Television Thread: this time, nonotyet didn't do it.

[milesofsparks]

the first episodes of Sesame Street are available on DVD!  but:

These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

or so says the NYTimes.

[lastclearchance]

I'll tell you what's intended for grown-ups: Monsterpiece Theater: Twin Beaks

no but seriously that's ridiculous

[old kentucky shark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Z8xxWhh5k

weirdly gory series of canadian workplace safety ads (don't know if these have been mentioned here before?)

[dieblucasdie]

That's a weird trend in advertising (those ads, the new meth ads, those VW ads) that I could really do without.

I guess it's one way to actually make you pay attention to ads, though.

[FreddyKnuckles]

yeah, and it beats cute little kid commercials. 

[dominic]

I still miss teevee. So much so that I just rented the first two series of Carnivale and the first series of Huff (goddamn that looks bad, but it was that or Grey's anatomy. Praise be January when I'll be able to afford broadband at home and catch up on FNL.

[girl]

Maggie, I've got the first three episodes of Oz. I'm quite surprised (given my general dislike of prison-themed stuff) that I'm enjoying it. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the first season this weekend.

Also, how are we on page 20 already? We spend WAY too much time talking about television.

[RoyBiggins]

Mostly The Wire.  If there was a separate thread for The Wire, it'd take twice as long to get through these things.  I think.

In closing, I should probably watch more of The Wire.  Instead, I think this is the 4th episode of Dirty Sexy Money I have seen, and I don't know if I even care for it, so much as I think it's not bad and I like peter krause.

[girl]

Man, I love The Wire! I was re-watching it this week. I still have to see season 4 again. We should talk about The Wire again!

[lastclearchance]

Man, I love The Wire! I was re-watching it this week. I still have to see season 4 again.

dec 4 dvd priced at 60 instead of 100 i am so exciiiiiited not like i don't have em all on my computer thooooo

[RoyBiggins]

It's funny, I rented the first season in, like...2004?  And I haven't felt that compelled to rent the others yet.  Now, I'm at the point where I should probably re-rent S1, 'cause all I remember is, like, cracking the pager thing and thinking somebody should name their dog Avon Barksdale. 

I've thought about renting them all based on the huuuuge recommendations, but I also want to really watch them if they're that good, not half-watch them the way I do 90% of the stuff I see.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Also thank GOD they stopped following the novels.  Just read a summary of the second novel online to see how fucking ridiculous it would've been.  Dexter trains Rita's son to be a serial killer, Doakes gets Johnny-Got-His-Gunned by a crazy doctor.  So, so stupid.

regardless of whether they work on tv or not, the books are really good. you haven't read them, have you.

[Andrew_TSKS]

the first episodes of Sesame Street are available on DVD!  but:

These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

or so says the NYTimes.

is the times kidding with this? i think that disclaimer really means that sesame street hadn't turned into a pod-person yet. you know, the cookie monster actually ate cookies, and oscar the grouch really was grouchy. these days, people think that you have to coddle kids every second of their lives or they'll turn into satanists. meanwhile, almost all the little kids who come into my store these days are spoiled rotten brats whose parents won't even raise their voices when talking to them even though they're running screaming through the store and breaking merchandise. gaaaah.

[guanajuato]

Hey! I really like Dexter. First season included. It took about 2 episodes, before Dexter came into his own. There's one scene during the end of the season when the Dexter and his brother are dancing around to classic rock and I think that scene absolutely destroys. It's good shit. Showtime is coming into its own. I know some folks do not enjoy Californication, or Weeds, but I did. Still have not seen Tudors but it comes out on DVD in early Jan.

[dominic]

Man, I love The Wire! I was re-watching it this week. I still have to see season 4 again. We should talk about The Wire again!

This last week I've managed to convert two people. Granted one of them has dementia, but it still counts. I'll probably go through the series again over the christmas holidays, if only so I can memorize me some of Prop Joe's lines, as at present I have five Jo's in my life and need to start feeding them some goodness. Actually that'd work better if I memorized lines said to the man, rather then said by him.

