Shameless and House of Lies (possible spoilers)

[louiemdj]

I'll start with House of Lies. Don Cheadle is fucking awesome in this show. After just one episode, I already love it. It honestly blew my mind, and I can't wait to go home and watch it a couple more times.

And the season premiere of Shameless was pretty good too. I never get tired of seeing Emmy Rossum naked, and there are plenty of good plots going on.

I was a little surprised to see how much weed was being grown and even more surprised that Veronica made them torch it all. It would pretty sweet to have a marijuana bonfire though.

One more thing to note. Is it mandatory now that every new show on HBO or Showtime must have someone gay on it? I mean my god it's like they are shoving it down your throat, no pun intended.

[JSpauny]

House of Lies was so fucking funny. The restaurant scene had me dying. Great, great show.

I agree with your take on Shameless. Emmy Rossum naked, lots of weed, weed bonfire=solid show.

Showtime killed it on the season/series premiers last night.

[Skating Tripods]

Was not a fan of House of Lies at all.

Shameless premiere was excellent. Plenty of good storylines, lots of action, and some interesting character development nuggets from the long break. Love how Lip organized a fight club.

[Skating Tripods]

Now that I have some more time, I'll elaborate. I didn't like the format of House of Lies. The characters seemed to be alright, but the show's format sucked. It didn't really hold my interest from the start and the cross-dressing tranny kid was a little too strange of an opener.

It'll be one of those envelope pushing shows with a lot of gratuitous sex (although, I think Kristen Bell is anti-nudity in her roles, at least she was with Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

Not surprised I didn't like it, to be honest. I'm about the only person I know who never got in to Eastbound & Down or Entourage.

But, Shameless, that looks excellent this season. Big fan of the season premiere and expect a lot of great things.

[louiemdj]

(01-11-2012 03:39 PM)Skating Tripods Wrote:  Now that I have some more time, I'll elaborate. I didn't like the format of House of Lies. The characters seemed to be alright, but the show's format sucked. It didn't really hold my interest from the start and the cross-dressing tranny kid was a little too strange of an opener.

It'll be one of those envelope pushing shows with a lot of gratuitous sex (although, I think Kristen Bell is anti-nudity in her roles, at least she was with Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

Not surprised I didn't like it, to be honest. I'm about the only person I know who never got in to Eastbound & Down or Entourage.

But, Shameless, that looks excellent this season. Big fan of the season premiere and expect a lot of great things.

What?

[Skating Tripods]

(01-11-2012 03:56 PM)louiemdj Wrote:  What?

The stupid cut aways where Don Cheadle was talking directly to the camera with everything frozen around him. The lame business lessons.

Things like that distract me from the show, the plot, and its characters. They don't entertain me.

Just wasn't my kind of show. I didn't really find the dinner scene all that funny either.

[louiemdj]

(01-11-2012 04:08 PM)Skating Tripods Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 03:56 PM)louiemdj Wrote:  What?

The stupid cut aways where Don Cheadle was talking directly to the camera with everything frozen around him. The lame business lessons.

Things like that distract me from the show, the plot, and its characters. They don't entertain me.

Just wasn't my kind of show. I didn't really find the dinner scene all that funny either.

That wasn't really my favorite part of the show, but all the other stuff made up for it. Pretty much none of the show is even remotely realistic, but that's one of the reasons I like it so much. It's an escape from reality, and pretty damn funny.

[SkyBlues42]

Saw the first season, but am just starting to catch up. Watched Season 2 episode one today. Shameless is a great (and funny) show, but there are definitely parts that are rather odd. Especially Frank's new girlfriend. IDK why, but I want to fast forward every time her scene shows up.

[Skating Tripods]

(01-18-2012 05:36 PM)SkyBlues42 Wrote:  Saw the first season, but am just starting to catch up. Watched Season 2 episode one today. Shameless is a great (and funny) show, but there are definitely parts that are rather odd. Especially Frank's new girlfriend. IDK why, but I want to fast forward every time her scene shows up.

Frank wants to get some, presumably with a bag over her head, and then be in line to get a portion of the pension check if he can. Plus, he wants a fallback option if she gets a transplant and Sheila finds out who Frank really is after she assimilates back into society.

I'm always disturbed by the gay scenes with Ian, but whatever.

What attracts me to this show the most is the character development. It's perfectly woven into the script.

[JSpauny]

(01-18-2012 08:42 PM)Skating Tripods Wrote:  Frank wants to get some, presumably with a bag over her head, and then be in line to get a portion of the pension check if he can. Plus, he wants a fallback option if she gets a transplant and Sheila finds out who Frank really is after she assimilates back into society.

I'm always disturbed by the gay scenes with Ian, but whatever.

What attracts me to this show the most is the character development. It's perfectly woven into the script.

