Stuff and Situation Comedies
Oct. 31st, 2018 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Struggling to find comfortable walking shoes. I appear to be striking out and spending a bit of money int the process. Highly frustrated. I'm thinking of trying the Amazon Prime Wardrobe option, where you try on the shoes at home and if they don't fit, return them within 7 days. Either that or searching out shoe stores (which also can be hit or miss). Apparently there is an unwritten rule - it fits in the store, but not after walking five blocks on the street. I have blisters -- bad ones, after walking five blocks in the allegedly super comfy, All Birds Merino Wool Shoes. Time Mag voted them the most comfortable shoes on the planet. Yeah, right.
I bought blister protectors and hopefully that will work. Spent too much money to give up on them. Also bought Orthofeet, and they too...are not as predicted.
Ugh.
And I have to stretch out the New Balance.
Shoes: 3
Me: 0
2. Reading?
Working my way through Artremis by Andy WeirThe Martian. I honestly think he'd have been better off if he'd made Jazz a noirish white guy and played to the trope. Because his attempt to subvert the trope is NOT working. It's actually sort of annoying and moving rapidly towards borderline offensive. I'm sorry, dude, women don't think like that. And can this character be any more annoying? Not helped by the fact that we have one main female character, surrounded by guys. And all the guys are upstanding. The only other female characters we have are the Administrator, who is a bit fiendish, and a crippled girl, who is barely a character.
I'd say it's the strong female cliche, but she's whiny and likes to play the victim. I keep wanting to smack her upside the head. When I remember it's a her, because she talks and acts like a guy.
The science is good, everything else, not so much. And I'm rapidly losing interest. Although I've made it 69% of the way through, so might as well stick through it until the end.
Don't recommend. Stick with The Martian, and skip the followup.
Meanwhile my mind is playing with another story idea. I'm trying to tell it to stop. We need to finish the other three-four story ideas first. No more story ideas. It's like there's all these stories and story ideas bottlenecked in my head, trying to get out. And highly annoyed that I'm sort of busy doing other things to give them much voice. Seriously, they are thinking -- you should be writing not wasting time vegging in front of the television set when you get off work or writing in your journal. Come on.
3. I've decided to try and get tickets to the National Theater Live showing of Frankenstein around November 23rd in NYC at the IFC Theater. Assuming it's available. I keep missing these events.
Just need to see if anyone wants to come with -- not that it's really necessary. Actually, there's something to be said for watching movies alone.
Busy weekend coming up. Taking Friday and Monday off, my company/agency already has election day off.
Oh and I received the dreaded Jury Questionnaire. Yes, they found me. Again. Damn it. I'm going to have to look into moving. I'm tempted to ignore it -- but they are rather persistent, and you can get into trouble. (Been there done that. All that happened was I got a second notice and a warning.) NY State is nasty to jurors. If I were to sue someone in NY State, I'd think twice. Company reimburses me for it (hello, state agency, of course they do). But generally speaking, it is a colossal waste of time. There are days I wish I could claim that I didn't speak English. Good news is all the potential jurors agree that it is a colossal waste of their time -- and we sort of bond over the stress, and insanity of the process.
Is jury duty this bad in other countries?
Anyhow...I've scheduled the MRI for my back, so I can get physical therapy. (That's Sat). And have the tremor doc on Monday. Voting on Tuesday -- because we mustkeep/throw those pesky Republicans out of office do our civic duty. Party/Potluck on Sat night. Church (assuming I go, haven't lately) on Sunday. Also, I really need to look into going clothes shopping and shoe shopping -- in person, although not sure that's a better idea than online.
4. Sitcoms or Situation Comedies
Was discussing this with Mini-Lando aka Chidi at work today. (He looks like the son of Chidi from the Good Place and the guy who played the lead in Get Out.)
I told him that for me if the situation comedy doesn't make me laugh -- it's not doing it's job. Because isn't that the entire point of a situation comedy?
Chidi: But let's face it, comedy is hard to pull off.
Me: True, it comes from a place of pain.
Chidi: Look at Dave Chapelle. What he's done is amazing.
