Jumping the bandwagon

[_lethe_]

Today callmemadam posted the questions to the thirty-day book meme that's been doing the rounds and while I find that one too much hard work (not to mention the fact that I haven't even touched a book in three months), it did inspire me to do its twin, the TV meme instead. Maybe posting the answers for thirty consecutive days will help me kick-start my LJ

Comments

[chetbakerfan]

showcasing our very different tastes,

Glory Days (early ediie cahill show), which bore a striking similarity to the recently cancelled Happy Town. Glory Days was better. and was at some point available on dvd in Deutschland.

Freakylinks (with ethan embry and dennis christopher). like nothing i'd ever seen, except maybe a more paranoid x-files. the pilot, concerning the truth about the disappearance of the colonists at the early virginia colony at Roanoake, scared me like nothing i'd ever seen on TV. when the show was cancelled, its equally creepy website (which actually looked like a real site on mysterious and paranormal occurances) was hacked and the start-up screen was replaced with TV static and the words 'all your base are belong to us.'

[_lethe_]

I must admit I have never even heard of either show (I understand from IMDb that Glory Days* was called Demontown in Europe, but it still does not ring a bell). Who knows, I might have loved them if I had been able to watch them. FreakyLinks certainly sounds interesting.

So maybe it's not a question of our tastes being so different, unless of course you think Arrested Development and Dead Like Me are bad, in which case you have a point!

*And now I have the Bruce Springsteen song stuck in my head, arrrgh...

[chetbakerfan]

my german dvd of glory days is called CSL: Crime Scene Lake Glory- probably a later attempt to cash in.

actually i enjoy anything with jason bateman (his son in AD being called George Michael was particularly amusing), and hope someday to have him portray me in a film of my life. ;)

[_lethe_]

Ha yes, George Michael. :)

hope someday to have him portray me in a film of my life. ;)
Now, wouldn't that be lovely!

Michael is my favourite character in AD, I just love Jason's deadpan delivery.

[heartofdavid]

Personally I think most TV series (particularly American ones, because of their long seasons compared to British series) go on well beyond their sell-by date, with every new season being less good than the previous one. A phenomenon I find quite interesting is that eventually even the best comedy series turn into a soap...
Totally agree. Most shows that I've liked have ended with tarnished rather than fond memories in my mind, for just this same reason; they've petered out, watered down, faded into sickly ghosts of their former selves. And I think the soap opera factor is the culprit, not just for comedy shows but for dramas too. Producers fail to keep what made the shows great in the first place, and cast about blindly for subplots or sensationalism, and the essence of the show is lost. House is a case in point for me. The show works when it is centered on the character Gregory House, his issues, his demons. The last two or three seasons they've turned to long storylines about supporting characters, none of whom are remotely close

[chetbakerfan]

from an american's point of view, i think it's just that we seem to have more of everything over here; not necessarily in a good way.

[heartofdavid]

I agree. With television shows (and other things too), its more quantity than quality, with a moronic love of variations on a theme - the countless hospital based shows, the endless spin-offs (CSI - Palookaville, Law & Order: Parking Meter Unit, etc.), one boring talk show after another with semi-famous quasi-celebrity hosts, and the numerous "judge" shows. It goes beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel, it is taking the bottom, breaking it into splinters, and pretending each is a steel beam.

[_lethe_]

(ICON LOVE!!!)

I have never seen House so can't really comment on that, but from what I've gathered the show seems to be pretty formulaic, at least the cases in every episode (patient is ill, doctors think it might be this, treatment doesn't work, House finally discovers that it is an extremely rare case of that, and saves patient in the nick of time).

The last two or three seasons they've turned to long storylines about supporting characters

Oh, that's also what made the second season of Twin Peaks so boring in places. Endless James/Donna shit and I couldn't care less about them. I wanted Cooper! and Bob! and whoever else was important! (Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen it.)