TV 19 - Simpsons Did It

[Kepler]

The Colbert Obama interview was great.

Funny throughout. But it was jarring to see and hear a president.

We have been without a President for four years. It's great to have one coming in.

 

[Kepler]

BBC Dracula on Netflix, S1.

Excellent. A+ for episodes 1-2, A- for episode 3.

I hope they renew.

 

[Handyman]

To be honest, I knew I never wanted to live in NYC loooooong before I saw that show. Mostly on principle (too many people, it stinks, expensive, the usual dumb reasons). But also because I’ve spent enough time in NYC over the years.

Amazing place to visit, kinda crummy place to live.


(Also, two things. One, it took me far too long to realize what MTM meant. So read into that everything you possibly can.

And two, I agree. Probably. Because I’ve never seen MTM, keep reading into that, but TV and movie depictions are never right. Except Grumpy Old Men, Coach, and Mighty Ducks, they all but nailed it.)

It is sad that I hate the town of Wabasha cause it is nothing like Grumpy Old Men. Hell "Slipperys" in the film is actually the Knightcap in Nordeast! The real Slipperys in Wabasha sucks.

 

[Kepler]

Because I’ve never seen MTM

Oh Mister Grant!

You need to binge the entire show. Don't worry about the Minny connection (it's completely arbitrary, it could be any flyover city; think of it as Chicago right next door to Bob Newhart) but it's such a good comedy it stands up despite being from the worst period of TV history.

 

[state of hockey]

When this thing dies down and if I’m still breathing, a Mayslack’s/Knight Cap evening will need to be planned. I miss old dive bars. Gonna have to hit up The Spot as well.

 

[Scarlet]

I’ve been watching The West Wing since the election. Just an episode here and there. And then I saw the it I’ll be leaving Netflix on December 24. So I’ve been binging (bingeing?) the past few days. Just saw the Hartsfield Landing episode so I decided to watch the When We All Vote special the cast did this fall of that episode. It was really cool to watch both and how amazing a re-creation it was.

 

[state of hockey]

It is sad that I hate the town of Wabasha cause it is nothing like Grumpy Old Men. Hell "Slipperys" in the film is actually the Knightcap in Nordeast! The real Slipperys in Wabasha sucks.

I bet New Yorkers experience a lot of geographical nonsense in movies. Then there’s Torontonians, who often see their city as the backdrop of movies supposedly set elsewhere.

 

[Kepler]

I bet New Yorkers experience a lot of geographical nonsense in movies.

Virtually none of what passes for NYC in movies makes any sense.

+ Accents are interchangeable. Bronx, Brooklyn, Nassau, Suffolk, and Jersey accents are mixed up.
+ Scale is wrong. Poor hipsters live in gigantic lofts that would cost millions.
+ Aesthetics is wrong. Upper West Siders have places decorated like they were flyover trash with money, or Hollywood dipsh-ts.
+ Culture is infantile. Everybody talks in the Sorkin cadence and with the navel lint interests of 20-something Gender Studies graduates.
+ Manhattan is wrong. Everything is right next door. Natives frequent tourist traps. Nobody is black unless they're a lawyer.

I've always assumed every place portrayed in media is equally f-cked up and NYC is just more silly because it's a serial abuse victim.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

I bet New Yorkers experience a lot of geographical nonsense in movies. Then there’s Torontonians, who often see their city as the backdrop of movies supposedly set elsewhere.

I loved my neighborhood in nyc, but two places that were famous from tv shows were within a few blocks of my place and after a year I wanted to just start beating the tourists who would crowd the small sidewalks

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Hey, I've never lived in NYC and I was ready to punch the tourists a day into my first trip! That was right after I learned to throw my "Midwest Polite" out the window and cross against the light.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Hey, I've never lived in NYC and I was ready to punch the tourists a day into my first trip! That was right after I learned to throw my "Midwest Polite" out the window and cross against the light.

I think my favorite nyc moment was coming home one night and the magnolia bakery again had a long line and an old lady came home, and had to maneuver through the line to reach her front steps. She turned around and just screamed “you f***ing people. Every f***ing day for these f***ing cupcakes” and slammed her door

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Undoing was very well done. Enjoyed it. Been watching the Documentary Murder on Middle Beach which has been interesting. Also I started watching the series Pennyworth. With my cable package I just got this Epix thing and I have to say both Pennyworth and Britannia have been well done.

 

[dxmnkd316]

You can binge the last 2 seasons -- they are neither dramatically nor intellectually demanding. They aren't the quality drop off of other shows late in their runs (MASH, HIMYM, Cheers, Buffy) but they're still terrible.

I like to pretend House ended after S5. S6 is okay mainly for Alvie and Norton. The last two seasons are embarrassing and nothing important or interesting happens. They accentuate the weakest aspects of the show. IIRC there was either a contract dispute or a writer strike/change that helps explain why they are so much dumber and more maudlin.

The second the bus accident happens in the penultimate episode of S4 is the highwater mark. That episode in particular is a work of art, and that is the hinge the whole series turned on. There was plenty afterwards that was great -- Amber's haunting was brilliant and one of the best things on the show, and that was early S5. The final episode of S5 was outstanding -- maybe the best episode of the whole series -- and I'd have ended the show right there.

House's Head and Wilson's Heart are masterpieces. They were perfect. S5 with the music-only outro was amazing as well. God I miss great TV.

