posted
That said, it's not like I never make the effort with anything. This weekend for instance I'm getting up at 6am to watch the F1 qualifying and the race on Saturday and Sunday respectively. And I suppose that combines to about four hours' viewing at least. More if you count the practice session which I usually try not to miss. And the extra show stuff which I watch as well.
So, in conclusion, I just don't like drama shows.
It doesn't help that any shows I see adverts for, particularly American ones, just look fucking awful. The latest one is that Trueblook bilge which looks so poor I can't help but actually laugh at it every time I see an advert. Yet allegedly it's a very good series. I just think there are a lot of very thick people out there.
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quote:Originally posted by Keef: Is there any worthwhile light entertainment programmes on these days? or should we just give up on the medium of TV, leave it to the uneducated masses while we just sit around with a self-satisfied feeling from criticising anything that is produced?
If it helps, it doesn't really give a self-satisfied feeling. Most 'light-entertainment' gives me a feeling of coiled anger and cold disgust at how unoriginal, thoughtless and banal it is. I get the same sensation from reading Sunday supplements. It's like someone scouring out your brain with donuts. God, even that phrase light entertainment reeks of something that's designed for people at their most idiotically, bovinely stupid. For when even plain old 'entertainment' is just a bit too much for your poor brain to handle: Here's some light entertainment. It belongs in the same place as weak tea, light refreshment, easy listening: in a retirement home for people who's brains aren't working properly BECAUSE THEY'RE NEARLY DEAD. What's your excuse?
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quote:Originally posted by Ringo: I just think there are a lot of very thick people out there.
Yes, so many programmes are designed for the terminally thick. I find the repeated close-ups on, and verbal references to the 'thing you're supposed to notice' so patronising that it makes a lot of these shows unbearable. It's like the director's saying "Look at this! Did you see it yet? Are you sure? Have you understood the significance to the plot? Yeah? Okay, we'll move on now..."
It's disappointing because the TV format (22 episodes of 45 minutes each, per series) obviously allows for substantially deeper character development and more involved plot than you could get from a two hour film.
It's also frustrating that many programmes seem to have little more than a vague idea to start out with. It's not like they've got it all planned out from the start, as you would with a film - presumably because they don't know how many seasons they'll be granted by the network, before facing the axe. I suppose it's difficult to get funding for a series aimed at a niche demographic i.e. people who aren't tards.
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posted
Ok, so I used the term light entertainment rather than entertainment to separate out factual shows which I consider to come under that umbrella too.
But that aside, what do you consider worthwhile viewing? You say you don't like the dumbed down, lowest common denominator stuff which is understandable (although who doesn't like take their brain out to watch something just for fun now and again?) but when something does come along which is vaguely higher brow, eg. QI, you're equally scathing of that too.
So what do you watch that entertains you? I'm sure there must be something you look forward to watching, something that makes you smile? It can't all be TV related rage and bile in the Thorn household.
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posted
Isn't QI, like, one of the worst though? I mean, sure, it's all full of unusual trivia that nobody would have ever heard of before, but it's not exactly a show designed for people with lots of genuine intelligence. It's not Mastermind or University Challenge. It's a show for people who like to regurgitate 'facts' in front of people to make themselves sound clever. I.e. thickies. It's vaguely entertaining in as much as it passes half an hour or so, but there's not really any meaty content to it. it doesn't challenge the viewer in any way. It's certainly no documentary about Romans. It's not David Starkey's Monarchy.
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posted
I recommend watching *Undercover Dads if you've ever up early enough on a Saturday morning.
quote:Dave Chapman presents the ultimate undercover prank adventure. The kids think they are taking part in a programme called Mega Nanny - what they don't know is that Mega Nanny is their dad in disguise...
posted
There was actually a good episode of QI once, during which Derren Brown snuck into the studio, killed Alan 'Abbey' Davies with a screwdriver in the back of the neck and scooped out his insides - all while the quiz was continuing as though nothing at all were happening.
