There is a limited free version, but the unlimited costs money.
Plus even the free version requires some effort. As I said: Cheap & lazy.
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Ridiculous Amount of Commercials
- Thread starter ansky212
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There is a limited free version, but the unlimited costs money.
Plus even the free version requires some effort. As I said: Cheap & lazy.
I'm as cheap and lazy as anyone, and I have DirecTV not Dish, so I can't use "The Hopper" or whatever they call it - but speed-searching thru commercial breaks with my DVR takes only seconds and a tiny amount of thumb pressure on the remote. How lazy can people be? (Rhetorical question, I realize)
Wow! Really? We are living in different worlds. A partial list of recent and current basic and premium cable scripted programs (mostly dramas), that in my opinion are great - and heads above most of the Big 4 networks' efforts, though the Big 4 are improving as well. I'm also including recent shows produced for Netflix and Amazon:
The Americans, American Horror Story, Bates Motel, Better Call Saul, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Bridge, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dexter, Episodes, Fargo, Game of Thrones, Girls, Homeland, House of Cards, Justified, Leftovers, Louie, Mad Men, Masters of Sex, Nurse Jackie, Orange is the New Black, Parade's End, Sons of Anarchy, Silicon Valley, The Strain, Treme, True Detective, Veep, and Walking Dead,
And that's just a partial list of the ones I like - there are many more. There is never "nothing on" because I set my DVR for all these shows, and watch them when its convenient.. The only problem is having enough time to keep up with them all - I'm seasons behind on a few - and my DVR fills up.
Like I said, between new technologies and the huge number of excellent new series being produced - the Golden Age of Television is right NOW.
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I'm not going to argue exactly when the GAOT was because it depends so much on your personal experience and perspective but I have watched several of the programs you mention and found them very disappointing. In particular:
Breaking Bad - I lasted just 3 episodes into this meandering mush of a high school science teacher turned meth producer and decided I could sample the real thing by driving down to the other side of the tracks instead of waiting a week between shows. This program reminded me of all those "women in prison" movies once so popular and completely without merit.
House of Cards - Generally great acting but fell off the wagon during season 2 with completely unbelievably story lines. Fantasy personified. Except that it wasn't supposed to be a fantasy. It is really difficult to like a series when the only redeeming character is smashed by a train.
Boardwalk Empire - Another unbelievable story partially redeemed by excellent sets and period costumes. Too much violence (yes, I know it was supposed to be about gangsters but...) and often times the characters were themselves just too weird.
Sons of Anarchy - Made it through just the first episode of this monumental piece of trash.
Every one of these series tends to have over-the-top violence and the stories themselves are farcical if not totally improbable. I do not call that the "golden age" of anything.
There are excellent series available but mostly produced by our cousins across the pond.
Actually, I would say the Golden Age of Broadcast OverTheAir (OTA) Television was in the 50-70s....when TV was taking hold of the American household......nowadays, you have more sources like streaming, etc....not broadcast....
One thing I HATE is the overuse of computer graphics....looking at older TV shows like Bonanza or similar in color, especially where they shot outdoor scenes, look SOOO much more real than current garbage....SyFy has gotten SOO bad in the overuse of CGI, a lot of their own produced shows/movies suck in quality...hurts my eyes to watch them!!!
Hell, even watching WB cartoons from the 50s, they were drawn with better quality in details, etc than a lot of current ones....
BUT thats what happens with bean counters running things....(radio is even worse!)
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Of course, everybody has their own specific tastes, so your opinion is no more wrong or right than mine. I would say, however, that of the shows you've mentioned, most critics would disagree with you. And given that these shows are getting increasingly better ratings, the viewing public is enjoying them too.
Violence - yes, true. Most of the dramas try to shock the viewer once or twice a show. Even though they're writing (IMO) is far superior to regular network TV in general, they can slip into formulaic gimmicks. And yes - many of them do get over the top. I've also noticed that they get less believable in their later seasons - perhaps because the writers run out of sensible ideas. Sons of Anarchy is an example. In the real world, these bikers would be pursued as mass murderers, but somehow that doesn't happen in Charming CA. For me, though, it is still fun to watch.
I don't find the cable series any more unbelievable than the programs on mainstream networks - if anything they are MORE believable becasue they are given multiple episodes to complete a story-arc - they don't have to resolve everything in 48 minutes. For example, those CSI type procedural shows are ludicrous. Two recent examples I have seen:
CSI Miami - they find out what bank the robbers are holed up in because they discover that the bank bought a particular kind of storm window, so they check the storm window database, which naturally lists every storm window ever sold in Miami. Seems like in CSI land, there is a database for everything. And then there was David Caruso's atrocious acting, and a special effects "tidal wave" that was laughably phony looking - almost like it was pre-CGI, or they just didn't have the budget to do it right.
An NCIS in which they catch the criminal by running the tire tracks through a database (naturally) and discover that the getaway car is a 1995 Chevy Caprice - because its got "Chevy Caprice tires". Of course, anybody with half a brain (except the writer apparently) knows that there is no such thing as a Chevy tire, Honda tire, Ford tire, etc. And a 20+ year old car would be on its 5th set of replacement tires probably anyway.
I find that the regular network scripted fare stretches believability much more than the cable series.
Of course, everybody has their own specific tastes, so your opinion is no more wrong or right than mine. I would say, however, that of the shows you've mentioned, most critics would disagree with you. And given that these shows are getting increasingly better ratings, the viewing public is enjoying them too.