Me: I know who he is, but am admittedly not familiar with his comedy.
Chidi: He took several years off, then came back and is amazing and relevant. Do you think Eddie Murphy could do that? I'd be afraid to see him try it.
Me: Yeah, well he's older than I am. Chappell is younger.
Chidi: Chapelle is in his 40s.
Me: That's younger. Is Chapelle part of the Wayans...and the white guy I can't remember the name of. Jim something, who was in The Mask?
Chidi: Jim Carry?
Me: Yeah, that's the one. I spaced his name completely for some reason.
Chidi: No. And do you think Carry can come back again and be relevant?
Me: Probably not. It's really hard to. I've admittedly not watched much standup since the late 1990s and early 00s..so am a bit out of the loop here.
He is right of course. Comedy is really hard to pull off. And everyone's sense of humor is VERY different. I, for example, have a very dry sense of humor in case you haven't noticed. It's not exactly sharp or biting...just very dry and sardonic. I don't like insult humor -- so much as self-deprecation and making fun of situations, no matter how dire.
For example? I find the Trolley Episode of The Good Place to be hilarious. But last week's episode left me cold, not a laugh to be had. So it wasn't a good episode in my opinion -- because it didn't make me laugh. I don't care that much about anything else -- if you are a comedy, you're job is to make me laugh. Period. You don't do that, I'm moseying on. If I want drama, I can watch a drama.
Dramas and dramedy's tend to entertain me more -- because I have lower expectations. I'm not expecting to laugh. There's no pressure.
That said, however...The Connor's these past couple of weeks is doing something that is rather interesting. I didn't laugh. But...I am picking up on an interesting pattern in the writing. The writer's are commenting on "insult" humor -- which is the brand of humor that Roseanne Barr made famous and was to an extent the show. (I had issues with the show at various points, because insult humor doesn't really work for me. Don Rickles -- irritated me. And it's been my problem with Big Bang up to a point. And that leads to another interesting pattern...which I'll come back to and have begun to pick up on.) In this episode and the last one, Darlene and her family sort of get taken to task for their particular brand of humor. It's more subtle in the last episode. But it is pointed out that Darlene and Jackie and Becky's difficulty with maintaining a romantic relationship or friendship is related to their brand of humor -- sharp and insulting. Then in this episode, Darlene interviews for a job and is asked to insult on demand, but her brand of insult humor is offensive and painful. She's tearing the person apart, instead of just making fun of their clothing or the situation. It's not self-deprecating enough. We have a lot of light and lively banter in my workplace, where we make fun of said workplace, each other, and tease one another. But we don't insult each other -- and if someone does, they get verbally smacked or looked at oddly. There's a fine line between funny and offensive, apparently. And The Connors much like The Big Bang Theory last week plays with it and examines it. What costumes are considered inappropriate? What insults go too far? And what are the consequences?
The idea of comedy going too far, or being at someone's expense is covered in great depth in a Netflix Stand-Up Act from Australia ("Hanna Gadsby's Nanette") which turned the stand-up comedy world upside down. The act starts out with various jokes about growing up in the closet, with an estranged mother, etc...painful jokes that are funny, and slowly, Gadsby begins to comment on them, making her audience squirm for laughing, and then cry in compassion.
Big Bang does something similar last week -- albeit not to the same extent...it starts out hilarious, with Howard dressing up as Sheldon for Halloween -- at their workplace. When Sheldon realizes it, he's, of course humiliated. And Amy insists Howard apologize to him -- but his wife, refuses, stating Sheldon makes fun of Howard all the time. So, Amy chooses to dress up as Howard's wife Bernadette, and has Sheldon dress as Howard for Penny's Halloween party...which of course humiliates Bernadette, whose deeply insecure about her size and voice. It's not funny any more. If anything it is painful.
And in a rare moment of compassion, Sheldon goes to Bernadette to apologize...and their interaction is both moving and funny.
The Connors similarly does this with Darlene who interviews for a job at a restaurant chain in which the waiters insult the customers in fun. When asked to do it on demand -- she struggles. Until she says things that are rather cruel. The interviewer appalled tells her that she didn't get the job.
