#peak TV

[cptrs]

[gaypeople]

YELLING

[actualhumancryptid]

Hey. Pssst. I hear you like that show from 20 years ago. Well good news! How would you like us to dig up and reanimate its corpse, parading it around Weekend At Bernie’s style for 10 more episodes?

Why are you crying?

[horatio-fig]

Andor: What if we depicted a harrowing account of life under an oppressive fascist regime? 

The Bad Batch:

[lets-steal-an-archive]

To make up for the lost back end, streamers floated performance-based incentives. Schur describes a scenario in which a platform might promise a showrunner a $100,000 bonus for season one, $250,000 for season two, $500,000 for season three, and $1.7 million for season four. "So you’re like, Holy shit. This is great!" he says. There was a catch. Many seemingly successful series began to vanish after just a couple of seasons. "What no one saw coming was they’d just kill the show before they ever had to pay that money out," Schur says. “They kind of tricked everybody. Now if you get to 20 episodes, it’s a miracle."

[postguiltypleasures]

My Peak TV Journey Yo Soy Betty, la Fea

In anticipation of the long awaited Betty la Fea, La historia continua, and a vague desire to rewatch something, I decided to watch Yo Soy Betty La Fea, on Peacock. While there are episodes that I’ve watched repeatedly, I technically had not watched the whole series from start to finish. I had previously watched it in short video clips illegally uploaded to YouTube. They made it easy to skip over subplots and sections I mistakenly thought would be boring to someone of my limited Spanish skills. I still haven’t seen the whole thing. The Peacock version I am watching edited it down to about half as many episodes as the original run. At first I didn’t mind, because I barely noticed it and I was distracted by how much later in the novela things like Aura Maria being kicked out by her parents were than I remember. And as I got to the parts of the series I am most familiar with, I was very bothered by it. But another part of me has to admit that I’m much further along than I would be otherwise, and as I can’t finish the whole thing before the new one this will have to be good enough. 

On earlier views I justified my mostly skipping the first part by my impression that Betty wasn’t that active in the first part of the novel. I thought Patricia carried more of the story and that it included a lot of subs plots that don’t really lead anywhere. Now that I’ve seen more of it, I can say that’s not entirely true. Betty is more active than my impression. She might not be driving the plot, but keeps it running. She is proving herself as invaluable to the running of Ecomoda, and Armando’s ability to lead. She also overhears Armando defend her a lot and works with him through being sabotaged, which make falling in love with him more understandable. Also those subplots do color things through the various parallels and deviations from the main plot. Not all of the parallels work, but they make for a more richly colorful world. 

Before this watch, I didn’t appreciate how much Patricia’s relationship with Mario sets up lot of the contrast with Beth and Armando, so that we know how into Betty Armando really is, long before he can say it. While Mario seduces Patricia early on, he has no motive other than she’s sexy. But soon it becomes apparent that she’s working two jobs, as Armando’s secretary and as his saboteur on behalf of Daniel Valencia. But when Armando suggest that Mario continue to play Patricia boyfriend to better understand what she’s really up to, he moves on to Aura Maria, trying to keep both women without committing, despite the fact that Patricia is very interested in him. This contrasts with how Armando is reluctant to pursue Betty romantically, but keeps going for it even as she repeatedly tries to break things off. The way this says subconsciously Armando really wants her doesn’t come through without the contrast to Mario’s disregard for Patricia earlier. 

Peacock cut out some shockingly large sections and some seem really carelessly done. The flashback to Sofia and Efrain’s first encounter with Jenny was missing. I thought this was something that appeared later than I thought, but eventually had to admit it was just gone. The cuartel’s arrival at Betty’s house for her birthday is chopped making it more abrupt, hiding how much of the cuartel’s life is not approved by Betty’s father, Don Hermes. But worst of all they cut out a large section of the first time Betty and Armando have sex. One episode ends after they decide to leave the disco with Betty saying that they should go somewhere else and the next starts with her approaching him in a hotel room. There so much of the anticipation and tension, and Armando’s calls with Mario are as important to setting up how he explains things the next day. It’s making me not feel like finishing the series.

