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TV shows...not so great on the TV.
Posts
It's...slow going to say the least. I'm really not seeing the appeal.
It really doesn't hit its mark until the S1 finale
And then S2 is so, so good. And depending on who you ask, s3 is better. I'd say skip to the S1 finale, but they do amusing callbacks to some of those episodes in later seasons so *shrug*
But seriously, don't give up!
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
They really, really do. It's well worth it to power through it. It's not entirely terrible.
It's not that it's awful, it's just so terribly 90s at time.
Like every single time a computer or the internet is mentioned.
I guess I'm still just bitter over the downfall of Heroes...
This show is awful, the acting is terrible, and the plots are too simplistic for an infant. Who the hell did they show the pilot to? How did they let this happen?
This. Why it isn't law that you cut anything resembling a "previously on show X" segment when you put it on DVD frustrates me to no end. Leaving the show intro credits/theme in should also be fucking criminal.
Well, it depends how sing-along-with-able the intro is and whether or not it's Doctor Who, but yeah.
Also I think we're coming to a point now where no-one ever watches anything on TV at all anyway, so this is all getting kind of moot.
Naw, simply having them as separate chapters that are easily skipped is preferable. Sometimes shows have arcs that span multiple seasons and having that "refresher" before the episode is nice...it's not too annoying when you're only watching two or so in a row. Same with credits.
It's 13 years old. You gotta give it some slack on that shit.
Also, Buffy was pretty amazing in S1 back when it was first on. A breath of fresh fucking air back then, I tell you what.
Yeah but that sort of stuff happens in every medium.
Admittedly, TV has it a bit worse because of the nature of the beast. Actors leaving or becoming too popular to kill off the way you planned, ratings spiking or declining due to certain actions, pressures of having to deliver week in and week out.
But you still have "money" beating out "quality" in all forms of entertainment. Why is it we havent had many truly open world, sandboxy type MMOs that the "niche" dreams off? Because they wouldnt make as much money. WHy are we getting a crappy FPS X-com rather then a true follow up to the series? We did the movie Marmaduke happen?
But whats interesting is this summer there is a new show on NBC which is basically a mystery show about a bunch of people locked in a house. The interesting part is that the commercials claim it to be a mini-series and promise that there will be answers.
It seems like they are perhaps realizing the popularity of such over-arching shows but realizing the issues with them as well. Summer mini-series is basically one step away from made for dvd TV.
I think its an interesting concept, but ultimately, I cant see it succeeding. Id assume the cost for developing a TV show (outside of rising actor costs as they become popular) would drop drastically after season 1. Youd have all your sets, and staff and advertizers etc. So making one season shows which dont have to bow to the pressures of trying to continue next year doesnt seem profitable enough even though itll likely lead to better TV.
Season 2 of Dexter was amazing. In fact, why does Dexter even come into this discussion of why serial weekly tv doesn't work well. Dexter shows it can work perfectly, delivering perfect little contained stories alongside an overall plot which always develops and can be joined at any time.
Given that most great shows don't cross overseas for half a year or more, I happily accept the language barrier, thank you very much.
Ever wondered whether- let's call it "TV with production values" is a dying business model?
Same with the next-time-on bits. They'll often show a clip that won't happen, or won't happen until a season later, yet it's all also canon, and you will get callbacks to it happening.
God I need to watch that show again.
I think I might have a problem...
Battlestar Galactica was the worst in this regard. The previously on and credits are on the same DVD chapter as the intro sequence for the current episode. It's like the people who made the DVD never watched a TV show on DVD. No wonder the show started to drag by the third season and the ending was so awful.
The people who make the DVD are generally not the people who make the show.
I feel like 24 is actually better watching weekly. Some (many?) of the situations are a bit outlandish, but having that week between them makes the show feel somewhat more plausible.
Yeah but the same idiots hired the DVD company that hired those crappy writers.
Um ... BSG had the same writers throughout pretty much.
There is no connection between the people who made the show and the people who hired the people to make the DVD.
Though TV on DVD has spoiled me as regards commercials. Even having to skip through recorded commercials is a pain now, and I will now refuse to start watching a show on TV until it's progressed to where I can skip through all commercials without running into live TV.
The only thing I really like about TV shows on TV is that it allows me to chat with people on the forums about recent happenings.
I make tweet.
Even Penny Arcade is like that, and now with the search thing, you can't even go to the beginning anymore.
The beginning of the series? Or the beginning of a particular storyline?
I make tweet.
I'd always hoped HBO would pick up some sort of sci fi show like Lost just to see what they'd do with it...a man can always dream!
I agree with people when they talk about watching certain sitcoms over and over, and for that, I love idly watching them on TV. Like Seinfeld...*salute* I miss Seinfeld reruns on TV in England! But story-based shows I'd almost always prefer watching them on DVD.
I make tweet.
when friends was on, or cheers hell yeah I'd watch that too.
I find Friends gets a lot of stick just for being Friends, but there was always some classic moments.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
So yay for DVRs.
DVDs are for shows I'd want to watch again, need to catch up on quickly, or want to share with other people (lending someone DVDs is usually more effective than telling them to look it up online). But for discussion with regular viewers they're fairly useless because everybody else has already covered that stuff 6 months ago. That guy who showed up 6 months late with "I'm Rick James, bitch!" got eye rolls instead of laughs. It's like only watching movies on DVD/BRD, and getting "You want to talk about Avatar now?"
You also have problems with shows that use topical content. South Park isn't nearly as good 6 months later, because half their jokes are about stuff going on in pop culture the month it aired. Unless you're just Family Guy and your idea of humor is remembering things.
See, I've heard that defense used for Heroes and all I can say is that plenty of shows stay great. While there are some examples of studio involvement killing shows I think by and large the more common issue is the people behind it fall flat.
Heroes had one good season, at best. Everything after that was crap and I really don't know that you could blame all of that on 'the business.'
The first few seasons of Friends were pretty fantastic. Around season 6 or so, all the characters turned into one-dimensional parodies of themselves, and while it was still generally watchable, it was far from good.
I make tweet.
Agreed, I don't have a good idea of when the rot set in though, I'll trust you on s6. It's one of those shows that should have ended way earlier than it did, in respect of the quality
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
I can't say that if I saw it airing on a week to week basis if I'd love it as much. I think I wouldn't be as emotionally attached to some of the characters because of the delay.
Weeds was the same way with me and my friends. Honestly I don't think I watched but 3 or so episodes of season 1. Got into it with a friend and took off from there. Couldn't stop watching. Now neither can my girlfriend or other friends after they've watched an episode or two with me.
But on the other side of it I love Grey's Anatomy. I can take the week off (sometimes a month off) between episodes. Somehow I've connected with that story and those characters in a different way and pick back up each week with them.
If no one has seen this season's season finale, you should do so. It's very intense and you don't have to know much back story to get into it. What made the episode actually work though were no commercials. My girlfriend and me watched The Office finale while grey's was recording. Switched it over and had to sit through one commercial break as the episode wrapped up. With the commercials though? I don't think the episode would have been as good.