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sunclouds33! I also did a 2015 fic meme, if you missed it. :)
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2015?
I’m gonna narrow it down just a little bit but this list is still crazy: Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Fresh Off the Boat, American Horror Story: Hotel, Looking, How to Get Away with Murder, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Broad City, Empire, Daredevil, Sense8, Penny Dreadful, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Another Period, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, BoJack Horseman, Jessica Jones, Scream Queens, and The Leftovers. I’m pretty sure those are all shows I started in ’15.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2015? Why?
Hmmmm. I’m sure there’s something but I can’t think of it.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2016?
Just counting new and not returning shows: American Crime Story (Ryan Murphy, why do I never learn!!!!!!!!!), potentially American Crime (didn’t watch s1, but watched the first ep of s2 on iTunes and I am…curious), and Vinyl. I’m an iffy Scorsese fan but I love music and music in the 70s and rock n roll stuff and Bobby Cannavale and Juno Temple.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2015?
Excluding total crap (like Blood & Oil, Quantico, Finding Carter which I had to drop…) I would say I was VASTLY disappointed with Empire’s second season. I don’t think it’s even that it’s gotten worse (it is still the kind of show it has always been) but that my patience with it is extremely thin now and the stuff that used to keep me hanging on (Cookie, Jamal, Hakeem) is having diminishing returns. It’s just boring me to tears. Also my family is OBSESSED with The Walking Dead so even though I don’t like zombies I got roped into watching the entire series this year and what I can say after all that is… I still don’t care. Except about Glenn – I totally care about Glenn. I don’t really think it’s a BAD show, it’s just not my cup of tea, but this most recent season was exceptionally lame. Fear the Walking Dead was really bad too, but I didn’t make it past the second episode. The American remake of The Slap was rage-inducing, especially for me who really liked the original. I am perpetually on the edge of breaking up with HtGAWM. Scream Queens was g a r b a g e (yet I watched every episode).
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2016 unless things significantly improve?
I’ve already dropped Blood & Oil and Quantico, but I think I’ll be dropping Empire too. I was thisclose to ditching HtGAWM but the finale was so hilarious I think I’ll let it slide a little longer. Tbh I have very little compunctions about dropping most television shows I don’t like, though my deep love of hate watching can get in the way.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
American Horror Story (I’m actually loving this season though). I’ve stuck through every single season, even Freak Show. I am in it to win it. It’s hard to say for shows that haven’t betrayed me yet, though. They might never betray me! Gossip Girl ended three years ago, I can be optimistic now!
Your main fandom of the year?
My most active fic writing fandom was still, somehow, Gossip Girl. But also Marvel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and maaaybe AHS: Hotel, though I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily “in” the fandom. A lot of my favorite shows are not fandoms I’m in, though; I find narratives that are very emotionally satisfying don’t push me to write fic? Not a hard and fast rule, but generally.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Mad Max, Dear White People, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., A Royal Affair, Ex Machina, Top Five, Carol, Testament of Youth. (I really enjoyed The Danish Girl but I feel like I’m not allowed to say so on the internet.) Look how many Alicia Vikander movies that is. I liked Age of Adaline tbh. Bessie was great.
Your favorite book read this year?
I actually read books this year!!!!! The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Caucasia. Summer. The Fever. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. With the exception of Lady Chatterley I’ve only really read books by women this year (totally by accident too! though once I realized I was on a streak I was loathe to break it) and I hope I can continue that in the following year and, like, for the rest of my life.
Your favorite TV show of the year?
You’re the Worst. Penny Dreadful. The Americans. AHS: Hotel. Jane the Virgin. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Looking. Broad City. Mad Men. BoJack Horseman. I had real Moments with each other those throughout the year. I think I am going to do a Best Of/Year End post so maybe I will natter on about it more then.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Age of Ultron, lol. I was totally reserving judgment on it despite the shitty fandom reviews it was getting (the critical reviews weren’t uniformly terrible, from what I remember, and I know better than to trust fandom) and despite the fact that I very much did not like the first Avengers movie. I didn’t think I would love it (like I said – I did not like the first Avengers and I thought it was incredibly overrated) but I didn’t expect such an adverse reaction from myself. In a lot of ways, the same things that were wrong with it were wrong with the first: too many quips (so many, too many, it was an assault of quips), an overall tone of SMUGNESS, a convoluted plot that never seemed to resolve into something I understood or cared about, fuckin ROBOTS, and just an absolutely hideous visual style. That movie looked so ugly (so did the first!). The CGI was so bad and the scenes were so overloaded with no real sense of balance or composition. My eye had no idea where to look. There were times that I just had to close my eyes because it was so aggressively hard to watch. But I’m on record as hating how Whedon directs his films. He somehow manages to take billions of dollars and routinely churn out something that looks cheap as hell every single time – like an episode of a television show on the WB in 2001. Fancy that.
