I don’t know if the show deserves an episode by episode discussion thread, but there isn’t one for the pilot that aired last night, so I thought I’d start a season discussion thread.
I am watching it tonight, but am wondering what people thought of the pilot last night.
Thoughts? Opinions? Concerns?
Thumbs down. I couldn’t take more than a half hour.
It’s like they concentrated solely on making it *look *like the comic book and would feed in other details later. The actor playing Constantine looked like he had been painted. His hair was colored and stiffened to look like JC’s, his 5-o’clock shadow looked painted on, and his outfit looked more like a costume than regular clothes. The costume designers matched the loose tie and open raincoat to the point where they looked frozen in place and didn’t move when the actor moved.
Part of what made the comic series so good was that there was a lot of mystery, and buildup to the mysteries. In this show, they just go ahead and show all the scary parts right away without any buildup or suspense. JC shows up, says “I’m an exorcist,” and right away the demons put on a light show and he starts chanting Latin. Wash rinse repeat. Constantine has a very complex and haunted past, and they just show a big demon jerking away a little girl with absolutely no back story.
Lots of form without substance. It’s like the show makers are all Michael Bay wannabes who just wanted to make flashy scenes and woo and didn’t care about story development. Steaming pile of shiny shit.
As somebody who isn’t familiar with any of the Constantine comics, I liked it. I’d already seen it back in July (they ran the pilot at a SDCC panel)–I liked it then, and I liked it again last night.
Maybe it’s because I don’t have any baggage going in, so I can’t say “It doesn’t live up to the source material.” I’ll keep watching.
Nope. No pacing or anything, no sense of timing at all, far too many rushed scenes/plot lines. And yes I didn’t particularly care for the lead, tho I did like the heroine.
When I do watch it tonight, I will also be watching as a total non-comic reader. I did see Keanu Reeves movie and really liked it. Underrated quite a bit, actually.
I enjoyed it, and think it could get a lot better. They should drop the “Newcastle” crap. I found it tiresome in the comic, and it has the same effect here.
This is my hope, having not yet seen it. I just want it to lay the path for a good show, even if its pilot is a mixed bag.
I don’t think Battlestar, Buffy, Angel, Doctor Who, Supernatural, X-files, or countless others had very good pilots. What they had ended up being good runs.
Don’t get attached. The producers yanked her and retooled the show, but the pilot was in the can and too expensive to reshoot.
pretty good. except i kept expecting to see the Tardis show up somewhere…
My mom and I watched this last night. I thought it was good. Mom commented, “God damn it, another show I have to watch!” 
However, I did not read the original Hellblazer series, and the only place I’ve seen John Constantine has been in the Sandman graphic novels and in the movie with Keanu Reeves (which I did enjoy).
Was not fond of Liv; she reminded me of Bella from the Twilight series. She could have used a little more gumption. If someone presented me with a magic pendant and told me there were demons and crap everywhere, I don’t know that I would ditch the pendant and try to go it alone. Seems suicidal actually.
We recognized both the angel and the squirrelly guy who shuts down the power grid as being Lost alumni: the angel was Michael, and the other guy was Daniel Faraday. Seems a waste of Jeremy Davies to just use him for one episode, but, ah well. He was also in the most recent season of Hannibal.
Mom is very fond of the cab driver, but not at all surprised when he showed up after his “fatal” accident apparently unharmed.
I dunno; it’s something to watch, that doesn’t insult my intelligence, and there’s little else to see on Friday nights. :rolleyes:
It was pretty good, but not great. I think it will likely improve once it settles into regular episodes. I do think the girl was weak, but I could have watched her develop and become a better character.
Anyway, I’m sticking with it.
I thought the same thing, though to be fair, a lot of TV pilots have the same problem, as they try to introduce every character and aspect of the show, and have a self-contained plot in one episode. So hopefully future episodes will be better plotted.
Also kinda felt/looked like they were stretching their special effects budget further than it would go. But again, that might’ve been a result of them trying to cram too much stuff in the pilot.
So I’ll give it a few more episodes.
I thought this was ironic when I watched it. Most shows look as if the producers never read the comic, while this one seemed to take it as gospel. Except I don’t recall him smoking, though he carried a lighter.
As for the pilot as a whole - it seemed rough but worth giving the show a shot. The conclusion was sort of off to me, though. I seem to recall a theme of Hellblazer was that once your eyes were opened to the occult, that was it - they’d be part of your life no matter what. Basically “what has been seen” etc. So his nonchalant attitude about getting the pendant back didn’t work for me.
Yeah, the whole thing kinda rushed by like they were trying a bit too hard, but it’s only the first ep.
So, Liv isn’t in the show? They retooled the show so ep 2 will be different?
I’ve somehow managed to not read any of the books nor seen the Keanu movie, so all I know is bits I read here.
Can’t say I’m wowed, but I’ll give a couple more eps a shot.
I miss the Dresden Files.
As has been said, Pilots have the task of introducing too much info in too small a package. The girl shows up in the previews for Ep2 so she may be back. The lead has a strong David Tennent vibe to me. I too am hoping that they will now back up and work on character and back story development instead of assuming everyone knows the story from the comics. I think there is promise here but it is going to take some work.
Like I said, don’t get attached: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/10/25/constantine-and-the-changes-from-leaked-pilot-to-air/
I recently discovered it on Hulu. I have like half a season before I start missing it.
I enjoyed it. Never read the comics, and kinda liked the Keanu Reeves movie. This one is different, but still good. I’ll watch a couple more episodes before I decide to set a series recording, or kibosh it.
As the pilot, it was crammed with lots of information and felt rushed to me, but I expect that in a pilot and the pacing is usually better going forward. It’s interesting to hear from people familiar with the comics, and they seem to forget a TV show is designed for ratings, so has to appeal to the large majority of people who have never heard of the comic. As one of the masses, I enjoyed it and won’t have a care in the world how well they stick to the comic or not.
I’ll definitely give this one a few more episodes.
That reminds me of something that bugged me. Liv finds out things are trying to kill her and sees people getting killed right and left but she seems pretty unfazed by it all, and even enthusiastic about the adventure her life is rapidly becoming. Then she passes a crime scene, jumps out of the car, sees a dead body and suddenly she’s done. This is too scary, I’m outta here! It did seem contrived.
I haven’t read the comic book (though I know of the character; even my wife knew him from The Books of Magic). I do try to reserve judgment until I’ve seen a few episodes – pilot episodes don’t give you a good idea of the story, since they’re introducing characters.
Overall, though, it was pretty good. It reminded me of Buffy when it comes to its mood, and I’ve grown weary of darkness and gore as entertainment. Hopefully, it will continue to be fun.