Those Swine At Comcast

[Sean]

LJ, in reference to one of your comments on HD. There is absolutely no problem in high lighting conditions, at least for LCDs. I have a Sony LCD in the living room with full south facing windows and clearstories, no blinds or curtains and no glare or anything, with daily high altitude NM sunlight. I believe those issues were on plasmas.

Any backlit display (this includes LCD) is susceptible to glare. There have been efforts to reduce this including anti-glare coating (reduces colour contrast) and edge-lighting (drastically reduces colour contrast). These issues are found with both LCD and plasma screens but the fact that plasma's colour contrast and deep black are far superior to LCD's to begin with means that plasmas can be coated without sacrificing too much in picture quality.

[Liberty1]

All LCDs are backlit in one way or the other, that's the light the LCD uses to create the image. Regardless, LJs got an old tube set and if you don't put the LCD and plasma side by side, he'd never know the difference, he would just stare in amazment. When I was shopping for a TV, no LCDs had glare issues, all plasmas did.

LCD TV Advantages

LCD TVs have advantages over Plasma TVs in the following areas: no burn-in susceptibility, cooler running temperature, less screen glare, more functional at high altitudes, longer display life (although improvements are being made in Plasma screen life), looks better in brightly lit rooms due to the ability to produce a naturally brighter image, and less power consumption than Plasma.

[Sean]

With all due respect Liberty, I'm going to go with my professional experience rather than about.com's "home theater enthusiast".
I oversee the design, purchase, installation and maintenence of AV equipment and control systems for the university where I work. I have bought LCDs for some spaces, plasmas for others and projectors for yet others. I generally build/refurbish 80-100 spaces per year.

I am very aware of how LCDs work and I can guarantee that they are not all backlit. True, LCDs do not produce light so they all use external illumination but you should look up 'edge-lit' LCDs... they were developed to combat the glare issue with LCDs. I'm pleased that you do not have any issues with glare at home but this does not mean that LCDs do not suffer from glare issues.

Incidentally, LJ is smarter than all of us. When it comes to colour depth and contrast ratio neither LCD or plasma are even close to a CRT yet...

[The Hen]

I agree Jim, this weird obsession with Brits over quality rather than quantity is very odd indeed.

I love the 'yearning for more' you get with a good, limited run comedy series.

[Sean]

Fawlty Towers
Blackadder
The Office
The Royle Family
The Inbetweeners
Gavin & Stacey
I'm Alan Partridge

Examples of shows I would love to see more of but am glad they finished before they had a chance to go stale.

Still, I've got this to look forward to...

[Crackpot]

I tend to like the shows that follow a story arc. Shows that have a story to tell and tell it. Episodes the develop a plot rather than the plot being a loose framework for the episode. As ling as the plot is developing reasonably I could care less how long it lasts. One of my favorite shows right now is Burn Notice and so far it has been very good at advancing the main plot as the seasons go on but I'm starting to worry that in an effort to put off resolution the main plot will jump the shark if they don't wrap it up soon. (just how many layers of conspiracy can they add before it goes into full-on MOTU territory)

[The Hen]

I agree on every show there Sean. And I too am looking forward to the Inbetweeners.

Neil is such a good dancer in a train-crash kind of way.



I enjoy those types of shows too Crackpot, but comedy is my weakness and addiction.

[Guinevere]

I agree Jim, this weird obsession with Brits over quality rather than quantity is very odd indeed.

I love the 'yearning for more' you get with a good, limited run comedy series.

Not a comedy, but I am chomping at the bit for more Downton Abbey! I just re-watched the entire first run, and cannot wait for the second set of shows.

[Lord Jim]

I don't think there's any fast and universal rule about how many episodes a series should have...

There are shows that should never have had one episode, and others that were fresh and entertaining after a hundred....

[Lord Jim]

Okay, I think I've figured out what TNT is doing....

Whether or not you can fast forward the commercials seems to depend on how soon after the episode is broadcast that you watch it...

