Slaggis Posted May 6, 2010 Author Posted May 6, 2010 Blatantly not the best ever And here's a related line from one that's better: A guy who grew up in a tiny town in the middle of America: "The local TV station edited Will & Grace so much it was just called Karen." It was enjoyable but personally I have no real desire to watch the repeats. Did you get my fb message about the Karen stage show possibly coming to the UK btw? I really think it is. It just never gets old for me. I had a phase of watching it start about a year ago, and it's just never ended. I can watch episodes over and over, and still be laughing hysterically by the end of it. I enjoy 30 rock, but don't find it being even close to as funny as Will & Grace was. I did I'm so excited, if it actually comes here that is.
Ashley Posted May 6, 2010 Posted May 6, 2010 Sorry, I sounded kind of like "you can't think W&G is the best sitcom" (although... :p) Didn't meant to sound so...Oxigen_Waste RE: HIMYM pregnancies - totally noticed hannigan's pregnancy as she was always conveniently positioned behind a teapot or holding a handbag or whatever. Didn't notice wossername's at all! The episodes that are showing on E4 Thursdays at the mo (ie end of season four) you can notice if you look. She's wearing a lot of bathrobes and baggy coats and huge handbags. It also lists W&G as a sitcom and 30 Rock as a Comedy :3 Again this is wikipedia. Its amazing that you got a degree! :p
Shorty Posted May 6, 2010 Posted May 6, 2010 Again this is wikipedia. Its amazing that you got a degree! :pPeople are always picking on Wikipedia. Tutors turn around and say "Who edits Wikipedia? That's right, everybody, anybody". Wrong, people like me don't edit Wikipedia. Professors and scholars and boring-but-clever people with Masters/PhDs and too much time on their hands edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia quotes sources like any essay/dissertation (and lists them better than most), and if the sources aren't up to scratch there's a big warning at the top. Not that I ever sourced Wikipedia in an essay, it wasn't allowed. And I got a 2.1 thankyouverymuch.
Coolness Bears Posted May 7, 2010 Posted May 7, 2010 Is It's always sunny or Curb Your enthusiasm a Sitcom in anyway? If so Will and Grace gets completely...DESTROYED!OBLITERATED!ANNIHILATED! coughing in the debris of there own failure. *has never really watched Will and Grace*
Guy Posted May 9, 2010 Posted May 9, 2010 Just finished watching Psychoville. While not perfect, it is one of the better comedies to show on British television recently. Greatly dark with some hit/miss characters and more hit than miss jokes. Give it your time, but be prepared for a frustrating cliffhanger ending.
Ashley Posted May 9, 2010 Posted May 9, 2010 People are always picking on Wikipedia. Tutors turn around and say "Who edits Wikipedia? That's right, everybody, anybody". Wrong, people like me don't edit Wikipedia. Professors and scholars and boring-but-clever people with Masters/PhDs and too much time on their hands edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia quotes sources like any essay/dissertation (and lists them better than most), and if the sources aren't up to scratch there's a big warning at the top. Not that I ever sourced Wikipedia in an essay, it wasn't allowed. And I got a 2.1 thankyouverymuch. You are arguing that "only clever people (essentially) edit Wikipedia" after watching 30 Rock? And remember, the Joplin page had to be locked for a few days BECAUSE of that episode Saturday Night Live with Betty White Amazing. Just a big barrel of laughs and love for Betty White. For anyone who doesn't know a while ago a facebook campaign was started to get BW to host and lo and behold! Part of the mothers day special with other SNL alum (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon....other people) so that Betty didn't have to do a lot of the more physical stuff (she is 88 after all) but she was still in it a lot and really fun. And actually funny. Betty White doing muff(in) and lesbian jokes. Jarring but funny. And White parodying the 'taking glasses off and saying something shocking' CSI thing. Plus the addition of Amy to the Weekend Update was great. Then they started talking about the problem in Greece and so they got in a Greek expert...Tina Fey! (she is of Greek origin) Jay-Z was okay. Although I'm not sure if singing "I've got 99 problems but the bitch ain't one" on the Mother's Day episode was a joke or a bad choice. Although his, and then later on everyone else, love and shout outs to Betty White were sweet/deserved. (never expected to write that much o_O but still...Betty White)
