I don't think HBO/Max would consider this a failure. I watched season 1 and I think season 4 was better. This is just my opinion of course, others have their own.
Lots of sour grapes coming from Nic Pizzolatto too!
Sonny, Interesting how much negativity, vitriol, and self-righteousness that you have expended criticizing a TV show. Kind of a reverse virtue signaling. Artistic failure? 90% of television is an artistic failure. This is the hill that you wish to expend your credibility on?
I’m not sure what you want from a critic aside from honesty? For what it’s worth: I’m happy people liked the show! It’s okay to like bad shows; as you say, 90% of TV is bad. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s good. That’s not my job.
Charlie Sykes, if you read this, we need you. This liberal feels we need your ability to see the long view. Americans have always been in the minute; we are shocked when the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor. We cannot afford to continue to do this. Saw you on MSNBC and you talked about the long game. You are so right. Miss your wisdom. I understand your need for sanity. Thank you for bringing us back to reality.
I liked it too. Worlds better than season 2, on par with 3. Season 1 was a masterpiece, an all-time great that just isn’t going to be replicated.
And I think the irrationality was intentional. I mean, they are living in a season of permanent night. The behavior of the characters is tied into the terroir. And the terror. I wouldn’t have minded a couple of more episodes.
I liked it. I don’t care what any of you say. Except of course those of you that agree with me. And BTW, I like “Masters of the Air” too. And I didn’t care for “Poor Things.” So there.
I thought your breakdown on NIght Country was spot on Sonny. Interesting setting, intriguing atmosphere that just completely has boring characters doing irrational things. "incoherent" is a perfect description.
TD: first few episodes, intriguing, but somewhere along the line, something happened and it went off the rails. Foster came close to saving it, but, too heavy a lift I guess.
Peak Sonny and exactly the shallowness I expected in regard to anything that has women at the center. Maybe broaden your mind just an inch and listen to the Night Country podcast but I wouldn’t be shocked if having to confront your shallow views of women, indigenous life and the reality for those communities would be a bridge too far. I even bet my husband that Sonny is going to hate this due to the women-centric ness of it and Bingo! you stayed true.
Considering your wife missed the whole storyline of Danvers and her son, I guess maybe this isn't all on you. It sounds like you did not actually watch the show since you missed a very obvious part of the story. Since you missed that part I'm sure the whole one-eyed polar bear was a complete mystery. Maybe put down your tablet/phone/laptop and actually watch what you are reviewing.
Two things about AI. AI works by taking the numerical average of things and combining them together. So, since the mean average of art is not something of average quality, but a thing of poor quality, the act of handing off this tech to the general public means we will be producing mountains upon mountains of art, but that art will not be of average quality, but instead will be absolute drek. It will be a glorious ocean of terribleness.
More importantly, though, since AI works by slaving thousands of computers together in a distributed database, one can noticeably measure how much a person's carbon footprint increases every time they make use it. Essentially, in its production of pollution, every time you execute an AI prompt, it is like revving the motor on a hummer. Thus when gazing upon AI, we are gazing upon the death of humanity, but not through killer robots, but through the slow death of pollution caused by humanity's desire to produce immense mountains of absolute drek. Which is a hilarious black comedy ending for humanity.
I really liked this show and I had no idea how this was going to be solved in a realistic way. I was surprised by the answer to the murder which I didn’t see coming but rewatching I saw that these women showed up in every episode. One theme was the invisibility of marginalized people.
And your wife might be the only person who didn’t know Danvers had a son named Holden who died in an auto accident.
Well. I found your group review to be alternately interesting and overwrought. Let me start by addressing your concerns about how much the story line was not believable. First, most television plot lines are not believable and often deeply flawed, and ultimately are a result of the fact that it is ENTERTAINMENT. If one were to have turned the recent Trump family escapades into television, say 20 years ago, none of the story lines would have been believable and would have been found to be scandalously over the top.
As an older female who has re-watched season 1 of True Detective a few times over the years, I found it both fascinating and annoying, with some of the same flaws inherent in every formulaic tv detective show EVER. In general, it is good stuff.
