[TV] The River

[Fuzzzie]

Has anyone checked out The River on ABC? It's done by the guy who did the paranormal activity movies and has a similar feel as in it's a "found footage" sort of documentary. It's about a group of people who go in search for a man who went missing deep in the amazon. They come across his ship and strange paranormal things begin to happen.

While I like the premise of the show, it does weak, cheesy moments. Overall I think it's pretty good though. I watched the first two episodes last night and the new one airs tonight at 9pm EST on CTV/ABC. Give it a shot if you haven't seen it. You might love it or hate it.

[unholytestament]

They really blow the "found footage" concept early on. There's a point where they are wandering through the jungle in the third episode where they specifically have only two cameras being carried around yet we're somehow getting 3 extra magic angles. And this is as they are moving through the jungle, long before they set up a camp at the OBVIOUSLY CREEPY TREE.

That's another thing. After the events of the first two episodes (the pilot, essentially), I don't think there's any room for there to be any skeptics left in the crew. You have to be incredibly dense to see that stuff go down and then be right back to questioning the existance of ghosts in the next episode.

I want to like this show. Good thing it's a mini series and there's a very high possibility something will change come the second half.

[Demonakat]

They don't do a full on "found footage" concept. They do it like they're filming a documentary. The majority of the show is from the cameras they use, but they also have regular cameras. I thought it was obvious from the first episode.
I don't think it's a mini series, just the first season will be short. They'll probably continue on with it because it's pretty good. I haven't watched the third episode yet, only aired Monday? But I will in a bit!

My favorite character is, of course, the little girl that only speaks Spanish. I know she speaks English, she's just stubborn like that. But from the beginning she was warning them and she had her eyes open to the extraordinary that no one else believed in. That's what I liked about her, although, the main character is very likeable. The son. The chick he's obviously going to marry is full of secrets, and it seems like she can drive the plot on and fill in random gaps just because she has so many secrets.

[Fuzzzie]

They don't do a full on "found footage" concept. They do it like they're filming a documentary. The majority of the show is from the cameras they use, but they also have regular cameras. I thought it was obvious from the first episode.
I don't think it's a mini series, just the first season will be short. They'll probably continue on with it because it's pretty good. I haven't watched the third episode yet, only aired Monday? But I will in a bit!

It was actually a pretty good episode. I think these people are nuts for going into the jungle to do this though. I would have bailed as soon as the river disapeared off the map. Anyways, It is found footage in the sense that they call it that at the start of each episode. Only difference is rather than it being random cameras setup everywhere (there is some of that) they have cameramen that are involved in the story. Actually, AJ has one of the best scenes in the show ep 3.

My favorite character is, of course, the little girl that only speaks Spanish. I know she speaks English, she's just stubborn like that. But from the beginning she was warning them and she had her eyes open to the extraordinary that no one else believed in. That's what I liked about her, although, the main character is very likeable. The son. The chick he's obviously going to marry is full of secrets, and it seems like she can drive the plot on and fill in random gaps just because she has so many secrets.

There's clearly a lot of sub-plots that they planted seeds for early on. That dude (forget his name) that was on the sat phone, the relationship between the producer and the mom, the girl you mentioned etc.

[Olianda]

I haven't seen it, any of it, aside from the trailer/commercial. I tend to get a tad freaked out (visual memory and imagination, things tend to stick.)

Can you make a comparison to any other shows?

[Fuzzzie]

Can you make a comparison to any other shows?

Mix Blair Witch with Lost and you're getting close.

[Olianda]

Damn, not a fan of lost. I'll give it a shot anyway.

[Fuzzzie]

Damn, not a fan of lost. I'll give it a shot anyway.

More so for the atmosphere and weird mysteries. It doesn't seem so convoluted, at least not yet.

[Zulandia]

I watched the premiere and wasn't really that impressed, I like the idea though (sort of creepy/horror genre in a T.V. median) so I'm going to keep watching and see if it grows on me.

[Demonakat]

I thought they were filming a documentary, not that it was found footage. That the camera men were just making a documentary. The found footage thing makes sense because of the creator, but I just thought they were filming a documentary like on Modern Family... but not like Modern Family.

Hmmm... a show as a comparison? I agree with the Blair Witch thing, but I've never seen Lost.