Sheikah Posted May 9, 2010 Posted May 9, 2010 (edited) People are always picking on Wikipedia. Tutors turn around and say "Who edits Wikipedia? That's right, everybody, anybody". Wrong, people like me don't edit Wikipedia. Professors and scholars and boring-but-clever people with Masters/PhDs and too much time on their hands edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia quotes sources like any essay/dissertation (and lists them better than most), and if the sources aren't up to scratch there's a big warning at the top. Not that I ever sourced Wikipedia in an essay, it wasn't allowed. And I got a 2.1 thankyouverymuch. Too true. Obviously you can't directly use Wikipedia in anything scholarly; which basically means people use Wikipedia to read about what they're looking for first and then harvest the particular page for its sources (which people often then cite instead). Wikipedia is an incredible resource...people slate its integrity, but false information rarely persists. I've been watching all of Scrubs again from season 1 through to 8 (let's forget about the existence of 9) with my girlfriend, who had never seen it. It's taken some months but we finally watched My Finale yesterday, and it must be one of my favourite episodes of any TV series ever. It's wonderful. The way they scripted the episode couldn't have been better, and the music is just amazingly suited. I've seen the episode before, but watching it again yesterday made me appreciate it even more. If anyone has seen the episode before, it's great to watch the ending clip again: Just why oh why did they ruin it somewhat with season 9? Edited May 9, 2010 by Sheikah
Ashley Posted May 9, 2010 Posted May 9, 2010 Too true. Obviously you can't directly use Wikipedia in anything scholarly; which basically means people use Wikipedia to read about what they're looking for first and then harvest the particular page for its sources (which people often then cite instead). Wikipedia is an incredible resource...people slate its integrity, but false information rarely persists. Yeah but the issue wasn't just "Wikipedia is wrong", but rather "Wikipedia doesn't have the depth (nor does it need to as its just a snapshot info page) to use to justify the genrefication of a product. Genre theory is huuuuge (hell, even the wiki for that is brief and gloss-over like) so what I was trying to suggest was 30 Rock is a sitcom by contemporary academic standards as argued by theorists specific to the field, rather than someone (however intelligent they may or may not be) posted 2 lines on Wikipedia. But 30 Rock is awesome, Wikipedia aside :p And yeah, the Scrubs finale is great, gotta love that song. S9 is okay as long as you don't expect anything out of it.
jayseven Posted May 10, 2010 Posted May 10, 2010 Actually I think the issue was that you cited wiki first then dismissed Shorty's point when he used the same resource :P
Ashley Posted May 10, 2010 Posted May 10, 2010 Umm that's just completely false. Me: 30 Rock is a sitcom Shorty: Its not M: It is situated S: But sitcoms have longer running stories [Liz's adoption process? Tracey's new baby? Jack's love problems?] and a laugh track. Look Wikipedia proves it. M: Wikipedia is codswallop compared to genre theorists
jayseven Posted May 10, 2010 Posted May 10, 2010 Ashley: Besides Wikipedia says "a situation comedy may be recorded before a studio audience. Some also feature a laugh track." Shorty: "It also lists W&G as a sitcom and 30 Rock as a Comedy :3 " (but then shorty initiated it with "To wikipedia!" and you also had other sources, but still, it's not completely false) But then you belittled wiki and instantiated that shorty is silly for using it, even though you did, because you don't like what wiki said for him. Essentially the argument fizzled into lameness when the topic at heart is actually interesting! My take on it; the most important feature of the sitcom is that its episodes are closed off and finite. With a narrative that is circular rather than linear, the characters are returned to their original status by the end of each episode in preparation for a new situation to occur the following week. Even though this can be considered a trait of the episodic series in general, of which the sitcom is a subset, it has become somewhat synonymous with the latter form. The result is that sitcom characters are often described as learning nothing from their experiences within individual episodes and of having no memory from week to week (Kozloff 1992: 73-92). With no reference to past events, Mick Eaton describes this as ‘the timeless nowness of television situations’ (1978: 70). I've never been a fan of postmodern attempts to dismiss genres, because they still exist. Personally, what differentiates a comedy from a sitcom can be said to be, simply, the length of the episodes. Half-hour episodes are sitcoms while the hour-long format tends to lean towards the increasingly popular comedy drama style, a lá Chuck. Of course the format has evolved over the decades to the point where characters can and do reference previous events (scrubs alltehtiem), but the episodes are still self-contained because the references are typically elaborated on, fully explained, and written into the show inobtrusely. Unobtrusely? Whatever. But then this doesn't mean previous sitcoms never had 'overarching storylines' -- friends had several 'motifs' that would define a season -- most shows do. So essentially if genres are in flux and everything is a bit of everything else... Then I stick with my length-of-episode as being a good defining marker :P So 30 Rock is a sitcom, for me. (http://theses.gla.ac.uk/496/01/2008williamsonLphd.pdf is a nice read for beginners like me who have to have someone else say something in order for it to mean anything)
Dan_Dare Posted May 10, 2010 Posted May 10, 2010 I'm with Jay. HIMYM is an interesting mix. It's use of narrator and plot is what sets it apart from the pack imo.