Then, as soon as he'd made the hollowed-out Davies into a kind of glove puppet, Brown proceeded to hypnotise Stephen Fry. Once Fry was completely 'under' Brown encouraged the audience to shout horrible things for the now highly suggestible host to do. He ended up stripping naked, tearing his own cock off, peeling it like a banana and eating it. Although he threw away the skin.
I'm not sure it was ever televised, but there was a clip on YouTube a while back. You could probably find it if you searched under "fry hypno-penis blood fugue". Careful though - nsfw.
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quote:Originally posted by Keef: So what do you watch that entertains you? I'm sure there must be something you look forward to watching, something that makes you smile? It can't all be TV related rage and bile in the Thorn household.
When I said the only thing I'd watched this year was Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, I was being completely literal. The rest of the time the TV aerial isn't even plugged in.
I have watched some stuff through box-sets - The Wire, The Sopranos, and Peep Show (although that's gone to shit for the last few episodes) but I never 'watch TV' in the sense of bunging it on and seeing what's around. The main reason for this is because more than any other entertainment device TV can make me do things with my spare time that I didn't really want to do. You plop down in front of the telly, channel hop a few times, and then the next thing you know you're watching some garbage about whether a man who looks like a Fat Physic can change his diet enough to make his shit come out a different colour and consistency and your evening has been completely wasted.
quote:But that aside, what do you consider worthwhile viewing? You say you don't like the dumbed down, lowest common denominator stuff which is understandable (although who doesn't like take their brain out to watch something just for fun now and again?) but when something does come along which is vaguely higher brow, eg. QI, you're equally scathing of that too.
I do like to take my brain out every now and then but I can't do that with TV because it's so fucking shit I can't stop swearing at how shit and stupid it is. Good 'brainless' entertainment doesn't mean it has to be brainlessly made, and that's what panel shows are to me. There's no craft, no skill, and by definition they represent a complete failure of imagination, like someone's going down a ticklist saying "News, Music, Food, Trivia, what next? A sport one? Fashion?". It's not to do with whether something's highbrow - you're talking to someone who watched all three Transporter films in one sitting and then got annoyed that he didn't have the Crank films to hand, for God's sake. It's to do with finding it impossible to engage with this stuff on any level other than frustration and annoyance. I don't know how anyone can watch this crap without feeling completely patronised.
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The worst one by quite some margin has to be that bloody awful Mock the Week.
I can understand the logic behind it - you take a bunch of professional comedians and get them to make funny, off-the-cuff observations about current events. It's the format which makes Have I got News for You so successful. But the problem comes in their choice of panelists.
Standup comics are funny because they spend lots of time working on their material and then testing and refining it in front of live audiences. It doesn't mean that these people are actually able to think on their feet. So you actually end up with a show which features six grown men making joke after joke about rape, child molestation, and shitting. Because they're the few topics pretty much guaranteed to get a laugh without having to think too hard.
It's just depressing that a show that terrible not only exists, but has run now for several seasons and seems to be quite popular.
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Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
posted
I haven't watched tv for over six years. I stopped when I went to France (because of not having a tv) and just never started again. The common-cultural stuff penetrates your consciousness anyway - you see newspaper headlines or the back of someone's Metro on the Tube and realise that without ever watching an episode you know all about Big Brother. I find tv adverts absolutely startling now, if I'm somewhere and the tv's on. It's become bizarre that someone should be allowed to make a short film telling people what they should be buying.
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quote:Originally posted by Ringo: But the problem comes in their choice of panelists.
The other thing about stand up comedians, or at least the ones who appear on Mock the Week, is that they're a rather competetive bunch. Make a few of them fight for camera time and they desperately try to outdo each other for laughs. When one makes a joke that really gets the specials in the audience guffawing, the others look really pissed off. You can see their minds ticking over furiously trying to think up something even more 'edgy' or 'outrageous'.
posted
I'm torn with Mock The Week. Most of it is lame, awkward and scripted, but I have to admit that Frankie Boyle gives top quality scathing rant.
