Network Television and More Reasons Why I Hate It

[furtech]

[Cranky Pants Mode On]

Working at home today with the TV on for company reminds me why I don't bother to watch first-run network tv. I'm watching the cable channels that run network shows (FX, Spike, TNT, USA, A&E, etc.), most of which are still running on the nets. I'm embarrassed to be a CSI fan, but if I think of the show as pure fantasy (all that "magical" science and sexy scientists and settings) I can deal with it.

Two shows I've seen that I can't stand are "Leverage" and "Supernatural". Leverage is a cross between "Mission: Impossible" and "The A-Team". The difference is that Leverage is neither as fun as A-Team, nor as clever as M:I. What bothers me about the show is that the heroes go after two-bit operations with near-infinite resources/skills to punish them. Most of these cases could have been solved by going to law enforcement with their evidence, but instead the "team" has to go way over the top to trick the bad guys. Dumb.

The show that really angers me (and represents why I so dislike Hollywood production culture) is "Supernatural". The one word for this show is "ripoff". From inception to each episode to the greater story arc, this show cavalierly rips off other shows and movies. Originally, Supernatural was to be about tabloid reporters who go around and report on urban myths (and discovering that the monsters are real), blatently ripping off the classic, beloved "Kolchak: the Night Stalker". The network (Warner/CW) didn't buy that, so they found some other show to knock off (take your pick). Each episode rips off a movie or memorable tv show in so bald a fashion that it can't even be called a spoof or satire. There's an episode where the hero has to re-live a day over and over, hundreds of times, until he figures it out. This was so outrageous that they finally have to reference reference the source ("You mean like, "Groundhog Day"?"). Every show reads like vapid fan fiction. And the writers are -proud- of this! There is not an original bone in this beast. The main, series-long arc is an uncredited rip of things that made "Dogma" such an amazing film.

This is the "New" Hollywood: producers and studios have realized that they can rip off any original work, since rarely will any of the authors actually take legal action and, more to their thinking, since writers and creators are going to complain about how the adaptation isn't anything like their book or comic or whatever -anyway-, why not just rip it off and do it "right" (ie, what Hollywood thinks is good, rather than what made the book/comic/whatever popular in the first place-- good story, good characters, etc.). ou don't even have to pay for it this way. Because the people behind Supernatural actually rub elbows with fans, they're beloved in media fandom despite the obvious moral and ethical shortcomings of their actions.

I wish that there was something that could be done, but with the studio's high-paid lawyers deconstructing all the similarities reductio ad absurdum, even a remake could be shown to be a completely different film. Even the two-bit Hollywood pitch is based on this kind of thing: "Yeah, it's like , "X-Men" meets "High School: The Musical"-- pure gold!"

And yes, I'm guilty of enabling this to go on happening every time I see a film or turn on the TV. I hate me!

Comments

[fatkraken.livejournal.com]

I'm quite enjoying supernatural.

I'm not so well informed about genre stuff, so I might be missing more blatent rips, but I didn't find it offensive. Like the Groundhog day ep, they used a familiar premise but I thought the execution was pretty original and different from that film. Making the reference grounded things more than when, say, SG1 did the same thing, because the first thing any vaguely informed viewer would think is "hey, that's like groundhog day". It's a convenient shorthand. Another episode has ghosthunting spods with a camcorder get caught up in a real ghost house; again, you might just say "Blair witch ripoff", but it was played for laughs and any references were fond not cynical. I mean, you might as well berate hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead for doing the same thing

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

I'm watching TV today too - all Olympics. Shut up moar, commentators; just let us enjoy the skiing/ skating/snowboarding/etc. Especially the skating, with the nice music.

Morwyn the corgi also likes to watch cross-country skiing, apparently. :)

[swirling-chaos.livejournal.com]

To be honest I barely watch TV anymore, aside from documentaries and some cooking shows, and a few animated things. Shows about making cake > cheesy recycled drama any day.

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

The only TV I watch any more is on DVD. That way I can sample a series and if I like it, watch the whole rest of the season in short order at the exact time that's convenient for me. Netflix is awesome!

The Hollywood formula (or approach or whatever you want to call it) almost guarantees that I won't like most TV. CSI is one of the few shows where a main character can be smart... most leads have to be "mainstream"... i.e. stupid and belligerent for action shows, stupid and ineffectual for dramas, or stupid, clumsy, and incompetent for comedies. Not my cup of tea.

With that said, I think the best work out there nowadays is on television. Movies are too big-budget to take risks.

[graafen]

When I moved into my own place a few years ago I decided to not bother getting a TV. I'd already been without it for about six months and hadn't really missed it.
I was getting more and more frustrated with the blatant lack of originality in modern TV shows and despised having to wade through the filth in an often futile attempt to find something interesting, and having to pay a license for the privilege.

Thankfully, now that streaming media is more common on the internet, I doubt that I'll ever actually need a television again.

