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Bash My Favorites-I Don't Care

Mistral

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I've been watching a number of shows in the last year or two that seem to get beat up here on the board. Often times it's just a passing comment but still-I'm tired of people missing the point. Some of our beloved posters seem to think that everything on television should be Shakespearean (is that a word?) in scope, budgeted like a blockbuster movie and performed by Sir Laurence Olivier clones. I'm here to defend the weak and pathetic, those shows that are designed to be fun, from our overly serious online critics. Is there a point to this? Like some of the shows I may mention-not really. ;)

Our first victim is made by the wonderful people who brought you such classics as Webs and Manster. That's right, I'm talking about Skiffy's own Eureka. I know it's not Star Trek but its a funny little show with quirky, highly inventive ideas that features charming actors and some unique(if far-fetched) plot ideas. For an hour each week I can escape a high-stress life and just grin. Not a bad result for a show that's been called "pathetic", "terrible" and "lame" in various posts around here.

Next up is a little gift from BBC America called Primeval. I don't care that the plots border on absurd, I don't care that the show is essentially a "monster-of-the-week" format, I don't care that it's internal logic lacks consistency-I laugh at the silly jokes, watch wide-eyed as our heroes escape the clutches of various monsters and I even try to accept special effects that swing back and forth between awesome and "WTF?". When an episode ends I find myself wanting to watch another-surely a symptom of good entertainment by most standards. Sometimes the sum of the parts makes something better than the parts themselves...

Heroes. People, its a comic book performed in front of a camera. So many bashes and hits floating around this board and I just don't know why. There isn't a comic book out there that's been around for more than a 12 issue mini-series that hasn't had it's stinker moments, but going by some of the things I've read around here, this show is supposed to be perfect every episode or it gets torpedoed. It's a comic book, people. Suspend belief and enjoy it for what it is.

Although not treated like a punching bag too often, I think a word about Leverage is in order. The writing could be better but the tongue in cheek attitude carries it pretty far. It's fun and funny, sometimes very clever and the characters amuse.

Burn Notice. Gad, I've seen some pretty harsh commentaries. It's a weekly dose of Bruce Campbell, for crying out loud. It doesn't get much better than that. The characters are interesting, the plot lines clever and it's so obvious that the actors are having fun, their enthusiasm carries over into their performances. It's a great way to pass a little time during the hot summer months.

Y'all may have noticed a complete lack of reality programming in this post. I watch tv as escapism and the shows I've mentioned are great for that. Throw all the stones you want at reality tv-I won't argue the point. In fact, I have a little pile of rocks right here that you can use...
 
I haven't seen all those mentioned, but for the ones I have, I'd have to agree generally.

Eureka is just usually just plain fun and a good antidote after a heavy work day.
Primeval was teatime fare on a saturday night while waiting to go out with the gang.
Burn Notice is just great fullstop in my opinion.

Heroes. Ah, where to start. for me, it has gone downhill since the first series, but I still tune in every week and usually enjoy it:)
 
I totally agreed with your post, until the comments about reality TV. That is the genre that is destroyed on this site the most. I watch many reality shows and, like you said, people often "miss the point" when criticizing them. To me, what matters is that a show is entertaining, that it keeps me involved and wanting more. Sometimes the shows that do that are reality shows. And whether they are actually "real" or not has no bearing on how much I enjoy them. I find Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother, Project Runway, and some other reality TV very entertaining. I don't enjoy the talent competitions (Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, etc.) very much though. I find it highly annoying when people cite reality TV as the downfall of civilization or whatever other over-exaggerated criticisms they want to hurl at it. It's just another type of programming, and honestly I consider them to fit in more with game shows than anything else, and game shows have been around for quite a while. As you said, not everything on TV has to be "Shakesperian." Sometimes I watch TV to learn, but mostly it is to be entertained.
 
I love Burn Notice, too. I haven't seen any really harsh commentaries, other than those about the female detective character (thank God, they dropped that storyline) who seemed to annoy the heck out of everyone.

I adore this show. Sam has some of the best lines on TV. :techman:
 
Haven't noticed many people slamming Eureka to be honest, when it comes up most of my memories are of people saying it's a fun little show. I like it.

You'll never find a show that everyone likes.

I watched Heroes for the first two seasons but stopped because I was tired of them splitting the time up amongst so many different characters, many of them completely superfluous to the story. That and the characters seemed less like real people and more like automatons pushed around by the writers to move the plot further without any regard for whether or not what they were doing made sense to the characters.

And really, saying we should excuse it because comics books in recent times are also pretty bad isn't much of an excuse.... end of rant. :)

I don't have much of a problem with "reality" TV. I can't stand most of it, mind you, but I really don't think it's pushing scripted shows aside like some people claim. About ten years ago that was starting to look like the trend (because reality shows like Survivor were new and expanding in number), but there are now so many different TV channels and so many different scripted shows I don't think the trend played out. All it really did was pair down the number of bad sitcoms in the evening on network TV, AFAICT.
 
And really, saying we should excuse it because comics books in recent times are also pretty bad isn't much of an excuse.... end of rant. :)

Pardon me, but I think you misunderstand. I wasn't saying recent comics sucked-just that no full on comic book/superhero series is perfect, with even icons like Detective Comics, Action Comics, etc having gone through cruddy periods at one point or another. End of corrective rant.;)
 
I like Eureka a lot - I can understand why people don't love the show, but I really don't understand why anybody would disdain it. It's a wad of fun.

Primeval...I just cannot make up my mind about that show. Since I find myself watching it (not regularly but from time to time), clearly I don't hate it, but apparently I don't love it, either. The special effects are one of its weaknesses...but on the other hand, on the right week, they are one of its strengths. A lot of the show is like that, really - almost every statement about it can be followed by an "on the other hand..."

And as for "reality TV," it depends. I adore What Not to Wear, and that's a reality show, but I don't like most of the others. I really think whether you like reality TV or not very much depends on whether you're interested in the "reality" being portrayed.
 
Primeval I have only seen the first season of, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Eureka, haven't gotten to it. But it is on my wishlist :)
 
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