What are you watching right now?

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Criminal Minds: "Amplification"

[Captain Comics]

Severance. Wow.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE MASTERS OF COMIC BOOK ART

If you've never seen this before, I highly recommend it. It is the best comic book documentary I have ever seen. (To put that comment in perspective, I have seen a lot of comic book documentaries.) It's basically ten artists discussing their work, hosted by Harlan Ellison. I showed it to my graduating seniors one year the last week of school after their final grades were in. I showed it to Tracy shortly after we were first married to launch a dialogue about comics. She and I are currently re-reading Swamp Thing together, and Bernie Wrightson is one of the featured artists. I am currently working to complete my Harvey Kurtzman collection. Art Spiegelman has been in the news lately. And, of course, Neal Adams has died. It's sad to think of how many of these men are no longer with us, including the host. The Masters of Comic Book Art (1987) is a priceless record.

Will Eisner - 4:06

Harvey Kurtzman - 8:46

Jack Kirby - 14:13

Steve Ditko - 19:31

Neal Adams - 26:29

Bernie Wrightson - 31:53

Moebius - 37:27

Frank Miller - 42:36

Dave Sim - 48:39

Art Spiegelman - 53:44

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

I had it on VHS. I'm sure I copied it to a DVD at some point. I should find the disc and rip it to the computer soon.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

It's interesting to watch from a 2022 perspective. Dave Sim laments being locked into doing Cerebus for 26 years, and frank Miller says, that he's still very new at this and to maybe check back with him in 30 years.

[Captain Comics]

That sounds like fun, Doc. I'm still working through Twilight Zone on whatever streamer it is that I get it. But it's hard to watch old stuff when A) my wife isn't interested, and B) there's so much new stuff stacking up in my queues.

Currently we're watching Moon Knight (pretty interesting, and not Marvel-y at all) and catching up on Star Trek: PIcard. I have to say on the latter that it's painful watching Patrick Stewart's slow movements (even when they're supposed to be fast) and his inability to project his voice. I'm getting up there in age too, so I'm sensitive to these displays of fragility. Also, the writing, while not as painfully touchy-feely as Discovery, is still very network TV-ish. There's a whole B-plot of Picard remembering the death of his mother (oh, sorry, spoiler) whose outcome was obvious from the get-go, and which everyone kept stopping to discuss even while they were being shot at. My wife and I were both saying things from the couch like "Shouldn't you be running right now instead of talking?" and "Perhaps you should table the psychotherapy until you see if you both survive."

And as long as I'm complaining, here's a show I'm not watching any more: The Walking Dead.

I've long since stopped watching Fear the Walking Dead, but now the parent show has gotten so bad that I can't watch it any more. One Eugene-centric episode is more than I want, and we got to see a string of them in a row. He sure cries a lot! And when they gave the deaf girl the job of being a reporter (sorry, no one's hiring a reporter who can't use a phone, and nobody's paying two people -- a reporter and a sign interpreter -- to do a one-person job), my eyes rolled back so far they nearly fell out of my head. Especially since she is an investigative reporter who is investigating ... the people in charge, the ones who hired her for the newspaper that they print for civic boosterism. Um, no, this is an autocratic society, and her articles would never see print, and she would be disappeared immediately. There's no First Amendment in the zombie apocalypse.

But those are just anecdotal annoyances. The real problems are these: A) the writing overall is mediocre, and B) all the interesting characters are dead/missing. Just like Silver Age Amazing Spider-Man, the writers have killed off so many major supporting characters for shock value that hardly anybody interesting is left. If you hadn't watched the show in a year or two, you could look at the current call sheet, and after Daryl and Carol your eyes would glaze over.

So I'm not watching any more. This is particularly sad in that the finish line is in sight. But I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

I'm still soldiering on through the Walking Dead shows. Interesting enough to find out how they end, I guess. My wife and I completed watching Twilight Zone, so last night we started watching The Outer Limits. There's only two seasons of the original, so that won't take too long.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We're still watching the Walking Dead shows, too, but no longer feel any particular need to discuss them. 

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

My wife and I have been rewatching The Mary Tyler Moore Show, We're 8 episodes into the 5th season, and, boy, are we missing Rhoda.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We bought the first season on DVD a couple of years ago, but then stopped. We always assumed (I did, anyway) that someday we would resume. Sue Ann wasn't even in season one. I had seen it before, but I don't think I realized that. 

[Captain Comics]

Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) said:

I'm still soldiering on through the Walking Dead shows. Interesting enough to find out how they end, I guess. My wife and I completed watching Twilight Zone, so last night we started watching The Outer Limits. There's only two seasons of the original, so that won't take too long.

Normally I probably would soldier on as well, Mark, except that we already know enough about how it ends that I have no curiosity on that score. We know from announced spin-offs that Daryl, Carol, Negan and Maggie will survive, and they are the only characters whose fate I'd be curious about. (Although with Carol bowing out of the spin-off, maybe they'll kill her. Shrug.) Rick and Michonne are being saved for the long-promised movies, so they're not likely to appear, and if they do, I'll hear about it online without having to watch 10 hours of offensively mediocre TV to get there. Further, if they follow the comics, then we already know that the Alexandrians will reform the Commonwealth to a more equitable society. Maybe Eugene will become president, because the show has become that preposterous.

Those of you who are soldiering on, I salute you. I just can't do it.

I'm much more enthusiastic about your mention of Outer Limits. I hadn't committed to (re-) watching that entire series, but your mention that it's only two seasons makes it seem so do-able that it would be criminal not to.

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

It's interesting to watch from a 2022 perspective. Dave Sim laments being locked into doing Cerebus for 26 years, and frank Miller says, that he's still very new at this and to maybe check back with him in 30 years.

Thanks for providing the link. I started to watch this on my laptop and wasn't happy with the sound. I realized that I could stream it on my Roku and get the benefit of better picture and sound. It is very well done. It's from 1987, so Frank Miller should have more to say by now. So glad I gave up autographs and got to shake the hands of Eisner and Kirby (and give convention center directions to Stan Lee).

P.S.: it's only an hour long, Cap, if you haven't seen it.

[Richard Willis]

I watched all seven seasons a little while back. I think I enjoyed them all. There were a handful of episodes I originally missed because, ya know, pre-VCR.  

PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod said:

My wife and I have been rewatching The Mary Tyler Moore Show, We're 8 episodes into the 5th season, and, boy, are we missing Rhoda.