Hollywood Possibilities

[Spade_Cooley 9,538]

No joke, two days ago I was thinking about starting a thread for Sopranos/The Wire/Mad Men/Oz/etc actors. As a second-gen Italian, this is basically as close to a day of national mourning for me as you can imagine.

[themaninblack 2,112]

I've never seen the series so I feel absolutely nothing about this. I imagine he means a lot to the microscopic amount of media ponces people who have seen this this and rate 'The Sopranos' as the greatest thing since creation (see also 'The Wire', 'Breaking Bad' and HBO's forthcoming series "Amoral Bastards") but to me, he's just an actor in something who died albeit at a tragically young age for an actor...

[CaptainChorizo 1,983]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

[themaninblack 2,112]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

I never knew you hated/disdained/whatever the TV box-set worshipping culture too, maninblack. Maybe we will be able to get along after all. BTW I had to google "Amoral Bastards" just to check it was actually a joke because it wouldn't surprise me if HBO had a show called that in the pipeline.

[themaninblack 2,112]

"Amoral Bastards" features a lawyer who strives for justice but is not always successful. In the cases he loses when only he knows the truth, he takes out brutal revenge on those he considers unpunished, because hey, what's justice if it can't be carried out to the letter? Of course every man has a weakness and his is for fucking nuns up the arse. Those nuns are procured by Bishop O'Leary who is in league with the local mob boss (somewhere dank and Marylandy). The mob boss also rigs juries to let off his henchmen, who are of course getting knocked off by this mysterious vigilante. The mob boss of course has his own issues, most notably of his cherished eldest son and heir to "the business" who is in the process of changing gender...

 

Now if that doesn't get Mark Lawson and co excited, nothing will...

[JR976evil 906]

He won't be waking up this morning...

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

"Amoral Bastards" features a lawyer who strives for justice but is not always successful. In the cases he loses when only he knows the truth, he takes out brutal revenge on those he considers unpunished, because hey, what's justice if it can't be carried out to the letter? Of course every man has a weakness and his is for fucking nuns up the arse. Those nuns are procured by Bishop O'Leary who is in league with the local mob boss (somewhere dank and Marylandy). The mob boss also rigs juries to let off his henchmen, who are of course getting knocked off by this mysterious vigilante. The mob boss of course has his own issues, most notably of his cherished eldest son and heir to "the business" who is in the process of changing gender...

 

Now if that doesn't get Mark Lawson and co excited, nothing will...

 

Imagine if HBO actually made that... and then Obama had a silent, 2-second cameo in episode 3 as "Guy playing basketball on the street #1". Forget Mark Lawson, half of the entire internet would drown in their own semen just at the announcement of it.

 

BTW while I'm airing unpopular opinions, I might as well just go ahead and say it. All Coen Bros movies are utter shit. The only one that's even watchable is Fargo and it's certainly no "masterpiece". And there was one thing that made me laugh in the whole of "The Big Lebowski", then later I remembered it was stolen from the poorly-critically-received (but still way more entertaining) 1991 Mel Brooks movie "Life Stinks".

[Spade_Cooley 9,538]

Janice: There's a Zuni saying: for every 20 wrongs a child does, ignore 19.

Tony: There's an old Italian saying: you fuck up once, you lose 2 teeth.

[Rotten Ali 600]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

[themaninblack 2,112]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

[JR976evil 906]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

 

I'm with you on The West Wing, wishy-washy liberalism. Though I should probably admit The Sopranos IS my favourite programme, with The Wire a close second, primarily because they credit the viewer with some intelligence, unlike the majority of tv programmes

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

 

I'm with you on The West Wing, wishy-washy liberalism. Though I should probably admit The Sopranos IS my favourite programme, with The Wire a close second, primarily because they credit the viewer with some intelligence, unlike the majority of tv programmes

 

Just to clarify I don't hate all TV or anything. I liked the first two series of The Wire. Got rubbish and reeked of hollow pretentiousness after that. I also liked 24 at the time but it got really rubbish from series 6 onwards.

