House of Cards

[Autosaver]

 

House of Cards is a remake of the 1990 UK version with the same title. The show focuses on a character, Frank Underwood, who has a thirst for power after winning the President his seat and being promised a position that ended up being a lie. Frank is determined to gain the loyalty of others while controlling them to do his bidding, essentially making a House of Cards.

 

The show has been universal appraise for the story and the actors in the show. It is one of the best shows I've seen and if you haven't seen it, you need to.

 

It is a Netflix production with Netflix having seasons 1 and 2 available to stream. Other companies have been getting rights to stream it as from what I've heard, Amazon Streaming has the first season available. The seasons have been coming out yearly on Netflix with Season 1 out Feb. 2013 and Season 2 out Feb, 2014. House of Cards Season 3 will be coming out Feb. 2015.

 

I'm surprised there's no thread yet. I also haven't heard other users discuss this show. It's amazing and people need to watch it.

[TheOcelot]

Haven't watched any of the new adaption with Kevin Spacey, but I have seen the original critically acclaimed BBC series staring Ian Richards and the television sequels; To Play The King and The Final Cut. Very enjoyable series. The 'breaking the fourth wall' method was a nice touch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8GFaUa-W_w

[Kevin]

While I can't speak for the UK version since I've never seen it, I can say the new adaptation with Kevin Spacey deserves the acclaim it's been getting. His performance as Frank Underwood one of the best I've seen with a great cast of supporting character and the story is very well written. Watching each episodes makes you want to see the next one just to find out what happens next. I just recently finished season 2 and can't wait for season 3. For those who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend you do so.

[Autosaver]

Just got done with Season 2. This is coming closer to a conclusion. Good thing Season 3 is up too. I guess this will hold me over till Orange is the New Black Season 3.

[Tornado]

House of Cards' continuing problem, which got dramatically worse in Season 3rd with Claire's tortuous ambassador story arc, is that it is constantly underplaying the actual bad things Underwood does in favor of focusing on the only somewhat slightly skeevy political things Underwood does; which is completely at odds with what the consequences are shown to be between the two. And the show is designed in a way that it requires the amount of irrelevant padding it has, but that doesn't improve it.

It also plays with the obsessively cynical, Sorkin-esque take about how things should be based on a ridiculously skewed belief of how they actually are. Spacey, bless him, is doing his best acting in years; and some horrible miscasting aside most of the supporting players are given a decent amount of stuff to do (usually to the detriment of the show itself following the first season); but the show still plays far too many things that are completely ridiculous in deadpan fashion. And most of those are the supporting character subplots.

[Sami]

The first season was the only good one imo. Loved it. The Russo story arc in particular was excellent stuff. I echo what Tornado said though - the latter two seasons lost focus and it really hurt the overall quality of the show.

[Autosaver]

Just got done finishing Season 3.

 

The show is definitely losing its appeal as it goes on. I think the downfall started with Zoe's death. It then fell even more after Frank becomes president. I'm guessing the show is trying to keep going even though there isn't much to go off. If Season 4 isn't the final season, then it's probably going to get worse.