But for now I am going to first give my take on a couple of subplots and then the thing that makes revisiting it irresistible, (because it is so uncomfortable to think about.) 

I have this vaguely defined theory that there are actually into sadomasochism, but can’t just admit it, and that is what drives their plot. The key is the masochist needing to stay the center of people’s attention. Jenny is a sadist. Efrain is a masochist. It’s the one way I found to make sense of that relationship. Sofia can be mean but she isn’t really a sadist. She doesn’t glory in it and she’s trying to balance multiple things at once. Jenny keeps Efrain the center of attention and keeps him doing things that are bad for him. His financial security, his relationship with his family, and she ensure Sofia keeps punishing him. On some level he must love it. On a more obvious one, Jenny is possibly more turned on my torturing Sofia than she is by doing baby talk with Efrain. She combines the activities a lot.

There are several plot lines that I think are darker than intended. The first and most obvious is Daniel Valencia’s sexual harassment and abuse. There has been a lot of talk lately, some courtesy of Luis Mensi talking about what was originally pitched to him, about him becoming a rival to Armando for Betty’s affection. And I have to think that Fernando Gaitan and the various other people working behind the scenes were shocked to realize just how dark this was when it played out. I think it was originally mostly to show how differently Daniel saw Betty than other women. But it really came off so much worse than that. It also makes Marcela look worse, as Daniel does some of that sexual harassment of Patricia in front of her. Also I only recently appreciated that Patricia gives up on Mario when he retells one of Daniel’s crude jokes about her. Mario and Daniel are the same level of bad. Mario is charming in a way Daniel is aggressively not, which makes Mario more dangerous to most characters in the novela. With men like these around it’s no wonder that Patricia ends up transferring her affections to her car. When she looses it, she does a variation of the Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci character) quote “better to cry in a Mercedes than be happy on a bicycle”. (Reggiani said Rolls Royce instead of Mercedes.) 

I also think everything about Aura Maria’s back story is darker than anything they would put on screen. She’s a single mother, who became a mother when she was a teenager. She starts out living with her son and her parents while always actively avoiding going home, even when threatened with eviction by her parents. She never wants to spend time with her son, though she says she loves him. And her taste in men… she wants all the attention, but most of all she want to feel like she’s being chosen over someone else. Her interest in Mario is heightened by knowing he’s also with Patricia. Her interest in Freddy becomes more solid when he indulges in a flirtation with Jenny. The has various out of town boyfriends who call her up when they’re around. When I try and imagine her as the main character of a story, all the signs point to something depressing. Also living with her parents but also rebelling from them is an interesting parallel with Betty. It’s not really explored, but I think it’s one of the reasons they have such an easy connection. They get each other deep down, despite a lot of surface level differences. 

Now time to talk about the ways in which the original Betty/Armando dynamic is so compelling, because is it is also so messed up. There has been a fair amount of talk about how there are things in the novela that could not be done today, including from the original cast. Armando does things that are abusive, but mostly played for laughs, and there are moments like when Armando gets physical with Patricia that are inexcusable. But other things like Armando’s tendency to scream at people and how Betty is turned on by it is something that is really lost when later adaptations try and soften those edges. (Even though I also hope it’s something they grow out of/or at least relegate to some roll play.) And Armando is so awful to women, especially Marcela. It’s easy to see why so many viewers want to see her break up with him, even though he has to explicitly choose Betty over her to make the love story work.  But their relationship is also so important to understanding how starved for tenderness he is, how he can barely recognize it when he finds it in Betty, and also how he knows of love as mostly being possessive. While watching the whole thing it’s more clear to me that Armando during the gaslighting arc is turning into the women he’s been involved with such as Karina Larson and Claudia Bosch, and he despised for acting clingy when he wanted a clean break. As parallels, I still don’t think it works. Armando has more power than Karina or Claudia, he effectively makes them disappear by refusing to have Ecomoda rehire them as models, something Betty can’t do. Also physically he’s more powerful, beating Nicolas, drunkenly stalking Betty in his car. He’s dangerous in a way they never were. It’s easy to see wanting to tone this done and also why in interviews Jorge Enrique Abello highlights how politically incorrect Armando is (was?) as a character. But there is something about how these compliment Betty’s own insecurities from being repeatedly rejected by her peers, and loved, but isolated by her parents that is uniquely compelling.  It’s hard to reproduce, but needs to be constantly revised. 

