Television Gripes

[dgs49]

I know it's silly, but a lot of things bug me about prime time dramas.

Police break down a door or walk into a house, confront the Bad Guy, and the BG runs out the back door. A foot-chase follows. Jesus H. Christ, real police couldn't possibly be this stupid. Doesn't anyone think to watch the back-fucking-door? I realize there is some benefit to shooting an exciting chase scene, but really...

The putative Good Guy decides that he or she is finally going to kill the Bad Guy who has been ruining his/her life. S/he takes a gun, confronts the BG, then stands there explaining why the BG will soon be dead, when - OMG! - the BG suddenly grabs the gun out of her hand and turns the tables. I hope if the situation ever comes up in my personal life I will take my cue from Al Pacino in the Godfather. Pull out your gun, kill the fuckers, and walk out. No speeches, hesitation, no shaking gun, or any of that. Jesus. I get so tired of seeing this same scene (thwarted killing) over and over again on all the cop shows.

I realize I'm out of touch with the dating scene, but in television dramas ANY TIME one character has a date or even has a drink with another character it is assumed that they ended their evening doing the old in-and-out. Every other character in the show presumes it, and it is virtually never disputed. I can't remember the last time someone said, "Yes, we spent the evening together but didn't end up in bed." On the other hand, the writers sometimes cling tenaciously to what the refer to as "sexual tension" between main characters where they virtually sniff the other one's chair every time they leave the room, but it never leads to an actual sexual episode (NCIS-LA fans know of the most eggregious example of this). Honestly, the sexual tension thing DOES get old after a while.

Do these directors think the audience is totally unaware of what specific foreign accents sound like? Honestly, they seem to think that foreign accents are interchangeable. And of course American actors are, for the most part, horrible at imitating a foreign accent.

Finally, I wish I could blow up the dream world created by Shonda Rhimes in all of the shows she has created. Normal marriage is non-existent, half the cast is gay, inter-racial relationships and adoptions are ubiquitous, and men find chubby black women (like Shonda Rhimes) irresistable. Not to mention that most of the characters have the maturity of a 15 year old. Sheesh.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I don't watch prime time dramas. Glad there are AA meetings instead.

[Sean]

I love the way you used a five paragraph intro before you got to the point you wanted to make...

[liberty]

I love the way you used a five paragraph intro before you got to the point you wanted to make...

He is right, I don’t know about TV in your country but here it is a wasteland. What bothers me is the lack of imagination. There is a whole universe of programming possibilities but all they seem to want to do is copy each other. And don't get me started on the period pieces there they are even worse. I remember one program set in the middles ages where a peasant found a note that was lost on the road; he picked it up and read it on the spot. How likely would that have been?

[dales]

Not very likely, I'm afraid.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I used to have "TV Brick" It was a piece of foam made to look like a brick that I would throw at the TV when the stuff being shown sucked.

Remember Pink Floyds The Wall where Pink sings "I've got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from"?
Now we have hundreds of channels to choose from and most of it is shit.

I am grateful for AA meetings.


When I do sit down to watch, I usually do Discovery, History, Nat Geo or Animal Planet. Although one of the ESPN channels has a show 30/30 which does "documentaries?" about the behind the scenes goings on of a given athletes career. Last night they had a couple of shows about Ali and Tyson. I found them interesting.

[dales]

That's the only thing I would watch if I had television.

Right now, I watch reruns on U-Toob.

[dgs49]

I have a love/hate relationship with television programming and the television itself. I usually have it on and I'm either reading a Kindle book or fucking around on my I-pad while the program is on.

My wife and I watch 6-8 programs every week, as long as they are showing new episodes - most of which are finished about now. Otherwise, it's sports, car stuff, history programs, real estate programs, and whatever else I can find that looks momentarily interesting.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Duck Dynasty. Love that show.

[dales]

I watch that at my daughter's house.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Phil started QB ahead of Terry Bradshaw in college and turned down playing in the NFL (was drafted as a junior) because he didn't want to miss duck season.