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Masters of Sex - Michael Sheen & Lizzy Caplan - Sundays on Showtime

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H

hom3land

Member
Will have to check this out.. Though already disappointed that Michael sheen isn't a long lost son of Martin and brother to Emilio and Charlie. Though he did date Becks so maybe he has a little bit of the classy old guy in him after all.
 
J

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Really enjoyed the pilot. The review that said it's the mixture of clinical and kinky that makes it work is spot on. Acting is incredible. Definitely watching.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I thought the pilot was pretty enjoyable. It was a lot more humorous than I had anticipated, which I welcomed. I'm just thankful that this isn't another dreary antihero drama.

The performances were generally very good, with Michael Sheen being the standout for me. Caplan was pretty good, however, I wasn't 'WOWed' by her performance like a lot of people seem to have been.

Other thoughts:

To be honest, I found it a little odd how quickly Virginia became William's associate. Time moves by much too quickly in the pilot - She's a lounge singer, then a secretary, and then finally she jumps all the way up to being his partner in the span of 60 minutes. I would have appreciated a more Don/Peggy Mad Men esque approach, spread out across the first 3-4 episodes, but I guess they felt the need to get things set up as quickly as possible so they could plow forward with the rest of the season. Still, this is premium cable and audiences are supposed to be more patient than that.

I also thought it was sort of odd that they set Virginia up from the get go as an expert of female (not just of her own, but apparently of all women's) sexuality. She seemed a bit omniscient, and, frankly, came off as something of a Mary Sue. I trust that they'll add some more dimension to her character as the series progresses, however, so I'm not worried.

Also, towards the end of the episode, Williams and Masters told Beau Bridges' Barton Scully that they had already debunked a bunch of myths regarding female sexuality, but they failed to tell him (and us) just what, exactly, they had debunked.

Ray Donovan just had a black screen with white text instead of an opening credits sequence and it looks like Masters of Sex is following suit. Disappointing. :/

I laughed when the prostitute said "Good for you!" after the guy orgasmed in the beginning of the episode. She was a fun character, and I hope they keep her around for a while.

Margo Martindale! I fear that this might be the first and only time she appears on the show, but I would love it if she popped back in every now and then.

I already can't stand Ethan Haas. Party because the character is written to be an abusive petulant child, but also because Heroes ruined Nicholas D'Agosto for me, I think. It doesn't help that he just doesn't seem to be a very good actor.
 
K

kingocfs

Member
Wasn't really feeling the pilot, to be honest. Caplan is hot as all hell and I won't complain about her getting a big dramatic role where she'll probably be naked a lot, but I didn't really like her in this. Sheen is awesome, though, so I'll give it another try.

RatskyWatsky said:
I already can't stand Ethan Haas. Party because the character is written to be an abusive petulant child, but also because Heroes ruined Nicholas D'Agosto for me, I think. It doesn't help that he just doesn't seem to be a very good actor.
Click to expand...

Seriously, just a terrible character. I thought most of the acting was pretty mediocre.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Matt Zoller Seitz for NY Mag: Masters of Sex: This Intelligent Drama Stays Sexy By Playing Coy
Masters of Sex is an intelligent, assured drama that gets better and better as it goes along. When I first watched the show a couple of months ago, I joked to a colleague that its portrayal of sexuality could have used a more Henry Miller or Erica Jong and a bit less Masters and Johnson, but on second viewing I realized that I had to retract that joke: the show is sexy in large part because it tries to play things coy, and lets us see that it's playing things coy. This is a very playful way to deal with sexually charged subject matter.
Click to expand...
 
J

jtb

Banned
also, re: the opening credits, I wouldn't read too much into whether or not they show up in the pilot. Homeland pilot didn't have opening credits, and frankly getting rid of that horrendous opening would solve most of the show's problems right there.
 
H

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
I watched this on Showtime Anytime, and I liked it.

However, Showtime Anytime sucks, at no point did it go into HD. The quality was no better than YouTube 360p.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Cornballer said:
I couldn't get the youtube version to play earlier today through my PS3, but that might have been because I didn't log in. Not sure if the NSFW stuff is locked out in that case.
Click to expand...