[russenoire]

we like to talk about the kind heart beating at the center of mob psycho 100...

its eminently huggable and relatable main characters...

the surprising maturity and accessibility of its psychological themes, the tightrope it walks between pathos and absurd humor, the abundance of sensitive neurodivergent representation within, and—for a story with a predominantly male cast—its largely unsexualized and refreshingly real girls and women.

i could keep listing more aspects of this story that i adore, honestly. but for me, it was one specific aspect of the writing that struck me the hardest.

as a person who used to inhale film and TV criticism like folks in the US devour breakfast cereal, i live for subversions of tired, well-worn storytelling patterns (call them tropes if you must). MP100 is full to leaking with subverted expectations. but only rarely do i ever see a writer subvert a done-to-death pattern and then subvert the subversion.

studio bones and ONE's writing work together to pull this off in the fifth episode of MP100's first season. on my first watch, i had to pick my jaw up off the floor at what i was seeing.

this got... long... more below the cut.

first, a little bit of framework.

the concept of single combat drives much of the action (and comedy) in shōnen fighting series.

it simplifies the conflict between cultures, between ways of life, between ideals, to a question of who is stronger in a no-holds-barred match between two people. the answer decides the fates of whole nations, hopefully but not always spares both sides from further bloodshed, and it's older than dirt.

the cathartic appeal of such distillation is not entirely lost on me, but i also crave novelty and nuance? and seem to be aging out of the shōnen demographic as a result. 'my kung-fu is stronger than yours!' 'yeah? well, i'm fucking bored with attempts to settle this question with fists or magic and no longer care.'

i do not count MP100 as a fighting series; the story doesn't conflate personal growth with increasing skill at punching shit and would hold up as a coming-of-age story quite well without battles. while MP100 flirts shamelessly with many fighting series clichés, it actively refuses to commit to those it engages. it rejects this one entirely by story's end.

when teruki hanazawa first becomes aware that shigeo kageyama exists and shares his easy facility with ESP, he and the audience are led to believe that the two boys will enter into a showdown like those we've seen so many times before. they'll fight it out like the real men they'll be soon, and a clear victor will emerge from the wreckage in their wake.

shigeo, of course, is flatly uninterested and baffled at this stranger fighting him unprovoked. teru figures he can preserve his view of the world by simply bringing the boy to heel, just as he has with everyone else around him. even after the little blond chuunibyou twists him until his bones crack... waterboards him in the depths of black vinegar middle school's swimming pool...

[image ID: a teenaged boy in his physical education uniform of white tee shirt and red shorts is shown from the back and below him... at the very bottom of a swimming pool. he has been plunged in against his will; a barrier of sorts can be seen around his body -- his own defense against the middle schooler attacking him.]

demolishes much of the school grounds, wielding his spindly body as a wrecking-ball...

shigeo will not yield. nor does he indulge teru in his pointless lust for battle.

he doesn't see him as an enemy and, more importantly, doesn't want to hurt him. the child is painfully aware of how easily he could kill this boy, so he endures the abuse, though not without protest. i'd never seen a shōnen anime series that even presented refusing to fight as an option.

