[TV] Agents of Shield

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:43 pm

FYI, this new series starts tonight on ABC. If it's got that certain Joss Whedon magic to it, and ABC is willing to support it, hopefully this will do well.

I'm not taking any bets though, but ABC does seem to be more fantasy/sci-fi friendly than the other networks right now.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:30 pm

My DVR has its orders. I don't care about superhero stories but I do trust Joss Whedon, so we'll see.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:25 pm

Tivo has been set for a week or two.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:59 pm

I was pretty meh about it. Hopefully it'll pick up

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:31 pm

Ditto. I expected more, to be honest. However, dollhouse started off slow as well. It will hopefully pick up.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:35 pm

We all enjoyed it a bunch. But we're easily entertained.

mori · Post by **mori** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:53 pm

I will watch it again.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:07 am

Liked it quite a bit. Will be watching.

Jolor · Post by **Jolor** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:48 am

Wife is out; I'll give it another shot.

Biyobi · Post by **Biyobi** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:17 am

I'm willing to give it a few episodes and see if it gets its legs. I'm a Whedon fan and will probably give it quite a few.

Spoiler:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:29 am

I forgot about it..wife was watching it when I noticed. Asked how it was and she just nodded no so I skipped it.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:02 am

Yeah, Whedon's TV shows often take some time to get their legs, but I am not sure about this one. I will keep watching because I want it to be good

Toe · Post by **Toe** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:57 am

I watched it last night. Was not very impressed. I felt no chemistry throughout the team and some seemed exceptionally weak in the acting skills department (but I kinda expected that going in). I will give it one more shot next week cause I know pilots are often crappy due to the writing requirements. Don't have high hopes though.

Toe · Post by **Toe** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:57 am

I watched it last night. Was not very impressed. I felt no chemistry throughout the team and some seemed exceptionally weak in the acting skills department (but I kinda expected that going in). I will give it one more shot next week cause I know pilots are often crappy due to the writing requirements. Don't have high hopes though.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:06 am

It went about as I expected. This is an ensemble show and those take time to develop. There are quite a few characters to establish here as the only really known commodity is Coulson and due to his apparently greatly exaggerated demise, there are quite a few unknowns regarding him as well. I think for this show to be good though it cant be a "monster of the week" show. It needs a consistent shadowy organization as their main villain and it seem that they are establishing just that. From what Ive seen so far, this show plays to Whedon's strengths as a writer. Coulson should be great as the lead and the world they are playing in should give them plenty of opportunity to provide plenty of special effect eye candy. Oh and the female cast is quite easy on the eyes as well. We shall see how the show develops but I think Agents of SHEILD has a ton of potential and will be around for a while.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:30 am

Biyobi wrote:I'm willing to give it a few episodes and see if it gets its legs. I'm a Whedon fan and will probably give it quite a few.

Spoiler:
So, Phil Coulson: clone?

Spoiler:

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:55 am

Yup, thought the same thing when they brought it up in the opening scenes and then had it reinforced in the very scene you mention.

I don't dislike the show, don't get me wrong. I just didn't feel the WOW effect right off the bat. But as I said earlier, that's pretty common for any show Whedon's involved in.

...with the glaring exception of Firefly which was perfection from day one.

but seriously, I'm confident it will become great once the story arcs start firing off. I do hope they don't bring back Cobie Smulders...or at least keep her appearances to the bare minimum. I just find her acting style to be wooden and uninvolved. I also hope they tone down the prerequisite "every one that works here has to have formerly been a Ford Model" school of casting.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:14 am

I'm was a huge fan of Marvel growing up, so I like seeing this stuff in the mainstream, although it was a little too mainstream. I liked the tie-in to the movies, sometimes shows pretend movie events never happened. The continuity between all the movies and the show is nice. I guess it comes from having geeks at the helm that care about that sort of thing.

The show gave me a Heroes vibe, it just wasn't cast as well as Heroes. The two tech people were really hard to understand. Fast technobabble with an accent probably wasn't the smartest thing to do and they did it twice! Like others said, i'm sure the chemistry will get better.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:17 am

Weird, I thought I had posted this, but don't see it.

Like others said, I am hoping the chemistry will come with time. I hated the first season of TNG because of the lack of chemistry and how everyone seemed wooden to me, but as everyone grew into their roles it became a completely different story. Hopefully, this will happen here too, but given Whedon's TV track record.....

Edit: I wonder, given Whedon's involvement in the show and the Avengers movies, if we'll have any big cameos. I doubt it (or you'll see the back of someone leaving the room that might be Tony Stark), but it would be cool to use it to tie into the sequel.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:32 am

The thing that bothered me the most is how they made such an issue of the agent becoming a "Level 7" and then stuck the hot hacker chick in a room with him to learn their secrets and without knowing anything about her.

She was hot though, so I can give Joss a pass

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:57 am

One other thing...I really got a Serenity vibe when they first walked into the plane.

