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Goldenleaves

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Right ... there. No, there. No, wait -
... is wonderful! TV execs should be given an award for making TV so bad, causing more family interaction, taking up of new hobbies and planning of activities.

Programming has been so bad my output is is huge (for me) and I'm swamped with ideas for more.

If any of you are reading this post - good on you! :Thumbs:
 

jvc

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I love television. I miss it when I don't watch it. It's great. Long live television.

P.S. Stargate is the best show evar. It is, yep, it is.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Poo. Television has been a vast wasteland for the nearly sixty years since it went coast-to-coast (in the US). Still, it was showing "Hamlet" at the same time as "I Love Lucy" and "Doctor Who" at the same time as all kindsa 'sixties, 'seventies, 'eighties, and 'oughts wastesatime.

Some of it's notsogood, but so what? I rarely watch it, but I can usually find something I'll like.
 

dpaterso

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P.S. Stargate is the best show evar. It is, yep, it is.
28.7m people watched Charlie Harper's funeral. I can't remember Stargate ever reaching those numbers... :)

Added: for those who asked :) - Charlie Harper was Charlie Sheen's character in Two And A Half Men.

-Derek (who liked SG1 and SG:Atlantis lots)
 
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Goldenleaves

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Right ... there. No, there. No, wait -
The point is, I use TV when I want to not work and turn my brain off. Gives the imagination a rest, BUT can result in finding reasons for not doing anything.

I appreciate it when the program quality goes down and my fifteen minute breaks begin to last ten minutes out of sheer annoyance.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Many here actually write for television. How'd you like it if someone came on here and said, "[whatever it is you write] sucks. Man, it's all a vast wasteland!"
Poo. Television has been a vast wasteland for the nearly sixty years since it went coast-to-coast (in the US).

My thought is you must not be very familiar with television shows throughout its history. Have there been some shows that were just horrible? Sure, but there have been a lot of great shows. Shows with great writing, good acting, that had depth and made you think.
 

Jehhillenberg

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Television is amazing. Bringing people together for the better (or worse?) Pure Entertainment.
 
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Caitlin Black

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Like all mediums, there is good and bad.

My new favourite show is The Big Bang Theory. :D Where else can you learn physics and laugh at the same time, all the while feeling smug that your interest in science is now deemed to be cool because the show was created by the same guy who created Two And A Half Men?

It's the number 1 reason I turn my TV on nowadays. :)
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Many here actually write for television. How'd you like it if someone came on here and said, "[whatever it is you write] sucks. Man, it's all a vast wasteland!"

My thought is you must not be very familiar with television shows throughout its history. Have there been some shows that were just horrible? Sure, but there have been a lot of great shows. Shows with great writing, good acting, that had depth and made you think.

Wait ... I went on to say there was always good stuff to be found. "Vast wasteland" was a quote, but then I tried to undermine it with counterexamples with a feeble attempt at a humorous tone.

I'm a visual artist. I wouldn't object if you said most visual art was pretty indifferent. But there are always good works to be found. Always. And yes, of course there's been a lot of great television.

That's what I actually meant to say. I'm sorry I insulted your livelihood.
 

Button

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I went through a long phase where I didn't watch much television at all. I still don't. My personal opinion was there wasn't much on that was attracting me at the time so I didn't view it (or bother to pay for the cable company).

I imagine someone out there loves the stuff I don't like. It's a big world so what one person thinks is bad, I may love it. I actually paid attention to the trailers this season and see two or three I'm interested in that I'll be breaking for to watch. That's something I haven't done in a long time. I may not like them after I've viewed an entire episode or I may run out of time and watch them on the Internet later (thank dog for Hulu). I just think it's interesting that I went through a period of "meh, I can live without it" and now my interest has sparked.

To each their own. ;)
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Nice night for a stroll, huh, OFG? :D

Wait ... I went on to say there was always good stuff to be found.

No problem. Most of my ire wasn't directed at you anyway. :)

I just get in a general huff when people start television bashing threads, as though to watch it, or heaven forbid to even enjoy it, is somehow the hallmark of a the great unwashed. There's a subtext of intellectual elitism that I take umbrage to.
 

KellyAssauer

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The original poster offered this thread in the Office Party, I'm certain there are more appropriate areas of AW for a serious discussion of the merits and characteristics of writing careers in the broadcast and entertainment industry. So simply because of where this thread is... there is going to be kidding and some poking fun. This does not however, mean that anyone here has it out for, or does not respect the person or persons that have chosen this area for a career path.

That being said, however, entertainment is entertainment, and I don't need to be entertained that much. For the most part, I consider a large percentage of standard television offerings as 'opiate for the masses' but occasionally I have run across a television show or series to be beyond the norm. One where the writing and the acting have (to me) surpassed -my- expected standards.

Right now, this minute, if pressed... I'd have to say that The Closer fits into that category since I find the premise, writing and acting to far surpass the standard fair.

Of course I'm not your 'normal' television viewer. Take this 'Charlie' for example, I believe that was the character from Two and Half Men? A show I watched once. Far from the maddening crowds... I noted that the comedy was a farce, that the characters were dimentionally flat (they had to be) and that too a certain point, the writing leaned toward what was once called 'black comedy' which is all fine and good for the occasional film or play (-to me-) but hardly worth my time since it continued in only one single satire vein.

It didn't help that the caricatures being presented were too dangerously close to the truth. I found 'Charlie' in particular hugely appalling and I'm still aghast at the idea that he could possibly be considered a role model.

I'm sure there are a lot of good, kind, hard working, people in the natural gas industry. Meeting them isn't going to change how I feel, or what has happened to the residents of Dimock PA. What I mean is, I'm sure lots of hard working writers try like heck to present the best possible television show, and that's fine, that's good. Bully for you - but it doesn't mean that I must like commercial broadcast tv.
 
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swachski

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I'm with Kelly. This is an office party, so everything said here should be taken lightly. One could say that the internet is just as big a waste of time as television, yet here we are, spending hours reading and chatting and joking around with each other. AW gives us a common bond, much like tv shows give other people a common bond. If you aren't enjoying Biggest Loser or Facebook or Old Farts Bar and Grill, just click that button and find something you do enjoy. :D
 

Ol' Fashioned Girl

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Don't let the 'party' part fool you... we've had many a serious discussion here. Whichever it is, however, the most important concept is: Respect your fellow writer. We can have fun and we can discuss serious issues both, as long as we RYFW.
 

KellyAssauer

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we've had many a serious discussion here.

Deadly serious...

DTK_05_Tongue.jpg
 
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