pagefrance

I too have all three seasons and I watched parts of seasons 1 and 2 during last year's TV and SF/Fantasy challenges. Looks like I'm well on my way to finishing season 3 well before the month is up. Hope you get to see some episodes yourself.

MrTerrific

Started Season 2 of Justified yesterday and finishing today. What a great season! Gotta love Walton Goggins and his Jack Nicholson crazy hair.

LOVE the supporting cast on this show. They definitely outshine the star.

BobO'Link

So I'm looking through my collection to see if I have enough titles for the "Watch shows originating from 3 different countries" Checklist section. I was expecting to use Starhunter, as I don't yet own any SCTV, but was hoping to find another program in my unopened pile that was originally produced for Canadian TV. While that was unfruitful, to my delight I discovered that Farscape was originally produced for Australia's "Nine Network"! I knew it had been produced abroad but had never known it originally aired in Australia and was imported to the US for syndication. I'd always thought it was like Hercules and Xena - produced for syndication but filmed abroad because of lower production costs. It's been a couple of years since I've watched any episodes and is nice to revisit for this challenge!

lisadoris

I finished The Original Series yesterday and with the exception for the space hippies episode, they all brought something to the table. Now I can say I've seen all 79 episodes. Some hold up remarkably well and others, not so much but I think that's true of most TV shows. Overall it was fun to re-watch the classics and to add some new episodes to my list of favorites.

I'll see how many episodes of The Animated Series I can get in this weekend.

Ash Ketchum

Ummm, in my household Charles Napier as a space hippie is the dictionary definition of "bringing something to the table"...

mrcellophane

Oh God! I had blocked the space hippie episode from my mind. They were so incredibly annoying!!!

I have been watching Earth 2 which I watched with it was on television. I forgot just how much I loved it as a kid. I just wish that the show focused a bit more on the survival of the marooned people and less on the sci-fi hijinks. It feels like each episode features some sci-fi trope that has been done to death. That said, the characters are compelling and a lot of fun to watch.

BobO'Link

^I'd always thought it was the constant pre-emptions, dropping ratings (partly due to the pre-emptions), and apathy on the part of network brass which caused its death. I found this explanation as to why it never went past S1:

"Earth 2's producers - the people who had brought life to the characters which they themselves created - were fired by Universal in hopes of changing the show to fit what the mass population wanted to see. A promo was created by Universal for a second season, but this was rejected by NBC and the show was cancelled. This promo tape was found and shown at the first Earth 2 convention, New PacifiCon 1996. No one had seen it before, not even the cast members, and after viewing what the second season may have been like, everyone was generally glad the show wasn't renewed. The proposal was not what we would want for a second season. In essence, they dumbed the show down, until it would have been almost unrecognizable as the one we had grown to love."

Then doing a bit more digging looking for corroborating evidence I found a very interesting interview Clancy Brown (Danziger) did for an "Earth 2 Bash" in 1998. If you're a fan of the series it's a pretty interesting read and supports that reason. There's even more evidence, along with what was planned for Season 2 here.

The "lost" Season 2 promo trailer shown at New PacifiCon '96 is in the spoiler.

If that promo truly demonstrates what Universal had planned for season 2 and series as a whole, I'm glad NBC chose to cancel. What they had was so much better than that stereotypical claptrap retooling. It demonstrated that they truly didn't understand what they had and how to develop it properly. Most telling is that "the new producers wanted to get rid of long story arcs and esoteric concepts" in favor of more stand-alone action oriented episodes (from the trailer). Of course with the constant pre-empting at the network level those "long story arcs and esoteric concepts", not to mention airing episodes out of order (practices which also helped kill Firefly - although by Fox) would cause confusion driving viewers away. For *that* you *can* blame NBC.

If you've never looked it up, the series was aired and produced on DVD out of order. Here's the proper viewing sequence - The titles are (in timeline order):

First Contact (pilot)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two)
Life Lessons
Promises, Promises
Natural Born Grendlers*
A Memory Play
Water
Church of Morgan
The Enemy Within
Redemption
Mooncross
Better Living Through Morganite (Parts 1 and 2)
Grendlers in the Myst
The Greatest Love Story Never Told
Brave New Pacifica
After The Thaw
The Boy Who Would Be Terrian King
Survival of the Fittest
Flower Child*
All About Eve

*Denotes shown out of order.

Yet another series I've not watched in a few years. I might have to work in a few episodes, if not the entire run, of this one too!

lisadoris

Oh I love Charles Napier (even though it took me a minute to place exactly where I had seen him before) but that episode was still awful.

shadokitty

Herbert!

mrcellophane

Thanks for the information! I didn't do my research and thus watched them out of order. When I'm done, I'll have to watch that promo and finally be at peace with the fact that it was cancelled.

Ash Ketchum

I’ve been putting anime aside to watch TV westerns for this Challenge. So far I’ve watched 16 eps. from 26 different shows. Here’s the list in chronological order, with the oldest episode being from 1949 and the newest from 1966.