[image ID: a bowl-cut-sporting teenage boy in a white tee shirt with a red collar stands hunched over and facing his antagonist offscreen to the viewer's right, in anticipation of another attack. he is saying 'i told you to stop that.' in the background is a statue of a human figure with arms raised above its head in victory. it will soon be made to topple onto him.]

though shigeo refuses to play this game at all, the lack of damage teru is able to inflict on him with ESP and his concise verbal summation of the profound insecurity driving teru's behavior already prove shigeo's superiority. teru needs to feel supported and justified in this unwarranted attack on another boy just like him, and so he demands, over and over, that shigeo fight back... that he show his powers. but it never sinks in for him that he's seeing them in action.

in the end, teru gives up on forcing shigeo's submission with ESP and uses his raw physical strength to strangle the young kageyama... who then plays this trope straight and utterly traumatizes teru into adopting a different outlook on life. after he passes the fuck out.

with teru's one-sided, tragic attempt at a brawl between himself and another esper child, ONE sends up the entire concept of magical single combat so hard it hits low earth orbit.

to make abundantly clear just how ridiculous this shit actually is? shigeo strips teru naked, then drains him dry of psychic energy by way of his fucking groin (in the anime) for even forcing him into this. you know, just for the extra humiliation. the boy's already been shaven like a fallen samurai at this point.

and teru's need to resist the challenge shigeo's existence presents to his way of life? we are made to see just how much harm that resistance to reality actually causes.

shattered glass, crushed concrete, wrecked doors, busted faucets spewing everywhere and wasting water—the camera lingers on these in-story, real-world consequences. actual shōnen fighting series rarely address such collateral damage outside of personal vendettas or playing it for comedy. (the comic bits here are almost necessary to leaven the pathos we're seeing, and are inseparable from that sadness.)

teru nearly commits first-degree murder twice and causes major property damage i doubt he had the power to fix. don't you dare look away, MP100's creators say. we need you, gentle watcher, to bear witness. teru is wrong. THIS WHOLE APPROACH to conflict is wrong. look again. does this remind you of anything?

and shigeo doesn't get off the hook either, though i'm inclined to give him a pass because reasons. he summarily flattens the rest of teru's school, finishing the job, and launches it (and him) above the clouds, but at least murder isn't on the table? the child suffers greatly for this unconscious act of retribution and continues to punish himself for this madness for some time... even after cleaning up the mess they both made when he returns to his senses.

no one wins here. what is 'winning'? what is 'losing'? are we even asking the right questions?

this arc—but especially this 'fight'—is darkly, absurdly funny, thought-provoking, and one of the most heartbreaking and moving things i'd seen in a long time. it sold me on this story and keeps me coming back in astonishment and gratitude.

(this is an expansion of part of a recap i wrote for this episode. you can read it here.)

[resplendentgoldenwings]

Doctor Who, Totally Killer, the Star Trek musical episode...I'm seeing more, nonsense, fun and silliness in media and I like it!

I hope it's a trend. TV and movies have been taking themes too seriously for too long.

[cockworkangels]

you ask and you may receive 🙏 🏳️‍🌈

[bluehairedboyfriend]

i'm watching House for the first time and I love seeing famous people's first tv roles (like how it is in SPN and Smallville)

Me *Tiffany pollard Beyonce meme*:

Amanda seyfried?? Taraji p henson ??

Anyways, early 2000 tv is always fun for pre-fame cameos

[dontsaystorytelling]

A Prelude about getting One Piece that's mostly about all the garbage tv I saw instead. I think it's heartfelt and has longing in there as well as good jokes. Next one will be full on One Piece.

[xo-zizi]

Happy 2 year Anniversary to All American’s best episode. Happy 2 year Anniversary to Spencer James confessing his love to Olivia Baker. Happy 2 year Anniversary to one of the single best moments on tv in my life. What a time. The anticipation. The tension. The cinematography. The fluff. The angst. THE BUZZ. Roll the Dice, you are loved. Mike and David, you are respected. Daniel and Samantha, you are legends. What a MOMENT!!!!

[nthflower]

Coven + Claudia Killing maiming beheading laughing in the background while Louis and Armand have their heart to heart romantic evening. Beautiful.

[tomorrowusa]

We stand with WGA and SAG-AFTRA!

