Remember back in the early 80's when the miniseries was all the rage? We had The Thornbirds, Shogun, North and South, The Blue and The Grey and V? Remember these things? They were great. They would usually span 3-5 nights and there was a beginning, a middle and an end. Nowadays, we are subjected to shows that have a beginning and a never ending middle and the only time they end is when the actors realize that seven years of playing a mafia boss might typecast ones self. Really? Seven years to figure this shit out?
I am done with TV. That's not to say I won't eventually check out some stuff. I'm looking forward to one day watching the Wire and Dexter, but some of this stuff is just pure recycled crap. Take Entourage for example. The first season seemed like it had a clear concise idea of where it was going and how it would end. Halfway through it gets picked up for a second season and you could see the wheels falling off. I stopped watching when it became a who's who of celebrity B-listers begging to have a cameo. The show itself is pretty lame, sans Jeremy Piven's asshole of a character. The main characters are all awful actors in real life and they portray it...well? How is playing a bad actor difficult when you are a bad actor? I'm not immune to the bevy of beauties the show had, but that isn't going to make me set the DVR or even get one for that matter. The shows downfall is that it's the same every single week. Exactly the same. In this world, where people like Snooki and the guy from Poison are household names, I guess tuning into seeing some guy named Turtle trying to get as much sloppy seconds as he can is, well, entertainment.
In the years of Entourage, Weeds, Big Love, The Western thingies, These fucking vampire tales and the final four seasons of The Sopranos, I started veering sharply away from TV. Don't get me wrong, I watch sports like nobodies business and I've wasted many hours watching cooking shows, but they are always different. Always! In the time Entourage has been on, I have immersed myself in Ingmar Bergman films, Korean and Japanese horror, films in so many different languages I've lost count. I've gotten so used to subtitles I put them on in American films (I realize this is completely odd, but true). I've learned that all we do in America is regurgitate what others have already done and done much better. We used to be original. Television in the late 70's and early 80's was incredible. Shows like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and MASH are what TV was all about. All we do now is throw better looking people into the roles and hope for the best. I used to sit with my mother and watch General Hospital and think, this is crap, but it's so freaking addictive. That and my prepubescent loins were ablaze at the sight of Jacklyn Zeman or Genie Francis. I realize now that these new cable series, even the good ones, are nothing more than soap opera bullshit. Why would I spend upward of 13 hours a season to watch a bunch of guys try and get laid when I can be blown away by Max Von Sydow in The Seventh Seal or Through The Glass Darkly? Not enough T&A in a film made in the 50's and 60's you say? Just watch his films. The women are more beautiful than anything you'll see on HBO and yes at times, even nude. But it's more than that. Sure, Bergman may have been ahead of his time in always casting beautiful women, but he casts those who could act. The results are masterpieces. Works of art, with more aesthetic beauty than any painter could dream of. Why would I trade that in for the mindless antics of a couple of horny boys?
About a year ago I cancelled my cable. I don't watch TV anymore and while I say it jokingly to those who use it as their only means of relaxation, I mean it. I honestly think the onslaught of reality TV and these series on cable are killing our minds. When I was a child I used to love to stay up late and have intelligent conversations with all my parent's friends. When I was a young teen, they were in their 40's, maybe even 50's and there rants, visions and tales kept me mesmerized. I'm now, just 40 and I look for that same stimulation and find it very hard to find. People my age want to talk about their favorite bachelorette contestant or who they think will get voted off the island or even worse about Johnny Drama or some vampire. I want to discuss, in detail, why I'm not impressed with Alfred Hitchcock, but am consumed with Takashi Miike. Where are these people? Where are the people who watched the girl from Juno getting revenge on a pedophile? What happened to Spike Lee and why hasn't he made a good movie in ten years? I don't want to hear about the remake of Red Dawn or about the six vampire shows. You want vampires? Watch Nosferatu and get back to me. You want a bunch of guys sitting in a room with nothing happening until some minor fireworks and maybe some tits? Watch Hurlyburly and take a look at how dialogue is supposed to be written when nothing else is happening. Or maybe Twelve Angry Men.
