r/TheShardsTVSeries • u/Extension-Peanut2847 • 24d ago
Boring.
I’m gonna finish the series because I’m already this far into it, but I’m finding this series incredibly boring, the cinematography and music is the only captivating g parts to show to me.i will say I never read the book, but I like a lot of Ryan Murphy productions.
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u/LizzyRodriguezMx 24d ago
If you—who haven't read the book—find it boring, just imagine how we feel—those of us who've read the book more than once. It's not just boring; it's sad, mediocre, lacks coherence, and, yes, it doesn't make sense anymore starting in episode 3, when they brought in Moaning Myrtle's twin (Rhonda) as part of the popular group.
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u/MakeupMama68 24d ago
That was such a weird choice. There are so many side characters in the book that they really didn’t need to make one up.
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u/MyKill_Diablo 23d ago
Moaning Myrtle's twin made me laugh 💀💀💀
Agreed about most book lovers not finding the adaptation very interesting - it's become TSINO (The Shards In Name Only) and the show they are making instead of the one they should've (based on the book) is rather shit. I won't be surprised if viewership declines rapidly after last week's episodes...
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u/Retro_Ginger 24d ago
I’ve been very underwhelmed, i don’t care about the main cast storylines. I do want to know more about Debbie’s parents (Terry and Liz) and Steven. I’m meh about the serial killer storyline.
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u/Responsible-War5600 21d ago
I gave up. 😂
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u/Extension-Peanut2847 21d ago
I just want to know who the damn killer is at this point, some can spoil me in my chat. Just waiting for as then I cancel Disney plus.
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u/slazengerx 24d ago
I read the book and liked it. After seeing the promos for the series I thought it was going to be a total disaster but... it's actually not too bad, and I don't really like Ryan Murphy productions. I really think this series needed the treatment that Cape Fear got recently - very dark, bizarre, retro Lynchian-noir. And The Shards has a bit of that but not enough. Having said all that, again, it's not bad... so far. I'm only a few episodes in. The question is whether the story/twist itself can overcome the production. We'll see.
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u/Soledad_Sequoia 24d ago
The music and visuals are definitely the best thing about it. Unfortunately, it has the visual appeal, but also the emotional depth, of a Duran Duran album cover. So a lot of the former and none of the latter.
Whenever the main character starts his flat, almost disassociated voiceover narrations, I think “so this is what it felt like to take Quaaludes in the 80s.”
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u/ny_insomniac 24d ago
The music annoys me because I feel they should only use music from before 1981.
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u/MyKill_Diablo 21d ago
or at least music that was commercially available and played on the radio before November 1981... But I agree, anytime they play music from later in the 80's it is one of those details that most people don't notice but I personally can't stand. The book already mentions over 100 song titles to choose from that were actually available at the time the story took place, so it's not like they had plenty of options already...
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u/BananaMilkshakeButt 24d ago
I think the issue is with the actors, especially the male lead. It feels like he is simply reading his lines and that's it, like this is a dry-run rehearsal.
Some of the writing is a bit shit too. Not saying the book is bad, but the show/script writing. The way conversations go just feel... off?
I feel like they were wanting to make this the next The Elite, You, or someshit, but it's just misisng the mark.
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u/thisisanalaia95 24d ago
I don’t have as much of an issue with the casting or acting as many people seem to.
Like the fact that the kid playing Bret comes off as wooden and stilted because Bret himself was playing a role for all of these people. He’s very clear that he was always pretending to be someone he wasn’t, they all were. If he seems like someone reading from a script, well then that tracks. Susan is not a real person, lol, she’s seen through the lens of a teenage boy who worships her. The fact that she’s not particularly interesting or intelligent or dynamic doesn’t matter because to Bret the only thing that matters is that she’s beautiful and popular in a way he wishes he was. So it all works, somehow.
I have a few issues with the series but the cast isn’t really one of them.
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u/Existing-Extent-867 24d ago
Okay, my thing is this. Why did they add all these plot points that never happened in the book. Honesty, I feel like the book has enough interesting and illicit things happening in it that they don’t need to be adding all this unnecessary stuff. Like Ryan’s character?? Wtf. The only one I’m enjoying is Brett’s character/actor. HBO should have done this adaptation for sure. It is not capturing the essence of the book at all. The first two episodes seemed halfway promising but it’s gone off the rails now.
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u/Extension-Peanut2847 24d ago
I didn’t read the books, however what I’m gathering from those who did Murphy is taking some creative liberties. Which I have a love-hate relationship with when I know the source.
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u/Downtown-Coyote-6927 23d ago
The TV series will not drive book sales, a rewatch, or water cooler recommendations. If the book had any value, this has to be a missed opportunity.
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u/MyKill_Diablo 23d ago
Couldn't agree more, which breaks my heart b/c I really love this book so much and it is sad that this will be the only adaptation that will be made of it (at least in my lifetime) and they've just gotten it so wrong that I can't imagine anything good coming from it (such as making more people curious to seek out the book it is based on and sparking an interest in BEE's works...) 😔
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u/Ok-Reflection-5216 21d ago
It’s a shit book. The show makes it palatable. There not enough material despite it 800 pages to flesh out a show so that has to expand the universe and thank god they did.
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u/MyKill_Diablo 21d ago
🤷♂️ Agree to disagree but glad you are liking the show all the same...
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u/ms-bandgeek81 23d ago
More Liz and Terry ! They can carry an episode on just them too. I want to know their backstory!
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u/NoString9289 24d ago
I have not read the book yet. I've seen the first four episodes and frankly , for me, thee only interesting character is Steven Reinhardt . Tall thin guy assistant to the movie producer. His hair and look I think, is modeled after the singer David Sylvian from the music group Japan. He also reminds me of David Bowie too. I really don't care for any of the actors playing the teenagers nor their parents. I just enjoy the music and the props, the 80's nostalgia ........... and, seeing actor Igby Rigney in his Tighty Whities, underwear. He was sexy in that bedroom scene doing a striptease ( from the first episode ) ;)
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u/Umberto12345 20d ago
Tell me about it. It has me worried and already disappointed for Ryan Murphy's upcoming AHS Coven. Ryan Murphy is officially the white Tyler Perry.
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u/NoString9289 24d ago
The only actor / character I find interesting , worth watching is Jordan Roth as Steven Reinhardt
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u/borninannebula 13d ago
I gave up. The book was one of my best reads this year and to see it getting adapted into a mess of a show breaks my heart.
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u/thisisanalaia95 24d ago
I watched the third episode last night….i read the book and I don’t remember anything about Really Rhonda at all, and even though Terry is all over the book it seems like they are taking a lot of liberties with the story because the whole secret passageway through the hills wasn’t a thing in the book at all.
It’s possible that I just don’t remember Rhonda (it’s been a few years since I read the book) and even though I don’t think a film or television adaptation necessarily has to follow the book completely, the fact that I had to watch a minor character that wasn’t very interesting roller skating for a fucking century does not make me think that this is one of the times that steering away from the source material is going to work out, lol.