Wikipedia posted:House of Cards is an American political drama series developed and produced by Beau Willimon. It is an adaptation of a previous BBC miniseries of the same name which is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. The entire first season premiered on February 1, 2013, on the streaming service Netflix. A second season of 13 episodes is currently in production.
Set in present day Washington, D.C., House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a Democrat from South Carolina's 5th congressional district and the House Majority Whip, who, after getting passed over for appointment to Secretary of State, decides to exact his revenge on those who betrayed him. The series also stars Robin Wright, Kate Mara, and Corey Stoll in lead roles.
Main cast
Kevin Spacey as U.S. Representative Francis "Frank" J. Underwood, a Democrat and a graduate of the fictional school "The Sentinel," (which is made to strongly resemble the real life school The Citadel, a military college) and Harvard Law School from South Carolina's 5th congressional district and the House Majority Whip. He often breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the viewer. His name is derived from The Right Honourable Francis Urquhart MP, the protagonist of the BBC version and the novel version of House of Cards.
Robin Wright as Claire Underwood, Francis' wife. She runs the Clean Water Initiative, a non-profit that often gets mixed up in Frank's political scheming.
Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes, a reporter for The Washington Herald (later Slugline). Desperate for a break, she makes a deal with Frank for insider information.
Corey Stoll as U.S. Representative Peter Russo, a Democrat from Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district. Russo becomes loyal to Underwood after Underwood threatens to expose his alcohol and drug addiction.
Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, Underwood's Chief of Staff, abettor and confidant.
Sakina Jaffrey as Linda Vasquez, the President's newly-appointed White House Chief of Staff.
Kristen Connolly as Christina Gallagher, a headstrong congressional staffer involved in a secret relationship with Peter Russo.
Constance Zimmer as Janine Skorsky, a reporter for The Washington Herald (later Slugline) who becomes suspicious of Zoe's success.
Recurring cast
Sebastian Arcelus as Lucas Goodwin, an editor at The Washington Herald.
Sandrine Holt as Gillian Cole, the leader of a grass-roots organization called World Well that provides clean water to developing countries. Through the Clean Water Initiative, she grapples with Frank and Claire's interests.
Michael Gill as Garrett Walker, the President of the United States and former Senator from California. He increasingly relies on and trusts Underwood.
Dan Ziskie as Jim Matthews, Vice President of the United States and former Governor of Pennsylvania.
Ben Daniels as Adam Galloway, a photographer.
Nathan Darrow as Edward Meechum, a member of the United States Capitol Police and Underwood's bodyguard and driver.
Mahershala Ali as Remy Danton, works as a lobbyist for a natural gas company, having previously worked for Underwood.
Reg E. Cathey as Freddy, the owner of Freddy's BBQ, an eatery frequented by Underwood.
Jayne Atkinson as Secretary of State Catherine Durant and former Senator from Missouri.
Boris McGiver as Tom Hammerschmidt, editor-in-chief for The Washington Herald.
Lance E. Nichols as Gene Clancy, the mayor of Gaffney, South Carolina.
Rachel Brosnahan as Rachel Posner, a former prostitute dragged into Underwood's plans by Doug Stamper.
Gerald McRaney as Raymond Tusk, a wealthy businessman.
Al Sapienza as Marty Spinella, a union lobbyist.
Real-life media figures such as Donna Brazile, CNN's Candy Crowley, CNN's John King, Fox News Dennis Miller, CNN's Soledad O'Brien, HBO's Bill Maher and ABC's George Stephanopoulos make cameo appearances as themselves.
Production
Conception
The world of 7:30 on Tuesday nights, that's dead. A stake has been driven through its heart, its head has been cut off, and its mouth has been stuffed with garlic. The captive audience is gone. If you give people this opportunity to mainline all in one day, there's reason to believe they will do it.
“”
— David Fincher
Independent studio Media Rights Capital, founded by Mordecai Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, producer of films such as Babel, purchased the rights to House of Cards with the intent of creating a series. While finishing production on his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher's agent showed him House of Cards, a BBC miniseries starring Ian Richardson. Fincher was interested in producing a potential series with Eric Roth. He said that he was interested in doing television because of its long-form nature, adding that working in film doesn't allow for complex characterizations the way that television allows. "I felt for the past ten years that the best writing that was happening for actors was happening in television. And so I had been looking to do something that was longer form," Fincher stated.
