The shows I've been watching fall into either of three categories: must-see, don't-have-to-see-but-still-some-aspects-compel-me-to-see, and guilty pleasures.
Must-see:
Louie
Walking Dead
Breaking Bad
Enlightened
Homeland (despite the haters, and I also cop to the flaws, but still am entertained nonetheless)
Doc Martin (one of the all-time best characters)
Boardwalk Empire
Justified (can't get enough of Walton Coggins)
Mad Men
Don't have to see but watch anyway:
Dexter (great concept executed in a mediocre fashion...they NEVER should have given him a love interest...go all the way with this...keep him as a loner creep with one "healthy" relationship, the one with his sister)
Southland - not even sure if this show is still in production anymore. If so, I'll continue to watch it.
Sons of Anarchy - sort of falls between this category and guilty pleasure.
American Horror Story - season one is must-see, current season not nearly as good. Worth it for Jessica Lange alone, and this season includes a very entertaining turn by Ian McShane, who was born for this stuff.
Guilty pleasures:
Big Bang Theory (formulaic sitcom with one redeeming quality. I can't get enough of the Howard Wolowitz (and his mother) character. The rest of it is dopey.
True Blood - awful show but I watch it anyway. I'm a sucker for supernatural shit. But this show sucks in so many ways.
Dangerous Grounds - I hate the "reality" genre to my core but I enjoy the travelogue aspects of this show. The guy is a gigantic douchebag though.
I'm sure I am leaving out a few (yes I watch way too much TV).
This really is some time for TV. Who's have thought 20 years ago that there's be so many good TV shows?
I'm very limited in my tastes. For some reason I've never gotten into TV dramas. I've never seen any of the shows that everyone smart seems to be impressed with over the last several years, like Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, etc. The last drama series I watched regularly was probably Twin Peaks over 20 years ago. I don't watch any current sitcoms either (although I've seen a few episodes of Big Bang Theory and found them amusing) Now I just scratch myself, perform puppet shows with sock puppets and collect bodily fluids in zip lock sandwich bags. Sometimes I also try to harmonize with the ambient sounds in my building.
Last edited by steve(thelil); December-29th-2012 at 09:46 PM.
Steve, how much time have you normally given these dramas before you've given up?
A couple of things I've found over the years:
1. A lot of these shows, even the great ones, take a while to hit their stride. Sometimes you have to stick with them for several shows or even a season before you start to get to the best stuff.
2. You have to watch them from the beginning. I think this is true about all of the good dramas but the best example for me is The Wire. I tried to watch several shows at different times throughout the series and I could not understand what all the fuss was about. I saw nothing there. Then I decided to rent the DVDs and watch from episode 1. That made all the different in the world.
I'm finishing up watching the episodes of FIREFLY I haven't yet seen
And I've recorded a few episodes PRIME SUSPECT, with Helen Mirren as a dour British detective (dovetails nicely with the Mirren-as-Prospera version of The Tempest I'm also watching)
I don't have any of the premium stations, HBO, SHOWTIME, etc. so there ain't nothing worth watching on tv right now.
JUSTIFIED will be on, briefly, in a couple of weeks. SONS OF ANARCHY is over for several months. I watched some vhr TV the other night, then some MTV. I've got to say MTV is the nearest nothing pile of shit I've ever wasted my time on.
Steve, how much time have you normally given these dramas before you've given up?
A couple of things I've found over the years:
1. A lot of these shows, even the great ones, take a while to hit their stride. Sometimes you have to stick with them for several shows or even a season before you start to get to the best stuff.
2. You have to watch them from the beginning. I think this is true about all of the good dramas but the best example for me is The Wire. I tried to watch several shows at different times throughout the series and I could not understand what all the fuss was about. I saw nothing there. Then I decided to rent the DVDs and watch from episode 1. That made all the different in the world.
Lenny: It's not that I've given up - or even tried them, for that matter. For some reason, I just have no interest in watching dramas. Maybe because I avoid things that are tense. I realize people like tension in entertainment, but I tend not to. I also don't enjoy violence in entertainment. I'm just a wimp when it comes to that stuff. I've never even had any desire to see the Godfather films, and I realize that they are considered excellent. It's not that I think or assume they aren't, I'm just strangely limited in my entertainment interests.
Last edited by steve(thelil); December-30th-2012 at 08:18 PM.
Lenny: It's not that I've given up - or even tried them, for that matter. For some reason, I just have no interest in watching dramas. Maybe because I avoid things that are tense. I realize people like tension in entertainment, but I tend not to. I also don't enjoy violence in entertainment. I'm just a wimp when it comes to that stuff. I've never even had any desire to see the Godfather films, and I realize that they are considered excellent. It's not that I think or assume they aren't, I'm just strangely limited in my entertainment interests.
That's explains it, then. One thing they know how to do nowadays with what I'd consider the modern drama series (Game of Thrones, Dexter, The Walking Dead, etc) is maintain tension. I'm serial watching "Lost" on netflix right now. It's violent and is tense more often than it's not.
Have you tried Mad Men? If not, you might want to give that a go. It's on Netflix and it's very different than these other series. Maybe it's not tension-free but it's more character-driven and *spoiler alert* there are definitely no zombies or serial killers.
Last edited by LennyH; December-31st-2012 at 11:20 AM.
Steve's lack of success at appreciating television drama or comedy excites me. I have two questions for the saint. Does he like game shows? Has he ever been on a game show?