Last night, we watched the two newest episodes of Rizzoli and Isles...(an excellent show; I wish they'd make more episodes of this one and lose the cloying snoozearama Men Of A Certain Age..or at least stick it on Lifetime where it belongs....but again I digress...)

On the first episode, from two weeks ago, we were able to FF the commercials...(though most of them had been removed; the running time was 45 minutes)

On the second, that aired this past Monday, the FF was disabled and there was a full boat of commercials (the running time was 60 minutes)

[Guinevere]

That's not it -- at least not on mine. As i said above, I've watched the last Closer and R&I episodes the day after they were aired, and blew right through the FF.

BTW, R&I is an OK show --- but the books, written by Tess Gerritsen -- are so so much better. They've become one of my favorite mystery/thriller series.

[Sue U]

Last night, we watched the two newest episodes of Rizzoli and Isles...(an excellent show; I wish they'd make more episodes of this one and lose the cloying snoozearama Men Of A Certain Age..or at least stick it on Lifetime where it belongs....but again I digress...)

I guess that's why they make chocolate and vanilla. I can't stand Rizzoli -- there's absolutely zero chemistry between the leads and Angie Harmon is totally wrong for the role. (I'm not sure what role she's actually right for, given that her acting runs the gamut from stilted to wooden, but at least she wasn't offensive in L&O.) On the other hand, Men, when I have seen it, has been charming and very well played by all involved. ETA: Scott Bakula is particularly a revelation in this role; Andre Braugher is always terrific, bringing a lot of depth to a part, and let's face it, everybody does love Raymond.

[Long Run]

Gosh, I'm agreeing with Sue and disagreeing with Jim (I'll put a sticky note on the screen to remind that it can happen). Also wondering if the quality will be maintained in the last seasons for Rescue Me and The Closer (what is the deal with the last season having 10 episodes in the summer, 5-6 episodes in the winter and then another 5-6 episodes in the spring; sounds more like three seasons).

[Gob]

(what is the deal with the last season having 10 episodes in the summer, 5-6 episodes in the winter and then another 5-6 episodes in the spring; sounds more like three seasons).

Wow! Do they maintain any quality over that sort of span?

[Guinevere]

Angie Harmon really isn't bad as Rizzoli is actually written in the books. It's the other one I don't really like in the role. And tje faux gal-palling makes me nauseous. Not to mention the purposeful exaggerated contrasts between the women.

As for MoACA, doesn't that hit a bit to close to home for some of you???

[Long Run]

As for MoACA, doesn't that hit a bit to close to home for some of you???

You have to be able to laugh at the mirror (beats crying):

[oldr_n_wsr]

As for MoACA, doesn't that hit a bit to close to home for some of you???

I believe they hit my house about 10 years ago.
Now I am starring in "Men OVER a Certain Age".

[Long Run]

Speaking of The Closer, what a disappointment in the last episode was -- using a plot device involving stuff that never happens in the real legal world. SPOILER ALERT. Brenda is being sued for a wrongful death, and the other side proposed a settlement at a reasonable sum of money. The ridiculous plot was that the settlement really wasn't a settlement since the plaintiff only agreed to drop the current legal action but nothing prevented the plaintiff from refiling, and there was a clause in which Brenda states that her concern for the deceased's life fell short of professional standards. Every real-life settlement I've ever looked has the amount of the settlement number one, and second a full and complete release (stated with about 400 redundant synonyms) including dismissal of the legal action with prejudice (occasionally there will be a dismissal without prejudice, but it is expressly stated whether the plaintiff may file another legal action). So essentially, the legal document would have Brenda admit to negligence, and have the city pay the plaintiff a nice chunk of money to fund the plaintiff's next litigation against the city for many multiples of damage. Further plot silliness was that it took more than one minute for a top lawyer to figure this out (let alone any reasonably thinking lay person), or that a plaintiff's attorney of any repute would try to "pull a fast one" on experienced lawyers by such action.

Such non-possible law/medical/etc. stuff happens often on tv, but usually not so much on good shows. Okay, back to your regular programming.