The highly profitable studios with their grossly overpaid CEOs are the epitome of avarice and hypocrisy.

All they can do is make essentially the same movies and TV shows over and over and over again. Their production of cliched formulaic blockbusters is falling flat with audiences. Instead of spending $250 million making one film they could use that to make ten $25 million films. And the irony is that they would probably make more money and wouldn't have to treat actors and writers like livestock.

Parasite (2019) was out of the ordinary in many ways. It was not another predictable and flashy superhero sequel. It cost just $15.5 million to make but has brought in $262.7 million – so far. That lesson is lost on Hollywood which is in a deepening creative rut and wants to make things even worse by stifling imagination with AI.

Daring to be different and relying on quality can be quite profitable. Star Wars and Game of Thrones were not typical sci-fi and fantasy works but they paid off amazingly well.

Perhaps it's time for writers and actors to start their own studio and give the bloated big guys some badly needed competition.

–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-

For those who still don't get what these strikes are all about, the bottom line is fair pay for honest work.

The 1 cent paycheque: here’s the awful truth about being an actor in the 'golden' age of streaming

[justaneondream]

[postguiltypleasures]

Betty La Fea La Historia Continua -Trailer breakdowns and Speculation

As you may have guessed from other posts hears, I am so excited for this series. Been watching the various promo videos and pictures. I decided to to a breakdown based what I have gleaned from all of them.

But first, embedding the videos I am talking about:

Red carpet announcement:

Teaser scene with date:

The Trailer:

The Names:

I am going to use the first teaser as a guide and information I have gleaned from subsequent ones.

The read carpet teaser starts with Marcela, who soon accompanied by Patricia, vamping towards the camera. Patricia knocks into Marcela and they laugh.

It is kind of negates the way that they were threatening moments before. I also want to highlight that in the subsequent promos they are rarely together. Instead Patricia is with Nicolas and Marcela seems to mostly confide in Nacho. 

These two are followed by Mario, who is notably alone.

There are rumors that in this version he will be more overtly villainous than in the original, and it seems in the promotions department is keeping this close to the vest. He is also alone in the names promo

(possibly taking a fake phone call like Nicolás frequently did in the original) and he doesn’t have any dialogue in either date announcement scene, nor the official trailer, though he appears in both of those.

He seems to be Armando’s friend again, but how close they are and if Mario continues to manipulate Armando in any way, the reasons are unclear.

Which brings me to the next grouping, the first group of all new characters. These ones are the members of Gen Z and they are Betty and Armando’s daughter Mila, Marcela’s protege Nacho, and Jeff, who from later appearances seems to work directly with Hugo.

(I think What We Do in the Shadows ruined the name Jeff for me.) I have a lot of questions about Jeff’s relationship with Hugo, starting with is this some kind apprentice ship? Does Ecomoda have lines that are now designed by someone other than Hugo?  I guess we will find these things out soon enough… Mila and Jeff seem to be romantically involved,

but where does Nacho fit in?

The next group is who I’m going to call the New Love Interests for the Old Love Triangle:

I only landed on calling them this after the Names teaser where we get this interaction:

Other than that, Pascual, who I sincerely believe is Marcela’s new love interest, is mostly not in these promotional videos. Note how Pascual gestures as to keep the attention on Majo and Esteban. Also note what a vamp Majo is!

As a love interest for Armando, she is something of a regression. Flaunting her sexiness and using PDA to establish control.

Her appearance makes us wonder is Armando really is capable of being in relationships unlike most of the one he had the original? (Despite the fact that he really wants to be with Betty). While watching these and preparing to write I thought of how different a “not Armando” love interest for Betty and Marcela is. Both need someone they don’t associate with the hurt they feel from Armando, but Marcela needs to learn new ways to be in a relationship, someone who is good a de-escalating and of course has minimal interaction with how the Mendoza/Valencia family/business dynamic. Betty needs someone she can have fun with, Marcela needs a whole new definition of fun. I can’t tell if Esteban is any kind of fun, but he is handsome and he and Betty are intrigued by each other.

