The River in HD on ABC - Page 3

I got stalled 3/4 of the way through the 1-2 episode pilot. Not sure if I'll finish it or not.

There are already too many shows to keep up with. This might get better, but my renaissance of TV watching of the last few years has wasted an enormous amount of time watching a series and telling myself "this might get better."

I don't have a problem with the show itself, but I truly feel that the cameraman swearing for a good 10-20 seconds straight was lazy, unnecessary, and frankly annoying after a couple of seconds.

Why put that into the scenes and force the viewers to have to listen to that annoying beeping for that long? I personally have no problem when they throw it in occasionally like they did when the producer swore at the mercenary guy, but for it to go on as long as it did with the camerman was ridiculous.

Agreed
For the most part I'm still enjoyiing The River but the endless bleeping especially the scene you talked about was annoying and rather pointless too

Probably the idea is to give it more of a documentary "feel" but that isn't working for me. In fact, it is getting to be formulaic and unless something really interesting happens soon, I may have to bail after a few more episodes.

If The River doesn't rise above a 2.0 viewership rating next week, it's dead. It fell from 2.4 to 1.7. 2.4 was borderline. Under 2.0 is most definite cancellation. In fact, they might not even finishing running the 8 episodes they ordered. We'll see.

One of the few shows that I've cancelled the season pass on after only 3 showings. Good luck to those that stick with it.

On a similar note I found the fake "scanlines" on the footage supposedly taken with the character's cameras distracting and unnecessary.

Yes indeed. Aren't they using 1080p (progressive, no interlaced scan lines) video cameras?

Finally caught up with this.

The show is actually a decent premise but it's completely ruined by the fake-doc approach. The producers have failed to grasp what makes "found-footage" movies work. Make them believable and with events that are small enough in scale to be plausible.

The events on The River are just so over the top that there is no way to accept it could possibly happen. That was the failing in Paranormal Activity for me too. They did well for the most part and then the ending just pushed it to unbelievable with bad acting.

We know we are watching fiction so what you are left with is a drama with really bad camera work. And not only that but the film crew have more cameras and batteries than apparently most major motion picture sets do. Somehow they have cameras that ensure every moment is captured, even when it requires a bizarre angle. The secret camera in the armory. Why? If someone is covering the cameras then you know they are up to no good and you should probably go down an investigate.

What makes it even less convincing is that the shots are framed in unnatural ways to use typical camera scares - shots with obvious holes to allow background elements to "spontaneously" move into, secondary background elements in frame and perfect focus so they can spookily move on cue etc.

They should have filmed this as a regular drama and with additional elements shot with a few doc-cameras for a different point of view. It would have been less of a gimmick, less disconcerting to watch and more engaging.

^
Is it too late for a "do over"? I just take it as a bad TV show with an idea that worked better in a feature film combined with poor writing with funny moments thrown in that weren't supposed to be funny when they were shot. I still think the cussing scene was funny as that is what some people would do in that situation. I think some members on here are getting wound up a little too tight, I know I was guilty of doing the same when 24 was on.

There is zero sense of escalation or dread too. It's as if the creators of the show received a note saying "Make sure a lot of supernatural stuff happens in the first few episodes! I want ghosts! I want magic! More ghosts! More magic!"

Made worse that by now the crew should know that if there's a story about an evil curse or monster it's best not to mess around with it because it's probably true.

By the end of the second episode there are flying soul monsters throwing the ship around, people making fire with their hands, evil ghost doll trees, magic dragonflies, possession, people being sucked into the the nether world and popping out of grave portals ..."

They could have teased out some of this stuff to build up to something. The door on the ship could have been closed until the second episode. The soul trap could have been harder to release. They could have spent longer finding the videos showing the magic rituals of the missing doctor so the supernatural overtones were more carefully dripped into the story etc.

It's like the show is so afraid of falling into the same trap as Lost by never answering questions in prompt fashion and being vague about their intentions, that they are determined to make sure the audience is punched in the face with a supernatural ghost monster being every week.

This episode with the 'hanging man' was decent. Thought the mystery and tension were built up appropriately. Getting a bit tired of the 'everyone screaming and running around on the boat with their heads cut off' happening all the time. Kinda glad they have another shipmate as the other characters just aren't piquing alot of interest. With the ratings I think The River is one and done but will ride it out trying to find more about Emmett's story (seems like the only interesting one!) for the total 8 episodes this season.