And then her son dresses up as Frida Kohla, after getting rid of the costume of a video game warrior (because it is deemed too violent by the school). The school has specific guidelines on costumes, what can and can't be worn -- what is deemed offensive. What is appropriate. But they go too far.
And prohibit her son from being Frida, because it would be considered offensive to some people.
Darlene is understandably outraged. Her son worked hard on the costume and loves Frida. It was done out of respect. And it's a good costume. But the Principal won't budge. Later, a little girl scares her grandfather and aunt while driving -- while funny, the timing of joke is also potentially dangerous. Humor for the Connors is how they survive, get through their lives, but it is also dangerous and cuts them off. As it did in real life to Roseanne Barr who took her insult humor a step too far and reaped horrific consequences as a result, humiliating herself and everyone else in the process. Her brand of humor which up until recently had worked for her -- no longer does.
The writers in all three situations appear to be examining the role of humor and comedy in our current society, and how far is too far. What may be funny to some -- is humiliating and painful to others. And are we willing to pay the price for the joke? And how high a price are we willing to pay? At what point does comedy become too painful?
It's an interesting question to explore -- and I'm fascinated by the fact that various comedians are doing so. At the same time, they are exploring the question of when does being too politically correct or too careful -- silence creativity and stiffle someone? Where are the boundaries? And how tightly should they be enforced?
I bought blister protectors and hopefully that will work. Spent too much money to give up on them. Also bought Orthofeet, and they too...are not as predicted.
Ugh.
And I have to stretch out the New Balance.
Shoes: 3
Me: 0
2. Reading?
Working my way through Artremis by Andy WeirThe Martian. I honestly think he'd have been better off if he'd made Jazz a noirish white guy and played to the trope. Because his attempt to subvert the trope is NOT working. It's actually sort of annoying and moving rapidly towards borderline offensive. I'm sorry, dude, women don't think like that. And can this character be any more annoying? Not helped by the fact that we have one main female character, surrounded by guys. And all the guys are upstanding. The only other female characters we have are the Administrator, who is a bit fiendish, and a crippled girl, who is barely a character.
I'd say it's the strong female cliche, but she's whiny and likes to play the victim. I keep wanting to smack her upside the head. When I remember it's a her, because she talks and acts like a guy.
The science is good, everything else, not so much. And I'm rapidly losing interest. Although I've made it 69% of the way through, so might as well stick through it until the end.
Don't recommend. Stick with The Martian, and skip the followup.
Meanwhile my mind is playing with another story idea. I'm trying to tell it to stop. We need to finish the other three-four story ideas first. No more story ideas. It's like there's all these stories and story ideas bottlenecked in my head, trying to get out. And highly annoyed that I'm sort of busy doing other things to give them much voice. Seriously, they are thinking -- you should be writing not wasting time vegging in front of the television set when you get off work or writing in your journal. Come on.
3. I've decided to try and get tickets to the National Theater Live showing of Frankenstein around November 23rd in NYC at the IFC Theater. Assuming it's available. I keep missing these events.
Just need to see if anyone wants to come with -- not that it's really necessary. Actually, there's something to be said for watching movies alone.
Busy weekend coming up. Taking Friday and Monday off, my company/agency already has election day off.
Oh and I received the dreaded Jury Questionnaire. Yes, they found me. Again. Damn it. I'm going to have to look into moving. I'm tempted to ignore it -- but they are rather persistent, and you can get into trouble. (Been there done that. All that happened was I got a second notice and a warning.) NY State is nasty to jurors. If I were to sue someone in NY State, I'd think twice. Company reimburses me for it (hello, state agency, of course they do). But generally speaking, it is a colossal waste of time. There are days I wish I could claim that I didn't speak English. Good news is all the potential jurors agree that it is a colossal waste of their time -- and we sort of bond over the stress, and insanity of the process.
Is jury duty this bad in other countries?
Anyhow...I've scheduled the MRI for my back, so I can get physical therapy. (That's Sat). And have the tremor doc on Monday. Voting on Tuesday -- because we must
4. Sitcoms or Situation Comedies
Was discussing this with Mini-Lando aka Chidi at work today. (He looks like the son of Chidi from the Good Place and the guy who played the lead in Get Out.)
