Disappointing shows
Mar. 24th, 2005 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furtechTV is dumbing itself down. Still. For years.
I can accept dumb shows. Some of the things I watch and enjoy I'm sure have detractors. I only get angry when a show brags about how well they did things, how much attention to detail they got. Funny how you never hear objective experts say the same things about those same shows. CSI currently tops my list for hypocritical excellence.
There's a reason I drifted away from network television: LCD. Pandering to the lowest common denominator has "dumb-ified" shows to the point where I gnash my teeth watching them. I caught an episode of CSI about some guy who'd died in a bathtub of hot water and had laid there for a week, happily turning into something disgusting. They must has spent a lot on the prop, since it was totally disgusting and they showed it A LOT! What really yanked my chain was the kind of "Baywatch" kind of stupidity in a show that constantly and loudly brags about their uncanny accuracy. Uncanny is right! *Basic* crime scene procedure violations ("Hey, I found a clue. I'll just pick it up and hold it up to the camera for *drahma*!"). Contrived (like, impossible) clues based on physical situations that would have to occur in the controlled conditions of a lab to occur; some outright impossible effects/conditions done for dramatic effect to snag the viewer; lots of plain ol' stupid. Like cops tough-sassing their captains (said cop looked like Dwight).
Back to the nasty body: the worst offense of all: they had the two "hot chick" investigators looking into this one. They're wearing Bay Watch tank tops and tight pants. OK...dumb and pander-y, but almost believable if you're a functional retard. What steamed my whistle was that they are moving the body and looking through that bathtub full of decomposed bloat with NO MASKS ON! C'mon! That place had to be tens kinds of stink. The whole neighborhood would have been wearing respirators or gone! The two hotties aren't even giving this the reaction that emptying a backed-up toilet would have gotten! They're just "La-dee-dah!" with witty chit-chat and cheerful expressions. *GNRRGH!*
Basic cable is no better-- it just offers different flavors of stupid and the occasional diamond. I watched an episode of "Animal X". What a load of offal! I'm told that the last season was far better, more straight-forward animal forensics. The new format has some old geezer who is shown glowing with some unholy blue aura around him. He over-acts in a way that is meant to dramatize every non-event; instead he gives the show the tone of a bad horror-show host. The investigations were shallow and uninteresting (this was about the "Beast of Gevauden", which should have been great!). They must have taken the budget for re-creating scenes and used it for the unholy aura, since the scenes looked like they shot 'em at a Ren Fair with acting to match. And I'm sure that the change in formats was to boost ratings-- LCD again.
On the other hand, I've only recently discovered (thank you, Discovery Channel and TIVO!) "Myth Busters"! Definitely a diamond! The show is creative, intriguing and just *fun*! They don't waste time with flashy, candy graphics or "celebrity" hosts: they just bust/prove urban myths! Usually involving something blowing up or a painful recreation. Fun!
And...I'll admit that what I saw of the dragon show on Animal Planet was much better than I had anticipated: kind of fun, actually. You could almost watch that after the "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows and have it seamlessly blend in. Now if they could only do one like this about werewolves...!
I can accept dumb shows. Some of the things I watch and enjoy I'm sure have detractors. I only get angry when a show brags about how well they did things, how much attention to detail they got. Funny how you never hear objective experts say the same things about those same shows. CSI currently tops my list for hypocritical excellence.
There's a reason I drifted away from network television: LCD. Pandering to the lowest common denominator has "dumb-ified" shows to the point where I gnash my teeth watching them. I caught an episode of CSI about some guy who'd died in a bathtub of hot water and had laid there for a week, happily turning into something disgusting. They must has spent a lot on the prop, since it was totally disgusting and they showed it A LOT! What really yanked my chain was the kind of "Baywatch" kind of stupidity in a show that constantly and loudly brags about their uncanny accuracy. Uncanny is right! *Basic* crime scene procedure violations ("Hey, I found a clue. I'll just pick it up and hold it up to the camera for *drahma*!"). Contrived (like, impossible) clues based on physical situations that would have to occur in the controlled conditions of a lab to occur; some outright impossible effects/conditions done for dramatic effect to snag the viewer; lots of plain ol' stupid. Like cops tough-sassing their captains (said cop looked like Dwight).
Back to the nasty body: the worst offense of all: they had the two "hot chick" investigators looking into this one. They're wearing Bay Watch tank tops and tight pants. OK...dumb and pander-y, but almost believable if you're a functional retard. What steamed my whistle was that they are moving the body and looking through that bathtub full of decomposed bloat with NO MASKS ON! C'mon! That place had to be tens kinds of stink. The whole neighborhood would have been wearing respirators or gone! The two hotties aren't even giving this the reaction that emptying a backed-up toilet would have gotten! They're just "La-dee-dah!" with witty chit-chat and cheerful expressions. *GNRRGH!*
Basic cable is no better-- it just offers different flavors of stupid and the occasional diamond. I watched an episode of "Animal X". What a load of offal! I'm told that the last season was far better, more straight-forward animal forensics. The new format has some old geezer who is shown glowing with some unholy blue aura around him. He over-acts in a way that is meant to dramatize every non-event; instead he gives the show the tone of a bad horror-show host. The investigations were shallow and uninteresting (this was about the "Beast of Gevauden", which should have been great!). They must have taken the budget for re-creating scenes and used it for the unholy aura, since the scenes looked like they shot 'em at a Ren Fair with acting to match. And I'm sure that the change in formats was to boost ratings-- LCD again.
On the other hand, I've only recently discovered (thank you, Discovery Channel and TIVO!) "Myth Busters"! Definitely a diamond! The show is creative, intriguing and just *fun*! They don't waste time with flashy, candy graphics or "celebrity" hosts: they just bust/prove urban myths! Usually involving something blowing up or a painful recreation. Fun!
And...I'll admit that what I saw of the dragon show on Animal Planet was much better than I had anticipated: kind of fun, actually. You could almost watch that after the "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows and have it seamlessly blend in. Now if they could only do one like this about werewolves...!
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-24 02:47 pm (UTC)Heh. Alo and I caught "Animal X" the other day and were howling at the stupidity. Unlike CSI (which at least is based loosely on real crime scene science), this program is just eerie music and camera angles.
Got to agree with Skorzy on "Mythbusters" too. There are holes in their scientific method you can drive several large trucks through (sideways) -- but they BLEW UP A CEMENT MIXER! Come on now, who can FAIL to be entertained by that? ;)
Frankly I liked the "beat the speed trap myths" episode where they underlings created a car with a chaff cannon and a microwave oven strapped to the front of it. (Both were supposed to confuse police radar and neither did of course -- but it made me want a chaff cannon on MY car.)
But overall, I certainly agree with your thesis. Good things to watch on TV are few and far between.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-24 03:26 pm (UTC)Yeah! Blowing up that cement truck was *cool*! I loved how you could see the engine block shoot out of the front like a cannonball! I still maintain that they know they're not being scientifically correct, and are just doing what you or I would do if challenged to prove something could happen. With a bigger budget and better shop than most of us have access to. I didn't see the episode with the chaff cannon, but I want one too!