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House of Cards (US) (Netflix)

hub2

By hub2,
in Film, TV & Radio

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KartoffelKopf

KartoffelKopf

Posted
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Yeah, it is a straight adaptation. Looks great, perfect casting and Fincher on the Pilot (at least, I think) and of course, Kate Mara :wub:

This is a really interesting concept with all 13 episodes of a brand new series coming on the same day with a season 2 already happening before season 1 has even been seen.

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barkbat

barkbat

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I wouldn't say this is a straight adaptation. As a massive fan of the BBC original I can tell you that almost everything in that trailer is new - not just the setting, but the plot mechanics (in the original he is a chief whip taking advantage of a weak PM, nothing more, no promises, just an innate belief in his own superiority), and the role of certain characters (the wife is clearly a much bigger presence here). If it wasn't called House of Cards, the only thing that would make me register it would be the talking to the camera in a political setting.

Either way, looks fantastic. Spacey can't and won't match the Richardson original because, honestly, it was one of the finest of all time and unique to the Thatcher setting, but still, can't wait. Free trial here I come.

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  • 2 months later...
kerraig UK

kerraig UK

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I've seen the first two episodes and I really think it looks like something special. Very different to the BBC version as it is adapted for US politics and the current climate.

Last Friday I interviewed Kevin Spacey and David Fincher about the show and Spacey really knows his shit. He knew everything about UK politics in the 80's and 90's, about how the chief whip job operates and how that was adapted for drama. I'm guessing it was all research for the role but it was impressive to see how wise he was to it. The original author was also on the press tour and he seems to be really proud of what they've achieved with this so it's certainly no hatchet job.

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Gotters

Gotters

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this is going to present a new forum dilemma beyond the US/UK pace thing as some will inevitably watch the whole lot of episodes in a day or so whilst others take it at a more leisurely pace - whole thread will need to come up with a new set of spoiler rules around episodes

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sinky72

sinky72

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Just watched episode 1........loved it. Haven't watched the original but hopefully it will be just as good as 1st episode. Bonus for me was it was in HD which I wasn't expecting (for some reason). Visually it looked great as was the acting.

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dreamylittledream

dreamylittledream

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The whole thing is up in one go - if this is the future of TV drama count me in. The missus has had to go to bed so we've stopped after episode two but this is amazing stuff - Kevin Spacey delivering a performance that matched Ian Richardson punch for punch and this is really tightly directed and superbly paced stuff so far.

My memory of the original is hazy but the whole character of the wife is new here IIRC, not quite sure where it goes from here though as the original was all about Urquet clawing his way to the seat of power - something that is surely not possible in the US political system.

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The Liberal Elite

The Liberal Elite

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The whole thing is up in one go - if this is the future of TV drama count me in. The missus has had to go to bed so we've stopped after episode two but this is amazing stuff - Kevin Spacey delivering a performance that matched Ian Richardson punch for punch and this is really tightly directed and superbly paced stuff so far.

My memory of the original is hazy but the whole character of the wife is new here IIRC, not quite sure where it goes from here though as the original was all about Urquet clawing his way to the seat of power - something that is surely not possible in the US political system.

yeah, i guess the nature of the format here, 13 eps vs 4 per series, means that they have to flesh it out a bit, hence more of the wife. even then, her depiction is quite close to that of the wife in the mini series. Spacey is great, of course, goes without saying.
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Gotters

Gotters

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It really is excellent, I ended up binging 4 eps last night and if it maintains the standard and character development can see it being very highly regarded. I hadn't ever seen the West Wing and tried watching that the other day on Netflix and just hated it, this however really hits the mark for me, lots of nasty fallible characters and a clear interesting storyline that seems to have a real sense of purpose and direction.

Regarding the way of releasing things I'm not sure financially it is the future of tv (don't get me wrong I love the idea) but don't see long term how such a high cost/quality release pays for itself (and other series doing the same thing) if you only have to pay £6 to see the whole thing and they raise no ad revenue and it may be unlikely to release on dvd either (assume they want to keep it a streaming exclusive).

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Mogster

Mogster

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I'd be very surprised if it didn't get a DVD/Blu-Ray release. Even so, they've clearly intended for shows like this to be a lure of sorts. The first episode is available for free, so there must be people around who'll watch that and then subscribe for the rest. At least some of those will keep themselves subscribed for the rest of the library.

Presumably then Netlix don't necessarily want to profit from original shows directly, but want to use them as a way to build and maintain their subscriber base. They release all other shows a season at a time, which has obviously been successful for them, so why change for their own stuff?

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