TV Thread - beware, [expletive] can get spoilery

[Freed Roger]

uggghh. Please don't feed the reality tv animals.

[/youtube]

go ahead. you know you want to.

or if its more palatable to your conscience listen to this story on NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=1166351

I'd rather watch Antique Road Show.

good show. I thought about it too. Advantage for Pawn Stars, they show the deal side of the things (or a sometimes staged version of it). Its one thing to have some expert tell you your junk is worth X amount of dollars, but try to get someone to pay that amount.

Fair enough, but that clip I watched was boring.

dagnabbit. I posted it without watching -the bandwidth hammer won't allow here. the other reason i watch is because it takes only 22 minutes -and one of the few shows mrs freed and I both like. thats romantic.

[lukethedrifter]

Interesting take on this season's The Office

Now Jim has developed into the most depressing archetype: a mediocre man who has already realized his full potential.

[thrill]

The office has sucked for a couple seasons now. The reason the original Office was so brilliant was because there were real consequences to situations. David Brent was a clueless, misguided boob of a manager with occasional moments of brilliance but in the end, his relative incompetence got him fired. Michael Scott is even more clueless and misguided yet they'll never fire him because a) they don't want to end the show because it's the only thing NBC has at this point and b) reality isn't an important part of their writing. The thing that's made Ricky Gervais' shows great is the commitment to reality. There were consequences, there were rewards, there were happy endings and really sad endings. Most importantly, he ended the shows while they were still real and relevant. Even though fans were sad and wanted him to keep going, looking back, The Office and Extras ended exactly how and when they should have. This iteration of the Office has gone on way too long and now they've robbed the premise of what makes it great. It's reality, it's narrow look into the world of an office run by an idiot and it's relateability to people who work in similar but less extreme versions of the office. Now they've shoehorned in unrealistic plots, characters and drawn out themes and stories that in real life would have been wrapped up much more quickly. It's gone from a relevant, funny look at what is deep down a very depressing reality to a cartoonish sitcom with themes that render it's basic premise totally unbelievable (that being that there would ever be a documentary made about such a boring subject for going on 6 years now). When it lost it's realism, it lost it's credibility.

[cpebbles]

No. The Office has had a down season because the writing hasn't been very good. At times last year and consistently in season 4, Michael and Dwight were saying a lot of funny things due to being hopelessly out of touch with reality, Creed and the bit players had their moments of hilarity, and the writing was generally strong. I don't watch for a realistic depiction of a workplace, I watch for the funny scenes that are getting scarcer by the season, as they do in most comedies. The U.S. version was better than the original (At least seasons 2 through 4) because it was funnier and nobody behind the show cared that much about realism or consequences.

[cardsfansince82]

Jersey Shore did not disappoint.

[Jocephus]

can get all 3 seasons of arrested development for under 30$ (12/7/09)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox

[thrill]

Jersey Shore did not disappoint.

Superb. The Situation is one of the most compelling figures in television history.

[PujolJunkie]

[SHOW]

"There's an issue with penises.. I.. don't like them.."
"Oh.. oh you're gay."
"Yeah. Super gay."

FlashForward is so good and then bad and then good that I don't know if I even like the show anymore. Last episode was very good. Very very good. Really sucks that I have to wait 3 months for the next one.

[MrSaigon]

Initially I hated it because the pilot was a frame by frame take on the first episode of the BBC series, but season 2 of NBC's The Office was excellent, and as good as the BBC show. Haven't cared for the last two seasons at all. I love Gareth, but I think Dwight at his best was a funnier, better character.

Has anyone watched Heroes this season? I watched season 1, missed 2, then my head exploded when I tried to catch an episode of season 3. Anyway, this year they brought on the Pushing Daisies/Dead Like Me/Wonderfalls guy, whose work I appreciate quite a bit. Was wondering if he had any impact.

[ghostrunner]

Initially I hated it because the pilot was a frame by frame take on the first episode of the BBC series, but season 2 of NBC's The Office was excellent, and as good as the BBC show. Haven't cared for the last two seasons at all. I love Gareth, but I think Dwight at his best was a funnier, better character.

Has anyone watched Heroes this season? I watched season 1, missed 2, then my head exploded when I tried to catch an episode of season 3. Anyway, this year they brought on the Pushing Daisies/Dead Like Me/Wonderfalls guy, whose work I appreciate quite a bit. Was wondering if he had any impact.

I actually have. I nearly quit it last year and should have, but I watched the final eps on DVR gradually through the summer.

Anyway, this season is much better. Things they've dropped - Mama Petrelli, more or less. Mohinder's dumb narrations at the beginning and Mohinder in general has been minimized. Nathan's crazy ideas are gone since he's "mostly" dead. Ando has been gone for most of the season. Parkman has grown a pair. Basically they've stopped giving characters things to do just to keep them busy, and the writing is much tighter. There's still some goofy stuff now and then, but I think it's pretty close to the quality of Season 1. Robert Knepper's character has been a little confusing w/r/t his motivations, but Knepper is just as good as he was in the early days of Prison Break. I thought the traveling carnies angle was a horrible idea, but he's really sold it.