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Topic: Useless TV (Read 134985 times)
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42654
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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I'm down with that.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I watched the entire run of Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter and I had a great time.
We then watched the first 2 episodes of Black Jesus. So far, so good. Apparently it's loosely based on some book?
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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I watched Neon Joe expecting garbage and it was as fun as Saul of the Molemen was.
Black Jesus gets better each season. I don't know if it's based on a book or not.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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My wife says I should read the Bible.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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TheWalrus
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4320
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Everybody should, once. It's great for a chuckle, if you can ignore the horrifying parts of it.
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vanilla folders - MediumHigh
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Viin
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6159
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My wife says I should read the Bible.
The author of SMBC just came out with an abridged Bible, part of his Religion: Ruining Everything Since 4004 BC Kickstarter campaign. Seems pretty accurate and only takes about 5 mins to read. Genesis God made everything, but humans keep screwing it up; some Jews move to Egypt, which seemed like a good idea at the time.
Exodus Pharaoh tried to kill the Hebrews, but he blew it, so they left, and then everyone accidentally worshipped a cow.
One of my favorites: 2 Samuel David kills a bunch of people, which is great, but then he sleeps with a married woman, and WOW is God mad about that. On the plus side, they have a kid named Solomon.
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« Last Edit: July 22, 2016, 12:29:04 PM by Viin »
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- Viin
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60348
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I wouldn't recommend anyone read the bible.
No good can come of it.
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Torinak
Terracotta Army
Posts: 847
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I wouldn't recommend anyone read the bible.
No good can come of it.
Some parts of it are pretty good, but most people ignore those (you know, the parts advocating being a basically-decent human being). There's a lot of begatting going on in the first bit, tons of brutality in the middle, some encouraging bits that end up going south for the speaker, and it ends with an epic boss fight. The sequel isn't as good as the original; it feels a bit tacked on in places.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60348
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Hollywood wasn't able to recreate the cultural and commercial success of the sequel until 1955.
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I never got through the first part of it because it reads like a fucking telephone book.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23638
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I never got through the first part of it because it reads like a fucking telephone book.
Jews take their begetting very seriously.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I wasn't going to read it just to get all the jokes and references in Black Jesus.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Khaldun
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15186
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There are some really interesting things about some of the older sitcoms when you look at them from a distance. For one, how edgy some of the marriages you see actually are. The Ricardos and the Mertzes both, Darren and Samantha, etc. The Cleavers really aren't the typical sitcom family, they're actually unusual. Also there's a few really old sitcom couples that really come across as sexually active young marrieds, despite the separate beds for the Ricardos and so on. Rob and Laura Petrie (Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore) especially.
A show that I found just completely unfunny on re-watching was Carol Burnett. Also, my god but Carson's skits on the Tonight Show were just abysmal. Even the monologues mostly. His only real strength was the interviewing, which he was pretty good at.
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Sir T
Terracotta Army
Posts: 14223
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One of my favorites: 2 Samuel David kills a bunch of people, which is great, but then he sleeps with a married woman, and WOW is God mad about that. On the plus side, they have a kid named Solomon.
Strictly speaking she wasn't married at the time becasue David had send the husband out into battle and arranged for him to get killed.
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Hic sunt dracones.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42654
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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A show that I found just completely unfunny on re-watching was Carol Burnett. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? That's like... comedy blasphemy or something.
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Khaldun
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15186
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It just doesn't feel to me like it ages that well. There's still some stuff that's great--that Tim Conway/Harvey Korman sketch where they're dentist and dental patient, but a lot of it is so vaudeville in a way that doesn't have much purchase still.
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Selby
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2963
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There's still some stuff that's great--that Tim Conway/Harvey Korman sketch where they're dentist and dental patient, but a lot of it is so vaudeville in a way that doesn't have much purchase still.
I think a lot of it comes with the generation of comedy you grew up with & what you found funny in it. I've seen some late 50's & early 60's standup recently & while some of it is funny, a lot of it is situational to the era & delivered in a manner that is relatively foreign these days. If you weren't already a fan of that stuff nor did you have any connection to it like a sub-40 year old it's hard to relate to. The same can be said for vintage SNL (that everyone over 50 raves about) & Carol Burnett - some of it is definitely funny but there were plenty of experimental sketches that may have been funny then but fall pretty flat now, along with some bits that I wondered what they were thinking. She did run the show for almost 10 years and a lot changed in that era, including the format of the show so it's not surprising to find people not relating to it 40+ years later. And I do find that most of the "modern" sitcom plot lines & routines were done 50 years ago & are just rehashes now...