This may be one of the best recoveries in modern TV history. I came close to giving up on season 2, but there was enough I liked to keep me tuned in even if it wasn't a must-see. Season 3 - at least so far - has really turned it around, and the show and its makers seemed to have gotten a grasp of the show's strengths. It's not just the increased action, but there's a real sense of urgency and emotional (and existential) stakes involved now, which makes otherwise flat characters much more compelling. It'll never have the depth of other shows, but it sure is entertaining.
Steve's lack of success at appreciating television drama or comedy excites me. I have two questions for the saint. Does he like game shows? Has he ever been on a game show?
Over the years I have appreciated many TV comedy series. I assume from what I read that the current ones aren't as good as my old faves, but I could be wrong.(It's kind of a hobby). My all-time favorite TV comedy series (the plural is the same as the singular?) include: Garry Shandling Show, Larry Sanders Show (different show,same star), Bob Newhart Show, Dream On, M.A.S.H, Seinfeld, Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Get A Life, Fernwood 2Night, Taxi. I still love Letterman.It's the only TV comedy show still in production that I watch regularly.
I hesitated to say this because I in turn was all turned on by Monte being turned on by my not liking certain TV shows.
To everything, Turn, Turn, Turn.
I used to enjoy some TV game shows, including Jeopardy and Video Village (old), Seven Keys, You Don't Say and Match Game. But I've never been on one. But the English lady who took care of my sister when she was a baby was a huge fan of the game show "Pay Cards," with host Art James, and she took my brother Rob and I to attend a taping. An Austrian lady named Marta was the winning contestant that day.
As I've mentioned before, I'm kind of addicted to Pawn Stars, although I'm quite aware of the various ways that it is full of shit, and yet they don't diminish it for me. I might prefer the semi-rip-off of Pawn Stars "Auction Kings" (Discovery Channel) which is very similar, but with the difference that the proprietor of the auction house - unlike a Pawn Shop owner - is not trying to rip off the person who brings in the interesting item. Rather, the more the owner can make on the item, the more the business makes. Also, they show the items being auctioned off at the end,which suggests that the show is more real and less staged than Pawn Stars.
Last edited by steve(thelil); January-2nd-2013 at 06:56 PM.
Yeah, but you're taking it out of context. The main point is that I have little interest in watching TV and don't watch the old shows I mentioned even when they are rerun.
If you're talking about my taste in comedy(ies) you're just wrong, which is a fascinating part of the core of your character. Name me funnier TV comedies than Larry Sanders, Fernwood 2Night or Letterman, if you dare. (If you say Stewart or Colbert, I won't argue, because that is arguably correct and I don't feel like arguing against them)
If you're talking about Pawn Stars and Auction Kings, you are correct (which is a fascinating blemish on your character): they are largely dim witted. They are also informative with regard to old and antique objects, and even educational with regard to history, in a dim witted way. But I don't watch them for stimulation. At home, for active stimulation I play musical instruments or write. For passive stimulation I read or watch sports or documentaries.
With respect to Pawn Stars and Auction Kings, I watch them at the end of the night after drinking/toking in order to doze off. (Baseball is good for that also) There's something very formulaic and silly that makes them both addictive and soporific in that context.
Last edited by steve(thelil); January-2nd-2013 at 08:15 PM.
I was forced to watch a few episodes of this to humor a friend. I found it painfully annoying, mostly due to the fundamental stylistic approach. A few minutes of clumsy handheld camera work on Youtube is tolerable, but a whole series worth is not.
Last edited by groover; January-4th-2013 at 10:43 AM.
Someone I once respected told me that Arrested Development would change my life, which is why I no longer respect him, although I have never seen Arrested Development and have no real reason to doubt him.
Someone I once respected told me that Arrested Development would change my life, which is why I no longer respect him, although I have never seen Arrested Development and have no real reason to doubt him.
A few people whose tastes I admire and/or share have strongly recommended Arrested Development to me. I have had it in my Netflix queue for maybe a year now and not gotten around to watching it. For no reason, probably, other than that I'm just in the habit of not watching it. Despite this history, I still assume I will get around to it.
Last edited by steve(thelil); January-4th-2013 at 12:19 PM.
Now would be a good time to catch up on Arrested Development. I think that the 12-15 new shows will debut on Netflix in the spring. All of the new shows will be available at once, oddly enough.
Someone I once respected told me that Arrested Development would change my life, which is why I no longer respect him, although I have never seen Arrested Development and have no real reason to doubt him.
It is annoying when people try to force their taste on you, even if you later appreciate what they were offering, isn't it?
I will admit that if my friend wasn't my immediate manager, I wouldn't have watched The River episodes, either.
But now you have me a bit curious about Arrested Development, which is available streaming from Netflix. I seriously doubt it will change my life, though, except in that I haven't watched a TV-sitcom in years.
I watched the first episode of AD and don't believe it will challenge your worldview in any way, rollhead. If anything it will likely confirm it. Your friend must have been referring to your lack of humor.
The only revelation I got from it is that I did not think any TV sitcom would ever be made that did not feature what sounds like a roomful of morons guffawing at the weakest punchlines.
Last edited by groover; January-7th-2013 at 10:31 AM.
loving justified as usual. the girls is back tonight. only one more episode of the fringe left on friday. i have really enjoyed the fringe from beginning to end and will miss it a lot.
Dug what I thought as the coolest scene of the TV season. Was watching the new take on Sherlock Holmes "Elementary" In this episode is the first mention of Moriarty and in the closing scene Holmes is clearing off his crime board while Gil Scott's Devil and Me track is playing.Scence fades to black as Holmes sits and stares a a single notecard pined to the board with Moriarty written on it as the Scott track jams. Way Cool! Peace and all that
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Originally Posted by LennyH
