I just started watching Star Trek: Original Flavor for the first time aside from clips i've seen throughout my life. And, guys? This show actually rules, makes sense they kept trying to find ways to make this show over again.
I watched a couple with my (11 year old) son, and I tried to set his expectations beforehand with stuff like "look, this show is going to look more like a staged play than a show you're used to, it will probably be slower and maybe boring, but we'll just try it out"
Ten minutes in to the first episode (The Man Trap), and he looked at me and said "i thought you said this might be boring???"
My kids have been surprisingly tolerant of older TV shows, they watched (and loved) all of I Love Lucy and have watched a few OG Trek episodes and enjoyed them and asked for more. It wasn't what I expected but it's cool.
+6
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Having shown high school students episode from it, I Love Lucy holds up pretty well.
great sitcoms hold up significantly longer than dramas
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place, BROOKLYN NINE NINE, etc)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
The Lovely Bastard on
+16
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Older sitcoms that were well-developed hold up pretty well, I say as someone who grew up watching re-runs of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and more.
Which made the discourse around WandaVision all the more maddening, when I had to keep hearing from folks, "Oh these early episodes mimicking older sitcoms aren't supposed to be funny cause those shows weren't."
I need to rewatch Balance of Terror. I watched all of ToS for the first time a few years ago and that one just could not hold my attention for whatever reason. I ended putting it on my second monitor while I played a game so I could at least listen to it, but even that ended up not working. I don't really remember anything about it.
great sitcoms hold up significantly longer than dramas
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
Hmm, do you think that's part of the reason for the overall success of said shows?
Like, are people attracted to these shows because they're anomalies? If so, is that purely because they're anomalies (as in, it's different from what the audience is used to and that's exciting), or are those baked in elements in specific what are attracting people (in similar ways to like how the ripped from the headlines nature of many procedurals works)?
I need to rewatch Balance of Terror. I watched all of ToS for the first time a few years ago and that one just could not hold my attention for whatever reason. I ended putting it on my second monitor while I played a game so I could at least listen to it, but even that ended up not working. I don't really remember anything about it.
whoa yeah you do, Balance of Terror rules, that's like a top 10 episode.
Older sitcoms that were well-developed hold up pretty well, I say as someone who grew up watching re-runs of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and more.
Which made the discourse around WandaVision all the more maddening, when I had to keep hearing from folks, "Oh these early episodes mimicking older sitcoms aren't supposed to be funny cause those shows weren't."
If I didn't already hate Aaron Sorkin, him saying that I Love Lucy isn't funny while he was making Being the Ricardos would have done it for sure
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
edited July 2022
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that tv has never topped the physical comedy of Lucy at the chocolate factory, but man, it hasn’t happened as often as you’d think.
minor incident on
if this is how you folks make art it's fucking depressing
great sitcoms hold up significantly longer than dramas
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
Hmm, do you think that's part of the reason for the overall success of said shows?
Like, are people attracted to these shows because they're anomalies? If so, is that purely because they're anomalies (as in, it's different from what the audience is used to and that's exciting), or are those baked in elements in specific what are attracting people (in similar ways to like how the ripped from the headlines nature of many procedurals works)?
i definitely think it is two-fold.
i think he has an uncanny knack for nailing the feel of a moment in time and completely running with it, evolving at a pace that an audience would grow. they really know how to wear themselves into comfortable grooves.
it also adds a unique layer to longevity because you have a very specific nostalgia drawing the old viewers back, and the power of a, i guess better past luring in the new viewers because it's such a well realized vibe and moment in time.
like i really like the idea that teens love the office because the idea of steady work is basically alien in this world because of this.
+1
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
SE++ Adventures in Melodrama
So as you folks know TLB & I ceased our voyage through Ally McBeal for a variety of reasons, with us teasing that we had settled on three unwatched TV shows to sample, as we search for a new drama to watch every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.
Our sampling and our final decision...
The Everwood Chronicles Chapter #1
This show’s pilot is bonkers. Some shows wait to fully unpack their absurdities but this show starts at a soft 9/10. This is a show about a gifted brain surgeon, Dr. Andy Brown, who moves to Everwood, Colorado after his wife’s tragic death upon an icy road. He has a four year-old daughter, Delia, who loves him and a high school aged son, Ephram, who HATES him.
Also, Andy talks to the spirit/memory of his dead wife. They have entire scenes!
Dr. Andy Brown’s first move in this town is to open up a competing general-practice residency center, as if the town’s current doctor, Dr. Harold Abbott, would just be okay with this. And, well, spoilers, Harold Abbott isn’t! Harold just hates Andy (not as much as Ephram, but who could?!) and basically positions himself as the Gary to Andy’s Ash Ketchum. Later on in the episode Andy hires Harold’s estranged mom to be his nurse (a woman with the personality of a 1940’s pulp-adventurer) and also tells the town he will be charging $0 for his medical services. Ya know, we’re supposed to root for Andy in this rivalry but this is a serious wrench to suddenly throw at Harold. If Harold wasn’t an incredible asshole, I’d feel bad for him but he is, and I can’t stress this enough, an INCREDIBLE ASSHOLE.
