Chatting about a series

Listen to two friends chatting about a television series to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Matching_MjMzNzk=

Transcript

Man: So, did you see the final episode last night?

Woman: Of course! As if I would miss that!

Man: And?

Woman: It was by far the best episode, definitely.

Man: Yeah, totally. The dragon at the end and all the special effects in that final scene were amazing.

Woman: I loved that part! But I still don't think this series was as good as the others.

Man: Really? But you said you wouldn't want to miss it?

Woman: I know, but still … it's a lot more predictable than it used to be.

Man: But that's because the story has been told so well that all the characters are reaching their destiny now.

Woman: I don't know … before, anyone could die at any time so it was exciting! But, this series, no key characters died and we all knew they wouldn't. When Jaime fell in the water after the dragon attacked him, we knew he would make it somehow. And … oh, surprise, Bronn jumps in and saves him.

Man: They did kill some characters in this series, though. What was that one's name …?

Woman: Exactly, see! You can't even remember who died!

Man: Hmm. The only thing I didn't like about this series was that it was shorter than the others. Seven episodes instead of ten. Maybe they spent all their money on that dragon!

Woman: Right! I don't understand why they did it, as all the fans would happily watch ten episodes.

Man: I reckon that now they're not using the story in the books any more, they don't have as many ideas.

Woman: That would explain why they're not being as brave with the story too. It's more like a Hollywood film than a TV show now.

Man: So, is Tyrion still your favourite character?

Woman: You know … surprisingly, I think my favourite might be Cersei.

Man: What?!

Woman: She's so interesting! All the awful things she's done and the way she's just aiming for revenge, even though it won't make her happy. She still surprises us because we're expecting her to have a happy ending where she sees her mistakes and becomes a good person. But she never does, no matter what it costs her. She's unpredictable because we just can't believe anyone would be like her.

Man: I guess. You don't have to like a character for them to be your favourite!

Task 1

Matching_MjMzODA=.xml

Task 2

MultipleChoice_MjMzODE=.xml

Discussion

What series do you think this chat is about? What's your favourite TV show and why?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

Topics

conversation

entertainment

Hello fahri,

Yes, they basically mean the same thing -- that the woman would not miss that because she likes it a lot.

You can see more about 'as if' by following the link.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

I couldn't guess what this story was because I don't watch TV doramas or movies very much. My favorite TV series was "24" though it was a little old one.

This conversation is very helpful for me. I have learn some of new words for this. thank admind very much

I know what they are chatting about. Got is talked by this person. The people like very much got because of their unpredictable scenes. For example you expect any character will be a key person who struggle with others. But suddenly you are surprised due to of his or her death. Despite of the fact that this series have many unexpected and unpredictable scenes, it is getting boring. Why? I don't know. I suppose that writers act commercial concerns rather than art. I don't have now any favorite tv shows or series. I belive series should contain reality. It can offer real life sections. For this reason I enjoy Realtime shows and like events taht quoted real life.

Is it just me or the audio ISN'T working?

Hello Marcos V,

There is a technical problem with our audio. I'm sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for telling us. We are working on a solution and hopefully the audio will be working soon.

Best wishes,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Tea

I don't know about films very well, so I can't imagine this film that is chatted by them. My favorite TV show is an program of animals because I like animals very much, and I think it has a healing effect. So I always watch not only Japanese program of animals, but also video of animals on my phone.

game of thrones is by far my favorite show of all the times! I started to watching it when i was on high school a friend told me he was watching a new medieval serie where dragons can burn people ahahah so i decided to watch it and i really fell in love! i literally watched 3 seasons in like 2 weeks! but the ending wasn't the best, i expected more! i thought last season was poor but not poor in budget or cast but poor in history! I agree with the audio because without the help of the books the serie becomes very predictable!

In my case, talking about Game Of Thrones, I think, at the begining it was very unpredictable so you don´t know where exactly could the story take you, but at the end it became more "Hollywood-like" Show. Right now I´m watching Modern Family, it´s kind of hilarious series about different type of families we see nowadays in our society. They show funny situations about daily life. One of the think I love is how they show the contrast between American culture and the Latin culture, and how they take with humor some taboos that we still have like racism, homosexuality, social inclusion, sexuality, etc.

In this case, I don't like watching series. I prefer to watch films than watching series. Series are usually long and they take a long time to complete. One series that I have watched it is the Black List. It was interesting, but I just watched four episodes. Then I quit because it was more than six episodes. Therefore, I don't know exactly what series they are talking about. Moreover, I don't watch TV shows at this time. Regards, Tayyebi