Almost Human

Vvoid_sl said:

I just don't get why everyone insists that there has to be more to like a show nowadays. Sometimes I just want to sit down and be entertained for 40 minutes. Who cares if it ties into something else two months from now?

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Sorry, old post I know.

The main reason is because thanks to the internet, DVR and a host of other technological improvements, you're not shit out of luck if you missed an episode. You can always go watch it. And when you can do that, you can experience a show where the character goes from this.



To this.



That's the difference. These last few episodes, how they aired out of order, and it didn't even really matter because the characters haven't really grown, even though they've had multiple "water shed" moments about each other? Is the core of the issue. In an episodic show, the characters are the backdrop where the story takes place. In a serialized show the story is the backdrop where the characters live. It's a really subtle difference, but when you think of the growth and ups and downs and history in shows like BB or Made Men or Sopranos, there is just a richness there that literally can't be there in episodic shows because the characters have to remain stale, and steady in order to provide a consistent back drop for everyone's "bit sized viewing".

It becomes especially bad on shows like this, which obviously have some great acting talent, to watch and know that it's going to be wasted in order to do a story of the week. Ugh, it's like watching someone put ketchup on a Filet Mignon. The fact is monster of the week is a byproduct of TV not being able to cater to it's viewers busy lives--it had to be accessible for people who could watch every week, or people who would miss a few weeks here and there (Ironically only house wives who could be reliable got to see serialized stuff lol). Making something seralized was a huge risk because you risked losing your audience if they missed a week.

Now though? With a million different ways to watch the show? The studio executives need to realize the reason why good stories are turning to small studios or netflix or other distribution is because technology has grown to handle it. The studio executives of today are like the guys that continued thinking radio "stories" would last even after TV. The reality is story telling changes with the medium. We have a new medium, and the old way of telling stories seems very stale given it.

Don't get me wrong, I get that you're saying sometimes you just like the episodic nature of an "easy meal"--sure, all of us indulge in fast food here and there. But it just seems like a real waste in a show like this. Why not keep things like sitcoms, or lower budget shows like law and order or "dumb" shows like Burn Notice episodic? If you're going to bring in this kind of talent and budget, seems pretty wasteful to use it as "fast food".

Yeah, what if that decent book you're reading finally gets great 200 pages in. Or that decent looking girlfriend ages well and is a hot grannie. I don't think it's about people not giving something a chance, it's about why wait for something to get better that isn't as good as it could be, or even should be.

It's not about dumping it because it's not perfect. It's about having so-much time for certain forms of entertainment and the inevitability is shit doesn't make the cut, even if it's doing some things well. I only have so much time/patience for shows on my list of ones that are 'actually good.' Unfortunately Almost Human isn't bad enough to be Walking Dead levels of zone-out entertainment with the mini game of laughing at how bad the show is. Almost Human is almost great, but I have shows I watch because they're great, or bad but in an entertaining way. I don't have a list for shows that might be good some day based on potential they're already getting too comfortable squandering.

Not to mention, it's hard to survive network television. Why waste all that production value and budget on what is currently essentially a well-done, but formulaic and episodic buddy-cop melodrama? And yes, saving the world from a new bad guy every week with no ramifications on the storyline or world that was just saved is pretty much melodrama, and can be "successful" on a much lower budget I imagine. They had a pilot episode that I imagine cost a fair chunk of change. They made it to air. Why spend the money to basically just have what is essentially a new pilot every week? Hoping that enough people will find it good enough to keep watching until it gets really good or the actual story kicks in? I already forgot and had to be reminded (and I'm a nitpicky fuck who remembers shit) that there was the setup for a love interest with t-shirt girl.

They basically set shit up to go in a direction they're ignoring. And for what? Probably because too many networks are too fucking dumb to leave episodes up for people to catch up. I've never started watching countless shows because I could only find the last 3 episodes and didn't want to miss an entire chunk of a season between netflix and hulu and trying to cobble together past episodes.

Network tv in particular are idiots so it doesn't surprise me they're doing what they're doing and it makes me think the show won't ever really get good, because the men in suits won't be able to see past 'good enough' to any notion of making a 'great' show. So, shrug, yeah I guess eventually I'll get bored and spend my time on other things... call it giving up if you want, but I should have to try to stick with a show and try not to give up on a show. It shouldn't take that much energy to get immersed and enthralled by a medium that has so much story telling potential.

I can't wait to see what happens next on Game of Thrones or even a semi-episodic show like Justified. I'm already getting the feeling that I know what will happen next on Almost Human, because it also happened last week.

tvbythenumbers predicts it will be canceled, they are normally right, but not like it is a risky bet or anything.
they also think it won't get any extra episodes and they have enough shows left to make it to the Olympics where Fox's new show Gang Related could take its place.

