Saturday, November 11, 2006

Out Damned Box! Out!

While my TV time is being cut in half it's not really for lack of trying. It is lack of watchable programs.

Time to rant.
The sitcoms are almost dead according to network executives since they are too expensive and reality shows are more popular. I hate all reality shows but I occasionally watch the first season. Now people who love these pieces of audio/visual crap also hate real documentaries. A real documentary are those things on PBS that have lots of old nerds talking over real videos and non-CGI special effects. I happen to love Nova, Frontline, This Old House, etc. and think it's a slap in the face to say they need to compare it to Survivor.

Next rant we have "Fall Season Finales" which is just a lazy way to stretch out a season for those who don't understand why shows have repeats.

Then there are "Bonus Content Online". For the Sci-Fi channel it requires 40 minutes and a secret password. For NBC it is posted a day later. Now I want to sit on my couch and relax while my brain goes numb. I don't want to rush to the computer to see 4 extra minutes of boring dialogue that didn't make on the tube.

What do all these things have in common? They are done to bring in people who are not regular TV watchers to catch an episode or two. Watching a season on DVD is not being a real fan because those episodes are not exactly the same as the first run episodes. You can easily tell the comments of fake fans because they complain constantly of whats wrong with the shows they watch instead of just laying back and escaping for an hour or so.

Sure there are certain characters I don't like, The Cheerleader, Dr. Grey, Charlie Sheen, or the bad-wigged-TA(who may be a woman) on Veronica Mars, but I accept them as annoying and focus on the other parts of the show.

It's like reading a book you don't start in the middle and then quit right before the end and call the book stupid, meanwhile your going online to read what others said about the book. You either read the whole book or you don't.

I'm done back to the Star Wars Marathon on Cinemax.

5 comments:

  1. ........catchy title......i would have used it......but it seemed too naughty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A person is a "fake fan" because she complains about parts of the show? I'm not sure what I think of that. Part of the fun of watching a show is discussing it with other people who also watch it, and sometimes discussion includes complaining.

    Now, I DO have a problem with people who get OVERLY upset about certain plot twists, like the fans who were so mad that George slept with Meredith on GA. They equated it with rape and posted really angry comments on the official GA blog. Take it down a notch -- it is just a TV show.

    As for TV on DVD, I think it is the best thing ever. There are several shows that I was not aware of when they originally aired (like Firefly) or that I couldn't watch because they were on premium channels (such as Dead Like Me). Having them on DVD gives me another chance to watch them, and I don't think that makes me a "fake fan". I will admit that it has spoiled me a bit, though; I'm not as patient with cliffhangers as I used to be when I was a kid and didn't have any choice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember Dallas the cliffhanger of "Who Shot JR?" was stretched out due to a writers strike.

    You do understand what I mean, the obsession with certain shows is getting ridiculous. Analysis of frame by frame, spoilers a year in advanced, demanding extra content beyond the 1 hour in front of the TV.

    It was just a rant, I had to drop a class I was just venting.

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  4. Overanalyzing TV shows has become a sport, one that I am not very good at. I am fairly observant but I don't pick apart every little scene. If there is an interesting detail, I file it away in my brain to pull up when the show references it later.

    As for extra content, it is a mixed bag. It can enrich your viewing experience if it is done well. The blogs and podcasts for Grey's Anatomy are pretty good, while the graphic novels for Heroes take too long to load each page to be enjoyable. I've never heard of people DEMANDING extra content, though, and I hang out online with a lot of TV and SF geeks (the same people who overanalyze shows). Most of them say that the online content isn't really necessary to enjoy the show.

    ReplyDelete

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