The Lone Ranger – 2
The Cisco Kid – 4
Hopalong Cassidy – 2
The Range Rider – 2
Buffalo Bill Jr. – 2
Gunsmoke – 3
The Gabby Hayes Show – 1
Frontier Doctor – 1
Have Gun Will Travel – 1
Wagon Train – 2
Rawhide – 1
Bonanza – 1
Lawman – 1
Laramie - 1
The Virginian – 1
Laredo – 1

The big surprises have been: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and Rawhide, all episodes from the black-and-white era. All had good stories with plenty of suspense and action. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a complete episode of Gunsmoke before, and the other two not since childhood. The Virginian and Laredo were also new to me, having never seen an episode of either before, although I didn’t like those as much.

I have mixed feelings about “Bonanza.” I need to see more eps. But no more TV Land. They cut them up with lots of commercials, stick lots of “pop-ups” into the image, and reduce the end credits to a tiny little unreadable box in the corner. The Ultimate Westerns TV Classics box set has some good-quality episodes, so I’ll stick with those.

I’m torn between sticking to the westerns (I have, like, 140 more eps. to get through) or going back to anime. (I’ve actually seen 22 anime eps. so far in this challenge, so it’s not like I’ve ignored it.) I have hundreds of anime eps. to get through.

One question. Does the following qualify for the “stunt guest star” checklist item? Sessue Hayakawa plays a samurai in “Wagon Train,” a year after coming off his big-screen acclaim for playing a Japanese prison camp commandant in THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I can only seem to stand 3 episodes of Pee-Wee's Playhouse before I start dozing off. It's going to be tight to finish them all by the end of the month.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Possibly. I'd just say to use your best judgement.

BobO'Link

I've never been much of a Gunsmoke fan, but *do* like those early B/W episodes better than the color ones - at least the ones I've seen on TV in the past several years. I vaguely remember Wagon Train from my youth but couldn't describe anything about the series other than its general premis. I re-discovered Rawhide a year or so back when I picked up a S1 set as a CH enrollment. I found I like it very much. I *want* to think I've seen random episodes of The Virginian and Laredo but it's been waaaaay too long. I've almost picked up sets/seasons of each at SAMs over the past year but don't due to the unfamiliarity.
For me, Bonanza is a mixed bag. I like some and others not so much... I've seen quite a few episodes because the TV station I worked for ran them back in the 80's. While set in "the west" I felt many episodes would have worked just as well in almost any setting. They didn't feel so much "westernish" as "homesteadish". Of course the series *was* primarily about the Cartwrights building civilization in the area. I have S1 on my wishlist for eventual purchase for no other reason than to see if I really like it.
Considering the "Historical Challenge" is coming up in a few months I'd put the westerns on the shelf for that one and work on the anime for this one.
I tend to go by episode promos and/or credits. Generally if the guest star is featured in the "next week on..." promo or gets billing in the opening credits it's a done deal. If there are no opening credits they must be featured in the closing credits.

Giles

I must admit I'm doing horribly on watching content on DVD, but with so much stuff on actual TV this is the perfect Challenge to catch up on my TV watching.

lisadoris

Oh my the episodes from The Animated Series are so much fun! They're better than some of the live action episodes. "Yesteryear" was a bit sad but the Tribbles episodes was hilarious. Very cool.

BobO'Link

^After watching those a year or so back, and gaining a new appreciation for them, I found myself wishing they'd have continued for another season. It would also have been interesting to see some of them in hour length episodes as the 30 minute format sometimes feels a bit rushed.

terrycloth

im a huge turtles fan and on netflix showed up a live action tv series from the 90s....im amazed iv never heard of it until today im gonna start it up tomorrow

mrcellophane

I agree wholeheartedly! It is loads of fun. My favorite episodes are "The Time Trap" and "Albatross" (the latter possibly because Bones is my favorite character).

I was sick so I hunkered down on my couch and fell into a television binge. I finished up season two of Mad Men which is so compelling and watched the British miniseries Five Days which was gripping. I recommend it to anyone who likes police procedurals and plenty of drama, British-style. I feel much better and completed one of my personal goals to boot!

davidh777

I passed my total from last year , and I think the counting rules were a little looser then

GoldenWheels

OMG it looks atrocious just from the cover but somehow that slipped by this turtle fan as well...have to check it out.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I almost want to say that 150-175 would be the equivalent to 100 in other challenges.

Last night I finally caught up on all the old stuff I had sitting on my Tivo. I do have 3 shows from Sunday but until next Sunday rolls around, I don't consider myself behind on them.

I'm on track to finish Pee-Wee's Playhouse with my kids and I've been watching my DVD set of Unsolved Mysteries the rest of the time.

davidh777

^Considering I haven't topped 30 or so in any challenge so far, I'll take it. Being between jobs doesn't hurt my totals either.

I was inspired by the Family Ties thread to rewatch the Alex-meets-Ellen arc (after using the Family Ties Vacation to pick off the checklist item). I love this storyline, with Fox's dry humor and incredible chemistry with Pollan.

Ash Ketchum

I've seen four Christmas-themed episodes in this challenge that I didn't know I had. I could've used them for the Holiday Challenge.

One was a Bugs Bunny Christmas special that was included as an extra on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5. One was a "Gunsmoke" episode taped off the Western Channel (although this came on after the Holiday Challenge was over). One was an episode of the anime series, "K-on!" and one was an episode of another anime series, "Patlabor Mobile Police."

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I thought I was completely caught up on all the stuff on my Tivos and then I saw I still had season 2 of The Walking Dead on the bedroom one. At least it won't take long to get through it.