MRC approached different networks about the series, including HBO, Showtime and AMC, but Netflix, hoping to launch their own original programming, outbid the other networks. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's Chief Content Officer, looked at the data of Netflix user's streaming habits and concluded that there was an audience for Fincher and Spacey. "It looked incredibly promising," he said, "kind of the perfect storm of material and talent." In finding a writer to adapt the series, Fincher stated that they needed someone who could faithfully translate parliamentary politics to Washington." Beau Willimon was hired and completed the pilot script in early 2011. Willimon saw the opportunity to create an entirely new series from the original and deepen its overall story.
This is the future, streaming is the future. TV will not be TV in five years from now...everyone will be streaming.
“”
— Beau Willimon
The project was first announced in March 2011, with Kevin Spacey attached to star and serve as an executive producer. Fincher was announced as director for the first two episodes, from scripts by Willimon. Netflix ordered 26 episodes to air over two seasons. Spacey called Netflix’s model of dropping all episodes at once a "new perspective." He added that Netflix's commitment to two full seasons gave the series greater continuity. "We know exactly where we are going," he said.
Casting
"I was lucky to get into film at a time that was very interesting for drama. But if you look now, the focus is not on the same kind of films that were made in the 90s. When I look now, the most interesting plots, the most interesting characters, they are on TV."
— Kevin Spacey
Fincher stated that every main cast member was their first choice. In the first read through, he said "I want everybody here to know that you represent our first choice — each actor here represents our first choice for these characters. So do not fuck this up." Spacey, whose last regular television role was in the series Wiseguy, responded positively to the script. He then played Richard III, which Fincher said was "great training." Spacey supported the decision to release all of the episodes at once, believing that this type of release pattern will be increasingly common with television shows. He said, "When I ask my friends what they did with their weekend, they say, 'Oh, I stayed in and watched three seasons of Breaking Bad or it's two seasons of Game of Thrones." He was officially cast on March 18, 2011. Robin Wright was approached by Fincher to star in the series when they worked together in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She was cast as Claire Underwood in June 2011. Kate Mara was cast as Zoe Barnes in early February 2012. Mara's sister, Rooney, worked with Fincher in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and when Kate Mara read the part of Zoe, she "fell in love with the character" and asked her sister to "put in a word for me with Fincher." The next month, she got a call for an audition.
Filming
Filming for the first season began in January 2012 in Harford County, Maryland.
Overview
Season one
Main article: List of House of Cards episodes
Francis "Frank" Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is an ambitious Democratic congressman and the House Majority Whip. Following his assistance in ensuring the election of President Garrett Walker (Michael Gill), Underwood is informed by Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez (Sakina Jaffrey) that the existing agreement to appoint him Secretary of State will not be honored. Furious at Walker's betrayal, Underwood and his wife Claire (Robin Wright), an environmental activist, begin seeking out pawns in a protracted political war against Walker. Soon brought into the fray are troubled Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) and Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), a young political reporter for the Washington Herald newspaper.
Reception
Critical response
The first season received positive reviews from critics. USA Today critic Robert Bianco praised the series, particularly Spacey and Wright's lead performances, stating "If you think network executives are nervous, imagine the actors who have to go up against that pair in the Emmys." Tom Gilatto of People Weekly lauded the first two episodes, calling them "cinematically rich, full of sleek, oily pools of darkness." In her review for The Denver Post, Joanne Ostrow said the series is "Deeply cynical about human beings as well as politics and almost gleeful in its portrayal of limitless ambition." She added: "House of Cards is a wonderfully sour take on power and corruption." Writing in The New York Times, critic Alessandra Stanley noted that the writing in the series sometimes fails to match the high quality of its acting: "Unfortunately Mr. Spacey’s lines don’t always live up to the subtle power of his performance; the writing isn’t Shakespeare, or even Aaron Sorkin, and at times, it turns strangely trite." Nevertheless she lauded House of Cards as an entertainment that "revels in the familiar but always entertaining underbelly of government." Andrew Davies, the producer of the original UK TV series, stated that Spacey's character lacks the "charm" of Ian Richardson's, while The Independent praised Spacey's portrayal as a more "menacing" character, "hiding his rage behind Southern charm and old-fashioned courtesy."
While I agree that the show is not perfect, it does reflect how decisions are tainted at the top, and personal issues are extremely interwoven into policy in a way that is absurd when looked at with face value.
