West World S4!!!

[Jellybean]

Honestly, loved Season One...felt Season Two mostly sucked and Season Three was somehow even worse.

My expectations for Season Four are pretty low.

Yeah, WW season one was god-tier showmaking. I don't know how to explain it, but it had a way of totally sucking you in; I could watch just the opening montage alone over and over, and that's something I usually skip after the first or second time on any other show. And there were so may little "hidden in plain sight" story nuggets that even after several viewings I'm sure I didn't catch them all.

Then season two came around and it was time to bail; haven't bothered to go back. Sometimes I think it's best to be happy with the little bit of good you got.
Although, if it's possible to skip season 2 and move on to season 3 without missing to much storywise, I might be inclined to give #3 a try.

Game of Thrones was massive and like Band of Brothers required multiple viewings to fully appreciate it. But when they ran out of original material (around season six) and started writing it as they went along, you could feel a quality drop and it just got stupid. By the final season I just wanted it to be over, all of the shocking plot points could be seen a mile away and I was mostly bored and almost quit.

I've only seen a few series that didn't manage to jump the shark, even The Soprano's ran one or two seasons too long and had possibly the worst ending of any HBO series ever.

IIRC, GOT ran of out *official* RR Martin-based material around season 4, they managed to keep it together more or less through season 6 with "original" guesswork, the speed wobbles were starting to show in #7, and then they wiped out hard at the bottom of the hill in #8.
I've seen some poor endings to shows in the past but...GOT season 8 takes the cake. Big oof.

I think most multi-season shows all end up going on a bit too long - there's always at least one or two seasons you could say they could have skipped before wrapping it up. Sons of Anarchy, Strike Back, Black Sails, Ray Donovan, and others, despite starting out great, all had some weak material before the end, some of which endings were pulled of more successfully than others...

[SteyrAUG]

Yeah, WW season one was god-tier showmaking. I don't know how to explain it, but it had a way of totally sucking you in; I could watch just the opening montage alone over and over, and that's something I usually skip after the first or second time on any other show. And there were so may little "hidden in plain sight" story nuggets that even after several viewings I'm sure I didn't catch them all.

Then season two came around and it was time to bail; haven't bothered to go back. Sometimes I think it's best to be happy with the little bit of good you got.
Although, if it's possible to skip season 2 and move on to season 3 without missing to much storywise, I might be inclined to give #3 a try.


IIRC, GOT ran of out *official* RR Martin-based material around season 4, they managed to keep it together more or less through season 6 with "original" guesswork, the speed wobbles were starting to show in #7, and then they wiped out hard at the bottom of the hill in #8.
I've seen some poor endings to shows in the past but...GOT season 8 takes the cake. Big oof.

I think most multi-season shows all end up going on a bit too long - there's always at least one or two seasons you could say they could have skipped before wrapping it up. Sons of Anarchy, Strike Back, Black Sails, Ray Donovan, and others, despite starting out great, all had some weak material before the end, some of which endings were pulled of more successfully than others...

The saddest one of all had to be Deadwood, building up and building up and then just...nothing. Some of the best writing and story development I've ever seen but nobody had a finish. It aliens showed up and simply teleported them all to another dimension it couldn't have been much worse.

[Alex V]

We stopped watching after Season 2. It was so bad we were not at all excited about S3 so we said "skip"

Maybe we will reconsider.

[WillBrink]

Game of Thrones was massive and like Band of Brothers required multiple viewings to fully appreciate it. But when they ran out of original material (around season six) and started writing it as they went along, you could feel a quality drop and it just got stupid. By the final season I just wanted it to be over, all of the shocking plot points could be seen a mile away and I was mostly bored and almost quit.

I've only seen a few series that didn't manage to jump the shark, even The Soprano's ran one or two seasons too long and had possibly the worst ending of any HBO series ever.

Most series jump the shark. I can only think of a few that didn't, such as the Shield, as the last season may have been their best, and the final episode was outstanding. That last reason of GOT was a crime against humanity...

[WillBrink]

The saddest one of all had to be Deadwood, building up and building up and then just...nothing. Some of the best writing and story development I've ever seen but nobody had a finish. It aliens showed up and simply teleported them all to another dimension it couldn't have been much worse.

But DW didn' jump the shark or run out of material, it was expensive to make and they got into to pissing match over contracts with the actors, and said F it. They did make a movie fill in the gaps which was worth a watch if not to see most of the cast back.

Another very good series was Carnivàle, amazing series that leave you hanging on a major cliff hanger.

It should be illegal pull that crap!

[pinzgauer]

It's back and it looks really good...

S1 = A+
S2 = C- (really disappointing)
S3 = B

Maybe 4 will offer some of the brilliance of S1

I agree exactly with your assessment on seasons 1 through 3 and have high hopes for four.

BTW, I really don't like the actress showing in the thumbnail of the trailer and do not understand why she's a "thing".

[WillBrink]

I agree exactly with your assessment on seasons 1 through 3 and have high hopes for four.

BTW, I really don't like the actress showing in the thumbnail of the trailer and do not understand why she's a "thing".

She's one of the least interesting characters, agreed. The focus should be on the other two ladies, who are bad a$$es and excellent actors to boot.

[gsd2053]

I loved S1, but didn't make it all the way through S2 and didn't watch S3 at all.

Would it be worth my time to catch up?

Same here.

[SteyrAUG]

But DW didn' jump the shark or run out of material, it was expensive to make and they got into to pissing match over contracts with the actors, and said F it. They did make a movie fill in the gaps which was worth a watch if not to see most of the cast back.

Another very good series was Carnivàle, amazing series that leave you hanging on a major cliff hanger.

It should be illegal pull that crap!

Deadwood never jumped the shark (started putting out crappy episodes) it just ended, abruptly with no real resolution. The film referenced all of those problems but also ended with no real resolution. Part of their problem is they tried to stay true to the historical record, but exaggerated the interactions of some characters who should have died, but obviously didn't die in Deadwood.

[ddbtoth]

I couldn’t finish the third season. Be lost in the 4th.