The Mist

[Scott]

Who's planning on watching tonight? I'm curious, but skeptical.

[GRWelsh]

I missed it, but it looks like you can watch the first episode on spike.com. I can't watch it on my work computer, but I'll watch it on my home computer when I get back this week. It was one of my favorite Stephen King stories, and I loved the movie too. The movie ending was one of the few times when I liked a change made to the original written story. In the original story, it was left open ended and you didn't know if the entire earth was in the Mist or not. The movie answered that question but also added a final touch of horror and hopelessness for the main character. For the series, it makes more sense to keep it open ended as long as possible, and not have characters figure out what is happening and/or reverse it (i.e. if the gov't is cleaning up after the Mist is gone, that would sort of end the series). This story always made me think of what was hinted at in HPL stories if the Great Old Ones came back or woke up. Remember in "The Dunwich Horror" there was that reference about the earth being cleared off, and/or pulled out its orbit into some other place or dimension?

[Scott]

There's a low budget vibe to it that comes with being a Spike TV show. I wasn't really expecting it. I have a pretty high tolerance, so it didn't bother me too much. I think the first 3 episodes are available on the app.

[geneweigel]

I started using SLING TV last fall because the cable here is getting worse so I lost "SPIKE TV". I don't know if I want to keep this because its lagging on the on demand and you have to restart plus there is no old seasons and shows are within a few weeks on demand only. Still at less than $30 it can't be beat if you're not a sports fan like me.

[GRWelsh]

I got rid of cable a few years ago. I just couldn't take the garbage to dollar ratio anymore. Between Netflix and the internet I do not miss cable at all. If anything, I feel like there is "entertainment saturation" going on these days. We're over-entertained and have too many choices among mediocre options. So many retreads and reboots. Original, quality writing is the needle in the haystack. I don't care if special effects and production values are not the greatest, but I can't deal with bad writing. The 2007 movie version of THE MIST didn't have the greatest special effects (some were just plain bad), but it had great writing!

My interest in watching sports has decreased to an all time low, although I still enjoy going to live games -- I just don't watch it on TV anymore. I think it is partly this psychological thing of I'd rather get some exercise myself than watch other people exercise. I do a lot of long-range bicycling -- that's kind of my thing these days. I'd even rather go hiking or for a long walk through the woods than sit and watch TV for more than two hours at a time. And I have a sedentary job where I'm on the computer more than enough each day... You know what they say: "Sitting is the new smoking."

[geneweigel]

Yeah, it looks halfway decent but I might have to catch up on it.

[geneweigel]

I just watched this on Netflix except the last episode its alright for a TV show. I can't tell if the people are being controlled to be assholes or they're just assholes but its okay. I guess its cancelled now though

[Scott]

I thought it was OK. The production was pretty low quality, which I don't mind, but it's going to be hard to compete with other shows with better production.