Meanwhile, at Everwood’s high school, Ephram is befriended by Amy (Emily VanCamp), a classmate who he becomes immediately smitten with because everyone else at the school hates him. How hard does Ephram crush on Amy? He has a wet dream in which he seduces her by teaching her about manga before they slow dance & make-out to Al Greene.
THIS SHOW?! IN THE PILOT!?!
But this romance hits a hurdle when Amy’s older brother, Bright (Chris Pratt), starts bullying Ephram. And folks, I was really concerned about the Chris Pratt of this all but if he’s playing a shitty high-school bully I can tolerate that. Well, Ephram and Bright have a fist fight and it's revealed that Amy & Bright’s dad is Dr. Harold Abbott.
The rivalry cements harder…
The episode comes to a close with Amy revealing to Ephram that she has a boyfriend, he has been in a coma for 8-9 months, and she was befriending Ephram in hopes that his genius brain-surgeon father can heal the love of her life.
Y’all… This show is madness and I love it.
Tales from The O.C. Chapter #1
My relationship with the O.C. is complicated. It began airing when I was in junior high and I never watched it, but I heard about it all the time. Major developments were big cultural news! Its cast were always being discussed. In many ways it's like I lived just outside the provincial gates of Newport Beach.
So… This show is basically the melodramatic, WHITE version of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. NFT’s most-hated enemy, Ben Mackenzie, plays Ryan Atwood, a gifted/troubled teen from Chino who is arrested after his older brother convinces him to take a joy-ride in a stolen car. After a night in lock-up, Ryan meets noble public defender Peter Gallaghar, who temporarily adopts him after Ryan’s mom kicks him out of his home (starting a trend of nearly every adult in this show being a monster).
Our baby Jim Gordan is whisked away to Newport Beach in Orange County where he meets:
– Kirsten Cohen: Peter Gallaghar’s rich wife who doesn’t like Ryan because she let money corrupt her.
– Seth Cohen: goober-supreme who is a geek’s geek
– Marissa Cooper: the Cohen’s neighbor who is a popular girl with a drinking problem. She immediately develops a crush on Ryan but oh no, she’s dating a bully meathead, oh no....
– Summer Roberts: Marissa’s best friend who Seth pines after from afar. She is the WORST!
– Jimmy Cooper (Tate Donovan): Marissa’s dad, an anxiety-attack given flesh who is being investigated by the SEC
This pilot has two big set-pieces, the teen fashion show and the house-party following it. Marissa invites Ryan to the fashion show, who only ultimately agrees to attend so that Seth can talk to Summer. Following the fashion show Ryan is invited once more to a house party (with Seth tagging along again). And what does a house party look like in Newport Beach? COCAINE!!! Drugs, liquor, and beach brawls, bruh! Seth gets bullied by some dudes (including Marissa’s boyfriend), which turns Ryan Atwood into Gotham city’s greatest detective. Ryan steps in to support his new best friend and they both get pummeled. Later that night, once back home, Ryan sees Marissa, deeply unconscious in a vodka-slumber, dropped off at her house by Summer. Her best friend drops her at the front door like a package from Amazon. SUMMER SUCKS!!
All of this is too much for the matriarch of the Cohen clan and Peter Gallaghar is ordered to bring Ryan back to his actual mother. Ooof… That’s gonna be hard because when they arrive back in Chino, the two of them discover that Ryan’s mother has packed everything up and fully deserted her son. Cool, cool cool, cool…
This show may has well be an artifact from 2003. It's like cracking open a time capsule. The fashion, the music, the lighting. Everything about this is aggressively of its time (and I love it). It's significantly darker, more tragic, and sadder than Everwood by a country mile. Everwood is crazy & kooky, The O.C. is a depressive melodrama wearing a puka shell necklace.
The Book of Ed Chapter #1
I’m going to lead with the revelation that this show came in a distant third place between TLB & I’s rankings. TLB couldn’t even finish the pilot, which is pretty understandable because its an atrocious first episode to a 44-minute romantic comedy. I managed to get through it, but…
Okay, so this pilot opens up in the style of a trailer which summarizes how Ed Stevens (Tom Cavanagh), a corporate contract-lawyer is fired for a minor, technical issue that loses his firm 1.5 million dollars and then walks in on his wife cheating on him. So, his life falls apart. In response to this, Ed returns to his high school town where he reconnects with his former best-friend, Dr. Michael "Mike" Burton, & falls in love with an older school-crush, Carol Phyllis Vessey (played by Julie Bowen). They have a double date at the local bowling alley, Carol kisses Ed, and Ed decides to move to the town & purchase the bowling alley.
