Elsewhere Kalleh said

quote:

I am always interested in what this board thinks about TV shows and movies.

So, what about it? Personally I like things in different genres as long as they have good writing. I tend to like ensemble cast pieces so that my favourite cop show is Monk (which, in spite of the name, features an ensemble of several characters whose roles are far too important to be described as "supporting").
My favourite SF has varied over the years but has included Star Trek (original generation), Buffy and Stargate (which I am currently watching on DVD - I'm nearly half way through now!) all of which feature groups of people of equal importance.
And, in the western genre, I recently bought, for my Dad, the TV series of The Magnificent Seven which I have found, to my surprise, I actually enjoy myself - again with an ensemble cast.
As for comedy - League of Gentlemen/Psychoville has the double whammy of such a cast and humour that's as black as midnight.

What do the rest of you watch?
And don't say "The News", it's the answer my students always give because they think it's what I want to hear.

I like to use the TV for light entertainment, to relax, and tend not to want to engage my brain while watching. I watch sitcoms and comedies mostly. There is also a lot of comedy quizzes, none of which will mean much to those in America: QI, Have I Got News For You, Eight Out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie to You?, Mock the Week, Argumental ... The list seems almost endless. I believe the genre has become known as the quizcom. Are such shows popular the other side of the Pond?

We recently changed cable providers and the new offering has more variety. I used to watch the History channel for actual history programming but in recent months it has spent three hours of prime time showing "Ice Road Truckers." Five minutes is interesting but three hours?
One other "educational"(at one time) channel has a program called "Pawn Stars" which spends an hour watching people pawn objects (read, stole goods).
So most often we watch PBS where English programs are shown (usually sub-titled so American audiences can understand them).

Ice Road Truckers
That's another one my Dad likes. Along with the very similar ones about Oil-Rig workers and deep-sea trawlermen.

I am fascinated by how patently phoney they all are. Typical of the phoniness are sequences where the trucker, a man alone in the icy wasteland, is risking death as he hurtles along the fast-melting ice sheet, one man against the elements...

...filmed by a camera crew half a mile away and keeping pace with him, plus a camera in the cab, plus another camera crew ahead of him to see his oncoming vehicle an another behind him to see his departing vehicle...

...or perhaps filmed three times by one camera crew, stopping in between to allow them to set up for the new shot...

It's all about as genuine as Steve Austin's programs about hunting snakes.

(My favourite being the one I saw where he was crawling head first down a dark tunnel towards a cave where there was a nest of rattlesnakes, filmed by a cameraman who from the angle was crawling arse first towards those same snakes!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:

So most often we watch PBS where English programs are shown (usually sub-titled so American audiences can understand them).

Not many people realise that when Mad Max was initially released in America it was dubbed from Australian into American, a possible unnecessary act given that it has no more than a couple of hundred words of dialogue and they are in the same language.

Lest anyone doubts me I have both versions on my video shelf and can vouch that this is NOT, as some claim, an urban myth.

I tend to watch movies on channels without advertising. Some shows I like to watch are: Monk, Two and a Half Men, NCIS, the Law and Order franchises, The Daily Show, 30 Rock, and The Office (US version, but the British original was good, too). I never have much liked the news since it turned into newsytainment. I do listen to the BBC World Service on the radio when commuting to work twice a week.

Bob, I have seen both versions of Mad Max. Mel Gibson was born in the USA, but moved to Australia at age 12.

Has the British entry into the franchise - Law and Order: UK been shown over there? As procedural cop shows go it was actually pretty good, even pulling a good performance out of an actor that you have never heard of - Bradley Walsh - who is not usually known for the quality of his acting, being better known as a game show host.

Has the British entry into the franchise - Law and Order: UK been shown over there?

Not that I am aware of. I'd like to see it though. Perhaps on my next trip to the UK. My wife and I have been watching some old Inspector Morse episodes on PBS. I see that there is a new series Lewis (US title Inspector Lewis) with the fellow who played Morse's sidekick.

My wife and I have a running dispute about the reality of “Reality Shows”. She watches The Real Housewives of (name a place)” and insists the episodes are true-to-life, not staged.

I then point out that every exchange in crowded parties (which dominates each woman’s Life) is filmed from multiple angles, perfectly framed and lighted, with each participant speaking in turn instead of all at once as is usual in Real Life. And even though hatred for each other runs rampant, everyone is remarkably civil, even though in filmed asides the women fantasize about scratching out the others’ eyes.

Similarly, on the male side, Operation Repo features hulking pro-wrestler types who snatch up cars for repossession firms. Real repo men usually find the cars to be towed and hook them up as quietly as possible to avoid confrontations -- who wants to be killed over a car? This group ALWAYS descends on their target in broad daylight, making a spectacle of the repo and inviting a dust-up, which they always win. Apparently in a country where guns are readily available, their opponents can’t afford to arm themselves and are always outnumbered by the repo men (who only move in units of five or six Sumo-sized workers).

As with movies, I like to watch TV shows that make me laugh. I get enough seriousness during the day at work. Therefore, my likes aren't very intellectual, I fear. Indeed, when I completed my Facebook profile awhile ago, I was a little embarrassed by the movies I selected.

I do like to watch movies (again, light-hearted ones) on TV when available. We don't purchase the movie cable, so I am stuck with what they have. Often they take a movie (such as "Legally Blonde") and run it for hours and days on end. Last night we saw "Dave", though, and Shu and I like that a lot. My favorite part is where he brings in his accountant and finds $650,000,000 in the budget to cut so that he can fund a homeless project for children.

As for TV shows, I've always liked Friends and Frasier, but Friends is no longer on much. My daughter got me into Desperate Housewives, and that is superficial, but I like it. CW said she had liked Sex in the City, and I didn't think I did. However, after she recommended it, I watched it and like it. There's one show I like that I am thoroughly embarrassed about because it is so blue-collar, but I like it: King of Queens. I have no idea why; it's funny, I suppose. My son wondered how I could like something where they yell at each other all the time. Oh, and I like What Not to Wear, though after awhile it's the same old, same old. I do watch the history and Discovery channels from time to time. I particularly love the WWII historical episodes they have on the history channel and the nature shows on Discovery. I'm watching (loosely!) Law and Order as I write this.

While it's long gone, I really liked the TV show, "Picket Fences." It addressed serious social themes by spoofing them. It was Ray Walston's swan song, and the vehicle that launched Don Cheadle's career. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103512/