I told him that for me if the situation comedy doesn't make me laugh -- it's not doing it's job. Because isn't that the entire point of a situation comedy?
Chidi: But let's face it, comedy is hard to pull off.
Me: True, it comes from a place of pain.
Chidi: Look at Dave Chapelle. What he's done is amazing.
Me: I know who he is, but am admittedly not familiar with his comedy.
Chidi: He took several years off, then came back and is amazing and relevant. Do you think Eddie Murphy could do that? I'd be afraid to see him try it.
Me: Yeah, well he's older than I am. Chappell is younger.
Chidi: Chapelle is in his 40s.
Me: That's younger. Is Chapelle part of the Wayans...and the white guy I can't remember the name of. Jim something, who was in The Mask?
Chidi: Jim Carry?
Me: Yeah, that's the one. I spaced his name completely for some reason.
Chidi: No. And do you think Carry can come back again and be relevant?
Me: Probably not. It's really hard to. I've admittedly not watched much standup since the late 1990s and early 00s..so am a bit out of the loop here.
He is right of course. Comedy is really hard to pull off. And everyone's sense of humor is VERY different. I, for example, have a very dry sense of humor in case you haven't noticed. It's not exactly sharp or biting...just very dry and sardonic. I don't like insult humor -- so much as self-deprecation and making fun of situations, no matter how dire.
For example? I find the Trolley Episode of The Good Place to be hilarious. But last week's episode left me cold, not a laugh to be had. So it wasn't a good episode in my opinion -- because it didn't make me laugh. I don't care that much about anything else -- if you are a comedy, you're job is to make me laugh. Period. You don't do that, I'm moseying on. If I want drama, I can watch a drama.
Dramas and dramedy's tend to entertain me more -- because I have lower expectations. I'm not expecting to laugh. There's no pressure.
That said, however...The Connor's these past couple of weeks is doing something that is rather interesting. I didn't laugh. But...I am picking up on an interesting pattern in the writing. The writer's are commenting on "insult" humor -- which is the brand of humor that Roseanne Barr made famous and was to an extent the show. (I had issues with the show at various points, because insult humor doesn't really work for me. Don Rickles -- irritated me. And it's been my problem with Big Bang up to a point. And that leads to another interesting pattern...which I'll come back to and have begun to pick up on.) In this episode and the last one, Darlene and her family sort of get taken to task for their particular brand of humor. It's more subtle in the last episode. But it is pointed out that Darlene and Jackie and Becky's difficulty with maintaining a romantic relationship or friendship is related to their brand of humor -- sharp and insulting. Then in this episode, Darlene interviews for a job and is asked to insult on demand, but her brand of insult humor is offensive and painful. She's tearing the person apart, instead of just making fun of their clothing or the situation. It's not self-deprecating enough. We have a lot of light and lively banter in my workplace, where we make fun of said workplace, each other, and tease one another. But we don't insult each other -- and if someone does, they get verbally smacked or looked at oddly. There's a fine line between funny and offensive, apparently. And The Connors much like The Big Bang Theory last week plays with it and examines it. What costumes are considered inappropriate? What insults go too far? And what are the consequences?
The idea of comedy going too far, or being at someone's expense is covered in great depth in a Netflix Stand-Up Act from Australia ("Hanna Gadsby's Nanette") which turned the stand-up comedy world upside down. The act starts out with various jokes about growing up in the closet, with an estranged mother, etc...painful jokes that are funny, and slowly, Gadsby begins to comment on them, making her audience squirm for laughing, and then cry in compassion.
Big Bang does something similar last week -- albeit not to the same extent...it starts out hilarious, with Howard dressing up as Sheldon for Halloween -- at their workplace. When Sheldon realizes it, he's, of course humiliated. And Amy insists Howard apologize to him -- but his wife, refuses, stating Sheldon makes fun of Howard all the time. So, Amy chooses to dress up as Howard's wife Bernadette, and has Sheldon dress as Howard for Penny's Halloween party...which of course humiliates Bernadette, whose deeply insecure about her size and voice. It's not funny any more. If anything it is painful.