I don't know if getting rid of your TV will work for you, but it certainly did for me and my sanity. :)

[brerandalopex.livejournal.com]

[Brer] I always liked the original CSI, but I was particularly fond of William Petersen in the main role. He had just the right mix of geek, detective, and unwilling supervisor.

There's not a lot else we catch regularly: Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs mostly... We used to catch Timewarp before that went away too. I'm shamefully fond of Ghost Hunters for its production values and a tiny shred of scientific method but prefer Ghost Hunters International for awesome locations and their Irish Tech Manager. (It's 99.9% bunk IMHO, but YMMV...)

The rest is movies or specific TV series we are catching up on via the Apple TV. Sometimes Hockey. It's very nice seeing the Olympics in HiDef this year, I'll admit...

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Leverage is a rip-off of "To Catch a Thief."

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs are favorites here too. I also like animal documentaries, the dispassionate ones, not the "ANIMALS ARE DANGEROUS AND WILL EAT YOU!" ONES. :/

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Oh hay, when is Westminster?

Edit: D'OH it's tonight and tomorrow!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I guess film and television fall under the old laws-and-sausages saw: " Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."

I'm too close to a lot of this stuff and the process is frustrating and not a little unethical (like blockbuster films -never- making a profit, so net-profit participants never see a dime). I'm also a science fiction film/tv geek, and a lot of the source-stuff they use is near and dear to me. You can ref it or spoof it, but do it too much and you're just stealing.

Maybe it's trying to be too many things (a spoof show, a monster/sf show, an original drama, etc.) that (to me) it's never really defined itself (like, say, X-files did).

Needless to say, enjoy away!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I wish they'd do more live broadcasting, particularly of the more obscure sports. With all the stations NBC has, I'm not sure why they aren't doing exactly that.

Has Morwyn ever been in the snow?

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I started to geek on the Food Channel, until I realized how much I was affected by it: I'd get hungry watching. Particularly the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" show! And it was all stuff that is incredibly delicious and horribly bad for you!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Watching shows on cable is almost like that-- you can't flip through the basic channels without finding some version of CSI on at all times...and several channels have marathons (sci-fi and, today, TNT with Supernatural). I mostly have it on for white noise while I work, but I do follow it.

I love cable and its ability to attract talent by giving them a long creative leash. Great stuff here (I'm a Mad Men fan-- it's the only show I watch in first run!). I love Youtube even more for it's egalitarian nature: finally, anyone can get practically any creative endeavor a world-wide audience!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I've been tempted, but I'm a newsie: gotta have my news and weather and stuff like that. Mostly I use it for audio and visual "noise" when I'm working. I'd use the computer more, except that mine is barely able to stream and I pay too much attention to it when it's right in front of me (as opposed to being on a screen off to my side).

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I would do just fine at your house! The only thing I watch in addition to that would be some animation (cartoon net, but less and less as they get more mainstream-teenage-boy) and news.

HiDef...mmmmmm! I've had just enough of a taste to know how marvelous it is, but not enough to replace everything.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I couldn't remember what it reminded me of (too busy being irritated). Thanks!

TCaT: Classic stuff!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Both shows are great! Mythbusters is what I always wanted to do as a boy growing up!

The host of Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe, is amazing. His sense of comic timing is wonderful and his willingness to go into anything is nothing short of godlike! Man, the guy is *ripped*, too! Did you know he's also the voice of some of those over-the-top wrestling (or is it monster truck) commercials? "SUNDAY-SUNDAY-SUNDAY!!! SEE..."

[chuck-melville.livejournal.com]

I gave up on Supernatural midway through its first season. I thought the original premise of two guys hunting down urban legends was kinda interesting, but it lost whatever appeal it had really quickly.

Even so, I'm not done with TV yet, though it is much worse than it used to be. It still comes up with some short-lived gems like Pushing Daisies (may it rest in peace), and I'm still solidly hooked on Lost and House, as well as the Law And Order dramas.

For my part, I wish there was far less Sports Programming, given that I have absolutely zero interest in televised sports (and don't they have ESPN for that anyway?) and far less interest in the mass quantities of talk shows and endless hours of telecommercials.

Thank God for PBS where I get my news fix with shows like Frontline, Washington Week and the Newshour. And Dr Who.

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

No, and I doubt that Kaiya the rescue-corgi from Texas has either, although our 2 previous corgis experienced fun in the snow when we used to live on the East Coast. Maybe one of these days I'll have to drive these two to some snow to play in!

Morwyn also seems to like watching snowboard cross racing too. :) EDIT: And she has been making me play "fetch" with her when she gets bored at the commercials. :p

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Haha! It must be like watching little facing mice in a glass box! My dogs get very excited when they hear me watching sled-dog races and certain Animal Planet shows. And I can always tell when a show uses real dog sound effects or if they use an actor making dog sounds: neither R0ndo nor Apache will react to an actor no matter how realistic they sound!