Kraegor · Post by **Kraegor** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 2:12 am

An average Pilot. Joss does better when he gets to be creative/enigmatic. Somewhat disappointing that he opened this series with such a cookie cutter premise. The script was flat. I wonder if Joss is stretched too thin or just not interested. Usually his episodes are the most imaginative, which makes this pilot a big let down. All the great episodes/fan favorites from Whedon's shows are the ones he wrote/directed. This episode reminds me of Buffy's first season. Kinda blah but interesting enough to give it some time.

I also agree that the actors didn't help an already bland script. Not a lot of charisma displayed. Anywho I will remain optimistic. Whedon writes character studies. I'm guessing the problem here is he just hasn't figured out how he wants the pieces to fit and he doesn't know what everyone's range is in the acting department Can always rely on Joss to start killing off characters if things ain't working

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:10 am

wasn't impressed at all, but like Buffy which started off really slow and didn't hit it's stride until season 2 in hindsight I'll give him a season to catch me. I struggled to finish the show. Also, airing at 8 pm limits them on content I believe

Good to see Gunn back on TV even if it was for just one episode

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:50 am

I guess my thoughts are 'Meh' . And I made it through since I could FF through the commercials. DVR for the win. Not sure it would have held my attention with commercials. I would have wandered off and not come back.

I was not a huge Buffy fan, or for that matter a Josh Whedon fan. I know, I know, sacrilege.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:19 am

We are no longer friends.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 11:52 am

hepcat wrote:We are no longer friends.

hehe... I liked Firefly. I own the DVD's and got my brother in law and sister into the show. I also almost played the firefly board game. The group went a different direction, but I voted for Firefly.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:21 am

One of Whedon's strengths in past shows has been assembling a cast that really plays off each other. A cast with incredible chemistry.

What happened with this show? Was he not involved in casting it at all? It's like watching a CW show so far. Last night I fell asleep halfway through the thing. When I woke up, I had no desire to go back and watch what I missed.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:41 am

Yeah, I think he needs to kill off some of the characters and replace them. I liked it better than last week (seeing Jackson was a surprise - "Kill the fish tank") so hopefully it will get better

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:43 am

hepcat wrote:One of Whedon's strengths in past shows has been assembling a cast that really plays off each other. A cast with incredible chemistry.

What happened with this show? Was he not involved in casting it at all? It's like watching a CW show so far. Last night I fell asleep halfway through the thing. When I woke up, I had no desire to go back and watch what I missed.

Hmmm... Not exactly a ringing endorsement.. Guess I'll keep it on my DVR to go along with the Dora and Austin and Ally shows my kids record as well. But I don't have a ton of desire to really watch it...

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:47 am

No, it's not really that great yet. I am watching it mainly because I'm not watching anything else on Tuesdays at that time and I'm hoping it'll come together. I have my doubts...I notice it's Joss' brother that is doing the writing and not Joss himself.

Cortilian · Post by **Cortilian** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:17 am

The spouse and I are liking it right now.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:20 am

Enjoyed it again with my kids, but on the same level as I enjoy watching Once Upon a Time with them...because it's something that they like and we all can enjoy and I'm OK with my 10 year old watching it.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:23 am

So its nowhere near as good as Sleepy Hollow?

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:33 am

hentzau wrote:Enjoyed it again with my kids, but on the same level as I enjoy watching Once Upon a Time with them...because it's something that they like and we all can enjoy and I'm OK with my 10 year old watching it.

That might be part of the issue. A lot of his other shows are dark and gritty, and this show is not.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:35 am

hentzau wrote:Enjoyed it again with my kids, but on the same level as I enjoy watching Once Upon a Time with them...because it's something that they like and we all can enjoy and I'm OK with my 10 year old watching it.

That might be part of the issue. A lot of his other shows are dark and gritty, and this show is not.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:41 am

Daehawk wrote:So its nowhere near as good as Sleepy Hollow?

My expectations for Sleepy Hollow weren't terribly high, so that might be why I'm enjoying it more than Shield.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:53 am

I personally find it better that Sleepy Hollow, but YMMV.

Actually, let me rephrase that. I personally find it has more promise to keep me engaged than Sleepy Hollow. I've watched the first 2 episodes of SH, and was struggling to make it to the end of the second episode. But it has Rawhide/The Kurgan/Lex Luthor in it, and as long as they keep having him show up, I'll at least entertain the notion of continuing to watch.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:18 pm

Retying his hands made me LOL.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:12 pm

I thought it was a little too light in tone. I could do without the constant one-liners. Yeah, yeah, I know that's kind of a Whedon trademark, but with Buffy and Dollhouse, for example, there was enough darkness in the subject matter to keep it balanced.

I'll still keep watching it though, because...MARVEL!

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:17 pm

Yeah, with it being on at 8 on ABC, I am thinking we aren't going to get the offsetting "darkness", but I could be wrong.