there and carry on. I prefer that to the seeming fragility of US shows; with their revolving door of directors, and show-runners; their obsession with the 18-49 demographic in determining whether to renew or not (mostly not); and their star-centric raison d'être.

They still make shows (in my opinion), and we merely make products.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Disagree. Six to ten episodes is just about perfect in my opinion (for thirty- and 60-minute shows). Two to three for shows that have feature-length episodes is just about right for a natural arc, as well. I'm all for letting good actors have time to work on other projects.

It also brings far more variety to the viewer, of course. A peak-time BBC viewing slot can show 6-10 different programmes over the course of a year, rather than the two you might get in the US. I'd much rather see an 8-episode series of a good show every year (that's the format of immensely popular shows like "Death in Paradise" and "Call the Midwife") rather than hugely longer series which might well get tedious after several months.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Disagree. Six to ten episodes is just about perfect in my opinion (for thirty- and 60-minute shows). Two to three for shows that have feature-length episodes is just about right for a natural arc, as well. I'm all for letting good actors have time to work on other projects.

Another thing I like about British shows is that they don't tend let to the loss of a character/actor (even a main one) bring a show to its knees. Slap someone new in there and carry on. I prefer that to the seeming fragility of US shows; with their revolving door of directors, and show-runners; their obsession with the 18-49 demographic in determining whether to renew or not (mostly not); and their star-centric raison d'être.

They still make shows (in my opinion), and we merely make products.

Originally Posted by HarryT

It also brings far more variety to the viewer, of course. A peak-time BBC viewing slot can show 6-10 different programmes over the course of a year, rather than the two you might get in the US. I'd much rather see an 8-episode series of a good show every year (that's the format of immensely popular shows like "Death in Paradise" and "Call the Midwife") rather than hugely longer series which might well get tedious after several months.

I agree. And another plus for 6 to 10 episodes a year is the writers have more time to turn out a quality product.
Some US shows have a one week deadline for new episodes.
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It also brings far more variety to the viewer, of course. A peak-time BBC viewing slot can show 6-10 different programmes over the course of a year, rather than the two you might get in the US. I'd much rather see an 8-episode series of a good show every year (that's the format of immensely popular shows like "Death in Paradise" and "Call the Midwife") rather than hugely longer series which might well get tedious after several months.

I'm a big fan of the Sherlock series, basically 3 movie length episodes per year, plus a couple of specials that so far has lasted 4 years (2017 was the last year). I liked it so much that I went ahead and bought the whole set on the iTunes store, even though I had recorded most of them. It's been quite a few years since there has been an American TV show that I watched regularly or recorded.