[JR976evil 906]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

 

I'm with you on The West Wing, wishy-washy liberalism. Though I should probably admit The Sopranos IS my favourite programme, with The Wire a close second, primarily because they credit the viewer with some intelligence, unlike the majority of tv programmes

 

Just to clarify I don't hate all TV or anything. I liked the first two series of The Wire. Got rubbish and reeked of hollow pretentiousness after that. I also liked 24 at the time but it got really rubbish from series 6 onwards.

 

I liked 24, for about the first 5 seasons it was fantastic entertainment, the last series was pretty shit tho. Curious what the revival will be like. A lot of people praised Homeland for not being like 24, but it seems as it goes on it becomes more and more like it, certainly just as implausible. The original Israeli series Prisoner of War is far better

[the_engineer 1,415]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

 

I'm with you on The West Wing, wishy-washy liberalism. Though I should probably admit The Sopranos IS my favourite programme, with The Wire a close second, primarily because they credit the viewer with some intelligence, unlike the majority of tv programmes

 

Just to clarify I don't hate all TV or anything. I liked the first two series of The Wire. Got rubbish and reeked of hollow pretentiousness after that. I also liked 24 at the time but it got really rubbish from series 6 onwards.

 

I liked 24, for about the first 5 seasons it was fantastic entertainment, the last series was pretty shit tho. Curious what the revival will be like. A lot of people praised Homeland for not being like 24, but it seems as it goes on it becomes more and more like it, certainly just as implausible. The original Israeli series Prisoner of War is far better

 

I love breaking bad I think its the best tv show ever. There is no pushing of stereotypes or trying to throw in political commentary or religious commentary (which hollywood and american tv seem obsessed with including in their shows) it just tells a great story with great characters believable ones too. Rarely is there a bad episode only two episodes i thought were below average the rest were great .

[JR976evil 906]

I never got around to watching the show myself either but the audience was from microscopic. At least in the US it was getting around 10 million viewers just on the first run of episodes.

 

Well it was here anyway. I've only caught a couple of moments and it was usually at dead o'clock in the morning on Channel 4. But the media reaction to it was out of proportion to it's audience. It was a niche show. Now that isn't to suggest that 'The X-Factor' is better because it had more viewers. far from it. But the thing that put me off watching it (and other supposedly greatest shows ever like 'The West Wing') was this constant carping about how great it was, how it was "as good as Shakespeare" and this general sense of the media elite thinking they know what's good for us and forcing down our throats with the bare implication that if you didn't tune in, you were some sort of potato-headed philistine.

 

So I never watched it. Nor have I watched 'Arrested Development' or '24' or 'Homeland'. I saw the first series of 'Mad Men', which I thought was very good but I didn't watch the rest of it. And then there's the latest piece of box-set wankery, 'Justified'...

 

I read a blog about it and the comments were all "oh why is it on a shitty channel, this should be watched by like, everyone" and the teeth-grinding "oh, I forced persuaded my poor sap girlfriend/boyfriend/partner to watch the entire series in one evening, she/he likes it now". Ugh! Makes me vomit...

 

/rant over

 

With you on most of that, but The West Wing was a ten out of ten show for me. Now I like to watch American tv and I've a strong interest in politics, but that show was not only well written but acted with aplomb. What made it even better than that was the realisation that Americans very rearly get a president that is so in command as Martin Sheen's Jeb Bartlett. Think Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter rolled together with few foybals and only the best bits on show. The core team of actors were all top knotch and able to bring home the seriousness of the major issues and cap that with the light hearted times where friendships counted for more than passing interest.

 

Please don't lump The West Wing in with these other shows. Hunt out "the big block of cheese day". Or find the double header when John Goodman guests, and... just kick back a bit.

 

A chocolate box liberal fantasy. All that "he's a good man, but has to make make tough decisions" malarky. That kinda grinds when you had the likes of Bush Jnr and now Drone Alone Obama reading our emails. No President is ever going to be like Josiah Bartlett and we know it. But that's the thing with these TV shows, they're as much fantasy as any Transformers film, in their own way.

 

Take 'The Wire' for example. Just poor porn for middle-class sofites. In Mexico, there are people out there taking part in the drug wars that would make the Baltimore lot piss in their lace panties.

 

Here's Mr Lawson paying tribute and ticking every box! Yes TV can have a broad canvas and it seems the "talent" seems to be working there these days rather than in cinema.

