The HBO Appreciation Thread

[cityzen]

Proper ray of sunshine, you.

[noam]

^^^
Rome was BBC/HBO produced

HBO is absolutely standout in their programming though

The Soprano's
The Wire
Boardwalk
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
Breaking Bad (started catching up on this again, its awesome)
Rome
...
..
.

[firky]

Well it's true, there's hardly any British TV production of the same caliber as that of HBO. We do extremely good documentaries, and the odd great comedy true, but nothing like The Wire or Sop'.

[firky]

Apart from Eastenders when Stacy Slater was in it looking like filth.

Gripping stuff but not in the story telling sense.



edit:

That ray of sunshine proper made me lol!!

[cityzen]

I think Breaking Bad is AMC.
Also, imo, The Pacific is to BoB as Godfather pt.3 is to Godfather pt. 1/2. It's good, but pales in comparison.
I think I might start Treme next, I hear good things about it....

That ray of sunshine proper made me lol!!

Glad to have cheered you up a bit!

[noam]

I dont think the Pacific pales in comparison at all

i just dont think they could improve on BoB

i think in some way the characters aren't as engaging as BoB but i think a lot of that has to do with the relationship as a viewer you built with BoB the first time round, i heard a lot of people say the same thing about The Pacific, but taken on its own without reference to BoB, could you really call it Godfather 3??

[cityzen]

The Pacific, as a stand alone series, was very good, in the same way GF3 was very good. But when they are inevitably compared to BoB and GF1/2 respectively then they are both a bit shit.
You say the characters aren't as engaging as the ones in BoB (and I would agree) even though they seemed to spend a lot more time on character development in The Pacific. What they did before the war, little R&R trips to Oz etc... Somehow (imo) they makers seemed to do less with more. AND it was based on real people but I found it less believable. I also found it to be heavy handed on the schmaltz, but hey, it was a Spielberg production.

[kingldub]

best episode of Curb...

All about the last episode of that season imo

"Fuck you, you carwash tnuc!!!"

Suzy Green is a scary bitch.

[64hz]

HBO is gold amongst tv shite

[mikey_g]

just been watchin game sof thrones, started off a bit slow but reallt good by the end. defnitely recommened

[firky]

I didn't really care for BoB (my old school friend is in BoB!) or TP as a series, the story arc was always quite repetitive and sometimes very predictable. I preferred to watch them as single episodes periodically, that way they didn't seem to be so repetitive or formulaic.

IMO Generation Kill had was far better at making their characters deeper and engaging the audience in empathy. Some of that could do with the period that BoB and TP were set in, but I don't think you can entirely blame it on the alienation our generation have with WWII. 'We' may have no idea what it is like to live through a period of Total War but I think we certainly have the empathy.

[fuagofire]

Game of thrones

[cityzen]

I didn't really care for BoB (my old school friend is in BoB!) or TP as a series, the story arc was always quite repetitive and sometimes very predictable. I preferred to watch them as single episodes periodically, that way they didn't seem to be so repetitive or formulaic.

IMO Generation Kill had was far better at making their characters deeper and engaging the audience in empathy. Some of that could do with the period that BoB and TP were set in, but I don't think you can entirely blame it on the alienation our generation have with WWII. 'We' may have no idea what it is like to live through a period of Total War but I think we certainly have the empathy.

Yeah, I feel you there, Firky.
Gen Kill was certainly better at making the characters more accessible to the audience, but as you say, a large part of that is to do with the time period.
However, as both my grandfathers were in the European theatre of WW2, I still felt a link to the characters in BoB. I knew both my grandfathers experiences there so I could relate a lot more than others.
The Pacific was quite predictable. Obviously i'm not talking about the overall outcome, but it was easy to guess who would survive and who would cop it.

Also,i've started watching Treme. I'm only a few episodes in now but I must say, i'm not overly impressed. It seems quite contrived and doesn't seem to flow as well as other HBO shows.
I'll keep watching though just for Bunk from The Wire. He gives me jokes!