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posted
I watch south park occasionally, and films. Some of the documentaries on Sky Arts are good. Watched a fair bit of 'Lewis', the sequel to 'Morse', mainly because Louise enjoys the murder mystery format, but there is something comforting about two men wandering around Oxford chatting to lecturers and posh students. Everything seems to be in order in the world of Lewis.
I also end up watching a fair bit of 'Friends' because Louise is enjoys it..it seems to be her way of winding down.
Also, I watched a few episodes of Knight Rider recently, both new and old. And Freddy's Nightmares.
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posted
I've more or less given up on the traditional watching of TV now too, I sky+ things I want to watch: The Wire, Lost, Some films, Peep Show, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle and then watch them when I feel like it. Recently I moved the lounge around with the idea of getting a LCD tv, leaving the bulky CRT tv in an awkward cornertucked behind a table, and since then haven't really felt the need to switch it on, except to pacify small children while I get on with something else.
I've been thinking about getting an apple TV or some equivalent, so I could spend my time viewing films, or boxsets or some of the video podcasts I subscribe to. But then probably won't.
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H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
posted
quote:Originally posted by dang65: I'm torn with Mock The Week. Most of it is lame, awkward and scripted, but I have to admit that Frankie Boyle gives top quality scathing rant.
On the strength of Mock the Week, I bought a ticket to his stand-up tour earlier this year. It was the most disappointing headline stand-up gig I've been to. His worst excesses are curtailed by the TV medium, but when you see him live he's obscene without being funny and plain rude a lot of the time - not in an amusing way, restricting himself instead to insulting comments at a number of 'soft' targets.
I can't foresee a circumstance in which I will pay to see him live again. I do enjoy his TV stuff still.
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quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: His worst excesses are curtailed by the TV medium, but when you see him live he's obscene without being funny and plain rude a lot of the time - not in an amusing way, restricting himself instead to insulting comments at a number of 'soft' targets.
Damn, I had wondered if that might be the case. I suspect that a fair few of those "risqué" people off the telly might be like that actually. Shame to hear that about Frankie Boyle.
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posted
I did used to enjoy Mock the Week and got given stand up DVDs of Frankie Boyle and Russel Howard for christmas and you discover that most of their funny stuff from Mock the week is just stuff they did on their tours and have just crammed into MTW even though it sometimes doesn't fit properly.
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I too thought Frankie Boyle was the only redeeming feature of MTW, but now he's left I'm not sure it'll grace my screen again.
As for watching TV, now I think about it, the vast majority of what I watch comes from either downloading, V+ or iPlayer/4OD etc. Mainly because there's no longer a need to have viewing interupted by adverts which take up a silly amount of TV these days.
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Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
posted
Anyone hear The Unbelievable Truth last night? Normally R4's 6.30 comedy sucks, but it was most amusing. Reginald D Hunter in particular.
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quote:Originally posted by Octavia: Normally R4's 6.30 comedy sucks
Heresy!
Yes, I listened to The Unbelievable Truth and it's always wonderful value.
This week's R4 6.30pm line-up:
Mon - The Unbelievable Truth Tue - Too Much Information Wed - Chain Reaction (Alistair McGowan interviews Simon Callow) Thu - Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! Fri - The News Quiz
I've never heard of Too Much Information, I must admit, and it sounds like it might be one of those R4 sitcoms, which are rarely much good. But the other four days are all top notch.
Honestly, you'll be telling us that the Shipping Forecast is "a bit dull" next.
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Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
posted
It's true that the News Quiz is usually laugh-out-loud funny. But mostly the 6.30 comedy slot is appallingly lame 'insert joke here' type stuff. Last week's Chain Reaction just consisted of Alistair Campbell giving Alistair McGowan cues to do impressions.
