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Thread: teevee sucks

  1. #1711
    I like to watch retro TV shows like Perry Mason! Part of the 'fun' is seeing how much has changed since the 50's -- when police line-ups and photo arrays were filled with confirmation bias; how police questioned suspects before Miranda Rights; and how court witnesses were sworn in without having to put their hand on the bible or say "swear to God".

    The other old show I like is 'Emergency!' that started in 1970. Before there was 911, let alone cell phones or smart phones, and when fire dept. parmedics was a new-fangled experiment. omg the ambulances looked like hearses and the paramedics had to get physician approval to start an IV. The first generation cervical collars were sand bags + tape, and their fire rescue equipment was a bunch of hemp ropes and carabiners, sometimes a mask and O2 tank. It's crazy to realize how much has improved since then. It makes the old shows almost comical.

    btw Julie London (nurse Dixie) has a great album history, and she was married to Bobby Troup (Dr. Early) who was a jazz musician (and also appeared in some Perry Mason episodes).

  2. #1712
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    Is anyone else watching season 5 of the Crown and finding it a bit boring? It pretty much turned into the Charles and Diana files. And it feels even more than before as an attempt at writing history. Tbh, I don't remember if they put up a disclaimer, but it would be a lie, now more than ever.
    Congratulations America

  3. #1713
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lewkowski View Post
    HOTD is so damn good.
    I think I will agree.
    Congratulations America

  4. #1714
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    Quote Originally Posted by GGT View Post
    I like to watch retro TV shows like Perry Mason! Part of the 'fun' is seeing how much has changed since the 50's -- when police line-ups and photo arrays were filled with confirmation bias; how police questioned suspects before Miranda Rights; and how court witnesses were sworn in without having to put their hand on the bible or say "swear to God".

    The other old show I like is 'Emergency!' that started in 1970. Before there was 911, let alone cell phones or smart phones, and when fire dept. parmedics was a new-fangled experiment. omg the ambulances looked like hearses and the paramedics had to get physician approval to start an IV. The first generation cervical collars were sand bags + tape, and their fire rescue equipment was a bunch of hemp ropes and carabiners, sometimes a mask and O2 tank. It's crazy to realize how much has improved since then. It makes the old shows almost comical.

    btw Julie London (nurse Dixie) has a great album history, and she was married to Bobby Troup (Dr. Early) who was a jazz musician (and also appeared in some Perry Mason episodes).
    Interesting how you manage to watch these old shows. I have the experience that almost without fail these old shows look too silly to even bother.
    Congratulations America

  5. #1715
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    Finally gotten around to watching Babylon 5
    This explains many things!

    And yet also perplexes!
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  6. #1716
    Also, I as the last remnant of national socialism, recommend Interview with The Vampire. Those fellows sure show racists what is up!
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  7. #1717
    Quote Originally Posted by Nessus View Post
    This explains many things!

    And yet also perplexes!
    gave up after a few episodes
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  8. #1718
    What about Space: 1999?

    Babylon 5 at least isn't very problematic in the modern sense that there isn't that much casual racism, as in say Stargåte: SG-1

    You might find the character arc of a certain mister Garibaldi amusing given everything that happened after mister Trump's wild escalator ride, but that would entail actually investing time and we already know how that works out
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  9. #1719
    I'm trying to think and I honestly can't come up with a television series that does not reward on some level being aware of the previous episodes. Even sitcoms such as Frasier remind the viewer that indeed Niles is unhappy in his marriage, that Niles lusts after Daphne, and that Niles is married to an impossibly skinny woman. Is there a television programme one may simply sit down to enjoy, as presented, without foreknowledge or indeed the expectation that they might need to carry any recognition from one scene to the next?

    Even the news requires, on some level, that the viewer is cognizant of some basic things such as geography and what constitutes "cold" when speaking of the weather.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  10. #1720
    Also, as a doctor of medicine, you are being majorly ableist in dismissing the first season of the show, given what we know of Michael O'Hare.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  11. #1721
    Quote Originally Posted by Hazir View Post
    Interesting how you manage to watch these old shows. I have the experience that almost without fail these old shows look too silly to even bother.
    You sound like my kids, who think anything made in B & W is old and boring. Not enough action or CGI special effects to hold their attention, or something. I like to watch for the social cues, everything from fashion trends to gender roles; it's like comparative literature meets modern theater, just on the small screen, compressed into 60 minute plots. Plus, there's really no new theme at all, it's just Shakespeare in different clothes and back-drops....simply entertainment

  12. #1722
    Quote Originally Posted by Nessus View Post
    This explains many things!

    And yet also perplexes!
    How did I miss him saying that? Welcome to the B5 club, Aimless! The 5-season boxed set was the very next thing I purchased when I got my first DVD player in college back in the early 00s.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    gave up after a few episodes

    What? No! Keep going. It gets better, I promise.
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  13. #1723
    finally got around to seeing Only Murders in the Building and I wanna know why people investigating a murder—in a building they share with a murderer—never look through the peephole before opening the door

    Quote Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy View Post
    What? No! Keep going. It gets better, I promise.
    I'm gonna check out the highlights at 1.5x speed
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  14. #1724
    The Last of Us is pretty good, but since I never played the game it better amp up pretty fast or I may lose interest.