THIS HAPPENS IN THE OPENING SUMMATION! The pilot of this show begins with a micro-pilot within it! Absurd!!
Okay so following all of that the episode actually begins and I will just do some quick notes/summations:
– Ed opens the bowling alley and finds an employee, Phil (Michael Ian Black), sleeping in it. Apparently the bowling alley is a bust and when Ed came was the once-a-month league night that frequents the establishment. Ed assembles his new employees: Phil, Shirley, and Kenny (Mike Starr), to brainstorm how to save the business. Phil suggests they fill it with “whores” (an idea Kenny seconds). Ed doesn’t want to be a pimp though. Phil then suggests that Ed offer free legal advice to patrons, as long as they buy/play three rounds of bowling [this idea actually works].
– Ed’s primary storyline is trying to woo Carol, who works as an English teacher at the local high school. Ed’s competition? Nick Staton, a stuck-up English teacher who also taught Ed & Carol?? Yeeesh… Ed’s other competition? Warren Cheswick (Justin Long), one of Carol’s students who clearly has a crush on his teacher. Double Yeeesh!!
– The secondary plot line of this episode was Mike’s wife, Nancy, wanting to bang her husband after he teases her that they haven’t been intimate for a while (she gave birth 4 months ago). This was actually my favorite storyline because I think Dr. Mike Burton is the strongest character offered up in this pilot.
– After helping Carol’s best friend, Molly Hudson, with a legal dispute, Ed declares he will run a law-firm out of his bowling alley, and thus the structure of the series is developed.
And that’s it because this pilot (if you can call it that) wasn’t too strong. The saving grace of this show is it's absolutely stacked cast. Tom Cavanagh, Julie Bowen, Michael Ian Black, Mike Starr, and Justin Long? Hell yeah, love that assembly of actors. But the show is just a bit too quirky while also not developing its foundation strong enough.
Our Final Choice...
So discarding Ed, because there is no way we are committing ourselves to that, it came down between Everwood & The O.C. And if you can believe it, TLB & I love both an equal amount. We honestly could not decide between the two. They each had their unique strengths, their contrasting energy, their exciting potentials. And whichever show we begin now, we will follow it up with the other.
Ultimately, we set it to fate to decide. Heads would be Everwood & tails would be The O.C.
And the coin flip favored the dark drama of Newport Beach.
the secret ingredient of everwood, to me, is that emily revenge is playing this like serious drama character from a serious drama world, and all these insane lynchian buffoons are encroaching on her world. i dubbed it "tween peaks" on the spot.
Still recall sitting around a tiny dorm tv and watching that first season of The OC freshman year.
CaliforniaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA
Both the OC and Everwood were appointment viewing for like, half our college dorm for awhile
Full Season Three Spoilers
I spent all of season three loudly complaining to anyone else who watched that "I wish
Marissa Cooper
would just die already"
So obviously, the season finale is my favorite "called shot" moment I've ever experienced. I walked away from the show and never watched another episode after that, knowing the OC had provided me a single perfect moment, and it was just gonna be all downhill from there
The OC is unironically very good. My college freshman roommate's friends introduced me by watching much of season 3 in our room, I was intrigued but thought it seemed kind of bad. I used our (excellent) college library to check out the earlier parts and it turned out season 3 was the worst, the rest is pretty great. I even think season 4 completely turns around the quality dip the show had in S3 and am sad it stopped there.
I'm disappointed that you guys didn't entertain "One Tree Hill" and I realize that might be because it's of a slightly later era but I hope you get around to it because that show would make for some really great recaps.
+1
DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
I'm sad you didn't pick Ed. Not because I necessarily think you'd enjoy the show but I would definitely enjoy you watching the show and the recaps to follow them.
great sitcoms hold up significantly longer than dramas
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
Hmm, do you think that's part of the reason for the overall success of said shows?
Like, are people attracted to these shows because they're anomalies? If so, is that purely because they're anomalies (as in, it's different from what the audience is used to and that's exciting), or are those baked in elements in specific what are attracting people (in similar ways to like how the ripped from the headlines nature of many procedurals works)?
i definitely think it is two-fold.
i think he has an uncanny knack for nailing the feel of a moment in time and completely running with it, evolving at a pace that an audience would grow. they really know how to wear themselves into comfortable grooves.
it also adds a unique layer to longevity because you have a very specific nostalgia drawing the old viewers back, and the power of a, i guess better past luring in the new viewers because it's such a well realized vibe and moment in time.
like i really like the idea that teens love the office because the idea of steady work is basically alien in this world because of this.
