Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Captain Craig]

The other characters are okay. Although I quite often have trouble hearing what Fitz/Simmons are saying to each other.

They talk way too fast and overlapping. I have this issue as well.
It's like they just ate Fun Dip and a Jolt Cola.

I enjoyed this episode and look forward to May being in some bad ass fighting scenes in next weeks episode vs our red masked foes.

Graviton...returns for November sweeps? Possible movie character help?

Since we've seen Maria Hill and Nick Fury now I'd like to see some of the other SHIELD Agents we have modest familiarity with such as Sitwell. He's the next one that springs to mind.

 

[Corran Horn]

I still say the pilot who fired the nuke at NYC should show up.

 

[Kelthaz]

The other characters are okay. Although I quite often have trouble hearing what Fitz/Simmons are saying to each other.

They talk way too fast and overlapping. I have this issue as well.
It's like they just ate Fun Dip and a Jolt Cola.

I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to understand them.

 

[davejames]

Thought it was decently entertaining episode, although the show overall still feels way too slight and generic to me-- especially compared to other Whedon shows we've gotten. The millionaire playboy was a lame villain, and the wacky undercover mission to rescue the scientist felt like something straight out of an episode of Chuck.

I will say the Skye and Ward characters are becoming far more likeable though (even if they still aren't terribly interesting).

 

[Captain Craig]

I've seen the Chuck comparison made at a few sites now so that parallel seems to have merit. Other than a few min here or there I'm not versed enough to comment. Still, Chuck had a solid niche audience and NBC kept it alive for 5yrs. If the same can happen for SHIELD we should count ourselves fortunate...provided the quality is there. No one wants a HEROES repeat where after the first season it was past it's prime. That still went 4yrs.

 

[TheSeeker]

Thought it was decently entertaining episode, although the show overall still feels way too slight and generic to me-- especially compared to other Whedon shows we've gotten.

That's how I feel about it as well. I'd like it if the tone of the show was a little closer to that of Person of Interest, but since this is more of a family show I guess that's just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[FPAlpha]

I've seen the Chuck comparison made at a few sites now so that parallel seems to have merit. Other than a few min here or there I'm not versed enough to comment. Still, Chuck had a solid niche audience and NBC kept it alive for 5yrs. If the same can happen for SHIELD we should count ourselves fortunate...provided the quality is there. No one wants a HEROES repeat where after the first season it was past it's prime. That still went 4yrs.

Yeah well.. Chuck had a very dedicated fanbase and had started multiple actions to save it from cancellation and someone at the decision level must have liked the show enough to push them from season to season. It was the little show that could.

Shield is a different ballpark because of the background and the expectations.. it costs much more than Chuck to make and so has to be successful to be kept on air.

It had a 20% drop from pilot to second episode which is normal (some shows drop 50% or more) but this early no one can say how it will develop but if the show stays at this level they will go below 10 million viewers soon.

Let's wait and see.

 

[Admiral2]

I'll watch it for as long as they keep it on the air. I'm not terribly picky as long as i'm entertained, and I really don't need all the characters to be worthy of Salon discussions. They're all exactly who i expect them to be.

Coulson's the leader, Special agent whats-his-face is Action Man, Sky's the hot geek, Fitz and Simmons are the weird geniuses and Melinda's the dark horse.

It's not firefly at all. It's NCIS and Criminal Minds with super humans. I don't mind one bit.

 

[davejames]

Yeah I suppose it works fine for what it is... but I was still hoping for more from this show than just a fun, goofy lark. Or another generic NCIS.

 

[gblews]

Yeah I suppose it works fine for what it is... but I was still hoping for more from this show than just a fun, goofy lark. Or another generic NCIS.

Agree. I don't like simple shows that lead you through the story and are filled with shallow characters. Someone posted upthread that Joss isn't the actual showrunner and this is giving me pause. Hpwever, I am hopeful that his influence will turn the show into something special a la Angel/Firefly.

I liked this episode more that the second one. Still watching...