Had 2 episodes recorded to watch. Tried last night on the week before last's & just couldn't get past 15 minutes. The handicam work didn't help at all. Without a doubt, I can say I hate it!

I almost deleted them on the spot. Couldn't decide if it was time to pull the plug or at least give the 3rd ep a chance. I actually switched channels to watch part of the Abyss again for the umpteenth time. Doesn't say a lot for the show.

I'm also following Alcatraz, Luck, Spartacus, Nikita and documentaries so really don't need to finish The River...after these 2 eps on my DVR, there's only 4 more to go anyway..they won't finish the story and if its' cancelled, no big loss.

My gut feeling is that I'm out but will try it again tonight. Shame but the show is really not that good.

agreed

My favorite character is now the producer. He not only has some funny lines - "Oh you meant, Emmet. Now I feel like a dck." - is played by one of the best actors on the show but he actually has some sense.

As I mentioned above, at this point the crew should be wary of absolutely everything. So it was funny to see the producer shout that if the daughter-who-understands-english-but-can't speak-it was scared of something then they should be too, because everything she's said has been true so far and bad things usually happen when they don't listen to her.

Is anyone else completely unconvinced they are deep in the heart of the forbidden reaches of the Amazon? Hawaii can be a lot of things, but it's just too pretty to be a scary river.

Yes, lush green jungle and sunshine doesn't make for a scary location. Even though though it was in Hawaii as well I thought Lost had scarier moments than what I saw in the first three episodes of The River.

The music totally ruined it for me like in The Last Exorcism. Why would there be music, and why is a person's mouth blurred when cursing? Are they saying that we are watching the edited footage of what took place? If so, that makes it even more ridiculous.

Yes. It's "found footage" as it states in the opening title card. How else would you expect all the cameras to be switching views when all the characters are in one place on the boat?

This also means that everyone is dead at the end or doesn't return. Otherwise they would have brought the film back with them.

I didn't mind the Hanging Man episode. In fact, it's probably my fave of the series so far. But that cameraman, Becca's boyfriend from Californication, just has a face you wanna punch repeatedly, a la Apocalypse Samurai.

Deleted & I'm out. Soldier on folks without me.
Show was not compelling enough for me to deal with fake doc style.

Its future doesn't look promising

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...bubble/120707/

Likely the 8th episode won't have an "ending", won't find Emmett or at least won't know what happened to him. It'll just end...

Not that it matters at all, but in cases like this, I would not say tht it ends, as in it having an ending. I would say that it just stops, unresolved.

Geez, completely missed this thread.

We watched a few episodes. While we enjoyed it, the shakey camera can be to hard on us sometimes. Distracts and makes me nauseous. We actually enjoyed the story though.

The credits mention filmed in both Hawaii & Puerto Rico ...
I wonder where the bulk of the ship/Amazon shots are really located ?

Everyone should just die in the 8th episode. That would be a great ending.

I don't think the shakey-cam is that bad to be honest. I think the hundreds of lipstick cameras they seem to have pointing at skewed angles out of drains, through peepholes, keyholes and half hidden behind random objects so you only get half an image are a bigger annoyance.

Really if you're going to make the effort to place all those cameras then why not place them so they are not partially filming a pipe?

Obviously the cinematographer didn't make the trip.

We're under a winter weather advisory here. ABC broadcast The River in 4x3 with a big banner on the bottom telling which schools were closed...for the entire length of the episode. C'mon!

Damn weather terrorists!!!

Mostly as a 'stand alone', last night's 'Peaches' episode was pretty good. The balance of mystery vs the 'shock/scare' scenes was more tempered and therefore delivered the goods. Excellent 'twist' ending and very emotional. With seemingly improved writing and delivery The River is hitting a good stride...just in time to run smack into cancellation.

Ditto! I agree with each point made.

It was good to see some raw emotion from *Peaches* (she did an excellent job of acting, IMHO) and now there can be some closure for her.

It also removes her motivation for being there, although some of that is replaced by her burgeoning romance with Lincoln I suppose.