I feel the same way about Season 4, except I couldn't get over the sublime nuance of the acting, especially of Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Chris Eccleston, and a very creepy John Hawkes, who I really liked in Deadwood. The atmospherics of this season were compelling and chilling, Billie Eilish's theme song mesmerizing. I particularly appreciated that it was largely a female oriented piece and I think that Sonny did not appreciate that. His dismissal of the 'cleaning ladies' rising up as being unbelievable mistakingly discounts how much women are fed up in general, globally, with the status quo, and here again I would suggest the Trump factor as being something no one would have ever thought possible. But throw in enough stillborn babies and deaths from the mining operation affecting the indigenous people of that desolate and dark Arctic area, and it isn't quite so unbelievable. Sonny, sorry, but your off-hand dismissal of the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous people, while not my beliefs, smacks a bit like bigotry.
It takes an open mind and an open heart to derive appreciation from some of the better programming out there, and professional criticism obviously jades you, but can often inform, which explains the wide range of film criticism out there.
To me, a good detective series, ANY series, that one can watch repeatedly over the years, is better than 90% of the garbage that is being produced out there, and I would include True Detective, Perry Mason, Treme, Deadwood, The Wire, and really, too many British, Scandinavian, European, Australian to even start going into here.
re TV and its unbelievable plots - somewhere someone said all such is preposterous. Preposterous is baseline. That said, I appreciated the female & Indigenous centrality of NC. THAT said - I found the whole thing particularly...uh, preposterous.
If I had a dollar for every "like" and "you know" in this conversation, I could have a nice dinner in a nice restaurant. You sound like a bunch of teenagers.
My browser won't let me watch this, so I don't know why Sonny and friends thought Night Country failed. All I can say is that I eagerly waited for each new episode. Loved the eerie nature of the latest season of True Detective.
De-aging Billy Joel videos will make up for all future self-driving car fatalities
Hmm, the highest season finale viewership than all other TD seasons, plus "the audience built over the course of six episodes"
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/tv-ratings-sunday-feb-18-2024-1235830001/
https://deadline.com/2024/02/true-detective-night-country-finale-ratings-hbo-1235831204/
I don't think HBO/Max would consider this a failure. I watched season 1 and I think season 4 was better. This is just my opinion of course, others have their own.
Lots of sour grapes coming from Nic Pizzolatto too!
I consider it an artistic failure, which is the thing I care most about. That others may have liked it is of no interest to me!
Sonny, Interesting how much negativity, vitriol, and self-righteousness that you have expended criticizing a TV show. Kind of a reverse virtue signaling. Artistic failure? 90% of television is an artistic failure. This is the hill that you wish to expend your credibility on?
I’m not sure what you want from a critic aside from honesty? For what it’s worth: I’m happy people liked the show! It’s okay to like bad shows; as you say, 90% of TV is bad. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s good. That’s not my job.
Charlie Sykes, if you read this, we need you. This liberal feels we need your ability to see the long view. Americans have always been in the minute; we are shocked when the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor. We cannot afford to continue to do this. Saw you on MSNBC and you talked about the long game. You are so right. Miss your wisdom. I understand your need for sanity. Thank you for bringing us back to reality.
I liked it too. Worlds better than season 2, on par with 3. Season 1 was a masterpiece, an all-time great that just isn’t going to be replicated.
And I think the irrationality was intentional. I mean, they are living in a season of permanent night. The behavior of the characters is tied into the terroir. And the terror. I wouldn’t have minded a couple of more episodes.
I liked it. I don’t care what any of you say. Except of course those of you that agree with me. And BTW, I like “Masters of the Air” too. And I didn’t care for “Poor Things.” So there.
I still need to watch Masters of the Air.
Not anywhere near Band of Brothers, but it’s fine. Writing leans a little too much into WW2 cliches.
The book is better of course, but they have done a nice job showing the hell those folks went through.
I thought your breakdown on NIght Country was spot on Sonny. Interesting setting, intriguing atmosphere that just completely has boring characters doing irrational things. "incoherent" is a perfect description.
I'm honestly kind of shocked both by the critical praise and some of the popular praise. It's really not very good!
TD: first few episodes, intriguing, but somewhere along the line, something happened and it went off the rails. Foster came close to saving it, but, too heavy a lift I guess.
I really enjoyed the first episode! Kind of creepy, interesting mystery. But yeah, it fell apart as things went along.
I will never look at an orange the same way again.
Peak Sonny and exactly the shallowness I expected in regard to anything that has women at the center. Maybe broaden your mind just an inch and listen to the Night Country podcast but I wouldn’t be shocked if having to confront your shallow views of women, indigenous life and the reality for those communities would be a bridge too far. I even bet my husband that Sonny is going to hate this due to the women-centric ness of it and Bingo! you stayed true.
lol all three of us disliked the show but I’m glad you look to me for guidance first and foremost!