Edited by dipshit420 ()
gyrofry posted:thats why Girls is such a refershing change
I couldn't get into the show Girls due to previously described criticism of the show. I found it lacking. Maybe it's too close to real to be entertaining to me, whereas in a show like house of cards or game of thrones/breaking bad I can experience decision-making done in a completely different way from my own decision process, the sinister, devious natures of the shows characters speak a narrative that is unfamiliar. It is, in a sense, voyeurism. Much like my fascination with conspiracy theory, especially when plenty of valid points are made and even horrifying revelations in the process leading up the grand, way off the mark conclusion that allows the conspiracy theory to be discarded, and along with it points that are in dire of need of addressing. If shows like sex and the city, girls etc are a reflection of the American female's ideal, whether proposed by male or female writers, it just isn't an aesthetic I can appreciate in either relating with my own life or being fascinated by the completely unrelatable.
posted today. hmmmm
littlegreenpills posted:ehhh it's no stargate sg-1
what did you think about SG:U lgp?
everything fincher does is either impossibly boring or unintentionally funny to me, I am under the impression he's supposed to have some kind of "trademark visual style" but I'm pretty sure you could replace him with any random person and not notice a difference. and the script just is not nearly as good as the uk version. spacey is ok I guess. the journalist seems annoying. idk. it just all seems shittier
drwhat posted:watch the uk version, it's on netflix as well. I've only seen the first 30 min or so of the us knockoff but it was junk in comparison. I almost never watch tv but Iwas bored one day and netflix canada had the uk thing and it was really solidly entertaining
everything fincher does is either impossibly boring or unintentionally funny to me, I am under the impression he's supposed to have some kind of "trademark visual style" but I'm pretty sure you could replace him with any random person and not notice a difference. and the script just is not nearly as good as the uk version. spacey is ok I guess. the journalist seems annoying. idk. it just all seems shittier
I saw the original was on netflix as well, and chose not to watch it so I wouldn't be comparing the 2 the whole time. I enjoy Spacey so that has allowed me to watch about half of the season. The journalist is annoying, but I also know people like her in real life though
drwhat posted:oh oh and the shoehorned in subplot about the workday of spacey's wife. what a shitty bald attempt to strip the original of its dripping sexism. like that's a huge part of the original. it's awful and the women have basically no agency and just worship the fascism. it's netflix so I guess there are no running time concerns but it seems hilariously patronizing to replace the original sexism with this "hello i am a modern lady running a nonprofit" snoozefest garbage. check out my blazer
The show is mixed on that, like it's saying hey this tough as nails go getter can run with the boys club and deal just fine, but they show her being destroyed emotionally as well as having her needs secondary to spacey's always. This is to create conflict in the show but definitely doesn't whitewash a womens experience in the working world. Add into that the infidelity they jump into with reckless abandon and its clearly not the most progressive show
I have watched three episodes of the UK version as well. It does show some age but that is forgivable, and of course it has the added charm of feeling British and remote. The star is truly excellent, as is the reporter girl, who is more endearing. More happens in a shorter timeframe. Even the lusty scenes, which are less frequent, end up being more powerful despite having no skin. But I'm not sure if I will continue with it to the end.
Contents
1 Education
2 Teaching and consulting
3 Affiliations and affinities
4 Awards
5 Published works
6 Selected bibliography
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Education
Gough was educated at Victoria High School, the University of British Columbia, the University of Montana and King's College London. He was tutored in the maritime foundations of imperial history by G. S. Graham, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History in the University of London. In addition to his earned doctorate, Gough was awarded the D.Litt. from University of London for distinguished contributions to Imperial and Commonwealth history. His thesis research on the Esquimalt naval base and British strategic matters in the North Pacific was published in 1971 as The Royal Navy and the Northwest Coast of North America.
Teaching and consulting
Initially on the teaching staff of Vic High in Victoria, B.C., Gough became in turn Lecturer, Assistant and Associate Professor, Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, and Co-director of the Centre for Pacific Northwest Studies. From 1972 to 2004 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., he was Associate Professor, Professor and University Research Professor. Founding director of Canadian Studies at Laurier, he was Assistant Dean of Arts from 2000-2003 and on retirement was appointed University Professor Emeritus.
His printed studies are used in a variety of academic curricula and teaching contexts. One such example, from 1998, is "Possessing Meares Island" in The Journal of Canadian Studies. Gough was advisory editor to Macmillan Publishing for World Explorers and Discoverers (1992)) and to Scribner’s for Explorers: From Ancient Times to the Space Age (1998), and was editor of the magazine American Neptune based at Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts (1997-2003).
