Succession

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I certainly appreciated the lack of over-reliance on cliffhangers, as you said. I think I'm just not that interested in backstabbing when it forms the entire backdrop to a show, as it would in any show starting off in a multi-million dollar industry, though conversely I find it fascinating when it develops within the context of an already-developed world/set of characters (again, Breaking Bad is a superb example)
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I gotta admit that although there were lots of good elements to Breaking Bad I found the poor characterisation - and bizarre changes in personality in service of the plot - a real problem that ultimately meant it couldn't quality for the top tier of TV. Plus all the kinda A-Team/McGyver stuff was just.. well, less said the better.
 

version

Well-known member
The Sun had a circulation of 1.4 million in 2019 — but that was down from 3 million in 2010.

"Between 1994 and 1996, The Sun's circulation peaked. Its highest average sale was in the week ending 16 July 1994, when the daily figure was 4,305,957. The highest ever one-day sale was on 18 November 1995 (4,889,118), although the cover price had been cut to 10p. The highest ever one-day sale at full price was on 30 March 1996 (4,783,359)."

Dunno if this is as heartening as I want it to be, given the left-wing press is also haemorrhaging readers — perhaps those so inclined are simply finding their right-wing sensationalist garbage online these days?

The Mail's website is apparently one of the most visited 'news' sources in the world, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah The Mail website is famously full of the kind of scantily clad women that the magazine (er, paper - accidental typo but I think I'll leave it) deplores. I believe that the Guardian website also punches above its weight as regards sales of the newspaper - but I don't think they've really found a way to monetise that yet, hence every article ends with a plea for donations...
Anyway, what about Succession? Anyone watch it?
 

version

Well-known member
The Caroline Flack suicide was just awful. The dynamic with the gutter press and people's insatiable desire for seeing celebrities destroyed is really sick. Love Island should have been axed after the previous suicide. It's like some dematerialised mental health version of the gladiatorial arena - building people up to watch them perish.

The other thing is it's now glossed over the fact she was a domestic abuser. She apparently smashed her boyfriend over the head with a lamp whilst he was sleeping and also assaulted a previous boyfriend then made him sign a gagging order to stop him talking about it, so the takeaway as far as I can tell is that Flack, the media, the public and various others were all at fault.
 

version

Well-known member
Anyway, what about Succession? Anyone watch it?

This is the second time I've heard of it, but I've never seen it. I might give it a go at some point, but I'm terrible with TV. I watch one episode of The Young Pope every two months or so atm and I still haven't watched plenty of other stuff I've intended to.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I gotta admit that although there were lots of good elements to Breaking Bad I found the poor characterisation - and bizarre changes in personality in service of the plot - a real problem that ultimately meant it couldn't quality for the top tier of TV. Plus all the kinda A-Team/McGyver stuff was just.. well, less said the better.

That's interesting. I can see the point about changes in character that don't always hang together, but it didn't bother me that much - I can forgive some of it as playing upon archetypes, playing straight into a semi-mythic dimension (the whole Ozymandias trope etc).

I wouldn't put it in the top tier of TV either, because it didn't engage me emotionally at all - but then this modern era of TV rarely does that, concentrating as it does upon being structurally clever, addictive and 'having something meaningful to say about society' (mostly, imo, really obvious observations that are then lauded as genius - see the Sopranos) at the expense of much else. But I'd put it right at the top of the tier of TV that is purely about entertainment. Some of the set pieces in BB were incredible, eg. in 'One Minute', straight out of top drawer film, and I loved the way the New Mexico landscape became a world unto itself. Also the sense of different worlds colliding, with Lydia and the cartels.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
What was the One Minute episode then?
There were some good set pieces I guess but the stuff with magnets and that was stupid. I liked the one where he blew him up with the wheelchair. The final episode with the machine gun on the bonnet was kind of good and bad.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
It was this but if you can get it on Netflix and watch the preceding minute or two as well, it works better

Magnets was legendary!

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"I liked the one where he blew him up with the wheelchair" I like how this would sound out of context in an overhead pub conversation

Yeah, the last episode stretched credulity somewhat (!), but I thought it worked emotionally as a kind of dreamscape where Walt found some redemption in saving Jesse, but that that still didn't wipe out the past.
 
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