Ashley Posted May 10, 2010 Posted May 10, 2010 Ashley: Besides Wikipedia says "a situation comedy may be recorded before a studio audience. Some also feature a laugh track." Shorty: "It also lists W&G as a sitcom and 30 Rock as a Comedy :3 " (but then shorty initiated it with "To wikipedia!" and you also had other sources, but still, it's not completely false) But then you belittled wiki and instantiated that shorty is silly for using it, even though you did, because you don't like what wiki said for him. Essentially the argument fizzled into lameness when the topic at heart is actually interesting! My take on it; I've never been a fan of postmodern attempts to dismiss genres, because they still exist. Personally, what differentiates a comedy from a sitcom can be said to be, simply, the length of the episodes. Half-hour episodes are sitcoms while the hour-long format tends to lean towards the increasingly popular comedy drama style, a lá Chuck. Of course the format has evolved over the decades to the point where characters can and do reference previous events (scrubs alltehtiem), but the episodes are still self-contained because the references are typically elaborated on, fully explained, and written into the show inobtrusely. Unobtrusely? Whatever. But then this doesn't mean previous sitcoms never had 'overarching storylines' -- friends had several 'motifs' that would define a season -- most shows do. So essentially if genres are in flux and everything is a bit of everything else... Then I stick with my length-of-episode as being a good defining marker :P So 30 Rock is a sitcom, for me. (http://theses.gla.ac.uk/496/01/2008williamsonLphd.pdf is a nice read for beginners like me who have to have someone else say something in order for it to mean anything) I argued my point and then showed to Shorty that the Wikipedia info HE got to disprove my point was tentative/proving my point anyway. Thus I proved my point with not only my own brain, but also with Shorty's original source. Which is, as I believe Chomsky would say, PWNAGE :p I didn't belittle Wiki (as such), its a fine snapshot of info but it can't provide a full picture. So you can't argue, definitively, that something is/isn't a sitcom because of a Wikipedia entry. Anyway we (you and me) are arguing the same point; 30 Rock is a sitcom. Its just a sitcom by today's standards because genres are always in flux. And I would argue a lot of contemporary sitcoms are actually shunning laugh tracks anyway and they're becoming less and less of conventional sitcom fare (Modern Family, Community, Parks and Rec, Party Down, 30 Rock and even Cougar Town which ten years ago would have had a laugh track as its very by-the-numbers). But your point about Chuck being a drama/comedy (typically known as a dramedy) is an interesting one/an academic debate. Time does seem to determine genre to some degree. Look at Ugly Betty which is very much a sitcom, but because its an hour long its classed as a dramedy. Which leads to some very confusing awards seasons as stuff like that and Desperate Housewives (although that gets more melodramatic) is aligned with stuff like Breaking Bad. But perhaps that just because the Emmys are outdated in their classification system. I'm with Jay. HIMYM is an interesting mix. It's use of narrator and plot is what sets it apart from the pack imo. Like...Scrubs. Or Arrested Development. Or My Name Is Earl.
Ashley Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Last Friends Started watching because I was in the mood for something Japanese and continued because it was only 11 episodes. Melodramatic like hell, but entertaining enough. Basically Michiru loves Sousuke but he beats her up. She meets old high school friend Ruka who secretly loves her and wants a sex change. Her housemate Eri has an affair with her married colleague and her friend, Takeru, is in love with Ruka although everyone thinks he's gay. And they all live in a house together (except Sousuke), told you it was melodramatic :p But issues of domestic violence and gender identity disorder at least make it a bit different. Butler would love it :p Was a very visually rich programme as well, as my DVD player reminded me often when it juttered while reading off the USB (which it only does when its overloaded). Plus Eita, or Japanese Joseph Gordon Levitt as I call him, (2nd from right) seems to pop up in a lot of things I watch.
Paj! Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Angel Season 5 "Harm's Way" Going through this season way slower, probably as a sort of "comedown" from the speed of Season 4 (and how it was all one story so I wanted to power through). The setting of this season actively makes it all breezy and relaxing. Anyway, I liked this one, it's not often Angel gives whole episodes to a single side-story not really concerning any main plots or characters. Plus Harmony is fairly amusing. I coincidentally read the Buffy Season 8 issue where it was a one-off all about Harmony this morning.
ReZourceman Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Is The Middle good? Ashley, this is an American TV show. Don't try and tell me you don't watch it.
Beast Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 The Ricky Gervais Show Comedy gold in my opinion. Karl Pilkington is absolutely hilarious, he had me in fits of laughter. Is it scripted or not because if it isn't, it's even better! 9/10
Happenstance Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Its not supposed to be scripted, I dont think the original XFM shows were but you never know with the podcasts
Ashley Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Ashley, this is an American TV show. Don't try and tell me you don't watch it. Neil Flynn kind of bored me by the end of Scrubs, Patricia Whatsherface is alright but not enough of a reason to watch. And its set in the middle of America which is like...intellectual dead-land :p
Beast Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 Its not supposed to be scripted, I dont think the original XFM shows were but you never know with the podcasts If they aren't scripted, that's just fantastic. It would still be fantastic even if it was but somehow it just makes the show a tad better, don't ask how, haha. Glee- Home Possibly the worst episode ever. I was so bored but there were some parts that weren't bad. 5/10
Paj! Posted May 12, 2010 Posted May 12, 2010 I was thinking of watching it, but then didn't. I'll get my sister's review later on.
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