Black Mirror tonight - thank god it's ending

[LineRunnerCrouchingReindeer]

I have watched the last two with teenage DCs and cringed throughout. I am now doomed to watch the thankfully final one in 15 minutes, with them, at their request. (Aah.)

Are there any redeeming features of these derivative, cliched, hackneyed bathetic pieces of drivel?

LEttletown thanks for explaining.

I don't understand why writers are criticised for being "unoriginal"- surely there are only so many themes and wacky concepts of the future anybody could think of? I think this series was done pretty well (although I found the second one very slow to get going). Last night's was done pretty well, I thought (and it was a written by Jesse Armstrong, not Brooker), and although the idea might not be completely unique, it certainly seems relevant with the introduction of facebook timeline etc...we put so much of ourselves out there been now, don't we? And all the parents at nativity plays watching their children through a lens, obsessed by an odd second-hand sort of version of life which is lived on YouTube and facebook. None of the characters last night appeared to own a TV- they just gazed endlessly and self-referentially at re-do's of their own lives. The ultimate in reality television.

I found it quite thought-provoking, actually.

Overdose of "pretty well" there- can I have a re-do?

I really dont like that programme. I get what hes trying to get across but its such a dark feeling programme that it makes me feel uneasy and a bit cringey... not my cup of tea at all!!

Oh yeah, you can tell stories on the same theme over and over again which is fine though I do think there has to be something new.

The people-obsessed-with-game-shows theme has been done loads of times before. Off the top of my head I can think of The Running Man, Deathrace 2000 and Time Bandits. None of them are the last word (though I adore Time Bandits) but people were talking about that theme 20 years ago. Even earlier I suppose, but I just can't think of other examples atm.

And the memory theme has been done loads of times - Total Recall and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (probably a bit more cerebral), Inception, elements of Minority Report and many more.

With a touch of Othello thrown in!

Would add that I did prefer last night's to the previous two. No aggressive point-making, which was a relief. I knew it wasn't written by Brooker. But it didn't go anywhere.

That's why I asked if he strangled her

Tales of the Unexpected managed to be sublime in 25 minutes.

I still remember the man who turned into a bee after too much royal jelly. And the Princess Di lookalike dancing naked in silhouette over the credits.

Surreal TV and as you say, all in 25 minutes

I liked to first episode.
Loathed the second two.

Was disappointed that CB isn't as clever as he makes out he is.
I thought a lot of the script of the second episode was dreadful.

It's a shame it didn't deliver.

well i just watched it with dh, and from this thread i was expecting to be disappointed.

i wasnt.

i thought it was brilliant, a clever original idea. i have enjoyed them all. i hope he does some more.
i dont really understand why people watch something, dislike it, moan about it, write a thread about it,
then watch it again
dislike it, moan about it, write a thread about it
then watch it again
dislike it, moan about it, write a thread about it......

you get the picture.

limitedperiodonly i totally agree about the smug overly negative thing!! and yeah he hits soft targets because he can get an easy laugh!x

aha aha
You've just illustrated what brooker was getting at
you don't like a tv programme - don't watch it, think about it, get riled with it
your wife has an affair - well if you don't like it don't watch it etc.

when the scab is there you just have to pick it

but isn't that what they were all doing?
Their own memories were entertainment, as tv or fb is, so as well as the fun stuff they kept going back over crappy work appraisals, their wife looking at them funny etc. To the point where it ruins their life

it showed what happens when you have the ability to over analyse over and over, not just to think about what you think you said/saw/did, but to be actually able to relive it over and over again, to the point where it becomes obsessive.
i thought it was brilliant. i thought all 3 programmes were.

But I didn't watch it and watch it.

I abandoned the 3rd programme after 20 minutes to watch Professor Cox on the smaller TV.

And I never touched Black Mirror again.