I have no idea what went wrong. House was the last great one. Maybe The Good Wife could have an argument. Everything else has been episodic ctrl+a, ctrl+c, ctrl+v. I think Blacklist and Person of Interest had promise, but they just weren't up to that same standard. A quick search of Metacritic shows only a handful of seasons were ever above 85 on network TV since 2004. Boston Med, 24, Lost, Friday Night Lights, Good Wife... That's it for dramas.

 

[Kepler]

House's Head and Wilson's Heart are masterpieces. They were perfect. S5 with the music-only outro was amazing as well. God I miss great TV.

I have no idea what went wrong. House was the last great one. Maybe The Good Wife could have an argument. Everything else has been episodic ctrl+a, ctrl+c, ctrl+v. I think Blacklist and Person of Interest had promise, but they just weren't up to that same standard. A quick search of Metacritic shows only a handful of seasons were ever above 85 on network TV since 2004. Boston Med, 24, Lost, Friday Night Lights, Good Wife... That's it for dramas.

Unless you count cable shows like West World.

Network TV has always sucked, with maybe one or two genuinely good shows per decade. What happened the last 20 years was the intelligent portion of the audience left the networks completely. That left the majors with Ow My Balls.

 

[SJHovey]

I've always assumed every place portrayed in media is equally f-cked up and NYC is just more silly because it's a serial abuse victim.

Rod Steiger starred in a made for tv movie about a guy named Gordon Kahl. Gordon Kahl was a farmer in North Dakota who got mixed up in the posse comitatus tax protest movement, and along with some family members/friends, got involved in a shootout in rural North Dakota with federal marshals and local law enforcement. The movie, set for the most part in North Dakota, was filmed entirely in the woods and mountains of Georgia.

Now, I don't know if you've ever been to North Dakota.

This is North Dakota.

This is North Dakota portrayed in the movie.

People were like "wut?"

 

[Kepler]

Rod Steiger starred in a made for tv movie about a guy named Gordon Kahl. Gordon Kahl was a farmer in North Dakota who got mixed up in the posse comitatus tax protest movement, and along with some family members/friends, got involved in a shootout in rural North Dakota with federal marshals and local law enforcement. The movie, set for the most part in North Dakota, was filmed entirely in the woods and mountains of Georgia.

Now, I don't know if you've ever been to North Dakota.

This is North Dakota.

This is North Dakota portrayed in the movie.

People were like "wut?"

LOL. That's gotta be among the best ever.

I personally will never get over how wherever Mulder & Scully went -- Maryland, Tennessee, Texas, or Mexico -- it looked like Nanaimo.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Unless you count cable shows like West World.

Network TV has always sucked, with maybe one or two genuinely good shows per decade. What happened the last 20 years was the intelligent portion of the audience left the networks completely. That left the majors with Ow My Balls.

Yeah, I didn't include cable because they have had spectacular shows.

Sopranos, THe Wire, West World, Game of Thrones, Succession, The Leftovers. That's just ONE cable channel.

The last time a network drama won the primetime emmy was 2006 with S5 of 24. Since then, only eight shows have even been nominated and none between 2011 and 2017:
This is Us ('17-'19), The Good Wife ('10-'11), Lost ('08-'10), House ('06-09), Boston Legal (07-'08), Grey's Anatomy ('06-'07), Heroes ('07), West Wing ('06)

I'm not counting Downton Abbey. I just don't think that they qualify here because they weren't the primary studio/channel/whatever.

With obvious eyerolls and caveats, House should have won in almost all of the years it ran, but cable finally started coming into their own and provided some stiff competition:
Season 2 - America's obsession with strongmen
Season 3 - Sopranos S6
Season 4 - Mad Men S1, Damages S1, Lost S4, Dexter S2
Season 5 - Mad Men S2, Breaking Bad S2

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Unless you count cable shows like West World.

Network TV has always sucked, with maybe one or two genuinely good shows per decade. What happened the last 20 years was the intelligent portion of the audience left the networks completely. That left the majors with Ow My Balls.

Big Sky on ABC which is new this year has been great. Same guy who did Undoing on HBO.

 

[French Rage]

LOL. That's gotta be among the best ever.

I personally will never get over how wherever Mulder & Scully went -- Maryland, Tennessee, Texas, or Mexico -- it looked like Nanaimo.

Well, until season 6 when it started looking like a bad back lot.

 

[Kepler]

Yeah, I didn't include cable because they have had spectacular shows.

Sopranos, THe Wire, West World, Game of Thrones, Succession, The Leftovers. That's just ONE cable channel.

The last time a network drama won the primetime emmy was 2006 with S5 of 24. Since then, only eight shows have even been nominated and none between 2011 and 2017:
This is Us ('17-'19), The Good Wife ('10-'11), Lost ('08-'10), House ('06-09), Boston Legal (07-'08), Grey's Anatomy ('06-'07), Heroes ('07), West Wing ('06)

I'm not counting Downton Abbey. I just don't think that they qualify here because they weren't the primary studio/channel/whatever.

With obvious eyerolls and caveats, House should have won in almost all of the years it ran, but cable finally started coming into their own and provided some stiff competition:
Season 2 - America's obsession with strongmen
Season 3 - Sopranos S6
Season 4 - Mad Men S1, Damages S1, Lost S4, Dexter S2
Season 5 - Mad Men S2, Breaking Bad S2

Mad Men was actually a better show than House, even at House's best. And House's last 2 seasons shouldn't have beaten anything unless it went up against Porky's IV: The Porkening.

OTOH, 24 shouldn't have won anything except Best Torture Porn Endorsed by Dick Cheney (the "Haspy"). That show was laughably terrible.

Is Better Call Saul network? That was a very good drama the first 2 seasons.