His contract work in history has included Great Lakes shipwrecks research, the Meares Island case for the Nuu Chah Nulth, and the Alaska inland waters case on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since 2007, he has been Adjunct Professor of War Studies and History, Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ont. Gough has had visiting appointments and lectureships at University of Otago, Duke University, the University of British Columbia, Australian National University, University of Natal, National University of Singapore, King's College University of London, and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, U.K.
Affiliations and affinities
Barry Gough is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of King's College University of London and a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. Recent special fellowships include Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge, U.K., and Senior Research Fellow, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, B.C. He is also a Serving Brother of the Order of St. John.
He is Vice-President of the British Columbia Historical Federation, Past President of the Canadian Nautical Research Society, Past President of the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Vancouver Island, and past member of the Board of Academic Advisers, The Churchill Centre, Chicago. He is a Life Member of the Association of Canadian Studies, a founding member of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States and past chair of the joint committee, American Historical Association – Canadian Historical Association. He lectures on maritime and naval topics and on Canadian history and public affairs.
Gough is actively engaged in advancing the interests of the Maritime Museum of BC and Craigdarroch Castle Heritage Society in Victoria, B.C., among other volunteer involvements in the region, and of the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver, B.C. Part of the local music scene through the non-profit society Universal Jazz Advocates and Mentors (U-JAM), he also performs as a jazz clarinetist.
Awards
Gough has received the Psi Upsilon Distinguished Service Alumnus Award, the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Hoffmann-Little Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. His writings have won critical acclaim and awards within Canada and abroad. Prizes have included the Clio Prize of the Canadian Historical Association and medals, awards and honourable mentions from various organizations: the North American Society for Oceanic History, the Writers Trust of Canada Non-Fiction Prize, the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, B.C. Book Prizes, and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing given by the British Columbia Historical Federation.Historical Dreadnoughts: Arthur Marder, Stephen Roskill and Battles for Naval History was chosen by the Canadian Nautical Research Society for its 2010 Keith Matthews Award, named in honour of the society's first president to recognize outstanding publications in the field of nautical research. Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians, 1846-1890 won the same award in 1985, and The Northwest Coast: British Navigation, Trade, and Discoveries to 1812 earned honourable mention in 1993.
Published works
Gough is planning further books in naval and Northwest Coast history. Of his previous books, he has said his favourite subject as author is Sir Alexander Mackenzie, whose life he wrote in 1997 as First Across the Continent.
Selected bibliography
The Royal Navy and the Northwest Coast of North America, 1810-1914: A Study of British Maritime Ascendancy. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1971. ISBN 0-7748-0000-3.
Canada. Modern Nations in Historical Perspective Series. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 1975. ISBN 0-13-112789-6.
The Northwest Coast: British Navigation, Trade and Discoveries to 1812. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1992. ISBN 0-7748-0399-1; first edition appeared as Distant Dominion (UBC Press, 1980).
Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians. UBC Press. 1984. ISBN 978-0-7748-0175-1.
The Falkland Islands/Malvinas: Struggle for Empire in the South Atlantic. London: Continuum, 1992/Athlone Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0-485-11419-5.
First Across the Continent: Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. 1997. ISBN 978-0-8061-3002-6.; Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1997. ISBN 978-0-7710-3406-0.
Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay: The War of 1812 and its Aftermath. Naval Institute Press/Vanwell Publishing. 2002. ISBN 978-1-55750-314-5.
Through Water, Ice and Fire: Schooner Nancy of the War of 1812. Dundurn Press Ltd. 2006. ISBN 978-1-55002-569-9.
Britain, Canada and the North Pacific: Maritime Enterprise and Dominion, 1778-1914. Ashgate Variorum, 2004. ISBN 0-86078-939-X.
Fortune’s a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America. Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-55017-428-2.
Historical Dreadnoughts: Arthur Marder, Stephen Roskill and Battles for Naval History. Seaforth/Pen and Sword, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84832-077-2.
Introduction to Andrew David, ed., William Robert Broughton’s Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific 1795-1798. London: Hakluyt Society, 2010. ISBN 978-0-904180-97-8.
The Historical Dictionary of Canada. Scarecrow Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-8108-3541-2.; 2nd edition, 2011.
Juan de Fuca's Strait: Voyages in the Waterway of Forgotten Dreams. Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978-1-55017-573-8.
drwhat posted:oh oh and the shoehorned in subplot about the workday of spacey's wife. what a shitty bald attempt to strip the original of its dripping sexism.
i don't get this criticism at all bc the whole point as it plays out, is that most everything she does is dependent on him and he lets her know that. also she ends up being owned by granola water woman who is a real example of integrity/independence.
Please reserve the rest of this thread for posting about Girls