That said, I ended up agreeing with a fair amount of the criticism. It seemed to have no connection to other films in the franchise in terms of who the characters were at a most basic level and how they would be acting based on what they had gone through. It left a really bad taste in my mouth and took away a lot of my interest in Marvel as a whole. Which makes me sad.
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Maybe Agent Carter’s existence? I am still so SHOCKED that she was beloved into getting her own series and that that series is getting another season???? SHOCKED. In shock. I’m a longterm Hayley Atwell fan from well before Cap (from Brideshead Revisited, to be exact, and I am a major snooty hipster about loving her before it was en vogue) so getting to look at her being pretty and intensely capable week to week was a treasure. I don’t even think the show itself was stunningly spectacular or anything, but I also do not care. I was so excited for it every week that I would plop my butt down to watch it LIVE. I bought the lipstick & the nail polish. True fangirl territory.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Um I guess I sort of miss all of my old fandoms from time to time? The nostalgia factor and all. Mostly I miss how fandom ~used to be, both my own intensity of investment and also the forums, livejournal, the long in-depth discussions. All that good stuff.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I’m interested in watching Hannibal because Mads Mikkelsen really blew me away with his acting in A Royal Affair. I was sort of turned off by fandom but I also have a lot of friends who really liked the show, and it does seem like the sort of thing I’d enjoy.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
Against my better judgment I am excited for Captain America: Civil War, lol. Not because of the plot. Or the Iron Man (ew). Just the hope of caring again. I’m really excited for Luke Cage, actually. And of course the return of all my regular shows!
sunclouds33! I also did a 2015 fic meme, if you missed it. :)Which TV shows did you start watching in 2015?
I’m gonna narrow it down just a little bit but this list is still crazy: Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Fresh Off the Boat, American Horror Story: Hotel, Looking, How to Get Away with Murder, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Broad City, Empire, Daredevil, Sense8, Penny Dreadful, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Another Period, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, BoJack Horseman, Jessica Jones, Scream Queens, and The Leftovers. I’m pretty sure those are all shows I started in ’15.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2015? Why?
Hmmmm. I’m sure there’s something but I can’t think of it.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2016?
Just counting new and not returning shows: American Crime Story (Ryan Murphy, why do I never learn!!!!!!!!!), potentially American Crime (didn’t watch s1, but watched the first ep of s2 on iTunes and I am…curious), and Vinyl. I’m an iffy Scorsese fan but I love music and music in the 70s and rock n roll stuff and Bobby Cannavale and Juno Temple.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2015?
Excluding total crap (like Blood & Oil, Quantico, Finding Carter which I had to drop…) I would say I was VASTLY disappointed with Empire’s second season. I don’t think it’s even that it’s gotten worse (it is still the kind of show it has always been) but that my patience with it is extremely thin now and the stuff that used to keep me hanging on (Cookie, Jamal, Hakeem) is having diminishing returns. It’s just boring me to tears. Also my family is OBSESSED with The Walking Dead so even though I don’t like zombies I got roped into watching the entire series this year and what I can say after all that is… I still don’t care. Except about Glenn – I totally care about Glenn. I don’t really think it’s a BAD show, it’s just not my cup of tea, but this most recent season was exceptionally lame. Fear the Walking Dead was really bad too, but I didn’t make it past the second episode. The American remake of The Slap was rage-inducing, especially for me who really liked the original. I am perpetually on the edge of breaking up with HtGAWM. Scream Queens was g a r b a g e (yet I watched every episode).
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2016 unless things significantly improve?