I realize I don't have a wife and kids and I don't need that hour or two a night to unwind with something mindless. But then again, I try not to do that too often, because I fear, that if I fall prey to that thought process that I too will become, well, mindless.
I am done with TV. That's not to say I won't eventually check out some stuff. I'm looking forward to one day watching the Wire and Dexter, but some of this stuff is just pure recycled crap. Take Entourage for example. The first season seemed like it had a clear concise idea of where it was going and how it would end. Halfway through it gets picked up for a second season and you could see the wheels falling off. I stopped watching when it became a who's who of celebrity B-listers begging to have a cameo. The show itself is pretty lame, sans Jeremy Piven's asshole of a character. The main characters are all awful actors in real life and they portray it...well? How is playing a bad actor difficult when you are a bad actor? I'm not immune to the bevy of beauties the show had, but that isn't going to make me set the DVR or even get one for that matter. The shows downfall is that it's the same every single week. Exactly the same. In this world, where people like Snooki and the guy from Poison are household names, I guess tuning into seeing some guy named Turtle trying to get as much sloppy seconds as he can is, well, entertainment.
In the years of Entourage, Weeds, Big Love, The Western thingies, These fucking vampire tales and the final four seasons of The Sopranos, I started veering sharply away from TV. Don't get me wrong, I watch sports like nobodies business and I've wasted many hours watching cooking shows, but they are always different. Always! In the time Entourage has been on, I have immersed myself in Ingmar Bergman films, Korean and Japanese horror, films in so many different languages I've lost count. I've gotten so used to subtitles I put them on in American films (I realize this is completely odd, but true). I've learned that all we do in America is regurgitate what others have already done and done much better. We used to be original. Television in the late 70's and early 80's was incredible. Shows like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and MASH are what TV was all about. All we do now is throw better looking people into the roles and hope for the best. I used to sit with my mother and watch General Hospital and think, this is crap, but it's so freaking addictive. That and my prepubescent loins were ablaze at the sight of Jacklyn Zeman or Genie Francis. I realize now that these new cable series, even the good ones, are nothing more than soap opera bullshit. Why would I spend upward of 13 hours a season to watch a bunch of guys try and get laid when I can be blown away by Max Von Sydow in The Seventh Seal or Through The Glass Darkly? Not enough T&A in a film made in the 50's and 60's you say? Just watch his films. The women are more beautiful than anything you'll see on HBO and yes at times, even nude. But it's more than that. Sure, Bergman may have been ahead of his time in always casting beautiful women, but he casts those who could act. The results are masterpieces. Works of art, with more aesthetic beauty than any painter could dream of. Why would I trade that in for the mindless antics of a couple of horny boys?
About a year ago I cancelled my cable. I don't watch TV anymore and while I say it jokingly to those who use it as their only means of relaxation, I mean it. I honestly think the onslaught of reality TV and these series on cable are killing our minds. When I was a child I used to love to stay up late and have intelligent conversations with all my parent's friends. When I was a young teen, they were in their 40's, maybe even 50's and there rants, visions and tales kept me mesmerized. I'm now, just 40 and I look for that same stimulation and find it very hard to find. People my age want to talk about their favorite bachelorette contestant or who they think will get voted off the island or even worse about Johnny Drama or some vampire. I want to discuss, in detail, why I'm not impressed with Alfred Hitchcock, but am consumed with Takashi Miike. Where are these people? Where are the people who watched the girl from Juno getting revenge on a pedophile? What happened to Spike Lee and why hasn't he made a good movie in ten years? I don't want to hear about the remake of Red Dawn or about the six vampire shows. You want vampires? Watch Nosferatu and get back to me. You want a bunch of guys sitting in a room with nothing happening until some minor fireworks and maybe some tits? Watch Hurlyburly and take a look at how dialogue is supposed to be written when nothing else is happening. Or maybe Twelve Angry Men.
I realize I don't have a wife and kids and I don't need that hour or two a night to unwind with something mindless. But then again, I try not to do that too often, because I fear, that if I fall prey to that thought process that I too will become, well, mindless.
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