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posted
it never fails to flummox when people who i generally like and respect express anything but HEARTFELT LOATHING towards count arthur strong. its abysmal, that programme, simply and utterly abysmal, and yet this perpetual stream of friends and acquaintances line up to talk about how thoroughly they enjoy it as a listening experience. the whole thing is completely beyond my ken.
quote:Originally posted by Octavia: But mostly the 6.30 comedy slot is appallingly lame 'insert joke here' type stuff.
I'd say that majority of the best British comedy of the last 30 years had its first broadcast exposure on the R4 6.30 comedy slot. And a lot of it was much better on the radio than when it got promoted to the telly.
There is some rubbish on there though, yeah.
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im ambivalent about the news quiz. im very pro jeremy hardy and mark steel, and even though i sort of feel like its teribly comfy it sometimes makes me lol. me and gail went to see it being recorded live (the week after i went to see just a minute at colston hall- easily the most middle class experience OF MY LIFE, and ive had a few) and it was genuinely very entertaining.
eta: i went to see the news quiz with gail; we had a shared attack of non- pc tourettes when faced with the unbelievable comfyness of the news quiz audience and kept saying unseemly things about spastics despite ourselves. at one point i said very sotto voce 'i bet you ten pounds there isnt a single non- white person in this audience' or something similar. ten minute later gail said, extremely non sotto voce, 'LOOK! ITS A BLACK PERSON! TEN POUN PLEASE!'
posted
Just a Minute is excellent when Pam Ayres is on.
ETA:
As well as listening to Radio 4 for the majority of their waking lives, my parents also listen on earpieces while they sleep. Have done every night for 30+ years.
posted
Don't get me wrong -- I could and do listen to Radio 4 all day. That doesn't mean that a lot of the comedy isn't that cloyingly comfy thing that Disco mentioned. Jeremy bloody Hardy and Mark flippin' Steel, though. Come on. Francis Wheen. Jesus.
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quote:Originally posted by dance margarita: it never fails to flummox when people who i generally like and respect express anything but HEARTFELT LOATHING towards count arthur strong. its abysmal, that programme, simply and utterly abysmal, and yet this perpetual stream of friends and acquaintances line up to talk about how thoroughly they enjoy it as a listening experience. the whole thing is completely beyond my ken.
Talk about taking one for the team: I once listened to a whole half hour of this programme, to try and figure out what the appeal is. Could it be 'so bad it's good'? Could it be a 'charmingly old-school stream of malapropism'?
No. Listening to it was like having clotted pig wank blown into your ears in the style of cult Japanese paraphilia site SPARKLE ENEMA LOOS HAPPY DOSE *^_^*.
See also the unaccountably long-running National Theatre of Brent.
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posted
The News Quiz is definitely at the weaker end of the wit scale, but I think Sandi Toksvig has given it quite a lot of new life, actually (when you think how many years it's been going). I like her. In moderation, but I do like her.
What you get with most of the Radio 4 stuff is imagination and surreality rather than edgy. It's more based on the Goons/Python tradition. I'm right up for that myself - abstract associations, assumption that audiences will understand, completely daft concepts. Mitchell & Webb just did a series on Radio 4 which was consistently funny from start to finish, but didn't have any *gasp, they can't say THAT, can they?* moments at all.
Maybe it is terribly Middle Class, but I'm quite happy with it. Other classes of humour are available.
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oh dear, the goons. i have the same reaction to the goons as i do to count arthur strong, except at least with the goons i can say in a vaguely self- satisfied manner 'of course i dont understand this- its for OLD PEOPLE'.
i dont really need my comedy to be edgy; im a victoria wood fan, f'real bruv. id rather watch acorn antiques than frankie boyle any day of the week, month or year. i really dont mind comfy or middle- class when done well- i do mind that fact that most radio 4 comedy is just weak. but i dont pay a license fee so i cant get too aerated about it.
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