    David Attenborough narrating nature series never fails. Love love love his voice. And the photography/videography is always amazing and stupendous.

  15. #1725
    Been watching Picard s3 for awhile now.
    I'm really happy with this show.

    Considering how much TNG and Star Trek has meant for me during the decades I really wish I could meet Patrick Stewart some day.

  16. #1726
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    I don't really like Picard. Not only don't all those old faces make me feel nostalgic, but I also get a feeling like they're trying too hard. I don't like this predictable fanboy writing. I knew it was Q before they showed the actor, the last episode I knew the next thing I'd see would be a Borg cube.

    Succession on the other hand is writing television history. Season 4 so far is epic. I doubt there are enough awards in the world to do that show justice.
    Congratulations America

  17. #1727
    Quote Originally Posted by rille View Post
    Been watching Picard s3 for awhile now.
    I'm really happy with this show.

    Considering how much TNG and Star Trek has meant for me during the decades I really wish I could meet Patrick Stewart some day.
    The first two seasons had better storylines, but I've enjoyed season 3 the most (despite the season 3 curse manifested in Jack). I'm not really one for Star Trek nostalgia—I just like seeing these actors do their thing. Just saw the finale, not too keen on the final scene tbh.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  18. #1728

  19. #1729
    You really owned the libs there, Lewk.

  20. #1730
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    You really owned the libs there, Lewk.
    Actually TV is good now

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/tucker-car...ry?id=98801613
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  21. #1731
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    You really owned the libs there, Lewk.
    I am a bit surprised they're making it though. I also wonder how they're gonna bridge the chasm between woke hate for Rowling and trying to be more inclusive. That being more inclusive worries me a bit, because on average 'better representation' also leads to bland content.
    Congratulations America

  22. #1732
    Quote Originally Posted by Nessus View Post

    You might find the character arc of a certain mister Garibaldi amusing given everything that happened after mister Trump's wild escalator ride, but that would entail actually investing time and we already know how that works out
    Amusing how? Just in a "this has tangentially relevant themes" way, or is there something more; it's been a long while since I last did a re-watch.

  23. #1733
    MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, for a teevee show old enough that most of the cast has died by now:

    Mister Garibaldi gets used and abused by a supremacist group, specifically to play with his paranoias and fears in order to subvert his actual persona and make him a caricature of what he was presented as earlier in the show. You can read it as a generic "this is what fascism does" kind of allegory, but I think, just personally, that it gained a whole new salience with all the stupidity around mister Trump.

    But you are right in your criticism, everything in a show that old has tangentially relevant themes and that's about it, no one really expected a science fiction show from the 90's to predict the future, right?
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  24. #1734
    Honestly, I never read that part that way; likely due to being delivered via obstinately magical mind control powers. Though the way it's described as a subtle adjustment seems to line up with this interpretation, will need to keep it in the back of my mind whenever I decide to go through watching it all again.

  25. #1735
    It is shown as a kind of rape. Mister Garibaldi absolutely loses it when mister Bester shows him what happened. Uh, SPOILER ALERT again. But it is sort of believable what he does, to us the viewers, isn't it? He helps that nice family get back together, he tells Sheridan to piss right off with his righteousness and he's not wrong there, etc.

    From the start, mister Garibaldi was presented as someone who distrusts authority. His character arc is very painful, since he gets mind-assaulted by mister Bester, but we also have G'Kar, who undergoes a lot of SPOILER ALERT physical torture to become a better person than he was at the opening of the series. And Londo SPOILER WARNINGS does the opposite, he becomes his worst self by the end, because he did not stop himself.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  26. #1736
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    Strangely enough I know all the characters but forgot most of what they did.
    Congratulations America

  27. #1737
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    I can't believe nobody here recommended 'Righteous Gemstones'. Really y'all?
    Congratulations America

  28. #1738
    Quote Originally Posted by Hazir View Post
    I am a bit surprised they're making it though. I also wonder how they're gonna bridge the chasm between woke hate for Rowling and trying to be more inclusive. That being more inclusive worries me a bit, because on average 'better representation' also leads to bland content.
    I wonder do other countries have this problem? Does India worry about not having enough white actors? Does the African movie industry worry about not having enough Asians in roles? Does Japan worry about not having enough Indigenous representation? Or is this just a uniquely American and European nonsense?

  29. #1739
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    India runs circles around the West when it comes to colorism. And then they even blame this on the Brits. As if the British were the only cultural influence in their millenia of history.

    You should worry less though about the fact that people want non-white actors to get a shot than about the tendency to cast people in roles that are reflecting their lived experiences. As a gay man, it is my almost consistent experience that gay men playing the roles of gay men in movies strangely lack. Straight actors do a better job at playing gay men almost without fail. At least they can't afford to phone it in. I think I can say that a gay themed movie, made by gay movie makers almost immediately will drop to the absolute bottom of movies i will watch. And that's saying something for someone who before covid would be in an actual cinema several times a week.
    Congratulations America

  30. #1740
    Faith is Hope (see Loki's sig for details)
    If hindsight is 20-20, why is it so often ignored?

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