I know this thread has moved other places, but I missed my chance to say my piece in the original thread, so here it is now. I was suitably entertained by the first two episodes, but thought it would wear out it’s welcome if it didn’t ramp up faster (thankfully it did). I was mostly unconvinced by arguments that it wasn’t really a sitcom parody, there was more to it. What was presented was a sitcom parody, and when the more to it was revealed, it wouldn’t retroactively make the sitcom parody that much more entertaining. Though at the time, I was thinking the show was going to be heavier on the sitcom and lighter on the plot than it turned out being.
I think it was obvious there was more to it even with the weird existential horror at the end of the first episode, but for me, it wasn’t enough. The bad sitcom thing was just unbearably grating (especially in the first episode.) I could tell by how the episodes were paced that we could get a little more every episode, but it was kind of a teeth-gritting just-gotta-get-through it experience for me. Which is not what one would ask for out of a TV show.
If you want to use SDMB viewers as some sort of sample let’s go back to the first thread as we watched it in real time, up to the point that our mod gave instructions to stop the excessive focus on it. Which was in effect for thread two just ignored by you.
Many posters just engaged in speculations but off those giving reviews -13 strong positives and one qualified positive, vs. 4 strong negatives and two soft negatives.
So of strong opinions expressed that’s 76% strong positive to 24% strong negative. Hits my WAG of “most” anyway. And of the negatives some have expressed the opinion that what they did not like was in fact necessary to have the later episode blow it out of the park so well. Maybe one who bailed.
Now this thread is much more of a selection bias - created really specifically for you and others who hated “the conceit” to have a place to rant. NOT a representative sampling of those who want to talk about the show. And even then a fair number who bothered to take the approve position.
So - personally, no I do not consider those of the SDMB who post a good sample of the general viewing public. We tend to be a very critical crowd. Which is fine. In this critical crowd the initial reviews were quite positive with a few really not liking it.
I do not accuse anyone of dishonesty.
I do like hearing critical opinions. I don’t like it when posters have to go on and on and on with the this sucks schtick and attack those who like it. I try to understand why it works for some and not others. But NO show will make every viewer happy.
I have some familiarity with Scarlet Witch from the comics, so I came in expecting to see standard sitcom hijinks on the surface with a lot of strange comic book stuff in the background. I’m fairly indifferent towards 50’s and 60’s sitcoms and I really only enjoyed a few of those shows (e.g. I Love Lucy, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie) but I knew enough to appreciate the work that production put in to pay homage in this show. That appreciation wore thin about halfway through the first episode. Sure the bit of existential creepiness towards the end of the first episode helped, but I was expecting that to permeate through the entire episode.
The magic show made me chuckle a little but not enough to bring me back to the show before the next three episodes dropped. To be fair, I usually watch my regular shows in blocks of two or three and I’ve been doing that since the days of Heroes and Lost. Still, I would’ve preferred a 3 episode drop at the beginning and then a weekly run as opposed to the 2 episode start. Clearly this setup wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but I’ve loved Marvel since I was tiny (Silver Surfer is my all-time favorite comic) so I was always going to give this show a decent shot.
Sr. Weasel was asked about WandaVision yesterday and whether it was any good. He advised them to skip the first episode. Which made me realize the first episode does more poorly what the second episode does slightly better.
Count me amongst the people who thought the first episodes (and dropping only 2 of them to kick it off) were a stupid approach, for several reasons:
1 - They show up as 30 minute episodes, but run just over 20 minutes, with interminably long credits that have zero additional info or entertainment value.
2 - (And yes, I know this is ironic after complaining that it was too short) They didn’t get me sucked into the story, or really entertain me. I, like many others, watched them ONLY because of the hope that something from them might be relevant in subsequent episodes and because I knew it was going somewhere other than what it appeared to be on its face. Also, it’s the pandemic and I didn’t have a lot of other shit to watch.
And viewership numbers going up after the first 2 or 3 episodes doe not necessarily suggest it was because people loved those first three episodes. It could be because they heard from friends that the first few episodes were boring and they should wait until more episodes dropped to watch.
More likely it’s just that it’s a) MCU phase 4 beginning and b) people are desperate for anything new during the pandemic. Assuming the numbers are remotely reliable…