Agreed with Milly and Blucas about Dexter, although I've not seen series 2. Series one took a little while, but turned out to be pretty decent, just nutty enough without trying to hard, and managed to keep all the characters relatively watchable. Huff on the hand doesn't have this, but it does have Oliver Platt. He may be an aquired taste, and perhaps only a two or three trick pony, but he's a chuckle and no mistake.

[heather marie]

So I suppose I'm addicted to FNL now. I'm halfway through the first season and I love it. Still amazed that I'm so into a show about football, though. And is it wrong that I really, really love Riggins? I fucking hate Lila though, oh god. Anyway, Richard keeps saying "I don't want to watch your dumb show about rednecks and football, man."

[dominic]

Tell your boy to shut his filthy hole.

[elpollodiablo]

Dexter was always really bad. I stuck with it for the first six episodes before my ability to suspend my disbelief ran out.

[diesel_powered]

the first episodes of Sesame Street are available on DVD!  but:

These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

or so says the NYTimes.

is the times kidding with this? i think that disclaimer really means that sesame street hadn't turned into a pod-person yet. you know, the cookie monster actually ate cookies, and oscar the grouch really was grouchy. these days, people think that you have to coddle kids every second of their lives or they'll turn into satanists. meanwhile, almost all the little kids who come into my store these days are spoiled rotten brats whose parents won't even raise their voices when talking to them even though they're running screaming through the store and breaking merchandise. gaaaah.

I'm thinking it's less Sesame Street's issue and more of an ass-covering issue in the same way that the new, uncensored Loony Tunes DVD sets have a similar disclaimer on them. Furthermore, it could refer to the fact that earlier on the show might have been a little less educational (or at least less consciously educational... they probably had less child psychologists on the writing staff then...) than it is now.

But enough of that, let's talk The Wire. I made it through the first five episodes last night and I was pretty impressed. However, I was wondering if anyone else here has read any concrete info on why the show isn't done in widescreen (or in HD, for that matter). I'm really more interested in finding out why the creators of the show made the artistic decision to keep it the format it's in and all I've read on the subject matter has been pissy discussion boards full of HD fans that are pissed off the show isn't in HD. I'd be interested in finding out if there was a specific reason they chose to shoot it in 4:3 (referencing the history of cop shows on TV, etc) or whether it was just pragmatic (they shot the first season in 4:3 because they couldn't do it in HD and kept it for the sake of consistency.... a valid concern as it was weird when the Sopranos switched from 4:3 to 16:9 between the first and second seasons).

[hannah]

ER in late 2000 was the first network show to letterbox their shit, and it probably wasn't still the norm when they started production for the Wire. I'm going to guess that they don't/didn't have the budget for it.

Almost done with season four. Shi-i-i-it.

[RoyBiggins]

I really, really love Riggins?

 Nope

[dieblucasdie]

Also thank GOD they stopped following the novels.  Just read a summary of the second novel online to see how fucking ridiculous it would've been.  Dexter trains Rita's son to be a serial killer, Doakes gets Johnny-Got-His-Gunned by a crazy doctor.  So, so stupid.

regardless of whether they work on tv or not, the books are really good. you haven't read them, have you.

I'm not really dissing the books; it would've just been really dumb on the show, especially since they go a different direction with Rita's kids, and play down the whole "Dark Passenger" thing.  It's a tradeoff; you lose a really interesting concept, but you get more pyschological ambiguity.  In the books there's no *doubt* that Dexter is a pyschopath/sociopath, but on the show there's these lingering doubts.  Does he really have to be this way, or did Harry *make* him this way?  He's pretty self-aware and in-control, why can't he just quit?  If he really has no emotion, why does he protect the people around him at the risk of being exposed?

Also I'm continually annoyed by pollo's demands for realism when he loves shows about a mobster in therapy and a funeral director who sees ghosts.

[elpollodiablo]

"Dexter, you look like something's troubling you. How about we learn you how to be a serial killer. Would ya like that? Would ya?"

[hannah]

Is Miles demanding realism? "Suspending disbelief" ain't the same thing.

xpost

[hannah]

n.b. I haven't seen Dexter.

One episode left in the fourth season.

I have the first disc of the first season of The Shield. Should I watch it? Or will it suffer in comparison to The Wire?