Telly woes
Jan. 22nd, 2008 12:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartWell, either I'm getting progressively stupid at my old age, or today's offer in sci-fi and/or fantasy television are utter tripe. Not that the two would be mutually exclusive, mind you. But I find that there's barely anything I could really enjoy.
After two separate efforts to suffer through Lost, I've given up on that show entirely. It's just too confusing for me, and I don't have the time and the nerve to sit in front of the TV and get bored to death while trying to find some clues that might enlighten me what's actually going on behind the scenes. I've even consulted my seventh-grade-students, but it didn't help. So I won't waste my time on it anymore.
I've seen a couple of episodes from Supernatural, but quickly decided that it would be a waste of my time. The basic idea is a dead horse that has been repeatedly beaten anymore, the writing is poor, and I can't develop any attachment to the main characters, who, frankly, annoy the living Hell out of me.
Then there was Heroes. I know, it's supposed to be the great new thing in episodic television, so I duly gave it a try. It didn't do a thing for me, except confusing me to death. Well, I got to see George Takei as Hiro's father, which was a bonus, and I like Leonard Roberts, but that's not enough for me to watch the show.
I never liked these forced conspiracy stories, orchestrated by some shadowy background characters like certain government parties or secret organizations. I even got bored with the original Stargate series when they brought in that particular element, although I must admit that Colonel Maybourne was the most charming villain. And I could only enjoy the X-Files as it was about the monster of the week. The government conspiracy parts simply bored me. Perhaps because for us, here, that sort of thing belonged to the daily life - no-one wanted to watch them for entertainment.
So, what else is there in the moment? No decent sci-fi at all - for me, Atlantis died the day they killed off Dr. Beckett, not that I'd have liked the show anything close to the way I loved the original Stargate... and I wouldn't touch the "reimagined" BSG with a ten-foot-pole.
So, I'm practically forced to watch crime series - not because they're so much better, but because I care less when they turn out to be utter trash. They're not my most favourite genre anyway. But there isn't much, either. Criminal Minds is getting increasingly convulted and sick, all three CSi series are indulging in what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lhun_dweller calls "corpse pr0n", with autopsies made onscreen and pathologists playing around with inner organs and all that.
Cold Case is actually a good concept, but the pace is so slow, I always fall asleep... even though the flashback scenes molding into real time scenes are interesting sometimes. Without a Trace was interesting at first, but has become very repetitive, I find. And watching Anthony LaPaglia looking troubled can only keep be before the screen so long (although I do like the guy).
I occasionally watch Crossing Jordan, although I find the main character annoying. But the supporting ones are wonderful, so I watch it for them. Other than that, I'm sticking to fake German court shows and crime-themed docu-soaps. They only take 25 minutes to watch, after all, and they force me to listen to various German dialects, which is a good thing.
I wish they'd show more reruns of old series, if they're incapable to produce any good new ones, though. Granted, I've got ungodly amounts of VHS cassettes, and nowadays even some DVDs, but somehow that lacks the atmosphere of waiting anxiously to the airing of a really good show and sitting in front of the screen, biting my nails as I did with Star Trek, B5, Andromeda (okay, it was a bit trashy, but I loved the first two seasons, before they unmanned Tyr) or the original Stargate.
And, you Germans out there - anyone still remembers Raumpatrouille? Oh, my childhood! What a trashy show - and how much I used to love it!
After two separate efforts to suffer through Lost, I've given up on that show entirely. It's just too confusing for me, and I don't have the time and the nerve to sit in front of the TV and get bored to death while trying to find some clues that might enlighten me what's actually going on behind the scenes. I've even consulted my seventh-grade-students, but it didn't help. So I won't waste my time on it anymore.
I've seen a couple of episodes from Supernatural, but quickly decided that it would be a waste of my time. The basic idea is a dead horse that has been repeatedly beaten anymore, the writing is poor, and I can't develop any attachment to the main characters, who, frankly, annoy the living Hell out of me.
Then there was Heroes. I know, it's supposed to be the great new thing in episodic television, so I duly gave it a try. It didn't do a thing for me, except confusing me to death. Well, I got to see George Takei as Hiro's father, which was a bonus, and I like Leonard Roberts, but that's not enough for me to watch the show.
I never liked these forced conspiracy stories, orchestrated by some shadowy background characters like certain government parties or secret organizations. I even got bored with the original Stargate series when they brought in that particular element, although I must admit that Colonel Maybourne was the most charming villain. And I could only enjoy the X-Files as it was about the monster of the week. The government conspiracy parts simply bored me. Perhaps because for us, here, that sort of thing belonged to the daily life - no-one wanted to watch them for entertainment.
