ElectronGuru
Flashaholic
TV shows that are both funny and smart. Seems like all the smart got sucked into the dramas and all that remains are bonehead comedies.
TV Then And Now; What happened?
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
Last night's Community was entitled "Remedial Chaos Theory", and centered around a particular dice roll during a housewarming game of Yahtzee, which is replayed for each possible outcome, each illustrated in vignettes lasting several minutes unfolding in radically different results. The viewer then tours the best possible and worst possible outcomes, and is left to decide which is the actual timeline. Funny stuff! (see it here)
Last night's Community was entitled "Remedial Chaos Theory", and centered around a particular dice roll during a housewarming game of Yahtzee, which is replayed for each possible outcome, each illustrated in vignettes lasting several minutes unfolding in radically different results. The viewer then tours the best possible and worst possible outcomes, and is left to decide which is the actual timeline. Funny stuff! (see it here)
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
Those shows are gone! Never coming back. Funny & Smart is simply too offensive. Smart is gone for good. You can still have funny, but you have to mix in a generous helping of stupidity to such shows.
We will never again see shows such as M*A*S*H, All In The Family, The Jeffersons, or Different Strokes. And the sad reality is, there are plenty of folks who are absolutely happy about that.
Those shows are gone! Never coming back. Funny & Smart is simply too offensive. Smart is gone for good. You can still have funny, but you have to mix in a generous helping of stupidity to such shows.
We will never again see shows such as M*A*S*H, All In The Family, The Jeffersons, or Different Strokes. And the sad reality is, there are plenty of folks who are absolutely happy about that.
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
Kids also missed out on intelligent shows of any type.
Homicide
West Wing
The Twilight Zone (the original series)
The Outer Limits (ditto - hey, does saying "ditto" count too?)
and on and on...
Movies that have a number after the title usually suck and remade TV series do the same.
You don't need just cleavage and cursing to entertain people. Entertainment or comments that actually make you think for yourself will not make your head explode.
Heck, thinking for yourself won't kill ya or even pull a muscle no matter what you hear on the tube or the radio today.
Hey, when is Hollywood gonna come out with Casablanca II ?
Kids also missed out on intelligent shows of any type.
Homicide
West Wing
The Twilight Zone (the original series)
The Outer Limits (ditto - hey, does saying "ditto" count too?)
and on and on...
Movies that have a number after the title usually suck and remade TV series do the same.
You don't need just cleavage and cursing to entertain people. Entertainment or comments that actually make you think for yourself will not make your head explode.
Heck, thinking for yourself won't kill ya or even pull a muscle no matter what you hear on the tube or the radio today.
Hey, when is Hollywood gonna come out with Casablanca II ?
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PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
We control the vertical...
That was a good series.
We control the vertical...
That was a good series.
ElectronGuru
Flashaholic
Nice title choice :thumbsup:
To many Frank Burns' in the world...
I think the internet help kill good TV shows with YouTube and video cameras, everyone thinks they are a star. Sort of like video killed the radio.
What was the SciFi program that came on Sunday mornings with the bubble headed robot that said, "Danger, Will Robinson!"
Ahhh...the good ole' days!
What was the SciFi program that came on Sunday mornings with the bubble headed robot that said, "Danger, Will Robinson!"
Ahhh...the good ole' days!
shao.fu.tzer
Flashlight Enthusiast
What a coincidence... I woke up thinking about this very subject this morning. My daughter sassed me yesterday and I started thinking about what could have caused it.. and I realized - it's all the crap TV programming nowadays! They teach no moral lesson... they don't teach consequence to little kids! They just focus on fluff and glamorizing impossible and/or impractical ideals! The bad guy doesn't die anymore - they just break a nail or get a run in their pantyhose. It's revoltin' I tell ya!
fisk-king
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
I don't watch Community (first season I did) but that episode was pretty entertaining. The only t.v. shows I keep up with now are:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (moronic, crass, juvenile but I love it)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Boardwalk Empire
Walking Dead (started to wane at the end)
Doctor Who (don't care for the *Incarnation*)
Louie
I don't watch Community (first season I did) but that episode was pretty entertaining. The only t.v. shows I keep up with now are:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (moronic, crass, juvenile but I love it)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Boardwalk Empire
Walking Dead (started to wane at the end)
Doctor Who (don't care for the *Incarnation*)
Louie
Colorblinded
Enlightened
The smartest funny show currently airing that I'm aware of is 30 Rock.
Overall I'm not watching much on TV these days.
Overall I'm not watching much on TV these days.
fisk-king
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Things today's kids missed out on
It's funny when the cableman came to install my internet and I decided to watch S2 of Luther. When I went into the kitchen he started yelling/pleading for me to turn it off. Come to find out he and his wife are big fans of the show and are waiting for it to hit the states.
It's funny when the cableman came to install my internet and I decided to watch S2 of Luther. When I went into the kitchen he started yelling/pleading for me to turn it off. Come to find out he and his wife are big fans of the show and are waiting for it to hit the states.
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I think the internet help kill good TV shows with YouTube and video cameras, everyone thinks they are a star. Sort of like video killed the radio.
