Bored so finally giving this is a shot…up to episode 3, does it get better? Feels like I am watching a parody or a really long/bad SNL skit.
Yeah, it gets better. The show is nearly 25 years old at this point and has that old school pacing of story and character development, but the core is still pretty fucking solid. It was made when there weren't piles of movies and tv shows at everyone's disposal 24/7 streaming and meals delivered via Doordash in 5 minutes.
It was made for a time when the primary audience were 30+ somethings settling into their couches and Laz-Boys for a weekly watch and eat with zero interruptions. Watch show, eat dinner, brush teeth, go to bed thinking about it, wake up Monday and rinse and repeat. Futher there were no interruptions because ipads and iphones didn't exist. You sat in chair and watched show with wifey and maybe kids and had chicken legs and macaroni salad while watching tube and that was it.
I didn't watch the show at all on first release, and didn't start getting into it for 10+ hours. I sat through two full watchings of the series, years apart. The first time I watched it, I had two other computers going and missed a lot of things. This was well after the last episode aired...I didn't know who James was until he died.
The second time, I just sat in chair once/twice week and ate some chew and did nothing else.
Either way you choose to consume it, it is worth the wait until it settles into your neurons.
It has what I miss about shows. Long character development arcs that span seasons and often from the beginning of the series to the very end. Hell, this show had one of the best character development arcs of all time that wasn't realized until the final episode of the series and I didn't even see it coming.
Further, I wouldn't claim it as best television EVAR, but what it has is nearly perfect uniformity of story and characters and quality from beginning to end. Yes, it has its low points, and its high points. Its high points are amazing and that whats makes this show great when gathered together with everything else.
The only downpoint of the show was when I realized there were some unresolved issues with plots, but overall I'd change nothing except for