And in a rare moment of compassion, Sheldon goes to Bernadette to apologize...and their interaction is both moving and funny.
The Connors similarly does this with Darlene who interviews for a job at a restaurant chain in which the waiters insult the customers in fun. When asked to do it on demand -- she struggles. Until she says things that are rather cruel. The interviewer appalled tells her that she didn't get the job.
And then her son dresses up as Frida Kohla, after getting rid of the costume of a video game warrior (because it is deemed too violent by the school). The school has specific guidelines on costumes, what can and can't be worn -- what is deemed offensive. What is appropriate. But they go too far.
And prohibit her son from being Frida, because it would be considered offensive to some people.
Darlene is understandably outraged. Her son worked hard on the costume and loves Frida. It was done out of respect. And it's a good costume. But the Principal won't budge. Later, a little girl scares her grandfather and aunt while driving -- while funny, the timing of joke is also potentially dangerous. Humor for the Connors is how they survive, get through their lives, but it is also dangerous and cuts them off. As it did in real life to Roseanne Barr who took her insult humor a step too far and reaped horrific consequences as a result, humiliating herself and everyone else in the process. Her brand of humor which up until recently had worked for her -- no longer does.
The writers in all three situations appear to be examining the role of humor and comedy in our current society, and how far is too far. What may be funny to some -- is humiliating and painful to others. And are we willing to pay the price for the joke? And how high a price are we willing to pay? At what point does comedy become too painful?
It's an interesting question to explore -- and I'm fascinated by the fact that various comedians are doing so. At the same time, they are exploring the question of when does being too politically correct or too careful -- silence creativity and stiffle someone? Where are the boundaries? And how tightly should they be enforced?
no subject
Date: 2018-11-02 12:01 am (UTC)Which is great for the spotting of Easter eggs (Hey look, that magazine has an ad for the sequel to a book a character on "Parks & Rec" was reading) but is only funny if you watched P&R with great detail. Some of those are actually funny jokes, but they require a lot of work for the viewer.
And I'm glad a writer is willing to reward that level of work. But it's hard to write for that level of viewer, and also write for a viewer who is not inclined to watch shows that deeply. And it's not really fair or always wise to ask viewers to do that level of work. At base level, a lot of viewers want to be able to relax and have a laugh.
Clearly, your comments show that "The Good Place" doesn't always hit both marks.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-02 01:34 am (UTC)But I can't be too harsh on it -- it's better than any of the other sitcoms that I've seen at the moment. I laugh more consistently at it than any of the others. I'm watching Crazy Ex right now, and my attention keeps wandering. It's too over-the-top and like The Good Place is attempting to appeal to the intellectual and casual viewer but for the most part -- misses the mark 98% of the time. It's too focused on parody, and way too over-the-top in the black comedy department to be taken seriously. I think that's the problem and it's at the bottom of the ratings as result. This is its last season, and if it weren't on the CW and the critics didn't like it, it would have been gone by now.
The Good Place may well be too intellectual for its own good. Most viewers don't want to think or work that hard. They put in a full and hard day of work, don't have a lot of time, and just want to be entertained, not work that hard (I can identify). None of my co-workers watch it -- too intellectual for them.
The academics love it too pieces of course, but hey, academics. But people who are working in other professions and are less intellectually or philosophically inclined? Not interested. Which is 65% of the population. It's a critical darling, but not really a mainstream one.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-02 02:45 am (UTC)It's a show that never would have survived in the Big3 era. Audiences are so dispersed that you can get niche shows that are functionally experiments on the air.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-02 02:55 am (UTC)In a way the excessive amount of content has made it possible for nitch series to survive. Lucifer, which was an odd series, got cancelled, then picked up by Netflix. And I have a feeling if CBS cancelled the Good Place, Netflix would pick it up as well.
Streaming has really changed the game. As a result, networks aren't cancelling series as quickly as they did a few years back. If a series gets good critical reviews -- they'll keep it on, if only to give themselves something to compete with the Netflix and Hulu channels.