No doubt. Everything unfolds almost dynamically. Doesn't seem to be a lot of the typical "we're going to set up this out of place scenario to force the characters to do something that will reveal more about them." The Walking Dead did that shit constantly and it started to really piss me off.

I also like how it seems to be the perfect blend of comedy and story. Its funny when it needs to be but always moves the plot along well.

[louiemdj]

Has there ever been anything bad with Macy in it? Of course, you always remember Fargo, but the guy is one hell of an actor. He proves it again in this show.

[JSpauny]

But other than that I like about everything he's ever done.

People say that he over acts in Shameless but I disagree. His character is a rambling drunk, he's supposed to be obnoxious and over the top. That's what rambling drunks do.

[Skating Tripods]

(01-19-2012 01:58 PM)JSpauny Wrote:  People say that he over acts in Shameless but I disagree. His character is a rambling drunk, he's supposed to be obnoxious and over the top. That's what rambling drunks do.

Exactly. Everybody knows a guy like that. Goes off on political tirades and is a complete over-exaggerator.

This one just so happens to also be a worthless drunk with a big family.

[Skating Tripods]

Last night's episode of Shameless might have been one of the worst of the series. I can't get past the whole Frank thing with him keeping the heart transplant info from Butterface. Even for a complete piece of shit like Frank, still. I'll be interested to see if there are any lasting effects (guilt) with him the rest of the season.

Rough episode for Fiona too. Don't really get the whole death infatuation angle with Debs either.

This show has a habit of having a really serious episode after a couple of funny ones, so it should pick up again next week.

[louiemdj]

I have to agree, I wasn't extremely impressed with all the characters getting so serious in last Sunday's episode. Still better than a kick to the head tho.

House of Lies continues to impress me. It's over the top, but take it fwiw and it's pretty awesome.

[Skating Tripods]

Awesome episode of Shameless tonight. Hilarious and a couple really interesting teasers at the end of the show/preview of next week's.

DVRing Luck currently. Gonna give that a shot.

[louiemdj]

(01-29-2012 10:09 PM)Skating Tripods Wrote:  Awesome episode of Shameless tonight. Hilarious and a couple really interesting teasers at the end of the show/preview of next week's.

DVRing Luck currently. Gonna give that a shot.

Luck is good, has a lot of potential to be a great show. HBO definitely thinks so as well.

Shameless was pretty good tonight, back to it's true form.

[JSpauny]

Really liked Shameless. I was kind of hoping Sheila would make it to the Alibi so that would add a new line to their story but can't say I'm disappointed that she's back to house confinement. Overall a great episode.

Loved House of Lies too. That show is hilarious. I like that there isn't too much story and each episode is basically contained within itself without too much carry over. Makes it easy to just follow the jokes without having to care about what's actually going on. Nice to have shows like that.

I loved Luck too. I'm a big horse racing fan though, so they would have really had to shit the bed for me not to like it. Thought the Pilot was great. The scene where they hit the Pick 6 (or w/e it was) was able to capture the emotion that happens when you're actually at the track watching a big winner come through. Really liked the characters too. Show has definite promise.

[Skating Tripods]

(01-30-2012 11:16 AM)louiemdj Wrote:  Luck is good, has a lot of potential to be a great show. HBO definitely thinks so as well.

Shameless was pretty good tonight, back to it's true form.

Shameless did what it always does. A hilarious episode after a serious one. I, too, wanted Sheila to find out who Frank really was.

Big bombshell with Lip's girl being pregnant. Could have done without the Jody nudity.


As for Luck, I really thought it dragged. Fiancee hated it, so I'll be watching that by myself. For the first half hour, you couldn't understand half of the characters.

There were some interesting parts. I'm definitely an animal lover, not a radical PETA asshole, but it sucks to see horses euthanized.

Lots of storylines to juggle in the first episode. Made it a little hard to follow at times. I'll give it a few more episodes. Usually, I give shows or movies a 15-minute test. If they don't captivate me within 15 minutes, I move on to something else.

[louiemdj]

(01-30-2012 03:13 PM)Skating Tripods Wrote:  

(01-30-2012 11:16 AM)louiemdj Wrote:  Luck is good, has a lot of potential to be a great show. HBO definitely thinks so as well.

Shameless was pretty good tonight, back to it's true form.

Shameless did what it always does. A hilarious episode after a serious one. I, too, wanted Sheila to find out who Frank really was.

Big bombshell with Lip's girl being pregnant. Could have done without the Jody nudity.


As for Luck, I really thought it dragged. Fiancee hated it, so I'll be watching that by myself. For the first half hour, you couldn't understand half of the characters.

There were some interesting parts. I'm definitely an animal lover, not a radical PETA asshole, but it sucks to see horses euthanized.

Lots of storylines to juggle in the first episode. Made it a little hard to follow at times. I'll give it a few more episodes. Usually, I give shows or movies a 15-minute test. If they don't captivate me within 15 minutes, I move on to something else.

What about the 5 little piggies?