u/JamiePlynth

Noticed this in a couple segments last night, and unsure of whether it’s the writing, the subject matter or the delivery.

But Bill will deliver a line, the crowd sits silent and he glares out at them trying to provoke his desired reaction… but the audience isn’t entirely 100% sure what that is.

Has anyone else noticed this?

As we hear about them shooting 12 episodes this time around, arguably two seasons back to back, and the way they only shot for 36-37 days last time around; I find myself really paying attention to how they’re producing such high quality material. But I feel like apart from Valentina Vee and that podcast episode with Kara Swisher, their production isn’t getting enough attention.

A lot of attention has been paid to films like Obsession, Backrooms and Iron Lung, which shot for anywhere between 20-39 days, and on meager budgets, but while HR hasn’t done 382x their initial budget like Obsession (yes I know one is a movie and one a show but still), I really do feel like their budget and success really woke some people up to Jacob Tierny and Canadian production methods.

Dude pulled together some masterful stuff while using a bunch of tech -that didn’t blow the budget- including the volume, which a lot of viewers grew to call out as cheap looking. But Jacob etc did it really well.

Disney Marvel made Secret Invasion’s 6ep for $211m, which became a turning point for streamers to halt and second guess their content approach. Meanwhile Jacob and crew pulled things off for about $14m usd.

And I think that sent a lot of eyeballs looking north for a game changer in their own pipelines. Food for thought.

Reported net worth $140mil. $20mil estate, $1mil condo in Catalina. No longer doing standup, quit the Hawaii New Years shows. $10mil salary from HBO, co-owns a pot shop. Watches old movies in the bathtub, has a podcast just to socialize with people “outside of work”, constantly telling us how smart he is while constantly bemoaning how much of a “loser who couldn’t get laid” he was as a teenager.

Dude has arguably won at life- but never got over being disliked growing up, so he’s just perpetually being miserable on main with his dwindling years left.

I have to imagine he’s never seen a shrink, or taken it seriously - because the shrink’s goal is to finally have him content and happy with himself, and his whole existence has relied on him being unhappy and contrarian. Can’t give that up.

Likely can’t maintain a long term partner because they’d have to navigate his moodiness and argumentative nature. If you’ve ever watched a handful of Club random episodes you’ll see how he even argues with people when they agree with him, not just because they have to agree with him in just the right way, but because they have to credit him with being correct in the first place.

At 70yo, he’s on the downside and counting his blessings, but it’s never been enough for him, and it’s far too late for him to change. He’s just going to be screaming how everyone else changed, and became unreasonable right to his grave. Hopefully the last of the broken boomers.

Can you imagine a life where the high point of your week is yelling at Paul Begala about TikTok genocide while fending off the advances of a drunk Donna Brazile? Or trying to rehabilitate Kevin Spacey and Arnie Hammer as your side hustle? Thinking you really did something with your time?

With all the time that’s passed since the show debuted, we’ve gotten all these wearables -including the glasses- , consumer level AI with people loading up their entire existences, more insane tech moguls, door bell cameras, Flock, etc etc.

So I’m wondering, does anyone think the show would have changed dramatically with all these new trackable toys, or would it have just been par for the course?

I could see there being zero dead zones in NYC, and a more national grasp for Samaritan, but also a lot more independent players launching their own agents against one another, and perhaps Samaritan jumping the fence to clone itself and go rogue.

Returned to a rewatch halfway through season four, just put on S5E1 with a brand new cast and while yeah, some downward trajectories -Charles- are obvious, I’m finding that they’re all way out of touch and tougher to cheer for. Was this always as obvious to everyone else or am I off base now?

I’ve been heartened to see a lot of folks give love to the final season and come out into the open by saying “it was always great, every season”, because that’s the same way I felt, through the whole thing. Every time a full season dropped and I binged it I felt so lucky to get another taste and some more time the these people.

But I kinda want to go back and blame HBO a bit, not a lot- just the teensiest tad. Because it gave us the one of the greats with the Sopranos, at a time where a 13 episode run (seen as short back then) would become a huge cultural movement and appointment, water cooler TV. This carried on with Mad Men and Breaking Bad etc.

At which point every flailing cabler was looking for their weekly “moment” TV show (man, Halt & Catch Fire eventually grew on me but…)

So streamers like Disney+ came along, with their must see weekly drops of MCU TV that spawned a million reaction channels and deep online analysis, where EVERY DAMNED EPISODE had to reach some poignant climax and cliffhanger or else the mobs would revolt. Then Stranger Things first season blew up, and folks were acting like each season had to be brilliant or else-

Honestly, The Bear S1 was my least favorite but I was still into it to get into the masterfully perfect S2 and onward. But like I said in the title- it’s a WHOLE SHOW. It has a five season arc. It’s not 20 seasons of a procedural on network with 22eps a season. It’s a contained compact story. In some ways it’s almost a godsend they did full season drops, because if I had to listen to people pick apart each episode of S3 as if human existence depended on each minute being “perfect”…ugh.

It’s a whole damned show. I wish people treated it as such. Hacks ended as its creators wanted to, and when they wanted to- without padding it out for time or listening to “sweeps week” type network suggestions (what if Deborah went to space with a precocious child?!)

I love Frasier and Cheers and Superstore and Gilmore Girls, and will talk about them all like a fan- but while there are just as many low lights as highlights for them- I love the whole show. I didn't think Gilmore Girls was washed and done with when Chris came to Stars Hollow, I just suffered through those bits and kept watching.

I feel like the people who complained about John Cena doing a cameo and said they jumped the shark- those people never had to watch Married With Children or Growing Pains toss in a cute kid for actual ratings, and I’m sure the folks whining about Claire never had to sit through all those episodes with Dawson and Joey when we all knew Pacey was endgame.

Filming for streaming now means you do a whole season and put it out into the world as a set. Maybe there’s some tweaks between seasons, but these creators (maybe not the Duffers) know how it’s gonna end -and god willing they keep getting renewed- are gonna chart their course.

So hopefully people in time, people will appreciate the show as a whole, and not continue to pick away at its parts. Let the chef cook. Finish the meal. And perhaps remember that the next time we get a great show come our way.