WVUFootball29 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 not true...there's arrested development, except fox wants to cancel itedit: while my wife was flipping channels, we caught the end of wife swap (we swear we weren't watching it!) what caught our eye was the husband of the white trash family was wearing a Bills cap while smooching with his wife...supposedly the show CHANGED his life and he's going to help out around the house more or something 581268[/snapback] Of course they want to cancel it...it'll free up a time slot for Fox's new cant miss reality show, "Cooking with B-List Celebrities on a Hedonistic Island owned by Paris Hilton" Apparently its a new show that takes 5 star chefs and teams them with a celebrity whose last primetime television appearence was prior to 1997. They are then sent to a tropical island owned by slut extrodinare Paris Hilton where they must cook the best tasting dish while wearing only the clothes the stork gave them...watch out for those pesky grease burns! Seriously though, television has lost all its originality and the shows that are actually worth watching usually are cancelled too soon for the crap like Survivor, Simple Life, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Writing is a lost art. Today it's all sex jokes and potty humor. A sly sex joke or double entendre is OK...but only every once in a while. Today, we're getting pounded over the head with them, especially on these horrid sitcoms, like the Heather Graham one. BTW, Heather Graham's career has gone steadily downhill since "Boogie Nights". It hasn't helped that she basically traded a Catholic upbringing for a lifestyle that will have her doing third-rate porn on Skinemax by the end of 2009. (and yes, I stole that from Bill Simmons, so sue me.) Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 IMO, there are only three sitcoms worth watching right now and they're all on NBC. The Office My Name is Earl Scrubs 581243[/snapback] I know that the TV "purists" love to point out that this is a ripoff of the BBC show, but who cares? This is the funniest crap on TV without a doubt. Give me a night of bad Idol auditions, a couple of hours of 24, and a few episodes of The Office, and I only need to get up from the couch to refill my wine glass or grab another beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jokeman Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I know that the TV "purists" love to point out that this is a ripoff of the BBC show, but who cares? This is the funniest crap on TV without a doubt. Give me a night of bad Idol auditions, a couple of hours of 24, and a few episodes of The Office, and I only need to get up from the couch to refill my wine glass or grab another beer. 583497[/snapback] I was hesitant to watch The Office as I had seen the BBC version but I have to say the American version is as entertaining and easily the best sitcom on TV. I agree Scrubs and My Name and Earl are good too. It's odd too because less than a year ago I would have said NBC was the worst of the 4 "large" networks but it's slowly moving up past Fox and ABC as my second favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loadofmularkey Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I was hesitant to watch The Office as I had seen the BBC version but I have to say the American version is as entertaining and easily the best sitcom on TV. I agree Scrubs and My Name and Earl are good too. It's odd too because less than a year ago I would have said NBC was the worst of the 4 "large" networks but it's slowly moving up past Fox and ABC as my second favorite. 583980[/snapback] The Office is brilliant. It gets better and better every single week. Michael trying to fix his hair to look like Jim's ("What? I wear my hair like this...sometimes.") was hysterical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffal0 Bill5 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Writing is a lost art. Today it's all sex jokes and potty humor. A sly sex joke or double entendre is OK...but only every once in a while. Today, we're getting pounded over the head with them, especially on these horrid sitcoms, like the Heather Graham one. BTW, Heather Graham's career has gone steadily downhill since "Boogie Nights". It hasn't helped that she basically traded a Catholic upbringing for a lifestyle that will have her doing third-rate porn on Skinemax by the end of 2009. (and yes, I stole that from Bill Simmons, so sue me.) Mike 583493[/snapback] I concur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jokeman Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 The Office is brilliant. It gets better and better every single week. Michael trying to fix his hair to look like Jim's ("What? I wear my hair like this...sometimes.") was hysterical. 584006[/snapback] There are so many moments I could go on about but I almost made this one my signature: "I think one of the greatest things about modern America is the computerization of medical records. As a volunteer sheriff I can look up anyone’s psychiatric records or surgical histories. Yeast infections...there are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we’re downriver from that old bread factory…" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 The star of "My Name is Earl" caught chickenpox and filming is shut down for several weeks. When asked about where he caught it, I think he said something about shaking Charlie Sheen's hand at the Golden Globes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 The star of "My Name is Earl" caught chickenpox and filming is shut down for several weeks. When asked about where he caught it, I think he said something about shaking Charlie Sheen's hand at the Golden Globes. 