I could never get the youtube player on my PS3 to work properly, heh. It always freezes up.

But yeah, you have to sign in to view NSFW content. :p
 
R

royalan

Member
I really enjoyed the pilot. Paced really well, and terrifically acted. Did NOT see the last scene with Ethan and Virginia coming
and am I the only one who got major "Greg Harris from Mad Men" vibes from Ethan?

I was worried about how the would stretch this concept across a season and keep it interesting, but the I saw some pretty interesting plot threads spring up in just the pilot (Dr. Masters alone is all sorts of borked). I'm hooked.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Great pilot. Caplan and Sheen killed it, just like I knew they would. If every night had this much good TV on I'd never leave the couch.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Ethan was pretty insufferable during the pilot but I was a bit surprised by just how quickly they moved that plot along.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
RatskyWatsky said:
I was surprised by how quickly they moved all of the plots along.
Click to expand...
Yeah.

The pilot crammed a lot in. Could have easily been twice as long.

Anyway, I liked it enough to continue watching. This sort of take on sex is refreshing in TV.

I like Lizzy Caplan and, while I haven't watched too many of Michael Sheen's works, he seemed really good in this.
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
It was so weird to see both Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale in the same pilot. Get them off The Millers. Now. Please.

On the actual, pilot: fantastic. Elegantly directed, the subject matter is incredibly poignant and surprisingly relevant in 2013. We still have an issue with sex in the country, and I can't think of a better way to tackle our simultaneous puritanical beliefs on sex, mostly stemming from right-wing influence, and our need to talk about sex and our desires more frankly (see: the obsession with 50 Shades of Gray, a majority of which I would say has its genesis in an attempt to explore and develop a sexual agency).

jtb said:
also, re: the opening credits, I wouldn't read too much into whether or not they show up in the pilot. Homeland pilot didn't have opening credits, and frankly getting rid of that horrendous opening would solve most of the show's problems right there.
Click to expand...

Most pilots don't have opening credits in them because they're locked and delivered (and timed) before the shows are picked up. There's no reason to spend money on opening credits for a pilot that may never go to series.
 
X

xenist

Member
Rash said:
Yeah.

The pilot crammed a lot in. Could have easily been twice as long.
Click to expand...

The show has A LOT of time to cover. Ten years at least and easily up to fifteen. I won't be surprised if gaps of a couple of months are common between episodes.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
xenist said:
The show has A LOT of time to cover. Ten years at least and easily up to fifteen. I won't be surprised if gaps of a couple of months are common between episodes.
Click to expand...

This is Showtime we're talking about though, so it's basically guaranteed like 8 seasons minimum. There's no rush.
 
L

Linius

Member
That was a pretty good pilot. Really loved the fifties vibe and the cast. This show can be very interesting, definitely gonna keep watching.
 
A

Afrikan

Member
eh, well won't you take a look at that... never noticed how the letter "E" can come off like that.

IIVp81a.jpg
 
I

_Isaac

Member
I was finally able to watch the first episode. Man, what a pleasant surprise. Pleasantly paced, and still full of potential. I was a little concerned that they moved too quickly, but with ten years to cover or so, I'm sure it won't be a problem.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Episode 2 was much better than the pilot. The pacing was significantly improved and the passage of time was much smoother.

Other thoughts:

William's wife is such a tragic character. I felt so bad for her during the bedroom scene. Dammit William, why won't you just let your wife masturbate in front of you?!
I guess he thinks it's degrading or something?

He's really mean to her too. He's cold and distant and he's lead her to believe that it's her fault they can't conceive. What an ass. I think she's a really compelling character though, and I'm afraid that (future/show spoiler)
she'll leave the show once she divorces Masters.

I love Betty. She's such a fun character.

*gasp* the chubby blonde hooker (the one who got on the examination table right before the cops came) is the oldest daughter from The Nanny! Ahhh!
 
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