I’ve already dropped Blood & Oil and Quantico, but I think I’ll be dropping Empire too. I was thisclose to ditching HtGAWM but the finale was so hilarious I think I’ll let it slide a little longer. Tbh I have very little compunctions about dropping most television shows I don’t like, though my deep love of hate watching can get in the way.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
American Horror Story (I’m actually loving this season though). I’ve stuck through every single season, even Freak Show. I am in it to win it. It’s hard to say for shows that haven’t betrayed me yet, though. They might never betray me! Gossip Girl ended three years ago, I can be optimistic now!
Your main fandom of the year?
My most active fic writing fandom was still, somehow, Gossip Girl. But also Marvel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and maaaybe AHS: Hotel, though I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily “in” the fandom. A lot of my favorite shows are not fandoms I’m in, though; I find narratives that are very emotionally satisfying don’t push me to write fic? Not a hard and fast rule, but generally.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Mad Max, Dear White People, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., A Royal Affair, Ex Machina, Top Five, Carol, Testament of Youth. (I really enjoyed The Danish Girl but I feel like I’m not allowed to say so on the internet.) Look how many Alicia Vikander movies that is. I liked Age of Adaline tbh. Bessie was great.
Your favorite book read this year?
I actually read books this year!!!!! The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Caucasia. Summer. The Fever. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. With the exception of Lady Chatterley I’ve only really read books by women this year (totally by accident too! though once I realized I was on a streak I was loathe to break it) and I hope I can continue that in the following year and, like, for the rest of my life.
Your favorite TV show of the year?
You’re the Worst. Penny Dreadful. The Americans. AHS: Hotel. Jane the Virgin. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Looking. Broad City. Mad Men. BoJack Horseman. I had real Moments with each other those throughout the year. I think I am going to do a Best Of/Year End post so maybe I will natter on about it more then.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Age of Ultron, lol. I was totally reserving judgment on it despite the shitty fandom reviews it was getting (the critical reviews weren’t uniformly terrible, from what I remember, and I know better than to trust fandom) and despite the fact that I very much did not like the first Avengers movie. I didn’t think I would love it (like I said – I did not like the first Avengers and I thought it was incredibly overrated) but I didn’t expect such an adverse reaction from myself. In a lot of ways, the same things that were wrong with it were wrong with the first: too many quips (so many, too many, it was an assault of quips), an overall tone of SMUGNESS, a convoluted plot that never seemed to resolve into something I understood or cared about, fuckin ROBOTS, and just an absolutely hideous visual style. That movie looked so ugly (so did the first!). The CGI was so bad and the scenes were so overloaded with no real sense of balance or composition. My eye had no idea where to look. There were times that I just had to close my eyes because it was so aggressively hard to watch. But I’m on record as hating how Whedon directs his films. He somehow manages to take billions of dollars and routinely churn out something that looks cheap as hell every single time – like an episode of a television show on the WB in 2001. Fancy that.
That said, I ended up agreeing with a fair amount of the criticism. It seemed to have no connection to other films in the franchise in terms of who the characters were at a most basic level and how they would be acting based on what they had gone through. It left a really bad taste in my mouth and took away a lot of my interest in Marvel as a whole. Which makes me sad.
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Maybe Agent Carter’s existence? I am still so SHOCKED that she was beloved into getting her own series and that that series is getting another season???? SHOCKED. In shock. I’m a longterm Hayley Atwell fan from well before Cap (from Brideshead Revisited, to be exact, and I am a major snooty hipster about loving her before it was en vogue) so getting to look at her being pretty and intensely capable week to week was a treasure. I don’t even think the show itself was stunningly spectacular or anything, but I also do not care. I was so excited for it every week that I would plop my butt down to watch it LIVE. I bought the lipstick & the nail polish. True fangirl territory.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Um I guess I sort of miss all of my old fandoms from time to time? The nostalgia factor and all. Mostly I miss how fandom ~used to be, both my own intensity of investment and also the forums, livejournal, the long in-depth discussions. All that good stuff.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I’m interested in watching Hannibal because Mads Mikkelsen really blew me away with his acting in A Royal Affair. I was sort of turned off by fandom but I also have a lot of friends who really liked the show, and it does seem like the sort of thing I’d enjoy.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
Against my better judgment I am excited for Captain America: Civil War, lol. Not because of the plot. Or the Iron Man (ew). Just the hope of caring again. I’m really excited for Luke Cage, actually. And of course the return of all my regular shows!