(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Half-watching latest Doctor Who episode, and VERY bored. I'm surfing the net during it. Lots of sci-fi babble, very little suspense. Don't care about anyone. There is a funny little creature devouring the ship though. And no spiders, so better than last week's in that I can actually watch it.

I'm guessing this episode sort of shows who are the die-hard fans of the series and the casual viewers who are wildly entertained by it on occasion? Either that, or those who are entertained by Chinaball's writing and those who aren't? It's notable that his previous Doctor Who episodes under other show-runners did little for me, and I fell asleep trying to watch Broadchurch S2 and 3. Let's face it Moffat's metaphorical puzzle box writing entertained me the most...although Davie's had his moments.

2. Saw the neurologist today who has decided to oversee the sciatic nerve problem. He was surprised to learn it was now cascading down my left leg, after having been down my right for the last five years.

This basically means that after I vote, I have to lug my sorry ass back into the city for a neurological exam by a guy who talks faster than a loony tunes character. Wish me luck.

On the voting front, not that you will care unless you are a New Yorker, apparently the ballot is two pages long. Why? Three referendums and judge ships. (Which 90% of New Yorker's do not care about). I've decided to vote no on the three referendum's proposed by our erstwhile Mayor. Other than that? Straight Democrat. Because you know, lesser of two evils and the Republicans not only moved to the dark side, they sort of dove there and kept on going.

Although not sure it matters in regards to the judges since 90% of them appear to be running on the Democrat and Republican tickets. I guess the two parties couldn't be bothered to come up with separate candidates for judgeship?

3. Now, half-watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- which errs on the side of excess. Subtlety isn't exactly in these writer's repertoire. It's broad social satire (emphasis on BROAD) by way of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler...and possibly Austin Powers, Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live. With musical numbers. (I'm watching for the musical numbers. Note - there needs to be a lot more musical numbers, one or two per hour is simply NOT enough.)

Have just about given up on Murphy Brown -- it's not funny. Too political for it's own good. Needs to take a few pages from The Connors and the other sitcoms...which is water down the political satirical humor a bit. We don't live in the age of Duba, we live in the age of Doofus...and well in regards to the Doofus, the political satire is not only writing itself and it's sort of scary.

I also miss the old Murphy Brown and the crazy secretaries.

Sigh. You know there's a problem with sitcoms, when you laughed hardest at Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The Good Place -- still the best of the sitcoms, possibly because it's not even trying to be a sitcom half the time it's more interested in exploring the thorny field of ethical philosophy. This week it tackled the whole...putting others before oneself bit and family drama rather well. Instead of beating up on relatives that made them miserable, they took a page from Jason's book and made peace with them.

Comments

[wendelah1]

The Good Place is entertaining us though I still maintain it is not as good as last season.

I enjoyed Ant Man and the Wasp. Also Ant Man (the first one). Paul Rudd is a likeable actor, which helps.

And good luck tomorrow!

[shadowkat]

Thanks.

Oh, I agree, The Good Place isn't as good as it was last year.

[cjlasky7]

Hope the doctor's appointment went well....

Regarding Doctor Who: I'm going to give next week's "Demons of the Punjab" (hopefully, a Yaz-heavy ep) a go before I weigh in on the season so far. To be honest, despite Whittaker's solid take on the character, I'm still on the fence.

Obviously, I like this season of The Good Place more than you do. It may have lost something by grounding itself on Earth, but the main six characters are still great, and the more in-depth character work at least partially compensates for the absence of afterlife weirdness. I loved both Eleanor and Tahani's plotlines last week. The reveal that Kamilah's entire exhibit was about the sisters was terrific. (I still think Schur is building to another big twist, and we'll be rewarded by the end of the season.)

Agree about Murphy Brown. It always was a little too self-congratulatory, and that's not playing as well in 2018. (However: then and now, Grant Shaud's Miles Silverberg will always be one of my all-time favorite supporting characters.)

Big thumbs up to last week's Conners. Threaded the needle on political correctness beautifully. The two-fer between Sara Gilbert and (veteran character actor) David Paymer was classic. And kudos to Matthew Broderick for playing against type as a pretentious dipshit. He was so good, he broke my wife's lifetime crush on him...

[shadowkat]

1.) I didn't even recognize Broderick, I've been trying to figure out who he played.

I think you missed my meta on situation comedies, where I explain that if I don't laugh during a sitcom - it hasn't done it's job. OTOH, it's hard not to appreciate what the Good Place, The Connors and Big Bang are attempting to explore this year -- which is sort of the same thing, Hannah Gadfrey addressed in her standup act Nanette. Should we tell a joke to be funny, or is it better to tell a story that may be funny but often isn't? And what are the consequences of telling the joke that's funny but hurts someone at the same time?

It's HERE.

2. Doctor Who

I'm on the fence as well. I like Whittaker fine -- her take on the Doctor isn't really that much different than anyone else's and the frantic or frentic energy she's exhibiting, has always been there and has always annoyed me.

No...I think it's the writing that isn't quite working for me. I've found the pacing to be a bit on the slow side, and I miss the humor that was more prevalent during Moffat's turn.

3. Thanks on Doctor Appt. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

[cjlasky7]

I read your post on meta-comedy, and I think you nailed it. It's amazing how the writing staff of Roseanne/The Conners took lemons and turned it into lemonade. When R. Barr flamed out in a PC funeral pyre, they could have played it safe and made The Conners a season of noncontroversial family comedy. Instead, they steered into the skid, and made the topic of political correctness the through line for the whole season. How much honesty can we stand--as a family, as a community, as a nation? They've worked the theme through on all levels. When Jackie asks Dan his honest opinion about Peter, you absolutely know how the conversation is going to go--in fact, Jackie and Dan know how it's going to go--but they fall into the same old trap anyway. It's really well done.

[shadowkat]

Yep. And it's not just the Connors...I'm seeing this pop up in other comedies as well. The Good Place seems to be examining it -- in Eleanor's snark, and Jason's seemingly harmless humor. Big Bang Theory really went after it (surprising me, because that show like Roseanne was completely based on "insult" comedy and "humiliating or making fun of others", often in a way that pushes the boundaries) -- in their Halloween episode, but almost a bit too much on the nose. Good Place and Connors were a touch more subtle.

Insult humor has it's place...but it can be destructive. It repeals.

Also dlgood made a really good point about The Good Place - it's not really a situation comedy, it's whimisical meta on philosophy wrapped inside a situation comedy. The writer's aim isn't to make me laugh, and his jokes seem to have an intent that may be similar to what Hannah Gadfrey was doing with Nanette and the writers did with the Connors, exploring the morality behind the humor.