Basically, the show premise is:
A man who filmed a show in the jungles of South America showing the animals and such, kind of like Crocodile Dundee but in the jungle, went missing. A film screw wants to go find him and make a documentary about it, to do this they enlist his ex-wife and estranged son. Right before they set out, a woman joins them, her father was a producer for the show and went missing as well. They have a mechanic, his daughter, an Australian (I think) security guard, the film crew, and the family. I think there's another person I'm forgetting. They go searching and then come to a shoot off of the river they're on that's not part of the map, and now all this supernatural type stuff is happening to them.

Girl gets possessed, dolls moving, demons running around kidnapping people, pissing off angry spirits, and so on happens. It's pretty cool. Definitely worth watching. It's a horror type show. And that's just in the first two episodes.

[Waaldo]

I watched the first episode on hulu without out seeing any trailers or ever hearing about it before, so I thought it was going to be a serious show of a family trying to find their father/husband. Boy was a wrong, it scared the living shit out of me when the spirit, or w.e it was, jumped out. It does look like it could be a very interesting show that can have a very deep story to it sorta like lost, but they are putting it all out on the table right away.

[Fuzzzie]

I watched the first episode on hulu without out seeing any trailers or ever hearing about it before, so I thought it was going to be a serious show of a family trying to find their father/husband. Boy was a wrong, it scared the living shit out of me when the spirit, or w.e it was, jumped out. It does look like it could be a very interesting show that can have a very deep story to it sorta like lost, but they are putting it all out on the table right away.

2nd episode was ever more creepy actually

[unholytestament]

I don't think it's a mini series, just the first season will be short. They'll probably continue on with it because it's pretty good.

I hope you're wrong. I don't want to see this show drug out and become increasingly convoluted like Lost did.

[Fuzzzie]

I hope you're wrong. I don't want to see this show drug out and become increasingly convoluted like Lost did.

Agreed. Quality>Quantity. Unless they have something really well written for more than one season, I think they should just put it to bed. Lost looked like it was written for about 2 seasons. After that it just spiralled into weird plot twists. It was still a good show, but could have ended well with a few more episodes after season 2.

[unholytestament]

It was still a good show, but could have ended well with a few more episodes after season 2.

I'm of the opinion that once it was done, Lost was pretty good. But the extremely long ride to get there as well as many diversions that amounted to either nothing or very little really made the entire experience not feel like it was worth it.

Not to mention I personally felt that the way some characters got long drawn out send offs in the end while some characters were there one scene and dead the next was a "fuck you" to many fans.

[Fuzzzie]

I'm of the opinion that once it was done, Lost was pretty good. But the extremely long ride to get there as well as many diversions that amounted to either nothing or very little really made the entire experience not feel like it was worth it.

Not to mention I personally felt that the way some characters got long drawn out send offs in the end while some characters were there one scene and dead the next was a "fuck you" to many fans.

Not having a clear plan on where to take your series will do that. BSG did it much better. They had a plan and executed it well.

[Gracin]

I have to admit I was definitely on the fence after the pilot(Magus), to me it was really slow and I couldn't really care at all about the characters. However I try to give new shows a few episodes worth of rope to hang themselves with so I watched episodes 2(Marbeley) and 3(Los Ciegos). Loads better than the pilot with acting, dialogue, character development, and with the 2nd and 3rd you feel more of the creepy ambience. Now my only worry is that because ratings dropped off during the second half of the pilot people aren't showing up to watch again, and therefore it will be cancelled.

[Deleted]

it was Awful - It started off kinda ok, even though the Idea was a little silly- but it soon melted into some Idiots on a boats and felt like some home made youtube thing, and the idea of having the show filmed like a fly on the wall -Documentary style is just stupid- very poor 2/10 Even tho Terra Nova and Failing skies were cheesy and a little silly, at least they were watchable, this is crap....

If you're looking for something to fill the gap until Game of thrones, Dexter, Breaking Bad, The killing, Homeland & American horror story, this wont help, its a little laughable in parts, I might check out Once Upon a Time this might be ok or maybe Alcatraz- ?

so for now its just Little House on the Prairie to keep us happy until the good stuff starts again, I mean The Walking Dead..

Edit: "Awake" might be one to watch, Great leader actor

[Fuzzzie]

or maybe Alcatraz- ?

I don't really like Alcatraz. Seemed kinda dry to me.

[Zulandia]

I don't really like Alcatraz. Seemed kinda dry to me.

I'm not sure it's so much that it's dry as it is that despite how much potential it had it's really just another Cop drama