House of Cards

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They might very well... etc. So excited, but of course it won't compare.

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I love Spacey, so at some point, I'll be watching this.

This too.

Binge viewed the entire season the last few days. It's a great story, the dialogue is no West Wing, but it is still very good. Spacey's delivery is thrilling, and I like the idea that (spoilers) there are people out there who are just as smart and can play ball right back, as opposed to the original (when FU and his wife were the only proper geniuses in the game).

Can't wait for Season 2.

So is Stamper as mindlessly loyal? Mattie Storin still having daddy-issues? Roger O'Neill has his cocaine addiction? Collingridge as naive and pliable?

Shame Ian Richardson has died. Maybe we'd have a crossover. In related things, I love the exceedingly detailed Wikipedia page of Francis Urqhart.

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Whaaa I feel like FU is impossible to cast as a liberal! Must make it all the more powerful.

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I'm not at all happy with the distribution model here.

Neither am I, because I don't have Netflix.  But at the same time, you can watch all of the episodes at once... that's pretty neat.

The problem is that television has always been an essentially public medium; everyone watches episodes at the same time (or now, with DVRs, within the span of a day or two) and then talks about them together. It's how television discussion works. If this catches on, then that is gone.

Join the club.

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Well, Paul, the biggest difference I'd say is that FU in the new version is just working towards power as opposed to say a specific office, whereas the British FU was working towards the Premiership. I personally don't think FU intended for Russo to flop like that- I thought he intended to use him as a power center, but shifted to exploit that opportunity once that happened.

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You should. It's my favourite television series.

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I suppose FU will Collingridge the President, yeah. Interesting proposal, but I think she actuallu just wants a kid... feels bad that only people like us will care without any decendants.

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Why do they only refer to Palestine as the Jordan Valley?

I think it is some kind of Golan Heights analogue. They certainly refer to Palestine several times.

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Having watched most of Season 3 it continues to be evident that Francis Urquhart is still vastly superior to Underwood.

But of course.

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Am I the only one who found it really unseemly when Dunbar and Sharp said they'd be volunteering to help the hurricane relief effort? No politician would do that in real life; if they did they would be making it about themselves, politicizing the tragedy, it would be seen as anything but selfless. We didn't see Romney and Obama handing out canned goods after Hurricane Sandy. And if we did it would have made them look awful.

This is part of a larger issue I have with the show's politics

We didn't? Because I did:

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Copy paste won't work, look up "Mitt Romney food drive".

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As silly as House of Cards is, this season was objectively a lot better and more coherent than the utterly nonsensical and disjointed Season 2.

And like its British predecessor (which includes Urquhart forcing the abdication of the king), it was never meant to be an accurate depiction of politics.

Well that was because Charles was meddling in politics. Which they've made a play about, actually.