 

[Guy Gardener]

The show runner has Whedon DNA.

If Luke died killing small animals in the desert at 14, Leia could have been totally tapped to save the day in due course.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yeah, I think I'm done. I'm gonna let the DVR record the next couple and if I have time I might watch again. But, it's woefully generic (agreeing with whoever said it upthread) the leads (yeah, I said it) Skye and Mr. Square Jaw are pretty boring. And this particular episode felt like it was written out of the network playbook: the whole gun thing coming back and OF COURSE, thanks to Mr. Square Jaw, saving Skye's life... a neat little nugget of bland storytelling, by the numbers.

I guess if I'm going to go with a quirky team of Federal Agents trying to stop the world for gaining access to dangerous technology, I'm going with Warehouse 13.

 

[Turtletrekker]

We're only three episodes in. Each episode has shown a marked improvement. What do people want? How many shows are instant classics right out the gate? TNG? Buffy? DS9? B5? None of the above. This shown has just been great fun. I think it's way too early too pass judgement on it as it's really just getting started and finding its identity.

 

[TheSeeker]

I really want this show to succeed so I'll be sticking with it in the hopes that it improves, but so far it is definitely not as good as I was hoping it would be.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Ratings were down, but AoS beat out NCIS in the most coveted demographics. Also, these are not final numbers as they don't take into account DVR and Hulu viewers, such as myself.

 

[Professor Zoom]

We're only three episodes in. Each episode has shown a marked improvement. What do people want? How many shows are instant classics right out the gate? TNG? Buffy? DS9? B5? None of the above. This shown has just been great fun. I think it's way too early too pass judgement on it as it's really just getting started and finding its identity.

I'm going to push back on this. Why do I have to wait for a show to improve? Why can't it be good from the beginning? A lot of shows are. Arrow had a great pilot. Warehouse 13 had a great pilot. West Wing had an AMAZING pilot. This whole idea that pilots aren't very good...just don't buy it. Sure, shows improve on their pilots, but, why can't a show, you know, start off good?

I can't speak to Buffy, but the other three, all had something I was engaged with, right from the beginning, and improved from there. Farscape, nuBattlestar. All great pilots that improved from there. (Perhaps later stumbled... sure...) Sleepy Hollow for a new show. The Headless Horseman had a machine gun...! Awesome sauce.

But, I honestly can't think of a show that I didn't like at the start that suddenly I did.

This show just doesn't engage me. It feels like weak sauce and lazy writing. Riding on the coattails of a very successful movie universe (which they keep reminding us of.)

 

[FPAlpha]

Pretty much it.. there's honestly little excuse at all to write a weak pilot.

It should be the opposite instead.. you have basically one shot to get the undecided/not entrenched in the genre viewer and if you screw up the pilot or make it bland the majority might not tune in again.

Off the top of my head there's Firefly, Breaking Bad, Lost, NuBSG, Castle, Game of Thrones, Californication, Heroes and others which have instantly grabbed me and made me wait hard a week for the next episode. This list is obviously prone to preference and taste and some of the shows took a good dive after a while but that's not the point.

As ist stands Shield can be so much more, should be more and i really hope they pick it up and have a real plan where this is all going.

 

[JarodRussell]

Pretty much it.. there's honestly little excuse at all to write a weak pilot.

A valid "excuse" would be that they didn't have a good motivated idea in the first place. It's just another dictate "We need a TV show! Do something!"

 

[Guy Gardener]

The problem with Pilots is that you have to introduce and explain everything to morons who get easily frustrated and thrash in the face of difficult concepts called Network Executives.

After they become bored and move on, you can get down to the issue of making entertaining TV.

 

[FPAlpha]

Well.. they had enough time to work in the pilot, it's not like somebody got the idea this summer and then they scrambled to get a script and book the actors.

They started over a year ago and maybe even way before that so i think they should come up with something better but it is like it is.

Despite all my criticism i will still tune in every week to watch because i'm the core demographic and it's fuckin' Coulson!