"I'm glad you look to me for guidance first and foremost" really says it all doesn't it?
Considering your wife missed the whole storyline of Danvers and her son, I guess maybe this isn't all on you. It sounds like you did not actually watch the show since you missed a very obvious part of the story. Since you missed that part I'm sure the whole one-eyed polar bear was a complete mystery. Maybe put down your tablet/phone/laptop and actually watch what you are reviewing.
Two things about AI. AI works by taking the numerical average of things and combining them together. So, since the mean average of art is not something of average quality, but a thing of poor quality, the act of handing off this tech to the general public means we will be producing mountains upon mountains of art, but that art will not be of average quality, but instead will be absolute drek. It will be a glorious ocean of terribleness.
More importantly, though, since AI works by slaving thousands of computers together in a distributed database, one can noticeably measure how much a person's carbon footprint increases every time they make use it. Essentially, in its production of pollution, every time you execute an AI prompt, it is like revving the motor on a hummer. Thus when gazing upon AI, we are gazing upon the death of humanity, but not through killer robots, but through the slow death of pollution caused by humanity's desire to produce immense mountains of absolute drek. Which is a hilarious black comedy ending for humanity.
I really liked this show and I had no idea how this was going to be solved in a realistic way. I was surprised by the answer to the murder which I didn’t see coming but rewatching I saw that these women showed up in every episode. One theme was the invisibility of marginalized people.
And your wife might be the only person who didn’t know Danvers had a son named Holden who died in an auto accident.
Well. I found your group review to be alternately interesting and overwrought. Let me start by addressing your concerns about how much the story line was not believable. First, most television plot lines are not believable and often deeply flawed, and ultimately are a result of the fact that it is ENTERTAINMENT. If one were to have turned the recent Trump family escapades into television, say 20 years ago, none of the story lines would have been believable and would have been found to be scandalously over the top.
As an older female who has re-watched season 1 of True Detective a few times over the years, I found it both fascinating and annoying, with some of the same flaws inherent in every formulaic tv detective show EVER. In general, it is good stuff.
I feel the same way about Season 4, except I couldn't get over the sublime nuance of the acting, especially of Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Chris Eccleston, and a very creepy John Hawkes, who I really liked in Deadwood. The atmospherics of this season were compelling and chilling, Billie Eilish's theme song mesmerizing. I particularly appreciated that it was largely a female oriented piece and I think that Sonny did not appreciate that. His dismissal of the 'cleaning ladies' rising up as being unbelievable mistakingly discounts how much women are fed up in general, globally, with the status quo, and here again I would suggest the Trump factor as being something no one would have ever thought possible. But throw in enough stillborn babies and deaths from the mining operation affecting the indigenous people of that desolate and dark Arctic area, and it isn't quite so unbelievable. Sonny, sorry, but your off-hand dismissal of the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous people, while not my beliefs, smacks a bit like bigotry.
It takes an open mind and an open heart to derive appreciation from some of the better programming out there, and professional criticism obviously jades you, but can often inform, which explains the wide range of film criticism out there.
To me, a good detective series, ANY series, that one can watch repeatedly over the years, is better than 90% of the garbage that is being produced out there, and I would include True Detective, Perry Mason, Treme, Deadwood, The Wire, and really, too many British, Scandinavian, European, Australian to even start going into here.
re TV and its unbelievable plots - somewhere someone said all such is preposterous. Preposterous is baseline. That said, I appreciated the female & Indigenous centrality of NC. THAT said - I found the whole thing particularly...uh, preposterous.
If I had a dollar for every "like" and "you know" in this conversation, I could have a nice dinner in a nice restaurant. You sound like a bunch of teenagers.
My browser won't let me watch this, so I don't know why Sonny and friends thought Night Country failed. All I can say is that I eagerly waited for each new episode. Loved the eerie nature of the latest season of True Detective.
A transcript is included.
where is the transcript? I have no patience to sit around listening to podcasts - I like written accounts I can skim
It was right beneath the podcast link.
First click on the podcast. When it appears and is ready to activate, look beneath it for the transcript.
Our sunny future is more ominous by the moment.
Season 4 was a disappointment outside of the atmosphere of the town.