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Related: Film discussion forum.

Related: Film discussion forum.

Telly addicts

11.22.63

24 replies

bornwithaplasticspoon · 24/04/2016 18:48

Anyone else watching this? Based on the Stephen King novel. It's fantastic and I'm hooked. It's like a cross between Back to the Future and Goodnight Sweetheart but with a sinister twist. Basically, a guy goes back in time to try and prevent the Kennedy assassination. It's two episodes in so far (can get them on demand) and the third episode is on Fox at 9pm tonight.

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kimlo · 24/04/2016 18:49

I am. I have read the book, but it was so long ago I cant remember what happened.

I'm enjoying it.

coldcanary · 24/04/2016 20:11

I saw the first episode then totally forgot about it! Must catch up, it looked pretty good and I do think James Franco is a good actor.

bornwithaplasticspoon · 24/04/2016 20:22

Episode two is great - hiding behind hands great!

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Racheyg · 24/04/2016 20:26

I watched the first episode last night. I'm intrigued by it, and I second James Franco is a good actor.

NickiFury · 25/04/2016 00:13

I'm loving it. James Franco always comes across as someone you just know you'd like if you met him in real life. It's very well done and for me has the same suspense as the book, which I also thought was fab.

MadauntofA · 26/04/2016 20:11

Do you know if it is repeated - I missed Sunday's episode and loving it too

ChoccyJules · 26/04/2016 20:13

Think it's repeated on Weds?

MadauntofA · 26/04/2016 22:09

Oooh I will have a look, thanks

JustRosieHere · 27/04/2016 20:08

Love it! It's changed a bit from the book, the books a bit more subtle which I suppose a 700 page book can be. It's good to see James Franco in something serious too. He really suits this role.

Sallystyle · 27/04/2016 20:26

What side was it on?

bornwithaplasticspoon · 27/04/2016 20:52

U2 - it's on Fox

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MarieJeanne · 27/04/2016 20:56

I have read the book and enjoyed the first few episodes. I just hope it doesn't go the same way as The Dome, which started off good and then turned into a load of crap.

bornwithaplasticspoon · 27/04/2016 21:36

Some really good reviews on IMDB so it looks promising.

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NickyEds · 02/05/2016 11:22

I've saved this for tonight, really looking forward to it. I loved the book but can't remember how it ended!

coldcanary · 02/05/2016 11:34

I've caught up to episode 4 now, it's getting even better and really tense already!

kimlo · 02/05/2016 13:06

Im watching it with out picking up my phone which is unusual, I dont have much concentration for tv any more.

My dm has seen all of them, she says its really good, but not as good as the book. Wgich isnt really suprising given the size of the book much more time to put things in.

bornwithaplasticspoon · 02/05/2016 19:22

I assume her ex husband has a weird sexual fetish (as well as being an abusive a hole) with the reference to a 'clothes pin'?

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VodkaJelly · 02/05/2016 22:10

Starting to get bored with it, so much promise and expectations, but is starting to get really dull

bornwithaplasticspoon · 04/05/2016 13:11

One thing that is bugging me..

First/second episode. Jake called his dad from a call box and extinguished a fire in the restaurant, thus 'messing' with time which resulted in two deaths (car crash lady and lodging house boy). Since then he's messed with time hugely - he even killed someone - but there have been no obvious repercussions?

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WestleyAndButtockUp · 13/05/2016 21:14

Quite a few episodes in, and it really doesn't seem very convincing.

It's not that I'm complaining about it not following the book - it's that the programme's internal logic isn't very strong, or interesting

TeradelFuego · 14/05/2016 03:48

I loved the book, my favourite Stephen King book, and I am quite enjoying this but not half so much.

I wonder why they had to change so many things from the book? Like why does he have to have a companion with him helping him? The character of Bill only appeared briefly in the book. A plot device, so they can discuss outloud what's happening, I suppose. And in the book, doesn't he keep going 'back to the future' and having to start again?

BOOK SPOILER - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Like when he killed the murderous father of the caretaker he knew in the present day, so that he couldn't go ahead and murder his family, then he went back to the present day and found that he had altered the timeline so that the caretaker had been killed in the Vietnam war, so it hadn't done him any good anyway. So when he returned to 1960 again he decided not to bother and just get straight over to Texas, to prepare for stopping the Kennedy assassination.

END OF BOOK SPOILER - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So seems that is not happening in the TV show, he has made one long continuous trip to the past, that's it. It kind of makes it less interesting in a way, the going backwards and forwards, and time 'resetting' on each attempt made you think more about what a weird thing was actually happening to him, IYKWIM.

And all the stuff about 'the past not liking to be changed and fighting back' well why doesn't 'the past' stop people going back then? I know, I know, it's not going to be logical.

Also, WTF is a 'clothespin'?

WestleyAndButtockUp · 14/05/2016 05:31

A clothespin is a safety pin. I think the implication is he has a baby fetish, and likes to be dressed in a nappy.

Yeah both Chris cooper and James Franco both only do one long trip back into time, I think.

I'm tired of this programme now. One of the best things about the book was how someone from our time would go about settling into the past, how strange they would find some of the little details, and how some little details would trip them up.

When he got a teaching job, and then they jumped to a year or two later, I pretty much gave up. How different TEACHING is today, in liberal New England, compared to 60's TEXAS. He'd've tripped himself up in the classroom a hundred times! I want to see that!

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TeradelFuego · 14/05/2016 05:53

Eww re the clothespin! Thanks for explaining.

Yes, I think it's all those details that I miss in the show as compared to the book. I do like other Stephen King books, but this one I found to have such a great atmosphere, it really made that early 60s world come alive. I felt it was less generic Stephen King and something he had really put his heart into. 'And with less gore, and yes, horror, than he usually does. (I am a bit of a wuss!)

But I suppose they wouldn't have had the time to recreate all that in the show. James Franco is very charming, though, and the girl who plays Sadie is very pretty.

WestleyAndButtockUp · 14/05/2016 06:38

Actually the internet tells me I'm wrong. A clothes pin is not a safety pin, it's a clothes PEG (the clamp with which you hang washing on a clothes line).

Apparently the guy's mother or grandmother would clamp the kid's penis, as a punishment for impure thoughts. So he fetishised this in adulthood.

There is a Reddit thread all about it. And also this article m.mortontimesnews.com/entertainment/20160315/video-112263-star-tr-knight-breaks-down-that-shocking-death

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