Re: Feel the Geek Outrage: No Trek show on a "Mensa" list
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kubwulf
.... Boston Legal...is meant to be an accurate description of our human daily lives.
Hardly. It's a cartoon. A smug, self-congratulatory circle-jerk to liberal arrogance. A thinly disguised pulpit for broad propoganda. It embarasses me as a lawyer and as a fan of most of the cast.
So, you're telling me that you know of no lawyers who are like this? There are absolutely no people in the United States that have similiar views? The reason shows like this are popular is because they take the extreme and poke fun at it. But its funny because, sadly, many of us know people or have seen people with those extreme beliefs. Be offended by it. Don't watch it. But don't deny that there are grains of truth in it.
I don't deny that there are many episodes that make you think. But the vast majority of the show was laser tag with some boning by the captain. Yes. I'm making these statements as a barb. Don't start dousing me in kerosene and hurling lit matches at me just yet. My point, if there is one in all this, is that Mensa isn't the be all end all. Trek didn't make the top ten. The reasons the other shows did was because they all made you think about the topics at hand more often than Trek made you think about them. Sure, Trek dealt with various issues. Racism, socialism, sexism, to name a few. But not on a level with the shows listed. In order to sell, Trek was a show of laser tag in space.
Ok. I'm off my soap box and done bashing Trek. I like Trek. And, the gentleman that made the list had this to say, which you can verify at http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/02/exclusive_mensa_chair_picks_th.html
Werdell says the smartest shows he currently watches include CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, House, Stargate SG-1, NCIS and Numb3rs. But for the ultimate list of Smartest All Time shows, he ventured beyond his personal viewing habits. As he says, “I was a Star Trek fan. It was on the original list. It was groundbreaking, no question. But the follow-up, Next Generation, were better programs than the original, in my opinion, and smarter.”
“I had a number of shows in that situation,” he adds.
His criteria?
“They weren’t pure comedy, mystery or action,” he says. “They tended to be shows that dealt with issues in the world, and from my perspective that’s considered smart. Some sitcoms reach a higher level of intellect than others, and you can say the same about some of the dramas. The stories may be cliché, but the characters and dialogue are smarter.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kubwulf
.... Boston Legal...is meant to be an accurate description of our human daily lives.
Hardly. It's a cartoon. A smug, self-congratulatory circle-jerk to liberal arrogance. A thinly disguised pulpit for broad propoganda. It embarasses me as a lawyer and as a fan of most of the cast.
So, you're telling me that you know of no lawyers who are like this? There are absolutely no people in the United States that have similiar views? The reason shows like this are popular is because they take the extreme and poke fun at it. But its funny because, sadly, many of us know people or have seen people with those extreme beliefs. Be offended by it. Don't watch it. But don't deny that there are grains of truth in it.
What did Trek have? TOS had eps written by some seminal sci-fi writers of the age, Norman Spinrad, Harlen Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon... Trek was smart TV. In the late 60s, sure. But really, compared to the brainless din of todays TV, I find TOS refreshingly cerebral more often than not.
I don't deny that there are many episodes that make you think. But the vast majority of the show was laser tag with some boning by the captain. Yes. I'm making these statements as a barb. Don't start dousing me in kerosene and hurling lit matches at me just yet. My point, if there is one in all this, is that Mensa isn't the be all end all. Trek didn't make the top ten. The reasons the other shows did was because they all made you think about the topics at hand more often than Trek made you think about them. Sure, Trek dealt with various issues. Racism, socialism, sexism, to name a few. But not on a level with the shows listed. In order to sell, Trek was a show of laser tag in space.
Ok. I'm off my soap box and done bashing Trek. I like Trek. And, the gentleman that made the list had this to say, which you can verify at http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/02/exclusive_mensa_chair_picks_th.html
Werdell says the smartest shows he currently watches include CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, House, Stargate SG-1, NCIS and Numb3rs. But for the ultimate list of Smartest All Time shows, he ventured beyond his personal viewing habits. As he says, “I was a Star Trek fan. It was on the original list. It was groundbreaking, no question. But the follow-up, Next Generation, were better programs than the original, in my opinion, and smarter.”
“I had a number of shows in that situation,” he adds.
His criteria?
“They weren’t pure comedy, mystery or action,” he says. “They tended to be shows that dealt with issues in the world, and from my perspective that’s considered smart. Some sitcoms reach a higher level of intellect than others, and you can say the same about some of the dramas. The stories may be cliché, but the characters and dialogue are smarter.”
