[urgeok2]

Back in the 80's I swore off TV. Beta machines were available for rent (too damn expensive to buy yet), and the movie channel's were starting up on cable.

this was because i loved movies - and TV was almost 100% garbage. sitcoms and game shows. The last show i watched around that time which i enjoyed was Happy Days.

since then - i've watched nothing but movies. Every now and then someone would 'force' me to watch something on TV when i was at their place .. because this new show was sooooo awsome.

Like that TV show Bruce Willis started on .. all i saw was a TV version Mickey Rourke wannabe.

then cheers .... crap

seinfield .... garbage

friends ... FUCK OFFFFFFFFFF !!!!

stupid shows. sit-coms are the absolute worse. obvious unfunny sexual innuendo isnt TV worthy .. yet people ate that shit up... (woahhh ... he really was implying ... 'his dick !!!! woahhh wow - crazy envelope pushing stuff right there.)

everything i saw made me hate TV more. It was obvious home video was having an effect. the little snippets i saw showed that TV was upping the ante - trying to compete with home video. even commercials were higher gloss ... employing a lot of film techniques (which work better in a film, mr shakey cam trying to make a pain killer commercial seem less static)

but....


something has happened lately ... thanks to DVD, thanks to HBO ...

I've found some TV shows i actually like lately. Dead Like Me, Dexter, Battlestar Galactica, arrested developement, robot chicken... i even found Boston Legal entertaining thanks largely to James Spader, William Shatner, and some snappy writing that seems to avoid most of the shit chiches the crap from back in the day fell into.

and because i watch them on DVD .. no commercials .. i can fast forward through opening credits ... i dont have to wait a week for the conclusion of a cliff hanger.

I've even gone back and gotten some old series boxsets for nostalgias sake.


Now - i'm not saying that i expect to like even the shows i dig forever. these things have a habit of falling in on themselves.

The ideas run out, the writers change, series are stretched out far longer than they should be to keep the cash coming.
See, a big change for the dramatic series is that you have to see them from the very beginning. the trend has been lately - that the season is one big story... you cant jump into it from the middle - you miss the whole point.

it's cool in one way - but bad in another - often they try to stretch a show to serve the running time ... so instead of the tight lean show that started ... it becomes bloated and less relevant as it goes.

I'm praying the shows i like dont go this way. I havent seen season 3 of Dexter yet - and each year i'm almost afraid to watch the new season because i dont want to be there when they run out of ideas ... especially since the premise itself presents some serious limitations. so far some very clever and talented people have avoided this trap .. but sooner or later it's bound to happen.

Battlestar Galactica is ending after season 4. gotta respect that.
eventually there needs to be a resolution ... not something rushed because the series didnt get renewed .... but something planned .. the natural completion of the story.

its definately better to burn out - than to fade away.



sorry about the ramble. feel free to mention all of the crappy shows you watch that i'm likely to despise :D