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seriousficVegas looks good, mostly on account of having Vic Mackie and Da Quaid in the cast, and because I'm partial to the idea of an ex-Marine rancher, his loyal brother, and his fuck-up son suddenly becoming the law in early Vegas. That said, it's squarely aiming to be in the same TV Tropes slot as Longmire, with the Badass Old Guy Who Isn't Actually Old-Fashioned So Much As Kinda A Jerk; for no apparent reason, having arrested several bikers, Da Quaid grabs their lawyer when he shows up to talk to his clients and throws him in jail as well. That doesn't even make TV sense, as the lawyer didn't so much as make a demeaning comment about women. I guess that's just what you get for going to law school!
Also, Revolution, I'm not nerdy enough to get upset about all the ways your scenario is implausible, since you've stated in the show that your premise disobeys the laws of physics. But... and this is a big but... if the raison d'etre of your show is to justify thrilling heroics and dashing swordplay and general swashbuskling, perhaps film the action so that one can tell what's going on? If they just played dubstep during the fight scenes, I'd be convinced Billy Burke is having a dance-off. At first I thought they were trying to disguise the fact that, well, Billy Burke has no idea how to sword-fight and is playing a badass master swordsman. But then, Legend of the Seeker was on only a few years ago, I'm sure it had a fraction of the budget of a J.J. Abrams network TV show, and yet every episode had multiple well-choreographed, well-shot fight scenes. And I'm sure Bridget Regan didn't walk onto set knowing how to fucking knifefight, so they must've taught the folks that too.
Am I saying that LotS is better than anything J.J. Abrams has or will ever create? Yes. Yes, I am.
Also, can we straighten a few things out? Like, how come Charlie has lived under the heel of an oppressive regime for her entire adult life, yet she's aghast at the notion of killing in cold blood--almost as if she grew up in the relative ease and comfort of middle-class suburbia. Which, you know, doesn't really square with 'evil regime that must be stopped at all cost.'
And how's the militia work anyway? I don't claim a great deal of expertise with post-apocalyptic armies, but let's see if I can list all the traits we see them espouse.
1. Hatred for America, complete with flag-burning (I'm assuming this was swiped from The Postman, where it was actually explained, and isn't just a random "They hate America! boo! hiss!" bit).
2. Racial tolerance to the extent of a black man becoming a high-ranking officer--which seems a little unlikely, given many of the the militias/survivalists today. I suppose the Milita could be meant as totally former Armed Forces, but in that case, there should be a lot more people of color, not one black guy and a bunch of white henchmen.
3. Leader with boyish good looks/all-around pussy behavior (seriously, you expect me to believe Gus Fring answers to somebody who tattooed his own name on his arm?). (No, really, this guy is hilarious. He has an M-shaped belt buckle and M lapel pins--even Lex Luthor would tell this bitch to give it a rest with the initials.)
4. Possible religious fanaticism(?).
5. Branded to show allegiance, which is super-handy for undercover work.
6. Stockpiling guns, then just... keeping them boxed up instead of using them, even for massively important work--for their take-over-the-world scheme, they send out several men with a grand total of one (1) automatic handgun. Good thing no one shoots that guy.
Also, I know Fringe started off with a bland female lead as well, but I don't think this show can justify an alternate universe version of Charlie showing up (maybe her personality is powered by electricity and as soon as they fix the Black-Out, she'll be able to have facial expressions). As of now, it's like watching some nightmarish version of Jurassic Park where Lex is the star.
ETA: Actually, both Longmire and Da Quaid don't measure up to the current ur-example of the Old-Fashioned Lawman, US Marshall Raylan Givens, who is actually coded as more of an edgy anti-hero young buck. It's just that by and large, he acts politely and chivalrously, so when he does stuff like beat information out of a suspect, it's because he really is out to lunch, not because JUSTICE. Why can't Raylan Givens be in everything? If we just clone Timothy Olyphant, we could have Vegas Justified, in which Raylan Givens time-travels back to the Las Vegas of the 1960s, and Justimire, which is just Raylan Givens and Katee Sackhoff snarking at each other for an hour.
Also, Revolution, I'm not nerdy enough to get upset about all the ways your scenario is implausible, since you've stated in the show that your premise disobeys the laws of physics. But... and this is a big but... if the raison d'etre of your show is to justify thrilling heroics and dashing swordplay and general swashbuskling, perhaps film the action so that one can tell what's going on? If they just played dubstep during the fight scenes, I'd be convinced Billy Burke is having a dance-off. At first I thought they were trying to disguise the fact that, well, Billy Burke has no idea how to sword-fight and is playing a badass master swordsman. But then, Legend of the Seeker was on only a few years ago, I'm sure it had a fraction of the budget of a J.J. Abrams network TV show, and yet every episode had multiple well-choreographed, well-shot fight scenes. And I'm sure Bridget Regan didn't walk onto set knowing how to fucking knifefight, so they must've taught the folks that too.
Am I saying that LotS is better than anything J.J. Abrams has or will ever create? Yes. Yes, I am.
Also, can we straighten a few things out? Like, how come Charlie has lived under the heel of an oppressive regime for her entire adult life, yet she's aghast at the notion of killing in cold blood--almost as if she grew up in the relative ease and comfort of middle-class suburbia. Which, you know, doesn't really square with 'evil regime that must be stopped at all cost.'
And how's the militia work anyway? I don't claim a great deal of expertise with post-apocalyptic armies, but let's see if I can list all the traits we see them espouse.
1. Hatred for America, complete with flag-burning (I'm assuming this was swiped from The Postman, where it was actually explained, and isn't just a random "They hate America! boo! hiss!" bit).
2. Racial tolerance to the extent of a black man becoming a high-ranking officer--which seems a little unlikely, given many of the the militias/survivalists today. I suppose the Milita could be meant as totally former Armed Forces, but in that case, there should be a lot more people of color, not one black guy and a bunch of white henchmen.
3. Leader with boyish good looks/all-around pussy behavior (seriously, you expect me to believe Gus Fring answers to somebody who tattooed his own name on his arm?). (No, really, this guy is hilarious. He has an M-shaped belt buckle and M lapel pins--even Lex Luthor would tell this bitch to give it a rest with the initials.)
4. Possible religious fanaticism(?).
5. Branded to show allegiance, which is super-handy for undercover work.
6. Stockpiling guns, then just... keeping them boxed up instead of using them, even for massively important work--for their take-over-the-world scheme, they send out several men with a grand total of one (1) automatic handgun. Good thing no one shoots that guy.
Also, I know Fringe started off with a bland female lead as well, but I don't think this show can justify an alternate universe version of Charlie showing up (maybe her personality is powered by electricity and as soon as they fix the Black-Out, she'll be able to have facial expressions). As of now, it's like watching some nightmarish version of Jurassic Park where Lex is the star.
ETA: Actually, both Longmire and Da Quaid don't measure up to the current ur-example of the Old-Fashioned Lawman, US Marshall Raylan Givens, who is actually coded as more of an edgy anti-hero young buck. It's just that by and large, he acts politely and chivalrously, so when he does stuff like beat information out of a suspect, it's because he really is out to lunch, not because JUSTICE. Why can't Raylan Givens be in everything? If we just clone Timothy Olyphant, we could have Vegas Justified, in which Raylan Givens time-travels back to the Las Vegas of the 1960s, and Justimire, which is just Raylan Givens and Katee Sackhoff snarking at each other for an hour.