Violence - yes, true. Most of the dramas try to shock the viewer once or twice a show. Even though they're writing (IMO) is far superior to regular network TV in general, they can slip into formulaic gimmicks. And yes - many of them do get over the top. I've also noticed that they get less believable in their later seasons - perhaps because the writers run out of sensible ideas. Sons of Anarchy is an example. In the real world, these bikers would be pursued as mass murderers, but somehow that doesn't happen in Charming CA. For me, though, it is still fun to watch.
I don't find the cable series any more unbelievable than the programs on mainstream networks - if anything they are MORE believable becasue they are given multiple episodes to complete a story-arc - they don't have to resolve everything in 48 minutes. For example, those CSI type procedural shows are ludicrous. Two recent examples I have seen:
CSI Miami - they find out what bank the robbers are holed up in because they discover that the bank bought a particular kind of storm window, so they check the storm window database, which naturally lists every storm window ever sold in Miami. Seems like in CSI land, there is a database for everything. And then there was David Caruso's atrocious acting, and a special effects "tidal wave" that was laughably phony looking - almost like it was pre-CGI, or they just didn't have the budget to do it right.
An NCIS in which they catch the criminal by running the tire tracks through a database (naturally) and discover that the getaway car is a 1995 Chevy Caprice - because its got "Chevy Caprice tires". Of course, anybody with half a brain (except the writer apparently) knows that there is no such thing as a Chevy tire, Honda tire, Ford tire, etc. And a 20+ year old car would be on its 5th set of replacement tires probably anyway.
I find that the regular network scripted fare stretches believability much more than the cable series.
I'm kind of amazed you would pick "Bonanza" as an example of realistic sets. To my mind that and "Lost In Space" and "Star Trek" were the very worst examples of chinzy set design and it was not understandable for a production as expensive as "Bonanza" to cheap out like that.
As far as animated subjects are concerned the quality artwork died in the 50's. About midway through the 50's when the studios decided to reduce their animated offerings we began getting "skeletonized" cartoons without a whole lot of detail that was the hallmark of late 30's and 40's. Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes were some of the best drawn animated pieces although some of the more current subjects like Roadrunner and Mr. Magoo had great story lines. Quality cartoons ceased entirely with the programs designed for TV rather than theaters. Junk from Hanna-Barbara and the like.
What? I've been using the AdBlock extension for Chrome and there is no limited or unlimited version. When you first install the extension they ask for an optional donation (which I'm sure nobody pays). There are no limitations.
If you're talking about British series from across the pond, most of those put me to sleep. The pace of their shows is much too slow and too much dialect that I can barely understand.
Given the bottom-feeder crap on OTA TV right now I don't think it takes a lot to hoist the bar one notch higher. I don't watch any of the current TV dramas and none of the basic cable or premium cable offerings. I have found that British TV production has much more interesting and varied programming and the little drama I do watch generally comes from there. There are a couple comedies, two current and a couple more retro, that I follow and some live sports and that's about it for my TV watching.
I thought the first couple of seasons of CSI were fantastic and really enjoyed them. Then came that episode where one of the CSI's is buried in an ant hill and I pulled the plug. Haven't watched it since. "Law and Order", even though it cut obvious corners to show a particular case it was very good as well. The knockoffs, not so much. But compare the writing in those "best of's" with an older series like "Mission Impossible" and you have the comparison I make when trying to find the Golden Age of TV. Although the production values in those older shows are not up to par with what is being produced today in general the acting is better and the stories were much better. They are dated because of technology but not because of content.
There are other things to compare the GAOT with today. One thing totally missing from today's TV are variety shows. They used to be the most popular offerings of all and have vanished completely once their stars retired or died. Docudramas like "See It Now" and "You Are There" and documentaries like "20th Century" are not happening today. No wonder our kids are stupid. One hell of a lot of my knowledge was gained outside the classroom. Not any more. No kids shows (and no, I don't call asinine Japanese anime kids programs). The great vaudevillians that made early TV great are all gone now and so is their comedy - replaced by Neil Patrick Harris and other feeble poseurs.
Remember them? For me they never stopped.
No big surprise, 'tuna, but you are I are clearly different in our TV tastes. I've neve been much into broadcast sports. Decades a go, I remember a stand up comic (probably on a variety show in your GAOT!) said both pro-basketball teams in a game should both be given 100 points, then play for 15 minutes. That would probably be a sports broadcast I could watch. Oddly enough, I find baseball the most interesting, and I've been told that (to many others) it's the slowest and most boring sport in America.
Yes - I too got a lot of knowledge from TV as a kid -including the 20th Century - between that show and my father's historical lessons (he could have taught history), I became an expert on WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Korean War. Sadly TV does tend to go for the lowest common denominator. A decade or more ago, the History Channel was more like a 24/7 version of those old TV documentaries, but now it's just another pandering cable reality network. I guess that's why I go for the scripted cable dramas more than anything.
Yes - I too got a lot of knowledge from TV as a kid -including the 20th Century - between that show and my father's historical lessons (he could have taught history), I became an expert on WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Korean War. Sadly TV does tend to go for the lowest common denominator. A decade or more ago, the History Channel was more like a 24/7 version of those old TV documentaries, but now it's just another pandering cable reality network. I guess that's why I go for the scripted cable dramas more than anything.
That's what derailed my enjoyment of the hit BBC series All Creatures Great & Small, in my opinion.
Students of baseball would tell you it is a lot like chess. Slow and thoughtful interspersed by brief explosions of activity. Compared to the constant action of basketball, hockey and racing it would be slow and for those who do not understand its nuances, boring. It isn't called a 'pastime' for nothing.
My mother would rather watch "Downton Abbey" than a comeback in a Super Bowl. She proved this on 2.1.2015.
ixnay
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