Television Meme 22-50

[shadowkat]

22: Pro or anti web-series? Why?

Anti. I can't watch television shows on my computer - it gives me a headache. Too small, and the angle is bad. I have to wear reading glasses. Also, I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to do it on my television set. No loss - I'm certainly not lacking in content.

23: Streaming or DVD rental?

I admit there are days I miss going to a video store and checking out the DVDs. But not that much. I prefer streaming - so much easier. Also don't have a DVD player hooked up any longer.

24: Do you prefer to buy television shows online streaming or on DVD?

See #23.

25. What's your favorite mystery television show? (I left out 25 - 29 so am adding them...)

Prime Suspect was by far my favorite. Although I did like Remington Steel and Moonlighting.

26. What's your favorite police procedural or cop series?

The Wire, Hill Street Blues, and Homicide Life on the Streets. (Really nothing comes close to those three - they are the gold standard in cop procedurals.) (I don't consider Prime Suspect - a police procedural.)

27. What's your favorite medical series or medical procedural?

St. Elsewhere (it's the gold standard). Runner up - the Danish Series - The Kingdom by Lars Von Stiers. Also I liked ER in the early years.

28. What's your favorite soap opera?

General Hospital

29. What's your reality series?

Great Pottery Throwdown on HBO Max

30: Who’s your favorite television series writer?

Uh...I used to have them, but they keep disappointing me. For a while it was Aaron Sorkin, who still fits - since I will see just about anything he writes. I like his rapid fire dialogue. The man can write great dialogue.
Also Sherman-Palladino. Shonda Rhimes - I tend to like her soapy and at times over-the-top monologues. Jane Espenson - is hit or miss. Stephen Moffat - I like his plotting, also he's good at dialogue.

31: What’s your favorite comedic television show?

MASH, Cheers, Fraiser, WKRP in Cinncinati. Also I liked As Time Goes By and Coupling (the British version by Stephen Moffat)

32: What’s your favorite fantasy television series?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

33: What’s your favorite SF television series?

Farscape, obviously. I mean come on.

34: List five OTPs.

One True Pairing, but make it Five of them!

- Aeryn Sun/John Crichton - Farscape
- Doctor Who/Doctor River Song - Doctor Who
- Veronica Mars/Logan - Veronica Mars
- Apollo/Starbuck - Battlestar Galatica
- Buffy/Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

35: Name a television show you consider to be terribly underrated.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape, Babylon 5, Angel the Series, Star Trek,
General Hospital

36: Name a television show you consider to be terribly overrated.

The Office, Lost, Sopranoes, Game of Thrones

37: How many televisions series on DVD or VHS are actually in your bookshelf/shelves right now?

I don't know - they are all in bags in my closet, and I don't feel like counting. Just DVDs. Got rid of the VHS long ago.

38: What language do you (most often) watch in?

English

39: Name one of your favorite childhood television shows.

Kimba - the White Lion. Aired when I was in pre-school or about six years of age. Also the Monkeeys.

40: Name one of your favorite television shows from your teenage years.

Fame, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, My So-Called Life,

41: Do you have a library card to borrow television shows from the library? How often do you use it?

Yes. Don't use it.

42: Which was the best television show that you had to watch in school or that was considered educational?

MASH - I binge-watched it in college for a school paper on black humor.

43: Are you the kind of person who watches several television series at once or the kind of person who can only watch one and complete it at a time?

Several. Although obviously not at the same time.

44: Do you like to listen to television shows in the background when you do other things? Do you do other things while watching tv?

Yes. I've been known to surf the net, play with photoshop, clean, go through paperwork, cook, etc while it plays in the background.

45: What is your favorite thing to eat when you watch television?

Chocolate or chips

46: What is your favorite thing to drink when you watch television?

Wine or water, or tea.

47: What do you do to get out of a television slump - nothing to watch?

Re-watch something I love or read.

48: Where do you watch television?

Living room - only have one television.

49: When is your favorite time to watch television?

Evening around dinner time, after work. Nice way to wind down. Watch on weekends too.

50: Why do you love to watch television?