584210[/snapback] on a serious note, catching chickenpox as an adult really truly sucks. i caught it when i was 22 and wished i had caught when i was a kid. was outta commission for about a week and felt gawd awful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loadofmularkey Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 There are so many moments I could go on about but I almost made this one my signature: "I think one of the greatest things about modern America is the computerization of medical records. As a volunteer sheriff I can look up anyone’s psychiatric records or surgical histories. Yeast infections...there are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we’re downriver from that old bread factory…" 584105[/snapback] One of my personal favorites is from last season: "Abraham Lincoln once said, 'If you are a racist...I will attack you with the North'. And those are the principles that I carry with me today in the workplace." Also, Dwight throwing up all over his car a few weeks ago was incredible. Great show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet baboo Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I was hesitant to watch The Office as I had seen the BBC version but I have to say the American version is as entertaining and easily the best sitcom on TV. I agree Scrubs and My Name and Earl are good too. It's odd too because less than a year ago I would have said NBC was the worst of the 4 "large" networks but it's slowly moving up past Fox and ABC as my second favorite. 583980[/snapback] I'm having some trouble with the office but it might just be because i'm getting tired of steve carell since arrested development looks like it's not coming back for a while i figure i'll give the office another shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 since arrested development looks like it's not coming back for a while i figure i'll give the office another shot 585088[/snapback] why do networks give up on shows like arrested development and firefly, but keep showing crap like survivor and trading spouses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 why do networks give up on shows like arrested development and firefly, but keep showing crap like survivor and trading spouses? 585132[/snapback] Uh, because most people are too stupid to watch good television? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Anybody ever catch the BBC show Coupling on PBS? It's funny as hell and a lot more bawdy than the crap that passes for sitcoms from the U.S. networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Uh, because most people are too stupid to watch good television? 585140[/snapback] Advertising drives content. The lowest common denominator (greatest mass) currently drives advertising. Google, or at least the Google model of targeted advertising will eventually makes its way to television. Right now, advertising on TV is like direct mail: Blast the message out to everyone to ensure you hit the folks you're trying to reach. However, eventually advertisers should be able to reduce costs by only sending their messages to the folks most likely looking to buy their products/services. Here's an interesting take on what can happen. It turns out, the revolution will be televised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Had an interesting experience last year. First night in Ukraine I turned on the tube and realized all TV was in Russian. Never watched it unless to brush on Russian language skills for six months. I haven't gotten back into much of a TV mode since I've been back other than to watch occassional sports or a neat movie on tv. Haven't seen any of the sitcoms..read a few good books and spend evenings with family and friends away from the tube. Gave up reality tv for reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Uh, because most people are too stupid to watch good television? 585140[/snapback] It also has to do with the economies of the TV biz. Here's an over simplistic primer: Crappy "reality" shows are MUCH cheaper to produce than scripted shows...and they tend to be owned by the network wheras most scripted shows are not. A network may buy 13 (or sometimes 6) episodes of a scripted show...not committing to it until they see how it performs. It gets a chance or two (usually in a crappy time slot)...doesn't do great numbers and the network abandons it...changes it's time period several times, doesn't p romote it, etc. OTOH, the network owned POS "reality" series is REALLY cheap so they produce many episodes. They give it a ton of promotion (it's their show, after all) tend to give it a good time slot and stick with it for awhile, as they have little to lose and a lot to gain. There's much more involved, of course...and the stupidity and lack of taste of the masses is certainly ont of those things (I would argued that's been cultivated by the media...but, I stray). The bottom line, of course, is ALWAYS (or nearly always) $$$$$. And, contrary to popular belief, larger audience does not always equal more $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jokeman Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Anybody ever catch the BBC show Coupling on PBS? It's funny as hell and a lot more bawdy than the crap that passes for sitcoms from the U.S. networks. 585504[/snapback] I used to catch it on BBC America and every so often catch it on PBS. Infact I bought a buddy of mine the first two seasons on DVD the last two Xmas' (he really likes Jane). NBC tried to bring it over here and failed, that's why I hesitant to watch The Office to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jokeman Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 why do networks give up on shows like arrested development and firefly, but keep showing crap like survivor and trading spouses? 585132[/snapback] I like Survivor but agree about trading spouses et all. I also enjoyed Arrested Development when got to watch it the first season but missed most of the second season due to a shift change and never caught up with it. Though if the additional seasons come out on DVD I'm sure I'll be looking for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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