Well shit.I wish hbo would pick up a sci fi similar to this

You can't denounce the show's formula when they've aired only four episodes. Fringe was a procedural show until the second season when it started focusing on the overarching story.

You can't play it this safe anymore apparently. With as many ways as there are to watch TV you've got to go balls deep within the first few episodes.

It really is too bad. The quality of these shows is such that you can see if there had been a decision to start with an actual story this team could have done it. But someone wanted to try to build an audience first.

20 years ago that would have worked, given the quality of the production. These days it apparently doesn't. Isn't the only show to try that strategy and fail recently.

I've seen it mentioned a few times but I'm afeared to go into its thread for fear of spoilers, so I gotta ask here: what's the verdict on Fringe? I tried watching it but I couldn't get into it for the exact reason mentioned, it was very monster-of-the-week-y, and I just can't care less about those kind of shows.

Although, having said that, I kinda like Almost Human. I was rather dismayed by the first episode, but after reading your guys' discussion I went back for 2-4 and it is pretty entertaining. If they could do an overarching story it'd really be something special.

We've already caught glimpses of the story arch. A lot of these sci-fi shows presumably use the procedural formula to familiarize the audience with the universe and to allow viewers to warm up to the characters. X-Files did it, Fringe did it, Continuum did it. It's not unique to Almost Human and people just need to be patient.

supertouch_sl said:

It's not unique to Almost Human and people just need to be patient.

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Or people need to have higher standards so execs stop thinking it's good enough to put out half an effort, or in the case of Almost Human a confusing effort. The pilot set up story arcs that are now being completely forgotten. That's not good writing familiarizing the audience with the universe. That's shitty writing that only people with shitty standards accept.

The surprise isn't that a network tv show is formulaic and episodic. The surprise is that they're spending so much money and production value to do it. Especially after a pilot that set the show up for story arcs that are now being ignored. Hell, even the dirty cop angle could have been a compelling, deep plot and story arc to follow, and instead they cram it into a single, self-contained episode? It's shit writing, and not because they're doing it but because their own pilot seemed to be setting up for them to not do it.

Let me guess. The self-contained we-all-were-dreaming episodes of Star Trek TNG years into the series were also just familiarizing the audience with the universe as well, right? No. They were filling space with junk shows that were ultimately forgettable in comparison to the actual storylines that took place. A show that is throw-away episodes immediately after a pilot, though? That's a bad sign.

Jabberwhacky_sl said:

what's the verdict on Fringe?

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My verdict on Fringe is that the first 13 episodes are very monster-or-the-weeky, although it turns out that the producers were playing a very subtle game, and hidden in those first 13 episodes are dialogue bits, acting choices, and even wardrobe choices that are all hint at the underlying mythology of the show.

The back half of Season 1, Season 2, and first half of Season 3 are legitimately in the Top 10 shows that aired those years. Unfortunately, the back half of Season 3 was where the show started declining, as various retcons and the introduction of a near-endless array of (sometimes pointless) alternate timelines marks where only the diehards should continue watching. (Part of that wasn't their fault, as after being demoted to Fridays in Season 3, they rushed to get the original overall story arc finished as they weren't sure they would get a Season 4.)

And as goatface mentioned, Fox fiddled with their January schedule so that Almost Human was kept away from both the Sleepy Hollow finale and The Following premiere. All the signs are bad.

supertouch_sl said:

You can't denounce the show's formula when they've aired only four episodes.

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Sure you can. Fringe was mediocre at the start and only got better when it focused on the overall story and gave you a reason to give a shit.

This show has the same problem. Well, worse, as running things out of order is goddamn ridiculous. If the network can't even be fucked to run the episodes in the right order, why should I give a fuck enough about the characters to watch it?

I'd fuck Minka Kelly until my dick caught on fire.

And, uh, really love the humor in this show. It doesn't get any classier than dick jokes.

Kreugen_sl said:

I'd fuck Minka Kelly until my dick caught on fire.

And, uh, really love the humor in this show. It doesn't get any classier than dick jokes.

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It was pretty funny

"What does a robot even do with that thing?"
"The same thing you're doing: nothing"

caught up on all the episodes, really enjoying the show. After disappointing seasons of Fringe, Defiance, Alcatraz, V, etc I don't want shitty giant arc scifi shows that can't produce meaningful, interesting, multi-season storylines. Procedure shows like Almost Human that put a cool future spin on Law & Order mysteries is perfectly fine with me.

Karl Urban and Dorian really, really make the show work and its hard to imagine anyone else doing their parts better now. Love the bitcoin reference in the latest episode.

The only shitty thing is that the ratings are uneven, dropping a bit every week. I guess its not also airing the week the Sleepy Hollow finale airs, which is their big new ratings blockbuster, so thats not a great sign either. Shows gotta cost a lot of $$ and it doesn't seem like the kind of show that will really grow every year.