Random TV Thread II: Television, Continued

[The Sad Punk]

Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in the tv series, died of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma today. He just turned 37.

Really tragic. That was a very, very guilty pleasure for me.

 

[u2popmofo]

Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in the tv series, died of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma today. He just turned 37.

I was really sad to hear this yesterday, he was great in the first season. Sad stuff.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Out of curiosity, is anyone familiar with the Joe Schmo Show? The basic premise was that it was a reality show with the twist of having only one genuine contestant, the rest were all actors playing reality show stereotypes. I bring it up because I genuinely think it's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen, but I've had a hard time finding people to talk to about it.

 

[PhilsFan]

Who here knows what Darkplace is?

 

[lazarus]

Garth Merenghi's Darkplace?

HILARIOUS show.

 

[PhilsFan]

So what happened between you and this Renwick customer?

 

[kramwest1]

Garth Merenghi's Darkplace?

HILARIOUS show.

It seems to come on Adult Swim at 3 am locally sometimes, and I can't help but stay up and watch it.
It is weirdly genius.

 

[PhilsFan]

It's really fantastic. The scene in the first episode where they're at the funeral is too good.

 

[IWasBored]

wilfred is pretty funny.

 

[cobl04]

wilfred is pretty funny.

Australian version is better, but at least they kept Jason Gann on in the main role.

Bought season one of The Wire.

 

[Lancemc]

Luck: Season 1 Tease - YouTube

Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit

 

[deep]

I am crossing my fingers

but, after Treme

I am not counting my chickens too soon.
Nolte has never let me down, Hoffman has.

 

[Lancemc]

I think Treme is brilliant, though I'm still only very slowly going through Season 1.

 

[LMP]

I am crossing my fingers

but, after Treme

I am not counting my chickens too soon.
Nolte has never let me down, Hoffman has.

We're all still healing from Hook. This, however, looks awesome.

Just finished the first season of Friday Night Lights. Texas forever, gang.

 

[deep]

FNL is pretty consistent all the way through.

hot high school girls, too

 

[powerhour24]

Texas Forever. My favorite tv series ever.

I've been waiting on Luck for a long time, and damn from the looks of it I don't think I've ever seen a series with more varied/cinematic camera work, well done so far.

Also, Treme is brilliant, subtle, heartbreaking and actually has something to say unlike so many 'serious' shows out there. Is it the entertaining cryptic novel that The Wire was? No, but it's too bad the world even knows it was made by the same crew, otherwise it could have been judged all on its own.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Seinfeld is a pretty good show

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Seinfeld is a pretty good show

Yeah, it was alright I guess...

 

[cobl04]

Friends was better

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Friends was better

What little respect I had for you is now gone.

 

[cobl04]

I'm genuinely surprised you had any for me in the first place

 

[Lancemc]

I've been waiting on Luck for a long time, and damn from the looks of it I don't think I've ever seen a series with more varied/cinematic camera work, well done so far.

Thrillingly visual television. The strides the entire medium is making with every new major series are really exciting. One of the main reasons I've been excited about this series for almost two years. Milch is going to bring the excellence, unquestionably, so that alone made this the series to watch. Then apply 21st Century Michael Mann and give him full reign over all the major filmmaking decisions (i.e. cutting, camera, actors, music, so on) we should be looking at a wholly modern cinematic approach to television that we haven't quite seen yet. Hopefully. Of course there have been so many outstanding examples of truly visual television recently, a trend that started a long time ago of course with Twin Peaks. But just the past few years we've seen David Simon's work take on a wonderful aesthetic, Deadwood and its use of natural lighting, Mad Men is exquisitely shot - taking its visual grammar from classic Hollywood among other sources, mini-series like Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce, a show like Louie which has some of the most refreshing visual instincts of any airing series... and of course Breaking Bad, the current front-runner in cinematic storytelling on the small screen. So much great stuff. That Luck teaser almost gave me goosebumps from the sheer excitement though.

 

[bono_man2002]

Friends was craptacualar compared to Seinfeld. I struggle to find any bad episode of the show where as Friends I do admit I enjoy more nowdays then when it was originally on air, but Its never appealed to me as much as Seinfeld.

 

[powerhour24]

Well said Lance.

 

[LMP]

The Friends/Seinfeld comparison is about as solid of a barometer for judging one's comedic sensibilities. Not in a good vs. bad sense, but just to see where they're coming from.

And Lance, very good points, and I'd add Friday Night Lights to that conversation. I haven't seen a network television series fully embrace the verite aesthetic as wholeheartedly as FNL. Parts of it are obviously digitally shot while some evoke blown out 16mm as well. Bringing it back to the Luck/Mann discussion, Peter Berg's a protege of Mann's and you can see elements of it in the incorporation of the soundtrack to the narrative and the core film grammar. It's truly wonderful stuff.

 

[cobl04]

Did you like Friends lmp? I'm being a bit facetious. Seinfeld is probably the better show (which is why I own the entire series and not one season of Friends) but that doesn't mean Friends is the pit of comedy. I still get a lot of laughs and enjoyment out of the reruns. Ross fucking up his spray tan is one of the things I've laughed hardest at, and could easily have been a Seinfeld gag.

 

[LMP]

I've enjoyed bits from Friends, it's just not for me. Again, I wasn't trying to say that "liking x means you're cool and liking y means you're an asshole," only that they operate with different styles of humor.

 

[Lancemc]

Fuck, it was a huge oversight on my part. FNL is fucking beautiful. Have always thought so even if I still haven't gotten terribly into the series yet myself.

 

[LMP]

There's a stunning level of naturalism at play that's only bolstered by a classical TV narrative structure that I find riveting.

There was an argument on a past episode of Battleship Pretension regarding The Sopranos or The Wire as the Greatest Series of All-Time. David's argument was that while The Wire is masterfully done, it acts more as an extended mini-series and is always building toward its grand narrative, while The Sopranos actively exploits television conceits and expounds upon them. Yes, there are series, season and mini-arcs, but also episodes riffing on a singular theme. Granted, I haven't seen either series so I can't say, but it's a brilliant argument.

Chuck Klosterman wrote a piece on Grantland vouching for Breaking Bad as the Greatest Series of All-Time versus Mad Men, The Sopranos and The Wire. Again, I can't weigh in on it, but how can one judge objective "greatness" on an ongoing narrative? Plus, he discounts network television right off of the bat. I don't think network television can be compared to a cable series due to the restrictions on content and demands on season-length (Sorkin's 88-episode run on 4 seasons of The West Wing roughly equals 9 seasons of worth of episodes of The Sopranos). They're not part of the same discussion.

 

[Lancemc]

Thanks for posting the link to that piece. I saw it brought up a while back and never got around to actually reading it. Will surely do so now.

Anyway, The Sopranos is my favorite television series ever, and I don't see that changing any time soon. It simply gets it all so right, and everything continues to be judged against it. Almost isn't fair.