Next appears Gutierez. He is mostly alone in the promotional material, a sign of Ecomoda not changing much over the years. (Though I do need to mention that in the main trailer, he appears to be reintroducing Freddy to Ecomoda, which implies that Freddy has left, but returns in some manner.) Honestly, he looks weirdly good in the cast returns video. Every other appearance he makes is a reminder of how much Ecomoda doesn’t care about being a healthy work environment. 

The next group is what I’m calling El Cuartel +.

We have three members of the original Cuartel, minus Ines, Sofia and Mariana. Plus Freddy and new cast member Carmen. When it came out I assume that the new member, Carmen would be a secretary, like most of the members. But later footage reveals that she is clearly Hugo’s current “modelo de tallaje”/ fit model.

As the previous series’ fit model was Jenny, a baby-talking-sadist often in conflict with the cuartel. It makes one wonder, what exactly is her relationship with the group? As a corollary, does the fact that Aura Maria is in the made to be promos footage, but no trailers made from actual footage, should we infer that she no longer works for Ecomoda? At least directly? I hope she and Betty are still friends, they have one of the most interesting dynamics in the Cuartel . And how about Freddy, their relationship, and his professional connection to Ecomoda?

The next entrance is for Hermes Pinzón and Nicolás Mora.

This is the most familiarly delightful interaction since Marcela and Patricia. They still have that the more things change, the more they stay they same thing with Hermes as the old fashioned patriarch, and Nicolás as the unofficial son, with all the complications that involved. It just also makes me miss Julia. Mario Duarte looks really good out of his Nicolás costume.

Then Hugo, walks the red carpet alone.

While later promos for that Jeff and Carmen now work in his studio, they didn’t hint at that at all here which could because they’re more interested in how those characters interact with the groups they were paired with and/or because any indication of what’s going on in that studio is too spoilery for the plot.

In any case I doubt Hugo gets along that well with his new colleagues. Not only does he have a history of being verbally abusive, but both the main trailer and the later names trailer it appears he has started venerating his late aide from the first series, Ines.

This is nice for nostalgic fans, but could be a pain to work with for new characters who just can’t live up to it. In the names promo Hugo’s Ines-branded poncho effectively covers Jeff and Carmen’s appearances.

Will this be explicit in the text?

Finally, there are Betty and Armando. It’s their story that we’re continuing to follow.

They both wear t-shirts which Ana Maria Orozco’ face getting into her Betty makeup printed on it. The come from different directions, quickly link arms and head down the read carpet.

Betty trips a bit and they laugh it off. I am sure that for whatever estrangement they have, this is a story of remarriage. They have a lot to renegotiate, but their connection is real, if also with a really messed up beginning.

So some further thoughts on the promos:

I am excited to find out what happened to Daniel. Is he dead? In prison? In any case I think his shares in Ecomoda went to his sisters and that was part of how Marcela was able to force Betty out.

But did Betty or Armando have anything to do with Daniel’s demise? Or was Marcela just taking it out on someone who she never liked? In any case I am speculating that Don Roberto’s divisions of share in his will is some attempt to even the playing field after realizing all the destructive power plays going on in that generation. Trying to get the best out everyone through manipulation. Classic Don Roberto. 

There is a cut in the trailer from Betty’s shocked face to Marcella’s angry face and I always have to do a double take on who I am looking at, because when the both have the straight, long black hair like that, it makes them look similar. It makes me wonder if one of the reasons for Betty bringing back parts of her old look is to separate herself from Marcela? Or feeling like Marcela once did regarding Armando.

There were famous fantasy sequences in the the original, which makes me wonder if their will be any in the new one and if so is anything we see in the trailers actually part of a fantasy sequence?  How many flashbacks to pre estrangement Betty and Armando do we get?

Has Nicolás been at Ecomoda this whole time? How long have Marcela and Patricia been back? While Nicolás and Patricia’s story feels like one of the more abruptly ended one in the original, how will the passage of decade affect picking this up?