I think visually. So it's like having lovely stories play out in front of me in the comfort of my home. Also there's more time to tell the story, than with a movie.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

I was sorry that the Prime Suspect prequel apparently never got a second season. I also liked Remington Steele and Moonlighting. And you're right about the gold standard for those series though I would say The Wire was a drama rather than police procedural. After all, the fourth season focused on education and the fifth on journalism.

The TV writer is an interesting issue because I think those various writers are very good but they also have tendencies that can be overdone, such as Sorkin's characters all sounding alike. That's also a problem for ASP although she has a great comedic instinct. For me Shonda Rhimes has too many speechy monologues which make her characters seem like props. To me Moffat is hit and miss though can be very good when he hits.

Those are all good comedic shows. I'd consider Seinfeld to be overrated.

[shadowkat]

Kind of agree with all of the above.

Regarding the Wire? I was on the fence about whether it works as a procedural or not. Still am. I can argue it both ways. It is a weird procedural. Because the cop stuff is still there in the 4th and 5th seasons, just more in the background. Also, the procedural is extended, so we have a press procedural and a school procedural. (Speaking of - the best press procedural may have been Lou Grant. And the best school procedural? The Paper Chase? I don't know, there was a school procedural/drama back in the day - but I can't remember it. I remember Fame kind of going in that direction, but not. ) But, on the other hand - it often feels like a biting satire of a procedural. Also it really goes into the government bureaucracy. I rec it to folks as an excellent and biting satire of how a City is run, from the cops, to the schools, the docks, the press, and city hall. I truly loved that show. But you're right it's not a true procedural, even if it at times has all the trappings of one. I should have just said best "cop show". And if that's the case - those three are the gold standard.

I never got to see the prequel to Prime Suspect. Although I did see both the original Prime Suspect, and the US Television rip-off. Loved both, actually.

Oh so agree on Seinfeld. I thought it was at its best before it took off, and no one knew it existed. You had to hunt for it. When it got really popular and ran on for seemingly forever - I got tired of it. The characters stopped after a while being fully fledged characters and just...cartoonish.

The TV writer is an interesting issue because I think those various writers are very good but they also have tendencies that can be overdone, such as Sorkin's characters all sounding alike. That's also a problem for ASP although she has a great comedic instinct. For me Shonda Rhimes has too many speechy monologues which make her characters seem like props. To me Moffat is hit and miss though can be very good when he hits.

Exactly. I have problems with all of them. There isn't a television writer that isn't hit and miss with me.

Moffat is hit or miss. Some of the stuff he does is excellent, but he has a tendency to get overly clever with his plots, to the point that no one can follow them without getting a headache. Also his characterization can get lost in the plotting. He and Russel Davies actually worked well together, Davies is good at emotional character arcs, and Moffat at plotting, and they kind of off-set each other. This may be why I preferred it when they collaborated.

Sorkin - yes, all of his characters do sound a like. He reminds me of the playwrite David Mamet, who also writes rapid fire dialogue and everyone sounds a like. But I love rapid fire dialogue.
And ...he's awfully pretentious and likes to get up on his soap box and preach at the audience.
Sorkin is at his best when he is reigned in - by someone else.

Shonda Rhimes - is kind of a female Sorkin. Her characters also often sound a like. And she likes preachy monologues too - where the character gets up on a soap box and preaches to the audience. I think some of the writers who work with her are better. She works better when she hangs back a bit.

ASP and DP - work best together, but they also do rapid fire dialogue and everyone sounds a like. (Actually looking back on Whedon's series? He had that problem too. I noticed it in Whedon's Justice League - when I was doing my comparison, and everyone sounded alike and made the same quips, which ahem did not work. Wonder Woman and Batman should not sound like the Flash. It's jarring. Also everyone used same slang. Captain for everything, making me wonder what Whedon was reading or watching.) A lot of writers - or the popular comedic ones - have that problem.

I used to like Stephen Bocho - who did Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue. I liked his writing, his characters didn't sound a like, and he didn't get preachy. Also rather liked David Simon - who wrote Homicide Life on the Streets and The Wire, but I've not been able to get into his other series.

I don't know, I struggle with television writers much the same way I struggle with book writers, it's always hit or miss.