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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It is completely true that most everything in sitcoms was done during the B&W era. Having watched a lot of Honeymooners and I Heart Lucy, I see that and so I just pass on most shows since I've seen it already. Then you can start filling in other shows over the years and there really isn't a lot of new stuff going on. Hell, I don't watch Curb Your Enthusiasm because of my thorough absorption of Seinfeld and frankly I prefer Alexander's Larry David.
Another seemingly sexually active couple was Wilbur and Whatshername from Mr. Ed. Quite a few jokes about it from the old and sexless neighbors, too.
First prime-time television couple to share a bed? Fred & Wilma. Lots of great tropes from that show.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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There are only 7 story structures in all of humanity and they've all been used millions of times over. Even characters are rehashes at this point in history.
As the old idiom goes; there is nothing new under the sun.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42654
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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It just doesn't feel to me like it ages that well. There's still some stuff that's great--that Tim Conway/Harvey Korman sketch where they're dentist and dental patient, but a lot of it is so vaudeville in a way that doesn't have much purchase still.
Sure, there's some of it that's going to be very dependent on the times. But just about everything with Tim Conway is just goddamn genius, especially when he's riffing between himself and Korman or Burnett.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Jean Claude Van Johnson. I like it but I feel dirty.
New Tick. Same, perhaps. I GUESS Serafinowicz is OK ... ugh. Darker tone.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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After some discussion on Discord I watched the first episode of Bloodline last night.
Pros: Good acting, possibly interesting story. Cons: Yet another show about rich people zzZZzZZzzZ, really mediocre camera work. Not bad, just entirely uninteresting. It's something I've not yet seen Netflix pull off at all. The only thing that comes to mind that was interestingly filmed was bits of Daredevil, with excellent use of low lighting levels and claustrophobic sets. They really need to start hiring some directors and camera people who know more than just routine point & shoot, maybe who know how to use a tripod or dolly.
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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-Rasix
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42654
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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So is Robotech: The Macross Saga. Though I'm sure that has not aged nearly as gracefully.
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rattran
Moderator
Posts: 4258
Unreasonable
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You know you love some Minmei song attack.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42654
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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Even as a teenager, that shit made me cringe.
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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Song attack sucked, but SDF1 punching a hole into the Zentradi ships? Khyron and Azonia plowing into the SDF1? Roy Fokker's Death. Ben's Death. Max and Miriya's arc. All epic stuff of teenage awesomeness.
But no, it doesn't hold up. Particularly the Minmei-Rick relationship early on. I got the DVDs when they released years ago and only watched them once. I just can't now, they're so campy and terrible compared to the Anime that came later.
Hell, even Voltron held-up better for me than Robotech and that's sad.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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Couple of shows I've been watching that I cba to make their own threads for.
Spotless: on Netflix, about a French ex-pat living in London who owns a small specialist cleaning company that deal with dead bodies and crime scenes, etc. Gets involved with gangsters. Pretty well done, best thing about it is that just about every single character in it is treated like a real person, with backstory and genuine motives. There's no throwaway cliche bit parts, they all feel like human beings. Liking it a lot.
The Get Down: Again on Netflix, the fictionalised tale of the birth of hip-hop in the South Bronx in the late 70s. It's a Baz Luhrmann production and the 1st episode is directed by him, so if you hate his stuff this won't be for you. Angry.torvald wouldn't like it, it's stars are all black people or women or sometimes both. Easy watching, a bit comic-book, but entertaining. Good music.
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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Xanthippe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4779
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I cannot imagine anyone making shows like the TV shows that I watched growing up. So politically incorrect. F-Troop. Get Smart. Hogan's Heroes. Yet as I recall, very funny.
I have no idea how they have held up over the years, though. I thought they were awfully funny at the time.
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Selby
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2963
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I have no idea how they have held up over the years, though. I thought they were awfully funny at the time.
It depends on the show. Some shows from way back when I've been rewatching (Dick Van Dyke) and it's still hilarious and even in some cases funnier now that I'm older. Other shows haven't necessarily aged well and are kind of hard to sit through, but even still some have some pretty laughable moments. General rule though is if it's a tv show that didn't last long back then because it wasn't too funny, time likely has not been kind and it's still pretty cringe worthy and you can see why it was canned after 1-2 seasons...
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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Most things with a laugh track don't hold up very well.
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-Rasix
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Abagadro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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. A&E has this thing now on Friday night called Live PD where they bounce around to live body cams on cops when "something is happening". It's bizarre.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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Abagadro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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I've become hooked on Forged in Fire. It's basically Chopped but with blacksmiths making a knife in 6 hours with challenges. Then the top 2 go back to their home forges and make a historical weapon. It's on the History Channel. They test the weapon by hacking and slicing on all sorts of shit. It's hokey as hell, but I dig it. I'm actually contemplating taking blacksmith classes I've become so enamored with it.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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Der Helm
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4025
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enamored
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"I've been done enough around here..."- Signe
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