So, what else is there in the moment? No decent sci-fi at all - for me, Atlantis died the day they killed off Dr. Beckett, not that I'd have liked the show anything close to the way I loved the original Stargate... and I wouldn't touch the "reimagined" BSG with a ten-foot-pole.
So, I'm practically forced to watch crime series - not because they're so much better, but because I care less when they turn out to be utter trash. They're not my most favourite genre anyway. But there isn't much, either. Criminal Minds is getting increasingly convulted and sick, all three CSi series are indulging in what
lhun_dweller calls "corpse pr0n", with autopsies made onscreen and pathologists playing around with inner organs and all that.Cold Case is actually a good concept, but the pace is so slow, I always fall asleep... even though the flashback scenes molding into real time scenes are interesting sometimes. Without a Trace was interesting at first, but has become very repetitive, I find. And watching Anthony LaPaglia looking troubled can only keep be before the screen so long (although I do like the guy).
I occasionally watch Crossing Jordan, although I find the main character annoying. But the supporting ones are wonderful, so I watch it for them. Other than that, I'm sticking to fake German court shows and crime-themed docu-soaps. They only take 25 minutes to watch, after all, and they force me to listen to various German dialects, which is a good thing.
I wish they'd show more reruns of old series, if they're incapable to produce any good new ones, though. Granted, I've got ungodly amounts of VHS cassettes, and nowadays even some DVDs, but somehow that lacks the atmosphere of waiting anxiously to the airing of a really good show and sitting in front of the screen, biting my nails as I did with Star Trek, B5, Andromeda (okay, it was a bit trashy, but I loved the first two seasons, before they unmanned Tyr) or the original Stargate.
And, you Germans out there - anyone still remembers Raumpatrouille? Oh, my childhood! What a trashy show - and how much I used to love it!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 08:54 am (UTC)I do like Without A Trace, but you're entirely right that it's repetitive. I watch it when I'm working it, though, so it's ideal for that: the noise of the exercise bike means I often miss bits of dialogue, but because there are no surprises, I can follow what's happening.
Right now I'm watching Old Skool Doctor Who (Tom Baker's early stories) and The Wire (cops'n'drugs in Baltimore).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 07:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 07:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 09:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 08:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 09:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 02:03 am (UTC)I watched the first episode of Supernatural but found it boring and gave up. All those crime shows seem interchangeable and focus on gory, lurid crimes far too much. I might watch the occasional episode but that's it.
"And I could only enjoy the X-Files as it was about the monster of the week. The government conspiracy parts simply bored me. Perhaps because for us, here, that sort of thing belonged to the daily life - no-one wanted to watch them for entertainment."
That was true for me as well. I found the government conspiracy/arc episodes less interesting than many of the stand-alone monster/mutant/weird event episodes. In part it was because I knew we'd never learn the full extant of the government plots until the end of the show if even then, so it felt like watching a dead end.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 11:47 am (UTC)The only comic-based thing I really enjoyed was Blade - the series, not the movie, although I found the series lead a really bad casting choice. But again, Wesley Snipes' shoes are hard to fill.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-25 06:20 pm (UTC)It's a sort-of-crime-show called "Numb3rs," in which mathematics is used to solve the crime du jour. The Beloved and I both like, even if some of the later seasons have not been as strong. The show revolves around two brothers: one is an FBI team leader in LA and the other is a genius-level mathematician. The latter shares their childhood house with his father, played by Judd Hirsch. And the three of them make a believable family - a rare thing indeed in American TV these days. While there is always a crime to be solved, the relationship between the brothers is an equally important dimension.
Other things I like about the show include:
- a competent and interesting supporting cast playing interesting characters who do good and bad things, who learn and fail to learn
- the absence of fixation on the gore and violence (no "corpse pr0n")
- smart, capable female characters who are neither overcompensating (trying to prove themselves) nor solving crimes in designer clothing that bares as much skin as TV standards permit
- main characters who are not sleeping together ("Without a Trace" really disappointed me on that front - I was willing to grant the one affair, even though it was boss and subordinate, but then there was another and another... good grief, get another plot idea!)
So, keep an eye out for that one, as I think you might enjoy it, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-25 07:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, the not sleeping together part is great. The worst part of "Without a Trace" is the affair/are the affairs, and with that stupid, wooden woman, too!
a belated addition to this comment
Date: 2008-03-08 09:38 pm (UTC)It was SOOOOO gratuitous that I was just appalled. Even the testy scene between her and another male agent that actually recognized the effects of having a subordinate "sleeping with the boss" can't make up for such obvious titillation. Argh.
Re: a belated addition to this comment
Date: 2008-03-08 09:56 pm (UTC)Re: a belated addition to this comment
Date: 2008-03-08 11:53 pm (UTC)Granted, she wore it well, but it was such a disappointment.
Re: a belated addition to this comment
Date: 2008-03-08 11:57 pm (UTC)