 

I'm not knocking them as well-made TV programmes, which they surely are. 'The West Wing' has good looking actors saying witty lines, as did Six Feet Under and Arrested Development etc etc etc. But it was always thus. 'Hill Street Blues', 'Lou Grant', 'Soap', you name it. Grass is always greener of the other side of the Atlantic, but they've got money and bags of writers so that's not a surprise that can produce programmes that can hit every button for your modern, sophisticated consumer aesthetes, which is why the likes of the Grauniad love them so much.

 

I just wish they'd stop fucking going on about it. I've read the phrase "best TV programme ever" applied to 'The Sopranos' and 'The West Wing' when they were on at the bloody same time! Make up your fucking minds, you media whores. This has also been applied to 'The Wire', 'The Simpsons' and 'Arrested Development'.

 

EDIT: See the comments on that St Paul's letter to the Romans tribute to understand what I'm talking about...

 

I'm with you on The West Wing, wishy-washy liberalism. Though I should probably admit The Sopranos IS my favourite programme, with The Wire a close second, primarily because they credit the viewer with some intelligence, unlike the majority of tv programmes

 

Just to clarify I don't hate all TV or anything. I liked the first two series of The Wire. Got rubbish and reeked of hollow pretentiousness after that. I also liked 24 at the time but it got really rubbish from series 6 onwards.

 

I liked 24, for about the first 5 seasons it was fantastic entertainment, the last series was pretty shit tho. Curious what the revival will be like. A lot of people praised Homeland for not being like 24, but it seems as it goes on it becomes more and more like it, certainly just as implausible. The original Israeli series Prisoner of War is far better

 

I love breaking bad I think its the best tv show ever. There is no pushing of stereotypes or trying to throw in political commentary or religious commentary (which hollywood and american tv seem obsessed with including in their shows) it just tells a great story with great characters believable ones too. Rarely is there a bad episode only two episodes i thought were below average the rest were great .

 

I really need to get round to checking it out one of these days. One show I've never really been swayed by is Dexter, I guess in part because it seems too much like a deranged right wing fantasy (as David Chase alluded to in one of his contributions to the excellent recent series United States of Television). One show I'm constantly hearing of is Game of Thrones, maybe I'll give it a go at some point. One show I really enjoyed was Braquo, is like a Gallic version of The Shield, very slick, fast-paced and utterly preposterous, fantastic stuff

[Whitehouse 872]

How about Gabriele Ferzetti? He's one of the main characters out of the movie "Once upon a time in the west", the railroad tycoon Morton. He's still alive at 88.

[Toast 16,152]

BTW while I'm airing unpopular opinions, I might as well just go ahead and say it. All Coen Bros movies are utter shit. The only one that's even watchable is Fargo and it's certainly no "masterpiece".

 

Aww, I love Fargo. So funny.

[gcreptile 10,979]

Television and film director Jim Goddard is dead.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/jun/27/jim-goddard-obituary

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

Television and film director Jim Goddard is dead.

 

http://www.guardian....oddard-obituary

 

Didn't recognise the name, but it turns out he was responsible for this "classic":

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091934/reference

 

 

which surely only failed to win a Worst Picture Razzie because it came out in the same year as a disastrous movie about a drunken, sarcastic talking duck, and one of Prince's vanity movies.

[Death Impends 7,989]

Valerie Harper still well enough to join the cast of an upcoming TV movie.

[themaninblack 2,112]

Dustin Hoffman "successfully treated" for cancer.

[Death Impends 7,989]

Another update on Karen Black: Survived the pneumonia, but now bedridden as a consequence of the cancer spreading to parts of her vertebra and lower back nerves. Doesn't look too likely to make the 2014 starting line, but we'll see.

[CaptainChorizo 1,983]

Another update on Karen Black: Survived the pneumonia, but now bedridden as a consequence of the cancer spreading to parts of her vertebra and lower back nerves. Doesn't look too likely to make the 2014 starting line, but we'll see.

 

I hope she can at least make it another 2 months for my rotten dead pool team.

[Sean 6,337]

Karen Black`s case seems very reminiscent of Sylvia Kristel who last year had pneumonia in the summer and died about 3 months later-I`d be amazed if she lasted to the end of the year !