This TOS episode is about Spock forcing the command crew to watch an episode of Star Trek as evidence for why he has mutinied and it rules. This is 11 episodes in!!!! How are we already at watch an episode of the show on the show????
great sitcoms hold up significantly longer than dramas
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
Hmm, do you think that's part of the reason for the overall success of said shows?
Like, are people attracted to these shows because they're anomalies? If so, is that purely because they're anomalies (as in, it's different from what the audience is used to and that's exciting), or are those baked in elements in specific what are attracting people (in similar ways to like how the ripped from the headlines nature of many procedurals works)?
i definitely think it is two-fold.
i think he has an uncanny knack for nailing the feel of a moment in time and completely running with it, evolving at a pace that an audience would grow. they really know how to wear themselves into comfortable grooves.
it also adds a unique layer to longevity because you have a very specific nostalgia drawing the old viewers back, and the power of a, i guess better past luring in the new viewers because it's such a well realized vibe and moment in time.
like i really like the idea that teens love the office because the idea of steady work is basically alien in this world because of this.
People still have office jobs though, even if it might be more contact work now and the characters are still relatable. I’d argue that the office is going to stick around for a while, because a lot of resonates with me with regard to the office, is just how people do dumb shit just to get through the day when work sucks.
Posts
My kids have been surprisingly tolerant of older TV shows, they watched (and loved) all of I Love Lucy and have watched a few OG Trek episodes and enjoyed them and asked for more. It wasn't what I expected but it's cool.
funny is funny and the stakes, typically, are super low and relatable
i think that's, funnily enough, what makes mike schur shows such anomalies -- they purposely bake in things (either by chance or design) that absolutely are not gonna age well (parks and rec, the office, the good place, BROOKLYN NINE NINE, etc)
like you can notice, in retrospect, just how obvious of an expiration date was stamped on his stuff
Which made the discourse around WandaVision all the more maddening, when I had to keep hearing from folks, "Oh these early episodes mimicking older sitcoms aren't supposed to be funny cause those shows weren't."
I don't know how to answer this
Fred fucking armisen does a variety of offensive, racist, bigoted stereotype mockery when he "acts"
Hmm, do you think that's part of the reason for the overall success of said shows?
Like, are people attracted to these shows because they're anomalies? If so, is that purely because they're anomalies (as in, it's different from what the audience is used to and that's exciting), or are those baked in elements in specific what are attracting people (in similar ways to like how the ripped from the headlines nature of many procedurals works)?
whoa yeah you do, Balance of Terror rules, that's like a top 10 episode.
If I didn't already hate Aaron Sorkin, him saying that I Love Lucy isn't funny while he was making Being the Ricardos would have done it for sure
Once you get through the language, that's also Shakespeare. So yeah, "more like a staged play".
True, and she was also a significant part of why TOS got and stayed on the air. So we owe her for that too.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1JI9WWSRW1YJI
i definitely think it is two-fold.
i think he has an uncanny knack for nailing the feel of a moment in time and completely running with it, evolving at a pace that an audience would grow. they really know how to wear themselves into comfortable grooves.
it also adds a unique layer to longevity because you have a very specific nostalgia drawing the old viewers back, and the power of a, i guess better past luring in the new viewers because it's such a well realized vibe and moment in time.
like i really like the idea that teens love the office because the idea of steady work is basically alien in this world because of this.
So as you folks know TLB & I ceased our voyage through Ally McBeal for a variety of reasons, with us teasing that we had settled on three unwatched TV shows to sample, as we search for a new drama to watch every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.
Our sampling and our final decision...
Our Final Choice...
So discarding Ed, because there is no way we are committing ourselves to that, it came down between Everwood & The O.C. And if you can believe it, TLB & I love both an equal amount. We honestly could not decide between the two. They each had their unique strengths, their contrasting energy, their exciting potentials. And whichever show we begin now, we will follow it up with the other.
Ultimately, we set it to fate to decide. Heads would be Everwood & tails would be The O.C.
And the coin flip favored the dark drama of Newport Beach.
Our new Mon/Wed/Fri show will be The O.C.
Steam
CaliforniaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA
Both the OC and Everwood were appointment viewing for like, half our college dorm for awhile
Full Season Three Spoilers
So obviously, the season finale is my favorite "called shot" moment I've ever experienced. I walked away from the show and never watched another episode after that, knowing the OC had provided me a single perfect moment, and it was just gonna be all downhill from there
Also, Summer is the best, you will see.
My gut response was going to be "racist"
I would kill for a soul eroding office job
People still have office jobs though, even if it might be more contact work now and the characters are still relatable. I’d argue that the office is going to stick around for a while, because a lot of resonates with me with regard to the office, is just how people do dumb shit just to get through the day when work sucks.
Satans..... hints.....