Preacher - AMC TV Show - Discussion Thread

On Sunday 22nd May Preacher will be unleashed upon TV after spending years in the wilderness trying to find a suitable media to convert it into.

Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's profane, hysterical, unapologetic and graphic comic series asks big questions about God, religion, fame, revenge, friendship and the carnal nature of meat puppets. Not to everyone's taste, it enlightened, amused and horrified equally and somehow Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin have convinced AMC that their adaptation was worth a punt.

In short - what if God couldn't be bothered any more and someone imbued "word of God" on you. In long - what if you had that power and were endlessly chased by zealots, law enforcement, your terrible past, the ghost of John Wayne and the Saint of Killers.

Currently, the reviews of the first four episodes have been generally very positive, from fans of the comic and freshers alike: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/preacher/s01/

The common thread in the reviews is that the creators have realised that a literal translation would be (a) horrifically expensive and (b) (likely) unpalatable for TV/film, so there is divergence in the material, whilst keeping hold of the spirit of the comics. Which frankly should be how any adaptation works, as if I wanted a panel by panel re-distillation of the material, I might as well just go photocopy the 66 comics and re-read them. The creators have alluded to the fact that S1 will act a both a prequel (scene setting) and follow certain elements of early issues of the comic, but setting it in one town initially inhabited by a few characters from much later issues.

I am very wary of anything Rogen/Goldberg do as I have not been a fan of either The Green Hornet or This is the End, yet the consensus is, along with Breaking Bad maestro, Sam Catlin, they have done the material proud, with even Ennis happy with the results.

Anyone who wants a 4 minute tastes of the show can watch here:



Anyone who wants to read some background on the comics can read here (Spoilers beware): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(comics)

Anyone who wants an idea of the cast and characters can read here (Spoilers beware): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5016504/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The 90 minute pilot airs in the US on AMC on 22nd May 2016 and Amazon Prime has picked it up for UK/Germany/Japan for airing on 23rd May 2016.

The cast looks mighty fine, I love the look of it, I just hope the balance of irreverent humour and drama can be found to keep it on the air so we can get to the really crazy shit in subsequent seasons.

Who's up for it?

Hugo - I don't care if you like me, loath me, or masturbate screaming my name...

 

This is one of my all time favorite comics and I've been dying for an adaptation for years. Unfortunately, everything I've heard about this series sounds like it had very little to with the comics, so my expectations are very low.

Spoiler: vague and light comic book spoilers

It doesn't sound like the Saint of Killers is even in it. And I saw the name Quincannon, which was far and away the worst story line in the comic.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised...

 

Tonight! 10pm EST! Don't miss it!

 

Looking forward to it. Didn't know that Seth Rogen was involved.

Love the after show title... Talking Preacher.

 

Haven't read the comic, but a very solid Pilot. Will continue to follow the show.

 

/impatiently sits waiting for Amazon UK to upload it onto Prime...

Hugo -

 

Very solid pilot

All of the casting was spot on, even with some of the character changes (Sheriff particularly).

Lots of lively action, rudeness and crudeness, with a few great Cassidy zingers that feel (but haven't been) torn from the comic page. Plus, the greatest Tom Cruise cameo since Tropic Thunder!

A pity we have to wait a few more weeks for episode two, but I think the feel of the comic has been put up on the screen with quite aplomb. Let's see if the plot-lines they move along have a similar feel. Instead of it being a "road movie" they appear to have played the "all lines intersect here" strategy with Tulip and Cassidy's past rushing towards Annville along with Jesse's new friend and those connected to it.

Let's see where this goes.

Hugo - now knows the Spanish for ass-hamster.

 

Stupid Supernatural.

Been putting this deadbeat God storyline off for 4 years, so maybe they rushed into this because they knew that Preacher was coming.

Sneaky.

 

Maybe it's different since they aren't making a vehicle for Seth Rogen to star in? Or maybe the material itself is stronger? The show seems to have been developed as a passion project from what I've seen in the interviews.

I thought they did a pretty good job with the material. I've only read a few issues and that was a long time ago but the Texas setting seemed to have a lot of character. The songs used in the pilot were just icing on the cake with deep cuts from Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Even Carly Simon's You're So Vain was used in a neat way. Heck, even the girl playing Amazing Grace on the electric guitar in church was funny.

 

Texas setting... Filmed mostly in New Mexico. Love it...

I've never read the source material, but I found the show pretty compelling. The fight scene on the plane was pretty neat. Cross between Kingsman and The Transporter. lol

 

At least it's not Vancouver...
Being from the Midwest it's close enough for me.

 

I only saw 15 minutes...but man, Dominic Cooper is an actor.. hard for me to believe he's the same guy who was Howard Stark and the double for Saddam's son.

he & Tatiana Maslany need to do one of those movies where they play 3 or 4 different characters.

 

I fell asleep part way through, but I loved what I saw. My only problem was I had a bit of trouble understanding all of Cassidy's story on the plane. I missed if they explained the significance of the guys on the plane with him. Were they just vampire hunters who managed to find him? I fell asleep not long after that, and I plan on watching it all the way through tomorrow morning so if it's explained later don't tell me.

 

I thought the actor who plays The Punisher from Daredevil would've been perfect casting for Preacher but as for the pilot... it was okay. Not sure if I want to see this anymore. My boyfriend didn't seem to like it at all.

 

Yeah, that actor does look like a Steve Dillon drawing.

 

Funko has announced they're going to be releasing Funko Pops! of Jesse Custer, Arseface, and Cassidy.

 

Yeah, Jon Bernthal would've been a great Jesse Custer. I'm not entirely sold yet on Dominic Cooper in the role.

 

Cool pilot. Not understanding some of what's going on, but I'm sure it will be revealed. Definitely will keep watching.

Well, West Texas isn't much different from New Mexico in terms of location!

 

Well, that had very, very little to do with the comic... but it wasn't bad. I just wish there was more impetus to the story. I don't see why a non-comics-reader would have been willing to stay past the first commercial break, there's no hook there.

 

A couple of the interviews I read said the first season will basically be a prequel to the comics, and that they will fold more stuff from the comics into the show as it goes on. I got the impression that the comics get pretty crazy, and that they are trying to ease into things a bit, rather than just starting out with total craziness.