If most of the vids getting posted on youtube were smart or truly funny, I'd agree with you. But much of it is even worse than what's on TV nowadays. Some youtube vids are actually less intelligent than the one where the guy gets hit in the crotch by a football.
ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond
Flashlight Enthusiast
IMO most TV shows are mindless dribble. There is absolutely no moral outcome anymore. No one ever "learns a lesson". It's all about sensory overload and short burst of funny or action. I think my 2 year old's shows like Kai-lan and Dora teach better life lessons than what is on now.
I grew upwatching all of the episodes Monocrom mentions at the top and they were funny and I wasn't offended in the least.
I think YouTube has lead to the generation of Reality Show TV. Admitting that there are one or two that I enjoy, the rest are pure crap. The Housewives of "Pick Your Hometown" shows are unbelievable wastes of the 1's and 0's required to actually transmit them.
The only channel I watch with an regularity is Discovery, and in the past year or so even the shows there are starting to get pretty awful. The latest Gunsmoke show is utter junk.
I grew upwatching all of the episodes Monocrom mentions at the top and they were funny and I wasn't offended in the least.
I think YouTube has lead to the generation of Reality Show TV. Admitting that there are one or two that I enjoy, the rest are pure crap. The Housewives of "Pick Your Hometown" shows are unbelievable wastes of the 1's and 0's required to actually transmit them.
The only channel I watch with an regularity is Discovery, and in the past year or so even the shows there are starting to get pretty awful. The latest Gunsmoke show is utter junk.
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
+1 on 30 Rock. For me it's somewhat reminiscent of the Mary Tyler Moore show which I also liked.
There is a lot of mindless drivel on TV these days (Jersey Shore comes to mind) but our tastes change over time. Also the plethora of specialized channels available today has killed off some of those good old fashioned variety shows of days gone by. Dean Martin and Andy Williams each had a weekly variety show that was pretty good for it's time. They didn't have the gravitas of The West Wing but so what? They were fun to watch.
blasterman
Flashlight Enthusiast
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While there is a lot of midless drivel on TV today I fail to see what's so superior about mindless drivel 20, 30 or 40 years ago. MASH is perhaps my biggest complaint, and while I thought it was cool as a teen I can barely stand watching any episodes today unless that stupid laugh track is turned off on the DVDs. Actually, it's because I've learned Alan Alda isn't really funny. Korean vets in my family found the show insulting. MASH was at it's best when Frank Burns was gone and they were being somewhat serious.
'Big Bang Theory' is the best written sitcom I've seen in a very long time....well, since maybe 'Frasier'. '30 Rock' is up there as well. Beats Archie Bunker sitting in his chair and the audience laughing every time the the toilet flushed. If I really want to laugh to the point of pain I just look up some British coms like 'Faulty Towers'.
It's all the crime dramas that annoy me, and you simply can't tell them apart.
I agree about the 'morality' complaint, but aside from rare gems like 'Cosby' the 'life lesson' sitcoms started to take a dive in the 70's long before Fox came along. Oddly, I find 'Ozzie and Harriet' to be just as sharply witted and nearly as relevant today as yester-year. 'Route 66' is another gem that's a bit strange and surreal at times but clearly ahead of it's time and with great acting cameos.
All things considered, I think it balances out, but there' not question in my mind when it came to flat out writing there was Rod Sterling, and then there's everybody else.
'Big Bang Theory' is the best written sitcom I've seen in a very long time....well, since maybe 'Frasier'. '30 Rock' is up there as well. Beats Archie Bunker sitting in his chair and the audience laughing every time the the toilet flushed. If I really want to laugh to the point of pain I just look up some British coms like 'Faulty Towers'.
It's all the crime dramas that annoy me, and you simply can't tell them apart.
I agree about the 'morality' complaint, but aside from rare gems like 'Cosby' the 'life lesson' sitcoms started to take a dive in the 70's long before Fox came along. Oddly, I find 'Ozzie and Harriet' to be just as sharply witted and nearly as relevant today as yester-year. 'Route 66' is another gem that's a bit strange and surreal at times but clearly ahead of it's time and with great acting cameos.
All things considered, I think it balances out, but there' not question in my mind when it came to flat out writing there was Rod Sterling, and then there's everybody else.
'family guy' .
ElectronGuru
Flashaholic
The internet itself offers many new things as well. In my case, I've expanded my menu to include 'imported' shows I would never have had a chance to see otherwise. Just found a show called Wild Boys, for example, thats showing me a side of Australia I've never seen.
The phenomena of Reality TV predates Internet video. Its popularity is mostly about economics. Even a tiny audience can support it because production costs are so little.
In terms of a generation, I've noticed a new kind of movie, modeled after video games. Short scenes and even less dialog. I'm hoping it doesn't carry over to TV.
Interesting point. The specialization (and audience division) has had a variety of effects. Channel switching (shows need to make a point, fast), program specialization (why watch something you disagree and maybe learn something when what you already know is one channel away), and risk aversion. Why produce a show that may scare people away from your channel, when stupid sells?
MASH was set in Korea, but it wasn't about Korea. It was about Vietnam. The setting was a metaphor, allowing the show to go places and say things that would have been impossible were they stated directly.
